WEBVTT 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:03.399 This is MJ. Welcome to Henshin Reflection, Heart 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:05.660 and Soul, a little mini -series where I'm asking 00:00:05.660 --> 00:00:07.980 one big question. Can Tokusatsu survive the toy 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:10.480 sales cycle? In Episode 1, I talked about why 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:13.439 I started thinking about this. Super Sentai might 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:16.399 actually be ending after 50 years. The Metal 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:18.859 Heroes series is stated to take its time slot 00:00:18.859 --> 00:00:22.640 on TV Asahi with a Space Sheriff Kavan reboot, 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:25.219 if you can believe that, and new seasons of Power 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:28.199 Rangers are on pause. Meanwhile, Kamen Rider 00:00:28.199 --> 00:00:30.510 and Ultraman keep expanding. It's strange, and 00:00:30.510 --> 00:00:32.609 it made me wonder if too much focus on selling 00:00:32.609 --> 00:00:34.969 toys might be draining the heart of these shows. 00:00:35.310 --> 00:00:37.770 At least some of them. Before I dive into that, 00:00:37.850 --> 00:00:40.030 though, I want to look back at how I got hooked 00:00:40.030 --> 00:00:41.990 in the first place. First with Power Rangers, 00:00:42.170 --> 00:00:44.310 then with Super Sentai, and how those stories 00:00:44.310 --> 00:00:46.689 grabbed me long before I ever thought about toy 00:00:46.689 --> 00:00:50.929 sales or ratings. Before I knew what Super Sentai 00:00:50.929 --> 00:00:55.149 was, and Tokusatsu was in general, I didn't know 00:00:55.149 --> 00:00:57.490 what it was. I only knew Power Rangers, and that 00:00:57.490 --> 00:01:02.030 was my first exposure. Um, but, uh, eventually 00:01:02.030 --> 00:01:04.409 after I saw Power Rangers, I was checking out 00:01:04.409 --> 00:01:06.950 a podcast and I heard about new ongoing stuff 00:01:06.950 --> 00:01:09.090 from Japan that you could find straight from 00:01:09.090 --> 00:01:13.530 Japan. And I started watching Gokaiger and Gokaiger 00:01:13.530 --> 00:01:15.989 was amazing. From the first episode, the action 00:01:15.989 --> 00:01:20.290 was so not even intense. It was so flashy and 00:01:20.290 --> 00:01:23.069 so dramatic and so memorable that it really hit 00:01:23.069 --> 00:01:27.010 me hard. And I... Just fell in love with all 00:01:27.010 --> 00:01:29.650 the flash, all the energy and excitement that 00:01:29.650 --> 00:01:32.230 you get from like a Power Rangers fight was amplified. 00:01:32.730 --> 00:01:35.010 I don't remember. I'm pretty sure they transformed 00:01:35.010 --> 00:01:37.810 right away. Like the Gokaiders stop on Earth. 00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:40.870 They're getting curry and something, I don't 00:01:40.870 --> 00:01:42.730 know, a Zagnac Empire thing crashes through the 00:01:42.730 --> 00:01:44.849 ceiling, I think, and ruins their meal. And they 00:01:44.849 --> 00:01:48.260 go see people suffering. Marvelous has to pretend 00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:49.920 that he's just mad because their mill got ruined 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:52.219 and then they have this amazing fight where they're 00:01:52.219 --> 00:01:54.599 throwing weapons to each other and they're jumping 00:01:54.599 --> 00:01:57.319 all over the scene and just really making a show 00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:02.879 of it. And it was extremely enjoyable. And there 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:06.379 are plenty of fights in the series that stick 00:02:06.379 --> 00:02:08.479 in my mind and I can recall. I'm thinking about 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:11.580 Joe using like... It was probably only five swords 00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:13.580 at the same time, but still, he was using five 00:02:13.580 --> 00:02:16.879 swords at the same time. Gokai Blue. And that's 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:21.479 amazing. I think about Dawn when somebody thought 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:23.460 he was, I think it was Damaris, who was a