|
Community Links |
Members List |
Search Forums |
Advanced Search |
Go to Page... |
|
Thread Tools |
11-06-2021, 05:44 AM | #8981 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,490
|
Quote:
I don't think you can really class Goseiger as the same villain situation as Boukenger to be honest, the thing with Boukenger is it's a bit more about the four villain groups getting at each other whereas Goseiger is more just one show split into three even though Buredoran is working behind the scenes, I think Chinese toku may have done a similar thing! Personally I think I liked the Matorintis section the best, I thought the middle section could be a bit long although that seems to be a common problem occasionally!
He isn't but it would have been nice if we got the full suit at least once like Midoninger. The helmet later on did get properly designed for one of the Premium Bandai ranger keys if I recall.
__________________
|
11-06-2021, 03:00 PM | #8982 |
Warrior of Delusions!
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Wait, you dont know either?
Posts: 5,825
|
I got halfway through Gosei years ago now, before my sub source kinda ran out, and yeah, it was perfectly solid stuff. I honestly thing its biggest crime was coming right between Shinkenger and Gokaiger (and then maybe GoBusters, which is, if nothing else, different), which left it bereft of fans, which gave it a reputation, which means fewer people watch it, and it just snowballs until its left alone and unloved.
__________________
Check out my occasional ramblings! https://akibamusings.blogspot.com/
|
11-08-2021, 03:43 PM | #8983 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 2,448
|
Well I'm almost done with Bouken.
The Rangers have had the Go Voyager megazord for a few now. As for others pulled three disks to resume from Galaxy Man. Hopefully I can finish the shows adapted for Power Rangers before 2023 when I'll see Don Bros.
__________________
Currently watching Galaxy Man - Aba and To Quger - Don Bros. on DVD. |
11-09-2021, 08:30 AM | #8984 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,546
|
Let’s start our mission with this week’s instalment of…
Androzani’s Tsukai Detour And this week, we?’re covering… Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: The Movie “The Energy Management Centre, a group that works to thwart the ambitions of Vaglass, a computer program looking to integrate the entire world into its program, via the Special Missions Department.” Go-Busters: Hiromu Sakurada/Red Buster: The newest addition to the Busters. Thirteen years ago before the events of the first episode, Hiromu's father had saved the world by isolating his entire research building in Hyper Space to contain the virus called "Messiah". Hiromu, along with two other children, escaped this isolation. A program in his body grants him superhuman abilities. However, his sister Rika refused to allow him join the Go-Busters training program, which is organized and run by the Energy Management Center. Despite her refusals, Hiromu had already decided he would eventually join when the time comes that they truly need him. Thus Hiromu, though irregularly, undertakes some simulations and training in order to prepare for the eventual threat. His training sessions were done unbeknownst to his sister. His Buster Power is super speed. Thus his legs can move at an unbelievable velocity, making him look as if he were teleporting. His partner Buddy Roid is Cheeda Nick. His power, like the other Busters, has a weak point trade-off. Whenever Hiromu panics or is immensely startled, he freezes up completely, even in mid-air. However, it is commonly activated when Hiromu sees a chicken, an animal which he has developed a phobia of. Ryuuji Iwasaki/Blue Buster: The oldest and most level-headed of the Busters. After escaping the destruction of the Energy Management Center and being injected with the Vaccine Program, Ryuji spent 13 years living with the Special Missions Department with Yoko, making him and Yoko so close that they are like siblings. He is a warrior with excellent fighting technique, as well as the oldest of the team. His partner Buddy Roid is Gorisaki Banana. His Buster Power is super strength. However, this has a dangerous trade-off. When Ryuji uses his power too much he will overheat and have to take time to cool down. If he completely overheats, he becomes very violent, and this puts a great toll on his body. Yoko Usami/Yellow Buster: The youngest of the group, a high school girl. Her mother was killed in the Messiah incident 13 years ago, resulting in her being taken in by the Special Missions Department. She gained incredible kicking and jumping power from an accident, and as such this is her Buster Power. Her weakness is that if she runs out of calories for her "inner battery" to burn, she will be unable to move. Thus, she compensates by eating lots of candy. Her Buddy Roid partner is Usada Lettuce. Masato Jin/Beet Buster: One of the engineers who created Enetron 13 years ago. He possesses a dislike for perfection, once awarding second place in a contest he judged to a perfect entry. When the centre was sucked into Hyperspace, he shielded himself from its effects by putting his body in stasis and creating a digital copy to function back on Earth. But unfortunately, the collapse of Hyperspace threatens to destroy his body, and when his body is destroyed, he too ceases. When he learned of the others' fate as Messiah's engineers upon being contacted by Sakurada, given the plans to the BC-04 he developed, Jin decided to escape the subspace and back into the real world. Beet Jueki “J”tag/Stag Buster: Jin’s personal Buddyroid who functions as his partner, a beacon from his equipment to transport to him and a source for his transformations. It is revealed that he had stowed as trash data aboard a previous enemy Megazord from Hyper Space and now acts as a marker for the avatar of Masato Jin, who cannot come to Earth in person. As long as J is operational, he can conjure up the avatar of Masato to operate on Earth. Beet J. Stag is a living testament to Masato Jin's belief that quirks make machines more interesting. J's "quirk" is that he likes appearing cool, though he has a habit of always standing in the way of anybody,especially Masato, which greatly annoys his creator and partner. He is also a self-proclaimed egotist, appearing to have no concerns except for his own. However, underneath it all, J holds Jin in high enough regard that, should harm come to him, J would be relentless in protecting him. Allies: The Buddy Roids: Cheedah Nick, Gorisaki Banana and Usada Lettuce are the partners of the three Rangers, who have helped look after them following the Messiah Incident and share the vaccine program with them. They function as controllers for the Buster Machines, though Nick can additionally serve as Hiromu’s motorcycle (though he lacks a built in GPS or any memory of routes) Ene-tan: The first Buddy Roid created by Jin. She acts as the interface for SS-00. Takeshi Kuroki: The Busters’ supervisor. Thirteen years ago, he was one of Yousuke Sakurada's subordinates. He then was left in charge of the three children that escaped the transport to Hyper Space. Now he commands the Go-Busters, the Energy Management Center's Special Missions Unit. He does not take kindly to being questioned, nor does he take kindly to being second-guessed or confronted about his methods. Miho Nakamura and Toru Morishita: EMC’s technics who scan for incoming Megazords and deploy the Buster Machines. Vaglass: An organisation originally founded by the Messiah program to destroy humans for its own amusement, its members have split up following Messiah’s destruction. Enter: The first avatar created from the data of the EMC members who perished in the Messiah incident. Enter was an avatar sent into reality to create mechanical monsters called Metaloids with the use of MetaVirus Cards. He carries a laptop with him. He uses this to transmit Metaviruses to infect (as long as the Metavirus patch is in place) various inanimate objects. As an Avatar, he has the ability to transcend Hyper Space and uses this ability to speak to Messiah in person via his laptop. He has a propensity for thin disguises, though his goggles can be a