Toku Acting Quality: Why it Matters

There are a lot of elements that go into toku shows that fans normally love to like or dislike, depending on it's quality or personal preference. But one element in toku that I don't quite hear people talking about as much is the acting quality of these shows. Many fans rarely give acting quality much thought, as if it's not quite as relevant compared to the likes of good choreography, good designs, good writing, etc. Other fans might just dismiss it by claiming that all toku acting is bad, or that all toku acting is pretty much on par with Power Rangers acting, which I strongly disagree with. And other fans can't really tell good acting from bad acting, which I don't fault them for. I think the acting quality of toku is very important and definitely deserves recognition. Plus, it can really help bring a completely different layer of creativity to the shows.




The most frequent times I've ever heard people talking about the acting in toku (which mostly happens to be from Power Rangers) are:
Praised for good acting: Time Force
Criticized for bad acting: Wild Force, Operation Overdrive, Samurai


 

Good acting like I said before brings in a whole another layer of creativity to their shows. The actors need to be enthusiastic about their roles and put their all into bringing the characters to life. Even if the characters are in the background, they should still be in character and still doing things. For example, Battle Fever J and Dynaman are pretty simple shows, but I think one big reason why these shows stand out is because their casts are so much fun and memorable. Each of the heroes have their own talents, and the episodes makes sure they are not wasted. And if the hero can do their own stunts, then more credit to them! Acting is all about how the characters talk, what kinds of faces they make, how their body moves, how they think, and how they react to everything around them, including their hobbies. If they underperform, they'll come off as flat and unmemorable. If they overact, then they'll come off as jarring and even hurt the flow of the show and even the overall experience for the viewers. Sometimes, even good writing can be less enjoyable, if the actors don't compliment the scripts well. This makes casting choices VERY important, as it's not good to have actors starring in roles that they can't pull off.


 

While Maskman's stories don't really focus on Maskman's mentor Sugata, I think Sugata is still one of the best mentors ever in Sentai. And this is mostly due to the fact that his actor, Hayato Tani is such a good actor. He makes his presence and his personality known, even if he isn't the focus. Good actors can bring presence and spotlight to themselves, even if they aren't the focus of the story, adding a whole new layer of creativity to the overall package of the show. I think the same can also be said for Miyuki Nagato's performance on Wolk from Flashman.


 

Good acting can also help out a show so well, it could actually improve the whole thing! Changeman's cast was good. However, Changeman had two veteran actors who already had a lot of experience. One on the heroes side and one on the villains side. Them being Jun Fujimaki (Ibuki) and Shohei Yamamoto (Giluke). These two were so good and worked so well with the other actors, that it really helped improve everyone's acting skills in Changeman! When it comes to good acting, teamwork and chemistry with others is also a big necessity.




Speaking of chemistry, I think Gaoranger is a good example of having a team where all the members have really good fun chemistry with each other. They create a well knit together team to the point where even the bond gives off presence as well. Lots of fans accuse Gaoranger of having bland characters, but I disagree. I think Gaoranger's characters are simple, yet played by very good actors who really brought the team to life. And as much as I like Timeranger, while Timeranger's cast is good, I think a big weakness with the show is that they kind of lack chemistry and don't quite feel like a well closely bonded together team as they should've.




Teamwork also involves cooperation with the directors as well. The directors tell the actors what they're supposed to do. Scenes are shot several times, and it is decided in the end which filmed scenes look the best to keep. The directors have to make good decisions in what to tell the actors to do, and to make sure what they say can compliment their acting skills. If not, then we get poor acting out of poor directing as a result, and that's not good at all. Some bad directors can also end up shooting a bad looking scene with the actors and end up okaying it, which is a part of bad decision making on the director's part. Kamen Rider Blade is infamously disliked by the Japanese fandom and is still constantly ridiculed to this day due to Blade's poor directing and acting performances, to the point where Japanese fans have made memes out of them.




A lot of toku actors are also paired up with a suit actor. This is a very important part of the henshin hero genre. The actors and the suit actors have to bond together and bring life to the character, in order to make them believable both in and out of suit. This helps the audience believe that it's the same character whether they are transformed or not. It all comes down to the consistency of how the character talks and their body movements. A recent good example would be the execution of Alata from Goseiger. His actor, Yudai Chiba greatly improves as an actor through his partnership with suit actor Yasuhiro Takeuchi (GoseiRed).




