My revised Top 10 Blue Sentai Warriors

Yep, Blogger Come Back!

Ahem, excuse my Gaku/Gao Yellow impression a bit, but I'm back with another Top 10. Previously, I got off with Pink, but now I'm gonna tackle my favorite color: Blue. Here we are, you may once again be pissed at my choices.

10. Yukito Sanjou (Abare Blue)

First off, we get to Sentai's most obvious 'Jerk With A Heart Of Gold'. Yukito got a really nasty mouth, but his heart just doesn't match. Even if he mellowed down, it still stuck until the end (he's charging Ryouga with a lot of money for dragging him to the whole Abaranger mess... yeah, you ain't tricking us with that jerkassery, Yukito, we know you're grateful!). His past is pretty fine, having a dad that overshadows him a little bit big. Also another thing I like about him is that he is not afraid to use his chiropractor skills into some dangerous things like breaking bones... a deadly doctor at that! Though I think that being a fellow medical guy, he'd make a good foil to Mikoto, but well that arc are more reserved for Ryouga. But still, for what he is, I do like Yukito a lot to make him on the 10th spot.

9. Shun Namiki (Mega Blue)

And ninth place, we got the Teen genius Shun. While his development mostly come at the beginning, from that sacrificing his dreams for friends, I like it that he sometimes act like a jerk, but still at times find time to have fun rather than being super uptight like Koichirou. While he mostly ignores Miku, when push comes to shove, he shows that he does care, which speaks a lot for him. I think his greatest moment is during the Nejiranger arc, executing that one plan that later T.J in Power Rangers In Space would repeat, about painting the other Megarangers into blue. Well, if you've got the brain, better use it. And that's probably why he's on the 9th spot.
 

8. Shouji (Tenma Ranger)

Yes, Dairanger is not yet finished in my watch list, but on 40 episodes, I think I can safely say that Shouji got his place at the 8th. He's a delinquent, looks like it and overall a fun boisterous guy to go with. Kinda like how he tricked Ryou into waking up like the Crying Wolf, although that bit him in the ass later. I will also admit that I like his overarching arc with the Three Gorma Stooges, especially one where it's revealed that the reason he bothered so much was because it reminded him of his young self, especially when the other rangers thinks he's just wasting his time, it does show dedication underneath that rough dude with attitude outlook. As of power, yeah, Gravity/Weight control is nice. I realize that Shouji rarely got into people's Top 10 blue lists, and I'm a sucker for underdogs so... yeah, Shouji really is one underrated guy who deserves his place at 8th.

7. Akira (Blue Mask)

Aah, Akira, one of the Blue warriors that got in my childhood. Always full of energy, wacky, but can be serious at times. It's always good to fight for his mother and his cockiness at times shines when he adds up in teasing. He's got quite the big spotlight after Takeru in Maskman, but when he does, sometimes it gets REALLY dramatic like the Unas saga, when he's possessed and proceeds to kick the rest of the Maskman's asses. 'Twas a scary thought, but this does has a depth in him, which was... unfortunately not so touched after it's revealed. So a combo of funny, short smartass and some dangerous stuffs gives Akira a spot in the 7th place.

6. Nanami Nono (Hurricane Blue)

For the most part, I thought she was overhyped. But once I finished Hurricaneger, I can safely and confidently say... Nanami LIVED UP to that hype of hers. Her 'idiocy' comes up in some innocence and cheeriness that it does balance out from Yousuke's hyper determinator idiocy and Kouta's straight man. The voice delivery really gets into the cheerful part which adds up to her fun, which includes some really funny awesome moments like that one time, after constantly mistaking combat commentaries into food commentaries (complete with 'down' and 'up' montage), into punching a cockpit window after waving 'Hi!'... just to draw scribbles on the face. Of course, behind that are also two things: an unbridled anger when she's pushed way too hard as Furabijou found out (you don't mess with a girl who always wanted a fellow female friend, b****!), and an equally tender heart which does make her cry when things really go to south, like in the finale when she started losing nearly every of her friends. Buut back to cheeriness, I'd say that Nanami completely lived up to my expectation so I give her... #6.

5. Youhei Hama (Blue Turbo)

So yeah you may be asking what the heck is an old school guy being here. Was it because he's my blue rep in my fanfic? Well, in the first glance, you can say that. However, the one thing I'd say that Youhei could've been one of my favorite Turborangers is that for a comic relief guy, he seems to have a lot of pasts sprayed here and there, like when he had his childhood friend move because of a Bouma residing in her house, or his favorite teacher leaving him. Even if he's the comic relief, getting into trouble here and there, I think if I wanna say who's the most tragic of all Turborangers, it would've been Youhei. Not only past losses, he also suffers present losses, like that one time he fell in love with a Bouma girl... and said girl got killed by Jarmin. It's just a pity that it's not him who offed Jarmin. But aside of that, he provided a lot of humors in Turboranger and keeps a cheery face despite his misfortune. That and I do also have nostalgia factors in Turboranger, therefore Youhei gets #5.

4. Joe Gibken (Gokai Blue)

Newest guy with real cool stuff. Joe really got a nice style in swords, and hey, I like swords better than guns. He usually fills in the 'cool guy' role very nicely with his overall cool, aloof attitude which is still different with Marvelous' brand of cool. And I bet he's pretty packed with all those push-ups and sit-ups in his spare time. His backstory did great to me, he symbolizes that there are just some limits good men in a bad company can do, as long as one has their goodness and not tossing them away, they always have a chance for redemption. Which then led to the backstory with Cid. It was quite the sad one that he ends up realizing he couldn't totally save him, but well he found an alternative and closure for it, and he went through it just fine. So for his overall badassery, swordplay despite the pretty boy look, I'd say Joe deserves to be at #4.

3. Saburou Aoyama (Goggle Blue)

And nostalgia hit in again. While he wasn't as much as sticking out like Miki and Kuroda, I'd say Aoyama is a good mix of humor and occasional badassery. He probably has one of the unorthodox weapons (a normal, non-bladed ring), but boy does he know how to use it. His growth as a fighter is a good thing to watch too, the first time he got into a solo fight, he was terribly owned, but around 20 episodes later, he is capable on owning the monster single-handedly. Admittedly, one of the favorite episodes involving him would've been the jetpack episode which also highlights his second desire aside of a hockey player, an inventor. His partnership with Kijima is pretty badass and fun to watch, in both efficiency, humor (mostly provided by Kijima, but he's still responsible) and the drama. And this being the first Sentai I watched EVER, Aoyama probably taught me how to like the color blue. So, without further ado, I'd say he's on the #3 spot... no matter what you say!

2. Ryuunosuke Ikenami (Shinken Blue)

TONOOOO!!! Yeah, who could forget that one hilarious yell. I'd say Ryuunosuke is also quite underrated. Sure, he starts out hyperactive annoying, but take a few episodes and you'll see that he lived up his placement as Takeru's second-in-command and he's just as capable as the rest of the Sentai, with some of his annoyingness toned down to make an admirable character. What was once an annoying type of funny becomes a genuine type of funny, and when he hams up the scene, he hams up nicely. His existence as a hammy hyperactive dude makes a good contrast to the to-the-point, serious Takeru. And when drama kicks in, he showed genuine anguish and even the usually loud and annoying scream can become something really heartwrenching as proven in some of the final episodes, which shows his conflicting loyalty in great detail. He can be dismissed as an annoying dude, but if you can get past that, Ryuunosuke is a dude that is really awesome and deserving #2.

