Choujin Sentai Jetman Review: Love And Tragedy In The Skies

Now we come to Jetman. This probably one of the more known/watched pre-Zyu Sentai shows as far as the western fandom goes. I'd hazard a guess that even newcomers have heard of it after a good amount of time in the fandom. This was one of the shows I had started back in college but had never gotten around to finishing (I think it was like the 3rd or 4th Sentai I had started at the time) due to stuff getting in the way. I will definitely have to spoil chunks of the show to talk about Black Condor and some other stuff so, SPOILERS AHEAD! Without further adieu...Jetto! Jetto! Jettoman!

Premise: Ryu Tendo and his girlfriend Rie are two of five people chosen by Commander Aya of Sky Force to become superhumans in order to better protect the planet. Just after Ryu undergoes the experiment, interdimensional invaders known as Vyram launch their attack destroying the base, killing Rie in the process, and causing the machine's birdonic waves to hit 4 civilians. Now Ryu and Commander Aya must bring them all together in order to combat this new threat as the planet's last line of defense: Jetman.

Characters: They're all pretty well acted and the cast plays off of each other pretty well.

• Ryu Tendo/Red Hawk: Ryu is a member of Sky Force and the only survivor of the official candidates. He is totally dedicated to beating the Vyram and I kind of think its due to both his sense of duty and not wanting Rie's death to have been in vain. He struggles when it comes to getting over her death and its because of that that he is initially unable to acknowledge Kaori's feelings. It leads a pretty surprising blow up between him and Gai in episode 22 after he tries to set Kaori up with Gai instead. When he finds out that Rie is not only alive but is a member of Vyram, it gets rough. The dude has a breakdown and shuts down to avoid processing the idea that Rie was one of the people he was fighting the whole time. That scene with him swinging in the park and introducing Rie (who isn't actually there) to Gai and Kaori will be forever burned into my memory. It does result in a pretty sweet scene where he and Gai finally come to an understanding.
• Kaori Rokumeikan/White Swan: Kaori is an heir to a rich family who longed to leave behind her boring life. She may be a refined lady but she definitely isn't afraid to slap someone around when she needs to. A great example of that is the episode "Laughing Diamond" because she gets kinda rough with Ako in order to break the spell on her after trying to overload her greed. She falls in love with Ryu and her eventual vow to outdo Rie seemed a bit selfish to me at first (and admittedly it was selfish of her after Ryu just explained everything) but then I realized that it was likely just as much about helping Ryu move on from her death as it was Kaori trying to get with him. Sadly it leads to one of the things that causes Ryu and Gai to come to blows in ep 22 and it feels like the team is close to breaking apart. The episode "I Can See!" is a fantastic episode for her that has nothing to do with the love subplot. Its pretty much an episode about her fighting against her supposed fate and coming out stronger through sheer force of will.
• Raita Ooshi/Yellow Owl: Raita is a kind-hearted farmer. Its pretty cool seeing someone of his build be a Sentai hero and the show really emphasizes his strength when he fights. I feel bad for the guy, he loves Kaori too but he doesn't feel like he has a shot with her. Due to this he just wants to protect her happiness. The cavemen episode even twists that knife deeper because he finds a prehistoric cavewoman who looks just like her and is actually into him but he has to leave her behind to fight Vyram. With that being said, he really doesn't get many episodes to work with.
• Ako Hayasaka/Blue Swallow: Ako is a high school student and is initially obsessed with money. In order to get her to join, Kaori immediately cut a check for her, tho Ako did return it once she saw how dangerous the Vyram are. She also has this snappy and snarky tone to her that I just love. Out of the entire team, her life was impacted the most by becoming a Jetman. Whenever the Vyram attack, she has to immediately drop what she is doing and run off to fight them. The episode "High School Student Warrior" makes it pretty clear how much this has affected her and actually leads to some friction between her and a friend from school. The episode "Walking Garbage" showed a surprisingly sentimental side to her.
• Gai Yuuki/Black Conder: If you've spent a good amount of time in the fandom, you've probably already heard of him. Gai doesn't start out like your typical Sentai hero. He smokes, gambles, drinks, and is pretty abrasive with a soft side that tends to show itself when something happens to Kaori. The dude is a pretty fantastic character and I'll be going more into him later in the review because I'm going to be talking about his entire arc.

I had originally picked the title of this review mainly because of the Ryu, Gai, and Kaori thing but it surprisingly applied to the people from the Reverse Dimension rather well. Slight spoilers incoming! They're from a dimension invaded by Vyram and it did not go well for them to put it mildly. The 3 survivors (Ray, Kanna, and Dan) made a robot called Jet Garuda and chased the Vyram to Earth in order to put a stop to them. You can probably guess how that goes for them given how this section started. Its a great what-if scenario of a team failing to protect their world and how handle it. The image of their home world being nothing but a deserted wreck filled me with dread and it showed just what the Vyram are capable of if Jetman wasn't there to stop them. Thats pretty much all I'm gonna say because I'd rather you watch the episodes yourself. The 3 give some nice performances and their death scenes were pretty tragic. On top of that they are played by Blue Flash (Ray), Pink Mask (Kanna), and Dan's actor ended up playing Triceraranger in Zyuranger. There are two other survivors (Duran and Ru) revealed later from the Berserk region and thankfully their ending isn't as much of a gut punch. I think its partially because well, Ryu's entire thing in the episode is about making sure he saves them is due to him still missing Rie and wants to spare them that pain. He straight up makes them promise to never let go of each other when the team sees them off.

Villains: Vyram are a pretty cool group and they have a lot of presence to them. I particularly like how the commanders have a habit of showing in these half-corporeal ghost-like forms (usually Tran tho) when its time to do their thing. It really helps give them this other-worldly feel. I quite like how their main goal besides conquering this dimension is trying to figure out who deserves the spot at the top of the food chain as their emperor. Their dimension beasts are probably my favorite MOTW designs so far. They're pretty striking and they hit that perfect mix between humanoid and monstrous so well that they kind of scare me. They even start mixing animal DNA with the dimension bugs to create even more powerful animal/object hybrids. Their plans are also pretty cool and I certainly wasn't expecting a lot of them.

Radiguet is pretty cool. The dude is not afraid to get his hands dirty when the time comes and he is definitely not someone you want to screw with. He can also be pretty brutal as shown in episodes 22-24. Him spitting a sword into Ray's chest was chilling. The Juuza episodes are a pretty good example of his ambitiousness. I felt bad for the man when he got his memories back during those episodes. His time as a human was brief but he looked so happy. His actor is pretty good and the dude legitimately looks like he should be playing a hero. I couldn't help but think he looked like Kamen Rider Black's actor. He takes a pretty hard fall in the second half of the show and its great seeing his pride finally fail him. He manages to lose a fight with a dove and then gets curb-stomped by Tranza a few episodes later. Somehow the curb-stomping from Tranza was more humiliating. The feud between him and Tranza is fantastic, especially when he manages to stop Tranza's ultimate robot out of sheer of will. Given his level of cruelty over the course of the show, its rather fitting that its Maria/Rie's final act that ends up ultimately bringing about his end.

Tran is probably my favorite of the Vyram. This kid is crazy and downright sadistic. He legitimately scares me. His plans are pretty unique and I wasn't expecting a lot of them. I love his aesthetic because he manages to look retro and high tech at the same time. He even has a modified power glove. The dude even fights like he has god mode on. They put this weird echo effect on his laughter and that just makes my skin crawl even more.

Tran gets an adult form in the episode "The Birth of Emperor Tranza" purely because the other members of Vryam made him angry enough. Tranza is played by Yutaka Hirose and the man's performance is fantastic as usual. Tranza's debut is fantastic as not only is he a massive threat, he is also exceptionally petty. He beats the snot out of Ryu while he is training, he out-golfs Gai to embarrass him in front of some ladies, and out eats Raita. He does all of this purely because he can. The man is also petty enough to actively save the team from one of Radiguet's plan when Radiguet was about to win. The way he goes out is amazing as Radiguet finally gets his vengence on him for all of the humiliation.

