3/4/2008 - Mini Review: Guardian Sentai RoboMan #3 by Adrian J. Watts
http://www.night-jaeger.net/fiction/roboman/roboman-03.htm
First off, I should apologise to Mister Watts for
how terrible I am at replying to his responses.
Secondly, I almost considered resurrection my old
SOPHISM column for this, at least for the title of these reviews,
anyhow.
Roboman #3 clarifies a lot of the
disjointedness I felt in issue #2 and, as I seem to have only recently remarked
about the third episode of Go-onger, this is the story where the team
start acting like a team ~ which is an indication of just how well
Mister Watts knows the genre.
The pixies are revealed as part of an overall plot
of a very different villain and not the cannon-fodder/'putties' I had initially
mistaken them for, and the issue is a lot clearer on just what is at
stake.
Current villain Jinsei seems a lot like a
traditional Rider kaijin and there's a striking similarity between his
description and the initial way in which Sei is described.
Doctor Nagura remains my favourite character,
however, and plot points in this issue make me wonder if we're going to see a
Jetman style villain-or-not theme emerge in the ranks of Roboman's
adversaries.
I'm really pleased to see that this series is
generating good responses as, in many ways, it feels like a justification for
the fact that since 2002/2003, I've been convinced that such a series could
thrive in the 'fanfic' serial format in more traditional circles. For that
alone, Roboman is worth the price of admission.
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3/3/2008 - Mini Review: Guardian Sentai RoboMan #2 by Adrian J. Watts
http://www.night-jaeger.net/fiction/roboman/roboman-02.htm
Today's issue of Roboman is brought to you by the reminiscences of Fiveman.
Actually, that does Mister Watts' work a disservice as Fiveman is a lot weaker in its set up than what the combined releases of Roboman have offered.
In
order to present an unbiased review, I'm going to start with the one
thing I had a problem with in regards to this issue: sometimes, due to
Mister Watts' use of intertextuality and personal continuity, I feel
that I'm not getting the big picture. This is a criticism I'd level at
my own work, so I don't feel too bad saying it about someone else's
story.
There are a handful of details, mostly in relation
to the Black Battalion and Sorceress Miko, that I feel the story is not
clear on. Mostly, I fear, this is because I'm not familiar with Mister
Watts' MV1 work.
This is honestly the only bad thing I can find say about the series.
In regards to the good things, this issue compliments the Battle Fever J atmosphere by stepping up into the realms of 80s sentai and drawing in motifs from the aforementioned Fiveman, in addition to Bioman and Liveman.
Sato Kiko and Doctor Nagura remain the most prominent pairi...characters in
the story, with Nagura's calm rationale and Sato's cheerful
determination making them easiest to associate with, IMHO. Ian remains
a very youthful Red, with all the dedication one would expect of the
archetype, whilst Sei is a harsher variation on the Blue archetype,
lacking some of the 'playboy' mentality of his forebears and inheriting
only the straight-forwardness.
Ian really stands out
during the hostage situation at the end of the book, acting with all
the vigour and recklessness of youth but in such a fashion that it's
hard not to root for him.
I'm not quite sure what to make
of the invading pixie-girls but, considering the cliffhanger issue #2
ends on, I'm looking forwards to seeing some real action sequences
involving them.
All in all, a solid issue. I'm looking forwards to reading the final act.
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3/2/2008 - Go-on #3 Mini-Review (SPOILERS - sort of - etc.)
This episode apparently takes place in the forest of Magi. It's interesting to note how, even after the initial 'we're all together'-ness of episode #2, the two groups - the Ikazuchi Black and Green vs. the established trio of the Hayate
Red, Blue and Yellow - are still being played as two seperate teams,
something I wasn't really expecting. It adds a slightly more
interesting approach to what would otherwise have been another 'there's no "I" in team' episode.
I
like the fact that there's a lot more of the characters in costume sans
helmet, something we haven't seen in a long time - although, speaking
from experience, I doubt there's any chance Gunpei's hair can remain
that styled after being flattened by his helmet (who do you think you
are, Gunpei? Oohara Jou?).
Hant is becoming something of a
source of irritation. Sosuke and himself are the two characters in this
I simply can't warm too as yet.
Saki really does sound like Taiga Sae. ♥
11 minutes in and the action seems to move to the undergound mines of A View to a Kill - why was Christopher Walkern not in this episode? This whole sequence is something like what I imagined Boukenger
to be. It's hard to put my finger on why this episode feels so
formulaic (aside from the fact that it's in a very formulaic genre)
when the elements that make up the formula for Go-on seem so very varied.
