New Poll: Which Themed Week Should I Do?

Some of the blogs like to do theme weeks, like cast week, villain week, etc. Well, it's summer, and other than my pretty nice internship, with which I'm going to be busy with, I'm going to have more time on my hands than I do during the college year. So I'm going to spend each day for one week writing on this blog, based off of a certain theme. But I can't pick just one. So I want you to decide.

Girl Power/Feminism Week: Okay, I'm one of the few female tokusatsu bloggers (although I focus a lot more on sentai :-P) and so you're probably wondering what the female opinion is on tokusatsu. And you're probably interested how I think feminist issues are handled (or not handled). So not only will I be showing pretty girls kicking butt, you will also get some firsthand opinions on stuff you think is "girl power" or isn't. Issues like gender roles, equality, stereotypes, and social commentary will be discussed. And you'll see some nice pictures too. I think Lavender Ranger did a girl power week--and I hope mine will be just as good as his.

Controversy Week: Controversial Issues within tokusatsu and within the fandom will be discussed. With regards to tokusatsu: violence, LBGTQ issues, adaptation controversy, when real life influences the show, actor controversy, and an important issue none of us have yet to truly discuss (which will be a surprise). Fandom controversy: fan wars, shipping wars, stereotypes, arguments, etc. This will be a juicy, thought-provoking, yet fun week.

Cast Week: I will focus on some of the actors I think are great (some veterans and some novices). And I might discuss some of the other films they have been in or where are they now. I might discuss each character they played as well if they were in different series. And you might learn something new about former castmembers.

Japan Week: I will focus on how different aspects of Japanese culture appear in tokusatsu, and influence, and provide some insight to some stuff that may seem a bit weird (cough, cough any monster in Kakuranger, cough cough) It will be fun to learn some of this stuff, and it will make your viewing more pleasurable and less of a lost in translation experience.

Comedy Week: I will discuss some of the funniest moments and have some funny articles as well.

Please vote. It will be up for a week only, so vote now. Any comments... questions... feel free to write them below.

Traffic Safety and Romance?: My Thoughts on Gokaiger Episode 14

This episode almost made me pee my pants--that's how funny it was. They handled the Carranger tone change beautifully. Also, it was nice to see the whole team interact with Kyousuke.

The episode starts out hilariously as Navi takes the phrase bad trip to a whole new level (is it just me, or does she look Speedor from Go-onger?).

Totally out of character for the sultry, calm, collected Insarn to be in love like this. And of course, she reverts back to her usual self after this episode.

Yuji Kishi rules! He's still got it! Is it just me, but is Kyousuke alien women bait? Apparently, Kyousuke is not a test driver anymore, but instead is now an actor--is this a reference to Yuji Kishi--who is now a very successful actor?

What happened with him and Zonnette?

But he was trying to use theatre to teach children about--traffic safety??? COME ON!!! The theatre geek in me cracked up, and I cracked up even more when Don quoted Shakespeare. And then Kyousuke used Don as a human shield--now you know what it feels like?

 They accidentally turned into the Turborangers--- because Carranger was based off of Turboranger.

Even how they turned their ranger keys inside the mobirates before becoming the Carrangers was reminiscent of how the Carrangers transformed using their Accel Changers. Oh, and they played the theme music.

This was possibly the silliest attacks ever. And Ahim's suit actress can ride a unicycle? That's talented!

The blank expression on the Zangyack guy's faces while watching Insarn's declaration of love to Jealocit is hilarious. Also, this was the first time the Gokaigers met Insarn and they actually helped her in a fight.

Insarn, we have a word for this on Earth. I'm not going to say it.

This was the culmination of the whole episode. Kyousuke forces them to be in his play about traffic safety. Clearly powerful work.

The Gokaigers act it out half-heartedly (except Don and Ahim who are really into it)

This is possibly one of my most favorite episodes. My only objection is that they didn't use imo-yohan, which was the official series food of Carranger.

And we have promo credits:

 Behold, the Mecha-gasm!

And next week we have:


Marvelous's old friend Vasco de Jolokia appears, and it looks like we have a new antagonist.

