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08-15-2021, 09:28 PM | #8801 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,538
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If the criteria is badassery, definitely forest ranger. People may joke about them because of certain portrayals in fiction but it sure ain't no easy job according to what I looked up. It's a jack-of-all-trades kinda profession too from law enforcement to firefighting, animal protection, etc.
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08-18-2021, 09:03 PM | #8802 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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~Fish's Zenkai Tour!~
Episode 23 – Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive ...Why the heck have I not watched this whole show yet? Or, no, wait, before I ask that, I need to ask something else first. Can I tell you a story real quick? A meteorite strikes the ground in the middle of a bustling city. It carries with it a towering demonic creature of stone and magma who begins destroying everything in sight. Citizens flee in terror as buildings come crumbling down. In response to this chaos come five courageous heroes. To the awe of nearby onlookers, their aquatic base rises from the water, and from it deploy a series of highly advanced train cars which begin speeding to the scene of the disaster. The gargantuan size of these vehicles almost seems to highlight how larger-than-life the operators themselves are, with everyday vehicles and roadways becoming dwarfed by the fantastic machines. Arriving to find several people trapped within an elevator inside a burning building, the heroes utilize yet more vehicles to mount a rescue. The unbelievable nature of these incredible tools is somehow given credibility by the surprisingly ordinary mechanisms they employ to perform such amazing feats. Hydraulic pistons and wire ropes raise enormous metal frames into position to combine with one another for the purpose of extinguishing the flames. Stabilizers extend to brace ladders that reach massive distances to provide the heroes their entrance into the devastated structure. Braving many obstacles in the process, the heroes succeed in their daring mission to get the imperiled civilians to safety, and turn their attention to the creature responsible for the destruction. Powerful guns keep it at bay as they unite their machines into a titan of their own, allowing them to triumph over the monster in a thrilling battle that, at last, results in the hard-earned salvation of the city. As you can tell, I don't really have skilled enough prose to do it justice, but I still felt the need to describe the plot of GoGoFive's premiere in that pompous manner, as though you've never seen a hero tokusatsu show before, since it ought to help set the tone for what I'm talking about next. See, that's the plot of the first episode of Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive... but it's also the plot of the second episode of its American adaptation, Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. I like to start these posts off by talking about what each show means to me personally, and for GoGoFive, it's going to have to start there. Because as I watched that first episode again (I'll explain the "again" in a bit), I came to the conclusion there's something I can't dance around and still get across my feelings here, so... mind if I tell you another story? Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue is the first tokusatsu show I remember being a fan of. More than that, it might be one of the first things I remember period. I consciously avoid being even that specific about my age on this forum, but you're all getting a rare glimpse into the very foundations of my toku backstory right now, all so you know how sincere I am when I say the following – 20 years ago, that whole sequence I described was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my entire life, and 20 years later, it's still the coolest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Granted, there are lots of coolest things I've seen now (I became really bad at picking favorites!), but this is something I want to stress. I'm not telling you that I hypothetically think the action in GoGoFive's premiere would impress children of the time; I am literally one of those kids who was impressed by it. And it totally holds up! Do you know how lucky I feel, seeing all these amazing special effects, then reading how they spent an unusually large amount of time and money putting the first episode together? It's almost certainly the most impressive raw tokusatsu work I've seen in this tour yet, with a high level of intricate detail that really sells the perfect mix between "realism" and fantasy the show is going for. This is an episode that can make a walking pair of giant robot trousers with no torso seem legitimately impressive and cool. If you've ever wondered where I get all this passion for the genre, you needn't look much further than this show's American counterpart. It is indescribably formative to me as a person, and while it might sound like I'm talking about the wrong series an awful lot in this post, what I'm attempting to get at here, in this mess of excitement, is that most of the things that made Lightspeed Rescue so formative, it owes directly to GoGoFive. Which means I owe a lot to