1. Hoji Tomasu (Deka Blue)

And just like the rest of many of you guys, my #1 spot is for Hoji. I mean, what else can I say? He hits on nearly everything well. Badass, Development, Drama, Humor... you name it. Badass, as in his sheer determination and hard work that in a short time, he CAN master boxing and beat the crap out of an underground fighter on drugs while unmorphed. Humor due to his broken Engrish at times which can make things also look awesome, or his constant bickering with Ban, although that proves to be a point for his development later. Development due to his change from a jackass high and mighty perfectionist officer humbled with some failures and despite the bickering, eventually accepting Ban as his 'partner'. Drama for... well, the buttload of dramatic episodes that he carried on, from his friend turned evil, choosing law over love by killing his lover's criminal brother.... The one thing I can say 'pity' is that his partnership with Jasmine was only touched in the very end, I kinda ship those two. But... yeah, I think it's really safe to say that the #1 spot is unchanged from the previous one, it's still Hoji. Super Cool. Perfect.

Welp, thus concludes my list so I hope you had a good time reading! Maybe Red or Yellow are next...

Sentai Anniversary Shows and Crossovers

Usually every certain years, Super Sentai would pull off Anniversary show and they have been rather different for years. Let's see how it evolved.



The first special is the Turboranger special episode which began even before Turboranger's first episode aired. It honors the Super Sentai team starting from Battle Fever J until Liveman (at that time, Goranger and JAKQ hasn't been considered) and mostly just does some clip shows of those past Super Sentai and it ends with those teams cheering for the Turborangers to fight the Bouma and carry on their legacy.



The second special is the Super Sentai World which heavily featured the 16th series Kakuranger. Rather than a clip show, it calls in the Sentai warriors from Fiveman, Jetman (Gai is probably not dead yet here), Zyuranger (back from the heavens) and Dairanger (not yet old folks) in order to fight an original enemy. While this probably used the crossover nature a lot, I think it was the beginning of it. Most the pre-Kakuranger warriors don't appear out of suit.



During the Ohranger's airing, probably due to downed ratings, they may be thinking 'Only an Anniversary show can save us now!' Thus they drafted Goranger and JAKQ into the roster and after Ohranger is done, they released Carranger, an Anniversary show which is... a parody of the Sentai genre. They don't do clip shows or crossovers, they just... run along with the show, poke fun of the genre. And it saved Sentai too to continue on.



Now the next anniversary is Gaoranger vs Super Sentai. In a way, this carries on similar elements with the Turboranger special, there were clip shows, but in it, also a new original story, and all warriors from Past Sentai also appear to give their approval for the Gaoranger to continue on their legacy (in this case the whole Red warriors). But what makes this unique is that this also gives us a crossover Sentai team, a Sentai team whose members are from different Sentai teams (in this case Big One, Red Falcon, Ginga Blue, Mega Pink and Go Yellow). I think this is where the awesome really go.



The next anniversary is Boukenger vs Super Sentai. This is really similar with the Gaoranger one, except they don't use whole clip shows and limits it to the previous shows that appears after the last anniversary (Hurricaneger to Magiranger), similar to Super Sentai World. It also introduces us... Aka Red, who'll later appear in Gokaiger. A good showing, but felt like it could be expanded further. I mean, the concept on Gaoranger vs Super Sentai is awesome, a practically crossovers that knows no era or decade, Boukenger vs Super Sentai, while good, felt like a dumbed down version. Although there are anniversary element in the Boukenger show itself, starting from fight coreography into how every single enemies are based on past Sentai robos.



Then there's Gokaiger, which also takes note from Carranger: it's a show that runs on its own and is filled with nostalgia factor and cameo from past rangers. No clip shows, no crossover teams, just an awesome story filled with shout outs to the past.

I hope you had a good read about this.

Also for bonus stuffs you can do, if you are aware of my fic, you realize I am making up my own crossover on Super Sentai which is heavily based on Gaoranger vs Super Sentai. So I'm wondering, if you guys who read here would like to make up crossover teams, which would be your team? Minimum 5 characters, maximum 7 characters! Include villains too if you can! You can put them in your comments! You can see mine in these posts of my blog:

http://supersentaivssupersentai.blogspot.com/2010/06/characters-team-1-heroes.html
http://supersentaivssupersentai.blogspot.com/2010/06/characters-team-2-heroes.html

ChrisX's Top 11 Super Sentai Opening

Hello again after a longass time not posting at all. This is pretty simple. I'm going to sort out what I think to be my favorite opening pieces of Super Sentai. For shows mostly aimed at kids, they have a lot of awesome songs. So I'm gonna count down my Top 11 Super Sentai openings. Why top 11? Because, again, in the immortal words of the Nostalgia Critic, we have to take one step beyond.

11. Dai Sentai Goggle V

Despite this being my fave nostalgia Sentai ever, I realize that this is where they pick up the tempo and intensity of the song, despite being considered a 'disco' song. The Sun Vulcan song is catchy, but Goggle V managed to be both catchy and fast-paced in the same time, while still adhering to the limits. This will be perfected later in Dynaman, so it's on the 11th spot.

10. Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger

New song and it's already cool, it does convey liveliness and free spirit that the Gokaiger embodies. I don't find myself bored with the tunes like "Let's Go, Let's Go-kaiger!", in fact I find it... inspiring to move forward. Awesome.

9. Juken Sentai Gekiranger

It opens with some Chinese instrument, until it explodes with great fast pace. The repetitive 'Geki! Geki!' eventually catch on, as in imagining you punching while it's said. But I guess it is pretty spot-on for the characteristic of Jan, who tends to make up words from his head...

8. Kagaku Sentai Dynaman

This is what I call an improvement over Goggle V's song. Rather than disco, we get more rocking tunes and it's fast-paced and great. In regards, I also find it funny that the song lyrics, if we take it too literally, sounds a bit hilarious. It's as if the singer is saying "DIE DIE DIE DIE DYNAMAN". So... the singer wants the Dynaman dead?

*Ba Dum Tsh!*

Well to be honest, it can also be spelled as "DAI DAI DAI DAI DAINAMAN", in which Dai = Great. So yeah. Still the previous one just sound hilarious, but since it's also catchy, it's number 8.

7. Kousoku Sentai Turboranger

This breezily catchy song accompanies the high school road of the Turborangers. Uncovering mysteries to the world, and kicking Bouma ass. I like the song, but when turned to instrument, this gets really kickass. Turborangers' instruments, IMO, are one of my personal faves.

6. Choujuu Sentai Liveman

Well many people agree this is one of the more kickass Sentai songs and I have to agree. It has explosiveness, youth, fire (err...) and the feel of drama in spite of that. I dunno, I just feel that way. Just too bad that Daisuke Shima's singing tune is only limited to the opening, not with Yuusuke actually singing.

5. Samurai Sentai Shinkenger

Well what can I say? Psychic Lover kicks ass. This song combines a lot from Japanese instruments and rocking pieces that makes Samurai stuffs epic. Starting from the "Chan-chan-bara" to the actual lyrics itself, it is a real fast pace and awesome piece.

4. Choujin Sentai Jetman

This is the last opening of Sentai to be ever sung by the legendary Hironobu Kageyama of the JAM Project. While it wasn't as rocking/epic as the further entry below, it still has the catchy and the fast pace typical to Hironobu Kageyama, and still managed to be epic. "Jetto, Jetto, Jettoman!" Catchy as hell.

3. Mirai Sentai Timeranger

Yes, the one hailed as the most fave opening ever mostly, is just at 3rd place. It's a real kickass piece, I know. And has a lot of epic tunes here. But... well, everyone's different. I love the song and female vocal, but thus far, I have other faves.

2. Hikari Sentai Maskman

Aah yes, I think this is the most epic, kickass, rocking piece Hironobu Kageyama did to Sentai. Punctuated in style of fighting, the electric guitar of this piece are conveyed to be really epic style you won't even believe. Overall, for old school Sentai music, this is probably my fave. But still on number 2. Which one is the number one?

1. Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger

Oh yeah, now we're talking. This is a real epic, fast paced, rocking song that also combines the Engrish in Dekaranger in a good way. After the police siren went off, the epic electric guitar riffs commence and accompanied with the lyrics, it stays on top all the way. When this becomes an instrument, the jazz trumpet also sounds good. This beats out every one of the Sentai songs, IMO, and I really never get tired of listening of this over and over. Bravo, Psychic Lover. Bravo.

Yep, that's all from me. I hope you have a good read. And don't lambast me, though. Everyone is entitled to their opinions.

TV Tropes Five Man Band inconsistence - Timeranger and Time Force

I'll be honest that I haven't watched both Timeranger and Time Force. But communications between Sentai goers over there is pretty scarce, I may as well bring it here. Plus FL and Mr. Smith do occasionally trope. So anyway, this is one headscratcher that REALLY BUGS ME to the point of ripping my hair off.



So according to the Timeranger article, the spot of The Chick goes to Yuuri/Time Pink and The Lancer goes to Ayase/Time Blue. Sounds fine... considering Yuuri is the token girl and Ayase is the token 'cool guy'. However, the catch is that she is also the leader, making her also taking shots at The Lancer (kinda like Koichiro from Megaranger).



Cue Power Rangers Time Force, which can be said as a real close adaptation to Timeranger. There, it's blatantly said that Jen (Yuuri counterpart) is The Lancer, while Lucas (Ayase counterpart) is The Chick. Jen because she's the actual leader, Lucas because... he's an Ill Man. Same like Ayase!

What went wrong here? If Ayase was also an Ill Man and Yuuri was also the actual leader of Timeranger, wouldn't it make sense that Yuuri IS the Lancer and Ayase IS the Chick, not the other way around? Or the reverse in Time Force, Jen IS the Chick while Lucas IS the Lancer. Where's the difference here?? I do hope Timeranger/Time Force watchers can clear things up about this...

Thanks for letting me rant a bit.

Sentai Females Who I Think Are My Fave Amongst The Team

Based on Mr Smith's post over here, I am inspired to make up my own list. Just as a warning, this is completely opinion based and you probably won't agree (and you probably will). But I am a man entitled to my own opinions.

1. Miki Momozono

Well OF COURSE this has to happen. Miki is overall my favorite Sentai lady ever. She may be physically weak, but she makes it up with her intelligence, cunningness and personality, as well as taking multiple levels of great competence (especially that Episode 39). Yeah, I do officially believe she is my fave Goggle V ever.

2. Sayaka Nagisa

Thus far, the finest White Sentai warrior that I've watched (haven't gotten to Gaoranger yet, sorry). I liked her prim and proper attitude combined with her brains. Plus her voice's really cute and stands out. I also like that despite being the token girly girl, she held her emotion in check better (no offense to Yuuma who freaked out at that time).

3. Megumi Misaki

Well as of Liveman, taking out the factor about how Yuusuke is the one more known to public due to reappearance in Gaoranger vs Super Sentai, I'd say Megumi is one of my faves in Liveman. Not because of her being the first female Blue ever, but let's face it... most of the dramatic tensions of Liveman came from her, and when she cried, it hits right on the intended parts.

4. Remi Hoshikawa

Well if anyone stands out in Fiveman (And you pretty much would agree), it's her. Remi's is pretty fiery and cheery, but she's more known for her martial arts skill. Her drunken fist is nice, but I like it when she shows off her cunningness, especially that panty flashing episode. And she still remains cheery despite not knowing the face of her parents.

5. Mei

Okay, in most people's eyes, probably Zyuranger is viewed as bland, and so is Mei. Well... I don't think so. She's a really nice addition to the team and I find myself liking her episodes more than the Burai arcs. I see her having a lot of potentials that would be overshadowed with Burai, but I don't really mind. She's dedicated, she's sweet, she's determined as hell, tough and girly in the same time. And she's so cute, she practically defines Sentai Moe (I think).

6. Chisato Jougasaki

People probably remember Miku more, but I like the composed Chisato better. She's sweet, but also sometimes prone to some witty, sarcastic comments. And she's a real good singer too, and aside of that, she's also the one girl who is not only smart but is also good at games (the middle road between Kenta and Kouichirou!)

7. Sakura Nishihori

Ah, Sakura-neesan. I will DEFINITELY agree and brofist with Sean when I say 'Sakura is hot'. But hotness isn't the only thing I like about her, she's hard-ass, tough and really different from the usual girly pinks out there. She developed a lot from someone who only cared about her missions, as Satoru said, she has a great smile that only she possesses, and when it shows, it was beautiful. There's also an emotional moment when she genuinely cried on Eiji's apparent demise and subsequently delivered a cathartic beatdown to Gai. Yeah, we know about the 'armed with guns' episode, but Sakura does stand out the most as one of my fave Pinks.

8. Mele

Yeah, she's just an extra ranger and starts out villain even. But hell, Mele is one of the more developed villains and it keeps the Gekiranger interesting. Since she starts out villain, she's able to get a sexy outfit from get-go, but aside of that, I like her bipolar attitude of starting out cold hearted with other minions, but is a complete fangirl on Rio-sama, one that was genuine and proves great for her character development. Her eventual road to redemption and sacrificing her life for the Gekirangers are really great, and not swaying over her loyalty on Rio, so it was all great.

You probably are wondering why I did not include some, but here's some honorable mentions, when females just got on second place because I like another guy more. Or other reasons.

1. Rei Tachibana

She may be rather deep-sounding, but for deep-sounds, it sounds cute enough. Plus, I think Rei sets the standard about 'girls as tough as guys' what with her carrying rapier everywhere. Her unresolved fear of cats are also hilarious. But she's here because she had to compete with Ryu Hoshikawa for my fave Dynaman.

2. Saya

I just heard her from other information, haven't watched Gingaman fully. But from what I see about her, she looks great and on the way to be my favorite Gingaman. She's strong, losing her boyfriend like that and not even blaming anyone and keeping a normal face most of the time. And aside of her toughness of mentality, she can also be sweet. So yeah, if only I finished Gingaman, she might've been on the above list.

3. Marika 'Jasmine' Reimon

Everyone pretty much listed why they love Jasmine. Tall, sexy, sarcastic, witty, dark past... need we say more? I'll not say much about Jasmine, not because I don't have any, but everyone else have spoken for her. But she's not amongst the above girls because if I have a favorite Dekaranger, that'd be Houji.

4. Mako Shiraishi

Mako somehow defines what I see the best at female characters these days. Aside of tough, she's also nurturing, caring, a big sister figure to all. Even Takeru. (Do I have a siscon or something? Then again, I have no real life big sis). Aside of looking really stunning and beautiful, there's also the hilarity that is her horrid cooking (Yeah, look at that knife she's holding in the pic...). Again, she's not amongst the main list because I equally like Takeru as well.

5. Ahim de Famille

Everyone is on and on about Luka, but Ahim always held a special spot in my opinion (not that I think Luka is bad, she's awesome, just not on my fave list). Sweet, cute and kind, while being a badass princess at the same time. That kidnapper episode really seals the deal on her awesomeness. Again, she's not in the main place because she has a competition for favorite. No, not Marvelous or Luka, but Joe.

Well that'll be all from me, hope you got a good read!

Sentai Character Talk 7: Satoru Akashi/Bouken Red

Just so I'm fair to both sexes, I'll talk about a male character now. Don't worry, I do plan to talk about more girls later, but this guy kinda stands out. Who? Satoru Akashi the Fiery Adventurer, AKA Bouken Red



This is the lead character of Boukenger, obviously the leader. He's a renowned adventurer known as 'Immortal Fang'. While he acts cool, when situation calls in, he's just as hot blooded as you can expect from the one calling himself 'Fiery Adventurer'. His favorite saying is 'Attack!', which is used to rile the Boukengers up to take action. He gets along well with his teammates, although he wasn't above tricking them if it was for the greater good. So let's dig in to this guy...

