Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Some shows in the 1990s had their endings hanging. In Japan, there was Yaiba: The Legendary Swordsman which only stopped during the conclusion of the Kaguya Arc. Maybe, one can remember how Flame of Recca and Cooking Master Boy also had hanging endings for the Anime. I wasn't surprised to learn that the Manga went beyond that. In America, some shows get left hanging and there is hardly any proper conclusion. It's not just Haim Saban but the problem also went with several shows. Some shows get canceled even before they can be concluded like Galtar and the Golden Lance and Pirates of the Dark Water . The case wasn't any different for Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog . I heard that was Saban's attempt to ride on the Sword and Sorcery genre. Unlike his other shows that required some form of contract (ex. Marvel-based shows, Power Rangers ), it seemed Saban Entertainment didn't have a contract on this one at all.  Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog may have been the response to He...

  I wrote  an unpopular opinion on why Power Rangers in Space is an overhyped franchise saver . Now, I feel like I want to write about why Power Rangers Lost Galaxy is just overrated. Sure, it had its fans. However, I'm here to write my OPINION on why I felt it was overrated. Back then, there was the rumor that Lost Galaxy was supposedly more popular than its source material, Seijuu Sentai Gingaman , in Japan. That has been disproven. Maybe, Lost Galaxy is more popular than its source material by Power Rangers fans checking out Super Sentai and that one is more believable if it happens in America . Some Power Rangers fans may be checking out some more pre-Zyuranger entries as well. Now, it's time to write about how this show just got overrated. I feel Power Rangers has been held back by  TOO MANY THROWBACKS . Space was a direct continuation of the cliffhanger that's Power Rangers Turbo . Space ended with Zordon's sacrifice destroying the active evil of its day - the Uni...

  It's no secret that I dislike Power Rangers and did a poor job hiding it. It's no secret now that I'm also critical of newer Super Sentai every now and then (but some seasons are still good) even when I prefer Super Sentai over Powr Rangers. Now, I decided to write my OPINION PIECE (yes, take note of that) on two Power Rangers shows that got a lot of love from its fandom - Power Rangers in Space and Power Rangers Lost Galaxy . The two shows succeeded each other with the space hype.  Let's talk about Space first and why I think it's overrated Space was the show that saved the Power Rangers franchise from cancellation. It's often hailed as a good season. However, I decided to think about how the story was a DIRECT continuation of Power Rangers Turbo . One reason why I prefer Choriki Sentai Ohranger over Power Rangers Zeo is the use of the self-contained continuity where I didn't need to watch EVERY OTHER SENTAI to understand it. Yup, I could watch Ohranger w...

With Gingaman getting a DVD release anytime soon after Megaranger is released, I thought of what if Dr. Hinelar wasn't demoted to Furio for Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. I thought that these following events could have happened. Trakeena would have either never existed or she would have taken the place of Darkonda. Another alternative is that Darkonda would have become the right hand man of the Dark Specter. Trakeena may end up arriving as a midseason game-changing villain as Power Rangers' own version of Queen Ahames. Maybe, she may never be Scorpius' daughter at all. She may have a plot where she and Darkonda once worked to get rid of the Dark Specter but failed. She returns "begging" for mercy but she has her own plans to take over and rule the Universe. Maybe Astronema would have been redeemed in the same way as Shiima from Changeman. Maybe, just maybe Ecliptor would have probably "killed" Astronema, he and Andros have a final duel and he ends up dy...

It's no secret that Tokusatsu societies can be full of rumor mills. I'll try to speak in a less biased way since people know I usually don't watch Power Rangers except if I have some dumb reasoning behind it (ex. hot girls) but I get a lot more of that from Super Sentai. Now it's time to look at the rumor mill that I've encountered but this isn't even a full list. These aren't even provable and are just circulated for the sake of being a Power Rangers snob. Rumor mill: Mighty Morphin' is more popular than Zyuranger I acknowledge the fact that Mighty Morphin' did get dubbed in Japan though I still can't get over why in the world is Reiko Chiba dubbing Kimberly?! I'd actually prefer it if Kimberly were dubbed by Natsuki Takahashi. So what's wrong with this one? There's no real evidence to back that up. Both shows have their pros and cons. I still like Kimberly better than Mei while preferring Zyuranger over Mighty Morphin'. ...

While I don't like Power Rangers but I do appreciate Judd Lynn for actually taking some risks.watching Flashman made me no longer like Lost Galaxy as much as I used to -- it's funny because the only thing the two shows have in common is the space theme. Flashman was stuck with the old school special effects while Lost Galaxy had the privilege of enjoying more of the digital age. But in terms of writing -- I think Flashman wins. Now I thought about how I'd actually do it and how it'd actually start to more of its own thing than rely on past Power Rangers seasons. I could start with the rangers. They are the first five in the Terra Venture. Maybe we could still keep the whole brother plot and Magna Defender plot. They would explore a new solar system called the Flash Solar System in tribute to Choshinsei Flashman. They land on the Planet Mirinoi which would be occupied by aliens resembling that of the Planet Flash. The planet starts to dry up like in Lost Galaxy. Leo s...

Power Rangers while most of the villains were pretty standard, some villains are pretty noteworthy for me namely: Trakeena- If Power Rangers in Space copied Shiima's storyline into Astronema, don't forget this mean bitch who is similar to Queen Ahames of Changeman in how she deals with people around her.  She manipulates both heroes AND villains for her own benefit.  She lies a lot, she causes destruction without remorse, plus she never fails to come up with her cruel schemes to make the lives of the Lost Galaxy Rangers miserable.  She bullies her father's generals with her position, manipulates them to her bidding and does the same to others.  People who were victim of her treachery among villains are Treacheron and Villamax.  Towards the end, she goes crazy and mad with power.  She was determined to destroy Terra Venture in the state of madness, only to be stopped by Leo. She later returned in Lightspeed Rescue and was finally destroyed.  Truly a ...

One of Lost Galaxy's merits is that while it does have Gingaman-ish elements, it does also deviate from Gingaman.  Note some of the stuff I've written here are actually also drawn from similarities.  These are: The members of the crew were Terra Venture's military NOT descendants of rangers.  So Gingaman has its lineage concept (which was ported into Shinkenger) while it was completely removed in Lost Galaxy.  So yeah, too bad PR Samurai didn't do the same.  And the rangers here are well, some of them are different from their counterparts.  Kai Chen is a smart guy but weaker vs. Gouki who is less intelligent but stronger.  Maya of course is female while Hikaru is male.  Damon has no rivalry with anyone whatsoever compared to Hayate's with Shelinda. Magna Defender although he like Bullblack also sacrificed himself, lost his son not his younger brother.  In the exclusive one, Mike as the second Magna Defender sacrificed his powers to get T...

Judd Lynn apparently doesn't just take inspiration from just the previous Power Rangers series alone, it looks like he also took it from aside from the obvious Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, well probably Jonathan Tzachor (who's a lazy writer) also was involved as its producer: Some metal hero influence.  Although Mirinoi is basically taking the Ginga Forest into a different galaxy but I can't help but think that the higher ups at the Terra Venture are like the Space Police.  Instead of metal heroes, they have rangers to help them. The staff at Terra Venture may be comparable to the Galactic Police of the Space Sheriff Trilogy, though they were NOT a police force.  Since they are military, I was thinking of comparing it also to Flashman.  High Commander Renier is the first PR female commander like Aya Odagiri but she is way older considering her rank is higher than a commander.   Changeman and Flashman.  PR in Space took a little bit of Changema...