Yareyare

Any fan of the '80s shows can tell you -- the merchandise from those shows can be pretty expensive nowadays. When I was after some of the henshin braces, the prices tended to be for a few hundred dollars. Mint-in-box mecha would be near seven hundred dollars. But this...this, man...I think it's a new, disgusting*, ridiculous record.

The elusive Masking Brace, which shows up on auctions about once a year, has been going for some crazy prices, but...12,201 yen! That's $1,200.00 USD! That's more than a lot of the mecha will go for! That's...that's...that's a goddamn home entertainment system! That's a trip somewhere! I know it's rare, I know it's old, but...that's a lot of money for a plastic watch. (Thank goodness the Masking Brace isn't one of the henshin braces I'm interested in -- I remember it seeming pretty unimpressive as a kid, especially after you've had something like the Change Brace. In '87, I wanted one of those Black belts that worked with the TV, dammit.)

I think Bandai Japan's morons for not jumping on this, doing a kind of Sentai equivalent to the Legacy Morphers and doing new version of the old henshin braces. If there are nuts out there willing to drop over a grand on one, then Premium Bandai's crazy pricing shouldn't make them blink an eye. But, no, knowing the way Bandai works, IF they did it, they'd start with the overrated Sunvulcan, nobody would want to buy it, and then the line would die. GET OVER YOUR LOVE FOR SUNVULCAN, TOEI!

*I'd like to clarify that I don't mean disgusting that someone wanted it bad enough to pay that price, but that it's disgusting they have to pay that much to get it.

Soldier Dragon

I don't think I've ever officially declared it, but Changeman is my favorite Sentai series. The characters, the stories, the cast, the scale of it -- there's a lot I love about the show. Hiryuu Tsurugi/Change Dragon is my favorite Red hero, and I give a lot of credit to the actor, Haruki Hamada, who I really admire.

While Changeman was his first television starring role, Hamada was a dramatically trained stage actor whose teacher encouraged him to pursue auditioning for the show because he thought it would be a good experience for him. At the time, Hamada was one of the youngest actors cast as Red -- 23 at the start of filming in late '84 -- and I think this is something that helps shape the way Tsurugi differs from a majority of his predecessors. One of Changeman's big themes is the way the big space war changes the five young soldiers, how it forces them to grow up, and while Tsurugi is a dependable leader to the team, he's not the one with all of the answers, the stoic guy who has it all worked out -- he goes by gut, he can become too emotionally involved in a case, he puts himself out there if he thinks he sees an injustice. From the very first episode, he's the one who speaks up when he thinks Ibuki has gone too far; his leadership is apparent when he's the one who inspires the other four to stand up to Gozma just as they feel like they're finished. (Episode 47 shows he was even this way as a kid, when saving Aira from rock-throwing bullies.) But he's not perfect, the next couple of episodes highlight the way Tsurugi takes a solo approach, having to learn that he'll have to lean on the others and the Earth Defense soldiers when the burden becomes too much.

With Hamada's training, he provides subtleties that make Tsurugi feel like more than just a standard larger than life superhero, but a human. He grounds it all; Tsurugi is compassionate, but can be very intense, and I think he has more going on than most of his predecessors and is a refreshing change. His theater background makes it so he can sell the hell out of those grand superhero speeches, but an adeptness at handling the emotional material, treating the material seriously and never hitting a false note. I like all five Changeman performers and think they're talented and have a good chemistry, but I credit Hamada with a lot of getting the hero cast to unite and bring their A game and reach that point where they have such a good rapport. (I've always given a lot of credit to the dramatic actors in Changeman for getting everyone to up their game; in addition to Hamada, there's the veterans like Ibuki's actor, Jun Fujimaki, and Giuluke's actor, Shouhei Yamamoto, who both treated the material seriously and, in Yamamoto's case, really lifted his role into being a really memorable character. There's a lot to be said for good actors -- great directors can't get much out of bad actors, but there's plenty of examples of good actors doing more than what's on page or even being great in a bad show or movie. In Changeman's case, it's nice that the show had a good, observant staff -- it always seemed to me like they paid attention to what a performer like Hamada or Yamamoto, especially, would do, and would mine their performance for further material. Yamamoto has a track record for playing really nasty villain characters, and he begins Changeman being far more subdued, for example, but the Super Guiluke arc is when the writers let Yamamoto cut loose with just how sinister he can be; there's a vast difference between the old and new Guiluke.)