Attack.

Past

Satoru did have to claw his way out to become the 'Immortal Fang'. He was once a trio of adventurers with his friends to search for Precious. However, during one trip, there was a disaster and when he tried calling for help, the site where he ventured to caved in, killing his friends. Thus, Satoru has carried some sort of guilt complex by being the lone survivor from the event. However, he promised that he'd keep his adventure spirit intact to honor them.

Satoru is later recruited by SGS and becomes the first Boukenger. He went ahead and eventually recruited Sakura Nishihori and Souta Mogami, before eventually recruiting Masumi Inou and Natsuki Mamiya. He was very invested in his job and takes it well.

Development

Unlike Sakura, Satoru doesn't develop from his 'by the book' attitude. In fact, he's pretty open to breaking the rules sometimes. He remains the same throughout Boukenger, except maybe that time when the Questers had him hallucinate about his dead friend, causing him to doubt his worth as an adventurer. However, he eventually came to the conclusion that he ventures because he likes it rather than continuing his friends' legacy.

Satoru often gets into fight with Ryuuon. This is most likely intentional, in a way that Ryuuon was also an adventurer, but a darker take of Satoru. Ryuuon is what happened if Satoru wasn't surrounded with good friends and instead got bad friends who constantly humiliate him and eventually lost what's fun about adventuring and got a twisted take on it. You may say Ryuuon is Satoru's shadow that he managed to conquer, but as another man rather than something born of Satoru. And however a bastard Ryuuon was, Satoru still believed he could still see the light and offer him a chance of redemption... which was promptly shot down to hell by Ryuuon himself.

Traits

Satoru is a calm, cool leader, but as said above, he's hotblooded on the inside. His tendency to say 'Attack!' is also distinctive that his teammates teased about it or mimic it. He's also hellishly competitive, offering Masumi a lot of challenges, but mostly to teach him some good lessons.

However, one thing that makes Satoru stand out amongst Red Rangers is that he's got a big ego and was rather obsessive about it. He can't stand it if people laugh at him at his expense, and it's not like he never made any mistakes or embarrassment worth laughing at. How many times has it been that Satoru did something silly, his friends laugh at him and he yells "NO LAUGHIIINGG!!" to stop them for no avail? This is why Satoru is usually considered an example that "Just because you're the Red, doesn't mean you can't escape being treated like a joke for amusement."

About his ego further, there's also that incident when he tried enrolling to an Adventure school, but thought he failed, crushing him thoroughly and spent half the episode in a slight catatonic state (or in the terms of TV Tropes: Heroic BSOD), thinking that if you take adventure out of him, what will become of Akashi? Of course this was fixed soon and he's back on spirits.

He's also anti-superstition, which got him on a predicament when he's hit with extreme bad luck. Always thinking that it was only chance, the constant bad luck crushed his ego. With the support of his friends, he was able to reshape that ego, and STILL act like he's anti-superstition, only to be proved otherwise... for laughs.

And as much as hotblooded or calm he is, he's got a sensitive side. He was filling in the role of the 'grandma' for the Momotaro stand in, and he starts acting like it, giving soft treatments instead of Eiji's harsher treatment as the 'grandpa'. And when Momotaro left, Satoru was left bawling uncontrollably, like a mother who just saw her child off.

Pairings

It should be of no surprise here. While he treats Natsuki well, she's more involved with Masumi so Satoru is probably just another big brother figure for her. However, when it comes to Sakura, it is no doubt that they are the intended couple. Satoru wasn't really interested in love, but he appreciates Sakura very much, who held a crush on him. He was really concerned at her during Gekiranger vs Boukenger arc when Pachacamac XII possessed Sakura and forced him to do many atrocities. Satoru was really against it, but he had to do the dirty job to protect Sakura. Guess it shows that he cared... although he probably would do the same if it wasn't Sakura as well.

In conclusion, there we go about Satoru. Hot blooded, Calm, Sensitive, and again with the TV Tropes term, a Butt Monkey even if he's the leader. He's far from being a favorite of mine, but he's quirky enough to warrant being talked about here. I'll be seeing you soon for another talk!

How Super Sentai saved ChrisX

Okay, this is just a moment of outburst that would just last for the moment, but I feel like I wanna express my gratitude to the Sentai franchise for something. Just keep reading.



As I mentioned before, I'm troubled to what transpired in BlazBlue, about my favorite lady betraying the image I had for her. True, I'm slightly getting better and trying to understand. But the world of fiction isn't as merciful. It's like 'depression is the new trend'.



I lately bought the PS3 Mortal Kombat. Good game, a throwback to classic MKs. The Story Mode on the other hand... it's kind of bittersweet to the point of depression. I won't spoil you much as this is a recent game, but I will say that they really went out to make that world (Earthrealm) a crapsack one, with something horrible happening to many heroes and fan favorites, and even the God of Thunder Raiden committing mistakes after mistakes leading up to that horrible thing. It was really depressing, I never thought that 'gory fun' suddenly gets to 'gory seriousness'. Wasn't as bad as my problem with Litchi, but MK takes a new level in depression. You need to play it.



Then comes the PSN outage. Here and there, complains about Sony piled up, especially after the reveal that personal information have been leaked, and PSN is still down for uncertain time. I know it will return back one day, and I don't use Credit Cards, but all this time the complains have been piling up and even if Sony gets back up, it'll have to deal with the loss of reputations, now that many people dislike it for being untrustworthy on the security.

So I opened this blog of mine, looked at the top picture... and then...

OH MY GOD.

HOLY SHIT.

WTFBBQ!!!!!!!!!

Gokaiger movie info, Junichi Haruta, Sayoko Hagiwara and Kenta Satou returning for the movie... NOSTALGIA, HOOO!! (Well, not so much nostalgia when it comes to Dynaman since I just finished watching it the first time, but still it gave me a good appreciation to that show) It was such a wham announcement it made me forget the troubles I'm having in other places. You can bet your ass that when those three (ESPECIALLY Junichi Haruta) appear on screen, even if he's not I'm gonna yell in excitement, like how Nostalgia Critic reacted to 'Frying The Coke'.

I'm pretty sure Sean is psyched with the presence of Ryosuke Sakamoto since I'm pretty sure he's Filipino and Bioman is pretty big in Phillipines, kinda like Goggle V in Indonesia. I'm not quite surprised with the announcement of Naoya Makoto and Hiroshi Miyauchi, though, they're like a must-appear list so it was kind of expected, Akaranger led the Legend War, plus Big One is... well, Big One. Both of them are the biggest names of old school Sentai. Yes I do realize that there's also Keiichi Wada, Mika Kikuchi and Kenji Ohba to count but it's nostalgia we're talking about for the moment.

So yeah, I'd like to thank Sentai for keeping my optimism up. While the world of videogames seem hell bent to make the stories seem pessimistic (though not closed for future improvement), Sentai always kept the optimism, getting my hopes up. Thank you Toku and Sentai!

History of ChrisX And Super Sentai

Yeah, yeah, I'm just following the leaders (That Chick and Fantasy Leader). But hey, may as well!

Well it started on when I was a little boy, about 4 years old or 5... In the ages of VHS. In Indonesia, back then, Dai Sentai Goggle V was the big thing about Sentai. I only had few episodes of them, episodes 5 to 8, then jump to 37 to 40, then jump to the last 4. But I really enjoyed it, since well it doesn't really depend on storyline, but just how kickass the action scenes were. I did miss out when the actors of Goggle V visited Indonesia, but hell... this is why I still have great memories of Goggle V.

