Nostalgia Trilogy 3 of 3: Anime Resurrection

RAYGUN!

*Starts playing Standing At Edge of The Earth* Back then, this song is used for a promo on GMA’s Anime Resurrection block… and back then, they are THE Anime Authority here in the Philippines. To be exact, this is the first AMV most young Pinoys back then watched. To those whom did not have the chance to see it, it is best describe as all the best bits of every anime in GMA combined into a 1-minute plug. The shows, scene in the commercial, if my memory serves me correctly are Ghost Fighter (Yu Yu Hakusho), DragonBall Z and Flame of Recca. The best part is, it is on the primetime lineup! Sweet.

Those where the days, but since my parents are watching the news in the opposite channel, I did not have the chance to watch these shows… on primetime! Except if my parents are not looking and doing something or the other station’s reception became fuzzy, that is the only time I watched those shows. I almost forgot, back then, GMA had a back-to-back Red Hero lineup before it evolved into Anime Resurrection, namely, after Lupin the 3^rd (In which Lupin, as usual, wears his red coat) is DragonBall Z (in which Goku wears a darker toned orange gi).

The only time I got the chance to watched anime on primetime is during Fridays, the titles aired during Fridays, on GMA are Pokemon followed by Fushigi Yuugi and on ABS-CBN, Digimon Adventure later on replaced by Digimon 02. Since I have the remote on Fridays, I watched both shows, namely, Pokemon and Digimon simultaneously. After I discovered about the seizure event that happened in Japan just because they watched Pokemon, I got scared and just watched Digimon.

In case you are wondering if back then there anime programs are aired in the afternoons, yes, there are programs aired during the afternoons! In GMA, they aired Gundam Franchise (To be exact, Wing, G and X) while in ABS-CBN, Evangelion and B’T X, that is why it created a certain mark back then that GMA has the right to air Gundam… till SEED and SEED Destiny aired on ABS-CBN years ago! Aside from that, I really love watching Mojako back then on GMA. That orange fur ball is entertaining! More than that, I loved watching the earlier episodes of Doraemon. Doraemon’s voice back then sounded like a reliable cat… not Son Goku of DragonBall stuck in a robot cat’s body.

As the years past by, the primetime anime lineup has been dissolved and moved in the afternoons. That is why, I had the chance to watch those programs aired in the afternoons. That is when I knew their stories and got hooked with them. The only show in the old primetime lineup that never aired in the afternoon slot was Trigun. The only episode I watched is when Vash and that guy in blue shoot themselves together and the blood that spurted out from their bodies was ketchup!

Back then, I was addicted to Voltes V (Voltes FIVVVE! VUH!), Daimos (ERRIKA!), DragonBall Z (KA… ME… HA… ME… WAVEEEEE! VUH!), Hunter X Hunter, Doraemon (Ang Mahiwagang, *Insert Name of Gadget Here*), Ghost Fighter (RAY GUN!), Flame of Recca (FLAME POWER!!!), and more titles. Back then, I memorized all Recca’s flame dragons (and still memorized them! Proof? Saiha, Nadare, Homura, Setsuna, Madoka, Rui, Kokou, and Obeshi) and tried doing the kanji on the air. In addition, Ohayou was my LSS back then (and still now!). Those shows mentioned above are the popular shows back then.

Since back then GMA is the Anime Authority, they aired many unknown titles like Flint (I am not sure if this is the official title), Gadget Boy Kanipan, Ah! My Goddess!, Witch Hunter Robin and even Hunter X Hunter OVA Greed Island, just to name a few. On the other stations, to be exact, IBC, they aired Crayon Shin-chan and Cyborg Kuro-chan in which celebrities dub the lead characters, namely Shin-chan and Kuro-chan and their theme songs are song by a rap group named Salbakuta! From the two, my favorite was Crayon Shin-chan. Elepante Boy, FTW! *Does his dance*

Since I am too focused on GMA (GMA hogged most of the known titles Filipinos know by the way), I will now tell you the other shows aired on ABC, the future Anime Authority better known as TV5.