giveaway. After Messiah's death, Enter embarked on a mission to evolve beyond his programming into the perfect human, by integrating the remnants of Messiah’s program into his own. Escape: An avatar Messiah created to see its desire for destruction carried out, after Enter refused to in favour of planning to release Messiah. She desires to find and defeat a strong opponent, who she has found in Ryuuji. After Messiah’s death, she plans to gather the 13 Messiah cards containing copies of his program and use them to create a new “papa” who will be able to destroy as much as he wants. Zangyack: Chief of Staff Damaras: A Zangyack warrior known among Zangyack as the "Strongest High Ranked Soldier" (最強格の戦士 Saikyōkaku no Senshi) due to his skills as a warrior and as a strategist. He is ordered to accompany Warz Gill by the Emperor and assist him as his second in command. After discovering the truth of the Greatest Treasure in the Universe, and with the prince refusing to act upon it, Damaras hired Basco to eliminate the Gokaigers so that the events of the first invasion would not be repeated. Following the death of Warz Gill, Damaras was imprisoned for his failure by Ackdos Gill, but was later released when he witnessed how powerful the Gokaigers were himself. Though Damaras initially overpowered the pirates, he was defeated and killed by them in a rematch. What do I think of Go-Busters? Well to be honest, I don’t like it much more than Gokaiger. The plot meanders for too long, before being abruptly dropped after a retool and replaced with a new plot that doesn’t have much consistency with what came before. The characters themselves aren’t much better, ranging from actually pretty good (Jin, Enter), to bland (Hiromu, Ryuuji, the Buddy Roids, Escape, the EMC crew) to downright bad (Yoko, Messiah). The lack of actual character development or focus episodes doesn’t help. And I can’t even enjoy this as mindless action or for the music as, outside of the Gavan two-parter and Let’s Morphin’ Keep Movin’ Buster Ship, both are generally terrible. The show’s aesthetic also does nothing for me, which is something even Gokaiger did better on. As for the credits, while the writer for this is someone Sentai fans will know (Shimoyama), the producer Naomi Takebe and the director Takayuki Shibisaki are ones who’ll be more familiar to Rider fans (the former, when she’s not the assistant to Shinichiro Shirakura, is known for producing Kiva, OOO and Gaim, while the latter was an assistant director on Kuuga and the main director for Drive and Saber). With all of that said, on with the review. We open with narration expositing on the legend of the Phantom Ranger Keys. (Not to be confused with the other Phantom Ranger) We then cut to our bad guy (who’ll be named later) and his subordinate (who will be named later, but given how that name will break my speak-checker, I’ll just call him “Not-Satan”) (a red version of the Action Commander from episodes 11-2 of Gokaiger, purely because he shares a voice actor with J), along with Enter, who vow to unlock the Phantom Ranger Keys’ (which they’ve collected 4 of already. It’s amazing what you can do offscreen) true power to revive Zangyack. On Earth, after putting upon their Buddy Roids for minor issues, the Busters respond to a mysterious appearance that isn’t Vaglass… and are attacked by a black version of Gokai Galleon. (Surprisingly, there is no real world black version) Jon and J move out, forming Buster Hercules to fight the Black Galleon…? and get overwhelmed. On the ground, our bad guy appears, introducing himself as Bacchus Gil, Zangyack’s new Emperor. and requests that the Busters battle his subordinates… the Gokaigers (all of whom look considerably more piratical than their own series. If you ask me, it’s an improvement). The Busters are confused, since the Gokaigers once fought to save the world (no, they came to your planet to find a fabulous treasure that they ultimately gave up due to having it being morally wrong. The Zangyack were simply in their way and all of them had a reason to fight them). But that doesn’t stop a fight from breaking out, with Hiromu facing down Marvelous, Ryuuji taking on Joe and Luka, while Yoko (f*cking Yoko) facing Don and Ahim (how apt. The best character in Gokaiger fights the worst character in Go-Busters). In the middle of the fight, Gai and Navi (f*cking Navi) show up, with the Rangers Keys (so does that mean they asked politely if they could use their powers to destroy the Earth?) The Gokaigers then decide to counter the Go-Buster’s scientific energy source, with a group powered by a mystical energy source. After performing the Ribbon Spark (aka, the one Goggle V attack Toei can be bothered to recreate for more than 5 seconds in a Super Video), they then decide to counter the futuristic fuel Enertron with the actually from the future Zeta-3. Marvelous, Ahim and Don attack with their Vector End attacks to knock their opponents down, but Hiromu’s team escapes damage from Joe and Luka using their Voltech Bazookas by shifting to Powered Custom. As the fight resumes, the Phantom Ranger Keys in Enter’s hand begin to react violently. The final Phantom Ranger Key, the Red one, flies out of the ground. But the act of bringing all 5 together opens a wormhole that sucks the 6 Gokaigers, Yoko, J and Gorisaki into it before closing. One jump cut back to the EMC later. Hiromu wants to know why the pirates were acting like… well, pirates. So Navi explains what happened after they went to attack the Zangyack’s home planet. Gai and Navi escaped, but they lost contact with everyone else on the way back to Earth. He then fills them in on the same exposition about the Phantom Ranger Keys. As Morishita (had to scroll up to remember his name. Shows you how memorable he is) comes in with a scroll someone wants to deliver… we cut to Yoko and J, who have ended up in 1772, right in the middle of the Sakoku Period (200 years in which Japan closed itself off from foreign imports and visitors, which were ended in 1858 when the British Navy’s Commodore Perry led “the Coming of the Black Ships”). Not that J seems to know or care. After making him adopt a disguise, Yoko immediately manages to run into Gai, who gets confused by how to address them since they’re younger (for a similar joke, also involving a character named Gai, check out Ultraman Geed’s movie). Gai mentions that he’s had no luck calling anyone, so J suggests that he simply writes them a letter, which Gai takes more viably than Yoko. Cut to the present, where Kaoru Shiba, formerly of the Shinkengers, presents the Go-Busters with a message her family has held onto since the An’ei era. After a scene where Bacchus says that he won’t be like his uncle Ackdos or his cousin Warz, in which Enter reveals he intends to use the Phantom Ranger Keys to open a gateway to Hyper Space so it can cover the Earth, Jin reveals that he’s figured out where everyone is in time through extensive research (Uh Huh, but when did you have time to make these paper cutouts?) Jin is very apprehensive about using the GoZyuDrill’s time travel software to send everyone back to the past in the Buster Machines. With the mission given, Hiromu and Nick in Go-Buster Ace, Ryuuji and Ene-tan in FS-00, Usada in RH-03 and Jin in Go-Buster Beet teleport to the past. Ryuuji travels back to 1557 (a years which saw the printing of the Geneva Bible’s New Testament, England joining Spain in war against France, the Battle of St-Quentin and the ascension of Emperor Ōgimachi to the throne of Japan) He finds Not-Satan looking for the Blue Phantom Key with Joe and Luka… who promptly lose it to Ryuuji. In 1772 (which saw the first Partition of Poland, the discovery of Biela’s Comet, the people in the colonies deciding to create a group to UNITE them in their STATES of chaos caused by British rule OF AMERICA and Britain abolished slavery, which only annoyed the people in the previous point more), Yoko’s group run into Jeloushitto, who has the Yellow Phantom Key. (Don’t ask about either) In England, 1805 (which saw the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Admiral Lord Nelson, with his infamous last words “Kiss me, Hardy.”, Jefferson was re-elected President of America, Michigan was established, the abolishment