Kamen Rider Black Sun (Spoiler Free) Review.

 

Black Sun is still a relatively new series, so I’m going to avoid Spoilers and keep this (mostly) short. I will touch upon some minor spoilers to provide context, but nothing like character deaths or massive plot details. This is also going to be a much more casual and loose review with the assumption you’re familiar with the original series.

But if you want me to sum up Black Sun in short: Kamen Rider meets Clive Barker’s Nightbreed with a dash of Judas and the Black Messiah. It is the most Radical Rider has been in ages, possibly one of, if not the most radical story in the franchise.

If you wish, let’s continue on.

Gavan Bluray Review: A New Standard

 

Back in 2019, I reviewed the first entry of the Metal Hero Series; Uchuu Keiji Gavan, a show laden with impressive stunts, a unique style completely different from either Rider or Sentai, and an incredibly magnetic lead in the form of Kenji Ohba.
My overall thoughts on the show remain the same, so feel free to go take a look at the review if you need a refresher on the series itself and more detail on why it’s a great show.

Kamen Rider W review.

 

Strap in, this is going to be a long one.

Shin Kamen Rider Prologue Review.

 

Shin Kamen Rider Prologue started development as soon as Black RX finished in 1989. Originally it was pitched in a Manga format similar to how ZX was, but that idea was quickly scrapped. Ishinomori's son, Joe Onodera, wrote a hook while his father worked separately on a synopsis for a new project: Kamen Rider Gaia. Eventually, Junichi Miyashita would join Onodera to develop a more proper script, taking some concepts from Ishinimori's Gaia work- some early iterations even had the main character called Gaia before settling upon Shin.
Rather than a series, a movie was proposed, and Toei's release of Lady Battle Cop in 1990 would help spur interest in developing a direct-to-video Kamen Rider film.

Some of the earliest ideas were a bit out there. The first was of a man Cosplaying Kamen Rider and is injured saving someone, eventually somehow becoming a real Kamen Rider. Producer Shinichiro Shirakura shot that down immediately, requesting something more traditional. Although Ishinomori seemed really intrigued by the original pitch.

Still, Ishinomori had to approve of the direction, and going back to basics again wasn't what he had in mind, at least not exactly. They already did that with Black, after all. If Black was a return to form and Rider 1 was the basis for which all others branched out, then Shin would be the roots of the metaphorical tree. A true Kamen Rider 0. Ishinomori wanted Onodera and Miyashita to explore the Kamen part- the mask and the horror it hides. Resulting in a Rider without a suit or belt, the monster lay bare in its most basic iteration.

Now, Shin is a bit of a unique thing to review because it's technically incomplete. This was meant to be the opening to something that might've had two to four more parts, hence the prologue. That said, I can still review this for what it is- which is an introduction laying the groundwork. Now, let’s get into this properly.

Kamen Rider Shin primarily follows Shin Kazamatsuri (Katsuhisa Ishikawa) a former motorcycle racer who has given up his dream to assist his father, Daimon Kazamatsuri (Akira Ishihama) a geneticist working for The Institute of Super Science Technology (ISS) on enhancing humans to overcome various diseases and ailments- Shin being their greatest success yet.

Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger Review.

 

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed a Sentai series for this blog, huh? Almost as long as reviewing a recently airing series, the last of which was Kamen Rider Build- as far as live-action was concerned anyway. I couldn’t give a pinpoint overall reason, just that there hasn’t been a lot of modern stuff that’s interested me. As far as Sentai is concerned, I gave both LuPat and Ryusoulger chances, but neither really grasped me despite some intriguing dynamics in Lupat and wonderful action is Ryusoul. I’ve heard great things about Kiramager, which was written by Kuuga and Gokaiger writer, Naruhisa Arakawa. That greatly piques my interest, but this review isn’t about that.


Since this series just recently ended, I do want to give a brief summary of my thoughts before diving into spoilers. The short and to the point version is that I overall enjoyed my time with Zenkaiger. For as wonderfully comedic and over the top the show is, there is a surprising amount of heart with a very strong theme of family. As overplayed as that often is with Sentai, there’s no denying Zenkaiger does a wonderful job of integrating it from every angle. The core team bounces wonderfully off one another, each with their own (sometimes conflicting) personalities that are put to good use throughout the show with a decent amount of focus. Although it may be disappointing that the substantial character arcs are still relegated to the leader, sixth, and dark ranger. But I can hardly complain, all things considered, it’s some of the best parts of the show.

There are still some issues. The villains aren’t that interesting and it suffers from being a bit cramped at times, such as introducing the dark ranger and sixth back. And there is the sad reality of the insistence on the number of toys is becoming an ever-increasing issue that at times can bog down the pacing or feel really tacked on.

Regardless, this was the first time in a very long time that I really enjoyed Sentai and would recommend you at least watch six episodes to see what you think.


