Review: Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger

So I'm taking a break from blabbing about anime. It's time for Japanese Superhero (parody)!

I used to love Power Rangers. I don’t remember how I graduated from being in that fandom. I was just a kid. I think I moved on to another fad back then.

Producer: Toei

I didn’t watch other sentai series, so I missed out a lot. But I watched Akibaranger mainly cos it’s a parody of tokusatsu and otaku in one show. Akibaranger mostly makes fun of the stereotypes and common things that occur in tokusatsu, decorated with jokes about the various anime subfandoms. You know how parodies are often like 5 minute youtube video and 2 hours of twisted epic movies combined in one film? Well, now you get to see it in 12 episodes, something that YOU can relate with.

Akibaranger’s main theme is about DELUSION, which I think is totally suitable for otakus in general. Heck, don’t we all dream of getting sudden superpowers or get teleported into another fantasy world? I know I did ww. So this brilliant excuse of an otaku culture parody takes advantage of that (and seriously they do look pitiful)

The rangers have anime-ish design helmet too!

Akibared (Nobuo Akagi) – is your typical otaku who is often in dilemma about which merchandise to buy, and how to get into a 3D girl’s pants. Seriously reminds me of a few people I know lol. He’s a pretty lame guy but he takes the role of the hotblooded protagonist like he’s meant to have it.

LOL

Akibayellow (Yumeria Moegi) – is like the embodiment of self-absorbed cosplayers, shamelessly dressing up flamboyantly everywhere she goes and has to stay in character. Apparently she’s also a doujinshika and a fujoshi (episode 3 wins)

AkibaBlue (Mitsuki Aoyagi) – the only school girl, and is often disgusted by how her senior rangers are acting like overgrown children. She’s in the team just for the martial arts, and doesn't really admit that she's in the lower group of otaku heriarchy.

Malshina - Purple haired not-so-main villain of the show, but she had more screentime than her boss. She's somewhat related to Hakese - the one responsible in giving the three rangers a chance to become unofficial superheroes.

I wish there were more members cos it doesn't seem enough to represent the otaku community. They could've included a VN-otaku, a mecha fan, a pure old fag (so that maybe we can see some oldfags vs newfags stuff), and probably some NND addicts.

So anyways, when they transform they used a figurine called Aoi-tan which is a character from the show in the show. It's probably their current moe-tard anime which is on air. When they transform, they can do it at just about anywhere but they'll soon be transported to a totally different place far from the city, in the middle of nowhere. If you wanna know why then go check it out lol. And speaking of moeshits... yeah, the show questioned it's relevance somewhere. It was totally getting in the way for Aoi-tan's original author who wants to make the show as he wanted to be.

doesn't seem like the OP has serious message

While their base is in Akihabara, in a sentai cafe owned by the boss who monitors the akibarangers, they pursue (or were pursued by?) monsters that represent the other unique districts in Tokyo. These monsters wish to banish otaku culture from Akihabara and turn the city into their own liking (like host clubs, sports arena, etc). Really, they make otakuism look like they don’t deserve to exist in this world and the akibarangers are defending their animu like scared little newfags. FINALLY, it isn't something that affects the whole world when the event only happens in one particular place in Japan *rolls eyes*

A few previous red rangers makes a cameo whenever they're in a pinch. If I'm not mistaken episode 11 makes fun of how producers or writers could/would/may abuse their power in making nonsensical plot changes.

To my surprise, for a just-for-laughs series, they actually did have pretty neat plot twists (which lead me to ship Nobuo x Malshina) towards the end. It’s funny and shit, but it’s not suitable for kids (note that there’s ecchi and a few yaoi jokes) since it’s probably for older audiences who are used to the typical ‘flags’ in anime and tokusatsu.

Overall, it's pretty good. I recommend this even to non-sentai fans :3

Too bad she's supposed to be a 2D character... but oh well Nobuo almost had a dream-come-true moment.

