WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.759 Super Sentai ran for 50 years. That is not a 00:00:02.759 --> 00:00:05.639 failure. That is an achievement. But if it ran 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:08.140 for 50 years, what could it have done to survive 00:00:08.140 --> 00:00:10.839 50 more? And now that Project Red is stepping 00:00:10.839 --> 00:00:13.820 into that space, here's the question. Is it already 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:17.100 walking toward the same fate? Or can it do what 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:21.859 Sentai never did, and actually evolve? In my 00:00:21.859 --> 00:00:24.120 last Heart and Soul, I said Super Sentai deserved 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:27.899 to die. By the end, I walked that back. Sentai 00:00:27.899 --> 00:00:30.210 didn't deserve to die. It deserved to be saved. 00:00:30.429 --> 00:00:33.429 It just reached a point where saving it didn't 00:00:33.429 --> 00:00:36.109 feel possible anymore. The inertia was too strong. 00:00:36.929 --> 00:00:39.509 So when I look at Project Red, I'm not celebrating 00:00:39.509 --> 00:00:42.549 the end of Sentai. I'm hoping Joy finally decided 00:00:42.549 --> 00:00:45.450 to take a chance so we can get transforming hero 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:50.770 stories that are good, not just familiar. So 00:00:50.770 --> 00:00:53.509 what actually went wrong with Super Sentai? Why 00:00:53.509 --> 00:00:55.590 did Sentai stall out while Rider and Ultra kept 00:00:55.590 --> 00:01:00.020 climbing? Sentai got bigger and shallower at 00:01:00.020 --> 00:01:04.599 the same time. We had huge casts, extra rangers 00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:09.200 on extra rangers on extra rangers. It seemed 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:10.859 like every year there were more and more Power 00:01:10.859 --> 00:01:14.180 Rangers, or rather, more Super Sentai characters 00:01:14.180 --> 00:01:16.379 in the show. But the character writing didn't 00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:19.700 grow with the cast. Red pretty much always got 00:01:19.700 --> 00:01:21.540 the spotlight, and everybody else got crumbs. 00:01:21.980 --> 00:01:24.200 If you do that long enough, the audience stops 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:26.680 caring. Sometimes it becomes background noise. 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:31.280 I also think Sentai locked itself inside its 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.879 own formula. New team, new robots, new Sixth 00:01:33.879 --> 00:01:37.000 Ranger, or whatever, Extra Ranger, new toy wave 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.659 every year. Which is great for Bandai on paper, 00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:42.540 but in practice, it bloated costs, fixed the 00:01:42.540 --> 00:01:44.819 story shape, and made surprises almost impossible. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:48.359 You might argue with me, MJ, how can you say 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:50.500 that? Kamen Rider does the same thing every year, 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:53.579 as does Ultraman. And while that's true, Ultraman 00:01:53.579 --> 00:01:55.180 and Kamen Rider are both focused on a single 00:01:55.180 --> 00:01:58.469 hero who has... three to four forms, you know, 00:01:58.469 --> 00:02:02.170 three to nine forms or whatever, and there may 00:02:02.170 --> 00:02:05.650 be some different types of accessory, weapons 00:02:05.650 --> 00:02:09.330 or toys that go along with that, but that's for 00:02:09.330 --> 00:02:11.750 one character. If you expand that out, you multiply 00:02:11.750 --> 00:02:15.069 that by five or more for Super Sentai, you think 00:02:15.069 --> 00:02:17.770 about all the auxiliary Zords they have, you 00:02:17.770 --> 00:02:24.349 can see that the cost for everything is at least... 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:28.460 multiplied by four or five for Super Sentai over 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:32.560 the cost and the investment needed for Kamen 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:39.439 Rider and Ultraman. And I think it's just impossible 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:43.099 for them to keep up with that, to get a return 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:46.099 on that investment when the show isn't doing 00:02:46.099 --> 00:02:48.479 as well, isn't selling as well as the other two 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:51.099 shows are. I went over the numbers last time. 