Iâd just like to preface this review by thanking Over-Time for their excellent and speedy subs. You guys sure know how to make the start of my week busier. And speaking of Over-Time, Iâm going to start calling Dorado Yellow Spada now that theyâve started using that name. I do like the way Sparda sounds better, but Spada actually does make sense since itâs Italian for sword, which suits the character on multiple levels. And so without further ado, letâs begin my review, where I promise not to use the word âtreatâ to describe the fight scenes. Iâm going to use a thesaurus to look up some even more annoying words to use.
So letâs start this episode review off with a spoiler: this is by far my favorite episode of the bunch. I absolutely loved it! While it took a few episodes longer than Zyuohger (which is probably my second-favorite series right behind Magiranger) Kyuranger has at last clicked with me as a great Sentai series. Now letâs explore how this happened.
Our episode starts off with what I am forced to admit is the biggest negative of the episode, and potentially the series if things donât go the way I want: the Kyurangers have now arrived on Earth. After three episodes of a promising space opera with exotic locations and set designs (I donât care if they were usual Sentai haunts shot through a filter or with some weird props! They still looked cool!) we have returned to our boring old planet. And from what Xiao tells us, there are multiple Jark Matter ships parked here, each one housing a Menaster (yes Iâm using that term. Itâs perfectly Power Rangery and I love it) which means our Uchuu Sentai will potentially be remaining here for quite a bit. Instead of being out there. Exploring the Uchuu.
You promised me Uchuu, Toei!! I want my Uchuu!!!
*ahem* Anyway, even though the Kyurangers seem to think of Earth as being a backwater, Don Armage (remember him? The final boss who we have currently seen for a grand total of probably less than a minute out of four episodes?) shows up at the end to confirm that Earth is holding a secret. A secret he wants Eridron and Stinger to prevent the Kyurangers from discovering by any means necessary. Now Iâm torn, because on one hand, this promises a new overarching plot aside from wandering the cosmos and encountering random episodic adventures. But on the other, I like wandering the cosmos! Canât we get one space show where Earth is not the most important planet in the universe?
And back on the subject of Jark Matter, the first episode showed us that they rule their planets with an iron fist. But this is the second episode where the Kyurangers, members of an organization specifically created to fight against Jark Matter, an organization that has jackets, have walked around completely unharassed on a planet Jark Matter supposedly controls. They even go eat in a public restaurant! Raptor goes out and buys PEACHES!! What is security doing!? No wonder Don Armage always seems to be in a bad mood. Eridron is his only subordinate who seems to know how to do his job! But heâs effectively ruined that working relationship by mind-blasting him via hologram and so: Don Armage is the saddest villain in Sentai history.
Okay, thatâs enough of eating our vegetables. Now letâs dig in to the nice juicy steak: whatâs good?
Literally everything else!
Okay, okay, you came here for tl;dr. Letâs get verbose.
First off: Raptor. Oh my goodness gracious Raptor! In the first episode I liked her, in the second episode I could see her potentially rising to be near the top of my favorite Kyuranger list, in the third episode I loved her, and today it looks like Makito, Ryuuji, and Hyde are going to have company at the top of my favorite Sentai heroes of all-time list. This week we saw a new adorable side to Raptor, having her be a dreamer, a self-insert fanfic writer, and a squealing closet fangirl of the Kyurangers. Those three alone were enough to make me love her. But noooo, Toei just had to make her a stone cold badass! To those of you who were like me and worried that Raptor was getting the shaft in having her weapon just be the handle that everyone else got, I am pleased to inform you that the Kyu Shot is amazing and Raptor uses it to great effect, firmly cementing herself as the teamâs sniper.
In her debut fight she shows off exceptional courage, excellent aim, and blinding speed. And thatâs before she quite literally spreads her wings and takes off. One of the best parts of Zyuohger was the amazing flight scenes done for Yamato. Well it looks like the excellence of those scenes has now been surpassed by the amazing choreography and special effects of Aquila Pink, who moves with speed and maneuverability that Yamato never showed. Itâs one of many things that made her debut fight a true delicacy for the senses. The best part of all this? Sheâs still an amazing fighter who no one should ever mess with, but she never once stops being adorable or funny. Whether sheâs squealing with excitement that her attack actually hit, or trying to do a dramatic pose in her Voyagerâs cockpit and accidentally smacking her head, Raptor definitely kept me entertained. I donât for one second question that she deserves to be on the team, but she still makes me laugh, which makes her seem very human.
And to the surprise of who I hope is no one, Xiao continues to be the best Sentai mentor ever. From his explanation of only sending a five-man team being because of âthe budgetâ, to his wacky dancing (with Raptor just barely humoring him through it all), Xiao continues to entertain. Not only that, but my biggest concern from last week was that his being aloof in the face of crisis ran the risk of getting old. The show surprised me by addressing this concern early on by making his goofy attitude a mask for actual brilliance. Because of a silly decision he made at the beginning of the episode, the Kyurangers ended up with their eighth member. And as Naga suspects, this probably isnât the happy accident everyone assumes, proving that thereâs a lot more going on in Xiaoâs head than we assume. Unfortunately, it does lend some credibility to the current fan theory that Xiao might actually be Don Armage. I have mixed feelings about this theory. On one hand, I would love for it to not be true because I love Xiao and want him to stay as a hero. On the other hand, if Xiao does turn out to be Armage, then he would have shattered my expectations and become one of the most interesting and unique Sentai villains ever.