Grey is fun and there is just something cool to me about a robot with an interest in classical music and wine. The dude feels like a walking powerhouse and his suit actor does a great job in the role. He develops feelings for Maria after hearing her play the piano and I just find that really sweet. Grey even steps in between her and Radiguet at one point when Radiguet loses his temper and tries to strike her with his sword. The man has a pretty sweet scene in episode 42 where he saves Maria and all he wants is to hear her play music for him. Its also followed by a heart-breaking moment where he laments the fact that he is a robot purely because he can't keep her warm and has to rely on Red Hawk to keep her from freezing. That entire sequence and episode in general felt like one big long punch to the gut for me. He really loved her in the end to the point where begged the team for help when he found out what Radiguet's ultimate goal for her was. His final duel with Gai has this undertone of sadness to it because well, once Maria is gone, he devotes himself to a warrior's death. Gai actually really does not want to fight him at that point of Grey really gives him no choice. Even at the end, he tells Gai to go because he didn't want the man to see his finally moments. It was honestly a pretty bitter end to his character but it was pretty fitting at the same time as I couldn't see it playing out any other way.

Maria is cool and she delightfully takes none of Radiguet's bs and is more than happy to rub his nose in his failures. Its rather obvious to the audience but...she is Rie under Radiguet's control. Oh boy, I knew it was going to rough for Ryu when that shoe finally drops but it was even rougher on both of them than I thought. Seeing her beg Ryu to tell her whats happened because she can't remember hurt a lot. It hurt even more when Ryu couldn't bring himself to tell her that she hurt people under Vyram's control. This entire subplot builds to a heartbreaking conclusion because while Ryu manages to snap her out of Radiguet's control she ends up remembering the things she did as Maria and feels extremely guilty. This pretty much leads her to tricking them so she can get one last stab in at Radiguet.

Now I'm going to talk about Gai in detail because he is that well written. Odds are folks in the fandom already know how things play out with him but this is just in case someone stumbles on to this post: SPOILERS INCOMING! Even though I knew Gai's reputation going into the show, he still managed to surprise me. He acts like this suave lone wolf womanizing playboy at first but he really does love Kaori. Granted this comes in the form of only focusing on wanting to make Kaori his at first. His exact words at one point after she rejected him were "Hate I can handle. I'd rather you hate me than feel nothing.". He straight up hunted Maria down just to beg her to give Kaori back when she got captured by Photo Dimension. Maria even demands Ryu's head as the price for Kaori's return and for a second, Gai is desperate enough to consider it. Seeing him breakdown and crash his bike after Kaori confessed to Ryu after all that kind of hurt. I didn't even notice until the shadow doppelganger episode that Gai has the Jetman logo on his gloves. He totally loves being on the team more than he lets on. He utterly despised Ryu's whole act for half the show. He and Ryu managed to come to an understanding when Ryu has that breakdown. He basically tells Ryu to take all the time he needs and that the whole team will be waiting for him. All of that animosity disappearing and them intending to drink together afterwards were a nice touch as its made clear pretty early on that Ryu is not usually the drinking type. Now for the big thing, his arc ends with his death attending Ryu and Kaori's wedding. Gai being able to do that says a lot about just how much he changed in his relationship to both Kaori and Ryu even setting aside the 3 year timeskip after the final battle. I knew it was coming beforehand, I knew exactly what would happen...and it still hurt. Thats not even the only time he technically died in the show. He died briefly during the Juuza two-parter when he was turned to crystal and again when Radiguet stole his soul. Something I quite like about how Gai and Kaori's relationship is portrayed is that well, after they briefly get together, they don't seem too comfortable being around so often after a while (or at the very least, Gai isn't). Gai's little outburst at dinner in one episode pretty much gets across that he got more than he expected. Toshihide Wakamatsu is fantastic in the role and his performance was perfect.

Favorite Episodes: There are quite a few contenders for this section (as usual, endgame stuff is not up for this section). I'm torn between "The Hellbound Bus", "I Can See!", the demon 3-parter, "Ryu The Traitor", "Sneak Into The Commander's Body" and "Spin, Roulette of Life". Its a pretty tough call but I'm going to have go with "Spin, Roulette of Life" and "The Hellbound Bus" due to how unexpected they were.

In "Spin, Roulette of Life" everyone but Gai gets turned into statues and Gai has to save them in his own way while he effectively walks away from that fight with Grey's heart circuit. Its a pretty tense episode and the most tense points in the episode isn't actually the fight with the Bio-Dimension Beast: Its a game of roulette with the lives of the Jetmen at stake and the only thing Gai has to bet is Grey's heart. Its a fantastic episode because we see Gai getting incredibly frustrated and losing his cool because he can't figure out how Grey is winning so consistently with a 50-50 shot. Grey isn't even actually cheating either. Gai gets so desperate that he is willing to put his and Commander Aya's lives as the stake for the final bet. He ultimately resorts to cheating himself to win but in a nice bit of fair play and gambler's honor, he gives Grey back the last piece of his heart.

"The Hellbound Bus" is a fantastic mystery episode. The team has some time off so Kaori and Raita decide to take a bus to visit Raita's home town. As they go into a tunnel, one of the passengers goes missing and from there they have to figure out who the guilty party is as they start getting picked off one by one. Its fantastically tense and the mystery itself is pretty good. I was legitimately surprised at the outcome when I thought I had it figured out. Kaori is great in the episode as she manages to keep everyone calm despite their impending doom. Raita is so amazed that this is where he kind of falls in love with her himself. It also features a neat little cameo from Pink Flash as one of the passengers.

Mecha: Jet Icarus is a pretty sweet looking mecha and I love how the team has to train to get Jet Hawken and Icarus itself. It also has a surprising array of weapons. Jet Garuda is a nice mecha and I think its pretty cool that it doesn't have a humanoid head. Its introduction episode was pretty cool. I was honestly surprised at how much solo use Jet Icarus and Jet Garuda got after Great Icarus' debut. That pretty much shows that they're both still a key part of their arsenal. Tetraboy is pretty cool and it is also the most hyper robot I've ever seen. It was literally running circles around the monster in its debut and it has no chill whatsoever. I love that instead of combining with the other mecha, it just becomes a 4-barreled cannon finisher.

Music: The opening theme is pretty exciting and really gets me hyped. I couldn't help dancing to it or mimicking the poses in the opening sequence. Its also a nice ear worm of a song and I've caught myself humming it a lot. I wasn't expecting to like Kokoro Wa Tamago as much as I do. I've listened to it at least 20 times while I was writing this review. Listening to this song after seeing the final episode hurt a lot. I don't usually go into the visuals when talking about the music but I absolutely love the retro look of the ending sequence. It feels like a brief history of aviation and I love when Sentai does stuff like this for its ending sequences. The show's bgm is pretty good and Vyram's theme is nicely creepy and unsettling. Honoo No Condor (Black Condor's theme) is great and plays over a pretty awesome fight in the episode "Marriage Vacuum Cleaner".

Final Thoughts: This is the third time I have inadvertently covered a Sentai during its anniversary year, the other two being Dekaranger (during its 10th anniversary) and Timeranger (during its 20th anniversary). Its interesting how the show opens up with a 3-parter and immediately goes into a 2-parter. Given how the episode "Walking Garbage" ended, I was a bit surprised at how the Dryer Dimension episode ended because I was expecting another gut punch. I've had issues with Inoue's writing in the past cuz some of it irritated me a lot (namely Kamen Rider The First, The Next, and Kiva) but this show is him at some of his best imo. That slugfest in episode 22 between Gai and Ryu over Ryu trying to set him up with Kaori made it feel like the whole world was about to come crashing down, especially when Raita jumped into the fray. All of that was before Vyram even attacked in the episode. I'm amazed this show had me that interested in a love triangle. Overall its a good show and well worth your time so if you're curious about it, give it a watch.

Ninja Sentai Kakuranger Review

So I got Kakuranger as a Christmas present since I wanted to add it to my collection. I got a lot of the show and I wasn't even expecting most of it. What even is this show?! I mean this in the most positive way possible. Nothing I've seen in Sentai feels like this show. Without further aduei: Hiding among the people and punishing evil! Ninja Sentai Kakuranger has arrived!

The show opens with a flashback showing how the Yokai were sealed. Then it cuts to the present day where two friends see a man getting robbed on the street. They help him out and he hands them a bag begging them to take it to an island. They get to the island and end up being chased by ninjas leading them to inadvertently opening the door sealing the Yokai in the process. The two are saved by a ninja clad in all white and told they must take up their ancestor's blades and stop the Yokai.

