Setting The Stage: Ninja Sentai Kakuranger

I might be giving away the game here but honestly, wanting to take about these two episodes is what gave me the idea for this series. Lets talk about the what are easily my favorite first episodes in Sentai at the moment since they perfectly capture the overall feel of the show: Ninja Sentai Kakuranger. Also I found out while typing this that this year happens to be the show's 30th anniversary so this ended up being rather timely. Say it with me: Kakuranger! Ninja ninja!

Lets start with the first thing you'll see when you hit play on the first episode: The opening theme. Its a great lead in the for show and I just start laughing my ass off  whenever I remember that the scenario in the song is about a dude going "What the fck was that?" and "Oh shit, its a ninja!" while on a date. Its nice and mellow and the song fits the ninja visuals well.

Now into the first episode proper. The episode opens on 5 ninjas fighting a yokai and managing to seal him away. After that it cuts to the present day as two broke ass dudes (Sasuke and Saizo) are arguing over what to have for dinner. Some bizarrely dressed guy is getting his ass beat and they come to help him out. He gives them a mission to drop some money off at a weird out of the way place. The second they set foot there creepy kids start chanting, ninjas appear, and they get chased around. They end up unlocking the seal and unleashing all of that sweet sweet yokai energy. Another ninja appears, points to some swords in the ground, and tells them to 'em yank them out. Thus the Kakurangers are born. This shit is wild and one hell of an opener for the show.

Ok so the premier is actually a two-parter (well technically a four parter maybe). Anyway the episode opens with the yokai (Kappa) getting away after being rescued by his wife. After that Tsuruhime tells them that they can't fight yokai with just the three of them so they need to find a 4th guy and sends Sasuke and Saizo to go get him. Cut to an arcade and we meet the soon to be 4th member of the team: Seikai. Dude is just chilling playing games with his buddy when the yokai running the lady running the joint asks him to test a new game. Seikai follows and gets sidetracked. His buddy sees the two yokai fooling around and comes running screaming about monsters. So now the fight is on as the Kakurangers show up to rescue Seikai and his buddy. They take him back to where the swords are and tell him to grab his. He does and transforms. Its a good fight and it ends with one of the craziest mecha fights I've seen in Sentai. Most of it is a chase scene cuz Kappa is just warping them all over the place. Once the guy's wife is done for, he gets merced too.

This was supposed to have been out way before now. I have spent months trying to type this to try and do these episodes justice but I still don't think its enough. These episodes are a lot to take in imo and I mean that in a good way. I straight up had to abridge most of episode 2 while typing this. Now the team isn't actually complete until like episode 4 and trust me when I say that they are just as wild as the first two. They are just so friggin' good. Everything in this show just feels like a fever dream. Yeah Dairanger and Zyuranger feel like dreams too but their premiers take themselves a bit more seriously. Meanwhile, Kakuranger just embraces the chaos. Something that ends after the team is assembled is the ancestors from the show's opening and I honestly still think thats a shame. Every time the team got a new member those guys would show up and snark it up or just give basic life advice. It helped add to the show's fever dream style.

These are without a doubt the best first episodes that I have seen out of all 16 Sentai I've finished so far and they are basically semi-burned into my memory between watching them on my own, showing them to people, watching them on lunch at work, and watching them again for this post. I'm not really too sure if I got this across in the synopsis but these episodes are damn near perfect for setting up the show. They tell you exactly what you're going to get from Kakuranger: Ninja shit, insanity, and this wild fever dream of chaos.

Welcome To The City Of Dreams

This is going to be a little break from my usual gushing about tokusatsu, anime, and Supernatural. I've been thinking about CyberPunk 2077 and playing it a lot. So I figured its time to talk about one of my favorite fictional settings: Night City. Lets roll chooms!

Life isn't easy here. You either work for a Corp or try to get by day to day. Even then the Corpos still have to worry about being stabbed in the back, either leading to them losing their job or ending up with a bullet in their skull. Some folks make a meager living managing to scrape by and some basically just grab a pistol, chip some chrome, and start taking on jobs as mercs. It ain't just the Corpos fckin' with you that you gotta worry about on these streets either. You got gangs shaking down folks and throwing their weight around and thats if you're lucky. If you're REALLY unlucky you might just run into some borged out freak who wants to take your head off.

And thats really all I'll say about life in the city because its pretty much what you'd expect for a place like this. I just love the atmosphere and vibe of the city. When I'm not hacking up street gangs with a katana, making a new outfit with some gear I found, or stalking the streets like I'm goddamn Batman, I'm just taking a stroll around the city. I absolutely love ducking between alleyways, prowling the backstreets, cruising down the street on a sweet ass bike while listening to the radio, and just chillin' while exploring just to see what I might find. Hell, sometimes I will just stand in one spot listening to the ads or npc conversations. I practically know this city like the back of my hand. Well I know Japantown and Watson anyway. I know my way around Northside a bit and I tend to get ganked in Heywood cuz I keep walking into gangs aggro zones when I round a corner.

