Power Rangers Samurai Episode Review #9

Episode 9: I've Got a Spell on Blue

Written by: David Schneider and Jill Donnellan

Directed by: Peter Salmon

There’s a lot going on this week. The pesky Nighloks are up to all sorts of mischief. They’ve possessed Kevin and have taken control of the long lost Tiger Zord! Can the Rangers save Kevin? Can they retrieve the Tiger Zord? Will there be any acting so bad that I can bring back the Kevin’s Dad scale? Will Bulk get squirted in the face? Will I ever give up starting each review by questioning whether Bulk will get squirted in the face? Does it actually matter if Bulk gets squirted in the face? For the answers to these questions and more read on!

We kick off with a duel between the Rangers Red and Blue. Yes Jayden and Kevin are suited up and clanging swords in the garden. Mike’s impressed and rightfully so, it’s quite a battle. These two warriors are evenly matched and the people of Earth are lucky that they’re on the same side. Mike’s impressed with one of the warriors “mad skills” and Ji instantly assumes he means Jayden. But he doesn’t; he’s talking about the one and only Kevin. Everyone’s impressed with Kevin’s skills, with Emily noting his gracefulness with a sword (snigger) and even Mia’s impressed with his technique. Everyone loves Kevin. Except Ji, who is totally obsessed with Jayden. I think he’s a little jealous of people preferring Kevin to his own protégé. He does concede that both the boys are excellent swordsmen. The Rangers wonder what would happen if the two ever had to battle for real. But that could never happen could it? *SPOILER WARNING* That’s exactly what does happen this episode!

Deker’s hanging out with Master Xandred. The two don’t get out apparently. Deker’s out to get Jayden and he’s just checking Xandred has no issues with him doing that. Apparently he couldn’t care less as he has nothing planned for the Red Ranger. This surprises Deker, and me quite frankly. Xandred is a really half arsed villain. It’s like he doesn’t even care about succeeding in his plans to flood the Sanzu River. He has no plans to deal with the Red Ranger? He’s the gosh darn leader of your sworn enemies why wouldn’t you be planning to kick his arse? Seriously Xandred get with the programme! You’re embarrassing yourself and the rest of the Nighloks. Following Deker’s departure we get to meet the monster of the week and this time it’s the rather irritating Madimot. Madimot has a surprise for Xandred. It’s only a bloomin’ Tiger Zord! The Red Ranger’s long lost Tiger Zord in fact and I imagine he’s gonna want it back.

What are Bulk and Spike up to this week? Well they’re out hiking in the woods with Spike worried about bears, while Bulk is more worried about mosquitoes. He sprays some bug spray into the air, only for it to be blown straight back in his face. Now I’m a bit conflicted can I add another to the Bulk getting squirted in the face tally? Does it really count? I’m not sure it does so I won’t be whipping out the Bulk tally. Unfortunately Bulk and Spike are about to run into the monster of the week and he isn’t fooled by their attempts to play dead. Luckily the Rangers are there to take on the increasingly camp villain. He’s not taking the Rangers on alone though, he’s summoned the Tiger Zord to help him. Turns out the camp bastard saved the Tiger Zord when Master Xandred was sealed away all those years ago. Madimot then uses his powers of possession against the Rangers. Kevin rather selflessly saves Mike by pushing him out of the way of one of these attacks. Unfortunately he takes the full brunt of the force of it. Kevin is now under Nighlok control! He’s ordered to take on the rest of the Rangers and that’s what he does. The others are reluctant to fight against their friend. Jayden’s dealing with Madimot and his symbol power is too much for Madimot’s mind control powers. Kevin has made light work of the rest of the Rangers and this forces them into a retreat for now.

Back at HQ Ji tells the Rangers it won’t be easy to break the monster’s spell on Kevin and the Tiger Zord, but it can’t be that hard as there’s less than fifteen minutes left. He warns Jayden that there may be tough choices ahead. Back on Xandred’s ship, Octoroo is worrying about the mysterious Deker. Deker does seem to be a little bit obsessed with his sword, typical man eh? Apparently Deker isn’t a normal Nighlok he’s got a very human side! Even more shocking than that is that he’s played by Wild Force’s own jolly Red Ranger Cole Evans a.k.a. actor Ricardo Medina Jnr. (credited here as Rick Medina because he’s grownup and has a beard now).