GoGoFive, and always have, even well before I knew it. It isn't just about giant robots, either. What I'm grateful about these shows doing for me, above all else, is defining the notion of heroism the way they did. Note that GoGoFive's premiere doesn't involve the heroes fighting anything until they bust out the giant robot at the very end. Quite literally, rescuing people comes first, and everything else comes after. A hero is not someone who merely defeats foes; a hero is someone who *saves lives*. After all, as the team's catchphrase so succinctly puts it, people's lives are the Earth's future. It's maybe precisely because of how impactful this was on me (even without the catchphrase) that I don't have the words to describe how laudable a concept I find this. To this day, I place an enormous value on superhero stories being about more than just violence, and if you're familiar with a lot of the opinions I've expressed on a lot of different shows over the years, then this whole origin story likely puts a lot of that into perspective. So... why the heck have I not watched this whole show yet? I did try to, really early after getting into Kamen Rider and Sentai in 2011. It might've even become the first Sentai I saw in full, but, as I remember it, either the entire show wasn't subbed yet, or at least I was unable to find those subs. So I gave it a few episodes, all of which I adored, and then decided to put the rest off until the day came where I could actually watch the rest. And uh, heh... I'm just still putting it off for some reason? I could use the abundance of other great toku shows I've discovered in the intervening time as an excuse, but man, just seeing the first fifteen seconds of the theme song is enough to make me feel a little guilty about leaving this Mission Incomplete for so long. Like, even now, I still fondly recall "ken yo, hikari wo yobe!" as being maybe the single coolest thing ever said before a finishing move, but getting to hear those sweet words again apparently isn't enough of a push. Someday, GoGoFive, someday. Speaking of things I feel guilty about, my apologies if this one was a little hard to parse for anyone? To sum it up, GoGoFive has amazing concepts and themes I know I'm going to love one day, the first episode is great, and did I seriously not find any room to mention that it's also the second Sentai focused on a group of siblings as the protagonists? (Alongside "five" being right in the title, avoiding disrupting this tight character dynamic was apparently the thinking behind not adding the now usual extra member to the team partway in, which famously created the opportunity for Lightspeed Rescue to add one totally unique to that show.) Okay, so now I can say I was at least a little informative about the show itself, but yeah, this one was 100% self-indulgence on my part. If you're still wondering what GoGoFive even is after all this, by all means, do what I haven't and go watch it for yourself. I barely scratched the surface of what I know makes it awesome, and you could discover so many awesome things I don't know.
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 03-05-2022 at 06:20 PM.. |
08-18-2021, 09:12 PM | #8803 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,416
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Wow, your post reminded me a whole lot about the friend of mine who grew up loving Lightspeed Rescue specifically, and got me to reevaluate it years later on a rewatch. Great stuff.
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08-19-2021, 12:16 AM | #8804 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,538
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Aside from the epic opening theme I only got 3 words.
MILK. TORNADO. DROP. Jokes aside, the recent efforts of the other cast members reaching out to Kenji Shibata who played Daimon/Go Yellow is really great to see. For those not in the know, Shibata suffered a brain tumor post-GogoV and it sadly affected his career. He has since gone to have multiple surgeries and choose a different career path. Thankfully his fictional siblings have in recent times actively been there for him with one of their recent efforts being a post mortem-ish panel at a Japanese film festival last year hosted by Junretsu's Sakai aka Gao Black. Post-GogoV Ryuichiro Nishioka who played Matoi/Go Red went on to guest role in Hurricanger, Masashi Taniguchi who played Nagare/Go Blue and Atsushi Harada who played Sho/Go Green went on to be Kamen Riders in Saber, Amazons, and 555 respectively. Taniguchi was Bahato/Kamen Rider Falchion and Jin/Kamen Rider Amazon Alpha, Harada was Mihara/Kamen Rider Delta. Kayoko Shibata who played Matsuri/Go Pink also can be seen in a guest role in Shinkenger and Gokaiger, as well as in the Japanese film Ju-On as a supporting role.
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Last edited by Sunred; 08-19-2021 at 03:30 AM.. |
08-23-2021, 08:56 PM | #8805 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 905
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It's been a while but I'm currently up to episode 48 of LuPat. We're officially at the endgame now.
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08-24-2021, 04:05 PM | #8806 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 905
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I, once again, apologize for the double post.