of the French Republican Calendar and the birth of Hans Christian Andersen), Ahim and Don (wearing clothes that are 30 years out of date for 1805. Powdered wigs died in England in the 1780s) have found the Green Phantom Key in a mansion. But as they set off the booby traps, Jin, dressed as the Dandy Highwayman, saves them and takes the Key. In the Cretaceous Period, Gorisaki can only watch as the Zangyack take the Pink Phantom Key. He then gets chased by a T-Rex and saved by Usada. And in 2005 (which saw the return of Doctor Who after 16 years off the air, the establishment of YouTube, Bush getting re-elected, the death of Pope John Paul II, North Korea revealing they had nukes and Egypt trying and failing to hold a fair election), Hiromu finds Marvelous inside Dino Curry. Marvelous reveals that he’s eating chicken curry. After going outside, Marvelous reveals that he was pulling a Decade to get the Phantom Keys, a ruse that also gets revealed to Ryuuji and Jin. But it’s at that point that Bacchus, Not-Satan and their subordinates take the Blue, Green and Red Keys. (And the Gokaigers switch back to their old outfits. Boo.) In 1772, Usada arrives to rescue Yoko, Gai and J. As if history can’t get more messed up, Enter shows up in the Epsilon Megazord (previously seen in Go-Busters’ movie, and episodes 30 and 35 of the show) to wreck the place, while Bacchus comes to claim the final Key. But then Hiromu and Marvelous show up in Go-Buster Ace and Tategami Lioh to fight it off. Marvelous then goes to fight on the ground, choosing an appropriate Legendary Ranger mode for samurai times. With limited resources, and having lost the Key, the heroes are forced to withdraw back to 2012… where the Buddy Roids promptly explode. By the next morning, the three are repaired… but their personality data was beyond recovery, leaving them with “Siri” voices. As the Busters lament how they might lose their only friends (guys, you have each other. And you barely get any episodes with these guys, at least compared to other “partner” based Sentai), Enter and his allies insert the Phantom Ranger Keys into their machine, opening the doorway to Hyper Space. But they get disrupted, as it turns out Navi went back in time and stole Gokai Galleon from the past Gokaigers (when in the show”s timeline did he do that?) to fight the Black Galleon. As the commanders are knocked to the ground, the heroes show up to face them, transforming to settle the score. Morphin Brace/Morphin Blaster: It’s Morphin’ Time! Gokaigers: Gokai Change! Mobilates/Gokai Cellular: Gokaiger! Busters: Let’s Morphin! Hiromu: Red Buster! Ryuuji: Blue Buster! Yoko: Yellow Buster! Jin: Beet Buster! J: Stag Buster! Hiromu: Tokumei Sentai… All: Go-Busters! Marvelous: Gokai Red! Joe: Gokai Blue! Luka: Gokai Yellow! Don: Gokai Green! Ahim: Gokai Pink! Gai: Gooookaaaaiiii Silver! Marvelous: Kaizoku Sentai… All: Gokaiger! Hiromu: Busters! Ready? All: Go! After the heroes make short work of the Gormin and Buglars, Enter decides to move onto the level 2 bosses: copies of Basco, Damaras and Escape. Marvelous, Joe and Luka face Basco as the three-man Sun Vulcan team, with Marvelous vanquishing his rival with the Hiba Returns. Don, Ahim and Gai fight Damaras, turning into the Gouraigers and Shurikenger (I just can’t escape Hurricaneger, can I?), defeating him with a series of attacks (although it’s not identified as such, I’m pretty sure Gai uses Shurikenger’s Tenkuu-Zan to win) Finally, the Busters fight and destroy Escape, though not without having to use two finishing moves. They then move on to fight Bacchus, only for Not-Satan to intercept from above with the Black Galleon. Hiromu and Marvelous put a stop to that, taking back the Phantom Ranger Keys and destroying the Black Galleon. Before Not-Satan can get his revenge, a new challenger appears. He introduces himself as KyoryuRed of Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger! But as it gets pointed out to him, he’s only one man, hardly a full Sentai. But that doesn’t stop him from leaping in to fight Not-Satan and his entourage on the heroes’ behalf. KyoryuRed: It’s about to get wild! Just try and stop me! It’s then that his teammates show up, having been held up (Black was on a date and Pink was at work). They then charge into battle. Not-Satan: Who are you people? Red: You’ll be surprised when you hear! The Fanged Brave! KyoryuRed! (Gabutyra!) Black: The Bullet Brave! KyoryuBlack! (Parasagun!) Blue: The Armoured Brave! KyoryuBlue! (Stegotchi!) Green: The Slashing Brave! KyoryuGreen! (Zakutor!) Pink: The Horned Brave! KyoryuPink! (Dricera!) Red: The strongest braves in history! Zyuden Sentai… All: Kyoryuger! Having finished the grunts, they then use their “Zyudenchi” to kill Not-Satan, leaving the rest to the Gokaigers and Go-Busters. Speaking of whom, the latter get called away when Enter appears with his newest creation, the Omega Megazord (not to be confused with that Omega Megazord), which overwhelms them. Then, the Gokaigers give Bacchus a lengthy speech about what the Busters are fighting for (the most “Decade” this show has gotten), before doing an all red change to fight him. After defeating him with a Gokai Legendream/Gokai Galleon Buster combo, Bacchus downs his entire drink, enlarging to giant size, causing them to call in GokaiOh and GoZyuJin. However, Go-Buster Oh gets downed by the Omega Megazord, and despite Kuroki ordering them to abandon it and get in Tategami Lioh, they refuse to give up on their BuddyRoids, channelling their vaccine program into them as Go-Busters’ usual “heroic moment” insert song plays. Amazingly, this works, bringing Go-Buster Oh back to 100%. But that doesn’t stop them from separating so GB-02 and RH-03 can combine with Tategami Lioh to form Go-Buster Lioh. But it does cause the Phantom Ranger Keys to resonate and turn into Buddy Roid keys, holding the Go-Busters’ Greater Power. Using these creates giant sized Ranger Keys, that allow each of the mecha to turn into a Legendary Megazord. They do so, with GoZyuJin turning into DaiZyuJin, GokaiOh turning into DaiBouken, Buster Hercules turning into MagiKing (because Jin’s actor was Tsubasa in Magiranger), Go-Buster Lioh turning into GaoKing and Go-Buster Ace turning into GekiTohja. But Enter isn’t perturbed, summoning Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta Megazord’s to join the battle. While everyone else chooses to show off what their one form can do, Hiromu just decides to try more, changing into Flash King. He then turns into RyuseiOh (since, per word of the guy playing TenmaRanger, he doesn’t have sufficient willpower to summon DairenOh). And then he returns to normal to fly into Hyper Space to close the portal, while DaiZyuJin and MagiKing send Enter packing by destroying the Omega Megazord, while DaiBouken and GaoKing (which has now shifted to GaoKentaurus), finish Bacchus. Bacchus: In the end, I ended up like the others after all. Then we get one final scene in which the Gokaigers approve of the new team, before departing in Gokai Galleon (I have no idea if they kept the time-displaced one, or if they had the EMC rebuild it). Cue the credits song. (Super Sentai) Go on, Go-Busters! Soar high, Gokaiger! It’s time to travel as we affirm our bonds Across sea and sky, and even dimensions, we’ll move out And nothing will stop us doing a good job! It’s not like we’re weak individually But together, I know our power is endless! And the hotter our hearts burn With the desire to protect the Earth The more we may disagree, But all the more we’ll fight as allies! I feel it in my heart, all limits will be torn apart It’s Time for Buster in the grandest style! (Ready, go!) We’re always here for each other, though we may bicker That’s our Go-Buster bond! Go, let’s go! Final thoughts: Aside from the subplot with the Buddy Roids, this was a pretty good piece. Both groups got equal focus, none of their worst aspects were on display, and the action was actually pretty decent. Plus you can’t argue with the concept of Megazord Keys. Last edited by Androzani84; 10-11-2023 at 06:31 PM.. |
11-09-2021, 10:33 AM | #8985 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 883
|
This is another Sentai crossover movie I really liked with it being my third favorite among them.
