[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuardianAngel87

I never got around to start watching on Kabutack is really due to the show itself not being fully subbed.

I watched two episodes on YouTube, a Christmas movie and now this special from 2025. As for the translation, then yes, things are bad. I obviously hastened to praise the translators, because they have only made 4 episodes so far.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

I watched two episodes on YouTube, a Christmas movie and now this special from 2025. As for the translation, then yes, things are bad. I obviously hastened to praise the translators, because they have only made 4 episodes so far.

Apparently, there was a predecessor to the 2025 movie that aired in 2024, also about an adventure in China. In the absence of new Space Squad content, it's good that Kabutack is keeping the franchise alive and I do hope that a sub group notices and remembers that the last 2 Metal Heroes need their attention. Can I watch the 2025 movie without worrying about spoilers for the show?

P.S. 2400th post!

[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

it's good that Kabutack is keeping the franchise alive

Speaking of Kabutack, there was a Bearbrick blind box wave around last year that included Kabutack.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Can I watch the 2025 movie without worrying about spoilers for the show?

It is enough to watch the translated episodes to understand what is happening. It`s not worth watching from scratch, because it implies that the viewer knows the characters of the original.

Quote:

P.S. 2400th post!

Congratulations!

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

It is enough to watch the translated episodes to understand what is happening. It`s not worth watching from scratch, because it implies that the viewer knows the characters of the original.

Congratulations!

Thanks! I'll watch the first 2 episodes at least, before watching it.

[GoldenXtreme]

I tried watching the second Garo anime, Crimson Moon. In the end, I feel like I don't have all that much to say about it, since I didn't like it for almost the exact same reasons I didn't like The Carved Seal of Flames. I didn't think the characters, plot, or setting were handled well. It's too bad, obviously one of the big advantages of an anime vs a tokusatsu show is the fact you can do settings besides modern Japan much more easily. But both the faux-medieval-Spain setting in the first show and Heian Japan setting in the second felt really low effort to me. Whenever I get around to Vanishing Line I sincerely hope they at least make different mistakes!

[GoldenXtreme]

Watched Winspector, which is a surprisingly unique tokusatsu show to this day. As the whole "Special Rescue Police" part of the title indicates, this show has a mashup of elements from both police mystery shows and disaster rescues. In fact, you can really see how this show influenced later rescue themed tokusatsu like GoGoFive and the Tomica Hero series. But even then I was surprised by all of the unique things this show did. It entirely lacks any kind of overarching enemy, entirely focusing on human villains committing crimes with nary a standard tokusatsu monster in sight. Despite this, the show still has plenty of big explosions and flashy scenes that are the hallmark of the genre (while also having substantially less stock footage than the other Metal Hero shows I have seen, thank goodness). The style and quality of the individual episodes vary *wildly*, from episodes featuring exaggerated villains who want to blow up buildings for getting in the way of their RC vehicles to grim and grounded stories of revenge and the failures of the justice system to bizarre environmental parables featuring robotic human faced mutant bats. It's completely chaotic and had me alternating between laughing at the absurdity of everything and being gobsmacked at the fact their aired an episode where a kid threatened to blow himself and the police station up with a bomb. The madness of it all often felt more like a 70s than a 90s tokusatsu to me, for better and for worse.

I thought it was pretty interesting and honestly a big step up from my prior Metal Hero experiences, even with its weak points. Also it had Hiroshi Miyauchi in it. Instant upgrade to any show. Hoping the later entries in the Rescue Police trilogy will iron out some of the issues this show had, while keeping the good points!

[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Watched Winspector

The show that did gangbusters with so little.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Watched Winspector, which is a surprisingly unique tokusatsu show to this day. As the whole "Special Rescue Police" part of the title indicates, this show has a mashup of elements from both police mystery shows and disaster rescues. In fact, you can really see how this show influenced later rescue themed tokusatsu like GoGoFive and the Tomica Hero series.

My first Metal Hero. Agreed that it feels similar to GoGo V (both set in 1999 as well) and I'll add that the lack of overarching threat is similar to Dekaranger, except without even an Agent Abrella equivalent to tie all the villains together. The threat is crime itself, which makes Winspector look like superheroes as a job title. While I enjoyed it for the novelty that it was, I'll admit I do prefer the more plot-focused shows like Jiban where many surprising twists can occur.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

I thought it was pretty interesting and honestly a big step up from my prior Metal Hero experiences, even with its weak points. Also it had Hiroshi Miyauchi in it. Instant upgrade to any show. Hoping the later entries in the Rescue Police trilogy will iron out some of the issues this show had, while keeping the good points!

I just reached Bamba's debut in JAKQ and yeah, I totally get why Toei's answer to declining ratings is simply more Miyauchi, after his performance in V3 and Goranger. He never misses. I also intend to start Solbrain soon, sometime during my Kiramager rewatch when I get to that after JAKQ.