general 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:27.840 of the Zagnac Empire, thought he was, Dawn or 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.099 Doc, he's called both, they thought he was some 00:02:30.099 --> 00:02:32.620 great warrior, and he was like the only of the 00:02:32.620 --> 00:02:35.550 Gokaigers left, and he... fought, I think he 00:02:35.550 --> 00:02:37.909 either wore Marvelous's coat or he had a green 00:02:37.909 --> 00:02:40.930 one made just like it. And like, I don't even 00:02:40.930 --> 00:02:42.569 remember all the plot significance around that, 00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:45.289 but like even just his regular fighting style 00:02:45.289 --> 00:02:47.689 where he's zany and all over the place and falling 00:02:47.689 --> 00:02:51.370 over almost has like this weird drunken, it's 00:02:51.370 --> 00:02:52.789 not really drunken boxing, but like this weird 00:02:52.789 --> 00:02:55.550 manic, like Jar Jar Binks almost energy where 00:02:55.550 --> 00:02:57.129 he's like accidentally making things happen in 00:02:57.129 --> 00:02:59.330 his fighting. It's just, it's kind of incredible. 00:02:59.669 --> 00:03:03.090 And like, it was just a Just like a really awesome, 00:03:03.189 --> 00:03:05.169 like the Gokaidus themselves are compelling in 00:03:05.169 --> 00:03:08.969 and of themselves. And they're very fun to watch. 00:03:09.229 --> 00:03:13.409 And then they interacted with all these Super 00:03:13.409 --> 00:03:15.629 Sentai heroes from the past. Most of whom I, 00:03:15.689 --> 00:03:18.449 or none of whom I knew. I knew some of the suits 00:03:18.449 --> 00:03:21.349 from them being in adaptations of Power Ranger 00:03:21.349 --> 00:03:25.889 seasons. And that was kind of nostalgic and kind 00:03:25.889 --> 00:03:27.490 of nice for me. But like I didn't need to know 00:03:27.490 --> 00:03:30.020 the history of Super Sentai because... the Gokaigers 00:03:30.020 --> 00:03:32.000 were telling their own story in a context of 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.780 a world with all of the previous 34 Super Sentai 00:03:34.780 --> 00:03:37.879 and this Legend War or whatever it was called. 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:41.860 And it was enough for me. And it was really enjoyable. 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:44.500 And honestly, it had me very interested in watching 00:03:44.500 --> 00:03:50.039 for the next few years, which I did. And it kind 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:52.419 of opened the door. I think Gokaiger was running 00:03:52.419 --> 00:03:54.699 while Oz was running. towards the end of O's, 00:03:54.759 --> 00:03:56.199 and I didn't watch O's. I watched Forze instead 00:03:56.199 --> 00:03:59.280 as my first modern Kamen Rider. I'd watched, 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:01.020 I think, all of Kamen Rider Black before then, 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:05.580 like the first third of the original Kamen Rider. 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:07.680 So, you know, that's part of my history too. 00:04:09.539 --> 00:04:11.900 So anyway, they did a really good job. It was 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:15.419 very skillful storytelling, and it's a lot of 00:04:15.419 --> 00:04:17.100 self -contained storytelling, and then meaningful 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:19.259 connections were made when they needed to be 00:04:19.259 --> 00:04:23.699 made between the current cast and past. crew 00:04:23.699 --> 00:04:26.720 members, past rangers, I guess past Super Sentai 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:29.259 members, and that was really effectively done. 00:04:30.060 --> 00:04:34.120 But again, before I saw any tokusatsu, well, 00:04:34.220 --> 00:04:38.759 that I knew of, before I saw Gokaiger, and before 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:40.939 I saw, or I knew what a henshin hero was, or 00:04:40.939 --> 00:04:43.420 I knew, heard the word henshin, which in Gokaiger 00:04:43.420 --> 00:04:45.100 they say Gokai chain, so there's no henshin in 00:04:45.100 --> 00:04:49.660 there, I... saw Power Rangers when I was I think 00:04:49.660 --> 00:04:51.540 like five years old and it really blew me away 00:04:51.540 --> 00:04:54.980 and before then