People say he looks effeminate. I think he looks like this guy:

His name is Mystery. He is a "pick-up artist." He had his own show on Vh-1. He actually dresses like this to pick up women. And according to Vh-1 it works... and he might be a space pirate...

 And Akared appears again! Maybe it's Vasco in disguise!

Oh SHI--- he can summon sixth rangers. These are some of the best ones.

 What did we learn from this episode, we learned Yuji Kishi still rocks.

And you can only teach traffic safety to children if you have five people dressed in spandex and opague visors.

But in real life, clearly the Brechtian method would be great to teach children about traffic safety, although I doubt children would grasp it and instead be emotionally disturbed.

So psyched for next week, and remember:

 Raise your hand while you cross the street. But not two, because you'll look stupid.

The Princess and the Ransom: My thoughts on Gokaiger Episode 13

Finally, an Ahim episode! It was okay. The best part of it was the message: Ahim was a princess who lost everything, and is now a pirate. You can make your own path no matter what. She really is a nice princess/pirate.

This one image just symbolizes Ahim's character.


Other highlights include this:

The Gokaigers will do anything if you steal one of their members--anything. Just kidding. Doc is getting pretty bold with his fighting techniques.

However, there was one problem so dire in this episode that it caught the attention of millions of fans:

Look at those pants. Now, you all know that I like Luka, but I'm not trying to pull the focus from Ahim. Ahim rocked that dress. Luka, however didn't rock those pants. See those pants? Those are not flattering on anyone! I think they might be gauchos, and gauchos do not look good on anyone. See the kidnapper in the back, looking scared, he's scared of those pants. Lol, no, I'm kidding, but the costume designer and wardrobe crew on Gokaiger should get something a little more flattering. The rest of the cast looks fine though. Where do they get Ahim's dresses? Ahim is rocking those dresses even when she fights. And Ahim's an excellent fighter.

This episode is about making your own path even when you're at your wit's end.... and about how a modern space pirate should and shouldn't dress.

Next week:

I saw this a few weeks ago, So psyched! I love Yuji Kishi--not in that way (dude's married to DekaPink's actress) And he's still wearing his same outfit from the show. I'm looking forward to the change of tone, and how the Gokaigers use the unlocked Carranger's power. I at least hope there's a change of tone--just for this episode not for the whole series because that would be bad. I wonder if any other actors from Carranger are coming... It also looks like Doc is going to be interacting with Kyosuke--we need the others to have interaction as well. What are your thoughts? Please comment below (if you want to lol)

PS: Are those leather pants he's wearing? See that's how you wear pants!

Poll Results: Which Yutaka Hirose Villain is Your Favorite?

Yutaka Hirose is one of my favorite tokusatsu actors. He is infamous for playing villains (and playing them really well), and actually making them somewhat lovable despite being villains (even though he's played some of the most evil characters)

The winner was Dr. Kemp (or Kenji Tsukigata) from Liveman with 64% of the votes. Liveman's just a great show, and he was one of the best parts of it. This was one of the first villains who wasn't entirely evil, and did have a chance at redemption (although he had many and blew them). He did redeem himself at the end. After reaching the IQ of 1,000 (which is physically impossible) Kemp's brain was taken by Dr. Bias who revealed his true intentions. Kemp's spirit lead the way in the final attack against Dr. Bias, along with the many generals before him, causing Bias to lose his youth and reveal his true age. This was important, because it allowed the Liveman to defeat him.

Next was Tranza from Jetman, with 48% of the votes. I'm surprised he got that much. Because he was fed up by being treated like a kid by both the Vyram and the Jetman, he aged himself, and now referred to himself as Tranza. After pwning Ryu, Gai, and Raita, he reveals himself, and then forces Radiguet to call him Tranza-sama. Although he's clearly more mature, he does exhibit some evil child-like-ness. In his last episode, he was rocking on a swing while laughing evil at Ryu and told him it was nice playing with him. And we all know how it ends, and Radiguet forces him to call him Radiguet-sama. I feel guilty referring to him as hot while playing this character, because he was simply a boy who went through puberty in three seconds.

