Posts Tagged ‘power rangers’
Originally published: June 4, 2006 @ 3:58am PST
Looking for previous installments? Click any of these links to view past segments: PART ONE, PART TWO, PART THREE or PART FOUR.
Pictured, left to right: Megapink, Go Yellow, Ginga Blue, Red Falcon and Big One join the Gaoranger against the enemy in Gaoranger Vs. Super Sentai!
And now for the final installment of our 5 part review of Gaorangers Vs. Super Sentai on DVD!
Gouki and Black are sitting on either side of the flowers as Gouki tells him that he knew Black would save the flowers which proved that he still had some fighting ability. With a smile, Gouki sends him off to fight Rakushasa and the others as we next see Red firing on Ship Org.
Daimon is lying on the fighting mat, facedown and yelling at Blue to go easy on him since he’s found his own strength again. Right after picking Daimon up off the mat, some Orgettes appear. Daimon goes to change but Blue tells him that they’re his, as Red fires on Cell Phone Org….
Yellow is on the cliff still with Amamiya, and in one of the coolest parts of the movie, lets out a scream as his costume appears on him. Amamiya just tells him to come, as he changes to Red Falcon, and they go at each other but Yellow disappears. Red Falcon looks around for him and then he swoops down on Falcon, swinging with his sword. They clash several times, then the swords lock against each other as Yellow grabs for his dagger and holds it to Red Falcon’s throat. Falcon tells him, "Very well. That’s your real sword." Yellow turns and walks away, saying, "Hold on, Red." What I love about this part is that Red destroyed the various Orgs just as the Rangers who originally defeated them got their courage back.
Red comes out of the dream world still wrapped in Rakushasa’s tentacle. Rakushasa wonders how he was able to fight and not be defeated; Red tells him it’s because of his friends. Rakushasa says that, in that case, he’ll just kill him and starts to constrict the coil.
Pictured: A Massive Mecha Attack in Gaoranger Vs. Super Sentai
Miku and White are by the bay talking as Miku relates to her the experience she had when she’d left her team and they told her they needed her. She then hands White back her phone when Tsue Tsue finally catches up to them. Yaba-Iva appears, telling Tsue Tsue that Rakushasa said to kill them so the girls start to get ready to transform when a voice calls out "Wait!" They turn to see the old monk walking towards them. Everyone there looks at him curiously, as he raises his hand with a "Come get some" gesture. Tsue Tsue has the Orgettes attack but they get beaten by the monk who then tosses his hat and monk outfit revealing himself as Banba Soukichi, leader of the Electric Corp JAQK. He then tells them, "Nice to meet you." Tsue Tsue calls him a snob and fires at him. He dodges away, throwing roses at the two Dukes which stick to their foreheads, then explode. Yaba-Iba fires off his knives but Soukichi deflects them back at the two and knocks them into the water. After this, Banba talks to Miku and White, who admits that she’d let the others in the group define who she was rather than stand on her own. She tells them she is going to go back to help and she runs back, thanking them for the help. We then see Blue, Black and Yellow all returning to the battlefield from their own directions, ready to participate in the final battle.
This movie is just amazing to me. It seems like I always notice something different with every new viewing. The creators of the original series probably never realized how enduring the concept would become, as it’s not only lasted almost 30 years now, in Japan, but also almost reached it’s 15th anniversary here in the US as Power Rangers. The end battle is really special, as well, as not only the five Gaorangers participate but the other five as well (Red Falcon, Megapink, Go Yellow, Ginga Blue and Banba Soukichi as Big One) – but it doesn’t end there. By the end, there is a huge line-up as the previous 24 Red Rangers line up to inspire the existing Rangers for their attack. I know this is weird, especially after how detailed the review has been so far, but I don’t want to spoil everything for the readers who decide they’d like to view this DVD for themselves.
So now on to the rating. As far as I’m concerned, this is the pinnacle of Sentai and not much can be better than what we see here. There are a few translation errors in the subtitles (a couple of examples: the word Bastard in place of Buster for Gao Red’s attack, the mistranslation of Red Hawk’s name to Red Eagle in the final line-up, etc.), but that’s not enough to drive the score down at all and so my final score is: 5 out of 5. Until next time, this is Red Hawk, signing out!
