Episode 1: Special Mission Sentai, Assemble!
Starring:
Katsuhiro Suzuki as Hiromu Sakurada/Red Buster
Ryouma Baba as Ryuji Iwasaki/Blue Buster
Arisa Komiya as Yoko Usami/Yellow Buster
*Warning*
This review contains spoilers. Japanese is not easily translated into English and there are a few translations going round for Go-Busters there for I’m sure there will be plenty to complain about here. Episode and character names taken from Wikipedia and the episode I watched was subbed by the awesome people over at http://over-ti.me/. There seems to be several words that have been translated differently so I apologise to all those anal people that get annoyed.
The Story:
“In the year 2012 Anno Novi, Urban life is supported by the powerful energy source known as Enetron. Vagras is a group determined to steal and use Enetron to attack humanity. The Go-Busters are young men and women who undertake special missions to defend humanity. “
There you go that’s the basic plot of this the 36th instalment of the Super Sentai franchise. Not surprisingly episode one is not a massively complex story but more of a fairly standard introduction to the latest team of heroes. There’s nothing particularly original about this episode. It’s a story we’ve heard many times before with Buster Red coming in as an outsider to an already established team. This episode is effectively an origin story for Buster Red he’s certainly the character we learn the most about this time round.
The main purpose of this episode is to introduce us to the new world of the Go-Busters and the character that inhabit it. There are two clear strands of story in this episode. The first is Buster Blue and Yellow’s mission against the Vagras and the second is Buster Red’s journey to join up with his new team mates. Red’s story offers the most character development but Yellow and Blue’s offers the most action. There are some enjoyable action scenes as Blue and Yellow take on the forces of Vagras including operatives that must be the worst shots in the universe. The pre credits sequence is a pretty good introduction to the show. There’s giant robotic monsters laying waste to a city, a transforming motorbike, a blistering fight between the Go-Busters and some evil henchmen and some excellent use of English phrases.
Episode one is pretty straight forward. There’s a monster of the week (known as MetaRoids) called Shovelroid, as well as a giant robotic villain known as a MegaZord for those awesome giant robot battles we all love. We also get to see the Go-Busters HQ which is the Energy Management Centre’s Special Mission Unit and we get to meet the supporting team. We also learn that looking after their possessions is not a big thing with the Go-Busters. For some reason Blue and Yellow slide on some shades just before leaving HQ only to instantly discard them when they arrive at their destination. I’m fairly sure sun glasses aren’t biodegradable. We get a few hints at the Go-Busters gaining special powers 13 years ago something I imagine we’ll learn a lot more about in the coming weeks. The Go-Busters are also given a time limit to defeat the MetaRoid before a sub space transfer lives them with a big ass robot to contend with which ramps up the tension tenfold.
The ending of the episode is no surprise at all. Blue even cracks a joke about how they could do with a last minute rescue from a new team member which is exactly what they get. Hiromu just needs to break the news to his sister who is desperate to save him from a self of Go-Busting before he can join the battle. He’s pretty much set up as the noble hero out to save the world so no one has to suffer a fate similar to his. Before he arrives at the scene though the evil MegaZord is unleashed and is on a mission to destroy the Enetron. Luckily Hiromu is not too far away and ready to take on this beast with the help of Buster Vehicle CB-01 a nifty looking race car mecha. Let’s driving! The mecha fight is pretty darn cool and it’s quite a rarity to see just one mecha involved but I do look forward to seeing the others in action in future. Not surprisingly Hiromu is quick to defeat the MegaZord as his team mates take care of the MetaRoid. It’s a successful first mission for the Go-Busters and a fairly enjoyable 25 minutes. I for one will certainly be tuning in again next week.
The Go-Busters:
Hiromu Sakurada/Red Buster: Pretty much gets the starring role this week and he’s the one we learn the most about. He makes a pretty good double act with his BuddyRoid Cheedah Nick. His relationship with his sister is likely to add an extra dimension to his story as it progresses.
Yoko Usami/Yellow Buster: She looks so, so young. From this episode Yoko appears to be the polar opposite of last year’s lady in yellow Luka. The Go-Busters are a bit more serious than their predecessors and lack the wackiness of those space pirates. Yoko made be almost childlike in appearance but I’m fairly sure she could still kick my arse. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of her next time round as this week all she really did was a lot of bottom kicking.
Ryuji Iwasaki/Blue Buster: Like Yoko we don’t get to see much from Ryuji in this episode nothing of any real substance anyway. Hopefully next week he’ll get a bit more focus.
Allies:
The BuddyRoids: A fairly interesting idea. Each of the Go-Busters have a BuddyRoid partner to aid in their training and form part of the mecha. As with their Go-Buster partners Gorisaki Banana and Usada Lettuce don’t get much to do this episode but Nick is pretty cool with all his transforming and what not.
EMC Special Missions Unit: Having superiors which they have to answer to gives Go-Busters a very different feel to Gokaiger. The set up is a bit more of a traditional setup for a super hero organisation and I’m sure the support team will prove to be worthwhile additions to the cast. Again we don’t get much time with the team at the unit this week but we are introduced to system control operator Toru Morishita, Commanding Officer Takeshi Kuroki and new recruit Miho Nakamura.
Villains:
Messiah: The main villain this season is Messiah a creepy glow-y skull like computer virus that exists in Hyperspace. Messiah has inevitably led to comparisons to the cult Power Rangers incarnation RPM and it will be interesting to see just how similar they are.
Enter: A creepy looking chap with a love of the French language. I’m guessing he’ll be the human face of villainy this year. He certainly appears to be in charge of summoning the monster of the week. I can see him starting to get annoying fairly quickly
Overall:
Go-Busters is entertaining enough and it’s only the first episode so there’s plenty of time for it to improve. They aren’t exactly reinventing the wheel here but it is suitably different to last year’s series. I personally like the new outfits they have a slightly more realistic feel to them and it’s nice to see something a bit different. Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters has already proven fairly controversial with accusations that it’s too influenced by Kamen Rider and the American Power Rangers. I can’t say much about the Kamen Rider influence but I don’t see a problem with the Power Rangers stuff. There’s nothing wrong with Sentai giving a nod to its American counterpart and without Power Rangers people like me wouldn’t have even had the chance to enjoy Super Sentai. And it’s a joy to hear “It’s Morphin’ time” again! Personally I’m excited for the future of Go-Busters and can’t wait to see what’s in store next week. I guess all that’s left to do now is to sing and dance with the Go-Busters!
Pictures taken from Super Sentai Images be sure to check it out!
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