Tsurugi is responsible for setting into motion some of the series' most pivotal moments; his care for Nana and faith in Shiima led to two of the most important allies in the Great Gozma War. He had a willingness to assist villains, if they seemed to need his help: he took a lot of pain from Super Guiluke that was intended for Gator, to spare Gator so he could be at his wife's side while she was in labor, which in turn led to another ally joining their cause; he was even willing to help out his rival, Buuba, when he saw that Super Guiluke was trying to force him into being a Space Beast Warrior, and trying to get Buuba to rejoin the worried Jiiru. There's times in toku where...you kind of can't buy the way a hero is depicted as being so goody-goody that they're willing to help out a villain on a whim, but the way it's written in Changeman is consistent with the storyline, but again, I think a lot of credit is due to the way Hamada plays it. I chuckled at Sunvulcan when the three of them salute Amazon Killer after killing her, but you can believe that Tsurugi felt sorry enough for and respected Buuba as a warrior enough to bring flowers to his grave.

One of my favorite episodes, which isn't that crucial of an episode, it's a bit of a throwaway after the conclusion of a five-part arc, is the episode where Tsurugi fakes his death in order to launch a sneak attack on the monster of the episode. It shows the lengths Tsurugi will go in order to defeat a monster. Really bum out his friends by faking his death? Sorry, guys, that's part of the job. Don't question Tsurugi!

One of my all-time favorite Sentai episodes, though, is episode 54. In their final battles, the Changeman are really just against the clock and become pretty desperate -- not only does Ahames cripple their efforts by destroying their base and equipment, but there's also the threat of the Gozma Star colliding into the Earth, and Super Guiluke at that point is just crazy powerful with his demonic powers and wreaking all kinds of havoc in the Gozmard mothership. So, Tsurugi makes the call to sneak aboard the Gozmard, on his own, and take Guiluke out. It's not some typically big, over-the-top, glorious samurai-esque final battle they'll have: they're desperate, and it's going to be more like an assassination. It's a bit of an interesting gray area for a Sentai show to present its hero, IMO. Dragon sneaks up on Guiluke, and if it wasn't for Guiluke noticing Dragon's reflection at the last minute, he wouldn't have known what hit him, he would have been a goner. The way Hamada plays the scene when Tsurugi decides to leave for the Gozmard, he knew it was most likely a one way trip. And, if not for Nana, Tsurugi might NOT have made it out alive. Guiluke is still critically injured, though, but goes on to fight after turning HIMSELF into a monster! When things get rough for Gozma, Super Guiluke runs around turning all of the regulars into monsters, and while it seems like a lot of it is out of spite for how they turned on him, it's really that the endgame has been set in motion. You might even think Guiluke is cowardly, but he walks the walk -- when the chips are down, he turns himself into a monster, as well. The old Guiluke had once been treasonous to Star King Bazuu, but Super Guiluke had a confidence and dedication -- he became as dedicated to serving his army as the Changeman serve theirs. And it's the wound that Dragon gave Guiluke that is his undoing.

You just don't fuck with Tsurugi. His bad side's a dangerous place to be.

So, Tsurugi being my favorite and all, for my birthday a few weeks back, a friend made me this:

With the baseball outfit! The baseball outfit! And, shut up, the baseball episodes are awesome! And before anyone says there isn't an actor likeness, well...that's the problem if you don't want to sculpt. Also, there seems to be a real lack of Asian-faced dolls out there. (This doll IS Asian, but it doesn't come across in the photographs.) Besides, other than Medicom, I can't really think of when the official Japanese toys care to capture an actor's likeness. Most of the time, they'll just be vague anime-ish faces. I mean, here's what the official unmasked Dragon toy they did come out with looks like...

Sentai producers: putting a face to the names

By request...

As was the case with the writers post, I'm covering only the chief producers, who are the real brains, anyway, when compared to the sub-producers and assistant producers. (I know there are people out there who like to credit, say, Shirakura for Dairanger, when he was just a sub-producer on that show, or credit Takebe for Megaranger when she was just an assistant producer.)

I didn't realize how awesome this guy was until putting this thing together.