I want to bring up my thoughts on Hiroki Konishi's performance on the character Kouga Saezima from Garo. Personally, I don't think Konishi is a very good actor. He comes off as very stiff and does not do much in the way of acting. This makes the character Kouga very bland and unlikable to me, and actually quite a chore to sit through. Now, some people have said to me that that's the whole point of the character. But why exactly is that any good reason for me to accept that and even like it? Cause I certainly don't think that's a good reason at all. In fact, I think that reason makes it sound even worse. It's bad to accidentally have bad acting. But it's even worse to do bad acting on purpose and to just expect the audience to love it for what it is. That just comes off as sounding arrogant, and I really hate it when any work of art demands me to feel a certain way, rather than just letting me feel it for what it is. Now, for people who do love Kouga for the way he is, I think that's perfectly fine! I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all. Perhaps it's personal preference for how some fans want certain fictional characters to act. But for me, Kouga did nothing for me, and Konishi's performance was just below par in my book.


 

To wrap this up, I want to make a mention of two of some of the best toku actors out there imo. Jouji Nakata (Kaura from Flashman and Bias from Liveman) and Yutaka Hirose (Wanda from Flashman, Kemp from Liveman, Tranza from Jetman, Jin from Dairanger, and Kazuki Katagiri/Zander from Changerion). Yutaka Hirose has shown his range as an actor by playing five completely different characters, while still giving each of them his own unique charms as an actor. Hirose is great at pulling off rebellious pissed off villains, and that trait can be found in all of his roles, despite how very different they all are. But really gotta give credit to Jouji Nakata for Hirose's greatness. Hirose has said that he viewed Nakata as the greatest actor on film during their time on Flashman, and that he took a lot of acting pointers from him. Like I said about Fujimaki (Ibuki) and Yamamoto (Giluke) earlier, Hirose looked up to Nakata's acting performances and skills, and really used his talents to become a much better actor. And in doing so, it gave birth to a lot of memorable characters that helped make a lot of these shows turn from just good to beyond fantastic. Some of these actors are just so good and unique, that you just can't imagine some of these great characters being played by any other actor.

Overall, I think acting in toku is a very important element to the craft of putting toku shows together, and not something that should be blown off or handled lightly. There are a lot of good actors in toku that deserve lots of credit for the amazing characters they helped create. And I hope we can continue to find plenty of new talent in the future. =D

Symbolism in Jetman

Quite some time ago, I made a post on the symbolism of each of the musical instruments that the characters in Jetman play.

http://valsagfantasy.blogspot.com/2010/01/jetman-characters-playing-music.html

After having a talk on symbolism in Jetman with my fellow blogger friend, sentai livejetabare, I decided to make another post on some of the other symbols that head writer Toshiki Inoue left throughout the show. What I found were; warm milk, alcohol, vegetables, tobacco, roses, and mirrors.




I think Ryu's warm milk symbolizes how he's always taking things safe. Perhaps too safe for his own good, as it shows how virtuous and sane he thinks he is. Warm milk seems to be the "healthy/safe" drink.




On the opposite side of warm milk, there's alcohol. The characters Gai, Grey, and Maria are frequently shown drinking alcohol. Alcohol could be symbolized as the "toxic drink." A drink that bad boy Gai drinks, as well as showing how Maria is drinking with Grey to show how she's now on the side of the Vyram. However, Gai continues to drink alcohol even at the end of the show to show that he's still himself, despite how much he's changed for the better.

PS: I love that scene where Ryu and Gai exchange drinks in episode 45.




Raita's vegetables seem to symbolize his support towards everyone in the team. He's basically the heart of the team, and like his vegetables, he makes sure they all grow up nice and healthy. Raita's vegetables even show up in episode 28 of Gokaiger.




Tobacco is seen as the "cool" thing to do by the "tough" and "loner" types. Gai and Grey are the two characters who smoke tobacco, showing a common link between the two and how they are similar, despite being on opposite sides.

Roses are associated with death. They show up in scenes like when Ryu visits Rie's grave, or that scene in episode 47 when Tranza brings roses to Ryu's "grave." Roses also show up in episode 43 when Aya receives some and sniffs them, which ends up being a bad idea. Finally, in the final episode, the kind of flowers that Gai was holding when he was on his way over to Ryu and Kaori's wedding were also roses. And while not red roses, Radiguet is shown smelling a white flower while sitting on the Vyram throne in episode 50, after Maria dies, perhaps symbolizing Maria herself.

Finally, mirrors was a symbol that usually appeared in the Vylock. Particularly the scenes with Maria. I am betting the mirrors symbolize multiple personalities. Mirrors even show up in ep 48 when Gai goes into the house of mirrors and runs into Maria there. The cover of Maria's piano that Grey got also has a mirror on it's underside, as shown in the picture above, reflecting Maria from upside-down.