And now letâs move on to Lucky, who I am now willing to say is someone who I no longer hate.
Gaaaaaaah, that hurt to say. But itâs true.
Ever since last week, Lucky has really been coming into his own as a leader. From the way he stood up to what has to be the stupidest parents I have ever seen in a Toku series (probably right behind that lady from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue who said that there was no such thing as monsters), to the way he supported Raptor when no one else would, Lucky has become a character worth liking. I especially find his motivation of wanting to save the universe very refreshing. I find that certain Sentai and Rider series (Lookinâ at you Go-Busters, even though I love you) and a great deal of Japanese entertainment in general have a bad habit of treating the motivation of wanting to save the world just because itâs the right thing to do as not being good enough. This is a sentiment I vehemently and angrily disagree with. Call me crazy, but I donât want the people protecting me from evil monster/aliens/robots every week to be saving my life just because it happens to coincide with their larger goals.
If I had to nitpick one bad thing about Lucky, it was about how he decided to help Raptorâs dream come true. All four of his teammates told him that Raptor fighting was a bad idea for, and I hate to admit it, reasons that were perfectly logical. Luckyâs response to this was to say âthis is going nowhereâ, leave the conversation, grab Raptor and do what he wanted anyway. Thatâs not called being a team player, thatâs called being a jerk. Yes he was right, but what if he wasnât? What if Raptor got destroyed?
I dunno, it wasnât enough to ruin Lucky or the episode for me, but it still bugged me. And so did Spadaâs jerkish attitude in this episode. Donât get me wrong, Spada is still one of my favorite characters in this show, and I do think he was being harsh to Raptor for the right reasons (sheâs his friend and he doesnât want to see her get hurt in a fight she was literally not created for), but I think those reasons could have been expressed better and Spada ran the risk of becoming a strawman. Still, he was saved by immediately supporting Raptor the second he realized how harsh he was being, and having her back once she transformed. So yes, I still love Spada, and I still ship him with Raptor far more than I probably should.
All in all, aside from the minor nitpicks at the start of this review, this was an excellent episode with what I feel was the least amount of pacing issues. All characters got what I felt was equal screentime, even Balance and Naga who were not selected to be part of the away team. My only complaint in that regard is that Garu has yet to have much of a focus outside of some great one-off lines (his line about not wanting to see a crewmember get hurt was, again, barely a sentence and still one of my favorite parts of the episode) and it looks like that wonât be fixed next week. Because next week is a Stinger episode and I am praying to whoever will listen that I start to like him. And as a bonus, it looks like Kamen Rider Zangetsu will be guest starring as Stingerâs older brother Scorpio. Eesh, good luck with the inevitable comments about that, Over-Time.
So the wife and I watched the first two episodes of the Singaporean dub of Kamen Rider Wizard via OZC-Live. (here:Â http://live.ozc-anime.com/tag/kamen-rider-wizard/)Â
Theyâre doing BD re-encodes of series with soft subs by O-T, Aesir, and others all packed onto one file. At the same time theyâre doing Wizard, theyâre also doing versions with the Singaporean dub on it.Â
The dub is.... not terrible. But we noticed something: The Singaporean dub script is the same as Over-Timeâs. To the very last line. Rinkoâs voice is terrible and inconsistent, sometimes she has an English (maybe Aussie?) accent, sometimes she doesnât. Haruto isnât bad, even if everyone pronouncing his name as Ha-ROO-to is like nails on a chalkboard. Shunpeiâs voice is appropriately ridiculous.
Itâs watchable, definitely, aside from the >.> that is O-Tâs Wizard. The dub versions are only being released in 720 for now, but if you want the full 1080 (also missing things like train delays, typhoon and earthquake announcements, and fan club things randomly popping up on screen) thatâs the place to go.
Also where is all this wirework in Ghost? Why isnât Takeru flying around like Haruto is? Or Necrom or Specter? Laaaaaame.
This is the final VS Rant Special Iâll be doing for now until something I find really interesting to debate comes up.
Most fans of tokusatsu works in the West like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider would have heard of those two groups. Like many competing groups, thereâs always a debate as to who is better.
There are a few forum topics discussing this on the internet, but Iâll just give a couple of quick points:
Over-Time:
They release their subs about 2-3 days after its airing in Japan
They cut to the chase, no extravagant effects
Lots more things are translated (and localised), including equipment voices and contextual lines
TV-Nihon:
They take a bit longer to release their subs, sometimes taking up to a week
They use a few special effects in their subtitles
Some things are left untranslated, such as honorifics and equipment voices, so some understanding of Japanese is recommended
I donât want to say much about this issue, so Iâll just skip straight to the point. Some Facebook pages providing subtitled episodes of Super Sentai and Kamen Rider to fans usually post both sub versions. Iâll watch Over-Time subs for the story (since they release their subs first) before watching TV-Nihon subs for the effects. I know some Japanese so I wonât be confused by the untranslated parts, if anyoneâs worried about that.
If you have an opinion on this, feel free to share it by reblogging this or sending a message!
