Super Sentai

Dec72018 by JapanimeNo Comments

Toy Review: LUPINRANGER VS PATRANGER DX Siren Striker & Victory Striker

Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger winds down with its final two VS Vehicles, though both are for the Lupinrangers. First up, we have the DX Siren Striker. Siren Striker is an awesome boxy tank, complete with standard Patranger sirens, big red and gold treads, and a big, extendable cannon. I love the look of this thing as a vehicle and it feels great in the hand. It also looks awesome on the DX VS Changer, giving a new henshin jingle for Super Patren Ichi- I mean Super Lupin X.......because that makes sense. Odd show choices aside, the sounds are fantastic and the reason you should pick this toy up is because, much like every other VS Vehicle, the mecha formation is pretty lackluster. Once again, in the official configuration, the arms are both Splash and Magic again,

Nov52018 by tokuprimeNo Comments

Super Hero Synopses | Super Lupin!

Blog, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu

Welcome back to Super Hero Synopses, where we always put our weapon controls in the most inconvenient places! This week on Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, the long-missing ice man finally returns. Zamigo, Kogure and the Global Police's intelligence division conveniently all discover a new Collection Piece right before a rare opportunity to retrieve it presents itself. In the end, the real winner will be metallic double-agent Noel, who not only goes some way to repair his relationship with his fellow officers but manages to get a pair of shiny shoulder cannons for good measure. We're about three quarters of the way through the show now, so what do you think of the series so far? What do you think will happen in the final quarter? Will Zamigo become a more regu...

Oct312018 by JapanimeNo Comments

Toy Review: LUPINRANGER VS PATRANGER DX Lupin Magnum

Blog, Reviews, Super Sentai, Toku, Toys

The Lupin team of Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger get their coolest new weapon/mecha yet with the DX Lupin Magnum. The toy is a big red gun, roughly the same size as the DX VS Changer, and the sound effects are exactly what you'd expect. Remember though, this toy isn't just a gun - it's also a Dial Fighter. That means it can combine with the DX VS Changer to activate finishing sound effects. Turning the dial 1, 2 or 3 times, while the two toys are combined creates a strong finishing attack sound that gets progressively stronger with each dial rotation. This toy is great as just a gun but the fun doesn't stop there, now we get into the transformation. By rotating the dial to a specific point and pulling the trigger, the toy partly auto-transforms and gives the

Oct262018 by tokuprimeNo Comments

Super Hero Synopses | The Great Indoors

Blog, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu

Welcome back to Super Hero Synopses, where pitching a tent in someone else's premises isn't crazy at all. Today, we're catching up on the most recent two episodes of Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger. In the first episode, Keiichiro (Patren#1) must learn to tame his temper or the results could be quite explosive, while in the second he attempts to extend the hand of friendship only to have it knocked away. But really he's just a conduit for telling stories focused on those other characters rather than the focus himself. Could you use a handy anger-removing device? Will the two Reds manage to repair their friendship? will the two teams' combined mecha continue to pop up randomly like this? Let us know what you think about this series and any other toku shows you ...

Oct242018 by Justin MullisNo Comments

Scholars Talking Toku: Interview with Seth Kim – Pt. 2

Anime, Articles, Blog, Comics, Culture, Interviews, Kaiju, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokusatsu, Ultraman

Welcome to the second installment of Scholars Talking Toku's interview with Seth Kim; Assistant Professor in the Program of Cinema and Media Arts and Asian Studies at Vanderbilt University. Kim is the author of several essays on Japanese superheroes and tokusatsu including “Kamen Rider vs. Spider-Man and Bat-Man” which appeared in the book Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture (2017, McFarland Press) edited by Camille D.G. Mustachio and Jason Barr. My own essay, “Notes from the Land of Light: Observations on Religious Elements Seen in Ultraman”, was also published in this same collection so we both recommend you pick it up! In the first half of our interview, we discussed Kim's essay “Kamen Rider vs. Spider-Man and Bat-Man” as well as his thoughts

