Reviews

Feb222018 by DocNo Comments

LUPINRANGER VS PATRANGER Episode 2: You’ll Never Take Them Alive

Articles, Blog, Featured, Gallery, Movies & TV, Reviews, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized

Promises, promises. It's all determined salutes and solemn vows on this episode of Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger. And as we settle into this "cops and robbers" series, it hits me just how much the franchise has begun to change its tune. I think we were onto something when we speculated that, in its own way, the Super Sentai brand has been slowly creeping back to the forward-thinking Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters flavor in the last few years. I recently described the 2012 series as being ahead of its time, with its slick style, its character-centric stories, and a seeming intent to move the show into a new era. They just moved at such a fast clip that some diehards felt left in the dust with the whiplash it gave the fan community. And so, after a couple series that...

Feb222018 by FalconNo Comments

Game On: EARTH DEFENSE FORCE Series Part 4

Anime, Articles, Culture, Fantasy, Featured, godzilla, horror, Kaiju, Kamen Rider, monster, Podcasts, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Space Sheriff, Tech, Toku, toku, tokusatsu, Toys, Ultraman, Uncategorized, Video Games, Video Update, Videos

Earth Defense Force 2 part 2! Fighting Frogs Ultra is giving us another episode of that weekly alien killing action! Once again our Frogs of Justice assume the role of a soldier in the midst of an alien invasion in EDF2! How many Alien Ant Farm references can they make this week?! Tune in to find out! Don’t miss an episode of this weekly series, because the FFU are covering EDF across the generations! Let’s Get Started. https://youtu.be/xPd5_f_jCZ4 You might also like: LUPINRANGER VS PATRANGER Episode 2: You’ll Never Take Them Alive SUPER HERO SYNOPSES | A Certain Roguish Charm ULTRAMAN GEED: UNITE THE WISHES Full Trailer – ULTRAMAN ORB Shows The Newbie How it’s Done

Feb192018 by JapanimeNo Comments

Toy Review: KAMEN RIDER BUILD SODO Figures Wave 5

Kamen Rider, Reviews, Toku, Toys

SODO set 5 makes a huge comeback after the lackluster set 4 for the Kamen Rider Build series. We have the return to form with 3 full figures (4 if you count the re-release of Night Rogue but I already have him from set 2 so we'll only be focusing on the new figures). First up, we have PhoenixRobo and RabbitTank Sparkling. These guys are fairly standard figures, though that's not a bad thing. Both have excellent detail, articulation, roughly the same amount of stickers, and they both maintain the body swap gimmick. Build's Sparkling form only has one slight deviation from the norm, being a fully painted face that is also one solid piece unable to split up while the rest of him can. Cross Charge, however, is a completely new type of figure to this line. Also split into 2 boxes, Cros...

Feb192018 by JapanimeNo Comments

Toy Review: LUPINRANGER VS PATRANGER’s DX VS Changer, All DX Dial Fighters & Trigger Machines

Reviews, Super Sentai, Toku, Toys, Uncategorized

The Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger toy line has started off on a fairly high note. The concept of one Morpher being utilized slightly differently by both teams is an interesting one and the VS Changer pulls this off well, almost feeling like 2 separate Morphers. The toy can be purchased in 2 separate ways as well. One being the Lupinranger version and the other being the Patranger version. The VS Changer itself doesn't vary from set to set but rather the included mecha, being either the Red Dial Fighter or Trigger Machine Ichigo. In the end, regardless of which version you purchase, all of the DX Trigger Machines and Dial Fighters are available for individual purchase separately. The gun, for the most part, is white with black and orange highlight, and clear re...

Feb162018 by DocNo Comments

What’s It All About? POWER RANGERS’ Saban Brands Ejects Toymaker Bandai From The Company Megazord

Articles, Blog, Culture, Featured, Movies & TV, News, Power Rangers, Reviews, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Toys, Uncategorized

Well, this is an interesting turn of events. After a partnership that endured across two and a half decades, entertainment company Saban Brands has taken a page out of the playbook of their most famous characters and decided to sacrifice the zords. Bandai America, who has worked with Saban for 25 years to produce toys based upon the long-lasting Power Rangers brand, has jointly announced its separation from the media company. Fans are already reeling from the thought that the one other consistent name that carried alongside Saban's where its multicolored superheroes were concerned may soon fade into memory. But as the news comes as a surprise, it's also not one that causes much confusion either. Bandai and Saban's statement follows: "After a successful 25-year partnership building ...