My Kamen Rider Faiz Remake

Wow, over a month since I last posted. Got super busy with college and trying to graduate (almost done with it). >__<  Anyway! I recently decided to sit down and plan out my own version of Kamen Rider Faiz's story. I thought Faiz had some pretty neat ideas (despite being a blatant remake of Agito), but had really poor execution that made it all quite frustrating to watch.




One thing I would gladly do is change the suit design. Don't like it. xP

Cast:
Takumi (Faiz)
Mari
Keitaro
Kiba (Horse Orphenoc)
Yuka (Crane Orphenoc)
Kaido (Snake Orphenoc)
Kusaka (Kaixa)
Sawada (Spider Orphenoc/Delta)
Murakami (Rose Orphenoc)
Hanagata (Goat Orphenoc)

I personally found Faiz to have a lot of useless characters that brought nothing to the story at all. As such, I have cut out characters like the Lucky Clover, Shuji (Delta), and Smart Lady. Oh and to make some of the characters better, get some better actors for like Keitaro, Kaido, and Sawada.


Faiz had a lot of useless stuff going for it that really dragged the whole story out. As a result, I have decided to condense the whole thing into 15 episodes.

1. Will have the same scene where the Goat Orphenoc steals the three belts from Smart Brain. Kiba loses his parents in an accident, but this time he does not have a girlfriend. Mari meets up with Takumi, though in a less awkward fashion, and Takumi becomes Faiz to fight.

2. Yuka introduced. She's still a part of an abusive family, and she texts Keitaro. But rather than being kicked out, she willingly runs away from home like a badass. Yuka ends up meeting Kiba. Takumi and Mari meet Keitaro.

3. Kiba and Yuka meet up with Eiichi Toda who tells them about Orphenocs. Toda fights and dies in this ep. Kiba and Yuka meet Kaido. Takumi, Mari, and Keitaro get their new home.

4. Kaido joins Kiba and Yuka, no problem at all. Keitaro and Yuka run into each other, but they don't know that they are their text buddies (this will change very soon). Mari tries to see her father who's the head of Smart Brain, but is unable to.

5. We get some insight on Mari and Kaido's lives. How Mari wants to become a beautician. And how Kaido adores music.

6. The Ryuusei students are introduced. Kusaka is also introduced. He becomes Kaixa. Kusaka isn't nearly the jerk he is in the actual show. But he's still a bit of a tough one. Kusaka joins Takumi's party.

7. Murakami arrives as the new head of Smart Brain. Takumi finds out Yuka is an Orphenoc. The two talk to each other and get acquainted.

8. Takumi meets Kiba for the first time. Takumi finds Kiba to be a very nice person. At the end of the ep, Takumi and Kiba both transform to fight evil Orphenocs together.

9. Yuka and Keitaro finally meet. The two trios become really close friends together. Though Kusaka takes a bit of time to warm up to, considering how uneasy he feels around Orphenocs.

10. The underground Ryuusei School is found. Delta is introduced, with the Ryuusei students fighting over it.

11. Sawada is introduced and he claims the Delta belt, becoming the main wearer. Sawada joins Smart Brain, where Murakami instructs him to claim the Faiz and Kaixa belts.

12. Takumi's past where his parents were killed are revealed, and how he's had trouble trusting people. Kusaka's past is revealed where Sawada (instead of Kitazaki) betrays the Ryuusei School and attacks everyone.

13. Mari finally meets up with Hanagata (Goat Orphenoc), bringing all the plots full circle.

14. Sawada is killed.

15. Takumi, Kusaka, Kiba, Yuka, and Kaido all infiltrate Smart Brain for a final showdown against Murakami. They win. The end.

Toku Inspirations for a Fiction Writer in Training

One of my main goals in life is to be a fiction writer. And tokusatsu has played a tremendous role in inspiring me to become one. The imagination, stories, characters, and worlds that the genre offered were all very intriguing to me. What I am hoping to achieve is to create lovable characters that people can appreciate, cool villains, plots that are engaging, worlds that are fun to explore, and just to hopefully give an overall more optimistic perspective on life itself. The hard part of course is to try and write good stuff. But hey, that's what practicing is for!

This topic will probably span several future posts, so I guess I'll start off by briefly talking about a few shows that really affected the way I chose to write fiction in a positive way.