Rick back in his Wild Force days

Rick and his beard presumably also called Rick

Kevin and the monster of the week are off causing trouble in the human world and Jayden has gone to face them, much to the anger of Mike. Ji tells him to have faith in his leader. Jayden is trying to break the spell on Kevin with no success so far. The other Rangers arrive and offer to help but he refuses to endanger anyone else. Looks like the Red and Blue Rangers are gonna have to duel. It’s hard to believe just how impossible that seemed to us at the beginning of the episode. As the duel rages on Deker turns up- Guy really needs to get a hobby if you ask me. But he’s there to tell the Rangers that Jayden is winning the fight because Kevin is too honourable a warrior and is fighting like they’re in a martial arts competition. Kevin’s out to score points but Jayden is out to win. Luckily Jayden’s winning blow is enough to finally break the Nighlok’s spell. Deker feels Jayden is the right opponent for his sword (snigger) although quite who he’s saying this to I have no idea.

Now the Rangers are reunited it’s time to suit up and take down this camp Nighlok and retrieve the Tiger Zord. Jayden’s whipped out his folding zord and the rest of the Rangers are dealing with Madimot. The duel of the zords isn’t that exciting and the Tiger Zord looks a bit silly with its legs outstretched as it rolls along. Jayden succeeds in breaking the Nighlok’s spell so all is well. The rest of the Ranger team up to take down the monster of the week and make light work of him and we all know what that means…

The Tiger Zord does make me laugh. It looks so silly, but in a good way. Jayden’s quick to use his recently reacquired zord to take on the Nighlok. The rest of the Rangers decide to join in the fun, so out comes the Megazord and we all know what a new zord means. That’s right, it’s time for a new jaunty new hat for the giant robot. How well does it wear the Tiger Zord hat? Pretty well to be fair. There’s only one way this battle can end, especially when it comes down to a battle between the Nighlok’s shield and the Megazord’s tiger drill. One last cry of “I’m the baddest of the bad,” by the irritating Madimot before he’s defeated once and for all. Back at Ranger HQ Kevin’s feeling guilty about falling victim to the Nighlok’s evil spell. He can’t believe he raised his sword against a fellow Samurai, but Jayden being the great leader he is makes him feel better about the whole thing. We leave our brave heroes playing a zord based board game. As they say the Power Rangers that play together stay together. Until next time dear readers au revoir!

Next time: Forest for the Trees

Photos as ever taken from the Samurai Power Rangers Gateway

Power Rangers Samurai Episode Review #8

Episode 8: There Go the Brides

Written by: Jill Donnellan and Jonathan Rosenthal

Directed by: Peter Salmon

Nighloks are kidnapping brides on their wedding days and the Samurai Rangers are the only ones that can stop it happening! Why are the Nighloks kidnapping brides? How many terrible wedding based puns can the writers squeeze in? Will Bulk get squirted in the face again? Are the Rangers really smart enough to come up with the scheme that leads them to victory? To find the answers to these questions and more read on!

Just what the fudge is going on? We kick off in a church with Mia about to marry Jayden?!?! They’re apparently not popular as they’re only joined by the gang from Samurai HQ (Emily looks lovely but Ji has made no effort to dress up at all). It’s obviously quite an emotional ceremony as there’s a tear in Ji’s eye and even Kevin is crying like a little girl. Mike’s not impressed. I am though, it’s nice to see a man who isn’t afraid to show his emotions. Brave Kevin- bravo! Mike’s really not feeling it. Elsewhere the Moogers are out and about and heading to a church. Could it be the same church the Rangers are in? Apparently not. They’ve snatched another bride. Ji’s just got a call to let him know. Looks like this was all a plot to capture those pesky Moogers, but it hasn’t worked! Damnit! The Moogers are taking their kidnapped bride off to some dark dimension passing Bulk and Spike who are training in the park.

Back at HQ we learn that five brides have been kidnapped, and Mike’s spotted a pattern. The places these brides have been snatched from form a star on a map. Kevin’s impressed and wonders if Mike has undertaken any sort of police training but he hasn’t, he just watches a lot of cop shows. We do, however, learn that humans can’t survive long in the Sanzu River. No one knows what’s going on and there are so many weddings, making their fake wedding seem less appealing to the Moogers. Jayden has an idea though and I’m sure it’ll be a corker but we don’t find out what it is just yet. We do find out who’s been responsible for snatching these brides; it’s only bloomin’ Dayu! It’s all about tears filling the Sanzu River. These Nighloks have one thing on their mind. Dayu’s making a wedding dress for herself apparently; I guess even monsters want to feel loved. According to Master Xandred, Dayu’s soul is in pain. Awwww, now I feel bad! She’s not a monster, she has a soul! Perhaps there’s some sort of tragic back story we’re not currently aware of… Octoroo has been looking through gaps and on one occasion he saw the mysterious Deker, the cursed warrior, the Nighlok who was watching the Rangers with much interest in the last episode. Deker is looking for a worthy opponent in battle and he seems to have decided it’ll be a Samurai Ranger.