At night, I'm just soaking in the lights and sounds of the city. Some of my most chill moments in the game have been just finding a beautiful spot on top of a roof and watching the skyline. All the neon and blaring ads are oddly soothing at night and the city just hits different. It feels like everything just melts away. All the streets and back-alleys feel like they've changed. Places I've been plenty of times during they seems to have little extra corners and hiding spots even though its the exact same map.

And thats what I love about Night City. Its just a really cool place and 2077 is usually the game I pop in when I don't know what I want to play. I've spent countless hours just wandering the streets after the first act. I've barely done the main story or even the side missions because its just so much fun to farm random gang members for loot and test their loot tables while seeing all the sights the city has to offer. There are very few fictional places I wish I could go to and Night City is one of them even though I know I probably wouldn't even last a day. I am legitimately a bit sad that I don't live in this particular dystopia and I can't figure out why.

Supernatural Season Five: Its The End Of The World As We Know It

Ok so...season four ended on a doozy. Sam ganked Lilith in order to keep her from breaking the last seal. That ended up being the absolute worst thing Sam could've done because Lilith herself was the final seal. To make matters worse, the angels knew it was going to happen and actually wanted to bring on the apocalypse as well. All the dominos have fallen into place and now the end of days has begun. NOTE: I will definitely have to spoil major parts of this season since its 4 seasons worth of buildup. You've been warned.

The first episode of the season opens with Lucifer breaking loose. Sam and Dean get caught and the blast radius and somehow end up on a plane while Castiel is back despite being annihilated by an archangel after siding with the brothers over heaven. The brothers get word of something that can gank Lucifer and stop Armageddon: Michael's sword. Demons learn the location as well so its a race to find it. They make it to the place and find some dead demons but no sword. Some angels reveal that there is no sword...because the thing that can kill Lucifer is Dean. More specifically, its because Dean is Michael's vessel. Heaven itself had Castiel pluck him out of the pit not to stop the apocalypse but to be Michael's meat suit for the big prize fight.

The drama this season is absolutely fantastic. Its all about Dean trying his damnedest not to say Yes to Michael while he and Sam try to stop Lucifer. Its made just so damn much harder because Sam is Lucifer's vessel. No matter what they do, everyone says the same thing: The only way this can end is a knockdown drag out fight between brothers and only one of them can come out on top.

I really like how this show paints the angels in this season. They're very much egotistical and holier than thou but they aren't letting people suffer because they believe in the greater good or paradise or whatever. They talk a big game but really...they're doing it because sky daddy stopped calling millennia ago and they're tired of keeping the gears turning. The heavenly bigwigs just sound so defeated, frustrated, and burned out. They simply do not care at all about humanity but god help any talking monkey that does anything to displease them or get on their nerves. They straight up only tolerate Dean because they need Michael to show up for the big brawl. They're very inhuman but incredibly petty and human at the same time.

So...the Trickster in this season twice and I absolutely love him. His actor has done a great job at stealing the scene whenever he shows up. The man has such a great arc. See...the greatest trick he ever pulled is making people think he was a Trickster. He isn't one, he is an archangel, Gabriel specifically. Dude went into hiding after Lucifer's fall because he got utterly sick of seeing Lucifer and Michael at each other's throats all the time. Its really kinda tragic. The man doesn't want to watch his brothers fight and kill each other but both he knows damn well are two stubborn to avoid it. At this point he doesn't care who wins, he just wants this little family spat to stop. The other episode is so good that I kinda don't want to cover it here because I don't think I could do it justice.

Something I didn't put together until I started writing about this season is the little allegory with the Winchestors. I thought it was weird they were specifically the vessels of their opposite angel personality-wise. Then I realized its not just brothers going head-to-head as the classic trope. It sums up the brother's roles in their relationship. Dean is this big rebel who disrespects and disregards authority, except when its an order coming from John. He becomes a good little soldier on that front. Meanwhile Sam is the complete opposite. All too eager to respect authority to a point...except when John shows up. Dean and Sam essentially are Michael and Lucifer so I guess that kinda makes John God in their little family dynamic.

I had planned to try to cover it all when I first started typing this post but man this is a lot to cover so I guess thats my cue to leave some of this in the dark. This season is downright perfect. I mean, how could it not be? Its been four great seasons worth of buildup coming to ahead. On the off chance you haven't seen this show, I highly recommend the first 5 seasons and I can't praise it enough. I knew it was good, I just forgot how good until this rewatch. All in all, its just fantastic tv.