Ley Wanda received 32% of the votes. He was Jin's foe in Flashman. He boasted that he was a superior being, and then learns that he was simply composed of four lesser beings of the universe. This gave him an existential crisis, and he sought to defeat Jin to prove himself. Also, he might have had a thing with Ley Nefel. Not too deep as Hirose's other characters, except for the existential crisis.

I was really surprised at this: Jin received only 25% of the votes. He was one of the best parts of Dairanger for me. He was more of an anti-hero than a villain, and was somewhat good in the end. He's one of my favorite characters in Dairanger. This is probably the culmination of all of Hirose's characters: an anti-hero, with vengeance, later tainted by the villains, then after Ryou saves him, and breaks him from the Gorma's control, he decides not to duel with him, because he knew Ryou could never kill him. He then was killed by the Gorma after leaving. But his spirit came back and motivated Ryou to defeat the Gorma during one of the final battles.

The last one I listed because he was in a video on youtube called "Don't you F!ck with Yutaka Hirose." and seemed somewhat noteworthy, but he got only 6% of the votes.

All and all, Yutaka Hirose, talented actor, handsome man, and great at playing villains. And he's aged pretty well.

Here is a recent picture with Kihachiro Uemura (Green Flash) Both have aged nicely.

Gokaiger! Report to the Emperor! My thoughts on Gokaiger Ep 11 and 12

For those of you who have doubted Kaoru, watch this episode. She is awesome, and this episode makes her even more awesome. If you're wondering why only she appeared, well, the whole cast is extremely talented, and I'm pretty sure that because of that, they're all doing something amazing, so they were too busy to appear. Besides, Chiaki and Genta will appear in the movie!

Is it just me, or is Tanba wearing a toupee? I actually like Tanba. He's needed to present a sharp contrast to both Kaoru, and Jii (who SHOULD HAVE APPEARED!). And its hilarious whenever Kaoru hits him with her fan (what happened to her big one?).

Kaoru is still a force to be reckoned with. Although, I would have loved to see Kaoru fully do the duel with Joe instead of conceding because Joe had to join his team to fight the Zangyack, and giving him a disk instead, but that moment was just as good.

The Phrase "Blue Bloods" gets a whole new meaning. Finally, the Gokaigers meet Oiles Gil.

This is the first time Luka has appeared not wearing her usual jacket (unless you include the maid episode). So far, the rest of the Gokaigers have appeared without their jackets, except her.

Great use of out of suit fighting sequences. Those are some of my favorite things. And of course, we saw Zyuuranger, Dynaman (only for a few seconds though) Gingaman (they did the arched backs and everything). We're going to have the gingaman in the next episode.

The fights in episode twelve were amazing. My favorite ones were Yellow and MegaYellow. And Green Sai, OhGreen. And Pink Flash (I loved watching Ahim use her boot attack in HD) and Time Pink.

And out of suit fight sequences for episode twelve were great as well (fanboys, Ahim took off her jacket, put it on one of the Gormin, then shot them).

The whole thing between Cid and Joe made me feel like crying. So sad. Look forward to seeing more of it. Oh, and I knew it! Joe's trainer was Barizorg. Hahaha! Cid was turned into a Cyborg by the Zangyack and became Barizorg.

I liked seeing Marvelous fighting side-by-side with Joe (twice), and risking his life to save him. Marvelous mentioned that that was the second time he saw Joe. What about the first? Can't wait to see it.

And the montage of the Gokaigers joining the team one by one. And Joe thinking about them, nice.

The scene with the children is one of the scenes they use to show if a character is truly good or not, especially if its a villain. Joe mentions to Cid how the Zangyack lied to them. Hmm... wonder what that's about.

The Shinkenger Fight was great. Seeing a ShinkenYellow that's taller than ShinkenPink is weird to me, but still cool.

ShinkenGokaiOh, so cool!

Next time we finally have an Ahim episode! Ahim, being the altruistic soul she is, helps a man who kidnapped her. And Marvelous wants her back so he doesn't have to pay the ransom... I think that's according to some translations, but I didn't see anything like that in the trailers. I hope this isn't a Marvelous/Ahim ship tease. Ahim has Joe and Doc. I don't want another Everyone hearts Kaori or Everyone hearts Sakura season.