Jayden’s been warning everyone that getting married ain’t a good idea at the moment. All weddings in town have been cancelled with one exception, and that’s the wedding our heroes need to hijack. Looks like Mia will be playing the bride again. The plan is that Mia gets kidnapped and then she can contact the rest of the Rangers with the locations of the missing brides. Elsewhere Dayu is raging that she once wore a wedding dress and had her happiness ripped away from her, and now she’s punishing these human women for it. That’s really not the attitude you should have is it? It shows a real lack of personal growth. You can’t blame others for your own problems kids, it gets you nowhere in life. Anyway she’s sending the Mooger off to get another bride to help flood the Sanzu River. Luckily the Rangers have got there first and they’re pulling a good old fashioned switcheroo! They’ve ruined this wedding but at least it’s for a good cause. Apparently the crowd don’t really care who’s getting married as no one mentions how the bride’s changed race and the groom looks like he’s been carved from wood. The important thing is that the Moogers have arrived and they’ve taken Mia. I was very disappointed to see that the Moogers were using a wheel chair to transport her. There’s some poor disabled person out there who is stuck because of these selfish monsters. I hope they’re very ashamed of themselves. They pass Bulk and Spike on the way and Bulk says what we’re thinking. There really have been a lot of weddings recently.

Jayden’s convinced their plan has succeeded but he maybe a bit too confident on this occasion. Mia, for some reason, feels the need to explain just who Dayu is because we’re all really thick apparently. Anyway Dayu is well aware of who Mia is. The Nighloks have been watching the Rangers (a bit creepy). The Nighloks have also managed to snatch the real bride. But that means the Rangers have been foiled! To make things even worse Dayu is forcing Mia to lead the Rangers into a trap. Oh my god things are just so awful! How on earth will our heroes survive this encounter? The Rangers are heading to an ambush! They’ve been captured! There’s a bomb! It’s gone off! It’s all over. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Dayu is about to finish Mia off and bring an end to the Samurai Rangers when something amazing happens. The Rangers aren’t dead! They’ve arrived in the nick of time to save Mia. To be fair to him Jayden looks pretty good in a suit. But how is this possible? We quite clearly saw the Rangers go into a warehouse and get blown up. Good lord when they pulled the old switcheroo earlier they actually managed to squeeze in another one and switched Emily with the real bride. It’s great that Emily gets a go at playing the bride, and quite a stunning bride she makes, but what about the warehouse? Apparently the Rangers can create doubles of themselves using symbol powers and had the intelligence to make a double of Emily too. Now I’m not being funny, but when I watched the Shinkenger original I believed they could come up with such a clever scheme. But when I think of the Samurai Rangers I just see…

So yeah it’s kinda hard to believe they’d be able to come up with something like this. But they did and who am I to complain? And Emily looks incredibly hot in a wedding dress carrying a sword, which probably says all sorts of things about me. Anyway it’s time to suit up and kick some Nighlok bottom. It’s time for a Mooger battle! Moogers are like ants at a picnic apparently. After the Moogers the Rangers have to deal with Dayu, who is apparently quite a tough opponent. She makes light work of Kevin and Mia and only united do the Rangers stand a chance against her. They’re just about to defeat her with the five disc beetle canon when Deker jumps in and saves her. He’s chosen Jayden as opponent for the ultimate duel. But today is not the day for such things and Deker escapes with Dayu before summoning giant Moogers. I guess that means I don’t really need to use my traditional “Make my monster grow” picture and it looks like Bulk won’t be getting squirted in the face. Way to mess with the formula writers! The Megazord’s out and he’s wearing his Beetle hat today. But the Beetle hat ain’t no good against this giant Moogers so it’s time to switch to the Swordfish hat instead. He’s got a sword attached to his head. I’m afraid to say this makes me laugh far too much. Yes I can be immature at times. I apologise. It’s not the most exciting Megazord battle but it gets the job done and the Moogers are defeated.

Bulk and Spike are in the bakery, teasing me with the hope that Bulk might get hit in the face with some sort of gooey delight. But no such luck. The Rangers are in a reflective mood. Mia is focusing on Dayu and her motivations for her behaviour and Jayden’s thinking about Deker and the duel that awaits him. The Rangers are heading to the bakery too and we get a very rare on screen meeting of the Rangers and Bulk and Spike! Ah well that’s it for another episode of Power Rangers Samurai. Sorry this is possibly the weakest review of the series so far.

