Power Rangers Super Samurai - Shell Game - Episode Review

Pictures thanks to Samuraicast.com
http://www.samuraicast.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=358

Kevin, Mike and Emily are practicing at the house. Kevin and Mike are slicing pumpkins and Emily makes a huge boulder that they destroyh. A Nighlok arrives that Octoroo and Xandred don't recognize. He says he serves a bigger power. Armadevil is unbeatable because of his shell. Jayden and Mia are shopping and go first to the Nighlok.

Antonio looses his morpher (he's listening to music and fishing and doesn't notice) and Bulk and Spike find it. When Mentor calls, they answer it but don't speak and got to where the Nighlok but are scared of it. They run off, Mike and Emily were to go after them but they end up coming back to save the other Rangers.

 The Rangers come up with a new plan which is to soften his shell, warming it up and washing it, to make it crack. Kevin then uses the Black Box and becomes Super Samurai Ranger. Emily makes a hole so he can go in one side and pop out the other and defeat the Nighlok.


When it grows, they use their 3 modes but its no good, so they call Clawzord, using the Super Disk without Antonio and form the newest combo to destroy it. Bulk and Spike return to the Pier and drop the morpher on the floor. Mike and Emily find Antonio fishing and they spot the Morpher on the floor. 34 Missed Calls. Mike and Emily make him 'sweat' about it.

Review:

Lots of new footage and a slightly new plot, compared to the original Shinkenger plot. Footage from this episode was taken from an earlier episode 16 which did not have the Gold Ranger or various zords. So they made new footage of Super Blue and Super Mega Blue. I like that Kevin made a comment on his Super Mega suit. I like Jayden's comment on Mia' cooking mix of chocolate and brushel sprouts, saying to 'explain it to the paramedics.' 
It was a kind of boring and frustrating episode. It teases fans that the Rangers will meet Bulk and Spike which doesn't happen. And it wastes Steven Skyler, no wonder he went back to America to do Glee. It reminded me of MMPR where they paired a Megazord that didn't originally fight the monster (like Clawzord combo), new footage inserted (Super Blue) and also the Sixth Ranger going to waste. It was also laughable that when the monster's shell was cracked and then we see the American version and his shell is back to normal. The music Antonio was listening to reminded me of the music Zack would listen to in the first season. Also, the changed the personality of the monster---he was shy in Shinkenger.
 
I noticed some mistakes, while supposedly inside the Dragon Foldingzord, we see the Swordfish on his console...
  
And then the Clawzord (Before he called the Clawzord)...
 
And finally the Dragon.

More Akibaranger

UPDATED 2/23/12 10PM EST 

Info from http://orendsrange.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/akibaranger-taking-sentai-into-greater.html

Pictures from http://ca3.blog76.fc2.com/blog-entry-1213.html
Akibaranger is an adult series (most likely for ages 16-30), with the characters being described as having 'big breast', 'flat-chest' and 'virgin.' It is supposed to break taboos. An excerpt from the press release (mind you, this has been translated to English by fans) "There's a pile of discarded material, wild delusions and ulterior motives, which have been supporting the toku series without ever having the chance to actually shine in the open. And now that tremendous chaotic power has finally burst out."

 According to reports, there are four main characters in the series: 

Red: Very shy personality, hardcore otaku fan and probably a virgin.

 Blue: A school girl with a hime haircut. They say she has a 'flat chest.' Her suit shows this.

Yellow: A cosplayer who dons a yellow wig and a nekomimi (cat ears) and wears cat claws. She is to be busty.

Professor Hiroyo:  Sexy Smart older sister type. Loves pranks and wears glasses. She is played by Maaya Uchida.

 The villain Marushina 

 Blue's 'skirt' is based on panties, obviously.

In addition, the latest issue of Figure-Oh Magazine reveals that the Akibarangers will have their own set of S.H. FiguArts! Yes, S.H. FiguArts Akibarangers will be coming soon.

MMZ-01 is a doll-like transformation item that becomes...

Their weapon, the MMZ-01 Moe Moe Zukyuun, a blaster type weapon. Everything thing seems to be based on a female Anime character (Z-Cune-Aoi ?).