I'd watch things like things 00:04:54.980 --> 00:04:57.519 like um the Batman cartoon the Superman cartoon 00:04:57.519 --> 00:04:59.459 a little bit the Ghostbusters cartoon DuckTales 00:04:59.459 --> 00:05:05.019 um like Dark yeah Darkwing Duck um Captain Planet 00:05:05.019 --> 00:05:07.420 trying to think of all the like action superhero 00:05:07.420 --> 00:05:10.660 type cartoons I watched uh watched a lot of superhero 00:05:10.660 --> 00:05:14.399 stuff like uh the I was going to say the Raimi 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:16.819 Batman movies. That would be interesting. But 00:05:16.819 --> 00:05:19.480 the Tim Burton Batman movies with Michael Keaton, 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:21.720 I enjoyed those and I watched those. I think 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:23.379 one of them came out in, like, 89 and the other 00:05:23.379 --> 00:05:25.879 was 90 -something. So I'd seen both of those 00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:27.920 before I saw Power Rangers. But, like, still, 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:30.980 there was something very special about Power 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:35.500 Rangers. There was something kind of, I don't 00:05:35.500 --> 00:05:38.790 know, manic about it. The energy was very high 00:05:38.790 --> 00:05:41.509 and I had a weird kind of like love -hate relationship 00:05:41.509 --> 00:05:45.089 with it. I wanted them to just grow big or to 00:05:45.089 --> 00:05:46.709 get the Megazord and like stomp on a monster 00:05:46.709 --> 00:05:48.209 and then as it's coming up, slash it down again. 00:05:48.310 --> 00:05:50.730 So I had the kind of like, I don't know what 00:05:50.730 --> 00:05:54.250 that is, but like the, you know, catching, you 00:05:54.250 --> 00:05:55.990 know, I've heard of it called, I've heard of 00:05:55.990 --> 00:05:58.730 it referred to as fridge thoughts. It's, you 00:05:58.730 --> 00:06:00.089 know, you don't think about it until you're at 00:06:00.089 --> 00:06:01.490 the fridge, but in the moment you're watching 00:06:01.490 --> 00:06:04.879 it and you just... enjoy it you're along for 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:06.360 the ride you don't think about the gaps in logic 00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:09.560 but you know it's funny because uh saban and 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:12.540 his writing crew put together zordon's rules 00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:14.680 that you never escalate a fight which allows 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:16.720 for them to fight a monster at street level and 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:19.180 then once it's grown big to fight it in the megazord 00:06:19.180 --> 00:06:22.439 and there's other other rules um that he had 00:06:22.439 --> 00:06:25.720 that made that all work out but i don't know 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:28.480 just like the spectacle of seeing these giant 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.040 monsters which I'd seen like King Kong versus 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:33.860 Godzilla and like a couple, like, you know, in 00:06:33.860 --> 00:06:35.699 passing I'd seen Godzilla movies and things like 00:06:35.699 --> 00:06:38.139 that. And here we have these, you know, teenagers 00:06:38.139 --> 00:06:41.399 fighting Godzilla and King Kong and whatever 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:43.379 else, you know, they are literally fighting, 00:06:43.420 --> 00:06:44.759 you know, the giant golden monkey of Goldar. 00:06:44.939 --> 00:06:46.740 And I think at the first episode, and then there's 00:06:46.740 --> 00:06:48.740 like a giant Cyclops or something that just the 00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:51.519 Red Ranger is fighting against. And then eventually 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:54.000 they, they do the Megazord. I believe I watched 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:55.819 it not long ago. I believe their first Megazord 00:06:55.819 --> 00:06:58.839 battle is with the, is with the giant Goldar. 