I want to point out that I actually don’t go looking for this stuff – just for the record, you know – but seeing as おぷりんす has been posting a lot of Miu-centric fanart, I thought I’d pimp his art blog and point people in the direction of well illustrated yet slightly indecent pictures.
And for good measure, here’s Mizuki Karen from JAKQ:
Some might say that watching an episode of Go-onger twice is tantamount to torture. Others might even remark that watching the episode once let alone twice was an act of self-abuse, and whilst I might normally be tempted to agree I thought I should watch episode #38 again to clarify my thoughts on the show.
I originally watched this episode at an ungodly hour of the morning, propped up by hotel pillows. I soon discovered that viewed as just another show in the Sunday morning kids’ TV block makes for a really different experience from actively going out and downloading it with the express intention of watching it.
I’m not really a huge fan of this show, mostly because I think I was expecting Liveman something more but as cheap, throwaway entertainment, I genuinely do believe it can be quite fun. The problems only arise when certain elements of English language fandom attempt to elevate this to a level of comparative depth with earlier installments in the franchise that it simply does not possess.
"Smashing! You're an animal. You're a tiger. Be a tiger, baby! You're great! You're Grrrrrr-eat! You're Tony, be corn flakes, baby, be frosted. Now be a lemur, baby! You're a ring-tailed lemur."
Episode #38 of Go-onger deals with a shower themed villain dispatching the male members of the cast by the art of female ejaculation spraying them with water containing some magic freezing propensity. Finding out that it’s hard to be a woman in a man’s man’s man’s world, Saki, Miu and Bearrv set about readdressing the balance with comical ‘sisters are doing it for themselves’ results.
The episode trundles along nicely, never threatening to engage the mind too much whilst at the same time rolling out all the old anime tropes that have long since crossed over into modern day sentai; hence the male cast find themselves disguised as female models in a shop display and for some of them, this is actually an improvement. Hant in particular could have a promising career ahead of him dressing up in sailor fuku for regular youtube clips, I’m sure.
In the end, ‘girl power’, with the aid of giant robots, saves the day and everyone goes home to talk about how awesome Saki and Miu are.
I could have explained that in a fic without having to introduce a villain, you know.
Just sayin’.
Another of my famous collection of artistic sentai screengrabs...
All in all, #38 is an entirely inoffensive episode…which is disappointing if you are genuinely looking for something with character development and a story. If not then you’re good to go but if it is something with a little more depth you’re looking for then I really do recommend turning on your TV half-an-hour earlier and trying to catch an episode of Battle Spirits – it won’t wow you and it is pretty much Digimon-lite but it’s surprising how very different the dynamic of the show is despite being aimed at the same audience.
I had every intention of picking up the G3 Princess special CD packge from HMV, I really did. Despite the fact that it was over 4000 yen, I really was going to buy it…
But there was a little voice at the back of my mind that kept reminding me how awful the character songs have been in recent sentai shows…
And then I saw the G3 Princess photo-mook in a shop in Nakano Broadway for 1300 yen or so…and I completely caved. I think this was the right choice. (^_^)
Ueno Toy Shop Display
Ryuu, you are one of my best friends but I ever hear the Engine Second Lap -Turbo Custom - single again I will rip off my own ears.
Never before have I heard such utter, plodding dirge. It used to be the rule that even if the series was awful, at least the music for sentai could be depended on…it appears that Toei are now intent on changing this. The three songs presented here (Engine Second Lap – Turbo Custom, Engine Fast Lap -Type Normal- and Take off! Go-on Wings!) are absolutely dreadful.
Engine Fast Lap -Type Normal- has outstayed its welcome by 18 episodes or so. There’s still the faint glimmer of charm when it bursts into the KOTOKO-style Sister Mayuu anime-lite chorus but, for the most part, the notion of a different Enjin singing each variant became tried really quickly…this is no more apparent in Engine Second Lap – Turbo Custom which is utterly diabolical, it’s like karaoke by drunken out-of-work voice actors.
Take off! Go-on Wings! is the worst of the bunch though, lacking any kind of charm at all. At least Psychic Lover managed to inspire some kind of emotion with their JAM Project-lite tunes…this can not be said of the Go-on Wings theme- I don’t even want to admit to the fact that Tanimoto Takayoshi and Gojou Mayumi were involved with this.
Hands down, this is a new low for the franchise.
NOT AT ALL WORK SAFE, BE ADVISED.
奥さん’s art blog is often quite graphic, not as graphic as others but certainly not work safe. Consider this a warning.
Saki’s ‘Hiiii Miu’ might be the cutest thing in the world but I really don’t know if that’s enough to save this. I want to like it but it’s sooo ham-fisted…and not in a good way — AND NOTHING EVER HAPPENS. I understand the limitations/traditions of the genre and that, to a certain degree, each character has to conform to an archetype but the characters of Go-onger seem to be made up of nothing but the suggestions of ‘what a Red/Blue/Yellow character should do’ etc. without the writers ever showing that there’s something to them as people.
Why did this episode not feature more of bandaged!Saki? She didn’t even get a close up! I feel cheated! Don’t make me be writing the hurt/comfort fic, Go-on staff!
For me, I find that it’s always a bad sign if Hant speaks more than one or two lines in an episode…this was one of those occasions.
Also: I think Gunpei has high blood pressure. He should watch his temper.