The team will also have their own personal vehicle Machine Itasshā that is painted based on the latest moe anime trend.

AkibaRed- Akagi Nobuo is played by Wada Masato; he is 33 in real life.

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Wada_Masato

AkibaBlue- Aoyagi Mizuki is played Kyoko Hinami; she is 17 in real life.

http://asianwiki.com/Kyoko_Hinami

AkibaYellow- Moegi Yumeria is played by Karin Ogino; she is 16 in real life.

http://www.newcutegirls.com/tag/karin-ogino

The villain Marushina is played by Honoka, an AV (Porn) actress, she is 29 (my age!, she's a month younger than me) in real life.

http://asianwiki.com/Honoka_%281982%29

An event to introduce the Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger will took place on Akihabara this March 31st to April 1st. Event goers will have an exclusive chance to see the first episode of the series (No under 15 year olds allowed). In addition, whoever is attending the prescreening of Akibaranger at Tamashii Features will receive a "secret gift". Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger premieres this April 6th, Fridays on BS Asahi (not TV-Asahi like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider) at 1:30am and Mondays on Tokyo MX at 1:00am starting April 9th.

The series seems to be tongue-in-cheek, a bit of a parody. And it airing after midnight in Japan gives it an open license. I hope Saban gets wind of this and think about maybe adapting it for Adult Swim or something. I am not saying as Power Rangers but as something else.

Power Rangers 30 Day Facebook Challenge, Day 11

Sorry for the delay everybody! Lately I've only had time to dwindle around on the Internet here and there, and now I finally have a chance to sit down and right a good quality post. So here's today's topic:

"Who is your favorite Sixth Ranger"

Let me make this clear. There is an enormous difference between "Sixth" Ranger, and "Other" Rangers that don't belong to the core team. For example the Crimson and Navy Thunder Rangers are NOT Sixth Rangers. The following are the only Sixth Ranger Powers in the show's Universe: Mighty Morphin Green, Mighty Morphin White, Gold Zeo, Phantom Turbo, Silver Space, Magna Defender, Titanium, Quantum, Lunar, Green Samurai(NS), White Dino, Shadow/Omega (Fans count either/or), Solaris Knight, Mercury, Spirit Rangers, RPM Gold/Silver, and Gold Samurai. Out of these, my favorites are...

Jason, Gold Zeo Ranger.

Phantom Turbo Ranger.

Mike, Lost Galaxy's Magna Defender.

Cam, Green Samurai Ranger, Ninja Storm.

So tell me, who's your very favorite Sixth Ranger? Comment below! Post it on Facebook! Add me as a contact at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001995444071



Akibaranger Suits Finally Revealed

By the previous silouhette we got, I thought we might be getting an animated series but there was a lot of talk about it being live-action. So now we know how they look. Some people complaining about the Sports-Bra-like chest on the women. For those who don't know, Akibaranger is another Sentai series that will be produced by Toei alongside Go-Busters. It is about High School Sentai fans and they hang out in a Sentai-theme Coffee Shop. Akibaranger will be paired with a new initiative from Tamashii Nation, called "Otona Sentai Tamashii", or "Grownup Sentai Soul". The toys will be aimed at Adult Collectors like the Figuarts are. I think the series will begin in APril, not sure. I can't wait!

 Picture from this website:
http://sentai.tamashii.jp/index.html

EDITORIAL: Why Gokaiger is the best Tokusatsu Series

Lavender Ranger's Editorial 
Anniversary series that have a lot of cameos from past actors seem to be regarded by as fans as the best series ever, even if the quality is bad. Now I could say that Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger is the best Super Sentai series, but I wouldn't feel right about it. Jetman, Dairanger, Shinkenger and Timeranger all have good points and special places in my heart. But those are my favorites. Plenty of people like other series and find that one as the best. So this will not be a debate over the best series in Sentai. Gokaiger definitely is on the top five. Other anniversary series like Gaoranger fell flat, with little character development and a plot that didn't have a satisfying ending. Boukenger was an anniversary series and a great one at that. Unlike Boukenger that had its own self-contain story with the monsters looking like past Giant Robos and segments after-wards about the past, Gokaiger incorporated a lot of past series as canon and also had lots of elements from the V-Cinema (Versus specials).

