Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger 12 - The Guaranteed Showy Samurai

There are three things that were clearly established in this episode, namely the One Piece expys, two, Joe x Ahim as canon (and that Marvelous x Joe as a canon yaoi ship) and lastly, this is indeed a Shinkenger tribute episode even with the amount of Joe focus.

The episode pretty much went in-depth with the camaraderie of the pirates, which is similar to the loyalty of the samurai's retainers to their lords, which is one of the themes of Shinkenger. Finally the arc is starting to feel like a Shinkenger Tribute! Speaking of camaraderie, we learned how Marvelous met Joe... it turned out that he was just passing by when he met Joe. If there is one thing that reminded me a bit of the two is that Ryunosuke's loyalty towards Takeru.

As for the Joe focus in this episode, it is about Joe remembering that he still has a place to return to after the man he idolizes, Cid didn't "revert" back to normal like what he expected to happen once he shakes him off by using his own sword technique. One thing to note about Joe in this episode is that he is the oldest member of the crew as we saw a quick flashback of the order of the pirates that appeared after him.

Now what his crew doing, if there is one thing I liked about Marvelous after he woke up he didn't care about Joe, but he cared about his stomach. That shows how confident he is with his best mate. As for the rest of them, I loved how they just bluffed that they are just warming up when Joe appeared even if each of them transformed into three different Rangers while fighting the Gormins, which in my opinion is one of the best scenes in this episode.

For the last few minutes of the episode, asides that they finally recognized Kaoru as ShinkenRed, which is fine with me even if Takeru didn't appear at the end of the episode like I thought would happen. Also, Kaoru recognizes defeat due to how she saw the strong bond between Marvelous and his co., which is similar to the loyalty of the samurai's retainers to its lord.

Now for the Shinkenger part, it was great. If there is one thing I am disappointed is that how Marvelous used the Rekka Daizantou. I mean seriously, what's with that?! As for the ShinkenGokaiOh's formation, it was really cool and I can smell a possible future Power Rangers reference due to the fact that its base was the GaoLion.

As for the fights with the giant mecha, the use of the naginata as ShinkenGokaiOh's primary weapon is disappointing for me since the said weapon is the first thing that comes to my mind once I think of the ShinkenOh but the fact that its finisher involves one giant Rekka Daizantou being slashed on the opponent gave the proper Shinkenger-feel of the formation in terms of attacks. A little note, the sudden appearance of a horde of Sgormin kinda reminded me of the sudden appearance of Nanashi during giant battles.

Overall, it was a really good episode. Compared to the previous episode, it had the proper Shinkenger feel and didn't conflict much with Joe's back story which is one of my disappointments in the previous episode. As for comparison with the other tribute episode, it ranks as second to my faves, the first is the Dekaranger episode.

Gokaiger 12 - Shinkenger Tribute Random Clips!

For those who don't want to be spoiled on what will happen in this week's Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger and is just interested with how the special effects for the Shinkenger Gokai Change and the how the ShinkenGokaiOh was formed, here are some clips.

Gokai Change! Shiiiinkenja!


In this clip, the Shinkenger theme was played along with GokaiRed as ShinkenRed using the Rekka Daizantou... and spins around. Takeru didn't do that!

GaoGokaiOh transforms into ShinkenGokaiOh!


In the formation, the head and the back part of the GaoLion was dismantled and attached into the GokaiOh, samurai inspired music plays and ShinkenGokaiOh, the formation approved by providence appears!

As a bonus, here is the episode preview for next week's episode.


Episode 13: Tell me which way it is
Ahim is kidnapped after going out into town and held hostage. Captain Marvelous leads the other Gokaigers to save her, claiming that he does not want to pay the ransom. The Action Commander Zaggai appears (it is supposed to sound like "The Guy").

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger 11 – The Serious Rebellion

In this episode, Joe remembers his senior, Kaoru Shiba makes her dramatic return and wants the Shinkenger Ranger Keys! What’s more, for the first time, the Gokaigers transforms into the Zyurangers… and get’s beaten and later does a Night Flight reference.

