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Reviews
Garo (2005)
Kamen Rider V3 mixed with the Sailor Moon Live Action and Girl Gun Lady: Keita Amemiya edition
And with that I mean that this show is terrible like the formers and, like the latter, it has nothing remarkably for "adults" or even "teenagers", unless you think the concept of being for "adults" amounts to nothing more than a couple of nipple shots that you can easily find in other medias like animes. It's the same stuff of all the other tokusatsus about a superhero protecting dreams etc. Just with worst choreographed fights, worst chara (which is absolutely incredible considering the pedegree of the director), ridicolous pretentiousness upped to over 9000 thanks to the clear-as-day uberlow bugdet (couldn't Amemiya go, for a more robust budget, to the same people that produced Tekkoku Mikazuki five years before this?) and CGI effects that are as laughable as it can get. And these are the SUPPOSED tokusatsus for adults, tokusatsus that make the previous work of Amemiya himself in Choujin Sentai Jetman alone look like a slasher franchise! The only useful thing this dreck has going for it is that the suspicions the mediocre Mechanical Violator Hakaider movie and the terrible Lion G-Maru Reboot aroused in me about the Amemiya/Inoue duo (meaning that the reason for it working so well are mainly on the Inoue part and less on the Amemiya one, being the latter so pathetically weak when left to his own devices) find a confirmation. Avoid at all costs unless you want to experience a self-parody that isn't remotely funny to begin with.
Kamen Raidâ W Returns: Kamen Raidâ Akuseru (2011)
Pointless filler for the sake of pointless filler: the japanese strike again
I sincerely don't get the reason for this movie to exist in the first place, since the main series already solved any possible storyline concerning the secondary rider of W without the need to add nothing more. But, as the existance of the equally useless self-reboot movie of Kamen Rider Ryuki will remind us, we know that the japanese (yes, useless DVD-only episode of Tekkoku Mikazuki spoofing Showa Tokusatsus in the most unfunny and cringey way possible, I'm looking at you) and particularly the Toei tokusatsu department REALLY like to continue producing stuff when there's no need to do it, like this or the completely unnecessary continuation of the terrible (unless you're really hard into the likes of Marvel Zombie, Blackest night or Saint Seiya: the Hades Chapter, which I'm not) Kamen Rider W (in itself, already prolonged unnecessarily with an useless ending episode that didn't add nothing of interest) summer movie by the name of Kamen Rider Eternal. Did somebody in Japan ever took the memo that sometimes LESS IS MORE? This being watched on free fansubs - still the only way we europeans on the whole can experience tokus, no matter how much the american$ rave about Bluray releases of tokus on their own soil or not on social medias - and having in it once again a whole slew of clear-as-day gravure idols in the cast doesn't mean that there's a reason to waste time on it, not a split second. Avoid safely like avoid safely the preceding summer movie and stick to the main series only, it's not worth it.
Magical Chinese Girl Paipai! (1989)
Very Good Fushigi Comedy/Majokko series
Clearly "inspired" (or, better said, spinned off from) the classic of Magical Girl shows and Shoujo in generals and my second favourite Magical Girl ever after the unbeatable life-changing experience by the name of Sailor Moon, Mahou Tsukai Sally. Why, you might ask? Because this, as Sally, it's a show mostly focused on the comedic aspect, with an healthy dose of slapstick and non-slapstick humour that is good reminder of the one found in Mahou Tsukai Sally (expected since this a Fushigi COMEDY series, but still the link is as-clear-as-day). What I don't understand by watching this series (lately subbed by GEO9875, thanks as always for your work) is what the hell happened to the company who did this, which is also the same one that spawned the entirety of the majokko genre, with their Pretty Cure franchise, and for one simple reason: here there might not be the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai fights a fan of tokus craves for made into animation, but the main protagonist is not a boring and irritating Mary Sue like Sally wasn't, the 90's anime Usagi Tsukino and her companions weren't and Ojamajo Doremi with her friends wasn't. Which is all the opposite the Pretty Cures I've got to watch to this day (three) are. What the hell happened to Toei?
Other than that, if you're a fan of Majokkos and Tokus you certainly will like this one too. It's highly recommended from me. Let's hope somebody subs Le Belle Fille Poitrine and Mysterious Nile Girl Tutsmose too next!