Top Ten Reasons Gokaiger is Excellent

The reason I say it is the best Toku is that it not only pays homage to past Sentai, but tells its own independent story, has excellent character development and almost every episodes keeps thing fresh and provide twists to Sentai conventions (like what colors women can don).

1. Cameos or Guest Stars

Not even the idea of gathering one of each 34 past teams sounds easy. Many fans supposed a tribute could be played for each 34 series within the 51 episodes, but it didn't end up that way. We ended up getting more than one member of a team, we did finally see at least one member of each team at the end. At first it seemed being Red Rangers but soon by Episode 20, we started getting other colors. It was extremely hard to get some actors. By evidence of Goushi's appearance in Episode 50, it was probably hard to lock down on a Zyuranger actor. But we will go back to the tributes. Also in Episode 40, we finally got closure to an old storyline concerning Domon/Time Yellow and the son he left in 2000, the Gokaiger befriend the boy.

2. Tributes

When the Gokaiger transformed into a past team in one episode which was the same as the guest star, they would play an instrumental or whole song of the series and do a similar transformation or attack sequence. In the Timeranger tribute, when they transformed into Timerangers, each of them took the pose that the original Timerangers did when they transformed. Fans loved hearing the old songs during the episode. But we didn't get 'tributes' like that for a lot of old sentai (like the ones from Gokaiger vs. Goseiger 199 heroes movie). Soem fans are upset we didn't here the Zyuranger theme in Episode 50 where Goushi/Mammoth Ranger cameoed.

3. Gender Changes

Half of all the Yellow Rangers are male and in Power Rangers, many non-fans believe Yellow is a female color, but three boys have been yellow and five of the females were originally male. I have mentioned this over and over and over again on this blog. But I mentioned again in case a visitor is just reading this post and doesn't read the rest. So anyway, in Gokaiger girls get to be Black, Red, Green, and other colors they never got to be again. They get skirts. And also males became girl suits and the skirt was gone (Blue Dolphin, Magi Blue, Pteraranger, etc.). So that was pretty cool. There were pre-deposed suits we knew were getting skirts and I was thrilled to find out new ones like the girl greens, Ninja Black, MegaSilver, GingaRed, etc. I am disappointed we haven't seen male Go-On Silver.

4. One Color Changes

They did all red four times on the show, pink and white in Gokaiger vs. Gavan, blue, yellow, and green once. They did a 3-person White and a 3-person Black once too. They also did special changes like an all lion-one and teams of random teams like in Episode 51 and 10. The Toei team really thought it through which changes would be done and which ones hadn't gotten focus. Until mid-point in the series, Changeman hadn't been used a lot and then they used it. Newer series did get used more than older ones. Also was calculated was the use of new changes to suits like the gender changed ones and how much mileage they could get out of them. We've even gotten special changes like the Combo Go-On Wing suit and Gokai Christmas.

 5. Monsters from Teamups

What was cool that many villains from teamup specials like the one above from Gekiranger vs. Boukenger and the villain from Shinkenger vs. Gokaiger came back. Also various other villains from past series came back like Ryuwon from Boukenger and children of Saandaru and Satorkura from Hurricanger. But what this did was tie in Gokaiger to past teamups, making fans believe this was part of the V-Cinema universe. Where some seasons seem to be in their own self-contain world, Gokaiger tied them all up as in canon and did so with the teamups.

6. Ranger Keys

I am obsessed with these things! I want to collect them all! Even calling back to AbarePink with a Pink-centric Episode combined with an Abaranger tribute was pure GENIUS. Also the special effects, fighting sequences and all that were awesome. Especially tying in and re-incorporating old attack sequences and moves.

