Burn Bright, Super Sentai Spirits!

I like the Super Sentai Spirits concerts -- I think they're awesome. I think they shot themselves in the foot a bit in releasing the second one from 2006 when it was SO close to the set list of the first, but I still appreciated the release at the time. However...look how much time has passed. How many new shows and new themes. How many more of the PAST theme singers have started participating. There's so many shows and so many songs performed, that they've had to split up the concerts and have them performed on two separate nights now! And since 2006, there's been an entirely new home video format -- HD's taken over and Blu-ray's become the norm. Blu-ray offers more room on a single disc -- sounds perfect for two nights worth of concerts, eh?

It's me, Shougo, the Sentai Guy. "But Shougo, you're so negative about the modern era of shows, how can you say you love Sentai so much?" It's tough love, dammit! I'm mean because I care and know what the franchise is capable of. But that's beside the point. Toku-themed concerts really took off in the late '90s. I remember being excited to buy the Superhero Spirits 2000 DVD (still the only release THAT concert has been given), but being bummed out that there were so few Sentai songs performed there. "I'd love an all-Sentai concert," I'd think. When the first Super Sentai Spirits was announced in 2004, I was obsessed. If you're an entertainment-junkie, you're probably well aware of the feeling of REALLY looking forward to a blockbuster movie or a show's new season or a band's new album or the latest from a favorite author; even the date of a big convention or the release of a collectible toy. There's usually just one entertainment offering per year that consumes your attention and you can't wait for. I call that feeling "the entertainment event." Something that just grabs you with the same excitement as Christmas probably did when you were a kid. Super Sentai Spirits 2004 was my entertainment event of that year.

I had kept hoping they would get certain people, but I was impressed with the line-up they ended up with. Taku Kitahara! I never thought I'd see the Flashman themes performed; he's someone who seemed to have fallen off the radar. Kenta Satou, who I had always suggested on fan sites to do one of the concerts. (I knew he had dressed in character in the early '90s when performing Turboranger.) NEW JACK Takurou, Shinichi Ishihara, Kumi Sasaki, Hideaki Takatori -- these were the performers I was most excited to see perform their songs. I really like MoJo, and hadn't seen any live performance of his songs, so he was another I had look forward to seeing. And so I remember emailing official sites asking about the filming of the concert for release. The first time I emailed, I got a "we don't know." The second time I emailed, a couple of months later, I got a "it's looking likely." That was it, I was excited. It was announced right after the first concert the release date for the DVD, which was a felt-longer-than-it-should-have four months from its November performance to March DVD release. I'll embarrassingly admit that I kept a countdown calendar.

I excitedly read up on what concertgoers had to say. I was surprised that several Sentai actors attended the concert. Kazuo Niibori on the Red Action Club's blog described the night as having a "magical aura." Fans all sounded very happy and blown away by it. It meant so much to Hideaki Takatori, he didn't want to miss it and he actually left the hospital -- he was due to have his appendix removed -- just to perform at the show. It was the first big performance of Takayuki Miyauchi's since he recovered from cancer. Taku Kitahara was mindful enough of "Super Sentai Spirit" that he said he made it a point to wear Red. And whereas Super Anisong Spirits concerts tend to revolve around Ichirou Mizuki and Superhero Spirits around Akira Kushida, Super Sentai Spirits makes Isao Sasaki its headliner, and you can tell he really just appreciates that attention and steps up. (There was a point where Sasaki didn't participate in these types of concerts as much as those other guys.) All of the performers at this particular concert look like they're having so much fun, and it comes through their performances. They're all bringing it.

It DID end up feeling like a big, special, FUN, magical concert. My brother and I made an event for its release, buying some Japanese snacks, renting good audio and video equipment... I have a real fondness for the 2004 concert, and it's my favorite of the toku-related concerts. What's great about the "Spirits" concerts is that it's all about the music. The crowd is packed with mostly adult fans, so the performers are truly putting their all into their performance. The vibe of these concerts is great -- performers happy to be performing, an energetic audience of superfans giving right back. There's audience participation. Everybody who is there is a fan.

The Cho Eiyuu Sai concerts Toei puts on and releases are fun and all, but they're just not the same. They're overly produced. The focus of those events are on shows' cast members performing and talking. In terms of music, most of the focus goes to Kamen Rider. Sentai's only allowed to do TV size versions of themes, and only the same handful of recent singers are ever gotten. These events are geared towards members of all ages, but especially kids, so there's just not that same commitment by the singers in performing. Only being allowed to do one verse, they zip through the song, and the songs tend to be interrupted by suit actors getting up to antics on the side. These events are not about the music, so they're not even close to being the same as a Super Sentai Spirits.

The Super Sentai Spirits concerts started out one every two years, and then they became annual. Nearly every time they hold one, I hold out hope that they'll film and release it. With every concert, I'll email the folks in charge and ask. Each time I'd get what was obviously a brush-off answer. The concerts would come and go, unfilmed, unreleased. At a certain point, I wouldn't even bother emailing them, basically just giving up on the idea.

Cut to 2016. They announce the 10th iteration of the Super Sentai Spirits concerts, with the news that Daisuke Shima will be performing there for the first time. Now, I love Liveman. It's one of my top favorite Sentai shows, Red Falcon's one of my top favorite Reds and its themes are among my favorite toku themes. Throughout all of the Super Sentai Spirits concerts, Shima was the one performer I had hoped they'd always get. After Liveman, Shima stepped away from music to focus on acting. In the early '00s he had started to sing again -- nothing major, he didn't start touring or anything, but he released a few singles and an album of self covers. Shima's one of the better known, more mainstream performers that Sentai has seen, so even if he had started singing again, I didn't think it was likely he'd ever show up to one of these concerts and sing Liveman's themes. I had hoped he would, but didn't think it was likely...