Kamen Rider 555 20th: Paradise Regained (2024)
Toshiki Inoue rules
If you don't like the guy because of his Shoujo-inspired writing (perfectly in line with the way the father of the main Toei Tokus Shotaro Ishinomori envisioned this art, you might want to check out Machineman and Kaiketsu Zubat on that regard) move on and leave the Maestro to his fans like the very person writing this review. I have no idea how in the friggin' hell Inoue has actually got better with the age since in this movie he will make you cry, he will make you laugh and he will make you think in a matter of seconds, but that's what this movie (incredibly enough, better than the already very good Kamen Rider Faiz series) proves. Overrated, overpaid screenwriters from Hollywood with billions of academy awards under their belt and give you nothing in terms of emotional investment need to apply to this as well the masterful Avataro Sentai Donbrothers movie (!) as soon as possible.
Dôbutsu Sentai Jûôjâ (2016)
Toei's Sentais = The Real Deal
As this series from 2016 will tell you, series that I got to know thanks to an actor (Kohei Murakami) who is known for his intimate friendship/artistic partnership with the Maestro of Tokusatsus Toshiki Inoue in Kamen Rider Faiz/555, its excellent 20th anniversary movie Paradise Regained and the latter's very good mini-prequel series by the name of murder mistery case, Cutie Honey: the Live, Avataro Sentai Donbrothers etc. Etc. Etc. A series that it's very good and entertaining from start to finish, with an inspired chara for the main mecha and the costumes (Murakami looks and acts like Medievh from the eternal Masterpiece Warcraft III, of all things. More than the guy in the Blizzard Warcraft movie proper made in the same year of this series did), well choreographed fights that don't feel like they were 100% executed in a copy-pasted form, well-executed dynamic between each member of the sentai squad and, for the Toshiki Inoue fans like me, there's even shoujo stuff that reminds of the work of the Maestro in Chojin Sentai Jetman (hell, there's even a reference to Keita Amemiya at a certain point). The only downside for some that I can see in this is the character of Misao Mondo being the kind of depressed person (and not for stylistic reasons like Wataru Kurenai from the Masterful Kamen Rider Kiva) some people might not like, but the guy has a good development during the season and it's nonetheless in line with a character like Rei Ayanami from Evangelion, for the joy of the Tokusatsu fan Hideaki Anno. All in all, highly recommended over any ridicolous attempt at carbon-copying in a bad way this formula by third parties (Tomica Hero Rescue Force I'm looking at you).
Tomica Hero Rescue Force (2008)
Super Sentai the Takara Tomy Way = Dreck
Yup, forget the peculiar identity of the previous entry in the Takara Tomy tokus by the name of Madai Senki Ryukendo, series that by being its own thing while following more or less the superhero tokusatsu standards it provided new and welcomed ideas, ideas better than those of nonsensically overrated big name IPs entries like Kamen Rider Kuuga and Kamen Rider OOO. Nope, this series is a 100% carbon-copy of the Toei Super Sentais (with whom I have NO problems of sorts, I love those series) just made worst in every possible way, meaning that the action on the screen is boring, the mecha stuff is uberboring unless you're really hard into cars and whatnot (I'm not), the costumes and props with one sole exception (the portable chainsword that can also transform into a gatling gun of sorts) are not particularly interesting to begin with (which is absolutely ridicolous if compared to the ludicrous efforts Takara Tomy themselves put into making a gazillion of robots and animals with distinct charas and different themes for their Transformers and Pokemon IPs) and some of the flaws of the Super Sentai - namely, the overpowered nature of the Red Ranger, nature that I personally still have not seen but I trust the opinion of the Maestro Toshiki Inoue as enucleated in Avataro Sentai Donbrothers in that sense - is full on display here, with R1 being extremely overpowered even with him being a new recruit of sorts while the other members of the team (as usual, particularly the women) stay there doing nothing except spouting attacks 100% uselessy ripped off from the Kamen Rider Kick (told again from the perspective of a Kamen Rider fan, as my bandai Kamen Rider Agito, Faiz and Kiva action figures will prove you). A serious disappointment considering that at the start there were some genuine ideas concerning this series being more in line with something like an interesting twist on the Metal Heroes Rescue Squad antics than a mediocre Super Sentais ripoff, but whatever. Rather watch one of the gazillion of Super Sentai shows proper from the 70's on than wasting your time on this offer by a supposed Toei competitor, it's not worth it.
