Omoikkiri Tanteidan Hadogumi (おもいっきり探偵団 覇悪怒組), or simply Hard Gumi, is the 7th in the Toei Fushigi Comedy series, so a little earlier than my last review (PaiPai) and aired in the year of my birth. Somehow, this has the most coherent story of the shows I’ve reviewed so far and apart from one glaring factor, […]
Category Archives: TV and Movie Reviews
Kamen Rider The Ride Review
The Ride Review with Ethan: Kamen Rider Gavv Episodes 33-40
Snacks are served up, Riders. Ethan returns to bring you some overdue Gavv goodness. This [...]
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17
Sep
Sep
Power Rangers
RUMOUR: Power Rangers Reboot in the works at Disney, Toei Not Involved (+3 Things I Want From the Reboot)
Let’s address those Power Rangers Reboot rumours and, while we’re at it, take a look [...]
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20
May
May
Super Sentai
No.1 Sentai Gozyuger: S.H. Figuarts Gozyu Wolf Revealed
With No.1 Sentai Gozyuger in full swing, it’s time for Bandai to reveal their yearly [...]
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20
May
May
Message From Planet C Super Sentai
The Final Message from Planet C: A Nogizaka46 Primer ft. Boonboomger’s Sakurai Reika
By the time you read this, Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger will have drawn to a close, [...]
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20
May
May
Super Sentai
Super Sentai 50th Anniversary Exhibition Announced
An ‘All Super Sentai Exhibition’ will tour nationwide across Japan, starting in August 2025! We’ve [...]
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20
May
May
The eighties was a special time in history: Ghostbusters, David Bowie, Back to the Future, Guns N’ Roses and… Juspion. Megabeast Investigator Juspion (a portmanteau of the words justice and champion) is, well, a champion of justice, roaming the galaxy looking for trouble caused by show antagonist Satan Gorth – himself a physical portmanteau of […]
Mahou Shoujo Chuuka na PaiPai! (魔法少女ちゅうかなぱいぱい！), or simply Magical Girl Chukana PaiPai, is the 9th instalment of a toku comedy series called Toei Fushigi Comedy. It was released in 1989 and it’s very much rooted in Japanese sensibilities and archetypes of comedy. Translation: I didn’t find it funny. I chuckled at the absurdity of certain […]
Although Inazuman ran for a total of 49 episodes, the structure of the series is quite unique in that it was split into two distinct “seasons”. Whilst the first saw Goro Watari battle against the forces of the Neo-Human Empire, Inazuman F (イナズマンF, also known as Inazuman Flash) started a whole new chapter against much […]
Although he would continue to frequently reappear as Jiro/Kikaider in Kikaider 01, 1973 saw tokusatsu legend Daisuke Ban take on the mantle of a second hero as well. In Inazuman (イナズマン) he plays Goro Watari – a college student and mutant with powerful psionic abilities. Another creation of Shotaro Ishinomori, Inazuman is a cornerstone of […]
Captain Ultra is, I’d assume, the result of Thunderbirds, Lost in Space and Flash Gordon getting together for a sexy night on the pills. The show is so absolutely 1960s it hurts. Captain Ultra is a 1967 Toei production, ordered by the Tokyo Broadcasting System as a stop-gap show between Ultraman and Ultra Seven, despite […]
Another oddity from toku past, Tokkei Winspector (特警ウインスペクター), or simply Winspector, is one of those toku shows that everyone and their dog has said to me to watch at some point and I’ll admit I was interested because the Winspector designs were pretty solid. After one episode, I don’t think I’m going be continuing. Winspector […]
Exceedraft is action-packed right from the start, and is much darker than I initially expected for a series with hero suits that look as relatively goofy as these ones do. As the third part of Toei’s Rescue Police trilogy, it’s clear this series had a bigger budget than even some of its contemporaries of the […]
As an avid Super Sentai and Power Rangers fan, there’s something very comfortable about Choudenji Mashin Voltes V (超電磁マシーン ボルテスＶ). Perhaps it’s the squadron of five individuals coming together as one, perhaps it’s the alien invasion force who send their bad guy of the week to try and defeat the forces of good, perhaps it’s […]
Robot Keiji or Robot detective is a 1973 tokusatsu show from, who else, but Shotaro Ishinomori and is an homage to the works of Asimov. After all his cyborg heroes an android seems like the logical next step. The series is a superhero crime show and puts more effort into being a crime show than […]