Oct232018 by Justin MullisNo Comments

Scholars Talking Toku: Interview with Seth Kim – Pt. 1

Anime, Articles, Blog, Culture, Interviews, Kaiju, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, toku, tokusatsu

Welcome to a brand new installment of Scholars Talking Toku. My name is Justin Mullis and I’m a scholar working in the academic field of religious studies who also happens to harbor a life long love of Japanese pop-culture. Last year an essay I wrote, “Notes from the Land of Light: Observations on Religious Elements Seen in Ultraman”, was published in the book Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture (2017, McFarland Press) edited by Camille D.G. Mustachio and Jason Barr. I recommend you pick it up! One of my fellow contributors to Giant Creatures in Our World is scholar Seth Kim who is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University. Kim's contribution to our book was a fascinating and provocative essay on the kaijin from the original Kamen Rider (19

Oct152018 by tokuprimeNo Comments

Super Hero Synopses | A Tale Of Three Butlers

Blog, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu

Welcome back to Super Hero Synopses, where frankly we're quite literally beside ourselves! Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger has been dropping regular hints that Kogure may not be entirely on the level with the phantom thieves. Lest anyone think there's something sinister about him, today's episode is dedicated to showing that he does have a good side, and that his bad side is really quite ineffectual. He's not the only one who will get to show another side to himself, as it turns out that the Lupin Magnum is not just a weapon but also an autonomous humanoid gunslinging mecha! Are they bluffing or are Kogure's intentions more pure than previously implied? Did you enjoy the Lupin Magnum's debut fight as a mecha? Did you sympathise with the Gangler being an introv...

Oct72018 by tokuprimeNo Comments

Super Hero Synopses | Thieves Turned Tomb Raiders

Blog, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu

Welcome back to Super Hero Synopses, where melting a hole straight through someone's torso doesn't count as 'gore'. It's new toy day on Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger as the Lupin Magnum is introduced. There's just one catch: in order to obtain it you must be the kind of hardhearted son-of-a-gun who'd shoot their own loved one down. Luckily, the phantom thieves have someone to hand. Their new prize isn't safe for long though, as a gun-loving, self-declared 'Hell's Guard Dog' (no, not Doggie Kruger, though it was indeed Tetsu Inada providing the voice for this character) wants to add the weapon to his own collection. As the picture below demonstrates, things don't go well for this naughty pooch. What are Kogure's true intentions? Is Kairi really going to t

Oct22018 by JapanimeNo Comments

Toy Review: LUPINRANGER VS PATRANGER DX Magic Dial Fighter & Trigger Machine Splash

Blog, Super Sentai, Toku, Toys

Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger's toy line continues, after a rather long break, with 2 new mecha: the DX Magic Dial Fighter and DX Trigger Machine Splash. Now, even though these new toys are inherently different, for the first time, they both belong to the same team - the Lupinrangers. First up, we have the DX Magic Dial Fighter, a rare blimp-themed mecha. Visually, this thing is awesome. It feels very different from the usual mecha we get. Turning the dial opens the front, revealing a big, spring-loaded orb inside that can punch enemies. On the DX VS Changer, you get your standard attack sounds and summoning sounds. Ultimately very fun, but not the most exciting thing this toy can do. For the first time in the LvP series, we have a new mecha that changes the c

Oct22018 by tokuprimeNo Comments

Super Hero Synopses | Duels and Deceptions

Blog, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu

Welcome back to Super Hero Synopses, where sometimes you can persuade people by battling them and sometimes just by being as cute as possible! We're catching up with two more episodes of Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger. First up, Noel has to try and convince the Global Police to join with their rivals to defeat their common foe, and then the phantom thieves have to infiltrate their precinct in order to retrieve collected evidence. Did you recognize all the transformation devices loosely disguised as Lupin Collection items? Do you think the teams will unite again? Is Kogure really the most skilled phantom thief? Let us know what you thought of these episodes over on our Facebook page or in our forum! Kaito Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, Epis...