Characters:

• Sasuke/NinjaRed: He was actually a lot calmer than I thought he would be. He is a laidback goof so I expected him to be a bit reckless in a fight. However, the second he gets into trouble he actually starts to think before deciding on a course of action. Even when he was distraught about a kid under his protection potentially dying in episode 20, he still managed to stay calm and think things through. Coincidentally, that also happens to be my favorite episode for him.
• Tsuruhime/NinjaWhite: She is the most cool-headed member of the team as she doesn't seem to be frazzled by much. Her father died when she was young so she had to step up and take his place as a Kakuranger. She gets some pretty good episodes to herself, the best of which tend to revolve around a subplot regarding her father. Outside of that subplot, I really liked the episode where she meets her childhood friends again. It was nice seeing her kickback a bit.
• Saizou/NinjaBlue: A lot of his moments tend to be more comedic than the others but he does get some nice dramatic bits to himself. He is also a bit girl crazy like Seikai. The two actually felt so similar to me their until about their scroll episode that I would get them mixed up for about a minute of any episode that was not one of their focus episodes. Needless to say, that stopped after that episode. My favorite episode for him is either the Amikiri episode or the one where he falls into a Yokai plot by trying to help save a ninja dojo. "New Year's Manga Hell" is also a good episode for him.
• Seikai/NinjaYellow: He is obsessed with girls and food. He also tends to be the most reckless. He does have some pretty good comedic moments and one of my favorite gags is when he gives a great speech to a girl he likes about the heart of a hero and why he has to fight then he immediately undercuts it when she is out of earshot by basically saying "I may have gone overboard with the drama". The scroll episode he shares with Saizou is pretty good because he randomly attacks Saizou in order to try to get Saizou to kill him so at the very least one of them can escape the kappa curse. I think those two bits sum him up rather well. However, my favorite episode for him is "The Stray Ghost". Its a nice, heartwarming episode where Seikai helps a kid learn to move forward and become stronger after the death of his grandfather.
• Jiraiya/NinjaBlack: His whole style makes him the standout member of the team for me. Kane Kosugi's action skills are top notch and he has gotten the most out-of-suit action seems out of the whole team. Jiraiya's father was murdered by a Yokai when he was a kid so he was taken in by his dad's best friend and trained in martial arts. Without a doubt, his best episodes are 28 and 29 (the Gali episodes). It leads to a pretty gut-wrenching dramatic moment and performance but I will probably cover that later in the review.
• Ninjaman: He is pretty reckless and full of himself while single-mindedly focusing on fighting the Yokai in his early episodes. He was an apprentice of the Three God Generals before getting sealed away after being tricked into hurting humans by Daimaou so he has a grudge against him. The dude was straight up willing to potentially let himself be killed during the DaraDara episodes if it meant stopping Daimaou's plan. Overall, I think he is alright and I don't have many complaints with him other than him showing up a little late (even compared to TimeFire).

Villains: The Yokai in general have a style all their own. Their monster forms are fantastically designed. Their human forms all expertly played by their respective actors and they manage to make themselves creepy with even minor gestures and movements. Its pretty obvious they were having fun the roles. Even when they have a goofy personality they still manage to get across a level of menace.

I love Junior's style. Kenichi Endo plays the role well and gives him this big goofy rockstar energy while also getting across that Junior is not to be taken lightly. It fits Kakuranger's tones as a whole. Junior's music perfectly captures his personality. He can play this sweet controlled music one minute and just move seamlessly into chaotic wailing on the instrument the next. The dude is pretty much a powerhouse in general and the show always makes sure to get across that the Kakurangers are in big trouble whenever he shows up. I was sad when he was defeated in the show for a status quo change up. Thats how much I dug the character and Endo's performance.

I quite like the Flower Kunoichi-Gumi. The choice to put pink and purple on the same team was interesting plus their designs are really sweet looking. These ladies are nasty piece of work and episode 20 is a great example of the kind of threat they pose with how they managed to push Sasuke into a corner. They went so far as to try and run over a kid knowing Sasuke would help him and then goaded Sasuke by saying its his fault the kid is caught in the crossfire. They even tortured Sasuke with the thought of the kid dying as a result. I would absolutely love to see a team of evil ranger-like beings again (as far as I'm aware, its just these ladies and the Nezirangers from Megaranger). Also thanks to these ladies I can officially add "Ninjas riding a missile while shooting machine guns" to the list of stupidly awesome ways to try to kill someone I've seen in toku. They don't get much development or characterization outside of being the Yokai's hit squad but honestly they don't really need it. I was a bit disappointed there wasn't some kind of climactic battle with them in the show.

Daimaou is great. Something I especially loved is that despite him calling Junior a fool, he still laments his death and vows to make the Kakurangers suffer for killing his son. It would've been so easy to make him the type of villain that takes joy in the death of a commander whose own foolishness was their undoing but I'm so glad he wasn't like that. He is also not easily fooled. Dude saw a betrayal coming and immediately factored it into his plan instead just trying to stop it. The reveal of what he is and how they had to beat him left my jaw on the floor because I was not expecting that at all.

Favorite Episodes: My favorite episodes are episode 28 and 29, the Gali episodes. They're a pretty good dramatic set of episodes for Jiraiya. Its also when we first learn his backstory. The bulk of the two parter features a ton of out-of-suit action so Kane Kosugi really gets to shine here. All of that makes for a really amazing and heartbreaking set of episodes when you find out how his dad died and why he was killed. They're so good that I'm not even gonna do my usual plot-breakdown for this section. Basically if you like Jiraiya than you will most likely love these episodes.

Mecha: The show features a lot of mecha. Its got the 5 Beast Generals, Muteki Shogun, the 5 Jusho Fighters, Tsubasamaru, the 5 Super Ninja Beast, and Kakure Daishogun. Thats a total of 17 and that feels like a lot for a show from the 90s. It has Dairanger's fast mecha fights which felt odd going back to since I finished off Timeranger before this. It really fits the hectic nature of the show. I like that Kakure Daishogun has a 5episode entire arc dedicating to bringing it in. It helps that the entire arc leads up to one of the biggest status quo changes I've seen in a Sentai show and ends up giving its debut a lot of weight.

Music: The music is pretty good. The opening theme is a fantastic hype machine. I was singing along and even dancing by episode 4. That shamisen solo sounds fantastic and it gives the whole opening its own unique feel to match Kakuranger's feel as a whole. Ninja Matenrou Kids (the ending theme) surprised me. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. I was practically dancing to it by episode 6.The show also uses a slower, more mellow, instrumental version of it during the more somber bits of the show and it works really well. Hoshi Yo Nijimura is a pretty killer insert song that plays in episode 44 when Sasuke is raiding Daimou's place. That song made the entire sequence even better. The show's bgm is great and I'm pretty sure I was able to pick out a few pieces from Dairanger in the mix which is fitting since the two shows have the same composer.

Cameos: The show features a ton of cameos from past Sentai actors which just manages to add to its already surreal and weird vibe for me. Its nice seeing a lot of these actors again. This section is pretty much just gonna be me listing off the ones I noticed and ones that friends pointed out to me. Burai (DragonRanger and he was also ChangePegasus), Kaori (White Swan), and Lady Ring's (Dairanger) actors all cameo in episode 9. Radiguete's (Jetman) actor and Byakko's (Dairanger) voice actor show up as Yokai in episodes 5 and 6. Dora Sphynx (Zyuranger) plays the rag Yokai. Rumi (FiveYellow) plays Sakura in the Flower Kunoichi-Gumi. Lami's (Zyuranger) actress plays Amikiri. Mei (PteraRanger) shows up in episode 25. Tsuruhime's father is played by the second VulEagle. The facestealing yokai went on to play MegaRed's dad. Tsuruhime's two friends were her co-stars in Shushutorian (a Fushigi Comedy series). Kirinranger's actor and his twin brother play Taro and Jiro. While he hasn't actually been in Sentai before (as far as I know), I'm adding Gali to this section because he is played by Kane Kosugi's father. Its not really a cameo since he plays the Red in Kakuranger but Sasuke's actor went on to play Black Knight Hyuuga in Gingaman. So yeah, there are a lot of familiar faces in this one show and there are probably more that I didn't recognize.