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:53.830 I'm not going to go over them again. but it's 00:02:53.830 --> 00:02:56.469 pretty dramatic if you look at them. It's no 00:02:56.469 --> 00:02:59.710 wonder Super Sentai got shut down and they're 00:02:59.710 --> 00:03:04.530 trying to do something else now. I also think 00:03:04.530 --> 00:03:06.889 Sentai kept reinventing the surface, but never 00:03:06.889 --> 00:03:09.270 reinvented the core of how it told its stories. 00:03:09.669 --> 00:03:11.689 The suits changed, the mecha changed, the motifs 00:03:11.689 --> 00:03:13.930 changed, but the underlying rhythm stayed almost 00:03:13.930 --> 00:03:19.009 identical year after year. There's the, I don't 00:03:19.009 --> 00:03:21.830 know, kind of attacks on Super Sentai that they 00:03:21.830 --> 00:03:24.409 have. these tropey, you know, episodes. We have 00:03:24.409 --> 00:03:26.289 the fake marriage episode. We have the why aren't 00:03:26.289 --> 00:03:28.789 you married yet episode with a grandmother or 00:03:28.789 --> 00:03:30.969 somebody coming in trying to get one of the members, 00:03:31.069 --> 00:03:33.650 you know, married. We have the body switch episode 00:03:33.650 --> 00:03:35.870 or body swap episode. We have all these different 00:03:35.870 --> 00:03:37.590 things that are staples in Super Sentai. And 00:03:37.590 --> 00:03:39.090 I don't think that's the problem necessarily. 00:03:39.449 --> 00:03:42.050 I think it's that everything around those filler 00:03:42.050 --> 00:03:47.159 type episodes is lacking. because it gets to 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:50.080 be predictable. And I know I just described tropes 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:52.360 of three different tropes that can happen year 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:55.099 after year and that are predictable, but it's 00:03:55.099 --> 00:03:58.539 also as predictable as a mecha fight in a Super 00:03:58.539 --> 00:04:01.479 Sentai or them transforming to fight. And I think 00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:03.699 it's the execution of it that matters. But there 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:06.539 was just something fundamentally about the overall 00:04:06.539 --> 00:04:09.879 arc of the story in a Super Sentai series that 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:12.860 felt kind of samey and I think wasn't delivering 00:04:12.860 --> 00:04:17.319 enough variety and excitement. I think Ultraman 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:19.620 has been doing, at least modern Ultraman, new 00:04:19.620 --> 00:04:21.860 generation stuff that I've seen, and Comrader 00:04:21.860 --> 00:04:28.779 for the last good long while. Audiences feel 00:04:28.779 --> 00:04:31.279 that repetition. They feel that staleness, and 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:34.180 it just turns them off. Like Shurikura said in 00:04:34.180 --> 00:04:36.459 the interview, Super Sentai was just something 00:04:36.459 --> 00:04:38.600 that people took for granted and that they knew 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:40.699 was always going to be on, and they didn't think 00:04:40.699 --> 00:04:42.259 they had to watch it because, well, what's going 00:04:42.259 --> 00:04:47.079 to happen? It's Sentai. If Suntai was crushed 00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:52.180 by inertia, what could have broken it? I think 00:04:52.180 --> 00:04:54.259 Suntai could have broken its own formula on purpose, 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:58.279 or rather than saying broken its own formula, 00:04:58.420 --> 00:05:00.220 they could have designed their formula in such 00:05:00.220 --> 00:05:02.879 a way that it served them, not hampered them. 00:05:05.540 --> 00:05:07.939 And this is an idea that I just had off the top 00:05:07.939 --> 00:05:09.819 of my head. Some years, let's say you have an 00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:11.560 extra ranger one year, and the next year you 00:05:11.560 --> 00:05:13.459 have no extra ranger. Then the year after that, 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:16.410 you have... a tragic extra ranger and then after 00:05:16.410 --> 00:05:19.170 that you do some sort of team shake up if a defection 00:05:19.170 --> 00:05:22.509 of one of the core members um to become the new 00:05:22.509 --> 00:05:25.930 evil ranger um or something like that isn't doable 00:05:25.930 --> 00:05:28.350 if a defection isn't possible because of the 00:05:28.350 --> 00:05:30.949 standards you want for the kids or for uh the 00:05:30.949 --> 00:05:32.370 excitement for the kids then you can do something 00:05:32.370 --> 00:05:35.569 else you can have uh i don't know just some sort 00:05:35.569 --> 00:05:38.069 of interesting change up for the team that i 00:05:38.069 --> 00:05:40.889 think would make it more interesting and if you 00:05:40.889 --> 00:05:46.079 had a long pattern like that, like a four year 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.319 pattern, people wouldn't really know it's a pattern 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:50.199 until like the fifth year, they would get suspicious. 