But then he did. Knowing how popular Shima once was, how popular Liveman was (and is), I thought for sure they would film this one and release it -- if not to DVD or Blu-ray, then at least to pay television, which means someone could have found a download for it. But they didn't film it, so my hopes pretty much died. I was surprised to see Shima show up for the next concert, but didn't bother giving it much thought at all. And I'm REALLY surprised that he's planning to do the latest one, this November. I went from thinking he'd never do ONE to now he's done a couple. And not only that, but Hironobu Kageyama is slated to perform this year, and it's the first Super Sentai Spirits he's done in a few years. And it was a few years before THAT one that he did the previous one. He's no longer a regular at these things.

This year's line-up is one of the fullest they've ever had. The only people that are not listed to attend this year, that have in previous years, is Ken Narita, Taku Kitahara, Kumi Sasaki and Masaaki Endou. Now, Kitahara, Sasaki and Endou took part in the first and second concerts that were released, so...their appearance isn't crucial. And they filmed a portion of a Super Anisong Spirits concerts that Ken Narita performed at and aired it on pay-per-view, so there IS a professional clip of Narita performing at least the Denjiman OP out there. But everyone else who ever attended one of the Super Sentai Spirits is set to be at this new one. (They're apparently never getting Takashi Tsushimi, Naritaka Takayama or Masato Shimon. I understand why Shimon, since he's retired and it's not even officially confirmed he's the one doing the Gingaman songs. I know Tsushimi's a busy producer now, but I have no idea why Takayama won't do one.)

And, sure, since there are so many of the old-timers at the new concert, there will be several repeats that I mentioned as being one of my theories why I think the SSS II DVD tanked. But there are so many new factors at play here. The performers are going to have changed in the 12 freaking years since the last one. These concerts are done at an entirely different venue now. The brass members of Takatori's band Zetki now play with the band, which really oughta help a lot of the older songs sound closer to the track. The older performers aren't going to perform forever, unfortunately, so isn't this a good time, considering what a full line-up it is, to release a new one? (And, dammit, I REALLY would like to see great, complete live performances of Ohranger and Megaranger! Shima, Hayami and Fuuga are the top three I'm most excited about, but I've also always wanted a good live performance of Maskman's ED, which Kageyama performed last time he attended, so hopefully he'll sing it again.)

And, actually, you can't tell me that set lists being too similar or the repetition is a no-sale, because how many times have they released concerts with the Rider Chips and the Kamen Rider Girls doing the same exact songs, in the same exact ways, no variation? If they can film and release the 100th performance of Elements, then a concert with yet another performance of Sunvulcan or Jetman shouldn't be any different. "But Shougo, you've said you disliked this song or that, why do you want to see it live?" Well...geez, sometimes a song can grow on you, now can't it? Besides, it all goes back to the vibe these concerts have. There's some songs that I'll like after seeing a live performance of it -- whether it's hearing it in a different way or seeing what a performer puts into it or the energy it has live. (Here's a Super Sentai example: I used to be pretty indifferent towards the Fiveman themes. But then I saw Suzuki's performance at SSS II, with how emotional he got performing those songs, how much fun he was having, noticing certain lines he'd emphasize, which helped me appreciate certain lyrics more, and now I like those songs.)

I really would like for them to film and sell the two Tokyo Super Sentai Spirits concerts this year. It would mean a lot to me, and I know a lot of other people -- even Japanese fans, most importantly -- want another one released. Not everybody can go, you know? Each year when I'd check out a concert-goer's blog or Tweet about going, there'd be a bunch of replies of people who said how much they wanted to go, but couldn't, and that they wished they'd put a new one out on DVD. I really feel like this year's concert is the best shot at getting a new release. I think it would make sense to film them both and sell them. The line-up is massive, they wouldn't have to release another one for a while. And if they DON'T film and release it, well...then I will pretty much officially abandon hope that they'd ever film and release another one. It will be like letting go of the idea of Shoko Nakagawa getting to play a Pink. When they couldn't get her for the anniversary show (Gokaiger) or to just VOICE the Pink that was a suit (Kyuranger), it was obvious they were never going to get her. So, same situation here. If this one's not filmed...forget about any others. (So, Shougo will shut up about it. That's worth some Retweets, eh?)

You might think a Twitter campaign is pointless. I'm trying to stay positive here, man. Let's keep an open mind. When this newest concert was announced, I emailed the folks in charge. What did I get? The brush-off. "We don't know. We'll pass along that there's interest." Well, I figured it was time to stop bothering behind-the-scenes and take it public and make this an open request. I wanted fans to show how much they'd like to see another release, and I wanted to get on this ASAP. I was optimistic on that first day I Tweeted -- I got responses from a couple of people that made me very happy. But by day three it's tapered off and what the hell, guys? I appreciate those who did Retweet, but I couldn't help but think that I could Tweet a GIF of Mega Blue squeezing that Kunekune's nuts and instantly get 2,000 Retweets, but a Tweet that means something and has a goal gets lost in the mix so quickly...?

C'mon. Let's make this happen. Let's get a new release of this. You know you'd watch. Yeah, even you, who pretends to not like Sentai music. Yeah, even you, who thinks you're too cool to participate in a Twitter campaign. Yeah, even you, who thinks a DVD/BD release doesn't matter because you've been able to go see one of these shows live. Let's feel some Super Sentai Spirit, huh?

Let's do this to shut Shougo up! SHOW SOME SUPER SENTAI SPIRIT!

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