Final Thoughts: I really like how the team is usually doing their own thing and they just stumble onto a Yokai in town. Its also a nice world building detail that since the battles usually take place in some out of the way place, not even urban legends surrounding Yokai and the Kakurangers pop up in-show. It gives the show a real "war in the shadows" feel, so every civilian ends up reacting like each Yokai appearance is the first time its ever happened. I would of loved to see more of the ancestors in the show since I dug how instead of going on and on about how grave the situation was, they just gave them life advice or snarked it up when they met their descendants. I love how lowkey most of the ninja stuff is. Most of it feels doable and the only thing I'd outright call magic is mecha summoning, the elemental attacks, and the transformation jutsu. The episode "The Great Snow Woman's Snowball Fight" has the single best Jiraiya action setpiece for me. His actor really gets put through the ringer in that episode. I don't usually comment on fashion choices in toku but man the Kakurangers' outfits sure are something else. It says a lot about a team's fashion choices when the guy who debuted dressed up as a cowboy managed to look the most normal. They get new outfits later in the show so they end up looking a bit more normal...well except for Sasuke. Who lets this man dress himself? Overall, I had a lot of fun with the show. If you're looking for some good ol' 90s Sentai fun with a surreal vibe, great monster designs, and some good dramatic bits, then I can't recommend this show enough.

Ultraman Geed Review

The next entry on the New Gen Ultra kick is Ultraman Geed. This was actually the very first New Gen Ultra I watched since it was streaming on Crunchyroll at the time. I was watching it weekly while it was airing at the time and then fell off of it to let the episodes pile up. Sadly I then forgot to go back to it until now. This time however, I got so in the groove that at one point, I ended up watching 11 episodes in one sitting and forgetting to eat during the binge. Without further adieu...Standing around doing nothing won't get us anywhere!

Premise: Riku Asakura was found on the steps of an observatory as a baby after a near universe destroying event that came to be known as the Crisis Impact. Strangely, the only thing the public seems to know about the Crisis Impact is that the visage of a horrible monster was spotted shortly before it happened. When a giant monster starts rampaging in his town, Riku and his alien friend Pega stumble on to a base beneath the observatory and there Riku is given the power to transform into Ultraman Geed. From there Riku protects his home town while dealing with the fact that Geed happens to look a lot like the creature that caused the impact.

Characters:

Riku is straight up just a wholesome character. He can be kinda naive and a bit dumb at times but the dude has a really good heart. When the giant monster first attacks the city, he jumps at the chance to stop it once he learns he has the power to do so. This is because well...what he wants more than anything in the world is to help people and make them smile. He came fast friends with an Alien Pegasa (Pega) in middle school after letting him stay in his shadow so both he and Pega would never feel lonely. I love his journey of dealing with Belial's legacy, having to find a way to defy his own fate, and becoming his own person while finding his own family. His parallel with Kei is fantastic and leads to some pretty awesome yet gut-wrenching moments.

Laiha Toba lost her family during a monster attack because the monster was after the little star inside of her. Due to this, she is out for revenge against the man who became the monster. She is so engrossed in her revenge that it takes not only a child begging Geed to stop her but a mysterious light and a voice coming from nowhere pleading with her to keep her from straight up killing someone. Her whole deal becomes about getting over the urge for revenge and her ground scale fights have the some of the best choreography in the show. Its a pretty good story since her goal changes to give the guy a send-off so he doesn't die alone once his world collapses. Its a rather kind take on a revenge story imo.

Leito is a timid office worker who becomes the host for Ultraman Zero in this show. Leito basically tried to save a kid from getting crushed by debris only to slip and get run over by a truck. The kid ended up being saved by the Little Star inside him but Leito's drive to help is why Zero chose him. He and Zero make one complete mentor figure and its really nice to see Zero kind of learn to chill out over the course of the show. I particularly like Leito's speech about how Riku has to find the things precious to him while is protecting the world. He is probably the best acted character in the show. His actor perfectly captures Leito's timid/goofy nature and wise fatherly side as well as Zero's over the top movements and energy. I love the little detail of him removing his glasses whenever Zero takes over.

The AIB (Alien Investigation Bureau) is basically the Men In Black without the neuralizers. They're an organization made up almost entirely of aliens and their job is basically keeping alien activity under wraps so as not to cause culture shock among the earthlings. Due to the nature of the show, we only really get to know Riku's childhood friend Moa and her partner Zena (an Alien Shadow). There is also a minor member, an Alien Pitt named Tri-Tip who shows up twice. The AIB has a pretty vast information network even though we don't get to see many of the members and they're pretty crucial to finding out what Belial is up to and coming up with the eventual plan to stop him.

Villain:

Fukuide Kei is a fantastic villain. The dude is utterly obsessed with Belial and gaining his favor. He sees Riku as inferior and sees himself as being the only one truly worthy of Belial's legacy. Its a rather sad thing because he outright said at one point that Belial gave him purpose even though Belial was very obviously just using him. His entire world crumbling around him made me sad because its a fundamentally broken person going mad and desperately clinging to what he felt was his purpose. His actor does an amazing job in the role and gives every single line some level of menace and gets the inherrent sadness near the end perfectly. The "act" with Leito on the lecture stage gave me chills because how well the two did it.

Action and Effects: As usual, both are top notch. The show makes great use of the Belial Fusion Monster's combined traits in a fight. The show manages to give every form its own distinct way of fighting and shows off the powers of the individual Ultras that make them up really well. My favorite form is probably Acro Smasher because of how slick and smooth the fights look or Royal Mega Master because of how elegantly it moves and fights. I also particularly love how the suit actor's mannerisms change when Riku swaps forms. The human scale action is pretty good too. The standouts in that regard are Laiha's sword skills and Leito when Zero takes over. Sakamoto's fingerprints are all over this show and it is fantastic.

Favorite Episodes: My favorite episodes are probably 14 (Shadows of Shadows) and 15 (Child of Battle). Its an amazing two parter for both Moa and Zena and it features some neat worldbuilding. I'm going to try to go into as little detail as possible because I'd rather the folks reading this watch the episodes themselves. Basically it opens with Zena supposedly working on another case and a new Alien Shadow (Kuruto) becoming Moa's new partner while he is busy. I love the idea behind how Alien Shadows operates. They're basically guerilla fighters who infiltrate other planets and taken them down from the inside in order to get what they need. Its a pretty tense and heartbreaking episode that gets to the heart of who Moa is and deals with Zena's lingering feelings and regrets about raising young soldiers to do nothing but die for the glory of their home-world.

Final Thoughts: This is the 7th Ultra show I've finished (I watched Z weekly) and I enjoyed Geed quite a bit. A small detail I like is how the henshin sequence for Royal Mega Master uses Ultraman King for the "I go!" part instead of Belial. In a sense, its King representing Riku in that form instead of his father. That one change says quite a lot imo. I like its theme of defying destiny and forging your own path. There is also this other theme about dealing with legacies that have been left to you and how the older generation affects the younger ones. That theme is something encapsulated by Leito's speech in episode 6 about how having a kid made him care more about protecting the planet. Kei and Leito were the best acted characters in the show even if Kei does get hammy here and there. I didn't cover Belial in the villains section because well...he is what you'd expect if you've seen Zero's movies and I felt like looking at the series itself in isolation. Overall I enjoyed the show and I'd put it just above Ultraman X. This marks the temporary end of my New Gen Ultra kick as I've got the urge to cover an older Ultra show. I highly recommend this, Orb, and R/B as an entry point for newcomers to the franchise. While Geed does basically mark the end of Belial and Zero's feud, its not something you really need to know a lot about as the show fills in the basics of the backstory as it goes along.

Ultraman X Review

The next show on the Ultra kick is Ultraman X. Like Orb, this was a show I originally decided to check out earlier this year because some friends of mine kept raving about it. I had a lot of fun with it. Yeah I don't really have much to say beyond that. Lets get down to it, but first...Unite!

