#denji itou

[mechadeimos]

[mateushonrado]

Status Post #8045: Super Sentai 1-100

Row 1 - Goranger [Akaranger (Red): Tsuyoshi Kaijo (Naoya Makoto), Aoranger (Blue): Akira Shimnei (Hiroshi Miyauchi), Kiranger (Yellow): Daita Oiwa (Baku Hatakeyama), Momoranger (Pink): Peggy Matsuyama (Lisa Komaki) and Midoranger (Green): Kenji Asuka (Yukio Itou)] and JAKQ [Spade Ace (Red): Goro Sakurai (Yoshitaka Tanba), Dia Jack (Blue): Ryu Higashi (Tairayama Itou), Heart Queen (Pink): Karen Mizuki (Mitchi Love), Clover King (Green): Bunta Daichi (Yuusuke Kazato) and Big One (White): Sokichi Banba (Hiroshi Miyauchi)]

Row 2 - Battle Fever J [Battle Japan (Red): Masao Den (Hironori Tanioka), Battle France (Blue): Kyousuke Shida (Yuuhei Kurachi), Battle Cossack (Orange): Makoto Jin (Naoya Ban), Battle Kenya (Black): Shirou Akebono (Kenji Ohba) and Miss America (Pink): Maria Nagisa (Naomi Hagi)] and Denjiman [Denji Red: Ippei Akagi (Shinichi Yuuki), Denji Blue: Daigoro Oume (Kenji Ohba), Denji Yellow: Jun Kiyama (Eiichi Tsuyama), Denji Green: Tatsuya Midorikawa (Naoya Uchida) and Denji Pink: Akira Momoi (Akira Koizumi)]

Row 3 - Sun Vulcan [Vul Eagle (Red): Takayuki Hiba (Takayuki Godai), Vul Shark (Blue): Kin'ya Samejima (Kin'ya Sugi) and Vul Panther (Yellow): Asao Hyou (Asao Kobayashi)], Goggle-V [Goggle Red: Kenichi Akama (Ryouji Akagi), Goggle Black: Kanpei Kuroda (Jyunichi Haruta), Goggle Blue: Saburo Aoyama (Shigeki Ishii), Goggle Yellow: Futoshi Kijima (Sanpei Godai) and Goggle Pink: Miki Momozono (Megumi Ogawa)] and Dynaman (Red and Black) [Dyna Red: Hokuto Dan (Satoshi Okita) and Dyna Black: Ryuu Hoshikawa (Jyunchi Haruta)]

Row 4 - Dynaman (Blue, Yellow and Pink) [Dyna Blue: Yousuke Shima (Kouji Unogi), Dyna Yellow: Kousaku Nangou (Yuu Tokita) and Dyna Pink: Rei Tachibana (Sayoko Hagiwara)], Bioman [Red One: Shirou Gou (Ryosuke Sakamoto), Green Two: Shingo Takasugi (Naoto Ota), Blue Three: Ryuuta Nanbara (Akita Osuga), Yellow Four: Jun Yabuki (Sumiko Tanaka) and Pink Five: Hikaru Katsuragi (Michiko Makino)] and Changeman (Red and Black) [Change Dragon (Red): Hiryu Tsurugi (Haruki Hamada) and Change Griffin (Black): Shou Hayate (Kazuoki Takahashi)]

Row 5 - Changeman (Blue, White and Pink) [Change Pegasus (Blue): Yuma Ozora (Shiro Izumi), Change Mermaid (White): Sayaka Nagisa (Hiroko Nishimoto) and Change Phoenix (Pink): Mai Tsubasa (Mai Ooishi)], Flashman [Red Flash: Jin (Touta Tarumi), Green Flash: Dai (Kihachiro Uemura), Blue Flash: Bun (Yasuhiro Ishiwata), Yellow Flash: Sara Tokimura (Youko Nakamura) and Pink Flash: Lou (Mayumi Yoshida)] and Maskman (Red and Black) [Red Mask: Takeru (Ryousuke Kaizu) and Black Mask: Kenta (Koichi Kusakari)]