The Godfather (1972)
Padding time: the movie
Yup, this movie could have been stripped down to something like an hour and an half runtime without the unnecessary, boring scenes that do nothing other than add time over time and the result would be the exact same. Couple that with a non-existant, nonsensical plotline that makes those in superhero tokusatsus shows (series that I love with all myself but that no toku fan watches for their "plotlines") look like ancient mythological sagas of old spanning over thousand of years, dialogues repeated over and over and over with no reason whatsoever (particularly the third time you hear the one liner about the offer you can't resist it gets clear they used it as a forced marketing tool) and barebone performances by the main actors and actresses and you have one of the most overrated movies of the century if not the most overrated movie of all times. Even the action is a bit lacking, IMHO.
Check out Il Boss by Ferdinando di Leo with some of the same actors present in this one (Richard Conte and Corrado Gaipa) and you should have a far more interesting and less snooze-inducing experience overall. Hell, even Milano Calibro 9 managed the "mafia men are honorable people with morals!" (they aren't and never have been) trope better than this movie did on its own.
Jikû senshi Spilban (1986)
Manliest man alive + undisputed Queen of Tokusatsus = good stuff!
Of course I'm referring, respectively, to Hiroshi Watari and Machiko Soga, who do their usual great job in this series, with the former becoming the facto my favourite tokusatsu male actor ever (eat your shorts Kenji Ohba fanatics!) thanks to his incredible manly charm akin to Clint Eastwood, Duke Nukem and Han Solo rolled into one single excellent performance. Unfortunately, some elements don't make this series as good as the masterful Space Sheriff Sharivan and in particular the presence of two women fighting in the Space Sheriff suit feels more like a gimmick than how the presence of lily felt in the entirety of the Space Sheriff Sharivan Show, but whatever this is a mainstream tokusatsu show and generally in those women are not particularly active to begin with (Machiko Soga excluded, of course). Still, this is a very good series nonetheless, recommended to metal heroes and Space Sheriff aficionados alike. As an ending note, thanks to Metallic Fansubs for fansubbing this in the first place.
P. S. The episode with the people being converted into trees reminding me of Emi Shinohara's performance in the Sailor Moon R movie was AWESOME, the best episode hands down of the entire series no questions attached.
Garasu no kamen (1984)
Mary Sue doing Mary Suish stuff in a 70's shoujo drama
You've read it right, this is your typical - and for typical I'm referring to the second part of the Attakku No. 1 anime, not the great first 50 episodes - 70's shoujo dramatic anime (great thing in the proper hands, for example the ones of the Maestro of Tokusatsus Toshiki Inoue) with an unbelievable, uninteresting, yahwn-inducing mary sue as the main protagonist, a mary sue so mary suish that she actually gets a part in a drama without knowing anything about the original literary work to begin with (i guess because of the typical Japanese belief of old - shared equally by women and men alike - that only men are interested in studying?). Add to the mix pedestrial chara repeatedly carbon-copied from the superior in all aspects Versailles No Bara, OST that is not fit to the theme (in particular the OP ripping off hard the Flashdance one feels completely out of place, this series is about stage plays and not dancing), uber-repetitive "story" and romance elements that are not particularly well-developed and/or interesting to begin with and you have a complete failure on all fronts, failure that for what I understand is due to this being as close as possible to the (I guess terrible, what a suprise! Not) manga. A huge waste of time even considering the short lenght and discounting the fact that the viewer might be the biggest shoujo fan in existance, boring mary sues sparsely appearing here and there permitted (I'm talking about me myself and I, of course). Avoid it with no regrets.