Premise: 15 years ago, a strange solar flare (dubbed the Ultra Flare) covered the earth and caused objects called Spark Dolls to come to life resulting in the appearance of giant monsters. At the same time, a young boy lost his parents in a freak accident caused by the flare. The organization Xio was created to deal with them the rising threat of monsters. During a monster attack, Xio officer Daichi Ozora gets caught in the path of a fireball and gains the power to turn into a being known as Ultraman X in order to combat the monsters.

Characters:

Daichi is a cool protagonist. He strives to actually understand the monsters and wonders if humanity can coexist with them. It was that drive for coexistence that caused him to dedicate himself to studying spark dolls. He also does this in order to make cyber monsters as a way of completing his father's work. He got kinda overzealous with studying them at one point and he not only fell into an aliens trap in one episode but he also ignored his own health in the process during another episode. He is so dedicated to understanding monsters that its revealed in episode 16 that he recreated their natural habitats as model sets for the Spark Dolls to live in so that they'd be happier. Thats a small detail and it only shows up in that episode but it really says a lot about Daichi.

Xio is a pretty neat team. I quite like the Three Musketeers angle with Asuna, Hayato, and Wataru. Those three get some pretty cool teamwork episodes together, usually when there are multiple enemies involved or X is out of commission. Episode 15 is a really good episode for Captain Kamiki because we see just how much his job has strained his relationship with his family due to it requiring him to put his duties at Xio before anything else. Lieutenant Tachibana gets an episode to herself and its pretty good. Like Kamiki she wrestles with her duties at Xio and worrying about her daughters. Its makes for a pretty cool parallel with Kamiki's episode due to how each of them ends up being able to handle the situation. I quite like how the vehicles are handled in this show. They basically just plug into one set of jet wings for different 3 configurations: The Sky Musketty (a jet formed by combing with a car called Athos), Land Musketty (a tank formed by combining with a truck called Porthos), and Space Musketty (a spaceship formed by combining with a van called Aramis). Its a really neat way to handle it because even tho only one vehicle can be plugged in at a time, it still gives their arsenal a nice variety of options. Plus it continues the Three Musketeers allusion since Hayato (Athos), Asuna (Porthos), and Wataru (Aramis) pilot them. The science team of Dr Gourmand, Rui, and Mamoru are fun and they provide a nice bit of comic relief. Rui's episode is pretty good since Alien Knackle praises her on her ability to build weapons but Rui immediately shuts him down by telling that she joined Xio to help people with her inventions. I would've liked to learn more about Mamoru and Gourmand but ah well, its to expected with a 22 episode show. Hayato also didn't really get an episode to himself so it feels a little odd to me since Asuna and Wataru got one (though you could argue that Wataru's episode sort of doubled as one for Hayato). I just would've like to learn more about him.

Effects: This section is probably gonna be shorter than my past reviews, mostly because I'm starting to sound like a broken record after covering R/B and Orb's effects. As usual the effects are good and everything is nicely detailed and the city destruction looks great during the fights. With that being said, unlike R/B and Orb there wasn't a simple effect that blew me away.

Action: The action is fantastic as usual. The fights have a lot of weight to them and they always manage to be interesting. The MonsArmor is a pretty cool touch and it makes X's action feel totally different compared to the other Ultra shows I've seen. Each armor changes how X has to fight and they give him a nice variety in regards to what he can do. If I had to pick my favorite MonsArmor, it'd either be Bemstar or Zetton since I tend to love defensive powers. The action gets even better when they eventually succeed in realizing Cyber Gomora so we get some sweet two-on-one and even some two-on-two fights. The Ultra cameos also add to this and there is a stellar three-on-one fight in episode14 that shows off Ginga and Victory really well.

Favorite Episode: 

Its a really tough call since I'm torn between the Gargoron episodes (episodes 6 and 7)  and episode 16 (as usual, I'm not counting the show's finale for this section because it would require spoilers). The Gargorgon episodes are a pretty intense two parter and they're a good example of the show's theme of coexistence and understanding. It was also the first time the show put this theme in the fore-front imo and it just kept emphasizing it from then on to the finale. Gargorgon in general is just really cool concept for a monster. This thing looks and feels like a force to be reckoned with. Basically the plot is that an amnesiac refugee from Planet Gold fled to Earth looking for a Spark Doll with enough power to stop Gargorgon. Everyone is afraid and suspicious of him because they think he is initially trying to invade Earth. Gargorgon finds its way to Earth and the refugee has to team up with X and Xio in order to stop it.

Episode 16 is one of the most unique episodes I've seen in toku in general and its one I'd absolutely love to see something like it happen again. The whole thing feels like an episode of Cops. Its basically a tv crew getting permission to follow Xio around for a day, get interviews, and giving civilians a look inside their day-to-day operations. The whole on-the-ground feel works fantastically. On top of that, it manages to be plot relevant too. I've never seen an episode of toku that feels quite like this one.

Final Thoughts: It handles its theme of trying to coexist and understand each other rather well. Its got some pretty meaty episodes with some punch to them that encapsulate that theme perfectly. I legitimately felt sad in episode 19 when it looked like they might actually have to kill Gomora. I find it funny that even though Exceed X gets its power from a rainbow, it somehow has the darkest color palette of any Ultra I've seen so far, barring Belial of course. The defense team and dogfighting kind of threw me off briefly because the most recent Ultras I had binged prior were R/B and Orb. I had gotten used to a smaller cast and a more personal style of Ultraman story. I didn't expect to see so many Ultra cameos in this show but they were welcome additions. My personal favorite cameo was the Nexus episode because I'm a big fan of Ultraman Nexus in general. I geeked out when that good ol' Nexus bgm played and the music started swelling during the fight. It was also good seeing Komon's actor so long after seeing Nexus itself. Overall, its a solid show even if it doesn't quite hit R/B or Orb levels for me.

Ultraman Orb Review: Lighting The Dark Night

I'm on an Ultra kick after binging all of Ultraman R/B in only a few days so I've decided to go back to the New Gen Ultra shows I started but never finished. First up: Ultraman Orb. I originally started watching Orb earlier this year because a friend of mine was raving about it and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I should note this review is only going to cover the series itself, not Orb Origin Saga or the Orb movie. Also, I will probably have to spoil some stuff in this review. Without further adieu...Fusion Up!

Premise: A wanderer arrives in town inside a refrigerator truck. Soon the town is besieged by tornados seemingly caused by a mysterious giant bird. A group of friends investigating these occurrences get caught up in a monster attack and are saved by a strange giant. The giant is revealed to be the wanderer, Gai Kurenai, and from then on he protects the town from various monster attacks.

Characters:

Gai Kurenai is a wanderer initially unable to stay in one place as he travels the world fighting monsters. This is mostly because he lost someone he cared about in a battle. He blamed himself for it and started drifting from place to place to avoid getting attached to people again. Gai kind of feels like a lone cowboy to me with the way he enters to save the day complete with that awesome yet sad harmonica tune. Even his musical cues make him feel like he stepped right out of a western. I'm actually rather curious if Gai is an homage to Kaiketsu Zubat because I kept getting a similar vibe from him here and there. Thunder Breaster's arc leading straight into Orb Origin's debut was the perfect choice. The entire time we get to see Gai struggling with the fact that Juggler might be right about him. It basically sums up Gai as a whole while being perfectly touching once he truly accepts himself. I'll be going into more detail in the favorite episode section.

The SSP are basically a group of friends (Jetta, Naomi, and Shin) who investigate stories of seemingly supernatural/alien events for their website. They're a pretty fun group and they play off each other rather well. Naomi is the leader of the group and tends to work other jobs to keep the group funded since their website doesn't exactly bring in the money. She started the group due to strange dreams about a giant of light she had as a child. I can't get into the specifics around her because it requires a rather large spoiler that I'd really rather let people experience on their own. I'll just say that she effectively becomes Gai's rock. Jetta is the driver and camera guy. Jetta starts out as if he is just in it for the scoops and potential popularity but episodes 3 and 9 show he is doing it because at his core he really wants to help people. Shin is the tech guy and a self-proclaimed genius. The Galactron episodes reveal his dream is to basically build robots that help people and thats why he is always trying to discover new things.