But, if you don’t mind spoilers and want to get into the details of the whole story, what I love, what I have issues with, and so forth, hit the jump.

Kamen Rider ZO review.

 ZO was quite an ambitious project when it was proposed. Following the success of Shin Kamen Rider (and yes, contrary to the still widely held belief that Shin Kamen Rider was a failure, the film did insanely well on home video and was well received) there were talks of a sequel to Shin which would have incorporated the previous 11 riders, but that fell through and it was decided a new original Rider would be created.

Toei Video president Yoshinori Watanabe, and Bandai Visual president Makoto Yamashina, met with the intention of a joint operation. Bandai would assist with multiple campaigns to promote the movie and merchandise, while Toei focused on the production in-house. The initial vision was to release a 90-minute feature film during Golden Week in Japan, as Toei had great success doing that in ‘91. But after some shaky performance by other Toei Productions in ‘92- likely due to the bubble bursting that same year- it was decided that a shorter direct to video method would be safer than a box office release.

Early story ideas for ZO ranged from the outlandish to the more traditional. Ishinomori wrote a short synopsis where ZO was an extraterrestrial in origin, and this even got as far as concept designs for a spacecraft by Katsushi Murakami. But this was shot down for budgetary and scheduling reasons.

Keita Amemiya’s take was more familiar and even went as far as incorporating Hongo undergoing a new operation that would become ZO. Amemiya wanted to create a Rider for the Heisei era and in doing so literally recreate the original. This was also dropped, but the finished product more closely resembles this concept with a Rider that goes back to the basic premise of being modified. It's funny how that original idea was sort of incorporated for the Rider 1 movie, though.

With a 90 minute runtime out of the question, it was decided the best manner of premiering the film would be at a festival. This led to the creation of the Toei Super Hero festival in which three short films would be shown. ZO would be joined by extended “film” cuts of Janperson and Dairanger episodes.


But that’s enough backstory, let’s get into this properly.

Mechanical Violator Hakaider: Hyper Destroyer Edition. (Blu-Ray)

 

Well now, this is quite the odd beast. I’ve reviewed Super Sentai, Ultraman, Kamen Rider, anime, and cartoons. But not really anything like this. Hakaider was a one shot film directed by Keita Amemiya and written by Toshiki Inoue for Toei's '95 Superhero fair, where it was shown alongside the movies for Ohranger and B-fighter. What a strange but fun time that must've been.

The film isn't connected narratively to Kikaider and is more of a reboot or original story that simply uses a character from the series, with the assumption that you already know the basic premise of Kikaider. Although outside of Hakider being an android antagonist, there isn’t much one needs to know going in.


Hakaider was notable on several fronts, the most prominent of which was gaining something of a cult status overseas when it was released in dub form on VHS in 2000 by Tokyo Shock. That version along with the DVD counterpart has long since been out of print and is ridiculously expensive. Thankfully MediaBlasters (which owns Tokyo Shock) managed to get a new transfer and release back in March of this year, which is what I’ll be taking a look at today.

Kamen Rider 50th anniversary announcements.

April 4th marked the 50th anniversary of Kamen Rider and a lot of news dropped.  Most of it was toy related, but there were several major projects and releases announced that fall more into this blogs forte. I wanted to do a post on the day, but I was busy with other projects and I wanted some time to gather my thoughts on the announcements. So this is a bit late to the party, but I've had a good 2 weeks to process everything.



Bare with me because I have some thoughts about the first two.

Kamen Rider Black review.

Well now, this wasn't something I was originally planning to do. While I was making my way through Ultra Q, I realized I wanted the next review to be more in-depth and praise-worthy. 

Kamen Rider Black is a series I've largely avoided reviewing because quite frankly it seems everyone and their mother who knows about Kamen Rider has heard the praise of this series, and I doubt I could add anything to the discussion. Nevertheless, it had been a while since I watched the series and if I'm gonna watch something, even a re-watch, I usually end up reviewing it. Most of my reviews have been Ultra of late, so I figured some Rider would be nice and if I was going to review Rider it was going to be a series I love and wanted to rewatch.

Part of what sets Kamen Rider Black apart from others in the Showa era is its continuity or lack thereof. All prior Rider Shows had some form of connectivity even if it was very loose in some regards. Usually, with returning characters like Tachibana, past riders, or Shocker reinventing itself into Destron, Black Satan, or the Badan Empire, etc. There was an attempt at a reboot of sorts with 1979's Kamen Rider, but that eventually changed and is now more familiar as SkyRider. The last Rider series before Black was 6 years prior with Super-1, while the last time the Riders appeared on TV was 3 years in 1984's Birth of the 10th special introducing ZX.

So with Black, it was decided to cast all the aside and start from fresh. There's no acknowledgment of past Riders at any point in the run, allowing the series to stand completely alone.

Tokkei Winspector Review.

Boy, I sure picked a hell of a time to review a police drama show.