Supernatural Season Four: Bad Moon Rising

Season four takes place about 4-ish months after season 3's finale so I kind of have to talk about that. Surprisingly (back when I first saw it anyway), Sam wasn't able to get Dean out of his deal. Thats right! Dean died trying to kill the demon that held his deal and went straight to Hell. I can't imagine many shows these days actually going through with that plotline. How do you even top a finale like that? Well the answer is actually pretty simple: You start walking down the path to the apocalypse.

Dean wakes up in a pine box and digs his way out of his grave. He is beyond freaked out and drops by Bobby's place to let him and Sam know he is back. After Bobby and Dean try everything they can think of to see if Dean is still human, they think Sam sold his soul to get Dean out of the pit. The problem? Not only would no demon do the deal, they don't have the power to do that anyway. So Dean and Bobby decided to try to summon the thing that did it. What exactly had the juice to pull that shit off? Its an angel named Castiel. Thats right, an angel! A goddamn angel of the lord! Its the perfect oh shit moment and shows just how big of a problem whats coming is if Heaven itself wanted Dean plucked out of Hell. So that clears up the how but not the why...well, lets just say that heaven has plans for Dean Winchestor.

Every episode of this season is fantastic. They're so consistently good across the board that its legitimately hard for me to pick one. So I'm gonna go with one that kinda breaks the mold for the show. The episode "Monster Movie". The episode is basically the show's attempt at Universal monster movie, right down to the sets and sound. Essentially Sam and Dean come to a town during Octoberfest after catching wind of a weird death. Victim was seemingly sucked dry by...Dracula? No not a vampire and I'm not being snarky, it was Dracula. While in town, they hear about a dudes getting killed by the Wolfman and the Mummy. Sam and Dean are kinda baffled and the case just seems to be getting weirder and weirder. So what exactly is going on in the town? Its a shapeshifter with a fixation on the classic movie monsters and a bartender. Yeah, its fairly simple in terms of how it plays out and all-in-all its really kind of a mundane threat for the brothers but what makes this episode my favorite is the Universal style inspiration and classic monster movie feel.

The main plot of the season is about Lilith (the demon who held Dean's contract) trying to crack the locks on Lucifer's cage to bring hell on earth. There are hundreds of locks on the cage but she doesn't need to crack all of them. How could things possibly get worse? Well...it was Dean who cracked the first lock for her by being a good man who broke from being torn apart in Hell and agreeing to put other souls on the torture rack to make it stop. To this day, that reveal managed to chill me down to the bone even though I knew it was coming! While its true that Dean is the only one who can stop it, lets just say that the angels aren't being entirely truthful. Despite having all the power of Heaven trying to stop her, somehow Lilith is always one-step ahead. Its such a bizarre situation that even the loyal soldier Castiel starts having doubts because things aren't adding up. How could the host of the almighty Lord possibly be losing to some cloud of smoke from the pit?

This season is fantastic and like seasons 1 to 3 make for extremely engrossing TV. Seeing the Winchestors fight tooth and nail against monsters and stopping them while still losing because the seals are cracking is harrowing. Now something I didn't touch on is exactly why things aren't adding up on the angels' end of things and why Lilith is somehow always able to keep breaking locks. Well...thats a story for season 5.

Setting The Stage: Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger

A show's first few episodes are important. They set up the characters, introduce the world, and give you a rundown of the show you're about to watch. There are a ton of great first episodes in Sentai so I figured I should do a series on talking about some first episodes. Lets start this off with the first episodes of a Sentai show I adore and one thats very topical at the moment since not only is it the show's 20th anniversary, it got a movie this year. If you've spoken with me about Sentai, you've probably seen me gush about how much I adore Abaranger. I absolutely adored this show when I saw it 8 years ago and it still remains my 3rd favorite Sentai. So now, lets talk about its first two episodes. Say it with me: ABARE! ABARE! ABARE!

The show opens in one hell of a spectacular fashion. A lone warrior traveling a desert wasteland on a raptor and when the enemy base shows up and starts blasting. The opening theme kicks in right as we get this cool raptor-back fight scene with Masaki Endoh belting out "ABARE! ABARE! ABARE!" at the top of his goddamn lungs. Then he gets knocked off and the throw down gets started properly all while the opening theme keeps blasting.

Thats just the first few minutes of the episode. The rest of it is basically a 30 minute old school kaiju flick. The only thing its missing is the old spotty film grain. I'm not kidding, you've got a pretty great sequence of Tyranno, Tricera, and Ptera rampaging and just absolutely tearing Tokyo a new asshole with really damn creative shots with the CGI dino models. All of this is while they're begging anyone who can hear their voices to stop them by any means necessary until the chosen heroes hit the scene and snap them out of it. Once thats done, we get less of fight with the mooks and more of an awesome slaughter with the Abarangers just going absolutely ham during the whole damn thing. After thats all taken care of, it ends on a really damn ominous shot of another dinosaur approaching. Its one hell of a first episode for the show.

