Doc – Henshin Justice Unlimited

Author: Doc

Sep202017 by DocNo Comments

5 Things to Love About Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga

Articles, Blog, Movies & TV, Reviews, Toku, Ultraman

When it was first announced that 2016's Ultraman Orb would get a prequel follow-up, my reaction was a mix of curiosity and caution. The show about a charming wanderer, who just happened to be an alien superhero in disguise, had just won me over, and its characters were ripe for a second look. But then word came that this new chapter would take place before the main series and be released on the streaming site Amazon Prime Japan. Would this be a worthy addition to Orb's brief but exciting legacy, or would the circumstances of its creation see it stumble toward an unceremonious finish? Here's a shortlist of the ways in which Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga pleasantly surprised. The Prequel Beats The Original Upon hearing when the events of this series would take place, my honest feeling...

Sep202017 by DocNo Comments

Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 4 Trailer Brings the Razzle-Dazzle

Animation, Anime, Movies & TV, News, Video Update

Voltron: Legendary Defender returns with a brand new season, ready to wow us with more great characters, slick animation, and action-packed space adventure. It's everything you'd want from a show about a team of heroes piloting super robots to defend the innocent against a monstrous enemy. Other properties should be taking notes. This is how it's done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtGxLvrMGbo It's officially called the fourth season, but let's be honest. It's the second half of a season that began just a few months ago. As long as they continue to deliver on the thrills, the laughs, and the beautiful visuals, they can call it season 99 for all we care. Voltron: Legendary Defender returns October 13 on Netflix.

Sep202017 by DocNo Comments

China’s Fake Ultraman: The Real-Life Supervillain

Animation, Anime, Articles, Blog, Movies & TV, News, Toku, Ultraman, Uncategorized

It's been a strange few years for the Ultraman franchise. First hitting the airwaves in 1966, Tsuburaya Productions' red-and-silver hero captivated audiences year after year, raising a legacy that endures to this day. But in the interim, their enterprise was beset with legal troubles and financial woes that threatened its livelihood and left its future in international waters uncertain. And so we come to today, where an unauthorized creation based upon a stolen brand is being advertised to the masses, setting a grim precedent for the Ultraman property going forward. The title's current standing is merely the end result of a lengthy gauntlet of court battles dating back as early as the mid-1990s, in which two-time Thai collaborator Sompote Saengduenchai (The 6 Ultra-Brothers vs. The Mo...

Sep192017 by DocNo Comments

Someone Forgot the Safeword in Kamen Rider Build Episode 3

Articles, Blog, Kamen Rider, Movies & TV, Reviews, Toku

The hits just keep on coming for the new Kamen Rider Build, as Sento flies higher, the story goes deeper, and one character may find out just how much chains and guns excite them. After trolling Ryuuga through another flawless recap, Sento kicks us off by holding Kamen Rider 101 with his star pupil (doubtlessly because he's the only one there), Ryuuga himself. He goes over the chain of events that have lead us to this point, searching for Nabeshima, the man who knocked out Ryuuga before Faust could haul him off to the monster farm. This scene is so ridiculous. I don't even know how it's possible that Ryuuga doesn't understand his own backstory, which he lived through and remembers perfectly well now, and yet he needs Sento to go over it all again, complete with a marker board and visu...

Sep182017 by DocNo Comments

Ultraman Geed 11 Shows Its Receipts in Best Episode Yet

Articles, Blog, Kamen Rider, Movies & TV, Reviews, Toku, Ultraman

Well, this is hilarious. Two episodes after we issue criticisms at Ultraman Geed, the latest entry into the Ultraman franchise, for its lack of punch, they serve up what is quite easily their greatest effort to date. Not only is it the most stylish, action-packed episode so far, it disperses story concerns that were mounting in the lead-up to this installment. Nice timing. Director Taguchi Kiyotaka infuses the episode with a visual flair unlike any of Geed's previous chapters, proving exactly why the Ultra franchise needs to keep this man onboard as long as they can. From the tense dialogue sequences between the devilish Kei and the show's plucky young hero Asuka to the high-octane battle sequences both above and within the crumbling city, "The Geed Identity" is a cut above the rest. ...