Time passed, and before there was Power Rangers, Indonesia have been enjoying some Sentai. Aside of Goggle V we had Hikari Sentai Maskman, which was aired in TV and has dubbings. And yes, I used to own the VHS only for a few episodes (already dubbed). But by that time, there's also the mind-blowingly popular Kamen Rider Black on TV (and again, in Indonesia, we used to call him 'Ksatria Baja Hitam'/'Black Iron Knight') so I suppose I wasn't as hyped as I was to Goggle V for Maskman, because there's Kamen Rider to occupy me. But even then, I held great memories for Maskman.

Kamen Rider Black and RX got me good on Toku, and along the way, I also enjoyed partials of TV airings of Liveman, Turboranger and Flashman, but not as much as Maskman or Goggle V. There's also Kamen Rider Super-1 on the air, but at that time I became rather caught in school business and such so my liking for Toku kinda wanes. Plus, you know, video games is my main hobby.

But aside of that, around that time, there's Power Rangers. To be honest, I was really cool with it, but for some reason, I mostly concentrated on parts on the first season. It was good, but by that time I got really swamped with school.

Skip on years later.

My brother returned from Singapore... he gave me some modern Sentais like Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, Mahou Sentai Magiranger and GoGo Sentai Boukenger (currently incomplete). I did like how Dekaranger turned out on the first episode, but again, I'm swamped with university business and gaming has been rather tight on me.

Then I graduated university. The year was 2008.

Years in university, plus Super Robot Wars got me quite into anime and I was thinking 'What kind of live action Japanese TV I could watch for the moment?' And after thinking, then I saw... Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, in promo. Hey, I like the concept of samurai, and I think this may be fun. So I got the first few episodes and... I'm hooked. Seriously. I watched Shinkenger from first to the end, got to see some Sentai openings to relive nostalgia and it would be around that time (I think) that I discovered a youtube account named 'Divaqueen' or something, who used to hold videos about her favorite Sentai warriors, etc, mostly image slides. It was also from her account that I saw some Sentai cutscene clips which made me want to hunt down some episodes of old school Sentai. I didn't care if it was RAW, I had to take what's given thus far. So I started with Goggle V, then moved on to other nostalgia pieces like Turboranger and Maskman, and eventually also new materials like Jetman and Zyuranger, and even my brother's given Sentai back then (Dekaranger). And yeah, that, along with Kamen Rider Decade, inspires my fic...

When I asked where Divaqueen got those images, she linked to the Super Sentai Images blog, in which it directed me to Sean's blog. And after seeing Sean's blog, I became more and more involved in Sentai business, and this blog is created.

So there we have it. It started big with Goggle V and Maskman, but education business caught me busy that it kinda waned out, even for Power Rangers... nearly revived with Dekaranger, and fully revived with Shinkenger. I hope it's been a good read.

P.S: Will add pictures later! Keep watching on this post, will ya?

Super Sentai Humorous Moment 3: Dekaranger

We now return to yet another funny moment in Super Sentai. This time, about Dekaranger... featuring Umeko/Deka Pink.

This is seen in Episode 12.

So it starts out with Umeko enjoying her bath... when in a sudden, Doggie announces a strangeness that they needed to investigate. In disappointment, Umeko got out of her bath to dress up...

Doggie Kruger was proud with how the Dekarangers were hurrying to the crime scene diligently... until Umeko arrives, her hair not yet cleaned up and there's still the bubbles and shampoo on her hair. Doggie immediately becomes angry and asks what the hell happened to her head. Before Umeko could explain, she snooze... and the bubble on her head flew over to Doggie's mouth.

Umeko's expression was completely deadpan and she puts on her hair... 'hat'... whatever onto Doggie's mouth like it's a place where you hang your clothes for being dried by the sun and entered the tunnel to enter her Deka Machine, while Doggie just stared there doing nothing. She did transform inside and apologized.

And when she arrived at her Deka Machine, she snooze so hard her Deka Machine jumped and surprising Swan on how 'energetic' she was. And that's the last straw for Doggie as he yelled "UMEKOOOO!!!!" to her tunnel and Umeko gave out a hilarious "I'm sorryyyyy!"

The rest of the episode isn't much LOL worthy, but still, Umeko's antics with Doggie Kruger in this episode always crack me up.

Sentai Character Talk 6: Mako Shiraishi/Shinken Pink

Okay we're back for another character talk. Let us talk this time about a Shinkenger, particularly Mako Shiraishi AKA Shinken Pink. Hey, if Sean can talk a lot about her, so can I (No hard feelings Sean, just that your favoritism to Mako is just so seen and acknowledgable)



This lady is Mako, descended from the Shiraishi clan, a clan in servtitude of the Shiba clan to seal the Gedoushuu, and she worked as a kindergarten teacher before the next battle with Gedoushuu began. She pretty much defines the 'big sister' archetype. Chiaki called her 'nee-san', Kotoha idolizes her so much she'd ignore one of her blatant flaws (which we'll talk about later) and even Takeru knows not to really be harsh on her. Sensible and mature, but also tough as heck, people may think she's a 'tomboyish' archetype like Yuuri of Timeranger or Sakura of Boukenger, but I'd say Mako is more of the 'nurturing, motherly type' which is pretty prevalent in the very old school Sentai shows.

Past

Mako... didn't have a good, normal past. When she's little, her mother, already crippled due to her previous battle with Gedoushuu, had to move away from home with her father, to Hawaii, leaving Mako to continue on the Shiraishi clan's samurai training from her grandma. Mako trained rigorously, even if she had to foresake her normal childhood. This was why she became a kindergarten teacher, she wanted to provide the children a good childhood that she never had.

Development

What Mako didn't know back then was that her mother's crippling was so bad she's paralyzed so she had to take medications in Hawaii, not because she's had enough of her child. This, at first, left Mako bitter about her parents a bit, but once she learned the truth, she became more respectful to them and her ending had her return to Hawaii... though probably returned just in time for Goseiger vs Shinkenger.

Aside of that, Mako was, admittedly, kind of static. She didn't improve much outside being less cold during that time she got hugged by Kotoha. She remains a good big sister figure for the Shinkengers.

In battle on the other hand, she seemed to be drawn with Usukawa Dayuu. When she got sucked into a dream world sharing with Dayuu, she ended up seeing her past and probably felt pity on her state, though Dayuu would take none of the pity. She ended up fighting her a lot and was quite sad when Dayuu sacrificed herself for Doukokuu. I think at that time Mako felt pity on Dayuu's fate and eventual death, regretting that she couldn't reach her out. But overall, they still held the same 'Girl-girl rivalry'.

Traits

If Mako lacked in development, she's already got a lot of traits to make up for it, though.

First off, her big sisterly figure means that she always had an urge to hug someone in need. Kids, adults, or even toy lanterns, if they feel depressed, she always had an urge to hug them out and comforting them. Of course, this doesn't mean she's ready for romantic commitment... as Ryuunosuke learned it the hard way. She hugged him not because she wanted to start a relationship, but she just thought his depressed self unsightly. Poor Ryuu-san didn't know that his default personality at that time was 'Annoying like hell' so it also ticked Mako off that he'd jump at her that instant. She'll cuddle as needed, not cuddle as long as she can. In other words, she values efficiency.

Being a kindergarten teacher also helps her for understanding many people's feelings. Including her teammates, she could sometimes understand how they were feeling, which led her to that one incident with Ryuunosuke (above), or how she tried comforting Kotoha when she felt lonely, topped with how she later attempts to sympathize with Takeru when he felt a bit too intense regarding his role. So it's not that she's tough and cold, she's a very understanding and nurturing lady.

