That Tokusatsu Thread -

[darkhorse816]

Since the TV guilty pleasures thread is turning into a let's ramble about Power Rangers and Super Sentai thread, I figured I'd start a thread dedicated to Tokusatsu.

Super Sentai
Kamen Rider
Ultraman
Japanese Monster Movies (the first Godzilla movie is amazing)
Even Power Rangers

"Let's Make It Showy!"

 

[exball]

Japanese giant monsters movies are dabess.

 

[TrippinKahlua]

Spoiler

The only reason I didn't make the thread is because threads I make always go shitty

Anyway, I've been into Power Rangers since the first year in 1993. After school, we'd go for 4PM Spanish Lessons at my friends house, and then afterwards, we'd always watch Power Rangers. It was the very first non-animated television show that really appealed to me. Even though I was a spergy, little, pseudo-autist, I had always looked up to teenagers and the idea of them being the ones who transform into what was an entirely different kind of Super Hero was just awesome. And I love a long, gripping story, and Power Rangers usually would feature story arcs with grand cliffhangers that would have me and my friends speculating all for the next 24 hours on Who will rescue Kimberly, and etc.

My interest in Power Rangers just did not die. The 3rd Season was filled to the brim with highlights for me. The Ninja Megazord was awesome to see as a 9-year old for the first time. And it really got me excited to see for the first time, a Megazord NOT use a Sword for its Finisher move. Those ferocious Ape/Wolf graphics still pump my blood with excitement. The "Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers" Saga even got my Dad semi-interested. He knew something was up when the Power Rangers were not Teenagers anymore and couldn't morph. Several months after the Saga ended, he asked what happened to them (obviously he didn't actually sit and watch with me, but he still heard it through the Tv).

I was pretty mad with them for switching up the cast like they did in Turbo (by 1997), but today I do see it had to be done, and for all the flak I give TJ, Carlos, Cassie and Ashley, I absolutely love "Power Rangers In Space" and after 6-9 months, it got clear that these new guys HAD fit in the shoes of being Power Rangers. One of my favorite parts of any Tokusatsu production (including Ameri-toku production) are the villains and… holy god… Astronema really needs a medal. She was like 100 steps beyond Divatox. She nailed every part of her character, even when she temporarily turned good, she nailed that part. Melody Perkins/Astronema/Karone is really one of my favorite acts in all of Power Rangers, not to mention Melody Perkins is just so, so,

Unfortunately, living in an island community eventually got in the way, and by 1999, the closest Fox affiliate I could pick up (in Miami) had dropped the "Fox Kids" block in favor of local programming, so I didn't get to watch "Power Rangers Lost Galaxy" when it first went through. Much, much later in 2012, I watched through it all on Netflix and… I was simply blown away. Oh, it has its problems production-wise and story-wise, but I think this season doesn't quite receive as much credit as it should. One key thing about the two "Space" seasons of Power Rangers is the fact their corresponding Sentai's have nothing to do with Space at all (they do go to the Moon in "Megaranger" though), but Lost Galaxy did a much better job at writing around that, creating these multiple different domes, replacing the villains (which I usually don't like, but it works better in this case) yet taking much of everything else straight from Gingaman (such as the Red Ranger originally going to be the older brother, but that brother ends up killed) and applying the whole Space aspect where it can easily fit. The villains are just, just, great. Trakeena, Treacheron, Deviot, Furio, Hexuba, Impostra (), the ensemble of villains here was just great and varied. Gingaman had some of the best Tokusatsu monster design I've seen.

I did watch through Lightspeed Rescue on Netflix, but besides the villains and their story, I was not interested. Ryan was bland. Carter was bland. Joel & Ms. Fairweather was cute and amusing, but it didn't save the show for me. Not coming off the epicness that was Lost Galaxy. I tried giving Timeforce a chance, but the reason I didn't was because the villains and monster design was simply horrible. They even took the Sentai's main villain and gave him and huge demotion… The villains and monster design, as I said, is one of my favorite parts of Tokusatsu, knowing that every monster in Time Force would be a hideous looking wreck, I just couldn't watch through it, even knowing how absolutely awesome Jenn is.

Anyway, more power to the Rangers for still being on the air. I'm too old to really watch the newer seasons these days, and I watch all the old ones purely for nostalgia. I also love the other Ameri-Toku productions, but those are for another spergy rant.

 

[darkhorse816]

I love the 80s era of sentai. It was the golden age. They took the most risks. That's why it worked. Modern day sentai isn't taking a lot of risks. Gokaiger was the last one to take a really big risk: let's make all of the heroes anti-heroes (pirates).

 

[TrippinKahlua]

I haven't seen any 80s Sentais yet, but I loooove the likes of Metalder and Spielban for the surreal 80s vibes they give me. I love flashing neon lights and stuff. A lot of visuals seen in Saban's Masked Rider (hence, from 1988/1989's Kamen Rider Black Rx) are so full of 80s neon its really pleasurable for someone like me.

My favorite part of the Power Rangers, though, were the Megazord battles. One of my favorites was the "Mega-Dragonzord" which shot out a green Z-Sphere to disintegrate enemies.

