Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

  I could remember watching Kamen Rider BLACK (back when it was called Masked Rider Black in the dub and international release). I was around nine years old (and it was an IRREGULAR schedule) when it happened. Yeah, it was a child's show, alright. There was also Hikari Sentai Maskman which Takeru was dubbed as Michael Joe - a name I no longer recall fondly. The same went for Kotaro Minami's dub name Robert Akizuki - the very source of a nickname that I dubbed myself. This is one scary series that managed to be so successful that the less popular sequel, Kamen Rider BLACK RX , was born. The series was said to be meant to be a reboot. It's too obvious, right? Having watched some older Showa-era entries of Kamen Rider made that claim make sense to me. Nothing was said about Gorgom being part of Shocker. Nothing about the Great Leader barking orders as the Gorgom priests. Instead, we have the plot of the Century Kings. The two candidates are both Black Sun (hence the spin off w...

  I may still think Shao Kahn is the coolest villain in Mortal Kombat ever. However, Shao Kahn wouldn't be as cool if he didn't have Onaga to set things up. Shao was once the adviser to Onaga Kahn before he became Shao Kahn. Shao Kahn, before becoming Shao Kahn, was an extremely ambitious guy. I think Onaga himself had been emperor for several Mortal Kombat tournaments and may have lost his life somewhere during Outworld's conquest of Edenia. Onaga got too focused on immortality at some point. Shao knowing that he can't beat Onaga in a fair fight used poison. Shao later became the new Kahn of Outworld presumably because survival of the fittest is the law there. MK Deception really introduced a cool new boss. I hated Moloch. Onaga? Well, I felt he was freaking badass. The introduction showed he was a dominant guy. The Dragon King's mummified army bowed before him. Onaga is the true ruler of Outworld. Onaga even manipulated Shujinko for decades BEYOND THE GRAVE. Onaga...

Mortal Kombat has a cast of good characters. However, every fighting game has to have some mistakes. Some characters for me are just an utter mess or I just hate them plain and simple. Some of these are unplayable boss characters. I wouldn't include inside-joke characters like Mokap (who was just a gimmick) or Meat. Instead, I'd focus on characters I'm glad are no longer around.  Motaro MK3 was a rather broken game. The updates Ultimate MK3 and MK Trilogy were even more broken. I remembered MK Trilogy was the most broken one since the bosses (with SNK stats) were playable. Motaro is practically one character I say I'd hate. This is one boss that would probably put the likes of Geese Howard and Rugal look tame. It's because of how freaking imbalanced Motaro gets.  I remembered how Motaro had the following issues. He had highly reflective skin (bouncing back projectiles though the ability was somewhat decreased later). He could juggle with fireballs more than Kintaro ...

After doing the Janperson review - I felt it was time to revisit a series that was literally Robocop Lite. That's the Robocop TV series that took place in 1994. It was a CANADIAN production where Robocop was given a new timeline. It was licensed from Orion pictures. Yeah, the original Robocop movie was never meant for children. This one tried to appeal to a younger audience in a similar fashion to how Conan the Adventurer pretty much lacked the brutality of Conan the Barbarian . I didn't watch more of this (and don't intend to rewatch it). Now, it's time to revisit a primetime show. Not surprisingly, ABC-5 aired Robocop TV Series before it aired Janperson. The tagline in Filipino was, "If America has a Robocop. Asia too has a Robocop! JANPERSON!" Obviously, Janperson's design was based on Robocop even if one can say that Robot Detective K had a greater amount of influence. Yeah, there were the Robocop TV Series toys. If I'm not wrong - there were also ...

Finally, we have our final arc which focuses on their deadliest enemy Boddicker ahem Tatewaki. Yeah, I love to throw that corny joke due to how Tatewaki behaves a lot like Boddicker. Now, this is where Janperson must know the true face of his final enemy. This also involves Kaoru Saegusa's "betrayal" which has a very weird way of doing things. Heck, Kaoru even creates Black Carol (and probably collaborated with the cops) to finally take down Janperson's deadliest foe ever! Unlike the other previous two gangs - Bill Goldy gets a four-part arc. I guess Bill Goldy had become so popular with the fans that he deserved a four-part arc. For some, Bill Goldy was most likely a cyborg version of Boddicker. It's said Boddicker became more popular than his contractor Dick Jones. Jones was more of the generic Corrupt Corporate Executive. Like Boddicker, Tatewaki is an insane guy who plots to remove all competition. These first two episodes are also a tandem writing of Junichi ...

After the downfall of the Super Science Network - we're taken to another villain organization. This time, Bad Boy Robin Padilla ahem Kazuoki Takahashi goes out with a bang. I feel this finale arc had Robocop 3 into the equation. Robocop 3 did screen in 1993 - sometime after Janperson aired in Japan. I felt the people at Toei Ltd. couldn't resist getting Marie Lazarus into the equation hence Kaoru Saegusa was born. The Neo-Guild robots were practically like Terminator units. At this point, we have George Makabe ending up as the Paul McDaggett of the series midway. I did compare him to Cain but it's too far-fetched. Now, it's time for the final end of Neo-Guild!  Junichi Miyashita gets a hand from Yasuyuki Suzuki for this ending arc. Interestingly, Suzuki also worked with Miyashita with two Solbrain episodes and an episode in Exceedraft . At times, I just wish that the Rescue Police Trilogy was somehow connected to Janperson instead of bringing the show over to B-Fighter ...