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:53.060 Okay, so we had this happen the first year. And 00:05:53.060 --> 00:05:55.220 then this, the second, this, the third, this 00:05:55.220 --> 00:05:57.199 is the fourth. Okay, now I'm seeing the fifth 00:05:57.199 --> 00:05:59.600 year, it's kind of repeating what that last year 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:03.560 was, then the next year, year six in the cycle, 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:05.439 they would see, okay, now we're getting a repetition 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:10.259 of it. So it's like an ABCD, ABCD pattern. And 00:06:10.259 --> 00:06:12.319 they would pick up on that, but really not until 00:06:12.779 --> 00:06:14.639 that last D had been locked in, would they be 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:17.040 able to identify and say, ah, yes, I know what's 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:19.639 going to happen in the next season. It's going 00:06:19.639 --> 00:06:22.060 to be an A season, season nine. And this is probably 00:06:22.060 --> 00:06:23.519 what's going to happen. There's not going to 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:26.459 be a extra ranger or whatever, you know, the 00:06:26.459 --> 00:06:30.480 pattern is utilizing. But that would take somebody 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:32.540 who's a dedicated fan. And then they can say, 00:06:32.579 --> 00:06:34.220 you know what, maybe I'll categorize these in 00:06:34.220 --> 00:06:36.839 a different way. I'll say it's not the Yo -Kai 00:06:36.839 --> 00:06:39.000 Power Rangers or the Yo -Kai Super Sentai versus 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:43.319 the, you know, battle robot. super sentai i'm 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:45.259 thinking about i'm thinking about oh this one 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:47.959 had a redeemable extra ranger and this one had 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:51.620 irredeemable extra rangers or and well even that 00:06:51.620 --> 00:06:53.680 maybe and you categorize them like that and there's 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:55.660 some ways to look at them and compare them and 00:06:55.660 --> 00:06:57.779 think about them as opposed to just there's an 00:06:57.779 --> 00:07:01.160 extra ranger that shows up he is grumpy and there's 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:03.100 issues with him joining the team and then eventually 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:05.420 he joins the team everything's great his powers 00:07:05.420 --> 00:07:07.399 you know mimic theirs in this way but it's different 00:07:07.399 --> 00:07:09.899 with this little twist added to it and whatever 00:07:09.899 --> 00:07:12.879 and it's just uh It's something we can do without. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:17.860 And I think had they chosen to willingly embrace 00:07:17.860 --> 00:07:20.920 that, they could have used the same toolbox and 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:23.300 put everything in new combinations, and it would 00:07:23.300 --> 00:07:25.819 have had a fresh energy without really abandoning 00:07:25.819 --> 00:07:28.860 tradition, which I think Super Sentai, like there's 00:07:28.860 --> 00:07:30.540 an idea of tradition that's important to them 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:36.360 in the making of it. And, you know, Kamen Rider 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:38.920 reboots yearly, and so does Ultraman. and its 00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:40.879 seasons are half as long as the Ultraman and 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:46.600 Kamen Rider series. I'm sorry. Yeah, Kamen Rider 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:49.480 and Super Sentai series. So I don't think the 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:53.220 annual reboot is really the problem. So I'm trying 00:07:53.220 --> 00:07:55.079 to figure out what's wrong. I think the problem 00:07:55.079 --> 00:08:00.019 is that it's not the reset, but the arcs don't 00:08:00.019 --> 00:08:02.740 often go deep enough within that year. They don't 00:08:02.740 --> 00:08:04.639 give themselves the time to go deep enough with 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:08.189 these characters in the... I would say ample 00:08:08.189 --> 00:08:10.209 time that we have with them. So they absolutely 00:08:10.209 --> 00:08:12.069 had characters with real dramatic potential. 