If there is one thing I noticed in this episode is the amount of out of suit action fight scenes, which is really good! Asides from that, I love how well choreographed Joe and Kaoru’s duel. They were able to highlight each other’s sword techniques and making them look like they are even in the battlefield, also Kaoru’s solo fight with an army of Gormins was splendid. If there is one thing I can sum up with the fights in this episode is that, it is eye-popping and makes me want to finish Shinkenger.

As for the in-suit fights, it felt a bit Power Ranger-esque due to the amount of explosions, the Disney wire-fu and the nostalgia with the Zyuranger suits. Seriously, I was actually thinking that I am seeing the MMPR suits in battle and not the Zyuranger suits in battle! Wait, did I just say Disney wire-fu? Guess that this episode was directed by Koichi Sakamoto then!

If there is one thing I can complain in this episode is the lack of Shinkenger focus and they are more focused on Joe’s story. Considering that this is the first part of the two-parter Shinkenger arc, I can let it pass for now. Now back to Joe focus in this episode, it was really good. Joe was I guess, the very first Ranger in this series that was given this kind of treatment. Compared to Luka’s focus last time, they went a bit in-depth about his character and not just give him random flashbacks.

Since I haven’t finished Shinkenger yet (along with Fiveman, Jetman, Dekaranger and Magiranger which I started for some time and end up not finishing it), I will just talk about her in this episode. Kaoru is a badass, she was able to beat Marvelous that caused our Marvelous captain to try cheating! Also, her sword duel with Joe proves how great she is along with the scene in the Gokai Galleon that shows her honor and morale as a samurai. Another thing that I noticed about Kaoru, compared to the previous Reds that appeared and introduced themselves as the red of their team, the ShinkenRed face didn't appear in front of her, could it be that Takeru might appear at the end?

Overall, it was a good opener for a two-parter, they were able to established two things in this episode and that is, this is a Joe focus arc and a Shinkenger arc but sadly, they weren't able to give the proper balance between the two elements and made Joe's past with his senior, Cid the highlight in this episode. Asides from the Joe x Shinkenger focus, this episode also marks Toiles Gils first appearance outside the Gigant Horse, and gives me more reasons to hate the guy asides that his new Action Commander is quite competent that he even single-handedly beat the Gokaigers but decided to fallback due to Gils being shot by Marvelous... and along with his bratty prince attitude.

Shinkenger Slashes for Two Episodes on Gokaiger!

As we all know based on the toy catalogs, the next episode is a Shinkenger tribute episode and surprisingly, this tribute episode will last for two episodes! Runa Natsui reprises her role as Kaoru Shiba/Female ShinkenRed.

Navi tells Marvelous and the crew to be "cautious of Samurai's." The five starts to search after people wielding swords. This is when they met Kaoru which challenges them into a duel for her to reclaim the Shinkenger Ranger Keys.

Based on the known scans, Kaoru will use her Shinkenmaru and fight against the Gokaiger's Joe who is using a single Gokai Sabre. Her retainer, Tanba, will make an appearance too.

These two episodes will revolve around Joe's past as well which he remembers his senior, Sid (played by Shindou Gaku) who taught him everything about swords. This episode also marks the debut of the ShinkenGokaiOh, the second formation of the GaoLion Legend Machine.

Asides from that, the next tribute episode involves Gekisou Sentai Carranger! Since the series is know for being a parody Super Sentai series, expect that this will be an extremely funny episode! The said show's writer, Yoshio Urasawa returns to direct this tribute and Yuji Kishi reprises his role as Kyousuke Jinnai/Red Racer.

Carranger's tribute episode will be on Episode 14. Episode 13 will be a non-tribute episode that will revolve around Ahim working with a kidnapper that has money problems.