Review: Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi (anime)

I've left this blog for quite a while as to pay respect to Japan. However, it doesn't look like the situation is getting any better, now that they have the nuclear crisis to worry about. But they're not giving up, and I hope things get okay soon. And I think I should proceed to my pending reviews since the anime I'm watching since last season is almost over.

[WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS]

Ookami-san and the seven comrades (Ookami-san). Does the title sound familiar? Wait till you see the whole cast.

Mukashi.. mukashiiiii...

The story is actually about an organization that likes to help people doing random things, and the clients have to do something to return that favour as well. It started off with our protagonist chasing some bad guy in the back alley, but suddenly a rock flew past her and hit that guy the moment he took out his knife. This gave her the chance to knock him out with her Neko boxing gloves. Later that day, a voice said to her out of nowhere… “Ookami-san, I like you!"

Ookami-san and the 7 comrades are…

1. Ryouko Ookami – the Ookami-san that I’ve been babbling about, and it’s explicitly told in the official summary that she’s a tsundere. Heh what kind of spoiler is that, that’s so ruining the ‘surprise’. But I’m glad she’s not the annoying type. She’s named after the Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, and she has some sort of history that she became the lone wolf.

2. Ringo Akai – Ryouko’s roommate and confidant, who’s often her partner. Ironically she’s named after the Red Riding Hood (literally her name means Apple Red). She likes to tease Ryouko about the shy guy who openly confessed to her, but at the same time loyally keeps her secret from him.

3. Ryoushi Morino – the low profile guy who’s in love with Ookami-san, regardless of her tendency to verbally abuse him. Such an M, really reminds me of someone =_=. But this guy’s biggest flaw is that he freaks out when people stare at him, cos he not used to having his existence acknowledged. The manliest moment he can display is when he’s hidden in the shadows shooting rocks with his slingshot. He’s based on the hunter from the same fairy tale.

The rest of the characters can be view here XD

I’m so sorry, I don’t recall the rest of the characters much, but most of them were adaptation from fairy tales. There’s Snow White and her seven little siblings, Cinderella and the ‘prince’ who liked to be kicked by her, gender bendered Momotaro and her 3 companions who went on a quest to Onigashima school. There’s also the Hare and the Turtle Aesop Fable, this time competing in a popularity contest! And also, the story about the Sheep and the Wolf thing… but the Sheep is the main villain. OH ANOTHER IRONY!

Basically what I like about the anime is the way they adapted the well known fairy tales of the west and also the east. It’s like watching another Hetalia. Unfortunately, the series had a very… verrryyyyy lousy ending. Major disappointment as I was expecting something MORE (this makes Maid-sama’s ending much more satisfactory) As expected from a light novel adaptation I guess. And this show has the lamest archenemy I’ve ever seen; his purpose of acting evil is not even worth mentioning! And Ookami-san also ended up making me sceptic when she shows how easily affected she was when she faced her past. I guess those years of training to become tsuntsun wasn’t enough.

[uhhh what's with the cute boxing gloves?]

You don’t really have to watch this. Ookami-san’s tsundere-ness is rather bland if you compare with Aisaka Taiga (ToraDora). It’s especially a turn off when it’s revealed too early what stereotype she is and it’s not as extreme as we expected her to be. I'm also disappointed that the 'wolf' theme of hers isn't used wisely. Anyway, if you want an amazingly f*cked up (and mixed up) fairy tale adaptation, go read Ludwig Kakumei (I wish they make an anime for it). Don’t be fooled by the bishounen at the cover, there are plenty of cute girls to see.

ohyeah before I forget, the OP and ED aren't my cup of tea. It's hard to like most of anisongs nowadays.

I guess that is all. Medetashi medetashi~

p/s: KUROKO VOICE…. is really A FUKKEN TURN OFF cos it’s actually quite a nuisance when you're trying to listen/read the subs of the character dialogues then the narrator butts in for no reason.