Ittetsu Shibukawa is a member of the show's actual investigation/defense team VTOL and he is Naomi's uncle. He worries about the SSP when they do their own investigations and he'll accompany them when he can just to make sure nothing happens. He tends to get played for comedy for the most part and he works well for that but episode 18 is a really good episode for him that shows off his skills as an investigator and as a fighter. Its a rather touching episode that centers around his daughter thinking he is useless and then getting to see him in action when she falls into an alien's plot. Its was a surprisingly tense episode overall and it kind of gave me Dekaranger vibes.

Villains:

Jugglus Juggler (I absolutely love that name) is just plain creepy. I'm not kidding, when I say that the dude kinda scares me. From his choice of words to his mannerisms and movements, the dude sends a chill up my spine. Every single thing he does is to attempt to prove that Gai isn't the hero he says he is. He took great joy in seeing Gai go berserk when he was forced to use Thunder Breaster for the first time. It really felt like Juggler might have been right about them being the same in the Galactron episodes. Him saying that takes on a whole new meaning by the time the final episode rolls around. Takaya Aoyagi plays the role really well and gives every single line the right amount of menace while getting across a hint of underlying sadness. His exasperation and frustration at always losing to Gai somehow makes him seem even scarier.

Favorite Episodes: 

There will be some spoilers in this section. This is going to be cheating a bit but I'm picking episodes 11,12, and 14-17. These six episodes cover Thunder Breaster's debut, the Galactron episodes, and run right into Orb Origin's debut so they basically feel like one big multipart episode to me (I didn't include episode 13 because its a clip show). Its the main arc of the show and one of the hardest hitting stories of desperation that I've seen in toku. Gai's desperation hits a heartbreaking point starting from Thunder Breaster's debut. The Galactron episodes just push that knife in deeper when he goes nuts again from Thunder Breaster's power to the point where Naomi ends up in the hospital. He legitimately begins to question if Juggler is right about the darkness inside him and even begins to think that his very presence is causing the people around him to suffer. Its a pretty heartbreaking moment and it straight up lasts until Naomi tells him that she believes in him and to stop blaming himself. I was on the verge of tears by that point and Gai breaking down after finding a picture of the person he thought he lost and finding out what actually happened to her was enough to break me. Its a great moment because thanks to Naomi, that guilt gets lifted off his shoulders and he is finally able to accept himself for both the good and bad. Its a fantastic arc that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time from the sense of dread around Thunder Breaster to the hopeful acceptance that is Orb Origin.

Effects: The effects are top notch as is to be expected from this franchise and the sets are fantastic. The model cities are insanely detailed. They even added in the sound of car alarms when Orb gets slammed into the ground and its brief but the cars' lights go on and off. The city destruction during a few episodes is mesmerizing to look at, particularly in Thunder Breaster's initial episodes before Gai gets a handle on its power. One of my favorite simple practical effects in the show is from episode 18. Bemular slams Orb into the ground and the street under him just shatters. It was such a beautifully done effect that I had to rewatch that shot a few times. It completely sold the weight of that impact.

Action: The kaiju action is pretty good as usual and the show gives them the appropriate heavy feeling needed to make them work. The fusion angle gives Orb a nice variety of powers and abilities. The show keeps every fight interesting whether its the monster of the week or Orb using his powers in cool and unexpected ways in the early episodes, like having Specium Zeperion make a polished shield of light to reflect a strong laser or using Burnmite's explosions to snuff out a fireball. Thunder Breaster's early fights give a great sense of dread given the sheer amount of power that form has. Orb Origin's elemental abilities are pretty cool. The ground level fights between Gai and Juggler are great. They're pretty energetic and nicely choreographed.

Final Thoughts: My favorite line in the show is from episode 15..."You can't snuff out the darkness. You have to embrace it and shine within it. So no matter where you look, there will be no darkness". It sums up the Thunder Breaster arc pretty well as well as Orb's theme as a whole. It also puts a new angle on Gai and Juggler's relationship. Everyone has darkness inside them, its all a question of whether or not you let it consume you. In the end, Juggler was actually right about him and Gai being the same, just not in the way he thought. I also really like the message behind the episode "Imposter Blues". Its rather fitting that Orb Origin's bgm is a cheerier sounding version of the harmonica tune. That tune sounds so sweet yet sad when played normally so hearing a cheerier version of it alone made it feel like Gai had overcome what was holding him back. Orb Origin is a pretty neat take on the idea of an ultimate form since its not technically an upgrade, its actually Orb's original form. Overall, Ultraman Orb is a pretty good show. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. I'd also say its a pretty good entry point if you're new to Ultraman as you don't need to know much about the past Ultras that show up as cards.

Mirai Sentai Timeranger Review

Imma go ahead and give my verdict on the show right here because I kind of somewhat have to go into some spoilers to talk about these characters: I enjoyed this show a lot and I can't recommend it enough. Its got engrossing drama and great characters all around. Without further adieu...Go over time and space!

The show opens with a group of Time Protection Bureau cadets being given orientation in the 30th century. While this is happening, a mafia boss (Don Dolnero) is being transported to the building's cryo-prison. Dolnero and his crew stage an escape and actually tricks the TPB into accidentally sending him back in time to the 20th century. Four of the cadets are assigned to chase after him in order to keep him from changing the past. They run into a man from the 20th century and enlist him to help them track down Don Dolnero.

Characters: This cast is pretty good and all of them are compelling characters in one way or another. Their actors also give great performances all around. Its a tough call to pick who my favorite character is.

• Tatsuya/TimeRed: Tatsuya is pretty cool. He comes from a rich family but gets very noticeably uncomfortable around his father and in his interactions with his family's rich associates at a party in one episode. He tends to be light-hearted and jovial. His plot basically involves trying to get out of his family's shadow and live his own life as his own person and not who his father wants him to be. Masaru Nagai really captures Tatsuya's drive to prove there is more to him than just the name Asami as well as his frustrations with his father. 
• Ayase/TimeBlue: Ayase is the calm and collected type. He dreamed of being a racer but had to give up his dream when he was diagnosed with an incurable disease known as Osiris Syndrome. His plotline basically involves him dealing with this and living his life while a lot of his focus episodes end up dealing with death in different ways. Due to this disease, he developed a relatively reckless streak shown early in the show to the point of willingly throwing himself in front of an enemy's attack because he thinks the danger doesn't matter because is basically living on borrowed time anyway. Ayase's episodes are usually pretty nice and tense with his best episodes being episodes 39 and 40. Yuji Kido manages to play him to the point where he is very stoic but also manages to get across the idea that dying is always in the back of Ayase's mind.
• Domon/TimeYellow: Domon is the team's easy-going strong guy with some pretty cool goofy and serious moments. Shuhei Izumi plays this role really well and gives him a very nice amount of likeability. He starts out really relatable in his first focus episode because its revealed he is homesick and is pretty freaked out at first at the idea of them being stuck in the past. Beyond that, his plotline revolves around him falling for a reporter while grappling with the fact that he will eventually have to leave her behind and return to the future. Needless to say, his best episodes are the episodes dealing with his romance with Honami. Surprisingly, this is the plotline I was the most invested in. I'm usually not a fan of the "will they, won't they" romance trope but Timeranger did it really well.
• Sion/TimeGreen: Sion is the smartest member of the team and the tech guy. He is a Hubbardian and the last of his kind. He was raised in a lab so a lot of his episodes involve trying to find his place both on the team and in the world. I like Sion well enough and Masahiro Kuranuki does a good job in the role but his episodes are probably the weakest in the show. Aside from his first focus episode and episode 21, something about his episodes just makes them not hit the way they should. They're not bad as there isn't an episode of this show that I dislike, something about them just feels off.
• Yuuri/TimePink: Yuuri is a tough as nails detective from the Anti-Mafia police division. She starts out really cold and distant at first but the other Timerangers manage to keep her grounded. Her dramatic episodes tend revolve around her having lost her family to Don Dolnero as a child and her drive to beat the Londerz in hopes of recapturing them. The show brings up how this drive is her main reason for living a few times and it gets heart-wrenching near the end of the show. Mika Katsumura plays the role well and brings the right amount of seriousness to her character while capturing the pain of losing her family.
• Naoto/TimeFire: Naoto is Tatsuya's friend from college. He is basically Tatsuya but coming from the opposite direction in life. He tends to be more serious and cynical compared to Tatsuya. Shinji Kasahara plays the role really well and captures Naoto's cynical nature perfectly as well as his thirst for power. He is introduced late in the show but it works perfectly because by that point, we already know who exactly Tatsuya is and so the contrast between the two comes across without needing much establishing on Naoto's part.

