V for Verdict: Guardian Sentai RoboMan #20 (SPOILERS)

http://www.night-jaeger.net/fiction/roboman/roboman-20.htm

Mister Watts’ Roboman restarts with some new mysteries.

Whilst there isn’t a whole lot to get involved with in this issue, the focus and theme is primarily that of Sei who, up until now, has remained something of a mystery. The final revelation at the end of the issue was a big surprise for me personally as I certainly had never predicted Sei’s origins as Mister Watts has now revealed…

In fact, I had almost taken it for granted that Sei was either a leftover from the original inhabitants of Blizzard Base Zero or that he was reverse engineered from that very technology.

This feels a bit like a set-up issue than anything, a prelude to events to come, not that I’m complaining though.

It’s not the biggest bang for the series to come back with but it is a bang big enough to cause significant repercussions in the long run.

All in all, a solid issue, if not an action packed one.

Go-on #8 – 9 Mini Review (SPOILERS – for those who still care)

(Episode #8)

Oh look, it’s Tachibana Tobei…or maybe not…

What a thoroughly boring episode.

Moving on.

(Episode #9)

For the record, even the merest suggestion of Hant/Saki makes me cringe inwardly. I can tell, after the beginning of episode #9 that there will be those of you who wish to ship these two but I ask of you now, please refrain. It will do no one any good.

Aside from that, this episode is Gaoranger #3, at least in terms of it’s resident Aurg.

The suggestion of schoolgirls being turned into Geiark ‘putties’ is an interesting one but it’s simply not followed up on well enough.

Both these episodes have been so lacking in atmosphere that I’ve found myself reading the newspaper rather than looking at the events on screen.

Ugh.

This will teach me to be optimistic, I guess.

V for Verdict: Guardian Sentai RoboMan #18 (SPOILERS)

http://www.night-jaeger.net/fiction/roboman/roboman-18.htm

This is a spoiler right out of the bag but I can’t resist saying it. If you don’t want to hear it, please hit the above link and read for yourself. For the rest of you…

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I really can not wait to see Chojin Robo and Guardian on the team! Based on Chojin’s actions in this latest issue and Cog’s hint, it’s a one hundred percent guaranteed bet that Chojin Robo is Guardian’s personal mech and I’m really, really excited to see him make his proper début fighting evil alongside Gattai Robo.

The big question for me this issue is: how bad is Director Satoshi ~ i.e. is he ’source of all evil’ *bad*, or is he Power Glove *bad*. Previous characterisation would suggest he’s a complete psycho but if Guardian and Chojin are working for him – and this is all assumption as I can’t recall if Satoshi’s chosen agent, Damien Sinclair, is in fact American or not, as Guardian is stated as having an American accent – then he can’t be all bad…

Although perhaps we shouldn’t take Sei’s word for it (despite that the fact that he’s been 95% correct on all other matters thus far). I think Sei’s made an assumption and, somehow, there is another agency involved that we don’t yet know about.

Another great issue.

My only regret is the lack of jellied eels.

If only Go-onger was this consistently enjoyable.

Galaxy! Found!

Sighting: Archie Kao (of Power Rangers Lost Galaxy fame) in the Olsen twins film, When in Rome.

Yes, is the answer you’re looking for, it was a good film. (^_^)

V for Verdict: Guardian Sentai RoboMan #17 (SPOILERS)

Issue #17 and not a jellied eel in sight.

I spent too long trying to work out where this was set in relation to the brief comment at the beginning of the issue which, in turn, brings me to the point that I was kind of surprised Mister Watts chose to set this sequence so close to the city proper – until I remembered that everyone wants to set stories in the city proper because that’s where all the landmarks are. Evil robots just don’t turn up in Harrow or Acton nowadays.

Seeing as I can’t let this lie and from the description of the City of Westminster in the north and Sei’s Water Cutter hitting the ground near the banks of the Thames, I’m going to say that this either takes place south of the river in Lambeth or Southwark (depending on how relative the distance the Water Cutter falls is) or even the South Bank itself – or alternately, it could be set across the river in the Strand.

My gut reaction was that it should be set in the old warehouse district of old London Dock that were taken down prior to development of Docklands, but having never actually bothered to go there I can’t even guess as to whether there are secret EDD bases there now or not.

I think they tore down all the old warehouses, even the couple that were left after the massive economic change in the 1970s…but I don’t know…I really don’t know what’s there now (aside from Canary Wharf) and I’ve certainly never been south of the river myself…unless you count holidays in Kent. (^_^);

So, what I’m saying by all of this is, Mister Watts – you should have set this in the *East* proper!