But perhaps, her biggest trait is that... She's a horrid cook. And this is a frigging understatement. Takeru, the one who usually kept his cool, just freaked out at the prospect of her cooking (though less than that one haunted house). "Is that edible" indeed. And even the sight of her in an apron is just plain traumatizing for the Kurokos. She even uses her Shinkenmaru to 'murder' an onion, for Pete's sake! However, Mako is a hardworking girl, so she'd try her best to improve, although even until the end of Shinkenger, there's no progress at all... she'd try harder until she succeed. After all, her dream was to be a good wife, so cooking skill is a must. Then again, when your childhood is spent on training to be a samurai, who had the time for culinary training?

A rarely shown trait of Mako is that she seemed to have a hidden yearning for singing. Especially when that time she sang at the V-Cinema episode, it was in her dream that she becomes an idol singer. Of course, once everyone is back to the normal world, Mako would deny that she likes being an idol singer, but I'd just chalk it down that she's getting a bit flustered.

Pairings

I think I did tell about pairings of Shinkenger. Mako went along well with pretty much everyone. While initially refusing to Ryuunosuke, after that one incident, she's back to normal, professional relationship with Ryuunosuke, and if she shoves him off, it's because he's asking for it (like that one in the end of the soul-swap episode). There's also the one with Takeru, which is probably my favorite, just too bad it goes nowhere... and I think I can see rabid Kotoha fanboys glaring at me right now when I said that. Speaking of that, there's also Kotoha to consider pairing for, and I admit, Mako-Kotoha pair is a near-legendary one, up there with Jasmine-Umeko from Dekaranger. As of Chiaki, all I see is just about a sisterly respect view for Chiaki, calling her 'nee-san', probably why in Chiaki's dream in V-Cinema, Mako became the superior police for him. It's got a good start, better than Ryuunosuke even, I gotta admit. But then again, I shipped Chiaki with someone else -_-...

I dunno how much I'd value her pairing with Genta and Kaoru. Mako treats Genta the same way she treated Ryuunosuke, professionally. And she didn't get much time to interact with Kaoru.

In conclusion, that's Mako for you. She's admittedly static and just develops slightly, but she's got a lot of quirk and traits that makes her lovable. Perfect for you siscons out there. I think she helped a lot in reigniting my passion for Sentai after leaving it so long since the ages of Goggle V and Power Rangers. Of course she's not the only reason, but Mako pretty much gains my respect, and thus far, I think she's deserving her position as one of my fave ladies of Sentai...

Wait, what? YOU'RE COOKING NOW!? Oh dear, I hope my stomach is strong enough to endure. (Won't somebody please think of the poor little onions...!!)

Super Sentai Humorous Moment 2: Boukenger

Okay so we're back for another humorous moment. You can bet your ass that one day this video will get removed, but before that, let's have a look. And yes, I've watched near halfway of Boukenger and this is one of the funniest moments... no, entire episode of funny, and this is its peak.

Satoru Akashi is a disbeliever for fortunes, and what luck, for this mission to get the Dragon Eye, he gets his luck fixated to be the worst possible and we get to see all kinds of misfortunes he's rained into. Those were deadly misfortunes, but god damn it, they're too hilarious to not cringe with! Fortunately, the rest of the Boukengers tried fixing his luck by giving him fortune-increasing items.

(Video starts here) Then they approached Ryuuon and his current Jakuryuu, Talong... and Bouken Red's appearance looked SO ridiculous Talong was laughing his ass off. Even the usually sadistic bastard Ryuuon can't help but also laugh at Bouken Red's getup. While the Boukengers do their roll call reversed (Red's last), both Ryuuon and Talong were too busy laughing their asses off, because seriously, all those accessories does make Bouken Red look totally ridiculous. Intending to end this seriously, Bouken Red coughs up and declares...

Endless Bouken Spirits! Go Go Sentai Boukenger!!

And there goes the usual explosion of Super Sentai following Boukenger's entrance... Looks awesome... except that the explosion caught on Bouken Red and his teammates had to put it off. (Video ends here)

What follows is that Bouken Red managed to flip off all his misfortunes while giving off speeches of friendship and eventually beats Talong, his luck restored to normal, Talong grows big, then he gets hit with worst luck and destroyed... But the fun didn't end there. Back in SGS, Satoru still insists that he's a disbeliever of fortune telling... until Eiji pulls out a 'Good Fortune' talisman right from his back pocket, and Souta finds out that he was actually browsing about fortune websites, embarrassing the hell out of Satoru. So he secretly was a believer!

This is an episode full of funny, worth jumping the rest of the Boukenger episodes just for this episode. I will have to admit that Satoru succeeded Takeru (Maskman) in terms about 'just because you're the Red Ranger, doesn't mean you never get to be the butt end of jokes'. In fact, there's a lot of instances of Satoru getting nasty physical jokes, usually at the end of episodes, but this one takes the whole episode to showcase him being that.

Sean may disagree with me, but this is why I wouldn't be able to see Ryuuon in the same caliber as Radiguet. As much as a sadist he is, Ryuuon occasionally jumps in the humorous moments, just like this episode, or some previous episodes when the Jaryuu gets some knowledge and instead boycotted him. If it was Radiguet, I think he wouldn't laugh, but rather just move in for the kill. But maybe it's just me. Of course Ryuuon is still an SOB. Just... an SOB who knows when to provide laugh to the audience when even he gets the butt end of jokes.

I think after this you can expect some actual Boukenger posts from me.

Five Man Band: Dekaranger

All right, here we are in the first Five Man Band talk... in which we talk about... the Dekarangers


So let's get on with the breakdowns of the talk.

1. The Hero - Ban
By contrast, Ban really isn't giving out orders like he's the Leader of the group. However, he IS the Red Ranger and pretty much the team's 'fireball' and gives out inspiration to everyone. He's also the main protagonist of the series, thus he's this.

2. The Lancer - Houji
Houji is no leader, but in the same vein of Sean, yes he does have leadership qualities, as much as backfiring it was in the first try, but he has it, though he's no Kouichirou from Megaranger or Yuuri from Timeranger (where they're the technical leader). In contrast, since our Hero is Ban, Houji fits in Lancer position like a glove because of just how contrasting his personality with Ban. Indeed, they're the two that most likely would argue due to conflicting personalities. But hey, they also show great teamworks covering what they lack.

3. The Big Guy AND The Smart Guy - Sen-chan OR Jasmine
Okay, this is where I deviate from TV Tropes. Sen-chan is usually pegged as The Smart Guy due to his Thinking Pose, while Jasmine is pegged as The Big Guy because... she's a bishoujo type, the 'tougher' part of the duo with Umeko and the rest of the spots have been taken. However, let's look at the different perspective... in BATTLE, because those were really the perspective taken outside battle. When we look it at the Battle perspective, the role is reversed. Sen is the Big Guy because he held great power and when he fights, he goes straightforward pure power, remember that one episode where he kicks a chunk of rock and breaks it (or was it cutting it into two?)? On the other hand, Jasmine is instead The Smart Guy since she possesses the 'Mirage Dimension' ability which requires some creative mind and overall provides a more complex, tricky execution style, which is usually a trait for The Smart Guys.

So there we have it, up to you guys to decide which one is more Big and which one is more Smart.

4. The Chick - Umeko
Umeko is, put simply, the more emotional of the team. More emotional, however, doesn't mean to be the quiet one though, she's a different Chick because she's... well, loud and brash compared to Jasmine. But she's gotten her biggest 'Chick' credentials due to how her relationship with Sen came about, when after being tricked and nearly killed, she realized it sooner, shot her would-be killer, and broke down in tears.