Feb142018 by DocNo Comments

LUPINRANGER VS PATRANGER Episode 1: This is Also All Lupinranger’s Fault

Articles, Blog, Featured, Gallery, Movies & TV, Power Rangers, Reviews, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized

With the clink of champagne glasses, we begin our newest entry into the long-running Super Sentai franchise. And as the 42nd incarnation of this ongoing saga, Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger has a lot to live up to. After achieving some success by mixing up their well-worn formula with the previous series, chief among my hopes for their latest endeavor was that they'd continue to reevaluate and reinvent their style, which sometimes felt a bit old hat. It's fitting then that we kick off the new story in a casino, as Lupinranger VS Patranger is in a gambling mood this premiere week. Let's zipline into the first action-packed episode and see if it paid off. We open with an exquisitely over-the-top shyster taking money from a desperate man who seems not to notice th...

Feb142018 by FalconNo Comments

Game On: EARTH DEFENSE FORCE Series Part 3

Culture, Fantasy, Featured, godzilla, horror, Kaiju, Kamen Rider, monster, Movies & TV, News, Podcasts, Power Rangers, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Super Sentai, Tech, Toku, toku, tokusatsu, Ultraman, Uncategorized, Video Games, Video Update, Videos

Earth Defense Force 2 part 1! Fighting Frogs Ultra is giving us another episode of that weekly alien killing action! Once again our Frogs of Justice assume the role of a soldier in the midst of an alien invasion, this time in EDF2! Unlike the first EDF, this game actually managed to make it to the western market as a portable release for the Playstation Vita. FFU on the other hand is playing the original Japanese release on the Playstation 2. Don’t miss an episode of this weekly series, because the FFU are covering EDF across the generations! Let’s Get Started. https://youtu.be/SJc9vwCLItc You might also like: SUPER HERO SYNOPSES | Which Toku Title Stole The Show This Week? Toy Review: KAMEN RIDER BUILD DX Hazard Trigger, Smartphone Wolf & Unicorn Eras...

Feb142018 by JapanimeNo Comments

Toy Review: KAMEN RIDER BUILD DX Hazard Trigger, Smartphone Wolf & Unicorn Eraser Full Bottle Sets

Kamen Rider, Reviews, Toku, Toys

The new power-up item introduced in the Kamen Rider Build TV series is the Hazard Trigger. This device allows Build to access his Hazard mode as well as utilize other forms later on down the line. The toy itself is pretty cool, turning already existing "Best Matches" into "Super Best Matches" and adding an awesome guitar effect, among others. This item is similar to the Cross Dragon or Rabbit Tank Sparkling in that it tries to make sounds in tandem with the Driver but it does not work well with the aforementioned items, only your basic Full Bottles. That being said, the henshin is the same despite the bottles used and the Hazard Trigger then offers the user 3 different attacks. The Hazard Attack by cranking the handle, the Overflow by pressing the button on the Hazard Trigger again, and ...

Feb132018 by DocNo Comments

KAMEN RIDER BUILD Episode 22 May Elevate the Series to Masterpiece Status

Articles, Blog, Featured, Gallery, Kamen Rider, Movies & TV, Reviews, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized

Wow. I'm fresh out of new adjectives to describe this spectacular series with. Kamen Rider Build is playing for keeps, holding us all firmly in the palm of its hand and refusing to let go. There's never been a Kamen Rider series so ruthlessly determined to tell a story with depth and character at the forefront while still maintaining such an exciting overall feel that keeps you coming back week after week. How much more in awe can one reviewer be? Let's find out as we dive into the supreme episode 22. Previously, Kiryuu Sento said hello to the bottom of his emotional barrel, having caused the death of an enemy combatant with the berserker powers of the Hazard Trigger, a devastating turn of events for one as righteous as he, taking on the guilt of every perceived misstep and folly. Ove...

Feb92018 by DocNo Comments

UCHUU SENTAI KYURANGER Wrap-Up: Space is Disease Wrapped in Darkness and Silence

Articles, Blog, Movies & TV, Reviews, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized

That… That's a Star Trek reference for anybody who, uh… Nevermind. The end of Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger comes with a bittersweet quality as we close out on this space adventure television series. Through 48 episodes, the crew of the Orion have traveled the universe righting the wrongs of the oppressive Jark Matter empire, working to save it from the clutches of the ruthless Don Armage. It's an exciting final chapter. Though I can't help but shake this feeling. That, as I look back on the last leg of the journey, some thoughts probably shouldn't be lingering in my mind. Thoughts like "Well, they did a lot better with this negative thing than that other show." As if failing less obviously than a past disappointment should be counted as a positive rather than just a given. Suffice it to...