Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

  As much as I still enjoy  Kamen Rider Black RX  (and yes, it's still MILES better than that idiotic Saban's  Mashed Rider  which is best considered an Adaptation Decay) -- I still feel like criticizing it for having too many loose ends with  Kamen Rider Black . I just thought of how the series itself could have tried to tie some of its loose ends from the last pure Showa Rider to the transitional Kamen Rider which sadly didn't get a new series out after it. It's only 11 years later did Kamer Rider get a really good reboot! So how would loose ends be tied? Remember,  Black RX  was tying back to the Showa era while  Black  was intended to be its own continuity for some reason. I thought about how to tie the loose ends, especially with how  Black  ended. Here's a bit of a start that could have been done. I could start with Kyoko and Kasumi sending a letter to Kotaro telling him to fight on. He still remembers them while he works...

  As Kamen Rider Black celebrates its 35th anniversary (which was followed by its OBVIOUSLY FAILED SEQUEL, Kamen Rider Black RX ) - I felt like writing this post to get off some steam. True, the "big anniversaries" of the failed show that Saban's MASHED Rider hit in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2017, and 2020. Kamen Rider BLACK celebrated its 30th anniversary last 2017. I felt like writing this rant even if the show's major anniversary would still be in 2025 - three years later! How, do we take a look at this COMMERCIAL FAILURE? Let's see how it went. Toei Ltd. did allow some of their less popular properties in Japan to get adapted for American audiences. Think about how World Event Productions adapted the stories of Golion and Dairugger XV into the two Voltron seasons. There was Lion Voltron and the less popular Vehicle Voltron . I watched the two materials and decided that "They're still better than the American shows!" Though, I felt Golion probably n...

Watching Kamen Rider BLACK as a kid made me think of the darker side of life. My first exposure to a Kamen Rider villain group was Gorgom. Now, having gathered some knowledge about the older Showa era Kamen Riders - I feel the need to revisit one of the scariest groups. Yes, Gorgom. Gorgom seems to be a play on the word Gorgon. I tend to do some BLACK rewatching if I decide to miss some Kamen Rider villains and the typical screwed-up, convoluted plot that was done since the birth of Shocker (in the First Kamen Rider ) and up to Gorgom. The Heisei era Kamen Rider series up to the present are usually more focused on villains doing a less typical scheme (such as how the Grongi in Kamen Rider Kuuga were all too focused on their blood games).  How did Gorgom fare as a villain group? Gorgom had a very convoluted structure. It's like reimagining Shocker, albeit a darker version of Shocker. Though, the mysterious leader, the Creation King isn't heard until late in the series. For some ...

I guess this is really where I'd say, "Does Power Rangers even know what it's doing?" First, we had the Saban era, the Disney era, the Neo-Saban era, and the Hasbro era. I recently thought of how it'd become 30 years since Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers aired in the US. What's next is that the next season is called Power Rangers: Cosmic Fury . More importantly, the Power Rangers Dino Fury cast is RETURNING - something I felt is one of the reasons why I tend to dodge Power Rangers . Here's an excerpt that made me think why I even felt Power Rangers in Space is an over-glorified mess that saved a franchise: The landmark 30th season of Power Rangers will be titled Power Rangers Cosmic Fury. Simon Bennett announced Cosmic Fury as part of Power Rangers Day 2022. Bennett serves as executive producer of the ongoing Power Rangers Dino Fury, which accounts for Seasons 28 and 29 of the overall Power Rangers franchise. Dino Fury's cast will return for Cosmic ...

Sometimes, there's a lot of misplaced hatred. It's one thing to dislike Top Cat for his idiotic antics (though I can enjoy them from time to time at a different angle). It's another thing that Scrappy-Doo does get some unfair hatred. I'm afraid that the gag has gone too far even to make him the villain of that infamous Scooby Doo movie which I'll always hate. If they don't like Scrappy then just don't include him in any reboot or mention him at all.  Even one episode of Scooby Doo Mystery Inc. made a BAD REFERENCE. I felt like Daphne Blake deserved a better man to hug her. Fred Jones said, "We promised not to mention him again." Did something bad happen to him? I felt that the whole scene was a bad joke. TBH I feel sorry for Daphne still thinking about it. We don't know what happened to Scrappy but I felt it was a bad joke. I could still embrace Daphne. I wished I was her man there!  What's interesting information from Looper is this on the...

  Tekken is a video game franchise that launched itself into popularity. The first game Tekken enjoyed success only to have been directly overshadowed by its successor Tekken 2 . For some reason, Namco (before we had Bandai-Namco ) decided to do a 20-year time jump. The Mortal Kombat X comic book series REALLY made me wish Tekken did the same . I guess it was an oversight by Namco back then. So, we had next-generation characters which happened - for better or for worse. Several characters from the first two games were written off either due to unpopularity or to make room for better characters. Now, it's time to think of the characters... Jin Kazama automatically becomes the ongoing protagonist for most of the game series' run What do you get when Tekken characters actually get banging? IMHO, I'm still inclined to think that Kazuya Mishima RAPED Jun Kazama. Watching Tekken Bloodline on Netflix made me think about it that Jun NEVER wanted to mention Kazuya to her son Jin. Wa...

  I don't know but I've noticed - the more I watch Super Sentai   - the more I think Power Rangers isn't my cup of tea. Most of my dislike for the Power Rangers franchise comes with the knowledge that it's NOT a bootleg or a fake. Calling the Power Rangers franchise as such is just PLAIN STUPID. However, I've had some issues with the Power Rangers franchise such as the whole Zordon era, the tendency to cut down the number of episodes (and several series failed to hit their potential IMHO), the Disney era, and the Nickelodeon era. Though one person seems to get overhyped and it's Judd Lynn. I feel like people talk too much about him (and Yasuko Kobayashi) that other writers such as Hirohisa Soda tend to get overshadowed for some time.  I feel like Lynn, unlike Kobayashi, is just overhyped. I felt Lynn did some cool stuff but we know cultural differences. I could agree that Engine Sentai Go-Onger is bad (though I initially enjoyed it) . I'm now thinking about ...