In honor of the July release of Pacific Rim and August release of Gatchaman, I will be doing reviews of each episode of Chojin/Choujin Sentai Jetman.
I sort of did not like the depiction of Kaori in this "The Fighting Bride" episode. She seemed a bit too camp not wanting to do things that she wanted to do. And it seemed a little forced or badly edited that she did it because she was a princess.
And the fiancee is a bit one dimensional.
This and the previous episode definitely sets up the ending however. Ryu telling Kaori to believe in herself. Kaori wearing a wedding dress. Etc..
However, there is probably something about Japanese culture I do not get. The Samurai for example, like an American being a patriot, a soldier or a police officer.
Fall for Me develops Grey, although all he says is "Jetman, huh?" in the beginning.
Meanwhile, Tran hits the primary Sentai colors Red, Yellow and Blue with a car in a Road Jigen episode after trapping them in a 4 sided wall before a House Jigen episode.
Kaori is sad that she was not able to perform the Jet Scramble. The Vyram all work together to destroy the Earth, although they don't trust each other. Tran proves to be quite a threat. Kaori and Gai prove to have a lot of Terminator horror tropes.
Ryu finds out Maria is a brainwashed Rie during which Kaori's desperation to live (or her jealousy over Rie) forces her to save Ryu.
The Road (Jigen) is over. The 5 are together again.
Or are they?
Saturday, August 3, 2013
My favorite Giant Mech serieses
In homage to the July released Pacific Rim and the August released Gatchaman, I decided to compile a list of giant mecha anime that I have enjoyed.
10. Escaflowne: I did not really care for the story, but the fight scenes are cool, yet not too ridiculous.
9. Megas XLR: A hilarious parody of Toonami.
8. Turn A Gundam: Gundam as a god.
7. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Great music, great themes of peace that are a bit overdone when there are so many people dying every episode. 5 Memorable Gundam pilots who are equally as mighty although Heero Yuy is the protagonist. Great dub.
6. Getter Robo: The graphics are out of date, but the dynamic between the 3 is really killer. Proves that dark alone does not make a great series as seen in the sequels.
5. Combattler V: A predecessor to the Super Sentai series, even with similar Goranger costumes.
4. Neon Genesis Evangelion: A hybrid robot series with Armageddon references that could have been the greatest thing since sliced bread.
3. 08th MS Gundam: A really realistic real robot series.
2. Mobile Suit Gundam: The real robot franchise that started it all.
1. Z Gundam: Probably the darkest and most psychologically interesting of the Gundam series, before T2.
10. Escaflowne: I did not really care for the story, but the fight scenes are cool, yet not too ridiculous.
9. Megas XLR: A hilarious parody of Toonami.
8. Turn A Gundam: Gundam as a god.
7. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Great music, great themes of peace that are a bit overdone when there are so many people dying every episode. 5 Memorable Gundam pilots who are equally as mighty although Heero Yuy is the protagonist. Great dub.
6. Getter Robo: The graphics are out of date, but the dynamic between the 3 is really killer. Proves that dark alone does not make a great series as seen in the sequels.
5. Combattler V: A predecessor to the Super Sentai series, even with similar Goranger costumes.
4. Neon Genesis Evangelion: A hybrid robot series with Armageddon references that could have been the greatest thing since sliced bread.
3. 08th MS Gundam: A really realistic real robot series.
2. Mobile Suit Gundam: The real robot franchise that started it all.
1. Z Gundam: Probably the darkest and most psychologically interesting of the Gundam series, before T2.
Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo is Shit Getter Robo
It is a combining mecha anime movie with very little combining mecha fighting or combining and what they have is not good.
Gou Ichiminoji is an annoying idiot and does not even appeal to the Dekaranger Ban fans or post GekiRed Super Sentai fans as he is not really that happy enough. He is a brooding annoying Fast & the Furious members. The other two members of Neo Getter Robo are not even a best friend and love interest trope. They're just two other pilots on Neo Getter Robo. This thing was like 6 episodes and they could not give them any interesting tropes or characteristics? Gou Ichiminoji is not that interesting either and they concentrate the entire series on him.
The Engrish is hilarious though. The voice acting is otherwise convincing and intense.
That intro song is great too.
Gou Ichiminoji is an annoying idiot and does not even appeal to the Dekaranger Ban fans or post GekiRed Super Sentai fans as he is not really that happy enough. He is a brooding annoying Fast & the Furious members. The other two members of Neo Getter Robo are not even a best friend and love interest trope. They're just two other pilots on Neo Getter Robo. This thing was like 6 episodes and they could not give them any interesting tropes or characteristics? Gou Ichiminoji is not that interesting either and they concentrate the entire series on him.