How many fangirls are shipping Gunpei/Sasuke after this episode, I wonder?
It's
interesting to see there's a lack of kaijin-sized explosions. Seeing
poor 'Spade-Aurg' laying prostrate after the finishing attack rather
than blown into a thousand pieces made me think for a moment that there
was more to him than his monster-of-the-week status afforded, as this
'survival' gimmick is one that's usually saved for two-part stories and
generals. Again, the forumla is there, but it's not always the formula
you expect.
The franchise really has got a lot better with mech
battle establishing shots as well, something that was used to great
effect in the Geki movie.
It's also striking that Green and Black still don't play any part in
the mech confrontation...aside from cheerleading. Of course, all that
looks to change soon.
And then we have the end and the first indication of the team being a team.
The next episode looks like we're going to see Kegalesia in action - could this be the start of something wonderful? (^_^)
To cap it all off, the episode ends with one of those Sailor Moon Says... type segments. Certainly I'll remember never to invite RVs to have dinner with me. ^^
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2/28/2008 - Mini Review: Guardian Sentai RoboMan #1 by Adrian J. Watts
http://softpixels.net/blog/archives/guardian-sentai-roboman-1-attack-on-blizzard-base-zero
I
feel that it's something of a milestone to be seeing sentai fiction in
the circles I frequent. You'll have to forgive me if I come across as a
tad shell-shocked. The first issue of Roboman by
Adrian Watts (he of the authentic Australian knowledge) sets the tone
for a series halfway between the traditions of Toei's Super Sentai
franchise and the established style of shared universe fanfic groups. The
characters are all likeable and true to their archetypes. If I had to
criticise anything in the portrayal, it would be that Nagura
Ian/RoboRed is a little *too* true to form ~ but I'm biased in my
opinions on this matter. One of the most
striking things about the story is Mister Watts' use of scenery. The
image of Project: Robo's Antarctic base is a striking one and certainly
something that sticks in the mind and, like much of the story, can be
imagined in terms of the cinematic effects the genre it takes its cues
from would afford. The environment of the base and the relationship between the three 'good guys' and their mentor is somewhat reminiscent of Battle Fever J
(shame on you, Marvel fans if you don't know this) whilst the opposing
regime of Science Island reminds me of a lighter interpretation of the Liveman villains. All in all, this is a solid first issue that stays true to the genre whilst hinting at some of Mister Watts' other influences.
I'm looking forwards to seeing how the storyline develops.
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2/24/2008 - Go-on #2 Mini-Review (SPOILERS - sort of - etc.)
Nothing special but nothing dreadful either.
 automated_alice: "I am now shipping Black/Yellow...like a bumblebee."
Apparently
though, that's not the reason. Whatever logic it was that prompted the
above statement however, eludes me for the moment.
...
So, to sum up...
erm...
Yay robots?
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2/21/2008 - Rider #7
Kamen Rider episode #7 is one of the best episodes ever.
Nazi chameleons, lost treasure, Midorikawa Ruriko on a bike, Tachibana Tobei's fake tash, swordfights, Kamen Rider hiding in a coffin and, last but not least, PUPPIES!
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2/18/2008 - And Also For Today, Fight On Stronger
I'm really in two minds about the news that Toei are going to produce a Kamen Rider Stronger
entry in their 'remake' movie series. Thus far, I've
avoided what I consider to be two pointless efforts designed at turning
the more classical Riders into a product more aesthetically pleasing to
a younger audience but Stronger...well, Stronger is my favourite Rider
and I really don't know if I can avoid this...
I want to support a remake of Stronger
because I want it to have all the elements that makes the original
series so wonderful...yet I can't help but think that, given their past
record, Toei will decide to cast Nakamura
Yuichi as Shigeru. If such a thing were to happen, I would be forced to
refrain from ever watching another Toei tokusatsu show again.
*shudder*
Sidenote:
What ever happened to poor Amazon? It's a shame really as I would loved
to have seen their list of casting suggestions for him. (^_^) (let's
see you find a role for random D-BOYS/JOHNNY'S talents in that remake,
Toei! Hah!)
In other news: Tackle hentai
exists...and it is scary...I really am not going to go back and find
the link to the images...but it's out there...