Sep142017 by DocNo Comments

Power Rangers: The 10 Best Episodes

Articles, Blog, Movies & TV, Power Rangers, Reviews, Toku

Top 10 lists are funny. If someone were to ask us a year from now the same question that prompted this list, you could be forgiven for somehow coming up with a completely new set of titles. That's not because we're fickle or indecisive, but because we're talking about Power Rangers, a franchise that boasts a formidable episode number that climbs north of 800! And while a few (or more) of them could be tossed into the category of half-hours some would like to forget, there's a ton more that made us laugh, or cheer, or even cry. So, instead of reaching for a "definitive" list of sweepingly elite installments of this epic franchise, let's check out a few big favorites, presented from one dedicated viewer's perspective. When people wonder why we watch this show, for some of us, the ans...

Sep132017 by DocNo Comments

Kamen Rider Build Episode 2 Shines Bright, Like a Diamond

Articles, Blog, JBlog, Kamen Rider, Movies & TV, Reviews, Toku, tokublogs, Uncategorized

Can we talk about the new Kamen Rider Build? I have to talk about this. I need to be reassured that I'm seeing what I'm seeing and that it's not going to be taken away from me when they finally realize what they've done and decide it's all a really expensive mistake. This is too much of what I wanted all at once. Who's about to get fired for this magnificence?! The brilliance begins at minute one, with the greatest recap ever committed to film. The braggadocious smarty-pants Kiryuu Sento and his new fugitive pal Banjou Ryuuga have dueling summaries, bantering even as they tell us what happened in last week's premiere episode. I already love these idiots and it's only been like twenty minutes. Please tell me I can keep them, mommy! After the recap, we get our first look at the openi...

Sep122017 by DocNo Comments

Ultraman Geed: Here We Go (Away)

Articles, Blog, Movies & TV, Reviews, Toku, Ultraman

In the new Ultraman Geed, the young son of the nefarious Ultra villain Belial must rise up to save humanity from ultimate extinction. It's the perfect launchpad for an epic entry into the tome of Ultraman stories, years in the making. With the pedigree on display here, you'd have no reason not to think this would rock every sock on this and all other Earths. But while the show isn't totally abysmal, we can't tell yet if it counts as great either. If you just glance the stats for this show, it would seem to have the building blocks of something remarkable. Since Belial's debut in the Ultra Galaxy Legends movie, the ambitious Ultraman-gone-bad has grown in popularity, challenging literal armies of Ultra heroes across the multiverse. The idea that he might have a son who opposes him, ...

Sep112017 by DocNo Comments

On Kyuranger, No One Can Hear You Scream

Articles, Blog, Movies & TV, Reviews, Space Sheriff, Super Sentai, Toku, Uncategorized

2017 has been a year of highs and lows for me as a tokusatsu fan. At one end of the aisle, there were heavy hitters. Big surprises and reinvention, breathing new life into what had seemed a little too routine of late. At the other end, we had some duds. Weak efforts with minimal creativity and just no drive to wow us. Sometimes those two things would happen back-to-back within the same franchise! Amid all the chaos emerged a title seeking to recapture my heart when it appeared all but lost in the shuffle of rotating monsters, morphers, and mecha. Let's take a closer look at Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger, and see where it ranks on the scale so far. Not gonna lie, when this show first premiered, I completely gushed. We're finally going where Super Sentai has never gone before, taking the franc...

Sep52017 by DocNo Comments

Kamen Rider Build Shakes Up A Winning Formula

Articles, Blog, Kamen Rider, Movies & TV, Reviews, Toku

Well, that was fast. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was whining about how I'll have to spend the next year with the costumes from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, wondering if maybe the franchise was finally about to lose me. Fast-forwarding to the end of that particular race, my thoughts on both Ex-Aid and the Kamen Rider franchise have gone through a transformation about as drastic as any costumed do-gooder. If only every show we watched had this speedy a turnaround. In Kamen Rider Build, our new story commences in what appears almost to be the beginnings of a kind of post-apocalypse. A nation divided into three distinct sectors after a startling event in the aftermath of a fateful Mars exploration mission that brought back the mysterious Pandora Box, an item speculated to hold gr...