 

[Dr. Mario]

I really enjoyed watching Kamen Rider Den-O, Kamen Rider Decade, Kamen Rider Double and Kamen Rider Fourze. I never got too deep into Sentai, though.

 

[darkhorse816]

Den-O is one of my favorites.

I'm kind of a snob when it comes to sentai. Off of the top of my head, my favorite series are...

Flashman (It's only barely subbed though)
Liveman (my number one favorite series. I can ramble about it later)
Carranger (it's a straight-up parody and hilarious)
Megaranger (amazing chemistry, and I loved everyone in the cast)
Gaoranger (probably one of the best chemistry ever amongst the cast. GaoYellow is one of my favorite Yellow Rangers, I might post on why I like him later...)
Dekaranger (I love the whole team, and I like the cop show aspect)
Shinkenger (A great series written by a female writer. Has an amazing twist. Also the first series that came close to having the red ranger and the yellow ranger being an actual ship. I'm not the only one who thinks that)
Gokaiger (Anniversary series. It was the first one to have a whole damn team of anti-heroes, and I love it for that. GokaiYellow is my favorite yellow ranger ever. Watch it. There's a reason why I cosplay as her--sexy, naughty, greedy, tomboyish, the third strongest fighter on the team--her bounty should be higher though, all-around badass with a tragic past. Pretty much all of the Gokaigers have sad pasts, though).

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

As you can see from my name, I'm a Kamen Rider fan. My favorite series would have to be Agito, followed by Fourze. I often lump Kuuga into my top 3 despite finding it slow and dry, if only because I ended up respecting it somehow. Don't care for Showa era riders as much but I'm saving my tips to buy the Kamen Rider V3 boxset.

I watched Power Rangers from day 1 until Saban sold the franchise. Came back for the 20th anniversary and ended up not liking Megaforce. Started checking out the stuff I missed (Ninja Storm - Samurai) and I have been enjoying them (except for Overdrive, but at least that doesn't suck for lack of trying). Favorite season is Jungle Fury.

Sentai, I'm not as huge of a fan. Only series I've finished is Jetman (which goes from OK to awesome once it reaches it's halfway point). Not a big fan of modern sentai but I fell in love with the showa era. My favorite from that era is Bioman but I also like Flashman (I have a bit of a crush on Yellow Flash). I really wish someone would sub Turboranger. Kakuranger is my favorite Post-Zyu series.

Metal Heroes...only what I remember Saban adapting as a kid. Shaider is the only one completely subbed and I watched the first episode. It was weird and I'm thinking of doing a retrospective on it.

Ultraman... I bought a Tiga DVD during my weeabo phase. It was in a bargin bin with the second half of the original Ultraman. Bought both and put in Tiga. I remembered the lame gag dub 4kids did and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the subtitled version (it was an uncut DVD). Thing is, this was back when I had dialup, so I couldn't finish the series. Someday, I'd like to buy the rest of the uncut DVDs. I have the complete original Ultraman (two volumes from 2 releases by different companies) but have yet to watch it.

So, anyone watching Kamen Rider Gaim?

 

[Dr. Mario]

As you can see from my name, I'm a Kamen Rider fan. My favorite series would have to be Agito, followed by Fourze. I often lump Kuuga into my top 3 despite finding it slow and dry, if only because I ended up respecting it somehow. Don't care for Showa era riders as much but I'm saving my tips to buy the Kamen Rider V3 boxset.

I watched Power Rangers from day 1 until Saban sold the franchise. Came back for the 20th anniversary and ended up not liking Megaforce. Started checking out the stuff I missed (Ninja Storm - Samurai) and I have been enjoying them (except for Overdrive, but at least that doesn't suck for lack of trying). Favorite season is Jungle Fury.

Sentai, I'm not as huge of a fan. Only series I've finished is Jetman (which goes from OK to awesome once it reaches it's halfway point). Not a big fan of modern sentai but I fell in love with the showa era. My favorite from that era is Bioman but I also like Flashman (I have a bit of a crush on Yellow Flash). I really wish someone would sub Turboranger. Kakuranger is my favorite Post-Zyu series.

\M/ETAL Heroes...only what I remember Saban adapting as a kid. Shaider is the only one completely subbed and I watched the first episode. It was weird and I'm thinking of doing a retrospective on it.

Ultraman... I bought a Tiga DVD during my weeabo phase. It was in a bargin bin with the second half of the original Ultraman. Bought both and put in Tiga. I remembered the lame gag dub 4kids did and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the subtitled version (it was an uncut DVD). Thing is, this was back when I had dialup, so I couldn't finish the series. Someday, I'd like to buy the rest of the uncut DVDs. I have the complete original Ultraman (two volumes from 2 releases by different companies) but have yet to watch it.

So, anyone watching Kamen Rider Gaim?

I tried but I'm skipping this one just like I did with OOO (not a bad rider, but not my style).

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

I tried but I'm skipping this one just like I did with OOO (not a bad rider, but not my style).

