ZERO
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Post by ZERO on Jan 4, 2014 16:52:22 GMT -5
Given some of the talk elsewhere around here of late, and (perfectly valid) criticism that Power Rangers-specific threads often get hijacked/derailed by talk of Super Sentai, I think this stuff warrants it's own thread. Then I thought, "why stop at just sentai?" so with this in mind I'm hoping this will become an all-purpose thread for Tokusatsu shows in general, taking in Kamen Rider, Ultraman and anything else in that area. Maybe even some Godzilla talk if you like.
Currently, I'm watching Kamen Rider Black. Thus far, my Toku experiences have been with Super Sentai and some other bits (more on that later), so I'd been wanting to dig into Toei's "other" franchise. I for some reason settled on Kamen Rider Black because I was told it's one of the darker series, at least of the Showa era and has a great bad guy in Shadow Moon. Plus, this may sound weird, but I didn't really want to start with anything too recent in case I then went back to earlier shows and couldn't quite get to grips with it. I fully intend to dive into the current show, Gaim soon though.
I've currently watched 41 episodes of 51 of Black, and my opinions on it are mixed. There's some good action there once they start extending the fights beyond Kotaro encountering the monster of the week, transforming, and hitting the rider kick, but Kotaro himself is very one-note. Anything remotely strange happens, "IT MUST BE GORGOM!!!" with some occasional angst over his "brother" Nobuhiko still being held by Gorgom, the enemy group of the show. However, I do like that he is just an outright hero with a strong sense of justice, and the whole "being turned into a monster by the bad guys, but choosing to fight evil instead" is a very traditional thing in old-school Rider.
I definitely prefer Gorgom once Shadow Moon awakens and assumes command and the three high priests are relegated to being his henchmen (Bishium's laugh annoys me so much that she was starting to affect my enjoyment of it). I sense that a bit like Dairanger (which I actually love), now I'm into the point where the main story is finally beginning to properly pick up, with the build up to the showdown between "Black Sun" (The name given to Kotaro when converted by Gorgom) and "Shadow Moon"
I'm also starting to look to another Sentai to pick up once I'm finished with Kamen Rider Black, this is what my "To watch next" list is looking like:
Jetman Gekiranger Shinkenger (I'm kinda waiting on something before I start this) Kyoryuger (I've decided to wait until this one's finished, then going through it all at my own pace. I might skip right to the vs Go-Busters movie though just to see the all-Dino teamup, seeing as Zyuranger was my first show)
Feel free to talk about favourite shows, characters etc and recommendations of shows and such!
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Post by Rumble McSkirmish on Jan 4, 2014 17:11:55 GMT -5
So far the only Super Sentai series I've watched in full are: Jetman, Dekaranger, Gekiranger, Go-Onger, Gokaiger and Go Busters. And both seasons of Akibarangers.
All of which are well worth watching for various reasons.
Jetman was pretty dark (In a good mature way) at times for a show aimed at children.
Dekarangers had some great stories.
Gekiranger had some of the most well rounded and well written antagonists in Rio and Mele.
Go-Onger because it's so incredibly over the top goofy (but not a fully comedic way that Carrangers was) that any viewer would have a hard time believing that it spawned Power Rangers RPM.
Gokaiger because it's well a great tribute to all of the past series and it has some of the best protagonists/antagonists in the genre (Captain Marvelous and Basco FTW.)
Go Busters which also had a great antagonist in Enter whom was one of the few villains in the Sentai to actually stay ahead of the heroes alot of the times and he peppers his dialogue with random French which is cool.
And even though it's "unofficial" I can't recommend Akibarangers enough as not only it pokes fun and pays tribute the history of Super Sentai, but also is a great send up of otaku culture in general.
I've only seen one full series of Kamen Rider: OOO's which was interesting based on the kind of symbiotic relationship the protagonist has with one of the main bad guys in that series.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2014 17:22:30 GMT -5
I am not all too strong with Kamen Rider lore I have watched both Kamen Rider Wizard and Kamen Rider Fourze in full though and have throughly enjoyed them both so I am gonna be lookin to delve into the rest of that series.
As for Sentai which I am a stronger fan of to sum it up simply and as for what I have seen
Pre-zyurangers
FlashMan ChangeMan LiveMan JetMan
And post Zyurangers I have seen most in full except for.
CarRanger BouKenger GingaMan
All the others I have watched some multiple times like GoKaiger which by now I have marathoned in its entirety like 9 times.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Jan 4, 2014 21:15:28 GMT -5
I would love if WWE did a Spirit Squad style group, but just had them be sentai styled, like the HUSTLE Rangers.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2014 21:18:22 GMT -5
Here is one thing thats interested me about Post-Gokaiger specifically when it comes to discussion about which Sentai team is strongest and other similar discussions. and Just because it is awesome I LOVE this moment....seeing DaiZyujin brought a tear to a glass eye....and Beetle Buster piloting MagiKing was a great callback to him being MagiYellow. We all know by series end they give back the powers to the original sentai teams....and in SuperHero Taisen they "borrowed" the powers specifically the TimeRanger and MaskMan powers as Gai had come back to earth already...of course it is pure assumption that they did indeed just borrow all the powers. Or That the Gokaigers grand power is not needing the original keys anymore and they can manafest their own versions of the keys. And something else thats been bugging me in the Gokaiger Vs Go-Buster movie....they say the original Gokai Galleon got destroyed and they had this one sent from the past ...so one is to assume they contact and took the Galeon from their past self or someone else between this movie and the end of Gokaiger has access to the Galleon.....I know I am probably over thinking it but such a line sticks out way more than it should.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2014 22:07:53 GMT -5
Just came across this.