Uchû keiji Sharivan (1983)
Thank you Emi Shinohara (R.I.P.) part II
And, of course, I'm referring to the fact that the main protagonist Den Iga/Sharivan is excellently performed by none other than the ubersweet, caring and romantic husband of this legendary Seiyuu whose personal posts on twitter convinced me to give this series a try after reading ridicoulous reviews online by people who clearly have never watched this series nor are into tokusatsus to begin with - because if you're truly into tokus it's impossible to not enjoy this series at least to some extent, tastes or not - claiming that this was a dumbed down version of Gavan, when the reality is the opposite since this is better in all regards to Gavan, including Watari himself who is a better stuntman (!!!!!) and a more charismatic lead than Kenji Ohba already was either in Gavan or in his older Sentai output. The costumes are better, the props are better (including the main mecha thing, the White base from Gundam transforming into a mechwarrior type of mech is awesome), the supporting cast and in particular the women do a better job and are more supportive, the horror angle should be up the alley to people like me myself and I who are into Warhammer 40K, the OST is better, hell even the villains are better. An improvement in all areas of the good but not excellent Gavan, a bit overrated on the internet I guess because Kenji Ohba! (he's in here too, anyway). A Masterpiece of tokus and sci-fi like Abaranger was for Sentais, which makes me question how it is Spielban - written by the same Shozo Euhara and with Watari reprising the role of the main protagonist - if this was already excellent on all fronts. Highly recommended.
Gekko kamen - Zekkai no shito (1958)
An improvement over the first Gekko Kamen movie iteration
Which wasn't bad but in terms of "plotline" (if you can call it that way, we're talking of tokusatsus here) it was more scattered than this time around and there was some stuff in the way that didn't made any sense (understandably so, it was the first Toei tokusatsu thing ever). Here everything is better: the action scenes from the titular protagonist as well as his suggested civil persona are more hazardous, the plotline is more gripping, skull mask evolves into a manipulative villain able to exploit people's weaknesses to his own gain while also being a real threat who would not stop to anything (including murdering entire cities) to achieve his personal goals, and so forth. Also, if you're a Kamen Rider fan like me, you will notice several elements that made its way to that IP like the prototype of henshin belt, some locations which are reminescent of those typical of the Kamen Rider - particularly the Heisei species - and other stuff like the titular character driving on the motorbike used for the intro. All in all, a very enjoyable flick that has aged better than 99% of the modern/contemporary movies from the big american corporation$ and the entirety of the Showa Kamen Rider era prior to Kamen Rider Black IMHO. I just wish the other movies in this series were available with a fansub, but whatever.
Kaiketsu Zubat (1977)
Interesting but flawed experiment
Of mixing two things that, apparently, have nothing to do one with each other, meaning the western storytelling taken from stuff like the Jonah Hex Comics by Michael Fleisher during his tenure on the character in the same era this show was produced (even the constant strapping/maiming/trapping of Hex is reproduced here) and the henshin hero antics typical of the Kamen Rider, Ultraman and Super Sentais, in particular of the latter's abortive second iteration JAKQ Dengekitai from which it is taken not only the scheme of the fights but also the crudest of the stuff like the villains trafficking in drugs and humans, children with suicide bombs, fathers taking a shotgun to kill their sons etc. (the reason why the ratings were awful and the series was cancelled, if you ask me). Flawed because, albeit this time luckily there is no ubermegaipergigacrappy Big One in sight due to Hiroshi Miyauchi already being busy in the pants of the main protagonist, the more time it passes the more it becomes clear the two halves don't mesh particularly well and you have the impression that the henshin hero part was forced by Toei on Ishinomori while he was more interested in making a fully-blown western toku with no henshin hero in sight. It also gets a bit boring the more time it passes, even discounting the fact that this is a showa era show and you must watch it accordingly to the showa standards (particularly concerning the repetition, something that plagued the Jonah Hex comics too from a certain point on). As a side note, it's interesting to note that this so-much-lauded and nonsensically overhyped "masterpiece" by a certain kind of toku aficionados (the ones who hate the Maestro Toshiki Inoue for his 70's shoujo sensibilities) apparently had the same stuff Inoue applies to his output, meaning...you guessed it, a love triangle, an innuendo of the 70's shoujo mixture of love and hate, people talking about dating and marriage. So Inoue haters love the same stuff Inoue does (even if he does it ten times better at least) and all they need to do it is the name of the granfather of the Toei tokus on it! Unbelievable.
