Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Well here's been one thing I thought as a kid- season 1 of Power Rangers basically had Rita Repulsa established somewhat as the empress of evil, a queen at her own right, she doesn't mention she has a master and all that- she was in fact to every child back then the BIG BAD of the first season.  In fact, MMPR was supposed to end after 40 episodes but due to popularity issues, the show was extended with Zyu2 footage (that is extra Zyuranger footage that NEVER was used in the original) for MMPR exclusively.  Toei accepted the offer so they can make more money in America based on the royalties Saban pays! So I had my headache on that issue.  So Rita Repulsa was basically almost similar to Bandora, big bad, ruler of darkness and then we realize that... entrance music... Lord Zedd has to enter.  Lord Zedd was written as her master, a fearsome destructive villain.  So if Rita was the empress of destruction, then what is Lord Zedd's rank?  Also, why didn't Rita mention h

Kabal.  Although he's not my favorite but I thought that pretty much had a blur role as Kabal.  He started off in Mortal Kombat 3/Ultimate/Trilogy as a member of the Black Dragon who got spared from being soul-sucked by Shao Kahn.  So he was chosen for some reason where he was spared but forced to wear an artificial respirator for the rest of his life.  He had begun to see the light that is for awhile, he helped the Earth warriors fight against the Outworld invasion.  However he was not seen in MK4 or Gold but later was mentioned in Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance.  While he supposedly left the Black Dragon, Mavado defeated him and mortally wounded him, claimed his hookswords but that was NOT the end of Kabal. What happened was his allegiance was supposedly good, the cleric of Chaosrealm, Havik took advantage of him and revived him from near death returning him to the side of evil in Mortal Kombat Deception where he vowed to reform the Black Dragon under a new order.  He started w

MMPR didn't do much copying from Zyuranger, instead they "adapted" other seasons into their characters. Shiro Gou for Jason- Both have a sense of passion and responsibility.  They both also have a chemistry with the yellow rangers of their team.  Both of them held the team together, reminded everyone they needed their teamwork and was a pretty reliable leader.  He also manages to catch up with Trini at times, which they have a contrast of personality at times yet they do have that on-screen chemistry though coupling is out of the question. Shirou Akebono for Zack- Not anything much but the Kenya is an African nation and Shirou Akebono was a black ranger.  Zack was a black American as the black ranger.  Nothing racist here really, just the pride of being a black for me.  Everything else is different. Yousuke Shima for Billy- Though personality-wise they are different, they are both inventors in blue. Mika Koizumi for Trini- While Mika bit the dust too early and

One of the most confusing roles of Conan the Adventurer was namely Queen Mesmira who is called to be the Queen of Stygia.  If she is the Queen of Stygia, then why is she serving the high priest Wrath-Amon unwillingly?  So her, here seems to be the theory provided that the writers of Conan the Adventurer had ported this plot from Robert E. Howard's version of Stygia into the show considering that much of Conan the Adventurer pays tribute to the violent novels: Robert E. Howard's Stygia: Stygia was a theocracy controlled by the priests of Set , the Serpent-God. The administrative capital and seat of the king was Luxur, lying inland and south of the Styx on an important caravan route. We may presume that when the climate was wetter, the River Bakhr was navigable up to Luxur. In Conan's time it was not. The greatest port and religious center was at Khemi, on the estuary of the Styx. Sukhmet and Kheshatta were apparently caravan cities that serviced traders from the black

Mortal Kombat 2011 (or some would call it Mortal Kombat 9) I really thought had gotten to me to where I'd say it's pretty depressing.  So where do I begin?  It's the conclusion to Mortal Kombat Armageddon, everybody's dead as seen in the opening below... So Shao Kahn somehow defeated Onaga.  What we learned happened last was that Taven defeated Blaze, Taven became a full god and ascended yet the other warriors were neither weakened nor killed but rather, the third unexpected outcome came... they all became incredibly powerful.  So maybe Shao Kahn got more powerful than Onaga, killed the latter and eventually returned to the pyramid to beat Raiden up.  Raiden gets beaten up but not before using his broken Amulet to send a message to the past saying "He must win..." leaving us to think who this "he must win" is... seriously Raiden since when did you go vague talking?!  So what happened was simple... after Shao Kahn wins, the "solution&quo

