Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Trying to catch up with one's childhood in one's 30s can be very fun and frustrating, isn't it? I remembered how I used to be so fascinated about Kamen Rider shows I haven't seen before or collected some Kamen Rider merchandise such as Kamen Rider cards. Well, I just didn't think that I could adjust that well with most Showa era Kamen Riders as an adult. Funny really how I have not much of a problem watching most old school Super Sentai all the while I prefer new school Kamen Rider over new school Super Sentai most of the time! Now, I've just finished Kamen Rider Skyrider (which was just titled as Kamen Rider -- intended as a reboot of sorts yet the seven other Riders were added later on) and I'd like to share my thoughts. Just beware -- if you're a Showa era fanboy then you may consider averting thine eyes! Skyrider was just called "Kamen Rider" or "New Kamen Rider". He was also called Skyrider by the fanbase because of his flyin...

It's no secret that Liu Kang is indeed my favorite Mortal Kombat character. I nearly left Mortal Kombat because of Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance -- remember that moment that when Shang Tsung and Quan Chi finally put him down? I even wanted to think that Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks was a rewrite of MK2 -- which may even give Shang Tsung more justification to do what he did if Liu Kang did break the former's neck in the second tournament before Shao Kahn ended up reviving his dead servants for the third game, right? Mortal Kombat Deception did bring Liu Kang back but sadly -- the whole zombie Liu Kang is a lifeless storyline compared to what the reboot did. So how does the reboot Liu Kang appeal to me more? The original Liu Kang was more of a Gary Stu. The new Liu Kang has character flaws that I could relate to especially the moment when he started having a breakdown because of Raiden going full retard . He saw people care about die one by one. He even refused to fight any l...

I guess it's time for me to lament the wasted potential that's Shinnok. He was originally introduced as a force of darkness that supposed to be more powerful than Shao Kahn considering that he's a fallen Elder God. The potential was there since Mortal Kombat: Mythologies (which is a very bad game and I don't even suggest you pick it up) where Shinnok was an Elder God who was sentenced to the Netherrealm. Yet, he somehow managed to take over it and even its previous guardian and ruler (who I'd refer to as Lord Yan Wang) and started to plot for revenge over the next thousands of years. So what's the whole deal with Shinnok? Unfortunately, MK4 sucks and the fact he becomes such an easy boss fight. I did like how Shinnok started getting his own individual unique moves over becoming a lazy Shang Tsung through his impersonations. The final boss battle was meh. It was good that Mortal Kombat X did give us a more challenging boss battle yet Corrupted Shinnok isn't...

Well it looks like Ed Boon could be defeating Katsuhiro Harada again (and I hope Harada gets his notebook and writes things down to make up for the blunder that's Tekken 7) though it's too early to tell. So what's my current impressions? I'd like to give my early thoughts though I always like to lace some of my critical thinking with everything exciting.  The story would take place some time after MKX. How long the time lapse was is currently unknown. All we know that Raiden has become a vengeful, bitter god and I just love to see how Shinnok is getting beaten. Talk about a millennia long grudge when Raiden finally gets the chance to bully his archenemy Shinnok. However, the final boss Kronika (probably the Elder Goddess of Time) says that Raiden has upset the balance of time and space itself. It's somewhat the concept of Yin and Yang and I guess Kronika won't be an outright evil boss. Rather, I feel like that she would be like Blaze -- a final boss whose ...

I admit, I didn't get into Dragon Quest until the eighth game and I have NO INTENTION of finishing that Dragon Warrior VII game back in the PS1 days -- I'd like to see it remastered. Now, I thought about that while turn-based gameplay can be fun but I usually prefer the Hack and Slash gameplay where you get more active, get to mash against multiple foes as a stress relief game. The story takes place with the main continuity to be that of Luceus (the talkative strategist) and Aurora (who's an impulsive lady) with Arba's benevolent badass ruler King Doric. Both of them are fire and ice and perhaps Yin and Yang. Along the way, they would actually introduce players to some old school Dragon Quest characters such as Terry (Dragon Quest III), Yangus and Jessica (Dragon Quest VIII), Maya (Dragon Quest IV), and Nera and Bianca (Dragon Quest V). So the game was released more than three years ago but too bad the PS3 version only had the Japanese version. I may be a fan of J...

With Power Rangers Beast Morphers just around the corner -- it's amazing to see how backwards Power Rangers has become one way or another. It's freaking 2019 and why are they localizing or adapting something from way back in 2012?! I even want to ask whether or not Hasbro can really save Power Rangers. Why I want to ask that question is because of the fact that Power Rangers is really getting worse  whether it's Disney's rush seasons or Nickelodeon's fully unnecessary two season split. What's amazing is that whether it's the Disney rush season or the current season -- Power Rangers still survives even if it was already getting worse starting with the Disney era and the Neo-Saban era made it even worse. I was thinking about my history with Hasbro and how they are responsible for several franchises such as the Transformers series and G.I.Joe for starters. Maybe, some of you who were 90s children could remember the highly successful Conan the Adventurer. No...

It's no secret that I don't like or usually I don't care about most of the Showa era Kamen Riders  for many reasons. I always have it in my mind that Showa era Kamen Rider is lesser in quality than Showa era Super Sentai. So now I'm watching Skyrider and I've been into at least 14 episodes as of present. I'm watching it at what I'd call at a slow pace? It's said that it's called "Skyrider" by the fans because it was only called "Kamen Rider" -- perhaps to avoid confusion with the very early 70s the first Kamen Rider. The enemy is the newly reorganized Shocker known as "Neo Shocker" and the series was released four years after Kamen Rider Stronger ended in 1975. I admit I do love the action scenes but I always felt like that watching through old school Kamen Rider tends to bore me more often than not. I also wonder if Toei could try to make a new school Kamen Rider whose powers will include temporary flight after the...

As if casting Naomi Scott as Kimberly for the Power Rangers movie by Lionsgate wasn't weird enough (and I hope Toei and Hasbro will abandon the movie project altogether) -- I just felt casting her as Jasmine is kinda awkward. How so? Scott herself is half-Indian and half-British and not of Middle Eastern descent. It almost feels as awkward as Chinese TV series that make Chinese celebrities play non-Chinese characters, having American actors play French characters (ex. various incarnations of Hunchback of Notre Dame) or how several incarnations of The Monkey King have Indian characters played by Chinese celebrities! Her appearance in the Aladdin movie makes her look like Avalokitesvara the Bodhisattva of Compassion instead of Princess Jasmine. Right now, I'd rather imagine the actress playing the role of an Indian princess who gave up her birthright and swears herself to celibacy to achieve enlightenment, gave the ultimate sacrifice of giving her eyes and arms to cure her ...