Sukeban Deka, Shaider Director Hideo Tanaka Passed Away

Movie and film director, Hideo Tanaka who is best known for his movie, Sukeban Deka and its sequel, Sukeban Deka: Kazama Sanshimai no Gyakushuu died of stomach cancer at a Saitama hospital at around 1:30pm on the afternoon of July 9. He was 78 years old.

He also worked on two Uchuu Keiji Shaider (Trans. Space Sheriff Shaider) films and the corresponding TV series. Throughout his career, he helped direct dozens of other television shows, including Ninja Captor, Moero Attack, and Hana no Asuka-gumi! Days ago, the creator of the Sukeban Deka manga died passed away on July 5.

From all of us here, your works will remain eternal in our hearts.

Source: Sponichi Annex via Tokyograph

Ukiya Was Bored: The Tokusatsu Influence in the Philippines.

I was watching the first few episodes of Jetman when this idea came into my head, tokusatsu has been around here in the Philippines since the late 70’s thanks to JAKQ and later became a staple in Philippine TV till late 90’s thanks to Goranger, better known here as Star Rangers. For nearly 3 decades, tokusatsu is part of Philippine TV. With Kamen Rider Hibiki reruns on TV5 and rumors of the return of Super Sentai, I decided to create this.

To kick things off, I’ll start with Super Sentai. The first Super Sentai that aired here was JAKQ but the one that popularized Sentai was Goranger better known here as Star Rangers. Because of the success, other Sentai shows aired here and the two prominent titles are: Chodenshi Bioman and Laser Squadron Hikari Sentai Maskman. From the two, Bioman is the most influential and here’s a recent example.

Since the National Elections here in the Philippines is fast approaching, probably one bored guy decided to do this. The one wearing the Orange Red One suit is a presidential candidate, Manny Villar. The one wearing the Green Two suit is also a presidential candidate named Gilbert Teodoro. The one wearing the Blue Three suit is a vice presidential candidate named Mar Roxas. The one wearing the Yellow Four suit is a presidential candidate named Noynoy Aquino. Lastly, the one wearing the Pink Five suit is a vice presidential candidate named Bayani Fernando. Why poke fun? Because of their campaign colors, that’s why!

Due to the popularity of the show, even its theme song was, well, it unavoidable here in the Philippines to be parodied. Here are the songs.

Another popular Sentai that aired here in the Philippines was Turboranger and seeing this bubble gum commercial reminded me of the Turboranger suits.

To those who don’t have the idea on how the suits look like, here’s a picture.

Aside from Super Sentai, another tokusatsu series was popular here in the Philippines, the Space Sheriffs of the Metal Hero franchise. And from those Sheriffs, Shaider stood up above the rest. Due to the extreme, I repeat, EXTREME popularity of Shaider, a TV network (Best known for remaking Korean dramas) asked Toei’s permission to remake Shaider… and failed. But these guys, they are very determined and finally, Toei cooperated. The result? A spin-off, a non-canon sequel (If I will call it canon, the fans will kill me), or parody some would say was created that goes with this name: Zaido: Pulis Pagkalawan (Translated as, Zaido: Space Sheriff). Because of this, rumors circulated that the rival TV network would do a remake of Maskman but seeing the negative feedback of the original fans, they cancelled the plan.

Another popular tokusatsu show here in the Philippines is Kamen Rider Black. Even though, according to some sources from the World Wide Web that it had a short run, it left an incredible impact to Pinoys. A prominent example is the logo of an online video game rental company here in the Philippines.

As seen on this logo and the name, it felt like a homage to Black’s motorcycle, Battle Hopper, heck, the front view of the logo kinda looks like Battle Hopper’s front view!

And just recently, a promotional poster for a local radio show has a weird caricature of Black in it, how weird? See for yourself.

Another thing, most Pinoy fans of the said toku shows always refer them in their given Filipino names. For example, Takeru of Maskman is always referred as Michael Joe and Kotaro Minami of Kamen Rider Black is referred to as Robert Akizuki or affectionately, Kuya Robert.

Since tokusatsu is slowly returning here in the Philippines, expect that the next generation of Pinoys might do those things mentioned above in the near future!

Signs That You Are A Pinoy Watching Anime, The Sequel. (Toku Included)

The sequel from my original post, because of extreme boredom, I decided to think of other signs that you are a Pinoy Watching Anime… with a little Tokusatsu. With no further adieu, here is the sequel.

But first, I will define the terms used in this post.

+ Endless Eight - an 8 episode arc from the anime, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It is about the SOS Brigade stuck in an endless loop of events on their last day of summer. In terms of TV, it is an endless loop of reruns.

+ Henshin - Japanese word which means transform and is frequently used on the Kamen Rider franchise.It is a word first said by the hero before transforming into a Kamen Rider. Other variations include, "By the Power of Greyskull!" and "Ectophase, Activate!"

Now, it's SHOWTIME!

• You were surprised that Jeremiah (Genkai) of Ghost Fighter (Yu Yu Hakusho) is a girl after you watched the episode about her ability to change her appearance. Surprised because he I mean, she sounded like an old man and in another dub, an old Chinese man.

