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raden238

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Episode 3 Review:
This show just keeps getting better! I like how all the Rangers in the oddball team get their screentime. Stinger staying true to his investigative role from Kyuranger and Kagura showing that she's the strongest out of all the Toqger. I was actually a bit teary when they showed what her wish was the restaurant business and bringing families together. The fights were also great in this episode especially the Zyuoh Eagle and Gokai Red team up, just badass.

To nobodies surprise, Rita actually turned out to be evil and is trying to resurrect Great Satan from Zyuranger. I just enjoy all these references and guest appearances from past Rangers. I even go as far as saying that if this was the 45th anniversary celebration, I would be content with it. The plot just gift wraps the spirit of the franchise and I just like this idea of having a Oddball team comprised with different Rangers, the execution was so much better in this than say Toei's similar take with Cho Super Hero Taisen in 2017. Which was a terrible movie btw.

I'm sad that the last episode is coming soon, its been so much fun :D




It would have been nice if Toei just had the guts to have Noboru Kaneko at the center of the show. If one of the reasons this miniseries exists is to celebrate Heisei Super Sentai, then...well, Gaoranger's one of the most popular Heisei shows, Kaneko one of the most popular Red actors.

Kaneko's at a point in his career where he can do something like this more easily, and Toei owes him, too. (Or that's my theory, anyway -- I've always suspected he was meant to be the Red rounding up the Dream Team in Boukenger VS Super Sentai, but they couldn't schedule it. Well, why else is Tsuetsue in the movie, then?)

And maybe the oddball team could use a shaman like Kakeru, considering who they're facing in the next (and final) episode! You could also have easily given him the "wanted to help a boy who loved animals" storyline.

Its pretty clear now that Toei tends to steer away from Older actors now for movies and team ups. The last time they even did it was with Hurricanger and Dekaranger's 10 Years After specials. I can't think of another time some of the older actors got main roles for Toku. They want to use the newer alumni because they're still fresh in the minds of the audiences which are Japanese children.



But if Yamato is bland (to which I diasgree btw, but whatever), doesn't it make sense to give HIM stories like that, so that character can have a bit more meat on him?

I don't think Yamato is bland but he's just not as interesting as Marvelous' character. I understand now why he was chosen to be the "main protagonist" in this show after episode 2 haha. He acts as the "glue" for the other members and his character has the most flexibility for how they want to tell a story with him.
 
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Its pretty clear now that Toei tends to steer away from Older actors now for movies and team ups. The last time they even did it was with Hurricanger and Dekaranger's 10 Years After specials. I can't think of another time some of the older actors got main roles for Toku. They want to use the newer alumni because they're still fresh in the minds of the audiences which are Japanese children.

If the old heroes are good enough to use for the sake of advertising or drawing more people to your movie or show, then they're good enough to actually devote more screen-time and decent stories to.
 
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Dr Kain

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Agreed. The lack of having older rangers in the show is why I couldn't give a damn if I actually watch this or not. What's the fucking point of having Hirose voice Ninja White if they're not going to have Tsuruhime actually appear on screen?
 
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Kagura proving she's just as awesome as the guys in episode three. And putting some budget into the Gokai Changes made them look really amazing, especially the Denjiman's super speed attack (I'm not sure what it's called as I'm waiting for berndadelta's fansub to be completed before I check it out).
 
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I finally watched episode 1~3 and decided to post my thought per episode per day.

Episode 1 - Battle Begins!

The episodes starts with Gokaiger (of course) fighting against, Gaisorg, a villain ranger from upcoming Ryusoulger, which I will discuss later.
Interesting that Yellow/Luka is absent in this movie; I guess it took place after Space Squad where she was having lunch with her doppelganger... I mean Raptor 283. lol j/k :p

Interesting how this show focus Yamato/Eagle as main character than Marvelous. I guess this somewhat makes up for lack of Kyuranger vs. Zyuohger and most audience (children) grew up with watching Zyuohger which was 2~3 years ago (2016). It's nice that Gokaiger isn't stealing all the spotlight.
I'm curious what's his wish is going to be.

Yamato's interaction with Keiichiro/Patren-1 was pretty interesting and cute; especially, since those 2 series (Zyuohger and Lupin vs. Pato) were written by same writer (Junko Komura). It's kind of interesting that they represent goody-too-shoo Boy Scout "heroic" Red rather than over-the-top "BakaRed" types we're getting in last few years particularly in odd-year series (King/KyoryuRed, Takaharu/AkaNinger, Lucky/ShiShiRed, etc.); seriously Hasbro, I want "BakaRed" in future Power Rangers. :D

The member "Oddball Team" are interesting selection, though I would have prefer to have variety in color rather than having 3 Reds, 1 Orange, and 1 Pink, which I find it somewhat odd and awkward; then again, those members are oddball anyway. I guess they were only actors available on all 4 episodes.