I really wish the Gaiark generals would come out and fight a bit more often, they really don’t seem overly concerned with giving their all to this whole villain lark.
OH WAIT! What’s that? Is there actually a *GOOD* action theme in this series? OMG! IS THAT KAGEYAMA SINGING! OR IS IT TAKATORI’S BEST IMPRESSION!
SOMEONE TELL ME THAT IS NOT PSYCHIC LOVER DOING A KAGEYAMA IMPRESSION AND I CAN HAVE FAITH IN AT LEAST ONE ASPECT OF THIS SERIES!
That’s about it…that’s the only highlight.
All in all, this whole episode came across as recycled Dekaranger, something I really could have done without.
Choriki Sentai Ohranger: The Movie
Amongst the many reasons why Ohranger is great are the awesome monster designs and fantastic instrumental music. The Ohren film is one of those great run-throughs of all the things that make the series so endearing – nothing amazingly outstanding and a decided lack of anything more than a cameo from the Big One Captain Miura, but still a fun 40 minutes none the less.
The storyline, like much of the series, manages to walk the line between absurdity and genuine emotional impact. The concept of the Baranoia populating a ‘film’ with actual human combatants geared up with plastic masques in a struggle against their own machine footsoldiers is oddly effective and moving at times. The scenes involving the death of these soldiers and the reaction of the Ohren-tachi is very powerful – as are the sequences in the prison camp and the execution of masqued human soldiers by machines.
I seem to have completely negated my earlier statement of this just being an average Ohren story…perhaps that’s because the topics for this series were always this well done and this moving. That’s right, kids, there was a time when Toei could balance its humour with an actual progressive storyline and character development.
Bonus points for the last minute Sailor Moon references as well.
In other news, one of these days I will write my thoughts/feelings on Keitai Sousakan 7 — either that or I’ll simply write fic for sentai_ai/kissearly‘s Summer or Rock Encore.
But first…
Engine Sentai Go-onger #18
Go-onLegs still isn’t a patch on Saki, not that a pairing couldn’t work between them (if there was any kind of chemistry between the two, which the story thus far hasn’t presented) but Saki remains the premier Go-on girl…at least in my humble opinion.
This episode sees Go-onGold take a further step towards becoming Guile from Street Fighter II, we can but hope that his hair will get bigger as the series progresses.
Also: muuuuuh, Go-onSilver has a ‘gold card’ (yes, I am childish enough to find this funny). It’s interesting that, only one episode after her introduction, Miu is devalued into being the helpless captive of the monster-of-the-week. I can’t imagine this ever having happened with an extra Senshi before therefore, there’s only two possible options:
1.) the extra Senshi concept is not what it was and, mostly as a result of the president set by Dekaranger, the additional heroes are now indistinguishable from the five standard heroes.
or
2.) Miu is a girl and therefore the writers/developers don’t want to afford her with the prestige often given to the extra Senshi.
Personally, I think it’s a combination of both scenarios.
And Miu doesn’t even get crucified like any other self-respecting hero! Shame on you, Toei! (Although her legs are quite wide apart when she’s chained to that post…I’m sure there’s a whole realm of possibility there that no one wants to see explored)
Other things to file under Do-Not-Want during the course of this episode: Miu/Sosuke – you’re not even trying, Toei. Talk about your arbitrary possible love interest set ups. Give me a break.
The new Engine-o mech formation looks like the messiest clusterfuck since, well, the Carrygator formation.
So…the shine of Go-onWings lasted less than two episodes. That’s got to warrant some kind of all time low record, I’m sure.
Y HALO THAR DEKABREAK AND SAILOR VENUS!!
The suit design for Go-onSilver and Go-onGold looks uncannily fish-like. Gold’s in-suit action is quite good though, I like the fighting style even if I don’t care much for the character outside of the costume. I do however like his voice, but I’m worried that he is actually Kuchiki Byakuya from Bleach. Both characters have an impressive style of fighting with their swords as well, something that you don’t see so much with the nature of the five original Go-on characters – the choice of sword was a nice one, as there seems to be a lot more variance in the way Silver and Gold use their weapons than the standard point/fire action of the rest of the team.
The designs of the Go-onWings’ mecha are a nice return to form – it’s really good to see such streamlined machines, both still keeping with the design aesthetic of the original five Enjin, something that Carrigator absolutely fails to do on all counts.
My big problem with the introduction of Gold and Silver is that my mind is, on some level, associating it with the introduction of the three Gundam Throne Meisters in Gundam 00, and that leads me to believe that Go-on might become a little more interesting than it really will. None the less, as great as it is to see Suto Miu and her already famous legs, I can’t help but feel that the both of them are going to turn out to be utter irredeemable bastards. Of course the alternate is far more damning – that, after a couple of episodes, they will become irredeemably bland and the writers will forget the manner in which they were introduced…which Toei is famous for.
The Go-onWings song played during their confrontation with monster of the week, Happa Banki, is a bit bland – I’m assuming this is a character song performed by Tokuyama Hidenori and Sugimoto Yumi – as always, I was hoping for something by Endo or Kageyama.
The new general character who must have been introduced at some point during my absence reminds me one hell of a lot of Urataros from Den-o.
All in all, not a bad episode. It’s biggest problem is that it’s full of promise that will never be lived up to and sentai fandom just isn’t big enough for me to have faith in the idea of someone writing ‘fix it’ fic for the series.
Hope, however, springs eternal.
OT4.