*shudder*
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2/18/2008 - 「正義ノミカタ」
I just finished watching the first episode of Go-onger. It did indeed
take me this long to find it. I've spent since 9:00 (Japan time) trying to find
the episode, juggling various torrents and watching the first 30 seconds of a
webcam recorded version. Fortunately, the ever awesome seiji982 once more
came through with some help and I got to sit down and watch it recently, much to
the displeasure of automated_alice.
First
impressions are thus LADEN WITH SPOILERS.
The overall set
up for the show comes across very much as a fusion of Gaoranger and
Ohranger ~ considering how many elements of Gaoranger have been
recycled in the past few years, I'm beginning to wonder if I missed something
and haven't been considering Gao's influences enough. Aesthetically,
there's probably the shadow of Dekaranger and Boukenger in the
visuals, certainly there's a couple of GoGoV and Abaranger motifs,
and the action is fairly derivative of both Ohranger and Liveman.
The main focus however, is that of GaoOh.
So, as is to be
expected, let's start off with the negative: the OP theme song is pretty abysmal
and lacking in any sort of get-up-and-go. Even the relatively weak sounding
Geki theme seemed to have a bit more spirit than this. Secondly,
Sousuke/Go-onRed is something of a let down in that he's all squeaky
hyperactivity...but that should come as no surprise. On the scale of irritating
and useless, I'd mark him up with being on a level with MagiRed...which is okay,
I can live with it. I'm not happy about it but he's yet to descended into the
realms of AbaRed or GekiRed.
It's a bit of a shame really as, from what I
saw of him, BoukenRed was a distinct departure from this sort of character. The
fact that Toei have gone back to presenting Reds in this manner is a little
sad.
On the plus side, the villains are good; the central cadre of
generals being presented much like the Saima Family from GoGoV, the
monster of the week passing for what might have been a Gaoranger 'Enjin-Aurg'
and the 'putties' (to borrow a Power Rangers colloquialism) being much
like Ohranger's Baro Hei.
Oikawa Nao as Kegalesia is as
perfect as I suspected she would be...but I could have done without the
gratuitous cleavage shot because, well, if I wanted to see her breasts I'd use
Google.
Ren/Go-onBlue is an unexpectedly likeable guy, something
that surprised me. I was honestly expecting him to be a bit more like DekaGreen
or MagiGreen, but he's refreshingly reserved, coming across as a bit like
GaoBlack instead.
I don't yet have an opinion on Gunpei/Go-onBlack
or Hant/Go-onGreen, but, Saki/Go-onYellow is the most astoundingly
cute character ever, being very similar to GaoWhite, although perhaps slightly
less bossy than her predecessor.
So all in all, a good episode. It's very
much a kid's TV show and I don't feel as I'm looking for the same things as I
was when Hurricanger came out and that's probably helped. I'm certainly
not going to pretend that the episode is a real life-defining event but, much
like the new American Transformers cartoon, it's good Sunday morning
television, and on that level, I recommend it highly.
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2/10/2008 - 你!你!好!好!
電影版 獣拳戦隊ゲキレンジャー ネイネイ!ホウホウ!香港大決戦 SPOILERS A-GO-GO!
I'm not really a fan of Gekiranger
but I was really excited about the prospect of a sentai series filming
sequences in HK and the New Territories. I don't really feel that Toei
achieved anything special with this, in fact, as has been said for
years about many aspects of Toei's premier tokusatsu franchises, I
think they missed out on a lot of opportunities.
In regards to
the 'special guests': no one listens to me when I tell them Ono Mayumi
has an incredibly motherly face. Let this film be a lesson to you.
Lin-Lin pretty much played it straight and by the book, not really
doing much...but those are the rules of sentai movie films, I guess. I
would have liked to have heard her speak a bit more in Cantonese...or,
indeed, more Cantonese full stop...except from Ono Mayumi, who tried
and was very cute but was still very silly...(and motherly).
The
two regular villains - Rio and Mele - were interesting in how very
Gouraijer they were...except the dynamic was slightly more like Hansel
and Gretel in Otogi Jushi Akazukin. In that, they don't really come across as villains at all.
The most interesting moments for me were the movie-only mech variant (including a Gaoranger redeco,
by the looks of it!) and the actual robot fight on the streets of Hong
Kong. The end credits and the cameo from Bruce Lee's statue as well as
various shots of the airport and the city itself were nice, if
completely throwaway.
As for the three central characters...I can't really comment. I was never a huge fan of Abaranger. (^___^)
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2/10/2008 - Secrets
Number
#21: toku secret on fandomsecrets
shocker.