7. Basco

Basco is such a baddie. Basco is thrilling because he is a character you'd love to hate. He always have that snobby smirk. American and other English-speaking fans (because I don't know about Japanese fans) did not like Walz Gils and his Zangyack forces, they felt they had no character development. But my defense to that complaint is that since the past Sentai needed focus, the villains kind of fell by the wayside. Also Basco was after the Grand Powers and the Zangyack were not, so that factor and that Basco had a past to Marvelous---the leader, unlike Joe's tie to Barizorg---made Basco a good watch. So the only weakness is not Basco but Walz Gils and his crew.

8. Tying to Aka Red and Ninjaman

Many fans were upset to find out Ninjaman was not in the Legacy War and we finally got the answer in Episode 45 when we find out Ninjaman was stuck in a jar and was destroyed when a temple was destroyed before the war even happened. The Timeranger sent Gokaiger to save the temple and they later found out it was the jar and Ninjaman and then later that he was the power of Kakuranger. Aka Red I love because he was an enigma in Boukenger Vs Super Sentai. I like that they related him to a pirate with his high collar which is a homage to Goranger. 

9. Characterization and for the girls too!

There was not only characterization for the boys, but also for the girls. Most of the time in Sentai, regardless of two girls or one girls, they usually get the same amount of episodes. So with two, they get less than a lone girl. There is always a girl power episode, most of the time it is just one per season. Luke and Ahim got one but what was cool was that they got further development and flashback explanations late in the game. We found out more about Ahim and how her planet fell and how she became a pirate. We found out Luka had a little sister who died and how she met Joe and Marvelous, and even found out that she wanted the Greatest Treasure in the Universe to... um... buy the universe. Oh well, not all revelations are gems. 

10. The Gokaiger

All six are great characters and I like how with even all the tributes and Gokai Changes, the writers managed to write fun and entertaining characters and give them development. The pirates as a whole didn't initially care about the Earth or being heroes, they just wanted treasure. Eventually, also with the help of Gai, they became true heroes.

Gokaiger 51 Sayonora!

Sorry this was late but here it is: 

 Check out the raw here in this link, might not last long.

 The Gokaiger fight the evil forces and de-morph. They are about to be attacked when Navi comes in saving them with the Free Joker.

Gai and Marvelous take the Free Joker to fight the big boss.


The others fight off forces as Extra Heroes. Marvelous and Gai destroy the ship and the others see it blow up.

They briefly mourn them but they escaped as Gosei Red and Go-On Wings. They reunite and the big boss challenges them.

  They make a pose and introduce themselves without helmet and their helmet snaps on.

  We saw them become their respective analogs (Ahim became White or Pink, Don became Green or Black, Gai became the Sixths mentioned, Marvelous only became Red, Luka only became Yellow and Joe only became Blue):

AkaRanger & DiaJack, BattleKenya & VulPanther, DenjiPink, GogglePink & FiveYellow, DynaBlack YellowMask & NinjaWhite, BlueThree & ChangeGryphon, PinkFlash RedHawk &; GaoYellow, YellowLion &; TimePink, PteraRanger & AbareYellow, RedRacer BlackTurbo & Go-onBlue, MegaBlack & GoBlue, KuroKishi & GingaRed, OhRed &; KingRanger, Shurikenger, & BoukenRed, Tenma Ranger, HyperShinkenRed, SuperGoseiBlue, DekaGreen SWATMode, SuperGekiYellow, & Legend MagiPink.

 They all become one of each team with the final round of Super Geki Yellow, Legend MagiPink, DekaGreen in Swat Mode, Super Gosei Blue and Hyper Shinken Red. Marvelous finally eats his curry at the rebuilt Safari restaurant.

At the end they return the keys to their rightful owners. The keys fly in the air and we see one member of each color get it.  Marvelous swears he sees AkaRed at the edge of the galleon and then he disappears. We see VulEagle get his key back.

 We see Joe and then we cut to Tenmaranger and Kirinranger. We see Luka and cut to FiveYellow. We see Don and cut to GoGreen. We see Ahim and we cut to MagiPink.

We see Gai and cut to Go-On Silver. We see Marvelous and cut to Goushi and then cut to Doggie and Signalman. At the end, we see Aka Ranger transform.

 The cameos at the end.

 

All the alumnis that participated in some way.

Gai and Shouji (Tenma Ranger)

Let's Buster!