|
11-16-2021, 08:07 AM | #8986 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,546
|
It's about to get wild, just try and stop this latest instalment of:
Androzani's Tsukai Detour And this week, we're covering: Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger vs Go-Busters: Dinosaur Great Battle! Farewell, Eternal Friends. "Dinosaurs plus humans. Crossing over billions of years to protect the world, History's strongest brave team has now appeared! You'll be surprised when you hear!" Kyoryugers: Daigo "King" Kiryu/KyoryuRed: The leader of the Kyoryugers, who has been following the path of the great lizards since he was a child. In the present, he fought the Zyudenryu Gabutyra for a month without stopping to win its approval, which he did not receive until he saved Gabutyra's life. An easy going, strong, excitable, and very optimistic person, Daigo is surprisingly insightful, knowing how strong people are (like when he sees Amy and warns Ian that she is stronger than she looks) or can be (such as Nobuharu hindering himself with guilt), as well as figuring out why Gabutyra didn't accept him as a Kyoryuger initially. This insightfulness often serves him well, as he manages to get by without using a considerable amount of intellectuality. Whenever he is touted as harbouring a particular trait by others, he tends to repeat it back with a "super" (i.e., Torin saying Gabutyra is serious, Hyogakki calling him insane) added to it. Daigo never tries to solve difficult problems with his head, instead, he just relies on gut instinct to win. He has a tendency to announce "It's about to get wild, just try and stop me/us!" (荒れるぜ、止めてみな! Areruze, tometemina!) before going into battle. He is very reckless and tends to act first and think later in fights, and it was this very same recklessness that prevented Daigo from getting stronger, as evidenced in Tessai's harsh lessons. Despite all this, Daigo is the one that brings the core team together and even the others showed hostility at first, they come to accept Daigo as the leader of Kyoryugers. Ian Yorkland/KyoryuBlack: An archaeologist from Europe who is partnered with Zyudenryu Parasagun. While studying ancient civilisations, his friend Shiro Mofune was murdered by Aigaron, leaving him with a fear of opening up to others. Ian is a cheerful and talkative charmer who loves to flirt with girls, especially Amy Yuuzuki earlier on in Kyoryuger. He is the gag-maker of the group who is never one to miss a joke, often at the expense of people's feelings (often Nobuharu). However, despite his personality, he has a checkered past. Regardless, Ian is very loyal and will fulfill any promise he has made. He is also intelligent and quick-witted, allowing him to come up with plans to take down opponents quickly with maximum efficiency, as well as making back-up plans in case something should pop up. Ian also has the habit of saying the phrase "Oh, my!" to express shock, surprise, and disappointment. Nobuharu "Nossan" Udo: An older member of the Kyoryugers, who is partnered with Zyudenryu Stegotchi. He helps his sister Yuko take care of her daughter Rika, following the death of their husband/father. Very clumsy, shy, and hilarious, Nobuharu is a hardworking Jack-of-All-Trades. Actually, he loves to try and act cool, but can never pull it off (like how he failed to spin his Gaburivolver). Despite his looks, he is a person with incredible strength, even in his civilian form. Nobuharu always displays a bad habit of cracking old man jokes in every situation, even at an unsuitable time. However, while his jokes sound lame to most everyone, certain people however like his jokes. Nobuharu also grows envious of Utsusemimaru sometimes, because of him being three years younger than Nobuharu even after being time-displaced, And also because Utsusemimaru is able to create funnier old man jokes than him. Souji Rippukan/KyoryuGreen: The heir to a long line of swordsmen, partnered with Zyudenryu Zakutor. However, he refuses to follow his family?s ancestral style, the Musou-Ken, due to believing that his father's adherence to it led to his parents getting divorced, instead creating his own Zangeki Musou-Ken. Souji is a cold, cool, and calm high-school student and a member of Rippukan House. Souji wishes that he was the swordsman of the team, a status that is most jeopardized by Utsusemimaru and Torin. Souji also practices with his father to improve his swordsmanship. Amy Suuzuki/KyoryuPink: An 18-year-old college student. She defeated the Zyudenryu Dricera while in America, and became a warrior, gaining its power. A cheerful, "High Kick Girl", she specializes in Hand-to-Hand combat. She is from America, studying abroad, and is the daughter of a wealthy family. A butler known as "Gentle" is taking care of her in her current accommodations. Amy has a free-spirited personality and is the exact opposite of the expectations of her family. While they expect her to act like a princess, she is an all-out tomboy that loves to bend the rules. She appeals to Daigo, as he also loves to bend the rules. Amy also has an array of special talents, from working a remote with her feet to defeating a group of zorima with a unicycle. Having studying abroad in America, she also knows a good amount of the English language. Utsusemimaru, nicknamed Utchy/KyoryuGold: A samurai from the Sengoku era, who was sworn in to serve Torin during the Deboss's third reappearance and becoming partners with Zyudenryu Pteragordon. During his battle, all of his fellows and his master were killed by Deboss, while he was trapped within Dogold, kept from aging for 400 years while his rage sustained the sentient armour. He was freed in the present through the quick thinking of Amy, Torin and Ramirez, rejoining the Kyoryugers and getting his GaburiChanger upgraded to match the others. While initially appearing to be cold and calm, Utchy is actually a very caring and comforting person. Utchy is also rather humble, using the pronoun ?sessha? (拙者 sessha, lit "one who is clumsy") as a personal pronoun. While he is very out of place at times in the modern world, he does possess an understanding of how things work and is able to embrace new concepts. Yayoi Kise/KyoryuViolet II: The granddaughter of Dr. Ulshade, the previous KyoryuViolet and the inventor of the modern Kyoryuger equipment, who took over his position following his retirement and her proving herself a worthy replacement to his partner, Zyudenryu Plezuon. Growing up admiring her grandfather, both as a scientist and a Kyoryuger, Yayoi was surprisingly reserved and was easy to get disheartened. After the 5 main Kyoryugers were assembled and her grandfather journeyed to space, she kept a close eye on them, admiring Daigo Kiryu as a result. After succeeding her grandfather as the next Kyoryu Violet, and with some help from Daigo and Amy, she became more confident. She considers Amy to be her rival, since both of them have a crush on Daigo. Wise God Torin/KyoryuSilver: A former Maken Priest of the Deboss Army, who defected upon realising the moral wrongness of their actions, creating the 23 Zyudenryu to counter them and partnering with the strongest of them, Zyudenryu Bragigas. But during the final battle with Deboss?s creation Gadoma, Bragigas was drained of life unleashing its full power, sinking to the bottom of Debo Hell and stripping Torin of his powers. Torin then spent the next 65 million years recruiting 9 individuals with strong ?Brave? (Tessai in 6th Century China, Ramirez in Dark Ages Europe and all of the above-mentioned people) to carry on the fight. Torin was finally able to regain his power following Bragigas's revival through the power of the 13 Greater Zyudenryu and he disavowed his past as a Debo Monster while fighting his evil clone Mad Torin. Allies: Dantetsu Kiryu, Daigo's father, who left him many years ago when the latter chose to walk the path of the Greater Lizards, gifting him the fossilised remains of the Greater Zyudenryu Allomerus. He has some familiarity with Torin, knowing of his status as a former Debo Monster, while also dropping in to watch over his son as he has found his own path. Gabutyra: A Zyudenryu, Gabutyra was a Tyrannosaurus that agreed to be modified to battle the Deboss Army in ancient times. In modern times, he was awoken by Torin once more when the Deboss Army returned on Gabutyra's island, where Daigo Kiryu had just battled several Zorima. After the Zorima were dealt with, Gabutyra expressed interest in Daigo. One long month later, Daigo finally defeats Gabutyra by blasting him from within his jaws, but Gabutyra strangely didn't offer him his partnership, getting a concerned Torin to take Gabutyra's drained Zyudenchi to recharge it. Later on, however, Gabutyra went after Debo Hyogakki in Japan, who was the one that destroyed the dinosaurs by causing an ice age, but without a Zyudenchi, he was overwhelmed by the Giant Zorima, and was frozen by Hyogakki. Daigo soon arrived and once again bravely fighting off Zorima and came to help, putting himself at personal risk, and was nearly frozen by Hyogakki had not Gabutyra took the shot for him. Daigo said that he knew the reason why Gabutyra didn't make him a Kyoryuger in the beginning: because Gabutyra was a survivor of the Deboss Army's first attack, and didn't want Daigo to get hurt because of them. However, the human reminded the Zyudenryu that he is the man that had bested him, so he pledged that the both of them destroy Hyogakki, reinvigorating Gabutyra, and allowed Daigo to become a Kyoryuger, and later avenged the dinosaurs by killing Debo Hyogakki. Gabutyra forms the base of Kyoryuzin, including the head, torso/shoulders, and the lower body, thus Gabutyra is the only Zyudenryu to be in all of Kyoryuzin's combinations. He can also attain an Overcharge mode, dubbed "Minityra", who can allow Daigo to access his Carnival