The Skateboarding Scientist: My thoughts on Gokaiger Episode 30

Okay, to start off, this was my favorite episode so far! It had a strong plot, some great fight scenes, some great character development, and of course was one of the most accurate tributes. Liveman is one of my favorite sentai series, so I was smiling throughout the whole episode.

To start things out, Kazuhiko Nishimura has, like Toshihide Wakamatsu has aged nicely. He still looks really young. Not only has he aged well, but he is freaking hot! He was hot on Liveman, and he's still really hot!

When I saw the promos, I was kind of upset that Luka wasn't going to appear with Joe when they encountered Joh. Instead, Ahim was there. Joh is the first Yellow Ranger solely to appear by himself, and I thought it would be awesome to see two yellow rangers together, for at least a second. But it doesn't really matter, at least for this episode.

Okay, now the review.

This scene in the lab is probably one of the best scenes. Kazuhiko was one of the stronger actors on Liveman, and after the series, he continued to act in Dramas. So his acting is at the top of his game. He starts out very cheerful, but gradually gets serious, when he tells Joe about his friends.

For those of you who think Joe is a boring, stoic character, he can express emotions, and he's good at it!

I loved seeing the Denjiman again.

And, I loved the Liveman fight scene. The Henshin sequence, down to the attacks were spot on. Believe it or not Doc and Ahim make a great Sai and Bison. Why? Because Green Sai and Black Bison were two people new to the team, who banded together, and were really protective over each other, much like Doc and Ahim.

Oh, and Joe using Cid's finishing move was the icing on the cake.

I loved seeing Super Live Robo, albeit it was only for a few seconds.

At the end of the episode, Barizorg seems to have a different presence, will he revert back to Cid?

Also, the cyborg process look friggin painful.

And there were a few references. Joh's skateboard was draped with stickers that said "Colon" "Land Lion" (Yellow Lion's mecha) and "Skate Attack!" And the three students releasing two butterflies is a reference to the Liveman theme song. 

Also, Joh has his own lab at Academia Island, which has now been rebuilt.

Jouji Nakata was pretty much bringing this episode back full circle. If you don't know, he is a voice actor, but also has done live-action work. He played Sir Cowler in Flashman and... Professor Bias, the main villain, in Liveman. And he voiced the monster of the week! He has one of the most frightening voices ever. Also, it kind of looks like the MOW has a brain in his helmet, or at least I think so. This could, but probably isn't, a reference to Bias's character's special relationship with brains. Okay, that sounded so creepy.

Although, Cid might not be able to come back, Joe now will fight for his soul, what he would want Joe to do, fight for the good, fight against the Zangyack.

I knew if they were going to do a Liveman tribute episode, they were going to involve Joe in some way, why? Because Joe's character arc has the same theme as Liveman: redemption, friendship, treachery. In Liveman, Yuusuke, Joh, and Megumi's former friends are now villains, and killed their two friends. They constantly grapple with the idea of their friends becoming good, especially Joh, and if they should fight them, much like Joe with Barizorg.

I was just so happy to see Joh, because he was my favorite Liveman! And he's still awesome as ever!

Was it just me, or did Joh mutter "shiiiiiiit...." under his breath when he saw the Zangyack attack an arena.

Ahim's Rampage: My thoughts on Gokaiger Episode 29

Sorry if this is late.

You want to know Ahim is on the team? It's because she can go on a rampage and stay calm and strong and charming during it.

It was so refreshing to see another costume change fight. It was a nice call-back to past female Sentai heroines. Namely Momoranger, Gogglepink, and Pteraranger.

Ahim essentially dresses up as three things guys find sexy (it could have been four, but Luka already dressed up as a maid)

A schoolgirl

A nurse

A policewoman

It was nice to give Ahim some development, and put her in the spotlight.

The episode catches the tone of Abaranger, given that the head writer of Gokaiger, Naruhisa Arakawa, wrote for Abaranger.

However, it would have been nice to see Yukito and Emiri more, and have them interact with the team.

I apologize for the quality of this review. Much like the quality of the AbarePink costume, it could be better.

Shameless Self-Promotion Returns: My newest fanfic

Flight of the Dove is something I've been working on since this summer. It of course concerns Jetman!

I was inspired partly based off of the need for a replacement for Gai if the Vyram somehow manage to return. And I was inspired by Red Hawk, the name Red Hawk. Ryu is essentially a military man. The word "hawk" can be used to describe people who are for wars (used during the Vietnam war). Dove was used to describe people who were against fighting, pacifists, based off of the dove as a symbol of peace. So I thought the perfect opposite to Ryu would be a Dove, a pacifist, someone who it would be even harder to get to join the team than Gai. And that's how I came up with Ariana. I put a little bit of myself in Ariana, without making her a Mary Sue character (mainly the political side of me, and my hair), just to warn you, it deconstructs the idea of an author avatar.

My worst fear is people thinking Ariana is a Mary Sue, though.

Think of Ariana as Haley Smith on American Dad.

Ariana's also kind of a female expy of Gai. She rides a motorcycle, hates Ryu initially and refuses to join the team, and smokes... stuff....