Some people tend to think that slice of life stories or dramas immediately stink or something.  However I had my thoughts on watching Heisei riders, some of them do feel like a J-Drama slapped with Tokusatsu rather than the standard Kamen Riders of the Showa era to me. However they were done well compared to the disaster that was... Zaido... well this may be a jerkass move but Zaido is that awful. I had my thoughts on Zaido seemed promising but no, just no, it's just plain terrible. Drama-wise and Toku-wise it is sloppy.  Seriously, it's probably worse than Kalish's writing Operation Overdrive.  Zaido may be forgivable with its effects but the way it was written was stupid. So where are the monster of the week? Where is all the intense drama? It's not even done properly as it's just plain dragging too. Zaido is a disaster that GMA-7 should NEVER repeat.  Seriously if they want to make their won Toku, they better watch more Kamen Rider Heisi era to see how it's

There were some villains in Power Rangers that had no Super Sentai counterparts.  However it seemed they were inspired by these Super Sentai villains... Apparently Astronema had her inspiration from Changeman's Shiima, being kidnapped as a child and brainwashed to serve an evil organization.  Like Shiima, she went from brainwashed and crazy to earning her happy ending. Dark Specter and Bazoo- Both use astral projections and are pretty much intimidating to their subordinates. In the case of Dark Specter, his full combat abilities were never know as he was easily destroyed by Darkonda in an act of betrayal. In the case of Trakeena, I might really give her credit of inspiration to Ahames from Changeman.  Both are scheming, manipulative and would do anything to accomplish their task.  Plus, both of them were loyal to their respective planets.

It's time to award the couples of Power Rangers... Biggest split ever goes to Tommy and Kimberly.  Seriously what were the writers thinking? Best villain couple goes to Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa- Yes they are villains but they do make such a sweet couple.  In fact, their love endured through from their squabbles every time they were defeated.  Despite their ups and downs, Lord Zedd realized he loved Rita all along even with the love potion gone.

Now for the male villains... Best villain goes to Lord Zedd.  Decayed or not, he's really still fearsome even if he does get comical after season two.  Best parts was before the love potion ended, he and Rita Repulsa really caused much misery to the MMPR team regardless.  He does have insanity moments like his sudden crush on Kimberly (but he overcame that) or how his putties get too easy to defeat for the rangers.  But regardless, he's still a fearsome villain. Most tragic villain goes to Ransik.  Although he is shown more temperamental than Dolnero or how he mistreats Frax, he's tragic considering he's been shunned by humanity and most of his evil deeds were directed towards his hatred for humans.  In the end, he learned his hatred had to end and it came to a full circle reformation in Power Rangers Wild Force when he became the thing he used to hate- a human!

So here's another shallower awarding but here goes... Most evil female villain in Power Rangers goes to Queen Bansheera.  Well there seems to be hardly any difference betweent hem when it came to mistreating their subordinates.  Not even Trakeena was that cruel. Most iconic female villain goes to Rita Repulsa.  Hmmm... it shouldn't be surprising she's what gets tag in MMPR more than her husband Lord Zedd.

Well I don't really have much enthusiasm with Power Rangers these days realizing I still like Super Sentai more, however here's my list of hero awardees... Mr. Badass goes to Tommy.  Nobody can deny he may be a normal human physically, he may not be as great as Burai but he still has his credentials.  If you ask me, there are times he gets to be nearly as tough as Takeru/Red Mask or in some way Riki/Red Turbo.  Like Banba, he is also pretty much a fighter.  Overall, he's still a legend but let's not overrate him shall we? Mr. Eye Candy goes to Cole.  My thoughts?  Well he may be quite badass considering his awesome strength, however I won't dare put him in par with Tommy.  He could be like Ryou in terms of eye candy appeal to the viewers.  Sadly his actor was a douchebag whose appearance deteriorated thanks to his ugly inner self. Mr. Best Scientific Mind goes to Billy Cranston.  No doubt about it.  I would say he was based on Dyna Blue from Dynaman but as

I've done some Super Sentai awarding, I would also give some for Power Rangers too.  Let's keep going... Most badass female goes to Trini Kwan.  Basically Trini is what I'd call you take Mika, bring her to America and let her stay an entire season and write her off in the next.  I would just say there hasn't been any more badass females after Trini left.  Sadly Thuy Trang had to leave us so soon but at least Mason didn't kill her actress with the Bio Killer Gun since the former is a real character and the latter is fiction. Miss Eye Candy goes to Kimberly Hart.  She is after all that gorgeous and sexy.  Hee hee.  So gorgeous Skull and Lord Zedd (once) had a crush on her.  Lord Zedd even noted her beauty before he decided to destroy her as an obstacle to his plans and finding his true love in Rita.  I should say I just love her voice.  Her eye candy status in my mega crossover is pretty much she actually has entered into Radiguet's desired list of girls asi