And lastly, here's a minor update regarding the upcoming Gokaiger - Goseiger - Super Sentai: 199 Great Hero Battle. Accordingly, the Black Cross Army along with the Zangyack Empire was able to steal the Gokaiger's Ranger Keys which they used to summon evil clones of the Rangers. What's more is that these evil clones were summoned by using a gun (on top left)! Onore Die-, I mean, Black Cross King!

GorenGokaiOh (below the gun) will also debut in this film in which the Goranger's first flying fortress mecha, the Varibloom/Variblume docks on GokaiOh's back to form this formation. Asides from flying, it is not confirmed if it has more abilities asides from that.

Also, here are some more rumors about Super Sentai 199 Great Hero Battle.
+ A different movie trailer was shown from the Final Life Tour (Original poster guess it is a Goseiger Live Event) and is confirmed that Naoya Makoto (Aka Ranger) and Hiroshi Miyauchi (Ao Ranger/BigOne) will reprise their roles in the movie, not just voice acting.

Given that there was a rumor about Ao Ranger returning in the movie, fans are speculating that Miyauchi would probably be Akira Shinmei (Ao Ranger's alter ego), and not Sokichi Banba (Big One's alter ego) in the movie.

+ According to a magazine interview with Yudai Chiba (Alata/GoseiRed's actor) and Ryota Ozawa (Captain Marvelous/GokaiRed's actor), they mentioned that only the Goseigers would interact with the Veteran Super Sentai heroes. Because of this, fans speculated that BoukenRed would later appear in the TV series again.

Lastly, more show rumors!

• Oiles is the youngest in the family. He makes a huge mistake before the summer and his father exiles him from the kingdom.

• His two older brothers and his younger sister and her boyfriend becomes the new villains.

• The three groups seems to be fighting against each other.

• Zyuranger's episode is connected to GokaiSilver.

Source: DecaEnd of HJU (link 2, link 3, link 4, Link 5), Shougo B'Stard of HJU via JEFusion (link 2), Ryuutaros of HJU

Kamen Rider Decade COMPLETE Review: Shinkenger Special

Shinkenger’s World (2 of 3)

Sorry if this was late but, welcome to the first special review of the series of reviews, like I said last time, Shinkenger’s World review is a special that will talk about the things that build up for this review. Let us start where it was first hinted, on the first Super Sentai Versus film, Goranger vs. JAKQ.

Even if the Riders never made an official appearance in this film, their presence was hinted in the pictures seen in the world map shown by the Joker to the JAKQers. We saw Kamen Riders, V3 and Amazon fighting CRIME somewhere in the world. But since this happened in the 70’s and this it has Ishinomori involve with it, I can say that this film is canon.

Years later, on the third season of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, which is an adaptation of Zyuranger that later on, uses footages from Kakuranger for their third season, on their opening episodes, we are introduced to Dex, the prince of Edonoi. Who will later be the protagonist in Saban’s adaptation of Kamen Rider BLACK RX, which they called; Masked Rider…, which is accurate title wise considering that Masked, is the English equivalent for Kamen.

On the three-episode arc called, “A Friend in Need,” we saw the first unofficial team up of Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. But because it is American and Dairanger’s Kiba Ranger was in there in the form of Tommy’s White Ranger, it felt like it was a legal Sentai and Kamen Rider team up. I mean look, Zyuranger and Kamen Rider BLACK RX together with Kiba Ranger. Is it me, or it really sounds off?

Years later, this idea was ported in Kamen Rider Decade and finally, we have the official Kamen Rider and Super Sentai team-up the fans have been waiting for a long time! And so, since I love to do some random tributes, here’s what I got:

Kamen Rider Decade vs. Samurai Sentai… Shinkenger! The KR DCD Special Complete Review, going forth!

The arc kicks in with Kaito stealing Ika Origami. To those who haven’t watched Shinkenger, Origami is like their mecha… and that is all you need to know. After stealing it, we met Genta, the guy who owns tbe said Origami. Meanwhile, Tsukasa and co. arrived in this world, with Tsukasa this time around, cosplaying as a kuroko. Put this simply, those extras in kabuki plays, and Tsukasa is not pleased with this!