Kamen Rider Kuuga

What fascinated me about this show was how realistic this show tried to be, while still being set in a fantasy setting. It's overall just a really cool superhero show that really shows off the more human aspects of life. We delve deep into the stories of all the human characters in the show and we get to see how their lives are affected when there's a monster crisis like the Grongi. The stories all come off as very fascinating and very fast paced. And I loved how the police force was involved, as well as scientists, doctors, and researchers, all working together to help the main protagonist, Godai succeed in stopping the Grongi crisis. The show was full of many mysteries regarding the overall Grongi crisis, the identity of Unidentified Lifeform No. 0, and the horrifying connection it all has to Kuuga himself. The stories and mysteries neatly wrap up in a very satisfying manner.




Kamen Rider Agito

Agito was much more mystery driven than Kuuga was. Plus, it followed the lives of three Riders instead of just one. And we also get conflict amongst the police force as well. We get many stories that overlap each other with very surprising consistency. And the mysteries are all wrapped up in a very satisfying manner. You even get to see plenty of subtle but strong foreshadowing in a lot of the early episodes too. This show, I hail as head writer Toshiki Inoue's masterpiece, and I find it amazing how he managed to write this show with a mind as powerful as steel. He really planned this show out and did a superb job at it! Kuuga gave me lessons on writing the human lives of a superhero hero show. Agito taught me that very complex plots and mysteries being well written and consistent is indeed a possibility.




Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger

Super Sentai has always been my favorite tokusatsu franchise. But I've gotta give special credit to Abaranger. Much like Kuuga, I feel like Abaranger really explored the human side of what it means to be a superhero, in a Sentai setting. Of course, there's Timeranger that did this as well. But I personally prefer the way Abaranger does it more. Particularly because I feel like Abaranger's cast is more likable and that it's villains are much more interesting.




Gekisou Sentai Carranger

I think Carranger could very well be possibly the most well written sentai to date. It shows how a comedic parody can be professionally well written, and actually succeed at being funny. Not only that, but Carranger's storytelling and character development flow amazingly well with the overall parody style. The plots and setting are all very unique, even if rather bizarre, but at the same time, funny, kickass, and even epic all at the same time! The show has many layers of hidden jokes to it that I don't think I have even found them all yet! The show does a superb job at setting itself up on so many levels and then wrapping it all up in such a satisfying manner.




Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger

Starring a trio of nerds, this show really hit home to me, as I was able to relate to these characters very well. I could definitely see bits of myself in these three at some point in my life, as well as people I knew in real life. The overall concepts of reality connecting to the world of delusions, and the stories of what it exactly meant to be an otaku were all very fascinating. In a way, I feel like it helped connect myself more as a person to the very fictional stories that I enjoyed so much, and just connecting that invisible bridge between reality and fantasy together.




Daimajin Kanon

Perhaps one of the most emotional and character driven stories I have ever seen in tokusatsu. Never have I seen a story that did such an amazing job at exploring the main character's depression and what it had done to her, as well as what it took for her to completely heal from it all. And as a person who has dealt with depression before, I was easily able to relate to the story. I was amazed by how the show tackled so many stories that one could most likely relate to in real life, and how it could change you as a person. The human stories in this were amazing. And to top it all off, I loved the fantastical setting to the show, as well as the world building that accompanied it.

Thoughts after Rewatching Gekiranger

After hearing a lot of criticism towards Gekiranger lately, I finally decided it had been too long since I last saw Gekiranger and decided it was time for a rewatch. After finishing it, all I can say is man I had a lot of fun watching that show. It really is my kind of sentai and is up there with my favorites. And now, I feel really stupid for ever deranking Gekiranger from my top favorites tier. =/

Eps 1-3: The Gekiranger premiere is good, but isn't exactly great. But it did establish the triangle. And the three I thought were likable.

Eps 4-6: I think the Five Venoms arc was really where I started to love Ran and Retsu. Plus, we get the rivalry between Rio and Jan established too. I really love the Geki trio a lot. Sure, they may not have as much meat to them as the Live and Aba trios, but they're still very lovable.

Eps 7-8: We kinda got that weird two parter during the Five Venoms Arc. The one where Maga and Sorisa get all lovey together. xP  I guess seeing the trio and their dance moves were kinda neat.

(Ep 9 I will talk about with my thoughts on Mele below)

Eps 10-18: What I really love about everything up to the Kageki arc is how much the main characters TRAIN and grow up from all that.

Eps 19-21: The Kageki arc was pretty sweet. Though I did find it weird that the Geki trio were the first ones to ever obtain Kageki. It's even weirder that Gorrie made a device for Kageki users when no one had ever obtained Kageki. As much as I loved the arc, it was kinda weird how they obtained Kageki through the feels of wanting to protect people. xD

Eps 22-23: After the Kageki arc, it seems like the trio are now in the big leagues. The stories seem to focus less on training and more on just growing up and getting more mature. Also, we get our first vague mention of Ken at the end of episode 22.~

Eps 24-35: Gotta love the Gou arc. He rules! And I love Ken as well. The two were very nice additions to the show. And best of all, they don't ruin the chemistry and dynamics of the triangle! And seeing the Rinjyuden stuff come to an end was also epic.