Row 6 - Maskman (Blue, Yellow and Pink) [Blue Mask: Akira (Issei Hirota), Yellow Mask: Haruka (Yuki Nagata) and Pink Mask: Momoko (Kanako Maeda)], Liveman [Red Falcon: Yuusuke Amamiya (Daisuke Shima), Yellow Lion: Joh Ohara (Kazuhiko Nishimura), Blue Dolphin: Megumi Misaki (Megumi Mori), Black Bison: Tetsuya Yano (Seirou Yamaguchi) and Green Sai: Jun'ichi Aikawa (Jin Kawamoto)] and Turboranger (Red and Black) [Red Turbo: Riki Honoo (Kenta Satou) and Black Turbo: Daichi Yamagata (Fumiaki Ganaha)]

Row 7 - Turboranger (Blue, Yellow and Pink) [Blue Turbo: Youhei Hama (Keiya Asakura), Yellow Turbo: Shunsuke Hino (Junichiro Katagiri) and Pink Turbo: Haruna Morikawa (Yoshiko Iwaya)], Fiveman [Five Red: Gaku Hoshikawa (Toshiya Fuji), Five Blue: Ken Hoshikawa (Kei Sindachiya), Five Black: Fumiya Hoshikawa (Ryohei Kobayashi), Five Pink: Kazumi Hoshikawa (Kazuko Miyata) and Five Yellow: Remi Hoshikawa (Ryo Narushima)] and Jetman (Red and Black) [Red Hawk: Ryu Tendo (Kotaro Tanaka) and Black Condor: Gai Yuki (Toshihide Wakamatsu)]

Row 8 - Jetman (Yellow, White and Blue) [Yellow Owl: Raita Ooishi (Tomihisa Naruse), White Swan: Kaori Rokumeikan (Rika Kishida) and Blue Swallow: Ako Hayasaka (Sayuri Uchida)], Zyuranger [Tyranno Ranger (Red): Geki (Yuta Mochizuki), Mammoth Ranger (Black): Goushi (Seiju Umon), Tricera Ranger (Blue): Dan (Hideki Fujiwara), Tiger Ranger (Yellow): Boi (Takumi Hashimoto), Ptera Ranger (Pink): Mei (Reiko Chiba) and Dragon Ranger (Green): Burai (Shiro Izumi)] and Dairanger (Red) [Ryuu Ranger (Red): Ryo (Keiichi Wada)]

Row 9 - Dairanger (Green, Blue, Yellow, Pink and White) [Shishi Ranger (Green): Daigo (Tatsuya Nomi), Tenma Ranger (Blue): Shoji (Ei Hamura), Kirin Ranger (Yellow): Kazu (Keisuke Tsuchiya), Houou Ranger (Pink): Lin (Natsuki Takahashi) and Kiba Ranger (White): Kou (Hisashi Sakai)] and Kakuranger [Ninja Red: Sasuke (Teruaki Ogawa), Ninja White: Tsuruhime (Satomi Hirose), Ninja Blue: Saizou (Hiroshi Tsuchida), Ninja Yellow: Seikai (Shu Kawai) and Ninja Black: Jiraiya (Kane Kosugi)]

Row 10 - Kakuranger (Navy) [Extra Hero (Navy): Ninjaman (Hideaki Kusaka, voiced by Kazuki Yao)], Ohranger [Oh Red: Goro Hoshino (Masaru Shishido), Oh Green: Shouhei Yokkaichi (Kunio Masaoka), Oh Blue: Yuji Mita (Masashi Goda), Oh Yellow: Juri Nijou (Ayumi Aso), Oh Pink: Momo Maruo (Tamao Sato) and King Ranger (Black): Riki (Shoji Yamaguchi)] and Carranger (Red, Blue and Green) [Red Racer: Kyosuke Jinnai (Yuji Kishi), Blue Racer: Naoki Domon (Yoshihiro Masujima) and Green Racer: Minoru Uesugi (Yoshihiro Fukuda)]

