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| Kamen Rider V3 / Complete Series : 5 of 5 | |
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9.02.2007
7:36 AM | Link |
 Even though I had never seen an episode of this series before, I knew right away that I would enjoy this DVD set, since the show was made by the creators of my beloved Kikaida. Fifty-two episodes later, I'm now singing the awesome theme song every day and consider myself an official Kamen Rider V3 fan! This is another classic tokusatsu series from 1973, which is actually the third season of the whole Kamen Rider saga, but it definitely stands on it's own. Kazami Shiro is a cyborg who transforms into V3 to fight the mutants of Destron, an evil organization who want to control the world (of course). He's aided by the Rider Scouts, essentially a group of kids who report on suspicious activities, run by the actor who played the captain in Ultraman, as well as Tama Junko, an incredibly cute girl who kind of has a crush on Shiro (although the possible romantic plot in the first few episodes was dropped, which is unfortunate since I loved the similar forbidden love angle in Kikaida!). V3 has tons of great fighting moves and secret weapons, which are revealed through the series as his "26 secrets". The Destron mutants are cool as well, almost always a combination of some device with a creature, so you get crazy names like Scissors-Jaguar, TV-Fly, or Camera-Mosquito! There's so much more to the series, such as the spy-turned-hero Riderman with his bionic arm or the many evil Destron commandants, but it's tough to boil down 21 hours of watching into one review! The DVD set itself is fantastic, with wonderful bonus material, including hundreds of screens of trivia about every episode, actor, and character, along with an interesting interview with Miyauchi Hiroshi (Kazami Shiro himself) and of course, fantastic karaoke tracks of the theme songs. Generation Kikaida has done a fabulous job bringing this amazing series to the US, and I can't wait to check out their next release!Labels: dvds, kamen rider, kikaida, tokusatsu |
| Manga Mentions 4.07 | |
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4.29.2007
2:08 PM | Link |
 Get ready for five more super-short manga reviews! Actually, Osamu Tezuka's Buddha Vol 1 deserves more words of praise than I have time for - I've kind of avoided this one, but now I'm so glad I'm reading it. Tezuka has the sheer talent to take on the life of Siddhartha in this gigantic series (each volume is so thick), and this first volume focuses mainly on fascinating side characters, the background of the castes of India, and incredible metaphoric teaching. Continuing with Tezuka, Phoenix Vol 10 covers the first part of the Sun story, which coincidentally deals with themes of the conflict between Buddhism and Shintoism in ancient Japan! The main character is a noble half-man, half-wolf who dreams of his future reincarnation, which is an incredible way to transition to the next volume. Now that the "serious" manga is out of the way, I also read Video Girl Ai Vol 3, which introduces a new cute girlfriend named Nabuko (and includes a weird segment in the "video world"), plus Ninen ga Shinobuden Vol 2, which was totally hilarious. There are so many jokes (most with culture notes) on one page that it reminds me of reading Mad Magazine! Finally, Kikaider 02 Vol 6 finishes this series, but strangely enough leaves the story hanging. There are some interesting flashbacks for Mitsuko, but overall the series was a little disappointing, even for a Kikaida fan like me!
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| Kikaida Vol 9 : 5 of 5 | |
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12.02.2005
11:16 PM | Link |
 Nooooo! I can't believe I've finished the complete Kikaida series! This last DVD is the best of the bunch, with plenty of the super-cool Hakaida and his quest for meaning. The first episode shows Kikaida blown to pieces (gasp!) 3-CPO-style by Red Mine Toad (who drops land mines out of his belly), so Hakaida, who was created for the sole purpose of killing Kikaida, wonders what's left to do in life. What a tragic story! Of course, he decides to kill his creator, so Professor Gill finally gets a good beating. But then, the ultimate DARK Destructoid, Skeleton Flying Squirrel (can you believe the most powerful evil android is named that?) arrives and does his worst. Mitsuko performs the operation to put her father's brain back in his head (even though she's never operated before), and we finally get to see owari (instead of tsuzuku). This DVD also has an awesome bonus Kikaida movie with 3-D scenes (red/blue glasses are included in the package!), plus some more fun karaoke. I'm totally going to miss my jinzo ningen pal - unless I decide to watch them again! Generation Kikaida has just released a new Kamen Rider DVD set, so maybe I'll have to switch to a new hero now.