Form, granting him the ability to be a ?human Kyoryuzin?. Deboss Army: A group of monsters created by a wandering destructive entity known as Deboss initially to help him destroy the planets he discovered. But since his heart was damaged and his body frozen in battle with the Zyudenryu, they are now working to gather the necessary emotional energy to revive him. 100-Faced High Priest Chaos: Calling himself the voice of Deboss, Chaos was among the first beings created by the entity alongside his younger brother Wise God Torin in the past. However, when Torin betrayed them, a wounded Chaos vowed a vendetta that continued for many centuries up to the present day. Chaos is wise, evil, and completely loyal to Deboss. He also holds a deep grudge against Torin for betraying him, going so far as to not heal the wound to his shoulder so as to never forget the betrayal. Despite that, he shows respect towards his loyal followers at the start of the series, such as ensuring a frustrated Dogold that he could keep him an endless supply of Cambrima to use as hosts. Sorrowful Knight Aigaron: The general in charge of collecting human sadness and the murderer of Ian's friend Shiro. Aigaron is a Debo Knight General who cries all the time but has fierce tactics and fights with a battle axe. He was the first of Deboss?s generals to be revived. After he was the last known alive Knights, Aigaron went on a full assault on the Kyoryugers without Daigo at the the time, and due to Hyogakki's plot, he couldn't cry lest he gets frozen, and so decided to use a new emotion: anger. He was so angry, that he glowed red at one point and he literally exploded in a plot to get rid of the Kyoryugers, though it was thanks to Ian's quick thinking that spared the Kyoryugers. It was then revealed that Deboss had saved his life when he exploded, much to Ian's frustration at Aigaron's inability to stay dead. It turned out the Aigaron is suffering from a mental side effect resulting from his self destruction as he becomes extremely frightening and psychotic, with the telltale signs of having black eyes and tar-like tears, whenever he gets mad. It is only his feelings for Candelilla that Aigaron attempts self restraint when he is about to be consumed in rage. Fun filled Spy Luckyuro: Candelillia's assistant, who would rather slack off and read Shojo manga than commit villainy. She made the fewest monsters compared to her fellow knights but is responsible for causing them to grow in size after their defeat using Restoration Water containing Deboss's cells. Raging Knight Dogold: A sentient suit of armour in charge of gathering human anger. His primary mission was to possess Utsusemimaru and take control of the powerful Zyudenryu, Pteragordon. Chaos formulated a plan to increase Utsusemimaru's anger by killing his fellow samurai and holding his best friend Torin hostage to be executed in front of him. Enraged, Utsusemimaru charged at Chaos but Dogold grabbed onto him and pulled him into a portal, where he formed around Utsusemimaru. Dogold's consciousness would become dormant, and Utsusemimaru's anger, increasing at the loss of his friends (and being forced to serve the Deboss Army) was allowed to be dominant. However, this resulted in a possessed and amnesiac Utsusemimaru with no memories of his past, except for the name 'Dogold'. The last of Chaos's followers to be revived, Chaos asked him his name upon thawing him. The raging "Dogold" fumes when Chaos apparently forgot his name. Eventually, the two were separated, with Dogold prevailing at first using the bodies of Cambrima. Because the Cambrima aren't powerful enough to withstand Dogold's power, they disintegrate on a monthly basis. Dogold gains a fur collar around his neck when he first took over a Cabrima. After almost gaining a new vessel in the robot G-BO, Dogold possesses fellow Debo Knight Endolf, whom had been cruel towards him and manipulative with his comrades. Joyful Knight Candelilia: An airheaded, jovial, happy-go-lucky knight, who encourages others like Aigaron to "Keep smiling!" (キープスマイリングよ! Kīpu Sumairingu yo!). She was the second Knight to be thawed out after the Deboss Army's big freeze. She seems to abhor senseless violence, such as when her fellow Knight forced her lieutenant to grow his fallen Debo Monster. During the Debo Honenukky incident, she met Nobuharu Udo, KyoryuBlue, and found a kindred spirit in the pun-spouting Kyoryuger. She said then that she could even come to love him, if they weren't enemies. She is also the only character that finds Nobuharu's jokes funny. What do I think of Kyoryuger? Compared to the last two, I love it. It's definitely the Cybertron to their Armada and Energon. It?s especially nice that they were able to work with more than the usual 6 and still give them all distinctive personalities and sufficient screen time to make them likeable and carry out their arcs. And after how much of a slog Gokai and Busters were plot-wise, it's nice to get back to having an ongoing storyline throughout most of the episodes. As for the staff, Kyoryuger is the first and only full series by Takahito Ohmori, who later moved over to Kamen Rider to produce Drive, Ex-Aid, Build and 01. The writer is Riku Sanjo, who had previously been the head writer for Kamen Rider W and the secondary writer for Kamen Rider Fourze (not the primary writer, that was the Gurren Lagann guy) while our director is Koichi Sakamoto (and if you don't know who he is, what?s wrong with you?). With all of that said, let's go back to action and get on with the review. We open with a mysterious meteor drifting through space, as an ominous voice makes clear why it has decided it's time to conquer Earth. We then cut down to Earth, where after Torin senses a new evil arising, Hiromu and Nick are in pursuit of a truck carrying a hostage in a familiar jacket. Nick identifies the truck drivers as Deboss's Zorimas, who promptly try to fight him off, along with Ryuuji and Yoko when they arrive (with three of them getting a familiar looking overhead leap). In the middle of the battle, a snide looking fellow appears to heckle them with the aid of Invasion Life Garden Evolian's Boemia troops (the ones who look like they came out of a video game), allowing the truck to make tracks. As they wonder who the bodyguard they'd never heard about is, we cutaway to Dantetsu meeting with Yamato Prince Geki, or if you're not familiar with who he is? (Yes, the title "Great Dinosaur War" isn't just there to be fancy. The previous Dinosaur Sentai's Red heroes are here) As they discuss the impending threat to the Earth, another newcomer in gold-armour appears, accompanied by the putty-like Golems used by Witch Bandora. Geki: Grifforzer? ?: I'm not the Grifforzer you know. (For one thing, his voice is deeper and more gravelly) I am the ultimate warrior created by a space war god. After a quick fight, the Golems capture and subdue Geki, with Not-Grifforzer stating that the villains intend to steal the powers of the dinosaur Sentai (did they recycle an unused Gokaiger script for this?) which Dantetsu sees as worrying. Elsewhere, the main Kyoryugers see a dark aura gathering in the sky, before a mysterious T-Rex appears a few seconds after Minityra runs off (and somehow, it's more scientifically accurate than Jurassic World, despite being on a much lower budget). The T-Rex then passes on a warning to Daigo about Dino Hope being taken, before vanishing. As Daigo ponders these words, all three henchmen groups seen so far show up, with Souji vividly seeing that there's more than just Deboss grunts, cuing the opening sequence where they beat up said grunts set to this song (which I kind of prefer to Kyoryuger's regular opening, not gonna lie). Burning, raging, howling fire It?s so cool! This surprising power Look and see how it's used Surpassing the apex with hot energy A rising dance that's getting wilder They become the eternal warriors Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger Brave in! Soul at full power The ultimate partners form an unbeatable team Fearing nothing Unshakable, absolutely unbeatable Never losing courage Giving their all in every ordeal History's strongest braves But after they've beaten up all of the grunts, the guy who attacked the Go-Busters earlier appears with his hostage, Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger's Ryouga Hakua/AbaRed, who promptly powers up. But there's something wrong. Ryouga then proceeds to beat up the Kyoryugers with his Tyranno Rod, only for the Go-Busters to appear to knock him back. But that's no consolation, as Neo-Grifforzer shows up with an equally brainwashed Geki, who has already transformed into TyrannoRanger. Making things worse, it turns out that his Ryugekiken is charged with the power of all 5 Kyoryu Medals used by the Zyurangers to transform (yeah, it's kind of a rule for any 90s tokusatsu show with a mecha who is an explicit god for the heroes empowered by said god to use medals to transform. See Kakuranger and B-Fighter Kabuto for more examples), which causes Hiromu to realise that they've already stolen the powers of all the Zyurangers. As the heroes withdraw, we cut to Deboss?s fortress for some exposition. The newcomers are Neo-Grifforzer and Neo-Gayrton, embodiment clones of the regret and rage of Bandora and Evil Life God Dezumozorlya for failing to defeat the Zyurangers and Abarangers. Those same qualities also caused the creation of their progenitor, Space War God Voldos. Chaos is having Deboss collaborate due to Voldos being equal in power to Deboss (surely that means you'd want to get rid of him? Then there'd be less competition to destroy Earth). Voldos will soon appear on Earth to destroy all the Dinosaur Sentai (well considering that his minions haven?t captured any Ryusoulgers, even by accident, shows what a bang up job they're doing). It's at that point that Enter and Escape