The Engrish is hilarious though. The voice acting is otherwise convincing and intense.
That intro song is great too.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Choujin Sentai Jetman Episode 3 "The Power Of Five" Review
It never is really revealed why Gai joins Jetman.
However, if you want to go all Rob Ager theory on these writers, who may or may not be auteurs:
There are two girls he gets to hang out with, although Ako is 18. Ryu plays with Gai's balls after Gai knocks his cue into them.
He does after all hit on a police woman earlier in the episode.
(Unfortunately, it is the 1980s and Super Sentai appeals to mainly boys back then, as Gai chauvinistically forces a woman to talk to him, in which the police woman responds, "Do I look pretty?" before looking in a mirror.)
Heck, Ryu even asks Gai on a date in this episode.
Meanwhile, Kaori notes not wanting to do training, while saving the world, i.e. tying the tires climbing up the hill onto Raita. Ako adds to the mischievousness.
Game over.
The last shot is a pretty awesome one.
On a last a final note, quite ironically this episode ties into the one for the last one of the series. Gai says that all he wants to do is "take care of himself." Not for others. He later does the opposite, signaling the Shakespearean end for him.
However, if you want to go all Rob Ager theory on these writers, who may or may not be auteurs:
There are two girls he gets to hang out with, although Ako is 18. Ryu plays with Gai's balls after Gai knocks his cue into them.
He does after all hit on a police woman earlier in the episode.
(Unfortunately, it is the 1980s and Super Sentai appeals to mainly boys back then, as Gai chauvinistically forces a woman to talk to him, in which the police woman responds, "Do I look pretty?" before looking in a mirror.)
Heck, Ryu even asks Gai on a date in this episode.
Meanwhile, Kaori notes not wanting to do training, while saving the world, i.e. tying the tires climbing up the hill onto Raita. Ako adds to the mischievousness.
Game over.
The last shot is a pretty awesome one.
On a last a final note, quite ironically this episode ties into the one for the last one of the series. Gai says that all he wants to do is "take care of himself." Not for others. He later does the opposite, signaling the Shakespearean end for him.
Who I would have put in a Boukenger vs Super Sentai Gokaiger episode
Gekiranger
GekiBlue: The most serious and smartest of the original 3. His brother is GekiViolet.
Toei probably would have put:
Gekichopper
He is definitely an improvement and stand out from Jungle Fury.
Go-onger
Go-on Black easily the coolest of the Go-ongers, although campy himself.
Toei probably would have put:
Go-on Green in a similar teamup, and I would not have complained either. Both really stuck out as the bad ass-suck up combination.
The Go-on Wings would probably work really well as well. Why did Toei decide to underfund the toy/suit division that half decade? Tired from Deka/Magiranger teamups? They definitely could have added the team to 6, missing previous warriors.
Shinkenger (inclusdes who Toei should have put)
Shinken Red should lead them. Kaoru Hime did a great job in the X GokaiBlue episode 10-11, so she would be a great choice.
I personally like ShinkenGreen a lot, maybe because I am a pseudo Otaku.
Goseiger:
Gosei Pink. I do not know about you, but her cheerful personality stood out for me. Alata is not comparable with any of the Shinken Reds. Gosei Yellow and Black really did not stand out either being twins. Gosei Blue was a smart one, but not as much as GekiBlue.
Who Toei Chose: All of them, though not much stood out for them.
They probably could have added anybody from Deka, Magi and Bouken and people would have been happy as well.
GekiBlue: The most serious and smartest of the original 3. His brother is GekiViolet.
Toei probably would have put:
Gekichopper
He is definitely an improvement and stand out from Jungle Fury.
Go-onger
Go-on Black easily the coolest of the Go-ongers, although campy himself.
Toei probably would have put:
Go-on Green in a similar teamup, and I would not have complained either. Both really stuck out as the bad ass-suck up combination.
The Go-on Wings would probably work really well as well. Why did Toei decide to underfund the toy/suit division that half decade? Tired from Deka/Magiranger teamups? They definitely could have added the team to 6, missing previous warriors.
Shinkenger (inclusdes who Toei should have put)
Shinken Red should lead them. Kaoru Hime did a great job in the X GokaiBlue episode 10-11, so she would be a great choice.