Anyways, they later met Daiki and learned that this world has no Riders but after he left, a horde of monsters appeared and the Shinkengers arrived to kill the monsters. Tsukasa was dragged along with the other kuroko and learned more about the Shinkengers. In a nutshell, it is safe to say this, samurais in colorful spandex. Hope someone in Power Rangers Samurai will notice this!

Back with Daiki, he is about to leave this world when Genta arrived and transformed into ShinkenGold for him to get his Origami back, with Daiki transforming into DiEnd and summons Raia and Scissors.

Back in the Sanzu River, one of the back guys whose name I don’t mind to know considering that all Shinkenger related videos are removed in YouTube and I can’t watch Shinkenger and I am too lazy to download because my USB flash drive might loose more disk space, asked Chinomanako, a monster with many eyes to tail DiEnd. The said monster arrives and DiEnd shoots him. After some struggle, the best part of the arc happened. DiEnd experienced karma. The thief has been stolen!

Can the Riders defeat Chinomanako now that he has the Diendriver? Will the Shinkengers and the Riders understand each other that they are at the same side? This is for you to find out. This is the end of the first part of the arc.

On to the review, unlike my previous reviews this would be a special since this is the first time, Sentai and Kamen Rider made a team-up all thanks to Decade, so, I will review the arc per episode this time around.

The episode, like the other arcs in Decade, introduces the viewers who are the Shinkengers, and the episode did a good job in introducing the Samurai Squad. Unlike the rest of the Riders that appeared on the series, this crossover is said to be canon for both series, namely, Decade and Shinkenger. To be exact, Shinkenger has some teasers on the Decade episodes!

Since it introduces us to the Shinkengers, the viewers who haven’t watch the series had a slight idea who are the members of the team and how they act. But my problem with the episode is that, the Shinkengers lack focus on its members. The only members I had the idea about their personality are: Genta, Ryuunosuke, Chiaki and Takeru. The rest, I have no idea.

Let’s focus on DiEnd in this episode. Sure, the last arc was all about him, but since I think the writers can’t get enough of him, they decided to do one thing that I was surprised when it first happen. Daiki experiencing karma. Poor boy. It was fun to watch again and again to begin with since, for the first time, his role in the show made sense! He is a bait of better things to come in the next episode! Without him, this world might not have a Rider! And without him, Narutaki will not make his side comment about this world being destroyed and all!

On Natsumi, this is one of the few instances we saw Natsumi’s concern over her friends. We saw this kind of concern in the earlier eps, but unlike those eps, this is a world not protected by Riders. I mean, she is used to see them protect their own respective worlds, obviously, she will be culture shocked when she saw a group of samurais in spandex fighting monsters! Heck, I will really worry! Much more if I saw those guys pilot a giant robot to fight a giant monster!

Overall, the episode was a good start in the arc and at the end of the preview; we will have an evil Rider that out of the ordinary.

On the next episode, Takeru and Tsukasa faced off and we saw Narutaki convincing Takeru to kill Tsukasa. It is safe to say that Narutaki is responsible in spreading the rumors of Tsukasa being the destroyer and all. But before the fight started, a group of monsters led by the evil Rider, came that leads to Takeru to transform into ShinkenRed.

While he is fighting, Narutaki started his mind games on Tsukasa that the evil Rider is a way the world is trying to say that they are rejecting Decade. After it is over, ShinkenRed has driven the monsters out along with the evil Rider. The two then went to the Hikari Studio along with Genta to lead him Daiki, the culprit. Later on, followed by his retainers, on the Studio, they try to convince Daiki to return the origami but he refused.

Since the Shinkengers didn’t trust the Riders that much, Daiki used that fear for his escape, and used Tsukasa’s camera and started weaving lies that it is a bomb which caused panic. After they were calmed down, Genta leaves to follow Daiki that is right now, getting the Origami from the river.