As for other participants/teams, I like that rather than bringing ALL 225+ rangers (though some team are complete), they selected 160 (32 teams) which is kind of interesting; reminds me of Chou Super Hero Taisen (minus Kamen Rider). Not only rangers participate but supporting character (Arthur G6, Dappu, etc.) as well which is interesting.


I HATE RITA. SHE'S SO OBNOXIOUS AND ANNOYING. :mad:
I hate her face (dat teeth).
I hate her make-up.
I hate her attitude.
I hate her voice.
I hate her character.
She's probably the worst supporting/female character I have seen so far, though it's not really fair to compare 4-episodes special with 45~50 episode TV series.
It annoys me that she has same name as MMPR villain (Rita Repulsa), though I don't think Toei did that for homage rather intentionally.
I personally think the actress was miscast IMO; Nana Asakawa was bit too young for that kind of role. I honest think they should have gotten someone older (21~28) and sexier; maybe they could have gotten AV/porn actress. lol :D
The only thing I kind of like is her outfit and her staff... that's it.

I really like Gaisorg, which is probably the best part about the episode.
While I'm not a huge fan of Tomokazu Seki's voice, I really love the design of his suit, which is a crossover between Wolzard and Kamen Rider Knight (Ryuki).
If there's one thing that's common with EVERY dino sentai, is that they always have cool looking villain/evil ranger.
To be honest, I'm looking forward to him defeating more rangers rather than tournament itself. lol :D

Didn't expect Ryusoulger (Green and Black) to appear at the end. I kind of wished they save that til end of episode 4, similar to new Sentai Team appear near the end on annual VS movie. Nothing too much to say, other than Green and Black are brother and introduction to their toys... I mean weapons. Still not fan of their suit design; especially with lack of yellow which I'm not a fan of.

Overall, I give this episode a rating of 5/10. Not great but not terrible either; just mediocre. Writing is bit left to desire (then again, I'm not a huge fan of Arakawa) and actions is bit weak despite crossover special (I haven't been too impressed with Sakamoto in recent years).
 
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Kamen Rider IXA

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There is also issue of not every actor being avaliable for physical appearance. For example, Ryuranger didn't appear out of suit in Akibaranger either.
SSS Battle clearly was put together in a hurry to boost people's interest in Ryusoulger and don't have a lot of budget, so we can't have another Gokaiger here unfortunately.
If you unhappy with roster we got, at least be grateful it's not Lupinranger vs Patranger vs (GokaiRed and 2-3 members of) Super Sentai, which Toei totally could have done here.

On a side note, Episode 3 wasn't as good as two before it, but it's nice to see that Kagura's actress improved a lot since her time in the show.
 
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Dr Kain

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There is also issue of not every actor being avaliable for physical appearance. For example, Ryuranger didn't appear out of suit in Akibaranger either.

There's a difference though. Akibaranger was it's own thing while giving nods to the other Sentai shows, this is supposed to be an entire celebration of the Heisei era.

so we can't have another Gokaiger here unfortunately.

Why would I want Gokaiger 2.0? However, like I said, this is supposed to celebrate the end of the Heisei era, yet, they're doing nothing to actually celebrate that as far as rangers are concerned. Imagine if Toei said they were going to celebrate 50 years of Kamen Rider, but then only have the show feature Zi-O, Decade, Wizard, Den-O, and Ghost out of their suits, wouldn't you find that to be bullshit?

If you unhappy with roster we got, at least be grateful it's not Lupinranger vs Patranger vs (GokaiRed and 2-3 members of) Super Sentai, which Toei totally could have done here.

Honestly, that makes no difference to me when I don't care about the majority of the characters in this team up. I don't like ToQGer, I disdain Ninninger and Kyuuranger immensely to the point that I think they are two of the worst Sentai series ever, and I found Zyuohger uninspiring.
 
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Episode 2 - Animal Battle!

Great to see Noboru Kaneko reprise his role as Kakeru Shishi/Gao Red.
Gaoranger may not be my favorite series, but it was nice to see him in his jacket and using G-Phone to henshin.
Interestingly, I met Kaneko at Japan World Heroes convention 2 years ago and when I got signature from him, and I remember mentioning how I wish him to see in Sentai again as Gao Red; never thought, it would happen this quickly.
Among the Veteran Rangers I've seen, he's probably my favorite.
3 vs. 1 “Animal Hero” Battle was interesting to watch; a good balance of each era (VulShark (Sun Vulcan; 1981), GingaGreen (Gingaman; 1998), and GaoRed (Gaoranger; 2001).
The interaction between Yamato and Kakeru was nice to look at; I kind of wished they did that in Zyuohger movie.