ABC aired one of the most popular Magical Girl genre anime, the Sailor Moon franchise. I still remember Usagi, transforming as Sailor Moon and that little girl as Sailor Chibi Moon. Mamoru Chiba always acting like the dashing masked knight who will stole the scene at the end of some episodes which caused Usagi to blush. Those where the classics. Most of the shows aired on ABC back then are targeted for girls, to be exact, the other well know anime aired on ABC was Fancy Lala. The only shows that targeted back then for young boys that aired on ABC were Slam Dunk, dubbed in English and Yaiba.

Wondering what shows that aired on ABS-CBN every morning? Most of the shows they aired are anime shows that aired on Japan back in the 80’s or late 70’s like Cedie, anime adaptations of Secret Garden, A Little Princess and Daddy Long Legs. Cedie, is one of my favorites back then, I love how he plays his flute and the fact that he is the grandson of a duke. As for GMA, don’t ask the shows aired on GMA during the morning timeslot, they only aired Sesame Street, Batibot and Teletubbies.

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.

Nostalgia Trilogy 1 of 3: Go! Go! Power Rangers!

First part of the Nostalgia Trilogy, the reason why I am doing this is for boredom sake. Also, I want the young ones know what is like back then in terms of entertainment.

First, I’ll go Power Rangers. This show left a mark on what action is all about. For starters, Power Rangers is show about a bunch of teenagers who knew martial arts and fights evil with a giant robot. Simple. I remember watching it when I was either 2 or 4, not sure about the age, but I am sure I was able to watch Tommy as the Green Ranger quite briefly and finished the third season of the show then I was able to watch a little Power Rangers Zeo… until the station airing it decided to change its schedule. Groan. You see back then, Power Rangers aired every Friday nights.

That is why when they aired the Power Rangers Movie on Sunday, I really stayed late at night like what I did just to watch Batman Returns and Batman Forever on TV.

Back then, I swore myself to watch only cartoons until this show aired. Because of this show, I sorta get educated in an old Japanese action-adventure franchise known by those adults as Bioman, Maskman and Star Rangers, or better known internationally as Super Sentai.

The first Super Sentai I watched is Fiveman. At first, I thought Fiveman is a Power Rangers rip-off but hey, I was hooked watching it. Like any mindless kid, I don’t care about the plot as long as the giant robot is still there and the heroes will win at the end of the day, I would be happy. Like Zeo, I wasn’t able to finish this show because back then, this show aired during the evening news or if the show has replays, I was forced to have afternoon naps.

The second Super Sentai show that I watched is Jetman. This is, should I say, the first Super Sentai show that I hated because of 3 reasons. Reason no. 1, the Blue guy is a girl and I am used seeing the Blue guy as a dude. Reason no. 2, Yellow guy is a boy. Like Reason no. 1, I am used seeing the Yellow guy as a girl. Finally, Reason no. 3, the heroes have pop-up wings. What the hell! This show was culture shock for me! As time passed, I slowly liked the show and unlike Power Rangers and Fiveman, I am more concerned about the plot. The plot was good, and I liked the concept where you are forced to fight the one you love. As the show progressed, I liked the pop-up wings and the show itself. Maybe it is because of its uniqueness from Power Rangers and Fiveman.

Fast forward to 2004, when the said station announced that they will air Power Rangers, I was excited; this show brings back good memories! When I sit on my chair and watched it, I was surprised. Tommy and co. are missing, instead I saw Cole, the show’s Red Ranger. This show at first, like Jetman, is like culture shock for me. WHERE IS TOMMY?! Until I learned eventually thanks to the internet, that the station skipped more than 4 seasons of Power Rangers. Great.

Now, for Super Sentai, it’s been a more than a decade since I watched Super Sentai on TV. I was wondering when Power Rangers Wild Force aired, what happened to the Japanese Rangers? Until just recently, thanks to Disney, Cartoon Network, and PR’s toy franchise, Super Sentai has no chance in returning here in the Philippines. Groan.