[furederiko]

A School of Stars!!! Time to go back to class... or in Kyuranger's case, HALF of its members actually attends one! NOTE: This recap-view could have been released much sooner. In fact, I had planned to publish it several days earlier, since the show didn't air last Sunday. But as always, my health got in the way that I simply couldn't finish this piece until... just now. My body and bad weathers are definitely at odds with each other... T_T

- "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: High School Wars" is a spin-off from the recently released "Episode of Stinger" V-Cinema bluray. This web-series is made available on TOEI Tokusatsu Fan Club app on September 9th, 2017, and will be concluded by a special 5th episode to be released on DVD. Technically, both "High School Wars" and "Episode of Stinger" CAN be regarded as unofficial 49th and 50th episode (though the latter alone has the duration of more). - If we put all currently available "High School Wars" episodes into one, it serves as a full 22.42 minutes feature, which is the average length of a weekly broadcast. Episode 1 (including opening, excluding credits and preview) is 5.12 minutes, Episode 2 is 05.40, Episode 3 is 6.20, and Episode 4 is 5.30 minutes. - Each episodes for "High School Wars" is called 'Period'. In chronological order, they can be generally translated as "Morning Assembly" (Chourei) , "Art Class" (Bijutsu), "Science Class" (Rika), "Physical Education" (Taiiku), and "Suplementary Exam" (Suishi). - For the record, this recap-view does not cover the last one, because as far as I know, it's not released yet (nor has an official release date). It might however, plays out in parallel to the "Episode of Stinger" storyline. FYI, the plot of its first 4 episodes bleeds directly to that V-Cinema story. A direct prologue, if you will. Anyway, I'll be recap-viewing these 4 available episodes separately below (in the style of my take on "Kamen Rider Build"). Read on...

01 - "Commander's Mischief"

- Rebellions sans Tsurugi, receive an undercover mission by Commander Xiao. Their destination is Planet 3B (TV-Nihon, to which this review is based, fansubbed it as such, eventhough other outlets called it as 'Sleeby' or 'Sleevy') of the Norma System. Jark Matter has installed their largest education facility, obviously using one to brainwash people to be their minions. Our Away Team is sent to inflitrate and defeat its Malistrate. - The name of this planet is clearly a shoutout to actor Tetsuya Takeda's popular drama series "3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei". Raptor even mimics the gesture of Takeda's character when she utters its name. This is a well-known and popularly used gag in Japanese entertainment. Pretty much most if not all parody shows have included nods to this long-running show. - Best part of this episode, is when an unusually giddy Xiao practically spills the bean about one important thing: that the Kyulette system is rigged. As it turns out, he's been hiding the Kyu Globes of several members to ensure the outcome for the rest! And Raptor says, that it's NOT the first time. LOL. Even better, he claims that it's due to "conditions to production", a statement that sounds 'odd' to the others, but works so darn well as a brilliant joke to us audience. I've said before, how Xiao is parroting like a TOEI executive or producer. This is yet another very meta-joke that reinforces that notion! Also, do you notice that the first selected Away Team consists of all suit-characters and not the human ones? There's this unconfirmed fact that it's considerably cheaper to use voice + suit actors instead of the young talents. Hence... productional conditions. LOL. - As much as I would love to see the entire cast wearing school uniforms (Raptor has prepared for ALL of them, Garu's in particular looks Yankee-cool), Kyulette actually ends up choosing all the human cast. Human-looking one of course, if we factor the case of Stinger. All dressed up to portray different kind of student stereotypes, the Away Team heads to Planet 3B. While at the same time, Xiao needs to do some explaining to Champ, Garu, and Balance. - By the way, Raptor's comment that it would be nice to wear uniform, could be a neat callback to when her voice actress dressed up as a maid in one of Go-kaiger's episode. Notice that she's wearing Spada's chef-hat while saying this? So sweet. And Balance's concern about Naga and brainwashing is certainly a jab to his Dark-Naga arc. Lucky's outfit and the high school angle in general, in a way serves as a homage to "Denji Sentai Megaranger" as well. Don't forget, it was the first season/series that aired on 07.30 JST, while Kyuranger is the last to air on the schedule.

