#and i miss gogov so fucking bad

[mo-ok]

tokucember day 27 baby episode

GoGoV episode 24 - little kid rescue soldiers

[thatothercosplayer]

“Yo! Ikura-hakase here.” She waves. “I know things have been quiet lately, but there’s good reason for that. We’re hard at work on our first ever Summer movie! Exciting, right?” Ikura grins. “Unfortunately, until we finish, posts will be rather sparse. So, for now, I’m going to present a Top 5 to fill in the void of our absence!” 

A whiteboard rolls up out of nowhere, which has five long magnets covering up spots on it. 

“So, if you know anything about me as a person, you’d probably know I’m a huge Metal Hero fangirl. I mean...hello, I made Kyusha. But have you ever wandered what my personal favorites are? Well, wonder no more! I’m here to count down my personal favorite Metal Hero series! I’m going to set a few ground rules here. Given that there are two trilogies and a duology in the franchise, I’m going to limit myself to one entry each. So I can only choose one Space Sheriff, one Special Rescue team, and one B-Fighter team.” She blinks. “....that is, if I do put them in. And one more thing- this is probably gonna change. I mean, seriously, my favorites kind of change depending on what I’m in the mood for, but I love them all.  

#5 - Space Sheriff Sharivan

“I’m going to go ahead and get it out of the way- I love Gavan because he’s the original, and Shaider is....” Ikura pauses. “....well, Shaider, but when it comes to the Space Sherriffs I have to go with my boy in red, Sharivan. After all, I took a lot of my inspiration for Kyusha from him. Laser pistol? Finishers that end in ‘Crash’? Check, check, double check.” 

She clears her throat. “Anyways, Den Iga was a forest ranger from Inner Iga island. He was attacked and mortally wounded by the Buffalo Doubler, and sent off to Planet Bird by Retsu Ichijouji for some medical assistance. Impressed by his courage, Commander Qom of the Galactic Union Police (who Retsu works for) trains Den and eventually he becomes Sharivan, showing up in the last battle against Makuu to bail Gavan out of a tight spot. Afterwards, he remains stationed on Earth to fight against the Madou Space Crime Syndicate. They’re a totally different organization that definitely isn’t a pale imitation of the Makuu Space Mafia. Nope.” 

Ikura taps her chin. “Honestly, what isn’t there to like about Sharivan? His striking crimson electro-plate armor is sure to make an impression, and his spaceship turns into a giant robot thing that...admittedly, looks like a vacuum cleaner with legs, but still manages to look cool. Somehow. Not to mention, his theme is easily the catchiest out of the three Sheriffs. Heeeey booooy~” She starts humming to herself.

#4 - Tokusou Robo Janperson

“If Jiban is the Metal Hero franchise’s answer to Robocop, then Janperson is it’s answer to Robot Detective. Y’know, one of the more forgotten Shoutarou Ishinomori shows from the 70s?” Ikura clears her throat. “Anyways, what does Janperson do? Well....he fights for justice. Seriously! Over the course of his adventures he tears through four different criminal organizations. Damn! Janperson doesn’t fuck around!” 

“One of my favorite things is the way he announces his presence. The bad guys could be in the middle of a meeting or plot, then all of a sudden, a golden card with a star on it is embedded in the ground at their feet! It’s a JP-Card, which means Janperson has arrived to kick ass and take names! One thing that’s interesting for Janperson is that he follows in the footsteps of the Special Rescue trilogy and mainly fights criminals. Occasionally he fights runaway robots or killer cyborgs, but Janperson mostly goes up against assassins, mobsters, etc. That said, though, he’s still got a crazy big arsenal to boot! Cannons, wire punches, missiles, and lots and lots of guns. No wonder he defeats four criminal organizations- he mowed them all down with his weapons!��

“Now, as for his appearance, he’s purple, which makes him stand out pretty well. He doesn’t transform so much as he throws off his civilian clothes and put a combat visor on his face. That’s it. Because....well, he’s a robot. So, he’s kind of always on duty as a result. I really love his car- the main section can split into a helicopter, while the car becomes remote-controlled and has a giant frickin’ cannon in it! Subtlety, thy name is definitely not Janperson.” 