Kamen raidâ Ôzu (2010)
Generic Dragon Ball show is generic
Because that's what this is, the most generic and yawhn-inducing Dragon Ball show masquerading as a Kamen Rider one possibly ever made with nothing that make it stand out from the rest, with the only exception of the hamfisted, ridicolous attempts by its main writer - the hack behind the other ridicolous failures known as Kamen Rider Ryuki and the Sailor Moon Live action series, Yasuzo Kobayashi - to try her hand at the same stuff people like her colleague Toshiki Inoue is great at, meaning making comedy, making tear-inducing drama and making political commentary all at the same time, and failing as hard as her previously mentioned failures. Failures aggravated by the fact that the costumes, the talents and the choreographies were all spent for nothing because of the lack of abilities of the writer to provide anything remarkable to the table, except maybe again remarkable in the wrong sense and I'm referring in particular to the ridicolous, completely unbelievable tag team of the main protagonist and his pretended ultradickish sidekick Anhk. This is the last time I'll ever give any attention to the output of this lady as the main writer, and I'll consider the episodes she wrote for the stuff I still have to see - Blue Swat and B-Fighter Kabuto - more an hindrance than anything else.
Furyou Shoujo to Yobarete (1984)
A good Shoujo/Sukeban series
Which is better than the previous series I've seen from Daiei (Akai Meiro and Tenshi No Uppercut) as well the last full-on live action shoujo series I've watched (Aries No Otometachi) and at the level of Janus No Kagami in terms of sheer entertainment. Yeah the plot and character developments don't make any sense whatsoever outside this clearly being based on a shoujo manga and not on any biography of any kind whatsoever (except if you believe the "based on real events" fluff they throw at you in the intro) but still, if you're into shoujos you will like this nonetheless, even if it has not the same emotional envolvement that you could get from a person who was influenced also by stuff like this in the writing department like the Eddie Van Halen of Tokus, the Maestro Toshiki Inoue (see the masterful Avataro Sentai Donbrothers movie on that). Good stuff that I'm happy I watched and for which I thank the fansubber geo9875, whose geowidth blog I recommend if you're interested in giving to this or other Sukeban girl series like Sukeban Deka II, Shoujo Commando Izumi and Janus No Kagami a try.
Kyûteî Hanî: The Live (2007)
It's good to change opinions, sometimes
Yup, I wasn't particularly impressed the first time I watched this series years ago because I had no previous knowledge of the pits of hell that originated this franchise (I'm talking about the worst animated thing ever produced courtesy of emperor of japanese hacks Go Nagai, the 70's Cutie Honey exploitation "anime") nor of tokusatsus and not even of the main writer of this series, who turned out to be...none other than my favourite tokusatsu writer ever Toshiki Inoue. And once I wrote that I have really nothing else to say because this is another Masterpiece of his, in line with his best work in Kamen Rider Kiva, Changerion, Death Note and the almost perfect Avataro Sentai Donbrothers movie (which in twenty-minutes runtime destroys twenty years of Marvel and DC cinematic crap without even trying), with his usual, perfect style made of seamlessly mashing up shoujo writing, Disney Princess worship (this time around the due focus is all on the lovely princess Jasmine from the 100% certified Disney Classic Aladdin, I wonder when and if are we going to get Pocahontas, Ariel, Mulan and Aurora too), well choreographed fights, social commentary against the Keiretsu and corporative world colluded with parts of the government/military, psychedelic stuff and well-put sexual fanservice for the hetero men that does its job perfectly in entertaining the viewer and it's not simply a self-serving, horrible ma$t3rbati0n of the author like it was the 70's Cutie Honey or, for what it matters, anything with the direct contribution of Go Nagai in it. In a simple word, this series is Toshiki Inoue doing what you expect from Toshiki Inoue and doing it greatly, so if you're a fan of him like me - which is the whole reason behind my rewatch - you'll be thrilled from start to finish. As good as the Cutie Honey Flash remake (written by none other than Sailor Stars' main writer Ryota Yamaguchi) and with very few flaws to account for, as the Maestro says in the interview present in the package I watched. Highly recommended.
P. S. My personal "appreciation" for Go Nagai is so great that I skipped entirely the special episode (not written by Inoue anyway) because of his cameo, and I have no regrets of sorts.
Jûkô Bî-Faitâ (1995)
The real sci-fi fighting beatles are here!
Yup, this is the real deal, not the hamfisted american destruction which name is better forgotten forever nor the american equivalent of DC comics (Blue Beetle) that I never particularly cared to begin with, even with me being a DC comics fan. Very good and enjoyable metal heroes series from start to finish which in the second half takes some cues from the preceding Rescue Squad quadrilogy (I'm counting Janperson in the mix) in trying to make the villains more than the typical toku exploding monsters, succeeding more or less in the process while also giving plenty of character development/background to each B-Fighter civilian identity. What is interesting to me as a westerner, even after being used to it by other series like Chojin Sentai Jetman and Space Sheriff Gavan, is the level of blood and simulated physical violence in this as well as the presence of sparse skeletons in what is (and it's not meant as an insult or anything but as an objective fact) a series targeted mainly towards children, stuff that I guess was completely removed by the cultural fraudsters of Saban Entertainment. Cool costumes, cool finishing moves and cool mechas complete the package. Highly recommended.