Comment: This was undeniably my favorite episode of these web-series. Not just because every members are onboard, but the jokes were simply spot-on, and I just love all those the minor details included here. Especially that brilliant nod to "Kinpachi-sensei" that I didn't catch on my first viewing.

02 - "How Great Thou Art"

- Our Away Team arrives on the facility, and the web-series' face-slapping running gag starts here. Each time the school bell rings, the boys instantly get brainwashed. Lucky becomes lazy, Stinger is all smiley and giggly, Naga is twitching, Spada mopes like a fish, and Kotarou looks... high. Yikes! That's disturbing to see. Hammy is luckily wearing a headset (appropriately in green), most likely listening to Hoshi Minato's song. Thus she gets the privilege to... ugh, slap the others back to their senses. - Their first 'enemy' is Student Council President Indaver, voiced by... *drumrolls* Yousuke Itou, who is none other than Deka Green Sen-chan himself! This is his second participation in Kyuranger, following that minor guest appearance in the "Space Squad" crossover episode. The Indaver points out Naga's silver hair and Hammy as violation to the all-boys school. He challenges the team for a three-rounds duel. - Subject is... ART. Lucky wins the first, eventhough his painting doesn't resemble like the model. Spada loses the second, but he most definitely wins the joke of the day by drawing a delectable fruit parfait as his rendition of a basket of fruits. His chef jokes, smooth catchy foreign phrases, and dandy mannerism never ceases to amaze me. "Originality is vital in cooking!", he says. LOL. Naga is up to do the last task, and it has the most challenging model: the idol Hoshi Minato! Turning this episode into a small "Magiranger vs Dekaranger" flick. - Of course, the final duel's result plays for laughs, as Minato chooses Naga's more gorgeous shoujo-manga rendition as the result, compared to Council President's more realistic one. Angry about this, Council President tries to attack Naga, but Minato hands him the #59 Pictor Kyu Globe to... paint the Indaver's defeat. Ouch! Minato then leaves the room by repeatedly saying "THANK YOU"... or "SAN-KYU" in Japanese. Get it? 3-9? :D - Minato's appearance is nice and all, considering he's underused in the TV series. Unfortunately, it also serves as the most problematic aspect of this web-series. Particularly, in 'WHEN' this series take place. As I said on the extra note for episode 35, Hoshi still has the creepy puppet on his shoulder here. The general assumption is that he's still under the influence of Don Armage. Am I right? But why does he hand out a Kyu Globe then? It does NOT make sense. This action implies that Minato's already a supporter for the Kyuranger, because he's been rallying against Jark Matter since episode 36. Then again, it contradicts the fact that he can even walk freely into this school! Why would Jark Matter let him in if he's supporting the Rebellion, right? - The easiest way to address this, is by ignoring two things: First, the puppet's significance. Hoshi clearly has ditched it ever since he was freed from control, so let's just assume he put it back in as... I don't know, random accessory? Second, Hammy's odd reaction, as if she hasn't met Hoshi before inspite of the aftermath of Pavo's Got Talent. Let's just assume she's fangirling or something. These two measures will allow this spin-off to take place AFTER episode 35, so it makes more sense. Probably not BEFORE episode 36 though... because well, let's just say, the ending of "Episode of Stinger" will contradict this even further. Does that sound confusing? Oh well, let's just proceed to the next period for now...

