Final Thoughts: Number One Sentai Gozyuger (& Super Sentai)
This is the first time that I’ve been to a birthday party that turned into a funeral halfway through.
This is the first time that I’ve been to a birthday party that turned into a funeral halfway through.
Baku Yorozu is an ordinary, everyday young man, living an ordinary, everyday life. In his dreams however he is the heroic super spy codenamed ‘Seven’, who battles to save the world. Now, as monsters called Nightmares invade the dreams of humanity, Baku will have to step up to being a hero for real as Kamen Rider Zeztz!
It’s the fiftieth anniversary of the Super Sentai series and they’re going to celebrate the only way they know how – by blowing up even more stuff than usual.
I wish the world didn’t have to be this way, but if big franchises are the only way the creators I like can get any work, then so be it.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”
Iro looks back on the media of 2023 and considers what he expected to get and what he wanted to get.
Hopper! Steam! Shadow! Wood! Sword! Thunder! Power! Sleep! Cardcaptors of the Clow. expect the unexpected now!
“Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
It’s the age old tale of Boy meets Girl, Girl’s father transforms Boy into Mutant Cyborg Grasshopper Monster, Boy & Girl fight evil underground organisation. With motorbikes.
In the distant past, the evil Bugnarok were defeated by five brave warriors who went on to found the five kingdoms of Terra. However, a prophecy foretells that after two thousand years the Bugnarok will rise again, and a new team of heroes will have to assemble to save humanity, the Royal Sentai, King-Ohger!
In this reimagining of 1987’s Kamen Rider Black, Japan is a state in socio-political turmoil, where discrimination of an underclass of mutated humans known as “kaijin” is commonplace. Aoi Izumi is a bright-eyed young activist waging war against this oppression, but this makes her a target for all sorts of unscrupulous actors. Only a grizzled kaijin by the name of Kotaro Minami seems to be able to protect her, but he has a traumatic past to reckon with of his own…
So, a hundred Kamen Riders drop onto an island…
High school student Haruka Kito is having a hell of a week. Attacked by a monster, she’s rescued by an enigmatic hero figure, before a pair of sunglasses give her the ability to see a mysterious world beyond everyday illusions. They also mean she can transform and fight alongside other Momotaro-themed heroes as the Avataro Sentai, Donbrothers!
As the year draws to a close, Aqua provides an overview of the most memorable and interesting characters he got to meet during these four seasons of anime and tokusatsu.
As I was busy laying on the sofa and staring at the ceiling this year, I didn’t get around to watching too many J-dramas. I do have a handful to talk about though, so come on in!
We’ve done this for another year somehow, and Iro’s back to give a brief look at the shows he thinks are worth mentioning. There’s more than usual this time!
Ikki and Sakura meet up with their childhood friend Ayaka Oketani, who is struggling with her little sister overshadowing her in their mother’s eyes. Things rapidly get worse when the Deadmans arrive on the scene and the two girls are taken hostage.
As Ikki struggles with the idea of joining Fenix and fighting Deadmans full time, the villains make their first move, tempting a downtrodden caddy to turn on his employer.
The world faces a terrible threat in the form of Deadmans, a terrorist cult that aims to bring out humanity’s ‘inner demons’. Fortunately they’re opposed by the government organization Fenix, who possess a secret weapon – Ikki Igarashi, a young man who is able to hear his own inner demon. Together they’ll battle Deadmans as the twin warriors, Kamen Rider Revi and Kamen Rider Vice!
Countless parallel worlds have fallen to the evil Tojitend Dynasty, including the universes containing the previous 44 Super Sentai teams. Now, as the Dynasty’s world of Kikaitopia merges with our own, one human and four Kikainoids are all that stand in their way. Armed with the power of all Sentai, they are the Kikai Sentai, Zenkaiger!