Poison Mushroom posted:

I'm starting to really feel like I shouldn't get invested in Ninninger. It's three episodes in, and it's already starting to fumble in a lot of ways.

Maybe they'll get their act together before too long, but when your Red ranger is this blatantly unlikeable and poor at acting compared to his co-stars... It's really undermining any confidence I might have in the series.

Shaezerus posted:

I'm in it for the monster designs, more than anything, at this point. So good.

AzraelNewtype posted:

It's been a long rear end time, but more Gransazer is now up.

Potsticker posted:

Kasumi seems to be really competent, and other characters keep commenting on it. Which is as much as you can expect really from Sentai.

Xelkelvos posted:

At least she'll get a few episodes that focus on her like the next one.

Burkion posted:

So I'm going to take a moment to talk about one of the most morally complicated and interesting tokusatsu to ever almost make the finish line.

Iron King. I'm going to talk about this without spoiler tags because, really, this thing has been out for Americans for years now, and has been around since the 70s.

Iron King has a very interesting set up in that it is a very silly, VERY 70s Toku, that's straight up a rip off of Anime, Ultraman and Kamen Rider of the era, yet has a very somber, dark tone that runs under most of it.

From the first episode which is generally light and fun, we have the more somber moment of the lead hero, more on him in a bit, singing about why you shouldn't love some one with the first lead lady, which has dual tragic consequences when she's revealed to be a spy a couple of episodes in, and then dies to save the heroes.

I will note to the show's credit, this wasn't the original intention- they wanted her to be in the main cast til the end, and even get her own giant robot to help fight the bad guys by episode 9, but the actress for whatever reason wasn't enjoying the filming and decided to leave. What could have been.

Regardless, they do a fairly decent job of making her death matter and resonate with the main hero, who takes up her guitar and is rarely seen without it after, and becomes a much more morally gray character with her passing.

The other revealing moment in the first episode, a quiet scene of the two lead heroes talking about the villains plan, reveals the main hero Genetaro, is perfectly fine with letting them strike Tokyo and the casualties that would follow, so long as that would let them attack the villain's HQ.

This leads into the main point- Genetaro is very much the protagonist of the series. However, he is not the titular Iron King. The Henshining super hero who can only fight for a minute before dehydrating, is actually his bumbling sidekick in disguise- and early on almost never wins a fight on his own. Instead, Genetaro is the one to take down the giant robots.

After the first villain crew, a bunch of disposed of Japanese nationalists who want to return to the ways of old with superior force, are slaughtered by Genetaro and Iron King, they have to contend with out and out terrorists with giant monster robots. This is the darkest point in the series, where episodes are rarely happy or fun anymore, with families torn apart, or even one notable case where Genetaro uses civilians as bait for the villains, knowing full well they could die in the process. The series gets much heavier here, even with the more outlandish giant foes, as themes of death and inevitability build up.

The path Genetaro was treading was irrevocably leading to his own demise, as he slowly but surely became more and more of an anti hero in his quest to kill the, very human, villains. He would often butt heads with Iron King in this part of the series, Iron King the more traditional person who often found it difficult to forgive the shocking things Genetaro would end up doing, or be horrified at some of the very bleak outcomes of the battles they fought.



And then the final third of the series had them become super buddy buddy, get paired up with an ultra tight assed by the book lady, and fight giant insect aliens who dressed up in Guy Fawks masks and laughed a whole bunch.

To say there was a tone shift would be a small tiny understatement. The main heroes go completely off the rails compared to how they were before, to the point of literally thinking and saying the opposite of what they held true to for the first two thirds of the show, and everything just gets super light and silly. The only time the show starts to reclaim its original somber tone is in the finale, but it's more of a dim echo.

The final third isn't BAD, but it feels like an entirely different series, with totally different characters-symbolized best, I think, by the fact that Iron King stops being the side kick and starts being the actual hero, killing the MOTW on his own, with Genetaro just being his supporter.

It's a fascinating show that's never dull, but it's a weird one. It's also super short- only 20 something episodes total, with three distinct villain groups. The first two thirds of the show flow well into one another, with things getting steadily more serious and morally ambiguous, and then the final third happens and what the hell

The follow up series, Super Robot Red Baron, may or may not have been as good, but it certainly was more consistent.

Demicol posted:

I just finished GARO - The One Who Shines in the Darkness , two years late but still. Is the Flower of Makai worth watching?

Xelkelvos posted:

The child cast was 100% adorable in the movie and Nero is basically the goon of the Shadows.

Cricken_Nigfops posted:

So, firstly, my excellent wife got me this series recently for a birthday present and we finished it a couple days ago. Everything you say is true, however you failed to touch on the best parts, in my opinion:

The robots/monsters which are HILARIOUSLY bad, but the fights are generally excellent. The untransformed lead frequently gets in on the giant monster fights and beats Iron King to the kills, to the point where it becomes almost laughable, and Iron King is little more than a distraction for the infinitely more competent Gentaro. The sets and miniature work is amazing and highly competent, so there's that.

in the final third, there's also a fun little reference in one episode to Kamen Rider, which as a total Rider nerd tickled me to no end.

Also! The actress left the show after a stunt burned her through her clothing, she understandably didn't want to work on it anymore, but it highlights the lack of safety on the sets which is highly disturbing (bonus: Watch some of the monster costumes catch fire!)

mynameishong posted:

What's a good set of subs for watching Kaiketsu Zubat?

mynameishong posted:

What's a good set of subs for watching Kaiketsu Zubat?

T.G. Xarbala posted:

Welcome to the old new tradition.

Dr Tran posted:

Yup. Blame Decade.

Brother Entropy posted:

as utterly forgettable as Gaim/ToQ was

Dr Tran posted:

Larryb posted:

Not sure how accurate this is but according to some recent episode summaries we may be getting a Ninja crossover after all:

"(April 12th) Episode 7: "Emissaries From the Past"
Summary: Tsumuji brings in Ninja Red and Hurricane Red to teach the Ninningers."

Source: http://shurikensentai.tumblr.com/pos...ries-for-april

jivjov posted:

I'd be happier with that than what the did for the Dino crossover. Don't get me wrong, I loved that movie...but the GoBusters got the shortest possible end of the teamup movie stick.

ZenMasterBullshit posted:

Oh man Drive sure is getting interesting I can't wait to see what happens ne- Oh...a crossover episode. In the middle of a plot line. Greeeeat.

Fooley posted:

http://www.toei.co.jp/release/tv/1205315_963.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwGB-e3slqE

It begins .


Anyone else think its seriously leaning towards Gou becoming the new Chase? Especially after his belt getting destroyed.