All I'm trying to do is help you understand that Akibaranger is merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory.

Here's Mister "Girls are weak, which is why there's only one in my terrible, terrible show."

Sentai writers: putting a face to the names

There's all kinds of behind-the-scenes and making of featurettes on the Sentai DVDs, where they'll talk to various staff members like directors and producers and SFX people and stunt people and the people who choreograph the terrible credits dances and caterers and people who turn off the lights at the end of the day and so on. But they don't usually talk to the writers, which is odd when you're used to the featurettes on American DVDs -- where writers won't just be interviewed, but probably have a commentary track, too. Toku writers do give interviews in magazines and the special books devoted to their show, but since they're ignored in the video featurettes, I feel that makes them somewhat overlooked. Now, fans know which writer is who and will talk about them, but are they just names? Who are these people? What do they look like? Here's a breakdown of each Sentai main writer with a picture, so you can imagine who it was hunched over a typewriter/computer, creating your favorite show. (Or see the person behind your least favorite show and flip them the bird or print it out and place it on a dart board or something.)

If Takaku wasn't important to Battle Fever, they wouldn't have included him in Ohranger, in which the producers enlisted every series main writer to contribute to the series since it was the first big anniversary celebration.

I like a lot of his Metal Hero shows, so why did Hurricane turn out the way it did?

Kamen Rider needs your help again, Arakawa.

Don't be too happy with yourself, Sanjou -- W went limp in its second half and Kyoryuger is horrid.

Now, there's two people missing, you might be saying. Well, I haven't seen a picture of Junki Takegami (main writer of Megaranger, GoGoFive, Gaoranger and Go-onger) and couldn't find one doing a Google search, and there's not a picture of Michiko Yokote (main writer of Gekiranger and Goseiger) because Yokote isn't even a person -- it's a collective pseudonym for three people. That's right, Yokote consists of one person who's just the manager, one person who handles dialogue and one who handles the plots -- which is funny considering that Gekiranger and Goseiger are often harshly criticized for lacking characters and/or plot.

Soda and Inoue are my favorites, but I also really like Takaku. Who are your favorites?

Jiraiya: The Face of Dokusai

I recently finished rewatching Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya and hauled out some of my TV Magazines/TV Lands, looking for cool pics from it. (Turns out I don't have as many issues from '88 as I thought.) But in one of the issues there's a plain shot of the main villain, Dokusai, unmasked -- a scene that lasted only a split-second in the series, mostly keeping the actor in shadows.

Oni Ninja Dokusai is one of my favorite Metal Hero villains -- he's got the whole creepy oni design, and AFAIC, this is voice-actor Shozo Iizuka's best toku work; Iizuka just makes him nasty and vicious, and really displays the glee Dokusai can take when tormenting a character. It's unlike most of his other performances, he seems more restrained as Dokusai, more trying to sell that there's a man behind the mask. Dokusai's a character who was a fellow student of the Togakure Ninja style along with Touha/Jiraiya's (adoptive) dad, Tetsuzan. Like many of villains in a ninja/samurai/martial-arts show or movie, Dokusai rebelled and went to the dark side; not only is it hinted that he was jealous of Tetsuzan courting and marrying a woman he liked, Sanae, but his greed got the best of him, wanting to steal the Board leading to the hidden Pako treasure and the secrets it withheld. For most of the series, you're just wondering what's beneath that mask, and the show messes with the viewer, having Jiraiya crack Dokusai's mask a couple of times, where Dokusai disguises himself as Tetsuzan to mess with Jiraiya's head. It ends up revealed in the finale that there's really nothing behind the mask -- whoever Dokusai was became so corrupt, so evil, that he lost his human form. (Which doesn't really explain why you can see his fingers in those finger-less gloves, but...) When Jiraiya breaks his mask in the finale, what's revealed is something that just looks like a blackhole. I always thought it was kind of disappointing that Tetsuzan didn't get to kill Dokusai -- he was the one who knew him, plus Dokusai killed Sanae (Kei and Manabu's mother), so he had more investment. But the show wasn't called Sekai Ninja Sen Tetsuzan, so Jiraiya gets to do it...

Anyway, there's one flashback early on in the series that shows Tetsuzan fighting with Dokusai, where for a split second they show his face. And here in TV Magazine, they have a still...