I can't say I'm entirely unsympathetic to their point of
view...but then again I also suspect them to be a rabid Power Rangers fan
so there's no real winning. (^_________^)
On the Kiba front: wow.
Erm. Yes. I can honestly say that I neither like or dislike it. It's just kids
TV, nothing more, nothing less. Ho hum.
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1/26/2008 - 及川 奈央
I am totally in awe of Toei's casting department for picking former AV
star, Oikawa Nao for the role of 2008's sexy-armour-lady villain in Go-onger.
There is no tongue in cheek in this statement. Ignoring her substantial catalogue of AV work, Oikawa has a really cute singing voice and, as Shizuna Minamoto is one of many, many highlights in the live action Negima!! series (and if you aren't watching this show then let me show you the door).
Doubtless to say, there will be more on this later.
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1/23/2008 - Protecting Rich People Across the World Since 1993
Meet
the Power Rangers...but only if you've got shitloads of money. You would have
thought that, with all the Zords at their disposal, they could have at least
made the effort to come to EuroDisney instead of arranging a competition that
requires you to pay for flights, tickets and accommodation in America
instead.
Looks like I'll be going to ZeddWorld this year instead...
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1/13/2008 - Nana 2
Last night, automated_alice
and myself belatedly watched Nana 2. Not being a fan of the franchise, I
must confess that my sole reason for watching it was Ichikawa Yui...who was
pretty much playing Ichikawa Yui.
On the sentai front Tamayama Tetsuji (GaoSilver,
Gaoranger) and Kyo Nobuo
(KawagaRaijer, Hurricanger) both appeared to be reprising their sentai
roles...with guitars. Actually, Kyo's performance was a notable highlight in a
film with very little to recommend it. Tamayama's performance was fine but sadly
the script didn't give him much to really do other than play
GaoSilver.
Sometimes, considering the variety of his roles, I might almost
be forced consider that Kyo might be able to act.
*joking*
Seriously, Kyo is seemingly doing, which I'm always happy to hear about any Hurri cast member.
Also present in
the cast where One Litre of Tears' Mizutani Momosuke and
Gokusen's Narimiya
Hiroki ~ speaking of whom, visit here or
here for a picture
of him with Dead or Alive belle Devon Aoki.
So, all in all, if
you're a fan of the franchise or have an especial investment in how any of the
above mentioned cast members are trying to put bread on their tables each night
then it might be worth watching...just don't get your hopes up (especially not
if you're expecting a Nakashima Mika-centric film).
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1/11/2008 - Bakaranger!!
Reason
#4545674494369398743975943549 why the Mahou Sensei
Negima!! live action series is the *BEST* thing since sliced
bread.
...and sad that there are more genuine homages and
references to the Super Sentai franchise in these segments than Toei can manage
in the actual sentai franchise itself...
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12/30/2007 - GAAAAAAAAAAAAAO
Well, the previews for both Kamen Rider Kiva and Enjin Sentai Go-onger
are now all over the internets. First impressions are mostly
favourable. I will confess that I've been looking forwards somewhat to
seeing the Go-on preview since the Tatsunoko style mech toys debuted a mere few weeks ago.
I'm pleased to see that the cast aren't Abaranger
hideously ugly. They're not exactly perfect, Go-onRed in particular suffers from post-Hana Kimi casting
call syndrome, but the others seem to be a mix of average to mildly
cute. Both Go-onBlack and Go-onYellow seem very reminiscent of GaoBlack
and GaoWhite (this is a *good* thing!) ~ actually Yellow looks a little
like Mori Erika of Hibiki fame (again, this is a *good* thing!) so on that front things are positive...and decidedly Gaoranger flavoured.
As for Kiva: LAWLZ.
This whole concept is so shit that it can't help but be awesome. Again, not at all related to Kamen Rider,
but who cares when there are toy sales to be made! Let's hear it for
Universal Monsters! Bonus points if Lon Chaney Jr. returns from the
dead to star as the second Rider.
In other news: if Disney's new post Jungle FeverFury
Power Rangers animated series is like Kim Possible or some of the other Disney Channel original shows, then consider me open minded. (^_^)
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12/28/2007 - Masaoka Kunio THE NEXT!!
Second Sighting: Masaoka Kunio (Chroriki Sentai Ohranger and Ultaseven Evolution) as oen of the two brothers in the second of 2006's Girl's Box short films.
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12/26/2007 - Tomie
Sighting: Masaoka Kunio (Chroriki Sentai Ohranger and Ultaseven Evolution) as the owner of the diner in 1999's cult classic, Tomie.
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