Next time: I’ve Got A Spell On Blue

Photos as ever taken from the Samurai Power Rangers Gateway

From The Archives #3 Zordon is a Racist

Here's a classic video from the guys at College Humor addressing that age old rumour is Zordon is a racist?

Power Rangers Samurai Episode Review #7

Episode 7: A Fish Out of Water

Written by: David Schneider and James W. Bates

Directed by: Peter Salmon

Good news guys! It’s a Kevin focused episode! That’s right, everyone’s favourite Ranger gets a whole episode to shine. And even better, there’s another new zord being introduced! Can’t you just hear the kerching of the cash register as the toy makers grind out another action figure? We also get the first sight of a mysterious new villain! All this excitement in just one episode? How will I cope? Well let’s find out!

Its breakfast time at the Ranger HQ and Mike is teasing our beloved Kev again. This time it’s about eating his breakfast the Samurai way. Mia’s trying to get the gang to eat a peanut butter and jelly omelette which looks and sounds delicious, but no one’s interested. Perhaps Mia should stop wasting money on ingredients and spend a bit more on acting lessons. Oh yes I went there people! Luckily for us this is not an episode about Mia’s cooking. It’s about the long-time-missing Swordfish zord. Having watched most of the episodes of Samurai that have aired now I feel I need to say something. These Samurais are awfully careless with their possessions; they’ve lost this zord, broken that one and given away the other one. You know guys, if you’d look after all your possessions you could probably have created some sort of super ultra mega zord in the first episode and squashed the Nighlok threat in 5 minutes. Anyway Ji lets the Rangers know someone has spotted the Swordfish zord just as the gang are alerted to the arrival of another Nighlok. Jayden decides to entrust Kevin with a solo mission to retrieve the Swordfish zord whilst the rest of the gang take on the Nighlok. What a treat we’re in for!

This week’s Nighlok is a smelly chap called Yamiror. He’s up to the usual standard of villainy and has more cringe-worthy dialogue than the romantic scenes in Attack of the Clones. Elsewhere, Kevin’s off down the beach and it sure looks wet. If only his dad could see him now, he muses. I’m sure his dad would be very proud to see his son becoming a glorified fisherman. Makes all those years of Samurai training seem worthwhile. You know what? I think this scene calls for a flashback with my other favourite character. That’s right Kevin’s Dad is back in action! Unfortunately it’s just a clip from last time, but it’s always good to see an amazing acting performance on TV. Kevin lets us know this is what all the training has been for. Ya gotta admire his enthusiasm. I get the feeling Jayden could send Kevin out to get the team pizza and he’d believe it was crucial Samurai work if it was called a solo mission. Anyway Kev refuses to go back without the Swordfish zord. So he’s going fishin’ the old fashioned way with a rod and everything. He’s using a disk as bait, but he’s not having much luck catching the pesky robofish. Don’t give up Kev you’ve still got fifteen minutes to succeed!

Time for some light relief. Bulk and Spike are also spending the day at the beach, obviously not the same bit of beach as Kevin, and both are having trouble. Spike’s gone and got himself stuck in some sort of flotation device and Bulk can’t decide what kind of sand castle to make. Not really sure what purpose this scene serves but after it we’re back with the Rangers.

I do love a Nighlok that speaks in rhyme- it really doesn’t annoy the hell out of me. The Nighlok smells; they really drive that point home. It could only have been more obvious if his name was Dave Stinkerton from Smellytown. According to Octoroo, the monster of the week was created when some toxic waste was struck by lightning. Quite the origin story for such an irritating gimp. They should make Xandred do a bit more. He’s not really been that exciting a villain so far and he lacks the personality of a Lord Zedd or Lothor.

Kevin’s still trying to catch that darn Swordfish zord. Can he find the right symbol power? Boy I sure hope so. I can imagine a swordfish zord will come in very useful at some point in the not too distant future. Kevin’s using so much symbol power it’s wearing him out, and he doesn’t have the strength to carry on. He passes out and wakes up in a mysterious tent. He’s been rescued by a mysterious fisherman and unlike in Shinkenger it’s just a random guy hanging out by the beach fishing. I doubt he’s had a recent CRB check so we just have to hope he hasn’t done anything to Kevin whilst he was out cold. The mysterious fisherman just doesn’t get how important catching the Swordfish zord is, perhaps a call from Ji will demonstrate just how important this task is. But Ji has some tragic news. The Rangers have been poisoned! And even worse their fevers are nearly impossible to recover from. Come on Ji there must be a solution! There just has to be, I mean if there isn’t this is going to be a very short season. Luckily for us- and the Rangers- the Swordfish zord could solve all our problems. But Kevin better be quick because the gap sensor is going off and our fiendish Nighlok is on the rampage again. Jayden, being the dedicated legend he is, refuses to rest whilst there’s a Nighlok on the rampage. He gives Kevin a quick pep talk explaining he was chosen for this mission because of his “commitment and discipline” and he knows that Kevin can overcome any obstacle. So Kev’s been inspired and Jayden’s off to kick some butt. Awesome!