Any JAC fan can tell you that that dude above is Satoshi Kurihara, probably best known as General Gaira in Sharivan. (He's also made appearances in some of Keita Amemiya's earlier movies.) Kurihara is mostly a face actor with the JAC and not a suit guy (Dokusai's suit-actor was Metal Hero regular Noriaki Kaneda), so it makes me wonder if by casting Kurihara that the show had bigger plans to get into Dokusai's background, but just decided to let it be more of a mystery. The text with the pic above just says "The Past Dokusai," but Kurihara's not even credited as that much in the episode, instead just being listed amongst the JAC names.

I just thought this was sort of neat. (Sorry the scan's not better; not only is it from the crappy, colorless back pages of a TV Magazine, but the picture is placed near the center of the magazine!)

IMDB -- Inaccurate Movie Database

Look, I know people should know by now not to trust the IMDB, especially when it comes to something niche like tokusatsu, but I have seen people repeat some of the information found there, even recently, so I think some things need to be cleared up.

-Kotaro Tanaka (Ryu/Red Hawk) is not married to Rika Kishida (Kaori/White Swan). This is a rumor started and perpetuated by the American fandom, as you'll find jackcrap if you Google it on the Japanese Google. (The rumor on the Japanese end, strangely enough, is that Tanaka dated Sayuri Uchida, aka Ako, which has also been debunked.) In a 2004 Jetman reunion in Toei Hero Max, it's said that Kishida is married to a businessman and they live in Shanghai due to his job.

-The kid who played Toran is not the kid who played Kai in Zyuranger. Solved by a simple Googling of actor names.

-Kei Mizutani was not in Jetman.
-Ryousuke "Umizu" was not in Jetman.
-Haruna Ikezawa has nothing to do with any toku that's not Voicelugger, yet someone places her name in every toku ever.
-Wakiko Kano (Gavan's Mimi) did not play Maria/Miss America.
-Keita Amemiya had nothing to do with Maskman or Liveman.

-Mitsuko Horie did not play Spielban's mother.
-Mika Katsumura (Yuuri/Time Pink) did not play young Diana.
-Masaru Nagai (Tatsuya/Time Red) did not play young Spielban.
-Rei Sato (Gaoranger's Tsuetsue) did not play young Helen. These last four really irk me, because all you need is your eyes and some brains to know it's BS. (Spielban's mom is a whitey, for starters.)

Where do people come up with this crap?!

And don't trust Wikipedia, either, kids.

Sixth hero follow-up: Jiku & Jiku Jienne

I had included these characters in my previous post, but figured I should remove them since I wasn't going to talk about characters like Ninjaman or Signalman. Because while nobody counts these two, I really like 'em. You know Bandai was obviously shitting bricks when they realized GoGoFive wouldn't be having six heroes ("They'd have to change their name to GoGoSix!"), but I thought the story was a bit crafty in how they approached the idea of a sixth. (I also have to give credit to Power Rangers for creating their own sixth since GoGoFive lacked one -- Titanium Ranger is pretty neat looking.)

I know some people think that Jiku doesn't fit in with GoGoFive, introducing an alien character, but I always preferred to look at Jiku as...not really being an alien from space, but maybe an angel from Heaven. (There also seems to be something angelic about the artwork of Jiku Jienne on the Laserdisc cover, emitting light.)

It's awesome enough that Keiichi Wada plays Jiku (and is reunited with Ryuu Ranger suit actor Naoki Oofuji), but the best part of this movie is that Kyoko's prayers are answered in that she gets to be a hero. Even if briefly, having her transformation be the centerpiece of this one-off movie special made it stand out, and she gets to help the GoGoFive, even getting to deliver the "Sword, show the light" line for Victory Robo. (What a difference an additional hero can make, what an impact they can have when their arrival isn't about selling toys, huh?) It's just too bad that this movie was made at a point when toku movies tended to be stand-alones, with events never affecting the actual series or continuity, so they never really care to match up with the show. I mean, it would have even been nice to show Kyoko in a later episode wearing the necklace made from Jiku's crystal. That's simple enough, why couldn't they even just do that!?

Nevertheless, the GoGoFive movie is one of the best Sentai movies, IMO, and worth checking out. (And worth jumping on the bandwagon of "Jiku is awesome, let's mention him whenever we talk about extra heroes.")