Originally published: June 03, 2006 @ 3:25am PST
Pictured: Gouki (aka Ginga Blue) from Gingaman
"How can a frightened sword like that defeat enemies?"
- Red Falcon (aka Yuusuke Amamiya in Liveman
Let’s continue the review of Gaoranger Vs. Super Sentai on DVD from where we left off in Part 3… (Click any of these links to view previous articles: PART ONE, PART TWO or PART THREE)
Back to Black who’s now begging Ginga Blue (Gouki) to help train him. Gouki tells him he can’t teach him how to be strong but Black doesn’t take no for an answer and gets on his knees, bowing in front of him, repeating "Please! Please!" Gouki finally accedes but tells him first, "There are many who are stronger than I am," and we go into his montage of cut scenes, this time showing the strongest of the various teams. So much footage to go through, but my favorites are the Yellow Ranger from Goranger (several grunts running at him but he grabs the front grunt, throwing them, yelling "Do you dare to face me?!"), Yellow Owl from Jetman (running in to hurl a boulder at the Sewing Machine monster), Mammoth Ranger and Dragon Ranger from Zyuranger (Dragon Ranger picking up a large column and using it as a club against several Golems [Putties] before advancing on Grifforzor [Goldar] with it), and finally Megablack (the first of several crotch shots in the movie, done on a Kunekune [Craterite]). Next we see a shot of Gouki getting a pep talk from the rest of his group, where he got his resolve and ability to harness his strength. Gao Black, however, is still unconvinced. He tells Gouki that he can’t do anything so Gouki will have to fight in his place. Gouki, looking disappointed, starts walking away. Black looks up and sees him walking towards some flowers and without thinking, he dives and catches Gouki’s foot before it lands on the flowers, which flips him over. Gouki turns and grins at him. In the dream world Red is being attacked by Wedding Dress Org with the "Promised Candle Attack", when he remembers that Black defeated the Org’s attack with water from a fountain. Red jumps for another fountain and tries the same thing and it works.
Pictured: Banba Souichi (aka Big One) from JAQK
Blue is being trained by his new teacher Daimon, the former Go Yellow, but not making much progress. Upset with him, Daimon goes to his bag and tells Blue that he needs, "THIS!" and holds out a carton of milk. He then proceeds to tell him, "Milk is the flame of life!" then telling him how it’s needed to unlock the special moves he’d learned from his sensei. We cut to his flashback of being beaten by a monster who’d studied his former sensei’s moves, but we see how Daimon kept getting up. Finally, he told the monster that there was power in this move that his teacher taught him and he drank a whole carton of milk, then performed the "Milk Tornado" move. He then explains to Blue about how it wasn’t just the enemies that got stronger but that Blue got weaker. He tells (through stock footage) about how the warriors innovated moves, not simply relying on the same ones over and over. A lot of these are really good, with some of the best being in Gingaman (really funny shots), Zyuranger’s Tiger Ranger splitting so that he can fight multiple enemies, etc. Blue admits that he lost once and thought that he’d never win again, so Daimon holds out the milk carton to him. Blue accepts it with a smile and drinks it all down. In the dream world Red is fighting Ship Org and he remembers how Blue had defeated him by dropping down on him with his claw, so he mimics him. Rakushasa is surprised that the battle’s still going.
Yellow is being trained in sword fighting by Red Falcon (Yuusuke Amamiya) and again, not doing well. Amamiya hits Yellow, asking him how such a scared sword can fight. He flashes back to when an enemy almost killed him and how his team’s assistant, a robot named Coron, jumped in front of the sword and took the hit. This caused him to realize not to be afraid of the enemy’s attacks. He then tells Yellow, like the others, that there are many swordsmen better than him. This is one of my favorite sequences, stock footage-wise. There are so many great sword sequences on this DVD. Some favorites include Black Condor fighting with Grey from Jetman, one of the Dairanger fighting a huge-clawed monster in somewhat slow motion, Red Racer from Carranger fighting with a monster on the front of the mecha. In the end, it left Yellow with a lot to think about. Meanwhile, in the dream world, Red is now fighting Cell Phone Org. He remembers how Yellow defeated the monster and repeats his maneuvers, slamming him against the walls and into the ground. He then starts firing on Wedding Dress Org….