You know a series is in trouble when mooks look cooler and more interesting than the main characters....and oh christy that Red Ranger is gonna be annoying as all hell.
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Lupin the Third
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Post by Lupin the Third on Jan 4, 2014 22:15:10 GMT -5
Love this damn theme song.
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Post by Rumble McSkirmish on Jan 5, 2014 7:51:17 GMT -5
Just came across this. You know a series is in trouble when mooks look cooler and more interesting than the main characters....and oh christy that Red Ranger is gonna be annoying as all hell. That promo makes it look like what would happen if you took Go-Onger and mixed it with Goseiger.
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ZERO
Don Corleone
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Post by ZERO on Jan 5, 2014 10:17:30 GMT -5
Did I just see wrist-mounted transforming devices again?
I hope so, I get sick of cellphone-based ones.
I have just watched the Director's cut versions of episodes 1 & 2 of Shinkenger. Really impressed with it. With the amount of love it gets from some areas of fandom I was expecting a bit of a letdown, but I dug it alot.
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the2ndevil
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Post by the2ndevil on Jan 5, 2014 12:09:48 GMT -5
Design wise, the grunts are the only thing about the show that I actually like, but Yasuko Kobayashi is writing it, therefore, I am required to be its bitch.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 14:44:47 GMT -5
Just came across this. You know a series is in trouble when mooks look cooler and more interesting than the main characters....and oh christy that Red Ranger is gonna be annoying as all hell. That promo makes it look like what would happen if you took Go-Onger and mixed it with Goseiger. And unfortunately the red ranger being for all intents and purposes being the unholy clone of ALATA just emphasises that comparison.
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ZERO
Don Corleone
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Post by ZERO on Jan 5, 2014 17:23:57 GMT -5
Design wise, the grunts are the only thing about the show that I actually like, but Yasuko Kobayashi is writing it, therefore, I am required to be its bitch. From what I've read aren't the staff for Tokkyuger nearly all the people who worked on Shinkenger? I don't really know many "names" in Toku yet, apart from Toshiki Inoue, and people's irrational refusal to watch anything he's done recently (although he did pen the Jetman tribute episode in Gokaiger, which was very well-recieved) and Keita Amemiya, who is responsible for one of my favourite shows ever, let alone Tokusatsu, Garo (More on that later, it's late over here and I have work tomorrow).
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Post by Larryhausen on Jan 5, 2014 17:25:46 GMT -5
So I watched a few more eps of Kyoryuger today, and, by Zod, Kyoryu Red Carnival is the best powered up form EVER.
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DragonMasterP
King Koopa
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Post by DragonMasterP on Jan 5, 2014 20:32:28 GMT -5
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the2ndevil
Grimlock
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Where Is Your Santa, Now?
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Post by the2ndevil on Jan 6, 2014 20:00:24 GMT -5
Design wise, the grunts are the only thing about the show that I actually like, but Yasuko Kobayashi is writing it, therefore, I am required to be its bitch. From what I've read aren't the staff for Tokkyuger nearly all the people who worked on Shinkenger? I don't really know many "names" in Toku yet, apart from Toshiki Inoue, and people's irrational refusal to watch anything he's done recently (although he did pen the Jetman tribute episode in Gokaiger, which was very well-recieved) and Keita Amemiya, who is responsible for one of my favourite shows ever, let alone Tokusatsu, Garo (More on that later, it's late over here and I have work tomorrow). There hasn't been a series she's been lead writer on that I haven't absolutely loved. Inoue's body of work is... an interesting one to look at. His stories tend to have heavy soap opera elements. He's best known for Jetman and Kamen Rider Agito. With Kamen Rider 555 (pronounced as "Faiz") he wrote all 50 episodes himself, but if the characters actually talked to each other, the show would have been about 5 episodes long. He's struck me as a natural soap writer that ended up doing these super hero shows because his father wrote for the original Kamen Rider.
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Post by Rumble McSkirmish on Jan 7, 2014 0:47:05 GMT -5
Love this damn theme song. That's the one thing that Toei exceeds at in their Toku shows, having kick ass intro and end credits music. Like this: Or This:
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2014 1:03:04 GMT -5
And this one
And
So many sentai themes are ridiculously catchy.
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DragonMasterP
King Koopa
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Post by DragonMasterP on Jan 7, 2014 4:14:03 GMT -5
Y'know, I'm thinking of starting a Best Super Sentai Theme Song tournament in the games forum now......
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2014 4:27:37 GMT -5
Y'know, I'm thinking of starting a Best Super Sentai Theme Song tournament in the games forum now...... That would be cool I would participate. Calls it now the final four. Shinkenger Gokaiger Kakuranger Hurricanger Too early?
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DragonMasterP
King Koopa
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Post by DragonMasterP on Jan 7, 2014 4:31:24 GMT -5
All worthy winners, but we'll see.
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