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.

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.

My Fan Fiction. Tell Me What You Think.

A few months ago, I got a fanfiction.net (or as one of my friends to it, the pit) account under the name bushido girl. I've written three stories, two of them are completed.

The morning after is the semi-autobiographical account of the morning after a party, where I woke up, hung-over, wearing a suit, and had sand in my pants. Supposedly I blacked out when I smoked a hookah.... someone must have put something in there. Okay, it's not semi-autobiographical, but its funny! Anyway, I might write a sequel. I was inspired when Urataros possessed Natsumi, I think, in Decade. He says something like, "I don't possess girls that much, but this will do." I wonder if he just doesn't possess Ryotaro.

Read it here!



Dreaming Shinkenger was kind of the preview for my in progress fic. On Valentine's Day there were a crap load of Takeru and Mako getting married fics, and since I hadn't finished my fic, which focuses on Takeru and Kotoha, I decided to upload this little fic that's a homage to the ending scene from The Graduate. Read Dreaming, Shinkenger here. Just so you know, hintity hint hint, Mako is possessed by Dayu in my Wedding fic, hopefully it was hinted upon well enough.

 My latest fic that is still in progress is called The Wedding, which can be hinted about in Dreaming, Shinkenger. I don't want to summarize it, I want you to read it. I'm at chapter six, where Takeru and Kotoha are kind of in a relationship, but something's going to happen that will change them forever.

I got an idea this week about doing a Gokaiger crossover. One of my favorite toku actors is Yutaka Hirose aka.

Ley Wanda from Flashman

Dr. Kemp from Liveman

Tranza from Jetman

And Jin from Dairanger.

So, what if all of these guys were related? (which doesn't make a lot of sense, because Ley Wanda is the genetic amalgamation of four lesser space beings, and Tranza is some multidimensional being. But I'll find a way to make it all fit) And what if the youngest brother, or cousin (around the same age as the Gokaigers) wants vengeance. So he takes on these forms, and the Gokaigers fight as the Flashman, Liveman, Jetman, and Dairanger. He decides to revive his brothers or whatever they are, which doesn't work that great because Jin was more of an anti-hero than a villain, and although Kemp was loyal to Bias and did horrible things, his soul ended up leading the revolt against Bias, destroying him. So he ultimately did what was right in the end, and Yuusuke was later at his grave. Oh, and it definitely does not help that the real Tranza is in a catatonic state similar to Jack Nicholson at the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. So somehow, clones are involved, Ahim defeats Ley Wanda as Red Flash, Joe as Red Falcon, and the Revived Kemp defeat the Demon Beast Kemp clone side by side, Doc as Red Hawk defeats Tranza, Luka as RyuuRanger and Jin side-by-side defeat the Demon Boxer clone, and Marvelous as GokaiRed defeats the Youngest Brother.

What do you think of the pairrings (not the romantic ones, the duels)? Ahim in Flashman, Joe in Liveman, Doc in Jetman, and Luka in Dairanger. Ahim fits nicely with Flashman because she's a girl who lost her family too. Joe with Liveman because he had a falling out with his swordmaster (hmm... I wonder who it is cough cough, Barizorg), Don with Jetman (I originally thought that it would be Don in Liveman because they were all intelligent, and Joe in Jetman because they were militaristic and serious, but Don's more of a do-gooder, like the Jetman, and the themes in Liveman fit with Joe). Luka would have some good chemistry with Jin, who initially assassinated for money, but didn't care towards the end. It also seemed he loved the fight as much as Luka loved treasure.

So what do you guys think? Let me know!