P. S. Unless you're a team-up fetishist of some sort, avoid the last two episodes with a Blue Swat/Janperson team-up, even if you're a fan of one or both of those series like me (I still have not watched Blue Swat). I did it and I don't regret it in the slightest.
Avataro Sentai Donbrothers (2022)
An humble fan package for Inoue fans
Yup, this is what this series mostly accounts for, meaning there's a lot of stuff the main writer already used in older series like Changerion, Choujin Sentai Jetman, Kamen Rider Agito Kiva and Faiz, Cutie Honey the Live (the latter of which is in sorely need of a rewatch), Death Note etc. Etc. Stuff that my guess is that has been used here not because of any lack of ideas but because it's clear the main writer (my third favourite superhero writer as of now after W. M. Marston and Joye Murchison and my favourite modern/contemporary superhero writer hands down) simply wanted to make a clear statement on his past accomplishments as well as his personal experience concerning the Super Sentai franchise, like an underground metal band releasing early demos in a fan package not because of a cheap ca$hgrab but because they want to give the fans something while making a statement about their personal history (think of this as a toku equivalent of the 2014 Demo Collection by the de facto split-up for good german thrashers Paradox, for example). And in that sense it works flawlessly. The only real problem is the ending, unfortunately the last 6-7 episodes are not particularly interesting or well written but I blame the stupid Toei tendency of still releasing in the contemporary era fully blown 50-episodes series when it's clear they could get away with less episodes yet they don't do it for syndication reasons (Candy Candy anyone?). Still, if you're into Toshiki Inoue, his peculiar style of perfectly mixing orthodox, Classic with a capital C Shoujo writing, subtle social commentary that gets perfectly to the point, memorable fan service and psychedelic stuff a là Hideaki Anno/Kunihiko Ikuhara and translating it into tokusatsu form and you love his previous stuff you will like this one nonetheless, particularly because as the beforementioned demos it confirms some stuff it was previously only alluded but now it's clear in full (I'm talking about the Disney Princesses/Shoujo worship me and the Maestro share). Recommended to all Inoue fans like me and, if you don't like the style of the guy, just move on and watch something by some other author, nobody forces you to watch something written by a person whose style you don't like. I rave all the times about how I don't like Black Metal, I don't listen to Black Metal tout court end of the line.
P. S. This, as a fan package/early demos compilation of a Genius, it is STILL better, more authentically artistic and more thought-provoking (words I don't usually use or like, but in this case it is adequate) than ANY current american superhero live-action gargabe in existance, from all spectrum (including "decostructionist" stuff). I leave up to you to what to make of this statement.
Futari Wa Pretty Cure (2004)
The 70's Kamen Rider/Sentai curse is back again
And you might wonder why I'm making the comparison, since this is supposedly a magical girl and not a tokusatsu. The reason is very simple: this series is not a magical girl but an animated Kamen Rider show with sprinkles of the Sentais under the disguise of a Magical girl show, something that more or less in the first half is well done and interesting until in the second half the curse of the first historical iteration of those shows (and only of those) strikes again and we're served with episodes that are one the exact same copy of the other in sequence (I know, tokus are repetitious by nature but not all at the level of the 70's Kamen Rider) until you're bored to death and you just want to go to the end to see the final confrontation. And if this show is the 70's Kamen Rider, I guess the next one (Max Heart) will be V3/JAKQ Dengekitai kind of experience, and me not being a particular fan of those (to be generous) it's not an help. I guess I'll have to look for a Kamen Rider Black of the Pretty Cure to get into this IP properly. Really disappointing I must say.