Tune in tommorrow for the final installment of this review! (Click here to see PART FIVE – the final installment!)
Originally published: June 02, 2006 @ 4:51am PST
Looking for the first two parts? Click here for Part One or click here for Part Two.
Pictured: Red Falcon fighting Yaba-Iba
"Milk is the flame of life!" – Daimon (aka Go Yellow) in GoGo V
Once again, there are MAJOR spoilers in this review, so read at your own risk!
After the monster encounter for Red, we find White trying to get her phone back from the mysterious girl from the arcade. As they round a corner, Tsue Tsue and some Orgettes are waiting for them up a flight of stairs. Tsue Tsue says, "I have you now, little kitten," and while White asks again for the phone the other girl grabs her and leads her away quickly. Next, we see the girls in school uniforms with White still being frustrated from the other girl keeping her phone away. Their escape from Tsue Tsue is short-lived, however, as she appears nearby with her army again. The girls run away, with Tsue Tsue following, but a staff flies out and trips her up. The scene changes to an indoor waterpark and the girls are now in swimsuits. White asks the girl what’s going on and she responds with a question, "Haven’t you ever done this before? Changing clothes, all women Rangers do it." White looks rather dumbfounded…
Pictured: Gao White & Megapink
We cut from there to a montage of cut scenes from the various Sentai series, showing examples of how the women on the shows have disguised themselves or just looked different from their usual attire. Some of my favorites shown are from Bioman
(the girl on there, disguised as a cop, puts handcuffs on the General, Monster and his underling), Zyuranger’s Mei changing costumes repeatedly when fighting an enemy (turning into a nun and saying, "Repent to God", before changing into a wedding dress and grabbing something away from her enemy) and Kakuranger (a group of girls who fight injustice, similar to Sailor Moon), but there are a lot more than those. The narrator’s voice says, "But is that all women fighters do?" The mysterious girl tells her "Of course not" and then we go into more footage – this time of the various women in battle in their costumes. My favorites from this part are the two Jetman sequences (White Swan fighting the Fortune Telling monster and Blue Swallow fighting Maria) but again, there’s a lot of footage besides those. At the end of this sequence, the girl, Miku, who was Megapink in Megaranger (Power Rangers in Space), tells White that the woman of the group is just as important as everyone else and that she’s a must for the team. She also tells her that nothing good will come of worrying too much and then as they decide to go for a swim they’re stopped by laughter. They turn and see Tsue Tsue, who’s also changed her outfit, this time in almost a leopard or cheetah print swimsuit and her hair down long, wearing sunglasses. She tells them nothing good will come anyway and a group of other women stand next to her… the women start to crouch and put their hands to their heads as they change into Orgettes, who rush the girls in the pool (you can kind of tell that they shot this at least one other time… the Orgette costumes are wet before they even hit the water). The girls fend them off, though (including a nasty-looking hip bump against a rock) and run away, with Tsue Tsue chasing after them… however, she’s tripped up by a flying hat this time and goes splashing in the water. We cut to Red, who’s still fighting and won’t give up… he changes into his costume…
To be continued in our 4th installment! (Go to PART FOUR by CLICKING THIS LINK)
Originally published: May 30, 2006 @ 11:42pm PST
"Despair is waiting for you." – Hagura Highness Rakushasa
Two years ago I was searching for a way to get ahold of Sentai shows without having to pay super-outrageous fees to get them from overseas. I looked at eBay, I looked at tape trading yet almost nothing was available to me (eBay had some on occasion but not reliably enough, and most tape traders had what I was looking for but not complete sets). I tried one website that seemed good, with reasonable prices, but never got an e-mail back about whether they were still around or not. That’s when I started researching Godzilla movies and came across Video Daikaiju. The company has been around for years, even before the web was up (they’d advertise in the back of Godzilla fanzines). In addition to Godzilla films they have an incredible catalog of tokusatsu series… Sentai, Metal Hero, Ultraman, Kamen Rider, you name it, they seem to have something to cover it. So after I received my catalog, I sent off my first order: the first three volumes of Jetman, Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo and Gaoranger Vs. Super Sentai.
I got my order a couple weeks later and that night I popped the DVD in my PS2 to watch – I was floored!