5. Sixth Ranger - Tetsu (and Boss)
This is self-explanatory. Tetsu joins late, is 'different' than the rest (being that he's with the Tokkyou, and the rest are just SPD police officers). Sixth Rangers are supposed to be 'oddballs' amongst the team so he fits like a glue over there. And Boss may kind of count, but he takes more of the mentorship role...

And there we go about Dekaranger's Five Man Band formation. Tune in next time when I speak of another formation.

Goggle V... Subbed!?

Well, not subbed as in like TV-Nihon's subs, but... another way around.

We all know that Goggle V has yet to be subbed officially. However, in the Momotaros Raw Revolution, someone posted the subbed texts of the whole Goggle V series AND movies, and they got the timings right. There's one problem though: The grammars are very off... All we need is those who can fix the subbing grammars, and we're set.

Go find the Goggle V raws somewhere, and then get these SRT files for the subs (Thanks to ImanD of the Momotaros Raw Revolution forum!):
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NIM2X60Z (Whole series)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M6G4OXN0 (Movie)

(Password is ImanD)

Open it with a word editor (notepad or something), then fix the wordings to make it fit.
If this can be done, then Goggle V will be completely subbed and ready for a good viewing (not mired with messed up grammars).

Here's a hoping someone would take up the job!

Sentai Character Talk 5: Gai Yuuki/Black Condor

I apologize for the months of August and September, because for some reason I kinda lost my drive to post. But for some reason, I'm back. So what better way to celebrate me coming back with... a Character Talk!

And as of today's focus is... Gai Yuuki AKA Black Condor from Choujin Sentai Jetman.


Definitely, he's one of the least candidate that could be for a Sentai warrior. He's a slacking, suave womanizer who's had a habit of gambling, smoking... definitely the 'bad boy' type, very contrasting with the goody-two-shoes boyscout type that is our hero Ryuu Tendou/Red Hawk. He's also out for his own pleasure rather than many people's, in short, he's a jerk. However, past that, his development can be said as one of the better ones in Super Sentai. As Jetman seems to homage the anime Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Gai himself is a tribute to Joe Asakura (The Condor), in which probably why the directors decided to kill him off in the ending, albeit I'll admit that it was pretty abrupt...

Past/History

There's no mention about Gai's past in details. All that's given is that he grew up in harsh times, so he's been a tough, bad boy since he was little, surviving the harshness of the world on his own. Other than that, not much was known. When he's hit with the Birdonic Wave, he's just someone jobless and just spent his time gambling (though he's got an incredible luck) and just wanna have fun till he dies.

Trait

As said, Gai is put simply... a jerk. He drives men away and wooed women, even if he has to break rules. He pretty much hated Ryuu for being such a boyscout at first and was joining the Jetman at first just so he could annoy Ryuu. Overall, not a very good person and he's just drafted in the group because he's hit with the Birdonic Wave, and some people just say about being his destiny and all...

It takes an incident from a certain monster that we see Gai's hidden aspect... he was as much as a lonely good boyscout as Ryuu was. When the monster was defeated, Gai quickly dismissed this trait, but this would prevail over him in a later time.

At first, he's also really unappreciative with women, even though he wooed them. He thought all women are easy prey to his suave, ladykiller charm, and can be dumped anytime. That is, until he tried wooing Kaori Rokumeikan/White Swan, who's all heels over Ryuu. Rather than girls that just accepted him in instant, Kaori's first response on him was a slap on his face, thereby triggering Gai to actually try hard to win her. Over time, he grew to really love her and would even get to a fight with Ryuu, not because he's his competition, but also because some of his actions, especially hanging over the dead Rie Aoi (AKA Maria) in front of Kaori; hurting her feelings even though he tried to hook her up with Gai. That action pissed him off so much he'd interrupt a training session between Ryuu, Raita and Ako... just to land some punches on him. Needless to say, to consider them 'arguing a lot' is an understatement. This peaked off when Ryuu got too attached to his duty as a soldier, telling his team to repress their feelings in battle, which of course, hurt Kaori again; and Gai got so fed up and he quitted the team along with Kaori.

Then... things happen. Rie is revealed to be alive as Radiguet's ally, and this sent Ryuu to a depression, unable to lead the Jetman. After being told of what happened, it was instead Gai who snapped Ryuu out of his depression and he joined the Jetman again along with Kaori, accepting his position as the Jetman's vice leader. And afterwards, he started putting aside with how much Ryuu irritated him and became his best friend.

His relationship with Kaori was also growing and at one point, Kaori did love him back. However, they weren't really meant to be together when Kaori's parents started peeking much to his past, which irritated him and he broke up with him. After all, he's quite the man of privacy. Still, their friendship did not break and eventually Gai was satisfied with seeing her off with Ryuu.

Also, at first, he's a man who's satisfied to die alone, but when he was struck near dead by Queen Juza, he realized just how much he feared death and started to freak out. By the end of Jetman, he learned to overcome that, thus when a mugger stabbed him to near death, rather than hiding, Gai just made his way to Ryuu and Kaori's wedding, give their blessing, then collapsed/died on a chair. But at least, he's not hiding or showing fear of death anymore. He gave one last smoke beforehand.

Arsenal

Gai was hailed as one of the best fighters of Jetman, even when he's solo. Even when his weaponry are pretty much equal to the other Jetman, he does have his own finisher called 'Condor Finish', which is the only technique that can kill off a Monster of the Week, or at least, force them to grow with the power of Dimensional Bug. Not even Ryuu have that!

He's also the one who can go toe-to-toe with Gray of the Vyrams, ultimately defeating him completely in combat and slaying him. So, it's not like Gai's arsenals are weaponry... it's his immense skills.

Pairing

Officially, he's interested on Kaori, but he eventually backs down after some... things and let her be with Ryuu.

But then, there's been some who likes to pair him with Ako Hayasaka/Blue Swallow. Perhaps it's pretty common as in 'most popular guy' with 'most popular girl' (Ako was at least more popular than Kaori for the audience, I think). But this is most evidenced with the 'fake wedding' episode, whereas Gai and Ako posed as a couple... and Gai went even as far as trying to steal Ako's first kiss just to make a realistic scenario to trap a monster. Fans then ran with it. Overall, I have no say on this one, but that seems to be a good pair for Gai.

And that's it for Gai. Of course, he had an abrupt death, but during the short life he had, he was being awesome, had good development and he certainly is one of my favorite Sentai characters.

Super Sentai Crowning Moment Of Awesome 4: Dekaranger

Okay we're here for another Crowning Moment Of Awesome. I'm sure Sean has covered it, but I want to make a writeup on my own. Plus, I made a video out of it (how come this hasn't been in youtube??). Anyway, this is from Episode 26 of Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger.



What's on this episode: Houji investigates a night club and to do that, he had to participate in underground fight. Then he got trashed. At first. Then, he goes to a rigorous training session for close combat, especially in style of boxing. Then he goes back to the fight club for a second round and gets the upper hand. Then his enemy uses a power up drug, trashes Houji for several seconds... and then Houji proceeds to knock him out with just his boxing.

Reasons of Awesome: This is Houji you're talking about. He's the sniper of the group! Not much to say about close combat! But then, within just a few moments through rigorous training, he becomes quite the master of close combat, wipes the floor with an Alienizer that wiped the floor with him previously, unmorphed, just with boxing style, and he STILL wins even when the enemy uses a drug to increase his power. This is where Houji's power is showcased and why he's one of the best fighters in the Dekaranger. So, say it with me now to sum him up: "Super Cool. Perfect!"

I'll be back for more Crowning Moments.

Super Sentai Humorous Moment 1: Maskman

This is one of the more humorous moments provided by the Super Sentai franchise, here from Maskman. I still cringe when I see or remember this scene.