00:08:12.209 --> 00:08:15.129 Like look at Jewel Bird from Jewelger. He has 00:08:15.129 --> 00:08:16.589 got a Jewel Condor, whatever you want to call 00:08:16.589 --> 00:08:20.009 him. He has a great setup, great energy. He's 00:08:20.009 --> 00:08:21.889 a mentor figure with guilt. He is mystery and 00:08:21.889 --> 00:08:26.189 he's got a compelling bond with Yamato and it's 00:08:26.189 --> 00:08:28.589 really interesting. He's really intriguing. He's 00:08:28.589 --> 00:08:32.309 not like the other Jumin in the cast, but it 00:08:32.309 --> 00:08:34.549 just kind of falls flat and they never really 00:08:34.549 --> 00:08:37.370 developed things with him. He felt like a character 00:08:37.370 --> 00:08:39.289 whose story could have hit hard, but the structure 00:08:39.289 --> 00:08:40.909 didn't give him the space he needed to reach 00:08:40.909 --> 00:08:45.110 the arc his introduction promised. That pattern 00:08:45.110 --> 00:08:46.909 shows up across multiple seasons. The potential 00:08:46.909 --> 00:08:48.669 was there, the follow -through wasn't always. 00:08:48.990 --> 00:08:51.230 And for him, I heard at the time that there were 00:08:51.230 --> 00:08:53.509 scheduling conflicts or whatever with him, but 00:08:53.509 --> 00:08:55.990 I don't know, that's kind of not my problem. 00:08:56.429 --> 00:08:58.230 You could always do it, not with this face actor, 00:08:58.309 --> 00:08:59.830 and set things up while the guy in the suit, 00:08:59.909 --> 00:09:01.850 and then get the face actor to come in and film 00:09:01.850 --> 00:09:06.940 a couple key scenes, I would think. Moving on 00:09:06.940 --> 00:09:11.399 from there, I think another problem is that Ultraman, 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:14.360 Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai are all stories 00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:16.720 of transforming heroes. One grows big, one is 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:20.200 a loner, sort of, and has the power of evil fueling 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:24.139 him. And then one is this team -based show. And 00:09:24.139 --> 00:09:27.000 those are the basics. They transform and they 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:29.980 fight monsters. And then they have each little 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:31.820 spin to them. They're on each individual spin 00:09:31.820 --> 00:09:35.750 to them. Combinator has its own lane of personal 00:09:35.750 --> 00:09:40.250 drama, thematic storytelling, and telling stories 00:09:40.250 --> 00:09:45.309 about identity. Ultraman has this very science 00:09:45.309 --> 00:09:47.990 fiction focus. You get a lot of conceptual weirdness. 00:09:48.110 --> 00:09:54.509 There's often interaction between our world and 00:09:54.509 --> 00:09:56.830 another world with this cosmic angle to it. And 00:09:56.830 --> 00:10:00.429 it's like a premium product. It's like this interesting, 00:10:00.529 --> 00:10:04.000 tight, 25 -ish episode season. that tells like 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.759 a really solid story with a good cast and crew. 00:10:06.840 --> 00:10:08.779 And like, they really work hard to make those 00:10:08.779 --> 00:10:12.740 effects sell the show as well. But it's like, 00:10:12.759 --> 00:10:15.519 it's working on an effects level and it's working 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:17.379 on this like sci -fi level, but it's junior sci 00:10:17.379 --> 00:10:19.139 -fi or whatever, which is fine. But like those 00:10:19.139 --> 00:10:21.179 things make it unique and those bring a distinct 00:10:21.179 --> 00:10:23.000 flavor to it. And it's interesting to see what 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:24.379 they do in different years and how they explore 00:10:24.379 --> 00:10:28.419 it in the different iterations of it. And I don't 00:10:28.419 --> 00:10:30.460 know that Sentai ever really had a strong thing 00:10:30.460 --> 00:10:34.610 of its own other than, the colorful team show 00:10:34.610 --> 00:10:39.649 for kids. The other franchises, which are also 00:10:39.649 --> 00:10:41.990 for kids, feel like they evolved their creative 00:10:41.990 --> 00:10:45.190 identities. And Sentai didn't fail because its 00:10:45.190 --> 00:10:47.070 concept was outdated. It failed because it never 00:10:47.070 --> 00:10:49.750 sharpened what made it special in a modern media 00:10:49.750 --> 00:10:54.649 landscape, I think. So all of that being said, 00:10:54.789 --> 00:10:57.269 the issues that Sentai