Timeranger does something really neat with Tatsuya and Naoto's relationship and it honestly fascinates me. Tatsuya and Naoto are essentially after the same thing, they want to carve out their own futures with their own hands. This is even reflected in their suit designs. TimeRed and TimeFire have similar suits and its really fitting because even their suits tell you about their personalities. Tatsuya has arguably always had the power to forge his own path, he just needed the other Timerangers to open the path for him. He also approaches serious situations with jokes and laughter hence the white highlights on his chest and the silver bands on his gloves and boots. Meanwhile, Naoto has always known the path he wanted to take but didn't have the power to open that path until he became TimeFire. Due to this, he tends to be more serious and cynical than Tatsuya hence the black highlights on his chest, the black bands on his gloves and boots, and his edgier visor. Maybe I'm overthinking it and this whole thing may have been unintentional on the writer's/designer's part but either way it adds a whole new layer to the show.

Villains:

The villains are pretty cool. The Londerz are pretty interesting group imo because their main motivation isn't actually conquest, they just want to make money. Well thats Dolnero and Lila's deal anyway, Gien however is pretty messed up and he has thing for destruction. Dolnero is a lot deeper of a character than I was expecting and its pretty much all tied into his relationship with Gien. Dolnero feels like he owes Gien so much because its his fault that Gien is the way he is now. That reveal kinda puts the episode where he turns on an old friend of his for interfering with the family into a new light. Lila loves buying expensive things and is usually seen going on shopping sprees. The series treats her as if she just hangs around Dolnero for the money but near the end she reveals that she kind of would've liked him even without the money. I'm not going to spoil it here but Gien is pretty tragic. I legitimately felt bad for the guy after finding out how he met Dolnero and what he went through. The Londerz goal of making money is a neat thing about the show imo because instead of going into each episode wondering what powerful foe the Timerangers had to overcome, I went in intrigued as to what the Londerz racket was going to be and how the Timerangers were going to bust it up. It managed to make even the petty criminal Londerz memorable.

Favorite Episode: Given how the show is structured, I actually have a few contenders so I'm going to split them up. First, episodes I think stand pretty well on there own: Battle Casino and Deathmatch City. Battle Casino plays out like an episode from a cop show and I love it. Basically a dude a goes missing after going to an underground fight club prompting his wife to hire the Tatsuya and the others to investigate his disappearance. The rest of the episode plays out like a classic cop show sting operation. The action for this episode handled really well and its cool seeing Tatsuya go toe-to-toe with fighters in the club out-of-suit because all of them are played by suit actors. Deathmatch City is basically the start of Domon and Honami's subplot. It centers around a Londerz basically forcing a city's population to beat each other for an experiment with the intent to escalate things to what would have been likely more fatal outcomes. The whole episode is pretty tense and scary. It feels straight up like a horror movie and I felt bad when Honami got in the way during the episode when the Timerangers have a plan to stop the Londerz early on. Even without the subplot starting there, its a pretty solid episode with some great atmosphere. 

My favorite episodes overall however hands down are episode 39 (A Lie Soaked In Rain) and episode 40 (Ayase Retires!?) as they are Ayase's best episodes in the show. It gets to the heart of who Ayase is, where he stands in regards to his disease, and how he views what time he has left. I won't go much into spoilers for those two episodes but I will say they are the best written episodes in the show. As soon as I finished these episodes, I immediately wanted to rewatch them (which I did shortly after finishing the show itself). They're so good that Ayase is probably my favorite Blue because of them. They're actually on my list of favorite episodes in all of Sentai.

Music: The music in this show is pretty great. The opening theme has this ominous epic feel to it. As soon as it starts you get the vibe that you're in for a grand adventure that will decide the fate of the world. The ending theme is pretty good and its got some nice energy to it. Its actually a more addictive song for me than the opening theme. The episodes Battle Casino and Pink Temptation feature a nice saxophone cover of the ending theme during their montages.

Mecha: I like TimeRobo and the show makes it feel cool. Its a pretty nice looking mecha and it even has 3 seperate modes. Timerobo Alpha is meant for melee combat with its sword and shield combo, Beta is designed specifically for long range combat, and Jet Gamma is built for speed and maneuverability. Having these modes gives the main mecha a nice degree of variety and utility. I wish the franchise would do another mecha like this.

TimeShadow is pretty cool and I quite liked its introduction episodes. Its debut in the show is pretty ominous. Its got this cool summoning scene where it basically bathes the world in a solar eclipse then flies out of the moon. I just really wish it got more time to shine by itself. Sadly, only a few episodes after its debut, it gets relegated to being add-on parts for Time Robo for the most part. It does get some more use as a solo mecha in the last handful of episodes but thats about it.

V-Rex is nice. I love its design and it fights like a wild best before Naoto takes control of it. Its robot mode is pretty cool and its interesting that for the most part like Dragon Caeser and Delta Mega, Naoto does not need to be inside the robot to control it since its operated by his voice. Thats actually a pretty good Achilles heel for it too since a Londerz manages to take control of it by copying Naoto's voice and stealing his brace. It has a surprising variety in the number of weapons it uses. Its got the fangs and tail in Rex Mode and blaster, missile launchers, and a rocket punch in Robot Mode.

Final Thoughts: Timeranger is a weird case for me because while Domon and Honami's romance is my favorite plotline, Domon is not my favorite character. Its a tough call but if I had to choose, I'd say Ayase gets that award, with episodes 39 and 40 being the reason. I wasn't actually expecting the show itself to confirm that Domon and Honami had a kid. I might have to rewatch Gokaiger's Timeranger tribute to see if it hits any differently. Masaru Nagai plays a dual role later in the show but I like the show so much that all I'm gonna say is that he is able to play two vastly different personalities really well. A neat little aspect about the show that I didn't catch until the 40s is that for the most part each episode is dated in-show with the date the episode aired (minus the multi-parters). Overall the show well written, well acted, and I enjoyed it a lot. Note: I didn't talk about the suits because the review was getting kind of long and I plan on covering them in the 2000's Sentai suit post.

Denji Sentai Megaranger Review

Another of the 90's Sentai. I went in knowing this was gonna be really episodic and I'd heard a lot of praise for this show. It was well worth my time and I ended up having a lot of fun with it. Yeah I really don't have much to say for the introduction. So lets get down to business...Install Megaranger!

The show opens up with  high school student Kenta Date playing a video game in an arcade called Megaranger. After showing off his skill at the game, he is approached by INET to assist with their research project. Meanwhile 4 of his classmates show up to find out more about INET just as Nezirejia launches its first attack. Having no other choice, Dr. Kubota hands them their Digitizers so they can become the Megarangers.

Characters: I like this team a lot. The main five are one of the most believable groups of friends I've ever seen. Sure they all have their differences but they still mesh well together. It really helps that their personalities don't really conflict to the point where I can't buy them being friends.

• Kenta/MegaRed: Kenta is a love-able goofball while being a bit reckless. I quite like that he isn't as tech-savy or as smart as the other members of the team. He can be a bit lazy but he has a big heart and will fight tooth and nail for his friends. He is also pretty driven to make up for his failings when he screws up in battle. A great episode for him is the one where Gurail tricked him into injuring a kid mid-fight.
• Kouichiro/MegaBlack: Koichirou is the leader of the team and the one who takes being a Megaranger most seriously. He pretty much keeps his teammates on their toes and tries to make sure they're training. He can be a little uptight at times and there are one or two episodes where the main message is that he needs to chill out and relax. He also tends to overdo his role as leader a bit and in an early episode, he outright blames himself for the team falling into a trap. Episode 16 in particular shows a rather vulnerable side to him.
• Shun/MegaBlue: Shun is the smartest one on the team. He is usually pretty calm and collected while being quick to react and figure out some of the science behind Nezirejia's plans in a few instances. A prime example of his intelligence is the episode where he comes with a trap within a trap to throw off the Nezirangers. He is also kinda oblivious to Miku's feelings for him.
• Chisato/MegaYellow: Chisato is more serious and mature compared to Miku and she is probably the most resourceful team member next to Shun. She is smart and able to think on her feet, especially when she has to risk revealing her identity to stop the MOTW or save someone. Her dream is to be professional photographer and the show actually shows her dabbling into that hobby a few times. She and Miku feel like they're the closest out of the whole group of friends. She has some pretty cool focus episodes.
• Miku/MegaPink: Miku is adorably upbeat most of the time while being goofy like Kenta. She is without a doubt one of the kindest characters I've seen so far. I liked her so much that Shun being oblivious to her feelings kinda made me a bit sad. Its a tough call but Miku is probably my favorite character in the show. Her best episode is the Super Miku episode cuz Chisato helps talk her through her insecurities and short-comings so she feels like less of a burden on the team.
• Yusaku/MegaSilver: Yusaku is a goofball. When he first showed up, he felt a lot like an older more tech-savy Kenta. He tends to do stuff behind his boss' back in order to do projects that will help out the team. Despite being the oldest and a researcher for INET, he acts just like the Kenta and Miku. Its a pretty cool dynamic and he feels right at home on the team. The suit's time limit after his debut was a good way to use him effectively and I do like that you actually get to see him fix it.

