How do you start a Goushi centric episode? By playing Mei’s character song of course! No, I don’t why they picked that song but at least it’s catchy. This episode made me shed manly tears, girly tears, and had me going “FUCK YEAH!” all at the same time. It’s pretty amazing and manages to be happier than the last two episodes but still pretty sad. This episode is a bit like that Mei episode we had a while back, in the sense that Goushi is the only ranger in this episode, until the very end of course. The character of the day, Sayaka, is really cool and I almost wish she was a recurring guest. Fun note about her actress: She’s sppeared in Turboranger episode 31 and Fiveman episode 34. Also according to this short entry she did a lot of action scenes in these episodes and because she was wearing a skirt there was, obviously, a lot of panty shots. Now apparently she’s rather proud of these shots. Don’t believe me? Here’s Magenta’s summary of the article: “Basically “she had a lot of action scenes and she was in a skirt with bloomers that ended up causing a lot of panty shots because creepy fucking filming techniques, but for some reason this crazy bitch found it kinda amusing and is proud of it””. So yeah… I’ll just leave you with that, and this link to Mei’s character song: Yumemiru Otome no Chikara Kobu
Back when we released Episode 21 I said that Dragon Caesar was “one of my favorite characters in this show, but you won’t get to see why for a while”. Well, this episode is why I love Caesar. For once the focus of the episode isn’t on one of the Rangers, or a kid of the week. No, this time Dragon Caesar gets all the attention. He gets his chance to shine and actually develops his character a bit.
For a giant robot that appears whenever a flute is played, he’s got a lot of emotion. Props to the suit actor for being so expressive in that suit. Between the suit movements and the story you really do feel bad for Caesar. He’s like a dog who’s just lost his master and he has no idea what to do with himself. I love every bit of this episode and I’d say this one is as sad, or even sadder than the last episode. I know that’s a big claim to make but just watch and judge for yourself and see why I love Caesar so much.
As a bonus have an MP3 of Dragon Caesar’s theme song!
Bonus Bonus: A picture of the remains of the DoraAntaeus suit. This was taken at Power Morphicon 2012 by GUIS’ JeffB. The suit was actually on sale at the Con. If you had $600 you could have owned a piece of Zyu history!
He really is invincible!
ANOTHER EDIT! (I’m on fire)
In Episode 36, DoraGunrock’s name has a bit of interesting history behind it. Gunrock is actually the name of The Thing from the Japanese dub of the 60’s Fantastic Four cartoon. in this dub the Fantastic Four are actually “space ninjas”.
Also, the other characters were named Suzie, Fire Boy, and Gomuzu, Doctor Doom was named Akuma Hakase, and the title of the show was Space Ninja Gomozu instead of the Fantastic Four.
There’s not much I can say about these episodes without spoiling it so I’ll keep it short. We all thought that it was best to release both of these episodes at the same time. 41 ends on a cliffhanger and sets up everything for 42 and we didn’t feel it was right to make you wait a week to see the outcome.
What you are about to see are probably the most famous episodes of Zyuranger, at least that’s how I see them. In this fandom just about everyone knows Burai’s fate whether they’ve seen the show or not. However, it’s really something that needs to be seen. These two episodes are beautiful. They do everything right, and at the end it all hits home. There’s twists and turns, surprises, and drama. It’s got a bit of everything. And trust me when I say this, you’re not ready. Even though it’s my second time watching these, they still hit home.
Burai is a great character and even though he’s gone he lives on within us all. Next episode we’re going to see how our team copes with the loss. But not only that, we’re going to see how one of my favorite characters copes with the loss of his only, and best, friend. And we get to see just how much of a heart he really has.
In celebration of the release of Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 I thought I’d sub something Pokemon related. In other words I found this at like 11pm last night and said “Neat!” What this is is a promo vid of MomoClo singing and dancing to the song they sing in the Pokemon anime. Instead of timing the subs to the audio I made them match the Japanese karaoke on the screen. I tried my best but it probably isn’t 100% perfect. Big thanks go to Alkaid for QCing and looking some lyrics over. The actual lyrics were taken from PM’s subs for Pokemon best Wishes and Bulbapedia.