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| Kikaida Vol 8 : 4 of 5 | |
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10.29.2005
6:46 PM | Link |
 I can't believe I only have one more DVD to go of this cool series! Now I've finally seen the ultimate villian, Hakaida! It's sad that he shows up with only about 10 episodes to go, because he would have been cool throughout the whole show. Just like Kikaida, he has a human form (named Saburo), and he always shows up with a haunting whistle (instead of Jiro's soulful guitar). He also has two theme songs, and they are included in a karaoke feature on the DVD. Hakaida's big secret is that he's actually a cyborg - he's an android with Dr. Komyoji's brain! The doctor's body is preserved at DARK's hideout, and poor Jiro doesn't know what to do, because he doesn't want to damage Komyoji's brain. There are some episodes on this volume that are almost all battle, which is cool because Kikaida seems to have learned some new techniques, such as Galactic Hurricane, where he flies circles around his opponent while he kicks and punches! There's also some serious drama, because Masaru is convinced that Jiro has turned evil and killed his father (the doctor), so Jiro has to convince him he didn't and win back Masaru's trust (which returns with plenty of little boy tears). This DVD also has a cool interactive diagram of Kikaida's circuitry! How will I go on after watching the last volume?
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| Kikaida Vol 7 : 3 of 5 | |
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10.05.2005
5:44 PM | Link |
 Lots of big events happen in this volume of Kikaida, which means the big story must be in the home stretch! There are nine DVDs in the series, so I guess it's about time that Mitsuko and Masaru finally find out that that their father Dr. Komyoji is alive. After so many episodes of just missing him, I was pretty amazed when they finally found him and rescued him from the terrible DARK Destructoid Black Crow! Kikaida has to upgrade his powers to fight this one, and now he can shoot beams that he calls "Kikaida Spark!" Some other highlights include some of the cheesiest underwater scenes you can imagine when Kikaida goes after Gold Octopus, and there's also several flying scenes, including Kikaida riding through the air on his Sidemachine (which is what he calls his special motorcycle). The funniest episode ever features Black Spiny Anteater, who actually has a "daughter" robot named Tiny Spiny (I'm not kidding!). Tiny makes friends with a little orphan girl and wants to be human, so she ends up helping Kikaida, but eventually meets a tragic end. At the end of this DVD they start hinting at Kikaida's new ultimate enemy, which my pal Dae remembers as being really cool, so I can't wait to have the time to watch the next volume!
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| Kikaida Vol 6 : 4 of 5 | |
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9.08.2005
5:44 PM | Link |
 "All I want is for you to become a mechanical man without peer!" How's that for drama? This volume of my latest obsession gets a higher rating than the rest, mainly because of an incredible three-part saga bursting with emotion (yes, that's a little sarcastic, but I loved every minute of it)! It seems some other scientist has a schematic for a conscience circuit, which of course is the one part that Jiro needs to be perfect and kick DARK's butt. Three destructoids show up in the first of the three parts, Violet Turbo (another female enemy), Red Devil Stinger, and the super-weird Green Sponge, who fights by rolling his own huge head at his victims. There's some drama with Violet Turbo, whom Jiro actually repairs because he believes she wants to become good, which makes for some great jealousy from Mitsuko (who's getting cuter all the time)! There are some crazy sets, too - one of the final battles actually takes place in an Old West ghost town. In the end, Kikaida doesn't get the circuit - the schematic is burned, and actually Jiro didn't want it anyway, because his imperfections make him closer to being human. I can't wait to watch Volume 7!
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| Kikaida Vol 5 : 3 of 5 | |
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9.02.2005
7:03 PM | Link |
 I guess I've reached the half-way point of this fun saga, and I'm still enjoying all the robot on robot action! This volume has some particularly good DARK Destructoids, with cool names like White Saw Shark and Purple Rat. Well, Purple Rat might not be a very good name, but he definitely has more powers than the average destructoid, including a whip arm, poison gas, and "photo bombs", which are like huge flash bulbs that pop out of his shoulders! That episode is a good story, because Kikaida risks his life to save Mitsuko by removing his thermal fuel cell. So touching! Speaking of Mitsuko, it's becoming more obvious that she loves Jiro, especially when she's playing with a friend's wedding dress. There's another girl villain this time - Pink Armadillo has a sexy human form so she can plant a kiss on their forehead, then she turns them into her slaves. Hanpei's outfits get pretty silly in this one, and he's always dressed in costume for no reason (in one episode, he's in a full horse jockey outfit, but why?). This DVD has some more interview footage, plus a Behind the Scenes Factoids feature, that reveals things like when they reused certain sets. I'm ready for my next Kikaida dose!