appear (hey, the Busters need a narrative reason to be here. I'm gonna let this slide). Enter then explains that Vaglass created the device to drain the power from the Dinosaur Sentai, as we cut to Ian and Souji running into J in the woods, who tries to force them to live as beetles like him (I think being made of steel might make that harder for you). As they dismiss him and leave after fighting off some Zorimas, with something happening to J, we cut to Nossan, Utchy and Ryuuji in conversation while hiding from Boemias, with the two blues bonding over old man jokes (with Ryuuji making a crack about Utchy's age by saying ?Gold will go-old soon?). The next pairing are Amy and Yoko, who despite coming from two different social classes, get on well, even taking on Escape and her electronic minions, the Buglars while wearing schoolgirl uniforms (that's Sakamoto for you), with Yoko advising to kick the Buglars in the chest to break them. Finally, we cut to Daigo and Hiromu, the latter of whom takes the opportunity to call back to the last movie. As the two discuss what Dino Hope could be and the message the tyrannosaurus imparted, Enter appears to fight them. He explains that Voldos found a Vaglass backup and reactivated the two avatars to serve him. As Hiromu stays behind to fight Enter, Daigo moves on to join up with the other Kyoryugers, who were similarly sent on their way. At an abandoned warehouse where the villains have set up shop, Ryouga and Geki, along with the other 4 Dino Bucklers, have their power drained, converted to dark energy, and beamed to Voldos. The Kyoryugers show up to help, but are stopped by Neo-Gayrton (who Ryouga mistakes for the Armour of Darkness. Nice touch, since Gayrton was only around for 2 episodes. It would make more sense to have called the character Neo-Jeanne, but it probably would've confused people unfamiliar with Abaranger), who gets into a fight with them. During the fight, Daigo summons Minityra to go Carnival. After a short pounding, they knock Neo-Gayrton down by using the Victory Zyudenchi for the 5 Zyuden Victory Finish. But Voldos has attained enough power to make his other monster grow, using a magic wand. Neo-Grifforzer then erects a Evil Energy barrier to prevent the Zyudenchi from working. As he reaches down to attack the Kyoryugers, Minityra enlarges into Gabutyra, speaking for the first time. And it's not what he says, but the fact he has the same voice as the tyrannosaurus (provided by Koichi Yamadera, one of three VAs to be in every Pok?mon movie). Gabutyra: Daigo, watch out! But the ensuing battle is all for naught, as Neo-Grifforzer poisons Gabutyra with Evil Energy, making him look like the black repaint toy, before Neo-Gayrton takes the Kyoryugers' Dino Hope. By the time, the Busters find them, the Kyoryugers have become Voldos' dinosaur hunters. As the 6 disappear into a time portal, Kuroki calls everyone to Spirit Base, where Torin and Yayoi are waiting (and Hiromu mishears Torin as "torii" (chicken). Yes really), having gathered the other Zyudenryu into Bragigas?s dimension (the same one Spirit Base is in). Back in the past, the dinosaur hunters get to work, killing their partners. Back in the present, Abaranger's Yukito Sanjo/AbareBlue enters Spirit Base, offering to help (and getting weirded out by the Pink triceratops). He then reveals that he and the EMC, in co-operation with Dr. Ulshade, have created a set of Super Sentai Zyudenchi, into which he infuses his Dino Guts so they can't be taken by Voldos. As Torin and the Busters go to stop the energy flow, Daigo realises the T-Rex he is about to kill is a) Gabutyra and b) the best friend he had to protect (which is kind of sad, when you think about it), breaking the spell over the 6 as they realise who the dinosaurs they were trying to kill were. As they return to the present via a program created using the Abaranger Zyudenchi, where the Gabutyra there collapses, the party there enter Voldos' warehouse lair. But they're stopped from destroying the machinery by Aigaron and co showing up to throw a wrench into their plans. As Enter, Escape and the two embodiment clones leave, the Busters take on the 3 Knights, while Torin deals with the grunts. But Dogold calls upon his full fury (with everyone else calling upon their respective emotions), to knock them back with the Deboss Finish. Outside, the embodiment clones prepare to revive Voldos with the gathered Dino Hope, when the Kyoryugers appeared, now powerless. But that won't stop them because once a hero, always a hero, which causes Geki and Ryouga to get up and join the fight. While it appears hopeless, Daigo takes encouragement from everyone and generates his own Dino Hope to revive Gabutyra. Meanwhile the Busters get saved from certain doom by the arrival of J. And he brought a friend. Jin explains that he managed to cheat his death (in Go-Busters' final episode) by creating a backup program to be activated in the event that Vaglass returned. But it will shut down permanently once Vaglass is defeated, so it's one use. But that doesn?t stop them from doing the standard sequence. Morphin' Brace/Morphin' Blaster: It's Morphin' Time! All: Let's Morphin! Hiromu: Red Buster! Ryuuji: Blue Buster! Yoko: Yellow Buster! Jin: Beet Buster! J: Stag Buster! Hiromu: Tokumei Sentai... All: Go-Busters! Hiromu: Busters! Ready? All: Go! A new fight breaks out, which is more in the heroes' favour and ends with them using their respective finishing moves to destroy the transmitter, restoring the gathered Dino Hope to everyone. Soon, 4 hands appear to retrieve the Dino Bucklers. And with the Dino Hope returned, Gabutyra's back baby! And then the Kyoryugers' fight gets joined by 4 figures with a power and a force that they've never seen before. Well, all except Nossan. Nossan: It's the Zyurangers. And then they see a light in the distance coming closer. Amy: Wow! It's the Abarangers. The two Legend Reds have a reunion with their allies (who are voiced by their original actors, Eka Darville-ing it up), before Enter and Escape assume their Unite and Evolve forms. And then Neo-Grifforzer calls upon the full strength of this united alliance of evil. But Yukito gives Geki and Ryouga their own Zyudenchi, which they use to summon embodiment clones of Shugojuu Tyrannosaurus and Bakuryuu Tyranno. With the giant army taken care of, it's time to get back to action with the little guys. Geki: Dino Buckler! Ryouga: Bakuryuu Change! Kyoryugers: Brave In! Gaburevolver/GaburiChanger: Gaburincho: Gabutyra/Parasagun/Stegotchi/Zakutor/Dricera/Pteragordon! Kyoryugers: Kyoryu Change! Fire! Daigo: You'll be surprised when you hear! The Fanged Brave! KyoryuRed! Ian: The Bullet Brave! KyoryuBlack! Nossan: The Armoured Brave! KyoryuBlue! Souji: The Slashing Brave! KyoryuGreen! Amy: The Horned Brave! KyoryuPink! Utchy: The Thudering Brave! KyoryuGold! All: The strongest braves in history! Daigo: Zyuden Sentai... All: Kyoryuger! Ryouga: Explosive Energy: AbaRed! Yukito: Seriously Exploding: AbareBlue! Ranru: The Explosive Dash of Courage: AbareYellow! Ryouga: The wild Dino Guts... All: Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger! Geki: TyrannoRanger: Geki! Goushi: MammothRanger: Goushi! Dan: TriceraRanger: Dan! Boi: TigerRanger: Boi! Mei: PteraRanger: Mei! Geki: Kyoryu Sentai... All: Zyuranger! Just the Reds: The hope that crosses over time... Everyone: We are the Dinosaur Super Sentai! Daigo: It's about to get wild! Just try and stop us! Cue a specially written song, featuring Kyoryuger's instrumentals, Abaranger's singer and composer and Zyuranger's lyrics. After a series of combo attacks to take out the grunts (such as the three pteranodons, the three triceratops, the sword fighters and the strong ones), we get down to the main battles. First off, as the others go Armed On to take on Enter, Utchy defeats Escape by doing a Brave Finish using Allomerus and Beyonsmo. This causes Enter to evolve into Dark Buster. Though Dark Buster proves powerful, he ends up being eventually stopped by Ian and destroyed by Daigo using Kentrospiker. The Abarangers take on Neo-Gayrton and give him a taste of their Super Dino power using their Abare Modes. They then destroy him with the Dino Bomber. Finally, the Zyurangers take on Neo-Grifforzer in a slightly altered order, after entering their usual tower formation to do the Babel Attack. Mei: Ptera Arrow! Boi: Tiger Daggers! Dan: Tricelance! Goushi: Moth Breaker! Geki: Ryugekiken! All 3 Sentai then combine their weapons into one. But this doesn't kill Neo-Grifforzer. If anything, it helps him. He then converts this to Evil Life Energy and sacrifices himself to give Voldos a body (and if you thought Dai Satan was freaky enough, this guy has seven heads). The Kyoryugers then summon Stegotchi and Dricera to combine into Kyoryuzin, while the two embodiment clones transform into DaiZyuJin and AbarenOh. But when regular Kyoryuzin isn't enough (to be fair, neither are the other 2), Pteragordon appears to combine into Raiden Kyoryuzin. On the ground, Jin uses his last few minutes to entrust Hiromu with a Go-Busters Zyudenchi Kuroki had him create (when did he have time to do that?), before dying again. Using it, they enter Raiden Kyoryuzin and summon Tategami Lioh to donate its head to create Tategami Raiden Kyoryuzin. Using their new weapon, the three mecha combine their powers to finish off Voldos for good. After the battle, past Gabutyra thanks them before fading away, while Hiromu sends mixed signals in his attempts to cheer Daigo up and Yoko turns down Ian's advances, as Geki, Ryouga and Dantetsu watch on. Cue the credits (and honestly, I'm not as keen on this song. It's probably the weakest of the three offerings on this soundtrack) Alright! Gabu, Zaku, Gochi, Gun, Pte, Dri, Zuo, Dogo Gigan, and Pachy, let's all carnival That's right! Destiny brings us together across time It's like