The second episode is pretty good. We get a bit of needed breathing room from the balls to the wall pace of the first episode. They meet up at the Dino Curry spot and take a breather while getting to know each other. Ryoga and Ranru are all up for kicking some alien ass and defending the planet. Yukito on the other hand is not enthused that the job doesn't pay so he walks out. That one little scene perfectly sets up the dynamic between the main 3 Abarangers. Yukito is basically the straight man for Ryouga's and Ranru's personalities. After that we get a good look at all the damage that the fight in the first ep caused. The rest of the episode is a really sweet plot about Yukito finding the need to fight by helping a kid recover a cherished race car that was a gift from a friend from the remains of some of the buildings that were destroyed in episode 1. The mecha fight is great and ends on an amazing shot of Abaren-oh plowing through an Evolian ship drill first.

And thats the first two episodes of Abaranger. Honestly they're a great start to the show and just pile on the awesomeness and high energy kickassery. The show just goes absolutely balls to the wall from the start. They're just missing the surreal stuff thats also apart of the show. These first two episodes are just the tip of the iceberg in regards to how cool Abaranger is and I can't recommend the show enough. I'm glad to see the show getting even more and more love as time goes by. Its one of my absolute favorites and these first two episodes are a solid reason why.

"Ressha sentai Toqger" or "The Shadow Line saga, featuring the Toqger"?

 

 

Hello

It's been  a while since I've posted here, notably since I stopped watching toku during a long time. However, I've been watching some again, notably Toqger. A few years ago, I have written a review in which I was VERY critical about that show http://tokuwarriors.blogspot.com/2014/12/toqger-review-and-why-that-show-sucks.html. However, even then, therewere elements I enjoyed about Toqger, and, rewatching it, I realized I have grown fond of that show. Now, I'm gonna explain why I enjoy it now. It doesn't mean that the issues I've mentioned in my previous review don't exist any more. But I think that Toqger is the kind of show that needs a rewatch to really understand it.

And the most fascinating element of that show is how much the story seems to be about Shadow Line rather than the Toqger themselves. Of course, the Toqger are the heroic characters, but sometimes, they feel more like hero antagonists who stop the Shadow Line's evil; but they mostly have the focus in fillers episodes, when the core plot episodes are much more about the Shadow Line, and when the heroes are pretty much sidelined 

The Toqger plot

Why does it happen? Because the Toqger's plot is pretty straightforward, even if it's revealed throughout the season ; they are children ended up in the Rainbow Line when their town was covered in darkness by the Shadow Line; they ended up in adult bodies and with a partial amnesia. Right/Toq1go having the additional complication of having ended up in a Shadow Line train (Kuliner) before joigning the others. Thanks to the power of Imagination, they can become Toqger and fight the Shadow Line to protect the world. Their story is also their quest to discover who they are, and to find their town and families. It's a very compelling arc. We see those children who, suddenly, have undergone a awful ordeal, and who are forced to grow up to face it; the fact they have adult bodies to fight the Shadow Line is a great metaphor. But their biggest strength is their friendship, which they still remember from their lives as kids, and which is, in my opinion, the most interesting element about them. However, they aren't the most memorable heroes in sentai. Right/ Ichigo is the hot blooded leader, Tokachii/Nigo the awkward one, Mio/Sango the nice girl, Hikari/Yongo the grumpy one, and Kagura/Gogo the cute one. Another element that harm the Toqger's story is the fact that Wagon, Ticket and the Conductor who make their support team areVERY annoying. And did they really need to give the boss of the RainbowLine this stupid bunny head?

The Shadow Line

However, the Shadow Line are undoubtedly the characters with the more interesting plots, the more diverse characterizations, and the more complex dynamics between them. The fact that the sixth Toqger Akira/Rokugo was himself a former member of the Shadow Line add an additional layer of complexity. 

Nero and Morc

Nero and Morc are the most typical "sentai villains" with their classical plot to take over the world with darkness. Moreover, Morc is also somewhat of a mother figure for Emperor Z, and the one who tried to fill the void of leadership due to Z's obsession with shining and light which distracts him from the goal of covering the world in darkness. Nero is the lieutenant who wants to serve the general who will lead the war he desires so much to fight. Besides, he's the smart one who see through the traitorous members of the Shadow Line. They're typical villlains, but they work well and their presence highlights even more the more complex members of the Shadow Line. 