Seriously, the scene works out well without overcrowding details of the city. There’s a different style and atmosphere to the fights in New Orleans and that does the series a big favour. Whilst Mister Watts doesn’t go into finite detail about the topography of the city, he does set up a good fight sequence and carry it through with style.

Chojin Robo is a fairly likeable villain for this issue – I wonder if it was Adrian’s intention to make his monsters of the week so likeable?

There’s a few plot-threads from issue #16 that are given further exploration here, especially in regards to Kiko but mostly this is a good solid team-orientated story, with each character given equal importance during the course of the action.

Roboman feels comfortable to read as a series. After seventeen issues, it feels familiar to read, even when the situation, such as the Jinsei sequence in the previous issue, is uncomfortable. It’s also one of the only online serials I can name off the top of my head that manages to equally portray drama and humour without throwing the balance completely out of the window.

My only concern is as to the future and Mister Watts’ health.

Issue #17 of a 100-odd planned run in such a short amount of time sounds incredibly painful to me…and of course, if Mister Watts *is* following Toei’s guidelines then he’s got to start all over with a new series and new continuity next January/February. (^_^)

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Let’s think about that for a moment shall we, and, in the mean time, wish Mister Watts the best of luck!

V for Verdict: Guardian Sentai RoboMan #14 – 16 (SPOILERS)

Issue #14 really does belong to Senshi.

The character has become a strong favourite over the past couple of issues and his actions, and the details of his past, do nothing to change that. My money is definitely – especially after the end of #16 – on the possibility of Senshi being the extra, er, senshi.

Issue #15’s fight between the spider-pixie and Kiko is nicely done, very focused and with swift pacing to keep the reader engaged and to further emulate that idea of the way combat plays out in a visual action sequence.

The location of the fight is well used also.

I must confess I really didn’t expect Mister Watts to locate so much of the series in New Orleans. In fact, I’m entirely guilty of assuming, during the first fight with Shellshock earlier on in the series, that the location was simply a case of Mister Watts flexing his creativity and trying to set Roboman aside from the genre a little but placing it in an American city (of course, one could always argue that the deplorable Magiranger took place in New Zealand, due to the co-production of certain fight sequences with Disney…but we like Mister Watts so we won’t do him the disservice of ranting about Magiranger here).

The way issue #15, and indeed the series in general, uses the locations of New Orleans is a real credit to the series. It would have been easy to set this in a generic city or attempt to emulate the assembled locations seen in the sentai franchise year in year out, but Mister Watts has done something else. In the hands of a lesser writer, I think the details of New Orleans might intrude but Adrian manages to keep everything in perspective and walk a very fine line. There’s never a sense that the difference in location hinders the series and that, for me and my little pigeon-holed perspective, is something of a revelation.

My criticism of the earlier description of the Gattai Robo combination is entirely revoked as of this issue, as Mister Watts more than delivers. The sequence presented here is straight-forward and swift, maintaining the atmosphere yet also providing the reader with the details of the transformation without damaging the pacing of the fight sequence.

The actual fight between Gattai Robo and the spider-pixie is chilling in its detail. As is some of the moral implications, the like of which Toei has shied away from really dealing with since the late 80s/early 90s. There’s a sense of Roboman really coming into its own in these issues.

If issue #17 doesn’t live up to the possibility suggested by the RoboTeam’s decision in issue #16 to go to London in order to help protect sensitive materials, I shall be sorely disappointed. The world needs scenes like Cog and Kiko going to the dogs in Walthamstow, or Ikku’s voracious appetite vs. the sheer joy that is jellied eels, or Livingston Chance introducing Sei to alcohol in Camden Town!

The possibilities are limitless.

I need you to know that I am already writing this story in my head.

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Moving on to matters less pleasant, Jinsei remains one of the nastiest and creepiest villains of recent recollection. This is partly because, like those early Kamen Rider villains or the antagonists of 80s sentai shows, he has a distinct philosophy and method in the way that he thinks. He’s a very difficult character to deal with as he has things that make him, in a sense very human – indeed, certainly, IMHO, he is *more* moral than certain humans – and yet the way in which he applies this morality is fearful to witness. A direct historical parallel, crass as it might seem, would be the vegetarianism of Adolf Hitler.

Which brings us once again, after the implications of what the spider-pixie felt and understood and Ikku’s perception of this in #15, to the very difficult subject of death.