00:07:00.339 --> 00:07:02.300 which I don't know why that didn't keep happening 00:07:02.300 --> 00:07:05.420 in Zyuranger, but then it sure didn't happen 00:07:05.420 --> 00:07:10.519 in Power Rangers. It was a very different thing. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:12.360 It was very sticky in my mind. And while I love 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:14.839 things like Spider -Man, the animated series, 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:18.899 and I valued it a little bit more than Power 00:07:18.899 --> 00:07:24.519 Rangers, I don't know, something about all the 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:26.500 stuff with Tommy, the evil Green Ranger stuff, 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:28.759 Green with Evil, that whole saga. like really 00:07:28.759 --> 00:07:31.540 hooked me. And I kept watching and watching and 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:33.379 watching Power Rangers. And I looked back and 00:07:33.379 --> 00:07:37.160 it was just, there was like, I don't know. What 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:39.620 was it? Was it 25 years or more of continuous 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:41.759 Power Rangers presence on TV every single year? 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:44.720 Even though like, you know, they went from being 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:46.439 owned by Saban to being owned to Disney to being 00:07:46.439 --> 00:07:50.100 owned by Saban again. I think there was a little 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:54.120 break between Super, between Samurai and RPM. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.279 I think. I think RPM was 18 and Samurai was 19. 00:07:57.459 --> 00:07:58.860 If I'm remembering correctly, maybe I'm not. 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:03.319 I don't know. Anyway, but I watched a lot and 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:06.060 like almost continuously for, I don't know, maybe 00:08:06.060 --> 00:08:12.600 like 8 to 10 years. I watched MMPR through In 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:14.720 Space and Lost Galaxy for sure. I didn't really 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:18.600 watch the ninja one, the first ninja one. And 00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:19.899 then I came back for Dino Thunder because of 00:08:19.899 --> 00:08:23.410 Tommy. But I did watch Jungle Fury before. uh 00:08:23.410 --> 00:08:26.329 the ninja one which i think it was jungle fury 00:08:26.329 --> 00:08:29.230 and then no not jungle free i mean i watched 00:08:29.230 --> 00:08:33.230 wild force i didn't watch jungle fury or um which 00:08:33.230 --> 00:08:35.389 that's kung fu and then i didn't watch the uh 00:08:35.389 --> 00:08:37.450 it's based on hurricane or whatever that one's 00:08:37.450 --> 00:08:40.889 called um or mystic force i didn't i didn't watch 00:08:40.889 --> 00:08:42.649 mystic force either but then i came back like 00:08:42.649 --> 00:08:46.610 i said for for tommy and um dino thunder and 00:08:46.610 --> 00:08:49.370 i don't know he was like a really cool really 00:08:49.370 --> 00:08:54.139 pivotal character for me um And just the depth 00:08:54.139 --> 00:08:56.179 of the story of Green with Evil really hooked 00:08:56.179 --> 00:08:58.340 me. But overall, Power Rangers just hooked me. 00:08:58.440 --> 00:09:02.799 And I didn't keep trying to watch Spider -Man 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:04.220 or Batman the Animated Series or anything like 00:09:04.220 --> 00:09:06.039 that. I had Power Rangers, so I could watch them 00:09:06.039 --> 00:09:09.080 and other things. And I got involved with other 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:11.179 stuff. But it sure left a lasting impression, 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.340 even to the point that I remembered Master Rider 00:09:14.340 --> 00:09:18.200 from Season 3. of uh power rangers i remembered 00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:20.139 master writer from there and like his appearance 00:09:20.139 --> 00:09:23.519 there was awesome and um i vaguely remembered 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:25.460 the master writer show that was a standalone 00:09:25.460 --> 00:09:30.559 spin -off whatever and uh i actually when i watched 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:33.539 all uh like the first seven or eight seasons 00:09:33.539 --> 00:09:36.240 of power rangers like uh seven or uh no like 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:38.820 about 14 years ago i watched it all in like rapid 00:09:38.820 --> 00:09:42.899 succession i was so impressed by season three 00:09:42.899 --> 00:09:46.120 episode one and two um where they go to Edenway 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:48.919 and meet Dex, the master writer. I was so shocked. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:50.080 It was called A Friend in Need. That's what it's 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:51.899 called. I was so shocked by how good that was 00:09:51.899 --> 00:09:53.159 that I thought, man, I don't remember a master 00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:54.820 writer being this good. And I checked it out 00:09:54.820 --> 00:09:57.460 and it sure wasn't that good. So, you know, your 00:09:57.460 --> 00:10:00.019 mileage definitely varies with certain things. 00:10:00.279 --> 00:10:04.659 But still, like the iconic look of Black RX was 00:10:04.659 --> 00:10:06.460 burned in my mind. And when I found out that 00:10:06.460 --> 00:10:08.320 that was a thing, then I had to watch Black. 00:10:08.539 --> 00:10:10.399 Because, of course, there's Black and Black RX. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:13.100 They're sequels to each other. Sort of, they're 00:10:13.100 --> 00:10:16.830 going to connect, right? But that's actually 00:10:16.830 --> 00:10:19.070 how I got into the Japanese stuff. I watched 00:10:19.070 --> 00:10:21.230 A Friend in Need and had to see more of Black 00:10:21.230 --> 00:10:23.590 Rx. Then I realized there was a Black, which 00:10:23.590 --> 00:10:25.629 somehow led me to the original Kamen Rider as 00:10:25.629 --> 00:10:29.250 well. Kamen Rider only had about 30 English subbed 00:10:29.250 --> 00:10:32.129 episodes at the time, while Black and Black Rx 00:10:32.129 --> 00:10:35.289 had been both fully subtitled, so I checked out 00:10:35.289 --> 00:10:39.009 Black and was absolutely amazed by it. Gokaiger 00:10:39.009 --> 00:10:40.950 was coming along, so I decided to check it out 00:10:40.950 --> 00:10:43.730 when it started, and I've been calling myself 00:10:43.730 --> 00:10:46.100 a Tokusatsu fan ever since. To be more accurate, 00:10:46.220 --> 00:10:48.100 I'm a fan of Henshin Heroes, since I'm not super 00:10:48.100 --> 00:10:50.980 into Godzilla or any of the giant stuff. It's 00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:54.500 okay, it's not that great. But anyway, so I'm 00:10:54.500 --> 00:10:56.600 a fan of Henshin Heroes, but that's a discussion 00:10:56.600 --> 00:11:01.539 for another time. So that's how I got hooked. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:03.399 The energy, the spectacle, the stories that pulled 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:05.259 me in long before I even knew what tokusatsu 00:11:05.259 --> 00:11:07.779 was. But once I started digging deeper, listening 00:11:07.779 --> 00:11:09.500 to podcasts and hearing people talk about the 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:11.240 business side of things, I began to notice something 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:17.360 else. That's where we'll pick up next time. Check 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:19.200 out the trailer for my book. If you enjoyed this, 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:27.500 I think you'll like it. Magical bugs battle monsters 00:11:27.500 --> 00:11:30.080 in this exciting fantasy adventure. Grimlings 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:33.539 prey upon children. Grow bugs protect them. When 00:11:33.539 --> 00:11:35.679 a grimling finds a hidden grow bug fort, the 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:38.399 whole flock makes a surprise attack. How will 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:41.539 the grow bugs survive? Find out in Mockwing Mayhem. 00:11:42.990 --> 00:11:45.289 Learn more at growbugs .com where you can find 00:11:45.289 --> 00:11:47.409 out more about our mailing list, receive behind 00:11:47.409 --> 00:11:49.590 the scenes information and get all the latest 00:11:49.590 --> 00:11:51.029 news on the grow bugs.