• You noticed that most bishounen characters in the Filipino dub sounded the same… you later on found out that they are voiced by JEFF UTANES!!! XDDD

• You at least know three dubbing companies here in the Philippines.

• You were surprised when you first found out that there is a Toei Animation Studio here in the Philippines.

• Speaking of Toei Studios, you kept on wondering why even though we have a Toei Studio here, we only aired one Pretty Cure show and One Piece is stuck on the Water 7 Arc for over 2 years.

• GMA is the only station that aired anime OVAs on free TV. 

• The first Animax block here in the Philippines didn’t air anime but aired Beast Machines, a Godzilla cartoon and *gasp* Jackie Chan Adventures.

• You were surprised on how big the promotion of Ragnarok the Animation. How big you ask? Its been featured on magazines, featured on a Showbiz talk show, a future 2NE1 member with 4 other celebrities sang the translated version of “We Are the Stars”, the opening theme of the show and its merchandise appear on instant noodles and chocolate milk brands. Oh, a local game manufacturing company made board games based on the anime.

• You are sick of reruns coming from one station (or stations). After the show had its fourth or fifth rerun, you lost count on how many times the show aired.

• Speaking of reruns, the shows that are on an Endless Eight are: Yu Yu Hakusho (aired 10-12 times), Flame of Recca (aired 8-10 times), Slam Dunk (aired 8-10 times), Duel Masters (Season 1 is on an extreme Endless Eight, lost track in counting). 

• On the new titles being aired on TV lately, the highest was Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge (Lost count. Stupid fan girls.). Followed by Toradora! (5 times before it took a rest).

• You were surprised that for the first time in Philippine Free TV Anime History, TV5 was able to air Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood while the anime is currently airing in Japan… and back then, it had a 2-3 weeks gap from Japan! Until it went on an Endless Eight after episode 7.

• For one station to fit 15 minutes worth of commercials, you noticed that the opening and ending credits are cut short and only 15 minutes of the episode is being aired... if watched with no commercials. It is evident on the first episode of Pokemon Master Quest. 

Now, for the tokusatsu part.

• All the Kamen/Masked Rider shows that aired here didn’t say “Henshin” as their Henshin phrase but… “RIDER CHANGE!”

• Speaking of Kamen Rider, the first KR show that aired here was Kamen Rider BLACK and you refer Kotaro Minami as Robert Akizuki. KUYA ROBERT!!!!

• So far, the maximum Kamen Rider shows being aired in one station is 2. To be exact, BLACK aired on IBC-13, Ryuki aired on ABS-CBN, Hero TV and Studio 23, 555 aired on GMA and Hero TV, Blade aired on GMA, Hero TV, Cartoon Network and TV5 and Hibiki aired on TV5. Recently, Kabuto aired on Cartoon Network.

• Most of the tokusatsu shows after Shaider didn’t finish its run on local TV.

• If you were a 90’s kid, you think that Jetman and Fiveman are Power Ranger rip-offs.

• If you were an 80’s-70’s kid, you might think that the Power Rangers are a Star Rangers, Bioman and Maskman rip-off.

Nostalgia Trilogy 2 of 3: Saban's Masked Rider, Saban's VR Troopers and well, Shaider.

Part two of the Nostalgia Trilogy, this time, I will go for the other toku shows that I watched in my childhood. Back then, most tokus that I watched are either Super Sentai/Power Rangers (Discussed in Part 1) or any toku adaptation by Saban.

Saban is the company responsible of bringing toku in the States and best known for Power Rangers, VR Troopers and making Shotaro Ishinomori mad, I mean, Saban’s Masked Rider.

First, on the Saban toku adaptations that I watched back then is Saban’s Masked Rider. Based on Kamen Rider BLACK RX, this show is about Dex fighting against his uncle, Count Dregon. Dex has the ability to transform as Masked Rider. Since back then, I am a mindless kid; I don’t care how crappy the show is, until I watched later shows in the franchise. To be honest, back then I find the show cool maybe because of the light saber thing and he is guy wearing a bug costume and fights evil!

Without this show, I don’t know the Kamen Rider franchise. This show introduced me in the franchise that I am currently hooked with. Without this show, maybe I won’t be watching W/Double every week.

Next, VR Troopers, this show is really awesome because of the virtual reality bit on it. The show is more action packed compared to Masked Rider and the costumes are really stunning which add the “techo” feel on the show. Another thing that I liked about the show is, Jeb. He is really entertaining unlike a certain Ferbus.

Now, Shaider, to be honest, I am not a fan of the said show because it sorta bored me. Really, I was bored in Shaider! Maybe it is because that I am not used with Ida and time space warp. I am more of a Super Sentai guy than a Metal Hero guy. If my memory serves me correctly, I only watched about 3 or 6 episodes of Shaider. The memorable one is the episode about a certain band being controlled by the Fuuma Empire. That is when I learned about Vavilos, Time Space Warp and…saw Annie’s panties. LOL.