we're connected by the baton of hope I'll walk with you if it can make our dreams come true I'll always be friends with you and the dinosaurs too Vamola! Oh Matsurincho! Our bravery is as high as the sky! Alright! Gabu, Zaku, Gochi, Gun, Pte, Dri, Zuo, Dogo Gigan, and Pachy break out dancing Now! Gabu, Zaku, Gochi, Gun, Pte, Dri, Zuo, Dogo Gigan, and Pachy Let's all carnival But, that?s not the end. As Neo-Gayrton survived, and uses a Messiah Card to become Neo-Messiah (who is basically the Messiah Cell suit with the black parts turned purple). As he's about to take his revenge, a voice rings out. "The train is now arriving. Please wait behind the white line." And then 5 new figures appear from a train, who the same voice announces. "ToQIchigou, ToQIchigou! ToQNigou, ToQNigou! ToQSangou, ToQSangou! ToQYongou, ToQYongou! ToQGogou, ToQGogou!" After Ichigou says they're not a Sentai, briefly confusing the others before they get annoyed, they take over the rest of the speech. All: The victorious imagination! Ressha Sentai ToQger! Neo-Messiah isn't impressed by their lack of seriousness and sends in the Buglars to fight, only for them to be defeated easily. Ichigou then takes something out of Nigou's Morpher and swaps it with the equivalent in his own. "Those in a hurry, please transfer now. (Swaps the two) ToQIchigou! Red transfer to Blue! ToQNigou! Blue transfer to Red!" After using his new power set to wail on Neo-Messiah, he does the same with the other three (who are only semi-okay with it), before going back to his own. With everyone back to normal, they then finish off Neo-Messiah with their guns. With that done, the movie actually ends on this announcement. "Next is the ToQgers. After Kyoryuger is ToQger. Be careful not to forget anything." Final thoughts: A fairly decent action flick with a lot of heartfelt moments and a good shake up for the usual formula. The challenge: Given that this movie features Go-Busters, Zyuranger, and Koichi Sakamoto's direction, I've hidden a few subtle but appropriate jokes in here. Can you spot them all? Last edited by Androzani84; 10-11-2023 at 06:49 PM.. |
11-17-2021, 06:49 PM | #8987 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
|
~Fish's Zenkai Tour!~
Episode 35 – Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger Okay, I've teased the whole story of my proper introduction to Super Sentai quite a few times leading up to this moment, and here we finally are – 2011, the year tokusatsu peaked, apparently. I mean, it's a decade later, and with an almost alarming level of consistency, I still regularly see people talking about how Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and Kamen Rider OOO stand head and shoulders above most of the other entries in their respective franchises. Both of these shows are getting V-Cinemas to celebrate their 10th anniversaries, both of them sold loads of merchandise, both of them *still* reliably move merchandise... both of them are downright beloved series, any way you slice it. And you know what else OOO and Gokaiger have in common? They were the first shows I watched from either franchise, and in both cases, I really don't appreciate them anywhere near as much as I ought to. In OOO's case, a huge part of that is how I watched so many Rider shows right away that I consider more than one of them my "first", which gives me some excuse, but with Gokaiger? You're going to see over the next couple weeks that it took me a bit to start engaging with Sentai with the same level of enthusiasm I immediately approached Kamen Rider with. I watched OOO because I was excited about it; I watched Gokaiger more because everyone was excited about it. Gokaiger was certainly a series that immediately commanded everyone's attention back when it started airing. Toei basically set out to make the definitive anniversary celebration for all of Sentai, and when the premiere comes out swinging with an epic battle featuring close to two hundred suit actors portraying all the teams up to this point on the screen at once, fighting in a legendary battle against the forces of evil, it's easy to see how serious they were about this. That cold open alone is iconic enough that I'm pretty sure back in the day, it even managed to go a tiny bit viral among people who knew nothing about the context beyond "look at all them Power Rangers!" It was a big moment. But you can't have the entire show be made on that scale, of course, so what was the actual meat of the series like, for people to praise it the way they do? Well, they got Naruhisa Arakawa to write it, for one thing. You couldn't have found a better pair of hands to put this show into, really. Not only is he a veteran Sentai writer and long-time fan who knows how to respectfully and effectively leverage past material, but, as I mentioned earlier in the tour, when I was talking about the first two Sentai he was in charge of, the dude's writing has swagger, and as further proof of that, it was his idea to make the actual premise of this tribute to a longstanding tradition of allies of justice be about a bunch of roguish space pirates who only came to Earth to look for treasure. Heck of a curveball there! And the result is maybe the only group of protagonists that could hope to match the swagger of the man himself. Actually, this is maybe throwing the format out of whack with so much general stuff left to go over, but since I'm already kinda talking about the premiere anyway, let me cut to the chase – Arakawa was the best choice for this job. It's almost kind of aggravating how tight Gokaiger's first episode is, when I think about how little I would've noticed that at the time. So obviously the cold open is brilliant just for the sheer scale of it, right? Crazy cool action to kick things off with a bang, and it quickly establishes the backstory heading into the show that all 34 of those awesome teams of heroes unfortunately lost their powers valiantly defending the Earth from an evil space empire that day... which brings us to these guys, later on. Why I'm specifically singling out Arakawa's talents for praise is because I'm deeply impressed how fully formed the dynamic of the Gokaigers is from the word go. Arakawa already knows exactly what he wants this team to be like, as though he's already been writing them for a while, and that means he knows how to make all that personality come across constantly. There's a great trick the episode pulls in how so much of it is informing you about the world and characters by way of demonstration, rather than dry exposition. Combined with the way the individual personalities of the team members get moments to shine throughout each scene, I think you come out of this one learning a ton about the series without it actively feeling like you're being taught, the way a lot of opening chapters to stories often (understandably) can't get around. A really great example of this is in how the Gokaigers are shown selling off jewelry for some Earth cash to pay for lunch. Seems innocuous enough, but that's exactly the point: you explicitly know from seeing this that despite being anti-hero pirates in search of the greatest treasure in the universe, the team aren't looking to pillage and plunder for every random thing they want. Plus, the conversation that leads to this itself ends with a nice comedic beat when the deeply materialistic Luka reacts with shock and horror upon realizing why Captain Marvelous is asking for one of her rings, which is demonstrating a key aspect of her particular personality on top of everything. I know when I break it down like this, it probably doesn't sound all that impressive, but— wait, hang on a second! Did I mention Gokai Red's name is "Captain Marvelous"? I'm sorry if I dropped that in so casually, but when you've had Gokaiger in your life for a decade, it becomes easy to take for granted that it has one of the best names for a main protagonist ever. So let's all take a moment to stop and appreciate that for a second. Just say it out loud: Captain Marvelous. Sounds pretty great, doesn't it? Dude lives up to that moniker, too. First thing he does in the series is fearlessly charge past an enemy fleet in his crew's spaceship/giant robot, and when the restaurant he's having curry at gets exploded by yet more enemy ships with him in it, his immediate concern is just whether or not he can get a plate to replace the one he lost in the blast. And again, it's like this with everyone, in every scene, all throughout the episode. The crew of the Gokai Galleon are such an eclectic bunch of strong personalities, and it's no trouble at all getting a handle on them even with all the room that needs to be made for everything else here. I already mentioned two of them, but Don's wimpy demeanor is also on full display as he makes loads of pessimistic comments about basically everything, Ahim is constantly acting like the noblewoman she is and indirectly pushes the group to act heroically by being the first to stop and take notice of the frightened commoners in need of saving once everything starts blowing up (this is why Ahim is my favorite, by the way), and even Joe, the enigmatic cool blue whose personality can't be fully displayed so easily, still has the layers behind his stoicism hinted at in some fashion when Luka teases him early in the episode about how he's totally forcing himself to pretend he isn't excited about exploring a whole new planet the same way all of them are. I guess it's easy for me to say this having seen the whole show, but I truly think the premiere gives everyone great material to work with. As an overall unit, too, you get a nice feel for the whole unique selling point of the Gokaigers being space pirates, which is how this is the exceptionally rare team to have no initial connection to Earth whatsoever, making the way their resolve to protect the planet grows with time