I'm finally finished with Lupinranger vs. Patranger. Now, it's onward to Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger. |
08-24-2021, 08:30 PM | #8807 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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~Fish's Zenkai Tour!~
Case File.24 – Mirai Sentai Timeranger Awwww yeah! Time for, uh, Timeranger! Right, that one! I promise not to spend the *entire* post on an ambiguously on-topic nostalgic rant this week, but if Lightspeed Rescue played an indescribably huge role in making me love tokusatsu, then Power Rangers Time Force might've honestly done the same for storytelling in general. I was enthralled by that series simply on a dramatic level. The complexity of the themes and the humanity of the characters was frankly unreal considered within the context of its target audience, and to this day, I still love it to bits. I consider myself blessed to have grown up with it, and ever since getting into the wider world of toku through shows like Kamen Rider Ryuki and OOO, it's been something of a point of pride for me that Time Force is in part notable because of how much of that great drama stems from it faithfully adapting a Sentai series written by Yasuko Kobayashi. No wonder she's my favorite, right? Ironically enough for a pair of shows with fate as a central theme, this may have all been inevitable! But that's my story, and apparently for a lot of little kids in Japan at the turn of the millennium, Timeranger didn't hold much appeal. Merchandise sales for the show greatly underperformed, which could be attributed to a number of different factors. Kamen Rider Kuuga proving to be a smash hit the same year definitely wouldn't have helped, and it's easy to imagine Timeranger's unusually complicated style turning off younger viewers, something perhaps exemplified by an anecdote about how the theme song was given subtitles for the lyrics partway into the show's run after complaints about them being hard to understand due to the heavy use of English. That being said, I'm not sure if it can be that simple when, as mentioned, Kuuga was a runaway success, despite being every bit as unusual. Kuuga tells you what time everything is taking place; Timeranger tells you what date. Kuuga never has anyone say "Kamen Rider"; Timeranger never has anyone say "Mirai Sentai". There are some surprising similarities there! Who knows, maybe having the theme song also be unusual really made all the difference, but it's kind of a shame to think anyone would reject a theme song as epic as Timeranger's. For as similar as it might to be to Kuuga, though, I've always seen Timeranger as sort of a Jetman for a new generation? Not only are there superficial similarities like the transformation schemes of their primary giant robots, the overall mission statement for both shows is undeniably close, with both making an effort to focus on heavier, more "real" drama than usual. The setup of the heroes is different, and yet it's because they made it the exact opposite that I get the feeling they had to be doing it on purpose. Jetman was about four random ordinary people and a Red specifically chosen and trained for the job, while Timeranger is about four people chosen and trained for the job and a Red who is just some ordinary guy. And just like with Jetman's premise, I find Timeranger's idea of four people from the year 3000 meeting one man from the modern day to be an instantly strong concept to get some drama going, so let's talk about that first episode already. I thought Timeranger had a really good premiere. I don't find it as striking as some others, especially considering Timeranger on the whole was actively trying to stand out, but it still establishes everything in a very competent manner. Like, for how much I'm talking up the complexity of this show, the premise couldn't be more straightforward, and that's entirely by design, since they are still keeping the target audience in mind. The plot from the outset is as simple as follows – the future is totally cool and awesome, but some very bad people go back in time to do bad things, and now the heroes have to go and arrest them before they mess stuff up. It's kept super approachable. (The whole law enforcement angle also led to this being a Sentai that did their job without killing a single monster, something I naturally approve of.) The Kobayashi factor is what starts to truly elevate the episode, though, as I feel like you get a great grip on four out of five of the team members right away. I mean, Ayase is hard to get a read on, sure (which probably just means he's the usual "cool Blue"), but like: Domon is the frivolous one; Sion is smart and sweet; Yuuri is someone you probably shouldn't mess with; and Tatsuya? Well he's just barely hanging in there, isn't he? Really, Tatsuya brings the entire group dynamic to life as soon as he shows up, lending a grounded energy to all this serious sci-fi nonsense he's dragged into. One of my favorite moments in the whole episode is just a simple bit of suit acting from Time Red where, after the battle ends, he immediately plops himself right down on the ground, as if to unwind from all the excitement. It's such a human thing to do, and also not something you'd expect from most Sentai heroes, which is why it's an amazing thing to end the premiere on. (Having it both start and close on birds flying by was also a great touch.) All in all, it's a strong start for yet another show I probably should've watched by now! Once again, a lack of subs back when I was first getting into Super Sentai is probably to blame here, but, once again, that excuse can only carry me so far. I feel such an inherent connection to Timeranger it's sort of insane this project was the first I've watched even a single episode of it. Perhaps it's also ironic that I've yet to find the time to watch Timeranger? Definitely a tomorrow worth changing... some day!
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 03-05-2022 at 06:24 PM.. |
08-24-2021, 08:43 PM | #8808 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Oh hell yeah, Timeranger!! I just watched this one... like... a month ago? Oh, wow; checking my chatlogs it's just over a month, how time flies... regardless, LOVED it! After marathoning the heck out of Rider and Ultra these past couple years I've started making a conscious effort to watch more Sentai, of which Timeranger has been a wonderful start with how lovely and grounded the team are despite the sci-fi setting. There's something just so deeply captivating about their dynamic, and so fascinating about how the last 10 episodes handles it in a way that... well. I'm a Shinkenger fan so let's just say the very similar beats didn't need a lot of effort to win me over! So many other little things too like the importance placed on life (Yuri trying to kill a Sentai Monster being treated unequivocally as an awful, terrible, immoral thing that would ruin her completely? Uh, yes?? More of this please!); the charming paycheck-to-paycheck apartment and odd job set-up; the sheer vibes and tone running through each episode capped by the music...
Not my absolute favourite, but 100% a great show I was so happy to watch! Solid story, fun Sentai shenanigans, enough of a unique spin to make it distinct; oh yeah, and my favourite Blue as well! Lots to love here
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08-24-2021, 08:46 PM | #8809 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,416
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Wow, you actually got most of what Time Force was saying back then? I really am slow! Haha.
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08-24-2021, 09:59 PM | #8810 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Quote:
(I also really liked the dinosaur. The dinosaur was cool.)
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