#3 -  Choujinki Metalder

“So remember the Kikaider duology? The tale of two cyborgs fighting against evil while struggling with what it means to be artificial life? Well, Metalder is their cousin, and he’s pissed. Created by  Dr. Ryūichirō Koga as a secret weapon in WWII, and modeled after the Dr.’s dead son, Tatsuo Koga. The Doctor ends up shelving Metalder due to his pacifism, and fucks off to the United States to go work for NASA. Then, Koga’s old partner, Kunio Muraki turns super evil and becomes the wicked God Neros, who creates an empire of machines. Dr. Koga discovers this, and Neros begins working to kill him. It’s been 42 years since he hid away Metalder, and he reawakens him. Giving him the name Ryusei Tsurugi, the Doctor dies to Neros’ forces, causing Ryusei to get pissed and become Metalder for the first time.” 

“Phew! That’s a lot to talk about. Metalder is a story about revenge. During his quest to defeat the Neros Empire, Ryusei befriends many people and learns a lot about emotions, life, and the world he fights to protect. In the end, he sacrifices his humanity in order to save the world, losing his ability to fight in the process.”

“If there’s one thing I can give Metalder credit for, it’s how freakin’ brutal the fights can be. Since Metalder is a cyborg, and he fights other robots and cyborgs, there are a lot of times where gets torn open, loses a limb, etc. Likewise, his enemies get pretty beaten up, too- they don’t always die in explosions. Sometimes they just get beaten until they’re dead. While there’s plenty of your typical toku tropes- y’know, explosions, calling out your attacks, and finishers- Metalder does just enough to make itself stand out a bit more from the rest of the Metal Heroes. While a bit on the short end, it’s a good watch.”

#2 - Jikuu Senshi Spielvan

“The planet Clin is destroyed by the Waller Empire, which is searching for its deity. Two children survive and escape to Earth aboard a ship named the Grand Nasca. The two grow up during the long journey and arrive on Earth to begin fighting against Clin to make sure that the same tragedy isn’t repeated. Along the way, Spielvan searches for his missing father and sister.”

“You wanna talk about space epics? Spielvan is probably the greatest example in the franchise. Seriously, I love the opening of Spielvan just because of the epic scope of it. Spielvan did a few things for the franchise that hadn’t been done up to that point; while previous heroes had female sidekicks, they never joined them in battle. Well, that all changed with Diana Lady, who fought alongside Spielvan pretty regularly.”

“The two claims to fame that Spielvan makes after that is his signature double bladed Laser Blade, which I also took inspiration from for Kyusha! Alongside that is the arc of Spielvan coming to learn that Hellvira, one of the Waller Empire’s strongest agents, was actually his brainwashed sister! Eventually he saves her and she joins up alongside them, becoming Helen Lady. Though....her suit is just a slightly different version of Diana Lady’s. Pretty lame, right? Well, regardless, Spielvan is freakin’ awesome. But.....it doesn’t beat my absolute favorite...”

#1 - Tokkei Winspector 

“I tried. I really tried to pick something other than Winspector for my number one spot. I love Solbrain, I love Exceedraft, but I have a soft spot for the original Special Rescue Police team. They fight criminals who are a bit too much for the regular police to handle- those that use superweapons, cyborgs, or other threats to commit crimes. Atop that, they also perform rescue in situations that are a bit too delicate for firefighters or other rescue services. The team consists of one human and two robots; Ryoma Kagawa, Fire, who acts as the leader and main investigator. His two partners are Walter, a green flying robot, and Bikel, a yellow motorcycle robot who speaks with a Nagoya dialect.” 

“Honestly, everything I love about Metal Hero can be seen on display in this series. The futuristic setting, the hard sci-fi influences, the cool gadgets, the intrigue, it’s all there. And what’s even better, despite not having any monsters of the week for the first time in the franchise’s history, Winspector has a lot more room to tell compelling stories as a result. You get stuff like fighting to get a cure for a super rare snake’s venom, defending a boy from a killer cyborg condor, chasing runaway robots, or taking out mad inventors. Don’t forget that the ever great Takayuki Miyauchi sings the theme for the series, which he also does for the two sequels, Solbrain and Exceedraft. Honestly, I could talk all day about this series. What’s great is that, even today there are spiritual successors in the form of Rescue Fire and GoGoV. Definitely worth checking out if you want a bit of a change of pace.” 

Ikura claps her hands together. “Well, that’s my top 5! Maybe one day I’ll have Keiko, Yuna, or Hikaru do one of these. Wouldn’t that be fun?? Anyways, that’s enough for now. I’ve got to get back to work.”