Winspector is a series I had been planning to review as far back as 2016, but never got around to it for one reason or another. Part of the problem was I wasn't sure how to approach it given both it's structure and the nature of my reviews at the time which lacked episode recommendations- which I think is the best way to suggest something to someone, rather than just broad overviews.

But with that said, let's get into the show proper.

Shout Factory's Kamen Rider (1971)

 

I don't normally do posts like this, but given the circumstances, I felt talking about this particular subject was needed.

If you've been keeping up with any sort of Toku news you know that a few days ago Tubi accidentally leaked that the first Kamen Rider series has been licensed and subbed by Shout Factory. This was something that had been rumored for a while to some degree. A bunch of people within in the Toku community with connections and various outlets like Bluefin brands were teasing something KR related happening with Shout about as subtle as a clown with his cock out.

Kamen Rider The Original Series Review

This is something that has been a long time coming, something I've anticipated but also was slightly callous in wanting to approach.
When reviewing something like this I always have a fear of perhaps unintentionally holding a bias one way or the other. On one hand, when dealing with what is the start of a major and beloved franchise like Kamen Rider there's a degree of which one wants to handle it with kid gloves because it is so important. On the other, there's the desire to be stricter because it must be held to a high standard because of the legacy it began.

My best hope is to be fairly critical to a work in whatever way I enjoyed it, that's the point of a review after all. I can say the original Kamen Rider series is an interesting look at certain concepts that would be better executed and refined in later shows, this is the foundation. It's very much like Ultraman in that regard, but let's get into the show proper.

Juspion Bluray review.

The day has finally come. As I mentioned in my Juspion review, Discotek has acquired the license and would be releasing the series on Bluray- that day has finally come and quite a bit early at that. Originally slated for a late August release, this launched almost a month early.


Just to be clear, this is solely for the Bluray. My review for the series can be found here. My thoughts on the show are pretty much the same now as then. I think the fights are some of the most incredible stunt work involving a giant suit on TV, the music is fantastic but the story is clunky and wasn't planned ahead to be more than just a basic premise. But overall I found it enjoyable. I mean I bought the figuart and the bluray so that should speak for itself.

As a side note, I don't have an external Bluray player so I don't actually have a proper way to capture screen shots of the menus and things like that. Unfortunately I am going to have to use a very guerilla style of camera work here. Lets get started on that, shall we?

Uchuu Keiji Gavan Review.

Continuing on my Metal Hero streak, it's time to take a look at the first entry of the franchise.

These subs are done by MillionFold Curiosity Fansubs, with Raws from, of course, Bunnyhat. Almost every old toku comes from her and you should go thank them.

Choujinki Metalder Review.

Our story's true beginnings are in WWII, with Dr. Ryūichirō Koga developing a weapon for Japan; an android modelled after his late son lost in the war, Tatsuo. Koga, a pacifist at heart, never activates the android. With the war coming to a close, Koga flees to the U.S. where he eventually comes to work for NASA.

42 years pass and Koga catches wind of the evil organization Neros, which may have sprung up thanks to his research in robotics. The Doctor returns to Japan finding the secret base still intact and activates both the android and the facility in hopes of combating the organization.

Dr. Kooga dies soon afterwards, leaving his creation a multitude of questions unanswered.

MegaBeast Investigator Juspion Review.

After a  very very long delay, it is finally here.

Let us begin.

Kamen Rider Build Review.

Are you Ready?

Reviewing this series is going be a bit different and difficult because Build is a show with a number of shocking revelations and twists. Not to mention characters are interwoven tightly. I cannot give a full review without getting into massive spoilers and I feel the need to give some warning as the twists are one of Build's Strongest aspects. They will likely enhance your viewing experience by going in oblivious.
I should also mention that because of how intertwined the characters are, it makes my usual format a bit problematic, so I apologize in advance as I will ping-pong with some of the characters and plot points. With that, let's begin the experiment.

Review: Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger

So I didn't really plan on reviewing this. But by episode 32 I couldn't help but type about the good and the bad, which ended up being a lot so it became a full review.


For those wondering I'm going off the Over Time subs, lets get started.

Juspion episodes 6-10 review.

It's that time again.

Episode 6.

Juspion learns from Anri about a remote village in the mountains where the local children are taking care of a baby Megabeast. Wasting no time, Juspion heads out to the village where he discovers that the infant, Gelgon, is being taken away (possibly to be euthanized) much to the dismay of the children. Juspion vows to get the creature back, but little does he know this is part of Mad Gallant's plan.
After rescuing the creature, Juspion and the children are attacked by Mad Gallant and the children taken hostage. Juspion at an impasse. But he and the children are saved by a new mysterious man, named Boomerang.
During the incursion, one of the parents of Gelgon shows up simply wanting it's child back, but is sent into a fit of rage by Satan Gorth.

Gosei Sentai Dairanger Review.

Spoiler warnings out the ass.