The evil Rider appears before them and attacks, Genta transforms into ShinkenGold and fights him and he later calls the other Shinkengers. They all leaved, with Tsukasa bothered on what Narutaki said to him earlier.

Will Tsukasa would come to aid the Shinkengers? That is for you to find out.

On to the review, the last arc focuses more on Tsukasa and Takeru, Tsukasa because this one of the rare moments he doubt his own presence in a world they visited. Most of the time, Tsukasa does is this, know the Rider, try to figure out why he is dressed like that, and get the Rider’s personal trust, win the card. But this is a different situation.

This world has no Riders, and accordingly, this world is trying its best to remove Decade out of this world for the sake of the balance of this world to be preserved. Aside from that, this is when we saw Tsukasa… being Tsukasa as a person and not as Decade as the Rider. At the climax of the episode, Tsukasa arrives and says this, “The world might not need Decade’s help, but the world might need Tsukasa Kadoya’s help.” You might say, it is a lame excuse for him to transform as Decade, but for me, this proves that Tsukasa might have the spirit of the original Riders. I repeat, might.

To Takeru, this is where we might say you can include him to Sentai’s Hall of Badassery in which known Sentai Warriors are listed for their moments that define their character, and this episode defined Takeru as a whole. It defined him as a guy who has this instinct of a leader and a true warrior.

The best thing about this episode is the team-up battles with the Shinkengers, Kuuga and Decade. Even though all of them have even amounts of exposure, ShinkenRed and Decade had the best moment of them all. Seeing the two guys exchange giant swords was a fun moment to watch. Seriously, I might faint if either of them decides to double wield those two swords.

Aside from the battle between the Shinkengers, Decade and Kuuga vs. the evil Rider and his minions, Chinomanako’s Rider form was awesome. In the short spam of time, they milked much of the potential of having a monster use one of the Rider Systems. Sure, we saw this first on 555 when the Faiz Gear is being passed around by the Orphenochs who got it, but unlike in the said show that they retained the same design, in Chinomanako’s case, the logo, the overall design was altered. Heck, we have exclusive cards coming from the said form, in the form of Kaijin Ride cards!

The Kaijin Ride cards was probably, one of the best usage of the Diendriver’s System. It fits well for a bad guy! When I first saw him summon a horde of monsters, I thought this might be over after it, but no, it is just the beginning. The good thing about these cards is that, you can summon any monster you want to summon, but sadly, we only saw Moose Fangire and Eagle Undead being summoned. Because of this, it made think, what if Chinomanako has the Decadriver, will he transform into the head kaijins of the Heisei Era or something else? It would be fun if he transforms into Daguva!

Overall, the episode was great. It was a great crossover episode, but unlike those Sentai crossovers, even if they have even amounts to shine, it was ShinkenRed and Decade who was on the spotlight.

Now the entire arc overall, I have noticed two themes in this arc. Home, to some extent, family, this theme was first felt in the first part of the arc but it was clearly established on the last part. Why is it? Because as the Shinkengers fight the monsters, their Jii is waiting for them in their temporary home and in my own opinion, he can be considered as their foster father while they are away in their real families.

Meanwhile, in the Hikari Studio, Tsukasa is someone who doesn’t know which world he belongs, and as of now, his only family is the ragtag group in the Hikari Studio, namely, Natsumi, Eijiro, Yusuke, Kiva-la and in some extent, Daiki. Even if it not the world he belongs, Tsukasa knows that, he has a place to return to whenever he will go on a journey.

Next time on this Kamen Rider Decade COMPLETE Review, it will be the Showa Era arcs! BLACK RX x BLACK and Amazon’s Worlds! Since I watched BLACK and Amazon, I might include some commentaries as a fan who watched those shows! After the Showa Era Special, I will review Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai Shocker Director’s Cut before proceeding to the prologue of the Final Story.