I personally like ShinkenGreen a lot, maybe because I am a pseudo Otaku.
Goseiger:
Gosei Pink. I do not know about you, but her cheerful personality stood out for me. Alata is not comparable with any of the Shinken Reds. Gosei Yellow and Black really did not stand out either being twins. Gosei Blue was a smart one, but not as much as GekiBlue.
Who Toei Chose: All of them, though not much stood out for them.
They probably could have added anybody from Deka, Magi and Bouken and people would have been happy as well.
Choujin Sentai Jetman Episode 2 "The Third Warrior" Review
In honor of the July release of Pacific Rim and August release of Gatchaman, I will be doing reviews of each episode of Chojin/Choujin Sentai Jetman.
The second episode falls where the first one left off, searching for the remaining Jetman and hoping for a more powerful team than the first outing. The conflict between the Ako and Kaori; Ryuu and Gai was interesting. I would have found it interesting that they had made one of the Jetman not join the team. Although the storytelling of the show is great, it is not that fancy or unpredictable of a show. I wonder if some of his loner personality was put into Dillon of Power Rangers: RPM albeit his reason was more concrete, SPOILERS ALERT being the only hybrid on the show, although Go-onger had an interesting Black as well. However, how effective can that plot device be if you have him on the intro for the show in costume?
The episode establishes the very campy directed approach that Toshihide Wakamatsu had to pull off straight in the show, always winning with incredibly unlikely hands against incredibly unlikely hands making very unlikely situations without actually showing how he beat his opponent in a kid friendly un-auteurish show, This made him very memorable for better or worse.
Speaking of which, the theme of the episode was money and competition.
Gai beats a lady in a game of five-card poker before courting her. He then beats up a man who accuses him of cheating.
Ako then wants to be bribed to participate in a sports competition before mentioning saving the world.
Having the servant show up for Kaori adds a certain dimension to the show that Super Sentai shows would learn to adapt.
Gai shows no attraction to Kaori this episode, which is understandable as his conflict was Ryuu was the episode's purpose.
What I found odd was that the episode before Ryuu made a big deal of his girlfriend's death. This episode, he just talks about saving the world. Maybe it was a time issue or a retcon correction to his selfishness, but it seems very odd for him to change motivations in between episodes.
Again, although this show is not as auteurish as say a Christopher Nolan film, one must admire the fact that they again use the Commander to travel by plane like a Jetman to contact Jetman. Imagine the speculation people must have for the possibility of her having Birdonic Waves.
On a final note, Gobusters could have learned from this Ghostbuster attack, opposed to their arbitrary weaknesses.
The second episode falls where the first one left off, searching for the remaining Jetman and hoping for a more powerful team than the first outing. The conflict between the Ako and Kaori; Ryuu and Gai was interesting. I would have found it interesting that they had made one of the Jetman not join the team. Although the storytelling of the show is great, it is not that fancy or unpredictable of a show. I wonder if some of his loner personality was put into Dillon of Power Rangers: RPM albeit his reason was more concrete, SPOILERS ALERT being the only hybrid on the show, although Go-onger had an interesting Black as well. However, how effective can that plot device be if you have him on the intro for the show in costume?
The episode establishes the very campy directed approach that Toshihide Wakamatsu had to pull off straight in the show, always winning with incredibly unlikely hands against incredibly unlikely hands making very unlikely situations without actually showing how he beat his opponent in a kid friendly un-auteurish show, This made him very memorable for better or worse.
Speaking of which, the theme of the episode was money and competition.
Gai beats a lady in a game of five-card poker before courting her. He then beats up a man who accuses him of cheating.
Ako then wants to be bribed to participate in a sports competition before mentioning saving the world.
Having the servant show up for Kaori adds a certain dimension to the show that Super Sentai shows would learn to adapt.
Gai shows no attraction to Kaori this episode, which is understandable as his conflict was Ryuu was the episode's purpose.
What I found odd was that the episode before Ryuu made a big deal of his girlfriend's death. This episode, he just talks about saving the world. Maybe it was a time issue or a retcon correction to his selfishness, but it seems very odd for him to change motivations in between episodes.
Again, although this show is not as auteurish as say a Christopher Nolan film, one must admire the fact that they again use the Commander to travel by plane like a Jetman to contact Jetman. Imagine the speculation people must have for the possibility of her having Birdonic Waves.
On a final note, Gobusters could have learned from this Ghostbuster attack, opposed to their arbitrary weaknesses.
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