Jayden takes on the Nighlok alone, saving a mother and child before they get a face full of smog from the beasty. Elsewhere Kevin is giving the fishing his all and refuses to give in. Luckily he’s not alone. The mysterious fisherman is there to aid him in his quest to land that prize. The fisherman can’t quite understand why Kevin is so determined to capture the Swordfish (although he doesn’t appear to realise it’s a zord) but he respects what he’s trying to do and he’s there to help out. Jayden’s still fighting despite his weakened state. It’s not looking good. Yamiror has hit him so hard his Ranger suit fell off! Back at the beach and Kevin still hasn’t given up. The tension of swapping from one scene to the other is killing me! Kevin is focusing on finding the right symbol to snare this fish and by jove I think he’s finally found it! With some moral support from the mysterious fisherman (perhaps my second favourite guest star of the season after Kevin’s Dad) he might just succeed. He’s done it! He’s gone a shiny new blue disk and he’s left the mysterious fisherman completely confused as to what’s just happened.

What the hell is going on here?

The Mysterious Fisherman

Jayden is on his last legs and thinks are looking grim. He’s about to be defeated… but then the other Rangers arrive to save him! But wait! Now they’re all in danger! But then Kevin arrives and saves them all and even manages to come out with the cheesiest line of the season: “Did someone order the fish?”, classic.

Jayden was very happy to see Kevin.

The team are reunited at last and, with the purifying rain from the Swordfish zord, the Rangers are cured and the Nighlok’s powers are now useless. Every suits up and gets ready to kick some monster butt! Kevin weakens the beast with his water attack before Jayden whips out the fire smasher and Kevin uses the new Swordfish disk with it. It’s the 5 disk swordfish canon! Radical. That’s the first form down so you know what that means!

It’s Megazord time baby! This battle won’t be easy, as the Nighlok is creating some fog. Luckily Kevin has an idea. That’s right! The Swordfish zord. “Have a taste of my flying fish,” he taunts. 'Stinky Pants' is going down, as the new Swordfish zord will combine with the Megazord, forming a jaunty new hat that’ll come in very useful for crushing Nighloks. Well they’re gonna use twin blade mode and a Swordfish torpedo to take this jive turkey down once and for all. The battle is won and the Rangers are triumphant once again. But who is that mysterious Nighlok watching the battle? I’m sure we’ll find out very soon!

Back at the beach, Spike is about to make a splash and that splash is going right in the face of Bulk. Oh yes people we can finally bring back the Bulk getting squirted in the face tally after 2 episode break! They’ve been messing with us. Making us worry it wouldn’t happen again, but then BOOYA right in the face! It’s fitting that in an episode where Kevin really was the star he gets to finish up with a positive life lesson and some cheesy lines. It wasn't just his training that helped Kevin succeed; to truly succeed you need to believe in yourself and that’s a lesson we can all do with learning.

Number of times Bulk has been squirted in the face this season: 4

So the results are in and we’ve learned nothing at all. Yes last time I asked you whether you thought Samurais wore boxers, briefs or nothing at all and we had a three way tie. So we’re no closer to an answer than we were before. Perhaps if any real Samurais are reading you can drop me an e-mail at zordonofeltar@hotmail.co.uk and let me know what is the situation in your pants. Whilst writing this review I got a tweet from Kevin himself how awesome is that?

Next time: There Goes the Brides

Most pictures taken from the Samurai Power Rangers Gateway

Hokonin Sentai Akibaranger First Look

So here's the first look at Hokonin Sentai Akibaranger the upcoming unofficial Super Sentai for us grown ups. Make of it what you will.

Check out JEFusion for more info.

From The Archives #2 Mr. Motivator

This one is probably more interesting to British Power Rangers fans. Back at the height of the show's popularity Power Rangers was usually introduced by the lycra clad exerciser Mr. Motivator who hosted GMTV's kid's block for quite some time. Here Mr. Motivator gets to work out with none other than Jason David Frank

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters Episode Review #1

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 36^th 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!