Based on their actions and their storylines during these three issues and absolutely nothing else but my gut reactions, I can see a case for either Sei or Senshi (or both) dying during the end of this series. I may well be very far off the mark here and we’ve certainly got a long journey ahead of us before the end of the title, but I can’t help but feel that, if anyone is going to die on the unofficial RoboTeam, it’s going to be one of these two characters.

Q: With So Many Girls, How Could One Possibly Go Wrong?

A: By lacking a good story.

Juken Senti Gekiranger vs. GoGo Sentai Boukenger starts off well but doesn’t really go anywhere. For a crossover ‘event’ with a cast of so many dynamic characters, it’s a shame that the only one who seems to actually express some of that dynamism is BoukenBeefSilver.

There’s a whole host of plot cues from previous V-Cinema entries in this, most specifically Abaranger vs. Hurricanger, and one big recycled location from last year’s Den-o film. It’s not really a bad film…but it’s not  really a great one either.

Of course, part of my reservation in speaking highly of this film might possibly be to do with the fact that I’m not really familiar with either of the shows. However, from what I saw, I was again impressed with Boukenger and, more specifically, with Akashi Satoru. I’m increasingly of the opinion that I probably would have enjoyed this series if I had sat down to it, yet the ever present spectre of fangirl-ism has always put me off. It should be noted however that, in my humble opinion, Akashi seems the most solid, most ‘Red’ character who has inherited that particular mantle since the beginning of the decline (which started, I’m sad to say, with Timeranger). Certainly since Hurricanger, there isn’t a contest between Akashi and any of the other Reds.

AbaRed - pointless chump. DekaRed - impatient child. MagiRed - shonen manga/Yu-Gi-Oh character. GekiRed - insipid monkey boy. Go-onRed - drama character.

When put like that though, I guess Akashi doesn’t have much competition.

Aside from this, two of the biggest problems I had with the cast and the use of characters were mostly that a.) Yamasaki Mami’s cameo was pointless and far too short – I was expecting at least *something* that would give me the excuse for writing Mami/Yuka RPF, and b.) Nakamura Chise’s character DID NOTHING.

I’ll openly admit that I watched this because of the girls and the fact that I enjoy shameless crossovers but, in my heart, I was kind of hoping that the film would build on some of the ideas present in 2007’s Nei-Nei! Hou-Hou! Hong Kong Decisive Battle and that, together, these two films would somehow inspire me to really give my heart to the franchise again.

But it never happened.

I can’t help but feel that the writers were trying to achieve a level, in terms of the story, equal to that of GoGoV vs. Gingaman. Certainly there’s a case for a GoGoV comparison with Boukenger, sadly though, as with most of its recent efforts, Toei fails to quite meet the mark set by earlier entries in the franchise.

Hopefully next year’s crossover will help readdress this balance.

Go-on #6 – 7 Mini-Review (SPOILERS etc.)

Much to my surprise, Hant was quite likeable during the opening act of episode #6. In addition to this, I’m convinced I know the actresses in the middle:

…but I can’t remember her name or where I saw her at all. In this kind of situations, I often find it’s best to leave it to to do the detective work. She really looks like Ootsuka Rei who plays Ayaka in Mahou Sensei Negima!! (sidenote: why did no one tell me Kuwae Sakina was in Gekiranger?). The rest of the episode seemed to fly by with little or no substance. As mentioned to the man himself, I’m surprised seiji982 didn’t make more of a comment on who Saki-chan was actually on the phone too but I can’t blame him for not finding the enthusiasm to post about this. It really did feel like a lacklustre episode, despite the focus on Yellow. Yet if #6 was lacklustre, episode #7 was positively yawn-inducing. I just don’t like the design of Carrigator and GunBir-o, which is a real shame consider the fact the mech designs of the initial three machines are part of what sold me on this series. Ho hum. Hopefully, episode #8 will be better… …yet I fear I’m beginning to loose faith.

ORANGE RANGEr

“Ii ne kaisei jan kumo hitotsu nai yo
Makka na taiyou kimi wo shiritai yo
Ato wa orera shidai kyou wa dakishimetai
Namiuchigiwa no atsui ketsui
Koushien kyuuji sanagara no toushi
Demo daritsu wa kyuu rin ore no jon ni sorry
Masa ni kataritsugareru sutoorii
Hitori de asobu no wa konya de owari?”

Seriously, Toei, WTF?

Sidenote: 聡太郎 (SOTARO) HomePage /UNIVERSAL MUSIC ARTS| ユニバーサル ミュージック アーツ。