It gets better after the first arc, going from a good rider series to a great rider. Once it stops being about a turf war between gangs the writing really shines. It's an awesome series, but yeah, the first few episodes don't really suck anyone in.

I'm spending today watching Goseiger. I don't know why, I just like this series. Maybe it's the helmets?

Edit: Changed my mind. Watching Maskman. Not real keen on the suits, especially the girls. Anytime a helmet has earings, I groan a little.

 

[TrippinKahlua]

Kamen Rider, are you still planning on your comparisons/write ups between Masked Rider and Kamen Rider Black RX?

When I watched the first episode of Metalder for the first time, I was so pretty disturbed I did wind up doing a write up on it and how different it was from VR Troopers in tone. I never did finish it though, so I never published it anywhere, now its lost to time because my old hard drive broke. Heh.

I've always been a big admirer of Tokusatsu and Sentai monster designs, so seeing the Metalder version of Grimlord's lair and everything else for the first time, was pretty depressing. Grimlord may also have Spielban's weapons, but Godneros really takes the cake on the Threatening level.

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

Removed for Privacy

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

So, any thoughts on the upcoming Mighty Morphin' Movie?

Watching Maskman. Great Five is tied with Bio Robo for my favorite Showa era mecha.

 

[Dr. Mario]

I'm in love with Goseiger theme song, but I don't think I'll like the series (the plot isn't interesting).

Spoiler

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

I'm in love with Goseiger theme song, but I don't think I'll like the series (the plot isn't interesting).

Spoiler

The Goseiger theme is awesome...but also a sucky opening. I mean, yeah, it conjures images of epicness beyond all belief. The problem lies where it's used within the show itself. As an opening, it's slow and doesn't get me hyped up for the show. As a fight song, it's doesn't work for similar reasons. The only place I feel it's used properly is the Legend War and nothing else.

As for Goseiger itself, I'm watching it currently. It's okay. Kinda bland but still fun.

 

[TrippinKahlua]

So, any thoughts on the upcoming Mighty Morphin' Movie?

I'm not that interested in Modern Entertainment these days, so all I can really think of is, good for them.

Maybe I'll give it a watch when the time comes though, I would still watch something Modern-produced, but I just can't really give a shit.

And it won't be counted as Tokusatsu anyway because that's a Japanese entertainment-only word.

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

Spoiler: Gaim's ultimate form.

 

[Dr. Mario]

Spoiler: Gaim's ultimate form.

Carmen Miranda meets Kamen Rider.

Spoiler

 

[Kamen Rider Black RX]

I just ordered the Kamen Rider V3 boxset, along with the first 5 episodes of Kikaida. May have cost me a pretty penny but I just wanted it.

Thinking for my next reviews, instead of doing Animorphs I'll do Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills. Just have to buy it first, which is good because it's dirt cheap.

 

[TrippinKahlua]

Who's your favorite monster and band of villains?

My favorite all-time monster is Dramole, from "Return of an Old Friend" in Season One. I usually hate moles unless they are anthromorphosized into a monster (same thing with the Pokemon Excadrill, who rocks) and Dramole looks and is awesome. Whats even more awesome is all those "GWAMGWORMGGGWORGWORMGWORM" noises he makes, which is just sick and awesome to listen to. I should mention the Finishing move that killed him was altered, he originally meant to die by the hands of the Power Sword, but presumably to celebrate Green Ranger and Dragonzord's return, they changed it to the Ultrazord, a much better choice.

My favorite band of villains is a lot tougher to pick, because one of my main enjoyments over the years with all these Sentai shows is how awesome and well detailed Tokusatsu villains are. However, I've decided my favorite band of villains were the villains from Lost Galaxy. The monsters had four different themes, Bugs, Invertebrates, Mythical Creatures and Industrial Weapons, each represented by a different general in the original Sentai. However, there were several complications regarding the Gingaman villains. The foot soldiers of the year often used guns to fight with and that was frowned upon for American audiences, and furthermore, the villains Pirate motif didn't fit too well with the "Space Epic" Lost Galaxy wanted to do (even though Gingaman barely, if any, had anything to do with Space) and thus, the band of villains was changed to these Insect Aliens, led by a Scorpion/Crab monster named Scorpius. Another thing that was majorly changed were the Four Generals. Technically, only one General made it state-side, the Invertebrate Monster leader Treacheron. The first General was used, but due to his heavy gunplay, again not suitable for American television had to be altered drastically and got his initial role replaced with another monster which actually came from the Sentai the year before. The other two generals, known as Illies and Batobas (in Gingaman) did not work for Scorpius at all, instead being replaced by another Gingaman villain, Deviot. Deviot's Gingaman counterpart, Prince Biznella (though its disputed if "Prince" is really his name) was more of an arms dealer who supplied the pirates with many weapons. Later on, the Pirate villains of Gingaman did get used during a Grand Finale arc (to me, anyway) and it was here where Illies and Batobas made their debut, as Hexuba and Barbarax. The grunts, known as the Swabbies, made their way too. I was quite happy about all of this, I generally dislike when Sentai villains get replaced but here, we got the best of both worlds. As for the entire design of the Gingaman monsters, just take a look at "Impostra"