Cho ko senshi Changerion (1996)
The Shoujo Maestro of Tokus at his prime
And, of course, I'm referring to Toshiki Inoue, who is not just an excellent dramaturge able to express different emotions in a matter of minutes (as varied as the ones he will be able to make you feel) a là Ayako Wakao but he's also a 100% shoujo author in vein of the greats of the genre like Ryoko Ikeda, Keiko Takemiya, Mineo Maya and the likes, people from which it is clear-as-day at this point he took several cues for his writing like he took cues for from the Disney Princesses from Snow White on until the 90's classics like Beauty and the Beast, directly quoted in this awesome show, a blast to watch from start to finish. Add to the beforementioned shoujo and disney princess worship an healthy dose of mindbending stuff a là Hideaki Anno and Kunihiko Ikuhara without the flaws of these two (namingly, their ridicolous fake pretentiousness), an equally healthy dose of self humour and welcomed fanservice in the bra and panties of actual female lewd live-action artists taking part in this, and you have another certified toku Classic/Masterpiece a là Kamen Rider Kiva that I sincerely don't understand how it was cancelled because of low ratings, it makes no sense whatsoever. As an ending note, all the actors are very good in their performances but special recognition deserves Atsushi Ogawa for his portrayal of Shogo Kuroiwa, he did an excellent job.
Highly Recommended to all tokus aficionados and not just Inoue fans like me.
Sengoku rokku hagure-kiba (1973)
Fun period drama starring Meiko Kaji
Which might be the best thing I've seen of the lady (barring her best in the second female prisoner scorpio movie) since the small part she had in Yasuzo Masumura's Daichi no komoriuta, which is not exactly a 100% praise since I'm not particularly a fan of hers in terms of acting skills while I adore her Enka records. In this she plays the role of the protagonist Sae going through a series of misadventures a là Zatoichi with the supporting cast of two guys who just happen to be there every single time and, every single time, they end helping her. Interesting enough, if you're not 100% into Meiko Kaji as an actress (her best still being the second Female Prisoner Scorpio movie IMHO) but more into Yuji Ohno as a composer you might be interested in the fact that the maestro clearly took inspiration from his work in his Rupan Sansei series for the score he did for this one, as clear nods to the former will prove you. All in all, a nice and entertaining past time that I recommend if you're the people I mentioned. As always, thanks to Geo9875 for the subbing of this series, which you can find on his geowidth blog with all the stuff he has subbed to this day.
Mahou sentai Magirenjâ (2005)
The Sentais do it again!
And with that I mean the fact that, like it happened with the Spiderman Toku and the Avengers Toku going by the name of Battle Fever J, once again an IP that some people like myself never liked in the first place - in this instance, the useless Harry Potter movies - are translated into something even haters of said IP can fully enjoy, de facto trumping the original sources in every regards (it's no secret this Sentai was spawned by the success of the Harry Potter movies in Japan). It's also a nice reminder that, once again, the Sentais - barring the awful exception of the Big One from JAKQ Dengekitai, one of the worst sentai characters ever put on screen period - are better at giving the idea of a superhero team than the american mainstream products like the JSA, JLA and the Avengers (where you can always bet there's a member destroying the artificial need for said team to exist in the first place) because the connection between each member feels real and believable (in this case they're all siblings), maybe not at the same level of the 90's Sailor Moon but still very real and believable nonetheless. Also, having started this series because I wanted to see Machiko Soga's cameo in the role of an heavenly saint while I'm waiting for a Celestine The Living Saint from Warhammer 40K action figure to be delivered to me (courtesy of JoyToy), I'm very happy for her cameo in this series and in the linked movie, which is better and more sensical than the awful Abaranger movie by a mile even if Abaranger was better as a series on the whole. I also appreciated the fact that, as it will become clear towards the end, somebody apparently took notes from the underrated work Toshiki Inoue previously did with Choujin Sentai Jetman. As an ending note, this completely demolishes any reason to watch the american clone, this is the real thing and you don't need anything else to enjoy it because there's nothing difficult for a westerner to understand. Highly recommended.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (2008)
EA's last hurrah and a certified gaming classic
This is a really good sequel to the original Red Alert 2, highly enjoyable in every sense of the term even if it's not particularly difficult, at least if played at medium difficulty like I did. It perfectly recaptures the cheesiness of that one, meaning like in Red Alert 2 don't expect any meaningful plotline or grittyness of any kind (?) because you won't find them like you didn't find them in the original Westwood games. What you will find here in turn are improvements to the formula of those, in particular concerning the addition of water-based mechanics and a new awesome faction that even the developers must have seen as such themselves because it has the most interesting toys of all the three, particularly the awesome sukeban girl/psychic pilot of mechas (Tekkoku Mikazuki I'm looking at you)/commander Yuriko Omega. And, being myself an Otaku, I have no problems with it whatsoever. Oh, did I mention the high-quality videos sporting beautiful ladies in sexy attires? Those are a superipergigawelcome addition too. All in all, highly recommended, especially if you're an old Red Alert 2 fan and you've never tried it before because of the DRM stuff when it was originally released (in short, if you're like me).