 Madame Noir

Unlike Nero and Morc, who are loyal towards their emperor, even sacrificing themselves to make him stronger during the final fight against the Toqger, Madame Noir's main goal is to take over the Shadow Line. To achieve that goal, she groomed her daughter Gritta to marry Z, knowing that once she became his wife, she would eat the Emperor, absorb his power and become the Emperess of darkness; as such, Noir would be the leader of the Shadow Line through her daughter. Even if Nero was suspicious about her, going as far as trying to kill Gritta to twart Noir's plans, he wasn't able to stop the wedding. The fact that Z was fascinated by Gritta's shiny eyes only made it easier for the treacherous noblewoman. While Noir's plan seemed to work at first, it ended up completely backfiring when, after a big fight against the Toqger, Z ended up taking over Gritta's body, keeping her spirit trapped in the Emperor's body. Disgraced, Noir was now reduced to a status of servant, bossed around by Morc to collect darkness.She had only one hope : after realizing that her daughter was still alive within Z's body, she decided to do everything she could to rescue her, so she could take back her position of leadership. As usual, Nero keeped an eye on her. However, she still managed to free Gritta from Z's body, with the help of Schwartz and Zaram/Akira, at the cost of her own life. But while she died, she was happy to see her daughter free at last, displaying that while she used her daughter for her own goals, she still loved her sincerely.

Schwartz

General Schwartz is also very interesting, because of the character development he shows during the show. At first, he's a typical evil military leader who wants to conquer the world as a warrior. He's somewhat an outcast amongst the Shadow Line because he's more interested in fighting with trains than in collecting darkness, and, unlike Nero, he believes that the fact the Emperor is more interested in shiny stuff than in conquests served his ambitions. In his plans against the Rainbow Line, the Shadow Line general revealed himself as a good fighter and a very cunning and competent strategist : he caused a lot of trouble to the Toqger. Schwartz was aware of Gritta's feelings towards him, and while he genuinely appreciated them, he was still ready to betray her if it could serve his ambitions. Schwartz had formerly Zaram as a fellow warrior, and he was furious when the rain Shadow monster decided to quit the Shadow Line to work for the Rainbow Line. Besides, he didn't understand the motivations of his former comrade.When Gritta became the Emperess of Darkness, Schwartz could at last fulfill his ambitions, attacking the Rainbow Line with Kurainers and even taking over some of the heroes's trains. He almost managed to defeat the heroes. However, the Toqger managed to defeat him, and he only managed to avoid death thanks to Gritta's sacrifice, who protected him from Cho Cho Toqdai Oh final attack. Schwartz was deeply moved by the young girl's actions, especially since he knew he had deceived her. The General was further shocked when he saw Z seemingly kill Gitta by taking over her body. The Emperor who already knew of Schwartz's traitorous actions, got rid of him pretty quickly, seemingly killing him.

Schwartz survived, but was changed forever. He couldn't forgive himself for his role in Gritta's doom, and he had only one goal : avenging her by killing Z. Branded as a traitor in the Shadow Line, he couldn't come back any more. When he discovered that Gritta was still alive in Z's body, he realized he wanted to save her. For the first time, Schwartz was caring about someone else than himself, putting the well-being of Gritta over his own. He still used treachery to achieve this goal, stealing the Toqger the Drill Ressha, only giving it back after blackmailing Akira/Zaram into joining him again. However, even the Shadow Line warrior turned ToqRokugo knew that Schwartz had changed. When he joined him again, they both shared hearfelt conversations showing that they both could understand each other much better than before. Zaram and the General managed to become a great team against Z, and his Shadow Line lieutenants. Sadly, while Schwartz cared a lot about Gritta, he didn't understand her, and didn't listen when Mio told him that the former Emperess didn't wish to be freed from Z's body. At the end, with Noir's help, he managed to free Gritta, even managing to put her in his Kurainer before being killed by Z. His feelings for Gritta have shown that underneath the ruthless general, there was an honorable heart that shone inside his body, something Z could notice. At the end, even the Toqger realized that they had a opponent who deserved their respect, even lighting a candle in his honor, and Akira giving his former general the grave a true warrior deserved. 