Comment: In general, it's a fun episode with both Spada and Naga being the episode's MVP. Not to mention, that brief yaoi slur between Magi Yellow and Ophiucus Silver would make their respective fans glee in fangasmic joy. Unfortunately, as I've pointed out above, it's also a major flaw in design. Placing this web-series in the continuity have become... conflicting, all thanks to this one episode. Such a big shame, because the show has been VERY good at keeping things in check prior to this.

03 - "The 88 Quiz"

- Spada and Kotarou discover that they are all trapped inside the classroom. The only way to get out, is by defeating the next 'enemy' that comes walking in. Oh, yes... there's that face-slapping bit again. Yeesh, this gag gets tired REALLY FAST. - Next subject that our Away Team needs to overcome... is Science. In charge of this subject, is the female Vice Principal Indaver, who apparently is the mother of the Student Council President. This one isn't voiced by a Super Sentai alumn, but by Sakura Miyajima from Project R. who... is also a Super Sentai Super-Fan. Duh? - And the new task involves... massive information dump! This is the infamous episode that basically confirms ALL entries of the 88 Kyu Globes. Yes, the listing has been kept wrapped as a tight mystery ever since the show started, yet this one decides to blatantly ignore that restriction and unveils all of them in one strike. Thus, we get a detail Constellation Systems shoutout from #01 Leo until #88 Puppis (Argo Navis and the special ones are not included). LOL. By the way, did you know that the naming is deliberately done in Japanese and not Latin, to avoid similarity to "Saint Seiya"? Tom Constantine of The Tokusatsu Network recently shared this enlightening fact. - What strikes me as peculiar here... is that Tsurugi hasn't been around or even mentioned thus far. Even during this Constellation quiz, Phoenix isn't referenced to him, eventhough Hammy clearly points out the Argo components. It gives off another conflicting impression, that this web-series takes place before Tsurugi's debut in episode 21. I might be reading too much on this, but what if... the web-series was filmed before Tsurugi's actor join the team? On the other hand, Naga's emotion clearly indicates that it at least takes place after episode 31. See? Contradictory indeed! - Anyway, Kotarou gets to be the focus of this episode, because the final 4 missing Constellations relies heavily on his educational background. As in, only those who goes to school SHOULD know them. Hmmmm... really? I'd argue that's not entirely accurate (you'll see why... on the next part), but... let's just play along. - Vice Principal is defeated, hence the big baddie shows up to confront our team. Not only Principal Indaver is the wife of Vice Principal and naturally father of Student Council, and the Malistrate of Planet 3B, but he's also voiced by Yousuke Itou. "There are logistical reasons for why our faces are the same", he says, practically screaming "budgetary limitations" to our ears. His spotlight is saved for the next episode, as a seventh Kyuranger member joins in... simply because his inclusion will be necessary. How so? Read on...

Comment: Biggest highlight from this episode, is undeniably the complete listing to EVERY Kyu Globes. Whether the ones that have been used, or haven't in any form of the series (TV, V-Cinemas, Summer Movie, and/or random sweepstakes). Sadly, it came bringing another continuity issue, though not as massive as the previous one. It's enough to bother me to the bones though...

04 - "Useless Kyu Globes"

