Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

  Who can remember Toei Ltd.'s involvement before they decided to enter the American market? Sure, one would know (by now) that the Voltron franchise was a combination of two unrelated shows namely Golion and Dairugger XV . Yeah, I find it weird some people preferred Vehicle Voltron over Lion Voltron . In my case, I felt Dairugger XV had more interesting drama than Golion fighting villains who were more focused on half-brained For the Evulz plans. Before that, there was Combattler V and Voltes V . I remembered seeing Voltes V dubbed in English by Telesuccess Productions. Later, Combattler V was aired. I heard Voltes V was secured first because Combattler V was more popular, therefore more expensive. Hmmm... can anybody kindly explain why it's been cheaper to air Kamen Rider than Super Sentai ? I could care less Power Rangers still airs but it's weird really how Kamen Rider airs but not Super Sentai . Heck, GMA-7 aired Mischievous Kiss but not Gokaiger .  Having seen some of...

Before Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - Saban Entertainment took the challenge of a  creating a TV-Y7-FV version of the X-Men . Hence, X-Men: The Animated Series (X-Men: TAS) was born as a result of that. Before that, there was the FAILED pilot called Pryde of the X-Men  which an arcade came was made LOOSELY based on it . This was one of my favorite shows. I remember throwing tantrums whenever I missed an episode because of a brownout, storm, or those damn days when I had to study. It was aired on Friday evenings on ABS-CBN . It was also when Batman: The Animated Series and Conan the Adventurer were aired on the same network. Yeah, all shows were in 1992. Then in 1993 - Toei Ltd. gave Saban Entertainment the green light to launch the once-monster hit Mighty Morphin' .  I felt that toning down Super Sentai and creating Power Rangers based on it can be challenging. Though, I still think that X-Men TAS was probably a harder challenge. One needs to read the comics which contai...

Okay, I'm not too happy at racist comments made against My Little Mermaid (2023) . However, I have a feeling that casting a black woman as Ariel here while Prince Eric is STILL WHITE might just be forced diversification. I also feel having a black mermaid here and a white human might be nearly an SJW message. I feel like if Disney truly wants to try out a black Ariel - why not move the whole plot to AFRICA? Sounds funny but that's what I think should've been done. I could remember when HBO created Happily Ever After . Many stories were reimagined outside their country's setting. The episode "The Emperor's New Clothes" relocated the setting to Japan. Heck, even the Aladdin episode was retold as Chinese when it's an ARABIAN story. Yeah, I know an earlier version of Aladdin happened in China but later versions moved it to Arabia where it should be. We had A Little Mermaid moved to CHINA. The episode "Beauty and the Beast" even relocated Belle t...

Yeah, BLACK will always be preferred over the failed sequel, right? I remembered writing about what I dislike about most Showa-era Kamen Rider entries . One of my biggest issues was the appearance of the Not-So-Great Leader who has been fortunately demoted to non-canon crossover movies. I decided to do some re-research on the Internet to find the timeline of the Showa era.  We had a Kamen Rider series as follows: The First Kamen Rider was in 1971 Kamen Rider V3 was in 1973 Kamen Rider X and Kamen Rider Amazon  were in 1974 Kamen Rider Stronger was in 1975 Kamen Rider Skyrider  was in 1979 Kamen Rider Super-1 was in 1980 In between, we had the MOVIE ONLY Kamen Rider ZX in 1981 Kamen Rider BLACK was in 1987 Kamen Rider Black RX was in 1988 One can observe the significant time lapses between certain seasons. Skyrider was a name given since it was just called The New Kamen Rider . It was meant to be a reboot but you had Neo-Shocker and the other Kamen Riders SHOWING UP. Yet, ...

I guess one can say that most of the Showa-era Kamen Rider series didn't know what to do yet. Just think of the hiatuses in-between such as when Kamen Rider Stronger and Kamen Rider Skyrider had a four-year gap. Kamen Rider Super-1 and Kamen Rider Black had a significant six-year gap after it ended. Before that, we had Kamen Rider ZX which was released on January 3, 1984, all before it was forgottten and shelved into nothing more than just a movie. It was a waste IMHO since we had Badan Empire appear, we had the Great Leader speaking, and yet all was that forgotten with how Black got introduced. Heck, I heard that Black was supposed to be its own continuity until its failed (but vindicated sequel) Kamen Rider Black RX . ZX introduced us to Shun Sugata who seldom resumed his role for a reason.  If you've watched Black RX  - you may notice the ten Kamen Riders returned. Though, we never saw Sugata in the flesh. Heck, one of the Kamen Rider actors Takehisa Yamaguchi died TWO...

The more I watch Super Sentai - the more I think one of the reasons why I dislike Power Rangers is the tendency to use the SINGULAR TIMELINE. I wonder why in the world I even watch Power Rangers Beast Morphers (which I did bother to finish, hehehehehe) and why I even sat through Kishinryu Sentai Ryusoulger . Speaking of which, I felt that Lord Zedd's sudden return as a guest in Power Rangers Dino Fury would be as stupid if Black Cross Fuehrer returned as a guest character in Ryusoulger . As said, I still feel Black Cross Fuehrer returning in the Gokaiger 199 Movie is understandable. However, a regular episode of? That would totally be rather weird if Toei Ltd. wanted to bring back a very unfamiliar villain to the new generation, huh?  Rethinking of the Beast Morphers "history lessons"...  This reminds me of a review that rant from Dryed Mangoez's  finale review . I still feel like quoting what he said over and over again since Lester Jeff (the owner) took the words RI...

Conan the Adventurer is no doubt a sanitized version of Conan the Barbarian . There was the 1982 movie which was LOOSELY based on the novels by Robert E. Howard. There was Marvel Comics adapted the story in 1970. It was rumored that Mattel wanted to create a Conan toyline but found the content too mature so He-Man was created. Heck, even the first episode had Cartoon!Conan raising the sword like He-Man did. All that was missing was to give Comics!Thulsa Doom an adaptation and not the Movie!Thulsa Doom adaptation. More on that later... I remembered watching Conan the Barbarian (1982) which is still better than Conan the Barbarian (2011) . I think 1982!Conan was truly terrifying and what Conan should be - very much unlike the Cartoon!Conan who was more morally upright even if he was somewhat bullheaded. Cartoon!Conan had to learn to read unlike the other adaptations of Conan. I think it was quite perfect when Hasbro had the rights to finally adapt the very much adult Conan franchise for...

  1992 would bring in a lot of memories. Maybe, there's the  X-Men: The Animated Series  cartoon .  There's also  Conan the Adventurer  which was part of my Saturday morning escapism. It was back when I thought that the  Conan  cartoon came before the movie. Though, a Google search today will tell you that the  Conan the Barbarian  movie came out in 1982. Was the cartoon series an intentional nod to  the ADULT movie that left me in shock ? Maybe, maybe not. But I remembered obsessing over this cartoon like it was the greatest cartoon ever. Though I feel like not rewatching it anymore and maybe, it's an Old Shame to me like  Power Rangers  or just any show I used to like watching. I feel so stupid at how often I quarreled with my parents whenever I had to study on a Saturday morning. It was because I felt  Conan the Adventurer  was the greatest cartoon ever. The premise of the cartoon was where Cartoon!Conan was b...