Basically, this episode begins with Takeru showing off his mad karate skills, and starts bragging that he's one hell of a model student when he's a kid, good at studies, good at sports and martial arts, he's popular at young age. But then, Igam's most recent plot is to travel back in time and cause time paradox by killing Takeru when he's young.

And when the team meets little Takeru... turns out that he's one hell of a bratty kid who's naughty and obnoxious, flipping Haruka and Momoko's skirts and calling them hags and is overall a loudmouthed brat. Takeru of course gets ashamed at this, but eventually he conversed his little self, motivating him to get better. Eventually as the Maskman returned to the proper timeline, little Takeru gets inspired, and probably he starts getting better...

And back in the present, the rest of the Maskman wastes no time to tease on Takeru for telling them lies about his past. Note on the closeups to each Maskman team when they joke on Takeru, and what kind of face Takeru makes in response. Overall, a very funny episode.

Sentai Character Talk 4: Mei

And we're back for yet another session of character talk. Boy do I love this a lot. Anyway, our next character to talk about is Mei AKA Ptera Ranger from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger



Oh My God! Not that look! Please! It's so moe I'm gonna die! SO MOE I'M GONNA DIEEEEE!!!

*ahem*

Okay, enough overacting. But you can't deny that Mei just reeks of cuteness. And that's just on her appearance. Wait until you hear her talk, and she'll let out a real high pitched and cute voice, though if you're unfamiliar with anime, or think that anime girls sounds REALLY annoying due to their unnaturally high pitch, then you might not like Mei. So let's get to the basic of it: Mei is a Princess of the Risha Tribe, and just because she's a Princess, doesn't mean she's haughty and a spoiled brat. In fact, she's gentle, kind, nice and sometimes naive, but most of all... tough-as-nails, since she's capable of fighting on her own. In fact, her other title is 'Warrior of Love'. She's as much as loving and caring as she can fight and kick some evil butt.

Past/History

Mei's past isn't much detailed, except when Bandora struck down the world in response of her son's death by the dinosaur, she is one of the warriors that helped defeating her, sealing Bandora and tossing her to a dumpster/seal. She opts to get herself frozen in time along with 4 other warriors, only to awaken in present time later when Bandora gets released.

The show might've focused a lot on the Yamato tribe (especially for Geki and Burai), but I think that the Risha tribe also gets quite an attention and lore. For instance, it has some sort of Legendary Arrow, which is one weak point for one Dora Monster that other Zyurangers cannot beat (and Bandora has to go all the way to poison Mei just so that arrow cannot be used). Another Risha tribe lore was that Mei has an ancestor named Yui, who ended up sacrificing her life force to destroy one Dora Monster that was supposedly indestructible (and not even Burai and the Dragon Caesar or Gouryuujin can beat!).

Trait

Mei didn't develop much for the most part, since she is from a light-hearted Sentai series (she does develop, if only a little). But, again, big development isn't a must for a lovable character.

Like typical female Sentai characters, Mei is very kind to children. But then again, so are the rest of the Zyurangers, since Bandora especially targets kids. This is proven to be her proof of love, when she took care of lots of kids that fell sick when the Daizyujin and Dragon Caesar were disabled by the Zombie Franke. She also likes flowers, which plays really huge part in the battle against the monster that her ancestor once defeated (the monster turned flowers into man-eating monsters).

Unfortunately for Mei, she's also rather naive, though it's pretty justifiable that she and the rest of the Zyurangers are people awakened in the present time from slumber that dated from millenias ago. But this trait of hers could be disastrous. During the 'Golden Arrow' episode (as mentioned in past), Bandora just sent out Totpat to disguise and offer Mei a poisonous apple under the guise of 'We're only giving this apple to beautiful girls'... and she accepted right off bat without being suspicious! That led her to be poisoned and entered a dream where she's running off from being blasted to bits. She is eventually saved from falling to a sea of fire by a mysterious force, only to hear the screams of her friends requesting help. At that time Mei decided to throw away all her fears, making a leap of faith to save her friends to the sea of fire... and at that time resisted the poison. I think that's the time Mei stopped being so overly naive, it's still a trait, but not egregious.

She also has a fragile heart. When the Zyurangers got framed by fake Zyurangers, the citizens turned against them, despite their good intentions. Poor Mei in fact was the one who directly got hit with a slap from a woman just because she's helping a girl that got picked on by the fake Zyurangers! This was a huge blow to her and just when the Zyurangers found a safe hiding spot, she couldn't take it anymore and broke down crying. It's not until a session of consulting with an old lady that doesn't believe all that in one bit, in a bathtub (Fanservice time too!), that Mei started regaining her confidence (and so did the rest of the Zyurangers) and eventually managed to bring down the imposters and restore the reputation of the Zyurangers.

But perhaps her most well-known trait is about her hairstyle. Mei started out with a normal long-haired girl, but over time, she changed her hairstyle quite often, sometimes with new hair accessories. Sometimes even in a more improbable timing. In fact, when Barza called her out from her slumber, his lines were like "Stop thinking about makeups!". Still, it's considered one of her charms.

Arsenal

Mei is an excellent archer, considering that she is using bow and arrow, which is quickly upgraded later into Ptera Arrow. Alongside that is the Golden Arrow, which she used one time to defeat one Dora Monster. Being a member of the Risha Tribe, it's speculated that her life force is somewhat special, since it was the only thing that could destroy that one Dora Monster that her ancestor had to sacrifice her life to accomplish the task. Except Mei pretty much skips the 'life sacrifice' part and just concentrated her life force in attacks that would destroy the monster. And just like other female Sentai members, Mei is quite the witty one, using intelligence to outmaneuver the enemy, like when all the Zyurangers except her got eaten, she figured out how to get them all out together by herself (and some tip from Dan).

And of course, she has the power of disguise. Mei pretty much takes Miki's trait of spinning and changing clothes in instant and runs with it, as shown in the battle against Lamie, that in one battle, she goes to change from being a clown, to a masked swordsman, to a chinese girl, to a Japanese school girl, to a nun, and then to a bride in span of... seconds. This is considered as one of Mei's finest moments... even if she eventually lost the overall battle and her friends had to bail her out.

Pairing

Zyuranger isn't quite the series to focus on pairing. It's kinda jarring that Mei is the Warrior of Love, but she doesn't have any romantic interests. It's probably a more universal love, loving everyone, not just one person (we know how that would end. See: Magic Knight Rayearth). Still, as far as I'm concerned, Mei is often paired in minor missions with Boi, but I don't think that's one pair for her. Also, she has several moments with Dan, but that's strictly a more 'serious' situations (especially the one where both turned into gangsters). I don't think she interacts a lot with Goushi or Burai (Except when Burai dies, but even she'd feel crushed in the same manner if anyone else dies in her eyes). On the other hand... Geki... while they seem to do things professionally, Mei seems to be paired together with him a lot in conversations. It got me thinking that the combination of Geki's 'professional time' together with Mei and the fact that the Risha Tribe's lore got more attention than Sharma, Etof and Daim Tribes is that maybe the producers were thinking of eventually pairing off Geki and Mei, but Burai proves to be way too popular, and most of the attentions fall squarely to the Yamato Tribe (and Burai). No, I don't hate Burai for this, and it's just my speculation, of course I'd be wrong! But if you ask me what is my fave pair from the series that doesn't really care about pairing, Geki/Mei takes the cake.

And that's about all I'd say about Mei. She is a wonderful Sentai heroine, on top of being a witty and tough-as-nails fighter, she's feminine, kind, and not to mention so cute. It's quite the parallel when you realize that her MMPR counterpart, Kimberly Hart, is considered to be really hot, but I guess that's just how values are different between countries, Americans prefer hotties, Japaneses prefer cuties. But in the end, Mei is a heroine that is so moe, I'm gonna die.