Eps 36-45: For the last quarter of the show, we do still get stories about maturing and growing up, but we also get themes of family involved as well, building up to the Jan and Suugu stuff. Gotta say, the Jan and Dan stuff and how it all concluded was pretty emotional imo. I love how all these stories are interwoven together and how they all satisfyingly wrap up in the end. This is what I love in my sentai!

Eps 46-49: Love the finale a lot. Long is one awesome villain. =D

One thing about the show was that I found the fight scenes and suit acting for Gekiranger to be a little underwhelming for a martial arts sentai. I mean, the action in Geki is certainly not bad, but it did kinda feel like a lot of CGI was used.

I feel like I should share my thoughts on Rio and Mele. Lots of Gekiranger fans love the hell out of these two. But a lot of people who don't care much for Gekiranger, hate these two with a passion. There's rarely ever any middle ground when it comes to these two. My thoughts, I think they're alright. I don't think they're great, but I don't think they're bad either. I do think the two are overrated amongst Gekiranger fans. And I definitely like the heroes more. But I don't hate Rio and Mele, as I don't find them offensive in any way. And I'm definitely not gonna let the fans overrating them ruin the two for me.

To start with Rio, I think he is the least enjoyable out of the seven main characters. He's not bad, just kinda repetitive with his power obsession to the point where he's kind of an idiot at times. xD  There are however certain aspects of Rio that I do like. I really wished the show delved in more into his past and relationships with Gou, Miki, Dan, and Xia Fu. I feel like during these moments, Rio felt more organic and likable, and actually helps justify Rio's crazy character more. We even see how Rio loves Mele more than he pretends. I did actually grow to appreciate Rio in the last few eps when he finally wises ep and chooses his own path. Rio is overall an okay villain. Wish he could've been expanded on more. Oh well.

Mele I find to be an interesting case. To me, she's like Sakura (Boukenger), Furabijo (Hurricaneger), Mahoro (Abaranger), Emiri (Abaranger), and a VERY loyal sentai villainess status all in a blender.

With Sakura, Mele is serious but also has a silly crush. Though I think it works so much better with Mele. Mele seems to somewhat know it's silly whereas Sakura can't seem to get over her lame childish crush on Chief. =/

With Emiri, both she and Mele do commentary on some of the fights in their respective shows. Plus, Emiri's relation to Yukito kinda reminds me of Mele's relation to Rio. You have the happy girl and the grumpy guy. xD

Mahoro, basically the villainess who goes from bad to good and has somewhat of a connection to the female hero. In a way, I feel like Ran and Mele was like the sentai female duo that never happened. Same with Ranru and Mahoro.

With Furabijo, Mele is like the slow learner who falls into the bad crowd. Except Mele's actress can actually act. =P  Plus, Mele's character is much deeper and more fleshed out in this area than Furabijo is.

The way I see Mele throughout the show is that she was pathetic and had no one who made her feel important. She had nothing. Until Rio came for her and gave her a purpose in life. In the early eps, Mele prefers to hide than fight, making her look pathetic. But when it comes to ep 9 and she really needs to prove herself as Rio's second-in-command, she really goes all out and gives it her best. And even trains! Sure, Mele isn't as cool as the villainesses of the 80s, but I see Mele as more of an anti-hero than a villain so I feel it's an interesting twist on the sentai villainess.

I noticed a common complaint on Geki is that the villains eat up all the screen time. After rewatching Gekiranger, I have to disagree. Ran and Retsu and even Ken have plenty of presence all throughout the show. And Rio and Mele don't do nearly as much in the show as people claim them to. Rio and Mele only appear for a few minutes at most for the majority of the episodes. Honestly, I feel like people only ever remember the stuff that happens at the very end more than the earlier stuff when it comes to these kinds of shows. In Gekiranger's case, Rio and Mele did have a good chunk of the spotlight in the last few episodes.

I really like Jan. And this is coming from someone who really hates screaming reds. But Jan was the sole exception for me. I feel like his childish personality as an uneducated jungle boy actually fit well with the screaming archetype, and his actor pulled it all off very well with great enthusiasm. I do find it interesting whenever I hear people explaining why one would like or dislike Jan.

So yeah, overall, really loved Gekiranger. =D