This is the finale arc which consists of EIGHT episodes in total. Yes, that's how the finale arc of Janperson is because of the multiple factions. The first one to fall is none other than the Super Science Network. The two episodes are written in tandem by Nobuwo Ogizawa and Takahiko Masuda.  I saw the finale episodes in Tagalog back in ABC-5. Now, I saw them in the original Japanese. This episode has some nightmare fuel, a probable reference to Jiban , and a guest star that Atsuko Takahata worked with back in BLACK RX . Yes, we're going to discuss the downfall of Reiko Ayanokouji. These two episodes make you think of the Well-Intentioned Extremist. Though, it seems rather out-of-place (or not) since most of Reiko's episodes were about her trying to gain power.  Super Science Network begins its final battle against humanity. Reiko decides to take things into her own hands by becoming the Super Beast God(dess). This new form allows Reiko to turn humanity into... FERTILIZERS?...

Janperson pretty much had a long journey - something Metalder wasn't able to do for a reason. Now, it's time to focus on the next few episodes before the fall of the evil organizations.  Episode 37 This is another joint episode. We have Naoyuki Sakai and Nobuwo Oogizawa joining up to write this episode. This episode also adds a robot named Silent (who freakishly looks like a modified Sol-Dozer from Solbrain ) and a female robot named Gelsomina. This is also a Tatewaki Konzern episode. This reveals how Boddicker ahem Tatewaki is willing to set up innocent people just to get the job done. It's plain genius (really) how Tatewaki sets up Silent. Tatewaki is a pretty crafty guy for someone with insanity. Tatewaki uses his Bill Goldy persona to murder Jelsomina AND set Silent up. Silent can't be silent anymore. Silent was a robot to do exploration. Gun Gibson can relate to Silent in many ways. Jelsomina is pretty much Carol's equivalent. Though, the robots were manufactur...

These are two regular episodes but are both conducted by Bad Boy Robin Padilla ahem George Makabe. Yeah, sorry if I can't resist bringing up Robin Padilla every time Kazuoki Takahashi shows up in any role whether hero or villain. These are two episodes that don't form an arc but are two regular episodes. We had that formula with Super Science Network with two plots that were barely connected . Neo-Guild is still an interesting faction nonetheless.  Episode 35 Neo-Guild has Makabe going power-mad. It also reveals more about Gun Gibson who once hunted deserters. Like Paul McDaggett, we know that Makabe is power-mad and wants control by any means possible. This episode also features Kaoru Shinoda who voiced Bikel in Winspector and Totbat in Zyuranger . There's also a robot girl named Toko. Oh yeah, good thing that both Nobuo Akagi from Akibaranger and Troy Burrows from Power Rangers Megaforce were still children at this time. Nobuo did get attracted to a robot girl. Troy is ca...

Here are the next two episodes I decided to lump together. These are two episodes that I think really are rather weird. A bit of a review - Jiban also had the Queen Cosmos villain who's an ALIEN. The Bioron in Jiban are a bio-engineering syndicate. Now, for what I'd call a couple of weird episodes. I guess Janperson never could deny Jiban as its predecessor, right? Now, it's time for another weird run. Episode 33 After the introduction of Boddicker ahem Tatewaki's new form as Bill Goldy - we get another Super Science Network episode. Are invaders really COMING FROM SPACE? This is one weird episode written by yours truly, Hirohisa Soda. The Soda era for Super Sentai ended with Fiveman . Yet, it seemed Soda was still willing to share his expertise even after his burnout. This is one pretty weird episode that had me entertained without end.  I guess the BLACK RX jokes can't stop so easily, right? The aliens are actually humans with telekinesis. Professor Horota dresses...

It looks like Janperson was NEVER going to run out of Robocop references right? There was the Robocop 2 movie and appropriately called so. Robocop 2 featured the Robocop-2 model which was rather impractical. This is also the episode where Clarence Boddicker ahem Ryuzaburo Tatewaki decides to take things into his own hands. This also has Junpei Morita guest-starring as a mad scientist Kogoro Tokizane. We also have the return of roboticist Keiichi Narumi.  This is where things get rather intense. Tatewaki knows he can't handle Janperson on his own. One thing worth thinking about in the Robocop movie was where Boddicker couldn't handle Robocop and ratted Dick Jones out. Jones himself is pretty much that generic corrupt villain. I guess Toei Ltd. never cared about him and gave Boddicker the honors. Unlike Boddicker, Tatewaki knows that to take on Janperson, he has to become somebody else. This is where the Bill Goldy project kicks in. It's time to create a biological cyborg or ...

Janperson 29-30 is yet another intense arc. This is written by Mutsumi Nakano who was also responsible for Exceedraft episodes 18, 24, and 37. He was also the writer of Janperson episode 14 to which was about U2 and Dollman. This two-parter is another Neo-Guild episode that is rather intense. Not so many people that George Makabe is human, maybe except for a few who knew about his human past. We have Makabe's quest for power and two children's quest for revenge. They called the machine Jesus-End which is rather ironic given the vengeful character of the two children, Koji and Masashi.  This episode has Makabe wanting more power. The new machine is meant to put an end to all robots. This pretty much puts Janperson and Gun Gibson as the two try to work with each other. This episode features Koji and Masashi as vengeful children who lost their father to Neo-Guild. A robot named Carman is created in their father's place. Makabe decides to manipulate Gun Gibson for some ulterio...