had, what do we do about 00:10:57.269 --> 00:10:59.789 Project Red? Or what's going to happen with it? 00:10:59.970 --> 00:11:02.009 Will it evolve or will it just echo the same 00:11:02.009 --> 00:11:03.980 problems? with a different logo, with a different 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:06.600 veneer. Because if Red is simply Sentai in spirit, 00:11:06.820 --> 00:11:09.360 it will inherit the same baggage that made Sentai 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.299 unsustainable. And that's why I don't think Sentai 00:11:11.299 --> 00:11:13.620 could have just said, okay, we're going to, or 00:11:13.620 --> 00:11:14.639 Toei couldn't have said, we're just going to 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:16.340 change Sentai again or make it different again, 00:11:16.500 --> 00:11:17.779 which is what they were supposed to do after 00:11:17.779 --> 00:11:20.019 Gokaiger, starting with GoBusters. But just, 00:11:20.100 --> 00:11:22.799 they couldn't stick the landing on that. And 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:26.259 I think there's too much baggage with Super Sentai. 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:30.570 So they had to make this clean break. It would 00:11:30.570 --> 00:11:32.450 be a tragedy, I think, if Project Red just failed 00:11:32.450 --> 00:11:35.009 right away. Because it seems like they've got 00:11:35.009 --> 00:11:37.149 strong pieces there. They've got Gavon, who has 00:11:37.149 --> 00:11:40.309 a cool legacy. They're making him red in Gavon 00:11:40.309 --> 00:11:43.009 Infinity specifically. He's a red hero, which 00:11:43.009 --> 00:11:47.169 is great. Has this great pull from Power Rangers. 00:11:47.490 --> 00:11:50.029 I'm sorry, from Super Sentai. And I don't know. 00:11:50.070 --> 00:11:52.090 It's got energy. It's got potential. And I like 00:11:52.090 --> 00:11:53.769 what we're seeing so far from it. But it just, 00:11:53.929 --> 00:11:58.190 I don't know. I'm not necessarily nervous about 00:11:58.190 --> 00:11:59.870 it, but I just want to think about it. If Super 00:11:59.870 --> 00:12:01.509 Sentai failed and it couldn't have saved itself 00:12:01.509 --> 00:12:03.970 at the end because of this inertia, then like... 00:12:03.970 --> 00:12:10.570 How does Project Red avoid that same fate? I 00:12:10.570 --> 00:12:13.090 have a couple ideas. I think if they keep the 00:12:13.090 --> 00:12:15.809 cast focus, they make every suit and ally feel 00:12:15.809 --> 00:12:18.090 intentional, and they give us clear arcs, not 00:12:18.090 --> 00:12:20.570 just who wins fights, but who changes and what 00:12:20.570 --> 00:12:23.129 that costs them, that'll be really great. I think 00:12:23.129 --> 00:12:24.950 that'll do a lot to serve the show and to serve 00:12:24.950 --> 00:12:29.159 its longevity. If Red Neil's character... and 00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:31.440 has people hooked on that, the kids will want 00:12:31.440 --> 00:12:33.720 the toys desperately and they'll buy them. So 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:36.299 will older collectors, which supposedly like 00:12:36.299 --> 00:12:39.460 collectors, like teens and adults aren't a common 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:42.539 writer and Ultraman is enjoyed by like collectors. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:46.840 So if you can do enough with Project Red, you 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:51.419 can pull in those customers as well while telling 00:12:51.419 --> 00:12:53.980 a great story. So they're restarting the Metal 00:12:53.980 --> 00:12:56.419 Heroes series with this, I would argue. We've 00:12:56.419 --> 00:12:58.360 got, you know, Gavon Infinity. He's a red hero 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:01.120 now. So they're making that shift. And Gavon 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:03.279 is cool with the metallic armor. And he's pretty 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:05.299 slick with, like, there's just like a lot of 00:13:05.299 --> 00:13:07.500 cool things about Gavon visually. And then they're 00:13:07.500 --> 00:13:09.740 making that red. So they're pulling in, like 00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:11.899 I said, the Sentai energy with the Gavon energy. 