Also, the story breaks the forth wall a number of times, makes fun of a lot of conventions of super sentai, and fanfics.

You'll get to know where the rest of the team is now. And just so you know, Ako's going to end up with someone when the fic is over. I'm pretty sure you can guess who it can be.

The fic has some mature themes (Ariana and her friends smoke, like Gai, only what they are smoking is something Gai probably wouldn't touch). So if you go to fanfiction.net, it wouldn't appear through the pre-set filters. So here is the link.

Click Here to Read It!

Let me know if you find Ariana Mary Sue-ish at all.

Also, I know doves aren't silver, but white is already taken. And hawks aren't red, so there!

He's Still Awesome: My thoughts on Gokaiger Episode 28

Probably one of the better tribute episodes yet!

Gai Yuki is still awesome.

The ultimate power was great, with the giant flaming phoenix, and the attack.

I really wish Ako could have more stuff like that on Jetman.

I liked how Joe seemed to understand what was going on with Marvelous.

Oh, the Bounty Hunter, Boba Fett---I mean Kiaido was chilling. I really hope he could come back, and there could be six of him, one in blue, one in yellow, one in green, one in pink, one in silver you see where I'm going. They're all trying to get the Gokaiger's bounty. I mean, he stabs himself, to purposely give himself a weak spot, so Marvelous could be motivated to kill him, since Kiaido doesn't like killing weak people.

Oh, and when he catches the bullets, and drops the shells on the floor, and they bounce, and the sound echos, for some reason, that's really chilling.

I wonder why Gai Ikari couldn't see Gai Yuki. Maybe because he's an earthling, or maybe because Gai Yuki didn't want Gai Ikari to be drooling over him, and asking him to sign his shirt.

Oh, sorry fans, it's confirmed, Gai Yuki died. Although, it gradually got revealed. Gai Ikari said Gai Yuki mysteriously disappeared, and no one knows what happened to him, then Gai Ikari can't see him while the rest of the team can, then they reveal Gai Yuki's grave. And I'm okay with him being dead. For those of you who think he didn't die after he got stabbed because he didn't excessively bleed, you can bleed internally, and blood doesn't splatter out all the time... okay, I'm getting gross.

But even though he's dead, he still can kick ass, and become Black Condor without a Ranger Key. And he can fight out of suit too!

I'm really surprised Gai Yuki flirted with Luka over Ahim. Ahim's more feminine, and Gai Yuki did flirt with the dainty, rich Kaori, instead of the mouthy, slightly tomboyish Ako. Anyway, he does have one thing in common with Luka--they both LOVE to cheat. And I think Gai Yuki didn't like being touched by men, and Luka definitely doesn't like being touched by men (or used as a human shield). I think this was the first guy in the series that Luka was blatently attracted to (she thought Gai Ikari was "cute" but then he started shaking her...).

Nice callback to the series. Gai Ikari singing "Jetto, jetto, jettoman..." while searching, showing Gai Yuki's grave:

Looks like Ryu and Kaori left red and white roses, Raita left a basket of delicious organic vegetables, and Ako left a cup of ramen, and Gai Yuki's favorite treats: Booze and Cigarettes. (Or Ryu left the Booze and Cigarettes, and Kaori left the flowers...)

And finally, Gai Yuki leaves them, while sitting on a bench, like how he died. (Then Luka sits exactly where he was sitting, I don't know why I that seemed to stand out to me)

Apparantly, heaven is a bar, and god is a hot chick. This might have caused me to believe in heaven, but then Gai said that the booze in heaven sucks. If there is a heaven, then the booze would be good.

So, if the booze is bad in heaven, then Gai might not actually be in heaven--he might be IN HELL! Because the booze would be bad in hell! Okay, I'm thinking into it a little too much...

They did reveal that Ako is still an idol singer, Raita sells organic vegetables over the internet (I want some of those eggplants), and Ryu and Kaori are still married. And they all visit Gai's grave every day. And Gai doesn't want them to go back into battle, so that's why he warned the team not to contact them.

Toshihide Wakamatsu is still SMOKING HOT! I wonder if he's taken... If he isn't, I hope he can speak English or understand bad, broken Japanese. I wonder if he got work done... anyway, he still looks good. And he's really successful! I like how he was able to venture out into dramas after Jetman.

Okay, there were some things about the episode that were weak.

I bet everyone was happy during the promos to see the team turn into Bioman and Maskman--well, they were only them for, like, five seconds during the show.

No theme music, during the fight, but this kind of made sense, because the Jetman theme song didn't befit the tone of the battle.

The GokaiGuys did their own Jetman attacks while fighting Boba Fe--I mean Kiaido, but Luka and Ahim just flew by him. Both White Swan, and Yellow Owl both had some cool attacks, including one they'd do together, I would have liked to seen that.

Religious themes do make me uncomfortable, especially in children's shows (yet ironically Liveman is one of my favorite series, is chock full of them, although it sort of fits the redemption theme of the show). Although they did make god a woman, so props to that...

Episode 29 already aired, so I'm not going to show promo images--it was really funny though! And it was refreshing to see a female warrior do a dress-changing fight.