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| Kikaida Vol 4 : 3 of 5 | |
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8.11.2005
8:11 PM | Link |
 I'm still enjoying this awesomely goofy series, and this DVD was filled with lots of new monsters (the DARK Destructoids, of course). Rogue Jellyfish is the first female destructoid, and the mini poison jellyfish that she commands are really funny looking when they hop around in the air! King Crab Maroon is pretty cool looking, but his main weapon is shooting a stream of bubble bath suds (well, at least it paralyzes what it touches). Jiro has a few interesting moves in these episodes - sometimes he uses his famous red guitar as a club and bashes his robot enemies with it! That can't be good for the instrument, can it? I always enjoy seeing him appear out of nowhere playing his sad guitar. He's always hundreds of yards away somewhere, usually on a mountain or a bridge, but in one episode of this set, he shows up perched on the very top of a huge tree - he looks like a Christmas tree topper! All silliness aside, I do actually enjoy this show, and it's fun seeing Mistuko deal with her feelings for Jiro. Will she ever tell him how she feels? This DVD also includes a nice interview with Ban Daisuke, who played Jiro almost 30 years ago. Well, that's twenty episodes down, and a ton more to go!
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| Kikaida Vol 3 : 3 of 5 | |
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7.21.2005
5:32 PM | Link |
 Yes, I'm officially hooked - I know all the words to the opening theme song, and I can almost sing the closing theme song, too. Kikaida is so much fun! It somehow feels relaxing to watch a mindless action series from the 70s, and I like listening to all the Japanese (several characters speak pretty fast!). This volume was really good, because it kind of crosses seasons of the show. Jiro defeats all 13 of the original DARK Destructoids, and then Professor Gill resurrects all of them (but mainly so they can test a new, more powerful Destructoid, namely Silver Tortoise!). In one episode, a Destructoid poses as Taro, Mitsuko's brother (who was killed by DARK), and Kikaida really kicks some metal butt when the impostor is exposed! I just realized that a lot of the Destructoids are cats (Silver Cat and Pink Tiger are in these episodes) - what's up with that? The bonus material is fun this time, with a Kikaida quiz (I scored 9 out of 10) and an awesome theme song karaoke, which includes all the verses of the two themes (they both have around four verses!). I've just bought all the other DVDs (for cheap), so I'm all set for Kikaida watching for quite a while!
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| Kikaida Vol 2 : 3 of 5 | |
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7.09.2005
10:53 PM | Link |
 I had never even heard of Kikaida when Dae bought me the first DVD of this series for my birthday, but now I think I'm hooked! I was reluctant to start collecting the DVDs, since they were all so expensive on Amazon, but I found them for a super-cheap price on Overstock.com, so now I'm continuing with these rubber-suit adventures! In this volume, every episode is basically the same formula - a new DARK Destructoid shows up (and usually kills some people, which is definitely out of the norm for a kid's action show), Dr. Komyoji (who has amnesia) wanders around a bit, Mitsuko and Masaru get in trouble, and Jiro finds a way to block the sound of Professor Gill's flute so he can change into Kikaida and save the day. Yes, it's just a goofy as it sounds, and for further proof, the Destructoids in these episodes are named Black Horse, Bull Kong, Carmine Spider, Red Condor, and Scorpion Brown (and their costumes are awesome, especially when you can see the eye-holes for the dude inside)! I love singing the opening and closing theme songs, and I think it will be interesting to actually see how the series evolves and ends. I love living in the 70s again when a good double-chop was all you needed to make an evil android explode!
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| Kikaida Vol 1 : 3 of 5 | |
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2.02.2005
8:01 PM | Link |
 My pal Dae always sends me cool birthday presents, and one of them this year was this DVD, featuring the first five episodes of this wacky Japanese series from the early 1970s. I hadn't seen Kikaida before, but after reading episode titles like Green Mantis: Bizarre Killing Machine and Orange Ant: Challenge to the Death, I knew I was going to love it (since I can't get enough of rubber suit monsters)! Kikaida is a robot (who has a human form and a robot form that looks like a red and blue Ultraman) who was created to fight the forces of DARK, an evil organization who wants to take over the world, and keeps sending new Destructoids out to face Kikaida. When Kikaida is in human form, he's called Jiro, and he always shows up strumming his red guitar to announce he's ready for battle, and then transforms by yelling "Switch on! 1, 2, 3!" The battles are great, since when an enemy is destroyed, there's a cloud of smoke and then lots of random electronic parts fall to the ground (one time I saw an ordinary house light switch)! The theme songs during opening and closing titles are funny, too, with hilarious lyrics. It's so bad that I love it to pieces! Now I'm faced with the decision of buying more of the series (since Netflix doesn't have it) - I want to see the rest of the Destructoids!
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