Zaram/ Akira Nijino/Toq6go

The changes Schwartz experienced had happened much earlier in Zaram's heart. But unlike the Shadow General, it was the beauty of the rainbow that moved the Shadow Monster's heart. Ironically, he's in a way responsible of the creation of rainbows, since it's created by the shining of the sun going through the drop of rain. Anyway, that event awakened in Zaram a desire to protect beauty instead of conquering it. So, he left the Shadow Line and joined the Rainbow Line. He was still tormented by his past and the sadness he caused because of his powers, even if one must admit that he's overreacting, because most people see rain as a natural event. That's also the reason he was pretty a loner at the beginning, having trouble befriending the Toqger, keeping a suicidal spirit, always thinking his next battle might be his last. However,  the five heroes could count on him to help them against the Shadow Line. Besides, the heroes managed to reach his heart, as shown when they managed to find him a new name : Nijino Akira. As a former member, he knew about their evil, and it motivated him to fight them and give the Toqger any info he could about his former clan. However, he's also a man of honor, and when Schwartz blackmailed him to join him in exchange for getting back the Drill Ressha. Fortunately, since the general was mostly targeting Z, he was mostly able to avoid confronting his comrades. And after Schwartz's death, he at last allowed himself to be closer to the other Toqger. And in the finale, he managed to overcome his suicidal feelings. In a lot of ways, Akira/Zaram's arc is about letting go of the past, and embrace who you really are. And the fact he witnessed his former general, Schwartz, live a similar experience helped him, in a way, because he had someone who could at last really understand him.

Z

Emperor Z is probably the most atypical "Big Bad" seen in sentai, because of how reluctant he is to embrace that role. The first time he appears, he looks like an awkward young man with a childish personality, who seems to discover the marvels of an amusement park, especially everything that shines, and tries to make friends with Right. Who could imagine that this strange person who absolutely loves light would actually be the Emperor of Darkness himself? And very quickly, we see the tragedy of that emperor, who lives light, but can't stand being exposed to it too long, because he's a creature of darkness. Z's story arc is his desire to catch that light that fascinates him, and make it a part of himself. However, to his frustration, he seems unable to succeed. He wants the light, but can't get it. 

His fascination to the light is also what makes him attracted to Gritta, who seems to have that shine within herself. That's the reason he plays into Madame Noir's plot. But while Z is obsessed about light, he's far from an idiot. He's perfectly aware of his subordonates's plots, and even if he let them do what they want, he makes sure he stays one step ahead of them. Besides, he knows how powerful he is and that he can thwart any plot against him. Even when he ended up sucked into Miss Gritta's body after marrying her, he manages to use it for his benefit, since he manages to absorb his bride into his own body after a while, in order to get her "shine". But Gritta manages to survive inside him, and because he's so fascinated by her "shine", he doesn't find the will to destroy her, even if he could. Besides, Gritta is probably the only being he's pretty fond of, because she's the only one who tries to understand him. A striking element of Z is that he's brutal with everyone, his enemies and especially his fellow Shadow Line. He has no problem hurting them, and treating them disrespectfully. However, there is one exception : Gritta. He behaves very calmly with her, he often talks to her with an affectionate tone. Even when she frustrates him, he stays respectful towards her. It's telling that, outside Gritta, the person he seems to feel the closest is ... Right/ Toq1go, his worst enemy. Gritta becomes pretty much Z's voice of reason, almost his conscience, who manages to make him keep in check his darkest impulses. It's telling that Z constantly spared her, even if he ends up destroying all the other Shadow Line generals : Schwartz, Noir, Nero and Morc. Even when he seemingly killed her, it ended up he let her live. And this atypical kindness ends up saving his life at the end.

Z's relationship with Right is also a fascinating arc of Toqger : when they first met, Right didn't know he was the Emperor of Darkness, but as soon as he learnt, he saw him as an enemy. However, because of his power, Z didn't see Right as a threat, but more as someone who fascinated him because of his "shine"; Z's antagonism against Right was mostly motivated by his desire to possess inside him his light. But he didn't hate him far from it; actually, Right was, with Gritta, the only person Z took a real interest. It's very telling that the emperor seemed disappointed when he saw the young Toqger embrace darkness during the final arc. At the end of the series, a link between Z and Right is revealed : the young Toqger became an adult thanks to the power of Z's darkness, and at the same time, Z came in contact with Right's "Shine" : the symbol of that link is the "Twinkle Twinkle little star" song that the Emperor heard from the five future Toqger when he invaded their town.

During most of the show, Z doesn't bother leading the other members of the Shadow Line, to the great frustration of Nero or Morc. He cared too much about the light to bother covering the world with darkness, even if he let his generals do the job. Even when he ended up involved, he was more tagging along than anything else. It's telling that when he managed to sneak into the Rainbow Line during the Christmas arc, he didn't attack anyone there, only getting there not to be bothered by his fellow Shadow Line. Only at the end, when he realized he couldn't get the "Shine" he craved so much that he finally embraced his role as emperor of darkness and become a classic "invader of the world". But even then, it was more despair than a desire of conquest. When he defeats a darkness filled "Right", he seemed annoyed. When the Shadow Line seemed victorious, Z was just sulking on his throne, bored. But when the Toqger managed to pull themselves together, and when light came through  the darkness, suddenly, Z seemed alive again, moved by the "shine" he wanted so much. And unlike Morc and Nero, who were furious that the Toqger managed to destroy the Castle Terminal and bring back light, Z felt almost happy to see at last Right shining more brilliantly than ever. After a last showdown, during which Z took the darkness of Nero and Morc, he's finally defeated. But at that time, he's not furious against his enemies because he lost : instead, he looks at a rainbow and is amazed by its beauty, like Zaram did before him. And, unlike most sentai Big Bads, he survives his final confrontation with the heroes, because Gritta comes to save him and bring him back to the darkness. At the end, there is a real hope that Z will find at last peace with Gritta.