Dr. Kubota is easily one of my favorite mentors, if not my overall favorite mentor. He is wound a little too tightly at times but he is constantly sticking up for the kids and believing in them. He even hopped into Galaxy Mega in an early episode when it was close to being destroyed just to show the higher ups how important it was that the kids be the ones allowed to pilot it. He showed that he really cared for them and understood that they had their own lives to live to the point of not wanting to disturb Kouichiro and Chisato's entrance exams unless he absolutely had to. Yusaku makes his job harder by doing projects behind his back but he does genuinely appreciate the guy's work in helping the team so long as he can stay on task. I think a lot of his concerns about Yusaku doing that comes from the seeming death of his friend Samejima who he failed to stop from transporting himself into the Nezire dimension (he finds out later what really happened to the guy).

Villains:

The Nezirejia villains have some nice presence and style to them. They have one of the best debuts I've seen in Sentai. In the first episode, they manage to absolutely decimate INET's earth base forcing them to flee into space. That introduction felt like something you'd see in a series finale. Their plans over the course of the series have this insane level of danger to them. The designs for the main three Nezirejia villains are pretty good. Dr Hinelar has this mad scientist vibe and an otherworldly look to him and the actor (Tetsuo Morishita) gives him quite a lot presence and that hairstyle is absolutely splendid. He also has a large ego and a lot of ambition and the actor portrays that rather well. He was originally one of Kubota's friends while working at INET and he defected to Nejirezia because he felt like he wasn't given his due. He also really despises Kubota because INET chose Kubota's project over his own. The final episode adds something that says quite a lot about his character and adds a whole new level to his relationship to Shiborena. I'm not going to spoil it in this review because man its a doozy. Its not mentioned in the show but given his righteous fury and malice toward Gurail for using Yugande like a tool, I wouldn't be surprised if he has the same sentimental attachment to him that he has with Shiborena. Yugande has this neat wire-frame look to him and he is a pretty good power-house villain. I think its pretty cool that he upgrades himself after being the times he takes the Megarangers on himself. Its a good way to keep him feeling like a threat. He is also extremely loyal to Dr Hinelar. Shiborena's armor looks great and has some nice detail to it. The shade of blue is pretty nice. Her plans always seemed to have this mind control component to them. Like Yugande, she is extremely loyal to Dr Hinelar.

Gurail is a powerhouse, really sadistic, and deliciously evil. I don't really have much to say about him other than him bringing a nice amount of threat to the show. He is basically brought in by King Javious because Hinelar and the others are taking too long to take the Megaranger's out of the picture conquer earth. He also carries out King Javious' will but mostly he is there for world building. His appearance also leads to a stronger breed of Nezire beasts being created.

The Nezirangers are nice and intimidating. They're pretty powerful villains while also being nicely dysfunctional as a group. They are sadistic and have tunnel vision when it comes to fighting their specific Megaranger. The best part about this is the second the Megaranger's realize this, they immediately start hammering on this weakpoint. Its a nice instance of them having to out-think an opponent as opposed to simply over-powering them. NeziPink and NeziYellow actively took pot-shots at each other in one episode and the rest of the team felt nothing when NeziPink and NeziBlue were destroyed. I love it so much and its a good example of Hinelar's ego and arrogance being carried over to his creations since they are made in his image. They see each other purely as a means to an end. Despite them being so monstrous, I legitimately felt bad for them when they found out they were gonna die. It takes a lot for a show to make me feel that way about monstrous characters like them.

Favorite Episode: My favorite episode is episode 16, the aptly named "Very Bad! Will We Die?". The basic plot of the episode is that Moth Nezire is sent out to spread powder that places a moth shaped mark on people when it touches them. Those with the mark will die within 24 hours and naturally all 5 of them get hit by it. While Kenta, Shun, and Miku decide to try to live out their dreams in the one day they have left, Kouichiro and Chisato desperately try to find the cure. Over the course of doing their things, those 3 run across people around town going on about their plans for the next day while noticing that every one of them have the mark. It dawns on them that if they don't do something, more people will die. The desperation on Kouichiro and Chisato's side hits when they're having no luck on finding a cure and Kouichiro breaks down looking at a picture of his family. The resulting fight against the monster is the most tense fight in the show imo because not only is it a race against time, the suits stop functioning because they're dying. They fight tooth and nail despite that. Its a great episode and its the first time that it really sunk in for me that at the end of the day, they're still kids while at the same time the episode proves that they have what it takes to be heroes. I was close to tears throughout this episode. This kind of thing is the reason I watch superhero stuff. Even though I knew they'd obviously survive and win the day, this episode was so effective that it actually made me think they might not survive. This episode is a prime example of why I like this team so much. It is easily one of my favorite episodes in all of Sentai.

Mecha: This review is already getting kind of long so I'll just talk about the mecha briefly. Galaxy Mega is pretty cool. Its a nice starting mecha for the show and there is an early episode thats a good example of how much the team needs it. Delta Mega is a nice solo robot that gets a surprising amount of use even after it becomes able to combine with Galaxy Mega. Its operated entirely by pumping Kenta's voice through the Battle Riser. Voice controls are just a cool control scheme imo. Now with that being said, my favorite mecha in the show is probably Mega Voyager since its episodes are extremely tense. Its a pretty cool 5-part mecha housed in a base on the moon. Its powerhouse and its debut really ramps up the steaks since its made pretty clear that the Megarangers might not stand a chance without from here on out. MegaSilver has his own mecha called the MegaWinger. Its an alright mecha but it shows up kind of late and its pretty much stated in its debut that it exists to combine with Mega Voyager. This is mainly just done by passing its glider wings to Mega Voyager. I would've like to see more of what it could do on its own.

Music: The music is pretty good. The opening is nice and energetic. It really helped build up the hype for every episode. I couldn't help but get up and dance while singing along with the song. The ending theme is a nice closer to each episode. Its pretty mellow while at the same time sounding uplifting. It pops up throughout the show a lot because a slowed down instrumental version is used for the slower more dramatic scenes and it sets the mood for scenes pretty well.

Final Thoughts: Without a doubt, my favorite part of this show is the high school setting. Seeing these kids try to balance their school lives with being Megarangers was fun and the high school angle had me pretty interested. It actually showed the consequences of them having to fight, especially the episode where Kouichiro and Chisato had to choose between their entrance exams and saving the civilians. Seeing them miss their exams because of Nezirejia made me tear up. The show kept making that dynamic clear and it helped reinforce that they still had their own lives to live after being Megarangers. All of that is in addition to them having to keep their identities a secret even from the villains of the show. Oh boy does it hard when that shoe drops in the final few episodes. Its one of the most crushing moments in Sentai for me because the villains do not hesitate to destroy their personal lives when they find out and I felt just as bad as the characters did. The episodic nature of the show made for some really great and memorable moments while also making it easy to binge. The final 2 episodes made me tear up and it hands down one of my benchmarks for how to do a mecha fight as well as probably being my favorite finale in all of Sentai. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this show and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. Note: I didn't cover the suits here because I already gave my thoughts about them in the 90's Sentai suit post and the review was already rather long.