a big anchor for the drama. They're initially presented as these weird outsiders yelling through a megaphone to ask where the treasure is so they can be on their way, and even at the end of this episode, it's much more their beef with the villains that motivates them than it is any specific value in this particular planet and its people. Marvelous even insists this was entirely about the curry, if you believe him. To be fair, he does seem like the kind of guy who would believably go to war over someone ruining his lunch. Indeed, Gokai Red in general comes off like a dude you don't want to mess with, and a big part of that is Hirofumi Fukuzawa's suit acting. This is the final Red he would play before becoming the action director for Sentai as a whole starting with the next series (and continuing at least all the way up to Zenkaiger!), and I think he made it count. It's another instantly distinctive role, with this fantastic balance of nonchalance and aggression befitting a captain who is at once supremely charismatic and more than a little dangerous. But the thing is, Gokaiger is a Sentai where I can instantly tell you how distinct everyone is in-suit, something I find often takes a bit more reading into the subtle touches to figure out. Here though? Blue conveys Joe's master swordsmanship and confident stoicism through his habit (that you admittedly don't see in the premiere) of taking opponents on with one hand literally behind his back; Green gets across how weird Don is by doing whatever throughout battles; Yellow reflects Luka's self-assured spunkiness with a lot of snappy, high-energy gestures; and then you've got Pink going in the exact opposite direction with graceful and composed mannerisms appropriate for Ahim, the most classy person in the group. Oh man, and I'm only now realizing I've gotten this far without even mentioning the biggest gimmick of the Gokaigers! ...And I'm still not going to for a little bit, because I want to touch on all the great action leading up to that in the premiere! The Gokaigers storming past an enemy blockade to make it to Earth was a great way to set a swashbuckling tone for the group right away, and it's certainly displaying some more Arakawa swagger to put the giant robot fight at the start of the episode, like a total rebel. And while the frantic pace and large scale of the action requires Gokai-Oh to be portrayed using CG for most of the sequence, they made sure to get in a nice shot or two of the proper suit standing there looking cool, which I appreciate. I mean, it probably goes without saying how tight this thing is on a production level when it has the cold opening it does. Honestly, I sort of found the debut battle for the Gokaigers themselves more impressive in a way. They made an unusually large amount of mook suits this year, and all throughout the climax, there's this striking sense of what an overwhelming force these five heroes are somehow effortlessly taking on by themselves, backed by exciting choreography and elevated by the aforementioned distinctive performances of the suit actors. It's impressive stuff; a great way to cap off the episode's action. Except that isn't what caps it off, now is it? I'd like to note that I wasn't even intentionally trying to avoid getting to this point, because I think that in of itself speaks volumes about how much Gokaiger stands solely on its own merits. And it's because you can get invested in them as their own team that it becomes that much more interesting when they start turning into all the other ones on top of that. Yes, a huge part of the show's appeal is that all those powers that got lost at the start have wound up in the hands of this unusual new Sentai, which, among other things, gives the fights an unprecedented ability to pull in a massive variety of different motifs, styles, and abilities, all owing to how varied the franchise itself has been over the years. It's deeply nostalgic for fans, but also exciting for those less familiar with what other teams are even out there, simply because that makes it so much more random and fun, a balance between audiences that Gokaiger is always striving for. Naturally, there's a lot of narrative significance to all this, as well. Being anti-heroes who have also monopolized the entirety of Super Sentai, another running theme throughout the show is how the Gokaigers have to prove themselves as true heroes in their own right, rather than mere pirated copies of previous legends, which involves many, many returning faces from older shows in guest-starring roles interacting with the crew over the course of the series. A topic that would be fun to talk about in its own right, but I believe the point I was actually trying to get back around to was my personal experience with this show. Gokaiger is undeniably great. I would not argue otherwise for a second, even back then. And as you can plainly see, I'm certainly getting pumped enough writing about it right now. But when I was watching the show at the time, it never quite became something I was eagerly awaiting each new episode of. It'll be hard to believe, I'm sure, but I guess I wasn't always this passionate about tokusatsu, and I certainly didn't start out overthinking things the way I do nowadays. I enjoyed Gokaiger just fine, but I was incapable of stopping to really appreciate how much of a quality series it really is, and it's one of those shows I think deserves another look from me one of these days. Something that's striking me thinking back on it to write this is that, despite how I haven't seen most of these episodes since they aired, I actually still remember loads of amazing moments, even if a lot of the full context is vague at this point. I don't consider Gokaiger one of my absolute favorite Sentai at all, despite the nostalgic status you'd imagine it would have as my first series, and when I say that, there's always this sort of voice in the back of my head, again much like with OOO, that goes "but why not though?" Because on an almost objective level, it just *should* be, the same way it is for so many other people. This is a Sentai that pulls off the impossible feat of being an epic fanservice celebration that's still totally accessible to newcomers (I would know!), full of memorable original characters and tons of strong storytelling of its own, that captures the overall spirit of the franchise, and all with that irresistibly cool pirate motif carrying it along. And then there are the simple pleasures, like how Ranger Keys were basically the best idea Bandai has ever had, and I mean, I adore those things too! Make no mistake though, I definitely love Gokaiger. It's a show I only grow more fond of with retrospect, as I've gradually come to understand how good I had it getting into Rider and Sentai when I did, and just like most fans probably will, I'd recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat, for so many more reasons than I've even covered here.
__________________
Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 11-17-2021 at 06:54 PM.. |
11-17-2021, 07:07 PM | #8988 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,388
|
Ah yes, the show that spawned a billion fanfics. Good times.
__________________
|
11-17-2021, 07:17 PM | #8989 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
|
Compared to Rider, I haven't seen -as- much Sentai as I'd like to have. There's a lot of great stuff out there lauded by fans, particularly from the 90s and 2000s that many hold up as their favourites or some of the best the franchise has to offer. Hurricanger, Gekiranger, Dairanger, Jetman, Boukenger. And one day I dearly hope to get to those - there's certainly no lack of them that have me excited! - and perhaps they'll supercede my current favourite Sentai as my number 1. I've certainly found a love for that era of Toku in general.
So maybe it just comes off as not having seen the better stuff... but MAN Gokaiger refuses to stop being my favourite Sentai to this day, even with Zenkaiger putting together such a strong case. It was my first Sentai, and first Toku altogether; I had only had any real familiarity at that point with Power Rangers, and was generally interested in that for the aesthetics and type of fighting it had... so eventually I decided to have a shot at a Sentai that a friend recommended, and Gokaiger instantly blew me away! It was, like... everything I wanted, man. Everything I had seen as cool in PR was here tenfold, topped off by perfectly written characters with top tier drama, and just a sheer clear love shining through for what they were doing and the franchise they were paying homage to. Everything Fish says here is, to me, bang-on! It's EXACTLY why I love the show so much and why it remains as something dear and close to my heart years later. Gokaiger led me into, like... everything I wanted from a superhero story, and it really started me off with what I'd still call one of the best. Maybe Zenkaiger will beat it, maybe next year I'll be an unabashed Gekiranger and Zyuranger officiando; but Gokaiger will always remain a huge favourite of mine for everything it does well and how excited it got me to get into this genre. I love this show!
__________________
|
11-18-2021, 03:58 AM | #8990 |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 462
|
I'm more inclined to think of 2006 as the great tokusatsu year if anything in terms of the amount of shows I really liked, at least other than PRMF but I do think 2011 was at least one of those years that was pretty good for choice, yes, being as you did have Armor Hero XT, The Hero Yoshihiko and GARO Makaisenki spring up late in the year!
|
|
TokuNation News & Rumors |
What's going on with CSM? |
Ultraman Arc Trailer |
2024 Kamen Rider after Gotchard Rumor |
King-Ohger VS Dekaranger |
Shodo SUPER JAKQ |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 10:03 PM.
|