Gritta : perhaps the real heroine of Toqger

Gritta is one of my favorite characters in the sentai franchise, despite her ugly design. Why? Because she shows an amazing character development, and because, despite being a member of the villain group, she ends up being the most sympathetic character of the show. At the beginning, she's shown as a spoilt brat, but very quickly, her feelings for General Schwartz are revealed, and she does everything she can to help him in his confrontations against the Rainbow Line. Besides, it's very soon revealed that her mother wants her to marry the Emperor of Darkness, even if it goes against her daughter's wishes. When she encounters Z for the first time, she's so scared of him that she tries to flee her home, and she even made a weak attempt to kill him, but her soft heart made it impossible for her to succeed. Because of the shine in her eyes, Z ended up attracted by her, and was ready to marry her. While Gritta could see that Z's obsession with light made him suffer, she was still horrified to become his wife, even (or likely especially) after her mother told her the truth about the marriage, and she tried to escape again, but this time, with Schwartz, the man she loved. She even stole Mio's body to succeed. Unfortunately, the General cared mostly about his career, so he told Z about her attempt and the Emperor brought back his future bride. During the wedding, Gritta ended up absorbing Z and his power, and her personality changed. Z's darkness gave her red eyes, a cold and ruthless personality, and she fought directly the Toqger as the new Empress of Darkness. However, a handkerchief which previously belonged to Schwartz reminded her of her feelings towards him, and she was at times able to overcome her new darkness. At the end, when Schwartz was about to be defeated by the Toqger, she sacrificed herself to save him, having her Kuliner taking the heroes's attack. As she was lying, close to death, she revealed that even if she knew Schwartz had betrayed her, she still loved him. She knew that her mother was using her as a pawn to get power, and her feelings for the general was the only thing she could claim as her own decision. At that moment, her body burst, and soon afterwards, the Emperor came back in a new, more powerful form, having absorbed Gritta in his own body.

However, she was still alive inside Z, even if she was trapped in his body. However, she was able to somehow keep Z's darkness in check, even revealing herself at time to stop Schwartz's attack on the Emperor or even saving Light from being absorbed by Z. Even if the Emperor knew that Gritta was interfering with his powers, he never had the heart to erase her, because he still saw her shine as something too precious to destroy. At that time, Gritta had become a completely selfless character, doing everything to protect others, and even being ready to stay in Z's body if by doing so, she was able to protect those she cared about, especially Schwartz. Even the Emperor was impressed by her selflessness. During Christmas time, the Emperor's power had weakened enough for her to take over again, and at that time, she decided to ask the Toqger's help to stop Schwartz from freeing her. Unfortunately, the General wasn't able to listen, and, with Madame Noir's help, she ended freed from the Emperor's body. Unfortunately, at that moment, Z's darkness wasn't held back anymore, and he became even more powerful, easily killing Noir and Schwartz, who had just the time to put Gritta in safety in his own Kuliner. But at that stage, Gritta was wise enough not to feel any hate or desire of revenge after losing the two people who mattered the most to her. All she wanted was to stop the violence, and she decided too ally herself with the Toqger to bring back the Castle Terminal into the darkness. At first, she succeeded, but she was soon discovered by the other members of the Shadow Line. Z confronted her, and she explained him that she didn't do it against him. On the contrary, she wanted to help him, explaining the Emperor why he wasn't able to shine, because shining had to come from within. Unfortunately, it only made Z so disillusioned that he decided to have the whole world overcome with darkness. But despite that, he still couldn't bring himself to kill her, and, at the end, after he was defeated by the Toqger, she was here to save him.

What an amazing character arc! And how fascinating that in such a dark background, surrounded by people who either want to use her, or kill her, she managed to keep her innocence. She undergoes the worst ordeals, but they make her even more selfless and caring of others than before. She sees her mother and the man she loves brutally killed, but she didn't hate the man who was responsible for that violence ; instead, she despised violence itself. It's incredible to see how this young girl ended up with such a mature and kind spirit. During the whole show, she displays an incredible bravery, in order to protect those she cared about. She ends up as least as much, if not more, heroic as the Toqger. 

