June Tokusatsu of the Month - B-Fighter Kabuto

[Aoi Kurenai]

19 was an...interesting episode. We seem to have a lot of episodes where Kouhei grows fond of random girls, but I think this is the first one since that early episode that really ran with it. Marina randomly pops up out of nowhere and the two seem to have a pretty whirlwind thing going on for each other before the monsters pop with their fruity plan and things start going to heck. Something about seeing your heroes turned into giant cans is pretty damn hilarious.

Raija in human form! Does anyone know if that actor was also his voice actor? I know around episode 6 or so is when they stopped recording live and just did all the audio in recording booths, so I've wondered if they changed anything.

The ending was pretty generic bittersweet, Marina uses the last wish from her magical pendant to save Kouhei and she now she can't return to her original form until...a random miracle happens! Was kind of sweet to see her actually say she liked him, reminds me of those Lightspeed Rescue episodes with Chad, though those were infinitely more depressing in tone, this plays like a generic filler that tries to tug at the heart but doesn't really do much in the end.

Heeey, direct call back to the previous episode in 20, nice! Seems like they're looking for a real vacation now after that Pineapple monster ruined their previous attempt. Kengo's got a one track mind and a really stubborn father-daughter pair are trying to catch a kappa. This is an odd but awesome mix.

So this was a pretty sweet episode once the big reveal comes that the mother wanted them to find a Kappa. I think it's an odd form of escapism for the pair that became a little too real and sort of took over their lives. It's a strange way to end the episode because their stubbornness stays in tact and nothing really shook their faith that they would eventually find a Kappa.

The next episode was pretty cute. I never imagined that Bit would have any sort of focus episode, he mostly seemed to be a cute throw away character that wouldn't have any major part in the series. It was nice to see that the episode had a happy ending, despite the kid learning his penpal isn't a human at all.

Now I can see what Lynxara was talking about earlier with ideas of advanced technology being limited by what was available at the time, what with that awesome floppy disc and all.

Also, Kouhei, you are terribly with children in the heat of the moment.

Next episode was cool for a Ran episode. We learn she has mother issues, she doesn't really want to follow in her footsteps, but is kind of forced into it for a while because of her family's history and whatnot. We also get mention of Kouhei's mother! She's out traveling the world doing work and doesn't write home that often, which of course makes him angry.

Interesting way of defeating the monster this time around, I had expected the boys to to rush in and take it out while Ran was playing the Shamisen, but blowing the thing up as she finished the song was neat too.

 

[GoseiGold]

So...Why is there all this hate for B-Fighter Kabuto?

Yes Kouhei needed to be killed off and replaced, but where would that go from there a Kouhei funeral episode?

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

Obviously the only place they can go. With the professor suiting up, hijinks ensue.

 

[Silvertooth]

I'm kinda hoping that was Raija out of suit, he had fabulous hair. It was kinda funky that they staged several eps at that resort, not just the mermaid ep.

Sadly, I've had to cheat and start skipping eps to catch up. While the suits are neat, a lot of its just pretty generic at this point. Melzard is hella creepy, we way she sucks up fossils and basically gives birth to monsters. "Is this weird enough for you kids? How's this make you feel about B-Fighters?"

Much like the other Metal Hero shows, the B-Fighter shows play up the power and potential of technology. In this case its neat, albiet archaic as they use the power of technology in the far-off future of 2006. There's a real "We've got to stop them from stealing the Internet!" feel when they show the tech in action.

 

[Forever Knight]

Reija was such a cool villain, also loved his design so much.

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

He hasn't really done much of anything as far as the first half of the series goes. The rivalry with his brother was so underplayed before this episode that it may as well have not even been there.

--
Speaking of! This episode was all sorts of awesome, after some of the recent episodes that felt like they dragged a bit, it was great to get back into the fast paced feel of things. We've got the baddies looking for those coins that fell from space, Mother tricking both her sons into thinking she's siding with them, and a new monster who knows all of the B-Fighter's attacks, strengths, and weaknesses and is all around a more kickass beast than we've seen before.

I enjoyed seeing a monster that the team wasn't able to handle on their own and think I would have liked this episode just as much without the first generation guys returning to help out since this episode was moving along really nicely before then. I think this is the sort of material I would have liked to have seen much earlier in regards to the villains, especially the rivalry between Raija and Dezzle, the two actually have a sizable goal in front of them and I can see things ending pretty badly had they been left alone a tad bit longer.

And was this the first time we really got to see any death in the series? I can't recall any other episodes at the moment that had it in them. This is another reason I think this episode does a lot for the villains, shows them to be more of a threat than they're really presented as most of the time.

Also, holyhelltatsuyadaisakumai! It was really awesome to see them pose along with the second generation at the end of the episode and just cool in general to see them again. Daisaku's apparently been in Europe, would be amusing to see him speak another language.

Now I'm just going to hope that the next episode won't be one of those that makes the returning heroes look weak in comparison to the new guys.

(and maaaan I forgot how much I loved Guru, his puppet is so hilarious)

 

[Forever Knight]

He hasn't really done much of anything as far as the first half of the series goes. The rivalry with his brother was so underplayed before this episode that it may as well have not even been there.

Give it time.

 

[Lynxara]

I'm caught up to about episode 15... I had to stop watching for a bit due to a freelance assignment that got out of control on top of family stuff.

I've got to be honest, this stretch of the show is a real slog. The done-in-one plots are mostly pure boilerplate, the characters are pretty flat, and there's no big theme to draw me in. The songs go on about youth a lot, but with only the one teen character you can't really hang the show on that. Right now Kabuto is boring me and that's pretty far from how I felt about B-Fighter.

I'm really hoping the second half of the show livens things up by adding the new characters to the cast. I think Kabuto's cast composition is its most fundamental problem. The characters and actors all have potential on their own, but they don't form a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Many episodes don't even have them interacting that much until the action starts.

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

There are a few episodes that have them interacting in interesting ways. I like the ones that show the three heroes can have a bit of a relationship without needing to be on the same level. Kouhei most definitely feels like the younger brother of the group to me because of this and I think the show pulls it off nicely when it's at its best...which sadly isn't all that often.

Oddly enough, the problem I have with Kabuto is the same I had with Decade: the weekly plots by themselves are okay, stand out at times, but really just there most of the series. There's nothing that really hooks me in episode after episode because there is no big plot going on. Melzard seems like the generic bad guys trying to take over the world and that sibling rivalry just isn't used well most of the time.

Episode 25 is probably the first one in the entire series that actually had me looking forward to the next episode because of something that was happening in the series.

A better cast would have helped a lot, it's no surprise to me all three of the heroes are retired. (though I had a WTF moment when I found out Kengo's actor is the older brother of the guy who played Ken in Gekiranger)

 

[Lynxara]

I'm of two minds about the Melzard. I think they could be really interesting if they were fighting good guys who were more ideologically opposed to them. Melzard are pretty generic world-conquerors, but so was Jaohm and they were entertaining.

Jaohm I think worked because there was a basic ideological opposition between them and the B-Fighters that was consistent through the series. Jaohm wanted to exploit the Earth and the B-Fighters wanted to protect it. This was reinforced by the team members all having a strong connection to nature.

Melzard has enough plot hooks that it could be part of a proper ideological conflict. The show just needs to settle on one and pursue it. Right now the only runner I'm seeing consistently is Dezzle being up to something, which clearly won't pay off for awhile.