P. S. This applies to the equally good expansion DLC, far more entertaining and well written - particularly the solo missions focused on Yuriko Omega - than stuff like SC Brood War and The Frozen Throne by a mile (change in the attire of the lovely Eva McKenna permitted).
Tekkôki Mikazuki (2000)
Another gem from Inoue Sensei!
Like the title says, this is another good series from one of the most underrated toku writers from the toku fandoms in conjunction with the talented director who made Chojin Sentai Jetman. If I had to give it a proper description it would be a mixture of Big mecha fights from the 70's, Evangelion (NOT copy-pasted like it happened with the terrible Raxhephon anime) sans the pretention and overdepressive for the sake of depressiveness tones but with messages that this time stick with the viewer, Ghost in The Shell and toku costumed fights, with well-written and directed drama the kind of which I'm already used from the main writer at this point. Very good stuff that is easily watchable in half a day, since it is only made of six episodes. All in all, as recommended as Chojin Sentai Jetman and the Kamen Rider series I've previously watched with Inoue as the main writer.
Chojin sentai Jettoman (1991)
Another very good series from Inoue Sensei!
Yup, this is another very good series from a screenwriter who could give some interesting ideas to overrated people in hollywood business on how to take a material from all spectrums and budget (from the most humble and low-cost to the most serious and filled to the brim with money) and make it impactful, provided of course you have a talent behind the camera screen like the director of this series. And the way is...to inject a lot of stuff taken from classic with a capital C anime shoujos like Versailles No Bara, Candy Candy, Mahou Tsukai Sally, The first Disney Princess movies etc. Etc. Etc., stuff that not only is directly quoted in the series by scenes, music and characters (for example Gai being mostly an impression of Terry from Candy Candy) but apparently people like me love with all themselves so it's a plus. The only real "problem" of this series in respect to my previous experience with Kamen Rider Kiva is the typical tokusatsu tendency to lose a bit of steam towards the end, something Kiva managed to avoid IMHO but unfortunately it didn't happen here, but again it's not a problem of anyone involved in the production of this series (not just the writer) but simply a tendency of all tokusatus series in general. All in all, highly recommended.
Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich (2005)
Again with the PC game expansion syndrome
And, of course, with that I mean that the improvements mainly to the graphical engine resulted in a story that was more contrived that the original one, gameplay that is not as polished as the original game and towards the end it is clear that the developers had lost any idea on how to keep the story fresh because there's an embarazzing number of reuses not only of the same bosses but also of the same locations, and when I say the same I mean the exact same locations with some slight changes. Also, as a golden age lover (like I said in my Freedom Force review, it's my favourite period in mainstream superhero comics of all times), I don't get why the hell the developers could not make a fully-flegded sequel mostly based around WW2 and nazi-kicking stuff instead of limiting it to some underused scenario and characters like they did with the original game (100% based on Silver Age comics and not 70's or 90's ones), particularly seeing how the introductory videos to each of the new characters show you the fact that somebody at Irrational Games actually read said comics and wanted to gather to fans of the period like me. I'm ok with the Dark Phoenix saga (its overuse as a source of videogame storytelling permitted), but the Dark Phoenix saga is from the friggin' 80's, not the 40's. Maybe it was because of fear of possible less sales due to them being far more focused on said period? Otherwise it makes no sense. It's still fun until it lasts and luckily there are still no signs of crappy, dated beyond repair decostructionism a là Watchmen and/or TDKR to be found here, but the disappointment - more or less at the same level of the one I felt for the luckluster All-Star Squadron series by Roy Thomas - for the fact that this could have been so much more remains. Me thinks I'll better stick to reading proper Golden Age superhero comics reprints if I want Golden Age superhero comics in the current era and nothing else.
P. S. Law best girl of this expansion (Eve is not really that present, this time) no questions attached.