Nice “Yellow Loves Curry” joke Yellow Owl (Jetman); I forgot how only 2 Yellow really loved curry. lol :D

It was nice that Keeichi Wada and Satomi Hirose reprise their role (Ryuranger (Dairanger) and Ninja White (Kakuranger) respectively), despite voice only. Seeing Ryuranger and Ninja White, along with OhRed and Red Mask was interesting to look at.

Gaisorg is still awesome… while Rita not so much; I still hate her (...then again, she's a serial killer so yeah...).
The twist behind Gaisorg identity was… pretty shocking and twisted; probably the best part of the episode.

Another Ryusoulger Green/Black Brother Sidequest thingy at the end… not too much to say other than the fact they are here just to promote selling toys.
I kind of wished they introduced rest of the team; Blue and Pink on episode 2, Red on episode 3, and then ALL 5 together on episode 4.


Overall, it was slight improvement over the first IMO.
6/10.
 
K

Kamen Rider IXA

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, this is supposed to celebrate the end of the Heisei era
Is it? I don't recall Toei ever saying SSS Battle had anything to do with celebrating Heisei era of Sentai.
Regardless, I think the main issue here is that thing wasn't really originally planned by Toei, so they had to bring in whoever they could and for the cheapest money. Go-On Red and GaoRed are long-life Sentai fans, so it's easier to get them on-board then someone like, say, Rio from Gekiranger.
Not to mention, Toei clearly aims to bring in current generation of Sentai viewers, who's more familiar with guys from recent series, so that ratings can go up and toys can be sold. So we get a team of recent guys + whoever they could grab from older series on a short notice for basically zero money.
I suspect that's how formula of this series works.
I'd like to have a proper crossover series, but even if we got like 20 guys from pre-Gokaiger shows, this thing is only 4-episodes long, so most of them would only have a cameo like GaoRed and people would complain anyway. There is not enough material here for a proper full-blown celebration of the franchise, because it's not one. It's another Gorider at best (actually it's a lot better than Gorider, but that's beyond the point), a way to promote their big gamble Sentai, Ryusoulger.

Imagine if Toei said they were going to celebrate 50 years of Kamen Rider, but then only have the show feature Zi-O, Decade, Wizard, Den-O, and Ghost out of their suits, wouldn't you find that to be bullshit?
That's what happening with Zi-O right now pretty much. And unlike Zi-O, this series doesn't **** all over franchise at least.
And I already had similar experience with Decade 10 years ago.

Honestly, that makes no difference to me when I don't care about the majority of the characters in this team up. I don't like ToQGer, I disdain Ninninger and Kyuuranger immensely to the point that I think they are two of the worst Sentai series ever, and I found Zyuohger uninspiring.
So you're just not a target audience for this. It doesn't make series (or rather character selection) itself bad. These characters have their fans, who's glad to see them come back. Toei always prioritizes targer audience (aka people who watch show RIGHT NOW and care more about Stinger than Ryuuranger) over long-period fans and that series highlights it perfectly. Sure, they want to have a piece of older fanbase if they can (that's why there are always Seki-voiced suits of past heroes), but they won't go too far unless something extraodinary happens like 2011 earthquake or one-time event like Gao vs SS.
Actually now that I think about it... both Vs SS movies had a bigger focus on (at the time) recent heroes as well and 199 (possibly the entire Gokaiger as well) didn't end up same way only due to earthquake.
So, again, that's how Toei approaches anniversaries in general.
 
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What's the fucking point of having Hirose voice Ninja White if they're not going to have Tsuruhime actually appear on screen?

The worst part of it is...Hirose was actually on the set as they filmed that scene with Ninja White! Just give her a Premium Bandai Doron Changer and have her appear in the damn thing!

I don't know if I buy the whole excuse "Well, the kids won't remember/care about anyone old, so they don't get them or go after the newer heroes." Well, then why even include the older suits or characters if that's the case? You can't have it both ways, man. Besides...if that's the case, then why did episode 3 devote practically its entire run time to the fucking dog puppet?!! Ooh, kids aren't going to remember or care about a dog puppet from a 15 year old show!?

What about when they brought back Gavan, or Hiroshi Fujioka returning as Kamen Rider XXXXL? See: the older heroes are good enough for Toei to use to get attention, and they're OK to use when it suits their interest, otherwise Toei's just too cheap and lazy.

But I do admit that I think a lot of the little appearances by anybody pre-Gokai in this miniseries was not planned and last minute, and meant to be a kind of bonus. Still, it sucks to have someone who's still a physical person like Keiichi Wada relegated to voice-only appearances or someone like Kaneko showing up just to get his ass kicked by Zyuoh Boring. (I kinda hate how that scene played out; Yamato was shouting all angrily as his theme song played and he was kicking three older heroes' asses -- the scene treated those older heroes like nothing more than a monster of the week.)

Anyway, I'm hoping that this miniseries is Toei testing the waters for interest in more specials with random Sentai characters teaming up, and then maybe they can be bolder in bringing back "old" people.
 
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