00:13:13.220 --> 00:13:16.740 But that can't be all the show is. If red wants 00:13:16.740 --> 00:13:19.259 longevity, it needs real risks. The kind that 00:13:19.259 --> 00:13:21.139 make you sit up and say, okay, the show means 00:13:21.139 --> 00:13:23.210 something. What are they doing? I can't believe 00:13:23.210 --> 00:13:25.190 they're doing this. Either of those would be 00:13:25.190 --> 00:13:27.110 good things. Instead of just, well, whatever, 00:13:27.330 --> 00:13:30.409 it's Gavon Infinity. It's Red, Project Red, who 00:13:30.409 --> 00:13:34.169 cares? I don't need to watch this week. And any 00:13:34.169 --> 00:13:36.649 twists in it should be twists for that particular 00:13:36.649 --> 00:13:40.909 season or series, and they shouldn't become part 00:13:40.909 --> 00:13:44.429 of the overall formula of Project Red or Gavon 00:13:44.429 --> 00:13:47.950 Infinity. I also think that from day one, they 00:13:47.950 --> 00:13:52.179 should think global and think weird. I think 00:13:52.179 --> 00:13:54.220 Ultraman is a good example of that. They've got 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:55.500 tighter seasons, they have a clear identity, 00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:57.059 they have this premium tone, and they have this 00:13:57.059 --> 00:14:00.539 willingness to experiment. Episodes like Fourth 00:14:00.539 --> 00:14:03.919 Dementor Capriccio from Ultraman Zed, and... 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:08.200 I don't know. Oh, The Man in the White Mask from 00:14:08.200 --> 00:14:10.379 Ark, and gosh, there was another one from Ark. 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:12.980 Oh, The Dream Bird, even. I don't remember any 00:14:12.980 --> 00:14:15.179 really weird Blazar episodes, but I like Blazar 00:14:15.179 --> 00:14:19.370 a lot. It's a short show. with a shorter runtime, 00:14:19.509 --> 00:14:22.190 you know, 25 as opposed to like 50 or so episodes. 00:14:22.450 --> 00:14:24.629 And they still take time to do these detours, 00:14:24.629 --> 00:14:26.549 to do these weird episodes. And I think that's 00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:28.610 part of what makes Ultraman stick so much. It 00:14:28.610 --> 00:14:31.470 makes it so cool. And I think Project Red has 00:14:31.470 --> 00:14:36.590 the same ability to do something like that. But 00:14:36.590 --> 00:14:38.429 not exactly that. Or, you know, who knows? Maybe 00:14:38.429 --> 00:14:40.330 they'll do weird stuff with Mako Space. But like, 00:14:40.389 --> 00:14:43.710 they should be able to get this subbed and... 00:14:43.980 --> 00:14:45.500 get an international release with it. They could 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:47.379 dub it and get an international release with 00:14:47.379 --> 00:14:49.960 it. They can make it export ready. If they embrace 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:52.899 this strange side of records of extraordinary 00:14:52.899 --> 00:14:55.419 dimensions, I think they could just make it like 00:14:55.419 --> 00:14:57.019 a really unique show, a really interesting show 00:14:57.019 --> 00:14:59.480 that people want to check out. And it can draw 00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:01.379 a lot of people in from all over the place. I 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:03.659 think, you know, anime fans, fans of other Henshin 00:15:03.659 --> 00:15:09.100 Hero shows. And I really think having this fresh 00:15:09.100 --> 00:15:11.200 start and having weirdness that they can lean 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:12.659 into is going to be their strength. It's going 00:15:12.659 --> 00:15:14.590 to give them a sharper identity, and people are 00:15:14.590 --> 00:15:16.509 going to say, oh, this show's weird. I like it. 00:15:18.669 --> 00:15:21.870 So, again, I'm trying to close out here. I don't 00:15:21.870 --> 00:15:23.629 think Super Sentai failed because it lacked potential. 00:15:23.710 --> 00:15:26.450 It failed because it stopped surprising the audience. 00:15:27.029 --> 00:15:28.970 Project Red has the chance to surprise people. 00:15:29.669 --> 00:15:33.350 If it stays lean, if it dares to evolve, and 00:15:33.350 --> 00:15:35.029 if it chooses to be different instead of replacing 00:15:35.029 --> 00:15:41.269 Sentai, taking its spot in truth and in spirit, 00:15:42.909 --> 00:15:47.769 we're not going to see the death of another series. 00:15:47.870 --> 00:15:50.529 We're not going to see the death of Sentai. We're 00:15:50.529 --> 00:15:53.450 going to see the birth of something new and a 00:15:53.450 --> 00:15:55.970 fresh new chapter that will hopefully delight 00:15:55.970 --> 00:15:59.850 fans for 50 years or more, just like Super Sentai 00:15:59.850 --> 00:16:04.809 did. For the most part. If you want more deep 00:16:04.809 --> 00:16:06.769 dives like this, the Heart and Soul playlist 00:16:06.769 --> 00:16:10.559 is pinned in the first comment. What do you think 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:12.340 Sentai could have done to save itself? And what 00:16:12.340 --> 00:16:15.320 does Red absolutely need to get right? Let's 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:16.779 keep the conversation going in the comments.