- We have arrived in the final part... considering the 5th episode is called 'Suplementary'. And things get... physical this time around. A Super Sentai episode needs to contain a fully-suited action sequence, as well as giant mecha battle. This is where we get both for "High School Wars". Well, one half of it, to be precise. - That 7th Kyuranger I mentioned above? Who else but Champ. But why is his inclusion (and not any other members) necessary? Because... he's the lead supporting character in "Episode of Stinger", being its lead protagonist's partner and all. For your information, this episode directly cuts to the V-Cinema, so Champ's presence is urgently required. So nope, he's not just there because Chamaeleon Green's slap-fest no longer in effect to cure the pesky brainwashing gag. - By the way, Champ arrives wearing a delinquent-style costume. Similar to the one worn by Gentarou of "Kamen Rider Fourze", or Jousuke in "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable". If only we can see the others in their cosplays too. - Those 4 supposedly school-related Constellations? The Kyurangers actually utilize their Kyu Globes in the battle against a kendo-based Principal Indaver, so it's time to talk about... why I have issues with them. I can give #49 Circinus and #46 Norma a pass, because compass (the mathematical tool, NOT one used for navigation... that's assigned to Pyxis) and ruler are used at school, eventhough Norma is specifically a Carpenter's Level. But #79 Sextans and #80 Octans? Both Sextant and Octant are navigational tools generally used for NAVAL exploration. How on Earth would Kotarou knew or even used them both at school?! He must have gone to a VERY advanced school if that's the case. Because even a guys as old as me have NEVER seen neither one directly with my own pair of eyes. - Apart from Norma, these Kyu Globes are practically... useless. The Away Team can't even use most of them. Norma somehow works because Leo Red is miraculously able to use it as a finishing move. I'd argue that being in the Norma System is the sole reason, hence it gets a spontaneous power up. But let's not be bothered by such useless details... - Our final special cameo appears, this time in person. Kouta!!! I mean... Kouhei Yamamoto a.k.a. Hurricane Yellow himself appears as the school's Chairman. Like most if not all cast members of "Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger" (and also "Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger", hence Sen-chan's participation), Yamamoto is well-known for his loyalty to Super Sentai franchise. He's one of the reason why we even had that "Hurricaneger 10 Years After" V-Cinema. So seeing him here doesn't feel remotely like a surprise. - This episode still has one final scene before it ends. Principal Indaver escapes the 'Ruler Attack', and jumps aboard his Consumarz to attack the Away Team. Kyuren-Oh is summoned, and... "TO BE CONTINUED". Wait, for real? Yep. The conclusion to this mecha battle *spoiler alert*, will be available as the opening scene for "Episode of Stinger". We even get an extended preview (featuring that amazing new song by Stinger's actor) for the V-Cinema as a quick reminder...

Comment: This final episode ended VERY annoyingly. That's the general complaints resonating throughout Kyuranger's fanbase. Along with one more thing: useless Kyu Globes. How could I counter that, when those arguments were mostly accurate? Strangely, this was an OKAY episode for me, and not as problematic as the 2nd and 3rd. That's why I'm giving it a mediocre score...

Overall: Overall, "High School Wars" has been a light, mostly clausthrophobic and/or secluded academic-themed gag, that gave the human actors the chance to cosplay as students. Of course, being a highly comedic distraction was not all that bad. Unfortunately, it also served the weakest link among Kyuranger's canon. That slapping-face gag was rather violent, especially when a minor such as Kotarou had to endure the same treatment. That's downright child abuse, right? And then there's that overlaying continuity problem, that made the writing felt... weak and sloppy in general. I'm not sure who wrote this, but if it's the same writer who worked on "Episode of Stinger"... then it sort of make sense (Kento Shimoyama's portofolio includes... "Shuriken Sentai Ninninger"! No wonder...). Sadly, as you would find out soon, this issue also affected that V-Cinema. It will make anyone to question whether both features actually connects to the TV series or not at all. An alternate universe take? As of writing, I'm STILL waiting anxiously for the official answer to this. There's a speculation that we'll be getting some actual closure and proper timeline explanation in that exclusive 5th episode. Tell you the truth though, I'm NOT so sure about that... Next: "Episode of Stinger"... what else? *grins* PS: Assuming I can get it done without any external (unexpected situations) nor internal (my health is still not in full prime) interferences, expect recap-view for Stinger's V-Cinema to arrive tomorrow. Or the day after. Also, this recap-view will not include the Overall Score for "High School Wars". That will be posted alongside review for Episode 5... IF and only IF I can see one, of course.

Episode 01 Score: 8 out of 10 Episode 02 Score: 6 out of 10 Episode 03 Score: 6,5 out of 10 Episode 04 Score: 7 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: October 31st, 2017 - Version 3.04. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

Trailer used above is officially available through MaiDigiTV Youtube Channel. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.