This is a really short video, the lyrics are nonsensical, and it’s pretty childish, but it’s also catchy and fun. So enjoy and remember everyone, GET more Pokemon!
If you watched the preview from the last episode and thought you were getting a full on clip show, I’m sorry. This episode does have a lot of clips from past episodes but, in my mind, it’s more of a “Best of” selection. We get to look back at our favorite moments from episodes past, and see how far our team has come. It’s a really great clip show and don’t be surprised to find yourself feeling nostalgic for a show you just recently started watching. Kou only saw Zyuranger for the first time a year or so ago and she got all nostalgic ( it could also be her love of RPG’s taking effect).
Even if you despise clip shows I would not skip this episode because, like I said, this isn’t a full clip show. There’s plenty of new footage and the clips barely take up half the episode. So sit back, enjoy some memories of battles gone by, and brace yourself for the next chapter. The candle is getting smaller.
This is a very, very, sad episode. What happens within these 20 minutes is one of those events where just one incident can turn an innocent soul to turn evil. The first time I saw this, I understood none of the dialogue but it still left a huge impact on me. Right here, is a shining example of how far Bandora will go to get her way, and how no matter what the cost, or who’s life she has to ruin, she’ll do it. If you watched the preview from last week’s episode then you probably have an idea about what’s going to happen. But I don’t think you’ll be prepared for the ending.
This episode sets the mood for what’s about to happen and I hope you have enough tissues because the candle is burning down and the fire is slowly dying. It’s only a matter of time…
Ready for a dose of Girl power? This episode is one of my top favorites just because of how bizarre and awesome it is (Any episode starring Mei gets my top vote). There’s ton of action and a majority of it comes from our own Princess Mei! She’s the sole star this week while the boys get tangled up in other things. She really gets to shine and show off her skills and even the narrator says she was awesome. If you’ve seen Gaoranger vs Super Sentai, or Gokaiger then you have an idea about what’s going to happen in this episode. It’s one of those bizarre costume changing episodes and Mei gets a whole wardrobe to go through. Everything from a Clown to a Nun and more! It’s a really fun episode and it doesn’t disappoint, enjoy!
Now for some trivia! At one point in the episode the Rangers wind up in a theme park and have a fight in an outdoor theater. This theater is actually Tokyo Dome City, perhaps better known as the home of Toei’s “Hero Action Show”. These stage shows are really cool and basically like mini versus movies acted out on stage and when it comes to stage shows there are no rules. For example, there was a Zyuranger/Exceedraft crossover show, there’s a Kakuranger one that features the Dairangers (with surprise appearance by two of the actual Rangers), Kamen Rider J, the OhRangers, along with Dragon and TyrannoRanger. Megaranger even teamed up with Kabutack! For something more recent, Go-Busters has Gavan in it’s current stage show. Like I said, anything goes (Coming up OOO!)
Here’s a neat Megaranger one (with the best use of the StarWars theme and a roller coaster I’ve ever seen):
And have a collection of commercials as well. These’ll give you a great taste of what these shows are like.
Second piece of trivia! At the end of the episode there’s some plush toys of the Guardian Beasts. It’s one giant commercial because these plushies are actually straight out of the box Zyuranger toys. They’re really cute and after seeing this episode Kou and I both want them. (How could you say no to a chibi ZyuMammoth that walks, flaps it’s ears, and moos at you? Bandai marketing is super effective). I’d like to think that a lot of kids begged their parents to take them to a stage show and buy them some Zyu plushies after seeing this episode.
From JP, the kind bro who makes the MP4 and AVI files you all love so much:
I’d like to ask anyone who downloads the AVIs just to let me know why you do? I originally started making them because the MP4s didn’t work on my 360 and I wanted everyone to be able to watch the stuff in whatever they want but the MP4s do work now and they are a lot better quality:size ratio. I’m just wondering why people download them as I’m really not fond of them and TBH would rather not bother with them any more unless there is a real need for them, so please let me know if there is a need for them.