The movie, a 25th anniversary project, was incredible and, in my opinion, WAY better than anything we were shown here in the US as Power Rangers. This title was also the inspiration for the Wild Force episode Forever Red that celebrated the American Power Rangers‘ 10th anniversary. The ending sequence in particular is simply amazing.
Since some of the footage shown is of what we got as Power Rangers, I’ll do my best to mention the American version’s name along with the Japanese name. Also, in the American version of Gaoranger (Wild Force), they made the Yellow Ranger a woman… in Japan, though, it’s a man. One more caveat: I’m going by the subtitled version that I bought. I know of at least one site that also reviewed the movie whose rundown of the movie is slightly different in places. There will be MAJOR spoilers in this review, too, just to let you know ahead of time.
We open with a view of the earth as a voice tells us about what a precious jewel it is, but how many dangerous enemies have appeared to try to extinguish life from it. As the voice says this we see flashes of various major enemies from the Sentai series over the years… the Black Cross Fuhrer from Goranger, the first sentai series; Queen Hedrian from Denjiman, the fourth series; Chimera from Dynaman; Emperor Tranza of Jetman; Lira of Timeranger (Time Force’s inspiration for Nadira); the rulers of the Machine Empire from Ohranger/Zeo; Megaranger’s villains (the only one American audiences would recognize is "Ecliptor" from Power Rangers in Space); a pair of villains from Carranger, one of which is Rygog from Power Rangers Turbo; the villains from Gingaman (Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy); finally, Zylpheeza from GoGo V (Diabolico of Lightspeed Rescue). The voice next explains that there has also been many heroes to save the earth, accompanied by flashes of the 24 hero teams, followed by a pandown shot on an abandoned, forested area… abandoned, except by a group of figures in the distance, with five people running towards them. The group of figures is the Org; a group of Orgettes (Putrids) led by Yaba-Iba (Jindrax) and Tsue Tsue (Toxica). The five stop before them and tell them they’re going to stop them, then they change into their hero costumes… the Gaoranger… as the opening credits roll.
Once in costume, the heroes dive into battle, laying waste to any Orgettes that get in their way. Gao Yellow goes after Yaba-Iba, their longtime rivalry flaring up again, until Yellow smashes him into a cliff. Yaba-Iba asks Tsue Tsue if she’s sure it’s the right place… immediately afterwards the earth rumbles, we see a glimps of a large purple horn, and some smoke comes up from underground. The quake ends, and the Duke Orgs’ horns turn gold… the Orgettes horns get larger, as well. The villains challenge the Rangers again and the battle is joined once more…
(Editor’s note: I found something too cool not to mention so.. I’m mentioning it. Check THIS out: Lego Sentai Fortress!)
Looking for PART TWO? Simply click THIS LINK
Originally posted: May 20, 2006 @ 11:45pm PST
Don’t mean to start this on a downer note but I just found out that one of my favorite Japanese actresses passed away last week. Machiko Soga, known to most United States Power Rangers fans as Rita Repulsa (She’s mentioned here!)
from the first season of the series (in Japan, she was known as Bandora), passed away May 7th, 2006.
Many sentai fans will miss her. I first came across her on Power Rangers and always wondered what she was really saying (since she was dubbed with a voiceover) as well as anything else I might have been missing. So I did everything I could to research into the original shows and learn as much as possible. This led to my interest in sentai and I quickly sought out a place where I could acquire the original Japanese shows. Luckily I found a site that hosted four Zyuranger episodes (If you can believe it, I found the soundtrack!), a Carranger (And a soundtrack to that, too!) aka Power Rangers Turbo episode and the Ohranger/Kakuranger movie (Yet another soundtrack, folks!!) (what American audiences got as a two part episode of Power Rangers Zeo).
I encourage anyone who’s interested in these series to search as much as you can for them and anything else you enjoy (or enjoyed) as a child. There might be a whole side of your favorite series that you might have missed out on, not knowing any better. I almost forgot to put this in – it’s a video of Machiko Soga as Bandora, singing a song as she’s going down to the beach to meet the Dragonranger on Zyuranger. Some of the footage was used in Power Rangers, but naturally the song was cut out:
Sorry.. the video’s gone now 
The song is really fun and upbeat. Makes me wish I knew what she was singing. 
Update: Red Hawk found us a new video! You can find it by clicking: THIS LINK