Additional feelings about Toqger

Another reason I ended up fond of Toqger is its train theme, and the way it uses it. As a fan of trains, I was thrilled to see a story where the characters lived their daily lives in trains, and were travelling through Japan to search for their town. And of course, I loved the design of the trains, especially the Kuliner. But mostly, this huge railroad trip brought an atmosphere I enjoyed a lot. It's telling that the train theme of Toqger gave me inspiration to write a story involving a very special train.  

Conclusion 

It's telling by the length of the chapters I wrote about the Shadow Line members that I feels that they're the best part of Toqger. They have all an amazing design : the mooks, the MOTW, the Kuliner, and of course, the main members. Even Gritta, with her seemingly grotesque looks, ends up feeling pretty cute (her voice actress helped, to be fair). But, more importantly, they're incredibly fascinating characters, with very different personalities and evolution. Their storylines, more than the Toqger's, is the driving force of the show. Despite being "darkness", they make "Ressha sentai Toqger" shine, despite its flaws. And they're the reason why I enjoy much more that show now than when I've watched it for the first time.

Supernatural Season Three: Highway To Hell

Season two ended on an incredibly ominous note and a fantastic setup for season three. Just so we're up to speed, here is a quick recap for season two's finale: Yellow Eyes wanted to use psychics like Sam to open the gates of Hell. Sam was killed by another candidate so Dean sold his soul to bring him back. The brothers put a bullet in Yellow Eyes and got their revenge. However, all Hell has broken loose and I mean that literally. Now that we're caught up, lets get into season three.

First up on the hunting docket this season: The fckin' Seven Deadly Sins! Thats right, those things. Some of the most powerful evils in certain mythologies and they're a one and done motw. They make an amazing introduction to just what the demons that were trapped behind the gates can do and they throw the brothers a few curve balls. The entire episode is them sieging the house the brothers and Bobby are holed up in. They're saved by some quick thinking, some well placed traps, and a strange woman with a knife that can kill demons.

There are quite a few episodes this seasons that come close to season one's episodes so I'm not really able to pick my absolute favorite this time so I'll just go over a handful. "Sin City" is a pretty good episode. The brothers roll into town tracking down rumors of people suddenly changing so they think demons are in town and...they're not wrong. There are demons operating in the town but they're not doing the things you'd expect. All the demons really did was have a conversation with a local rich dude about all the money he could make if he sets up certain businesses in town. Its people's own vices getting the better of them thats the problem.

"Mystery Spot" is fantastic. Essentially the brothers show up in town to investigate a disappearance tied to some crummy tourist trap. Dean dies in the process and Sam essentially gets caught in a timeloop living the same day over and over. Sam racks his brain trying to figure out whats causing it and the twist is...well...its not the tourist trap. Remember how I said that season two wasn't the only time the Trickster showed up? Yep, its the Trickster. And the Trickster's reason for doing this? Well, its hard to tell if he is just bullshitting or not because well...its the Trickster but he says it was to teach Sam that Dean can't be saved. Its a stellar episode and some of Dean's deaths are pretty damn funny.

"Ghostfacers" features a ghost-hunting reality show team stumbling onto a case the Winchestors are working. This also isn't the only time they've have met these two chuckleheads. They met them back in season one in the episode "Hell House". The episode itself is honestly the scariest episode out of the 6 or 7 seasons I saw back in the day. It gave me nightmares the night I saw it and it still made me scream during the rewatch. Its a pretty simple plot, basically the Winchestors are raiding a haunted house that only lights up for one night every four years. They came looking for one ghost but find a lot more ghosts reliving how they died there and then shit gets terrifying. The episode flips between the standard tv-show style footage and the ghost hunting footage. It is pretty unsettling at points when the switch occurs so it works really damn well.

The drama portion of this season revolves around Dean's deal to bring Sam back. The rub is that he only gets a single year, not the usual ten. Dean isn't too eager to try and get out of the deal at first because the second term is that Sam drops dead on the spot if he does. A scene in the episode "Dream A Little Dream of Me" gives a pretty damn sobering look at just how much the hunting life has drained Dean. He beats a dream version himself to death just venting and letting out all the pent up frustration from everything his dad burdened him with.

What makes the drama this season work so well is that the hunting life isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination. Its not a question of if you'll die, its merely a question of when. If that werewolf you're tracking doesn't maul you, whatever else you hunt might end you. On top of that, once you're in, you're probably not getting out even if you survive. Hunters know too much of whats out there and the ones who've been doing this a long time have tangle with pretty much every conceivable thing that goes bump in the night. Some hunters can probably take solace in the fact that they'll never know when their number is up. Thanks to the deal, not only does Dean know when the bus is gonna pull up, he knows exactly which stop he is getting off at. Overall, season 3 is fantastic and builds on all the good points of season two and avoids most of its pitfalls.