What happens when you take the classic Chinese story “Journey to the West”, add in some off the shelf DX toys, a newtype dino fetus (Dammit Shin!), and dinosaur eggs? This episode of Zyuranger of course! Once again, we see the return of the dinosaur eggs and, as always, Bandora wants to smash them to pieces. But this time we also have a greedy little bastard who wants to raise them as pets. (Like the Zyurangers would just leave a baby T-rex with a group of kids. I’m sure that would go over well. Remember when that kid in Liveman had a pet T-Rex? That was weird.) When I first saw Zyu I figured those eggs would be a one off thing that was never mentioned again. To my surprise they kept floating back into the show. Just think, those eggs could have easily shared the same fate as the Apello monkey people (Remember them? We’re never seeing them again.) or any other guest character in this show. It’s nice that they keep showing up every so often.
Anyways, this week’s DoraMonster is based on the Golden Horned King from Journey to the West. If you’ve read that story then this monster will be very familiar to you. If not then just enjoy a cool monster and maybe go read a book or two afterwards. I haven’t read that story so I’m at a loss for words about this guy, so uhh… get out of here already! Stop reading! Seriously, I mean it. GO!
Enjoy this episode and remember, only 5 hours remain…
It’s that time of the week again folks! But this time you’re getting a history lesson with your Zyuranger (don’t you groan, you little bastards! History is important!). So, way back in the day Captain Kidd, the infamous pirate captain, found a mirror that could kill anyone who looked into it. He was terrified of this mirror and hid it in Japan (According to actual legends he supposedly did visit one of Japan’s islands, Takajima, and hid a treasure there). Now why is this important? Because it’s the plot of this week’s episode!
In Zyuranger the island is called Namegawa Island instead, and in typical sentai fashion this island is actually a theme park! It’s like in both Car and Megaranger where the teams visit Rindo Lake Family Park (Remember? That’s where Miku said she touched Chisato’s breasts. Uh… anyways…)
In Zyu however, it feels even more like a blatant commercial. Ah well that’s life and it was a beautiful place so who can blame them? There’s some really good shots of the animals and we get some good on location fighting. Nice change of pace if you ask me.
But why am I so interested in this park? Well, it no longer exists. It was closed down in 2001 and most everything in the park got removed. Interestingly enough though, in 2004, it was used to film part of the Kamen Rider Blade movie.
I really like learning about Toku filming locations so I figured I’d use this episode to rant about it. If you’re interested here’s some links to a pair of bloggers who checked Namegawa out and took pics. See how many places you recognize after watching this week’s episodes!
If you’re still not satisfied look up “Nara Dreamland”. It was used in a lot of Showa shows (Skyrider, off the top of my mind, and I think Amazon that I know for sure) and it’s now also, sadly, abandoned.
*Psst* Toei, film something in these locations! They’d make great “battle damaged” sets. That one factory you keep using is getting a bit tiring.
And if you want to see some videos of Namegawa Island in it’s prime then here’s a whole playlist of home movies! (thanks to JEFFB for sending me the link to these)
Also from JEFFB: This is the final appearance of Toku Nishio in this series (he previously played DoraCirce and DoraBoogaranan). He acted in Sentai all the way from Goranger-Ohranger and has the honor of voicing the first ever Super Sentai monster, Golden Mask from Goranger.
EDIT: DoraGunrock’s name has a bit of interesting history behind it. Gunrock is actually the name of The Thing from the Japanese dub of the 60’s Fantastic Four cartoon. in this dub the Fantastic Four are actually “space ninjas”.
Also, the other characters were named Suzie, Fire Boy, and Gomuzu, Doctor Doom was named Akuma Hakase, and the title of the show was Space Ninja Gomozu instead of the Fantastic Four.
MEGAANON 