Go-Busters Episodes 15, 16 and 17 Reviews

I'm nitpicking here, but it makes absolutely no sense that the Buglars just disappear from the screen and give the Go-Busters time to morph.

While Masato is driving off with Enetron, does it ever occur to the Go-Busters that Hiromu could catch him if he tried to use his super speed?

Episode 15 begans with Commander Kuroki meeting Beet Buster and his buddyroid, Beet J Stag in a forest.  Meanwhile, Enter tries to investigate why Enetron has been leaking from the construction site of his megazord.  He creates a new metaroid to gather some replacement Enetron.  The Go-Busters try to stop him, but are distracted by Buglars.  However, Beet Buster and Beet J Stag appear to fight the metaroid.  Beet Buster reveals his identity as Masato Jin, Ryuji's senior.  However, Ryuji suspects he might be an imposter since Masato hasn't aged since he was trapped in the subdimension 13 years ago.  After another encounter with the metaroid, the Go-Busters are unable to split up to deal with the coming megazord because both the metaroid and the megazord are too powerful.  Masato and Beet J Stag appear to help and transform into Beet Buster and Stag Buster.  After Masato gets a little irritated with Stag Buster trying to steal the spotlight from him, he says that those flaws make it interesting.  Ryuji overhears the comment, which confirmed to him that it was the real Masato.  Ryuji, Hiromu, and Yoko leave to defeat the megazord, while Beet Buster and Stag Buster defeat the metaroid.  However, after they defeat the megazord, Ryuji, Hiromu, and Yoko find Masato and Beet J Stag stealing the Enetron which had originally been gathered by the metaroid they defeated.

This episode I felt was pretty good.  It was an interesting twist to see the new Go-Busters also being thieves.  I was hoping they would be on their own side, gathering Enetron for their own purposes and not really on either the Go-Busters or Vaglass side.  That, however, did not happen.  Still, the thievery part was kept, which I felt help makes Masato an interesting character.  He has a rather sly personality, arrogant, jokes around a lot, and attempts to steal the spotlight whenever possible.  It's also kinda funny how his buddyroid, Beet J Stag, tries to take the spotlight from Masato, leading to the latter's irritation.  Masato is played by the same actor who played Tsubasa/MagiYellow in Magiranger.  His acting was pretty bad in Magiranger, but has improved here.  I think his actor fits the role of Masato better than he did the role of Tsubasa, which helps.  Overall, I think this was a pretty good episode.  I give it an 8.5/10.

Episode 16 begins with Beet J Stag knocking on the door of the Go-Busters' headquarters, wanting Enetron to drink.  Since Hiromu, Ryuji, and Yoko have a lot of questions about Masato and the subdimension, they use it as an opportunity to talk with Beet J Stag.  However, all he gives them are vague answers (some not really answers at all).  Beet J Stag leaves and Hiromu, Ryuji, and Yoko follow him.  However, they have to split up because a metaroid was spoted.  Hiromu pursues Masato, while Yoko and Ryuji go after the metaroid.  Hiromu tries to question Masato, but he doesn't comply.  He challenges Hiromu to fight him in order to get the answers.  This fight is interrupted by the metaroid that Yoko and Ryuji were fighting.  The metaroid targets Hiromu with heat seeking missles, and Masato decides to use himself to shield Hiromu.  He tries to take out Enter with the missle as well, and both Masato and Enter blow up.  However, both are revived and they're revealed to be an avatar, kinda like a physical hollogram.  The real bodies for Masato and Enter are still in the subdimension, but their minds are projected onto this "avatar."  When the megazord arrives, it attacks the Go-Busters while they're fighting Buglars.  Hiromu tries to counter the megazord with Ace, but the megazord  creates its own megazords that hold Ace back.  Masato and Beet J Stag launch their own Buster Machines that drain enetron from the two Megazords holding Hiromu.  Hiromu destroys the main megazord, and Ryuji & Yoko defeat the metaroid.  Later, Masato reveals that on the night he and everyone else were transported into the subdimension, he was working in a different section.  He also revealed that he encountered no human while being trapped in the subdimension.

This episode was also a good episode, with a somewhat interesting twist.  The avatar twist particularly gave a new twist to Enter.  The fight between Masato and Hiromu kinda felt like a copy and paste job of a similar fight in Timeranger between Naoto and Tatsuya (also written by Kobayashi).  Despite that, the fight was well choreographed and entertaining.  We also got to see some internal conflict with Hiromu and Yoko.  On one side they want to know what happened to their parents, but on the other they're afraid of finding out what happened to them.  This was an enjoyable episode so I give it 8/10.

Episode 17 starts with Ryuji about to confront a megazord.  However, the megazord happens to be Masato and Beet J Stag stealing enetron from an enetron tank.  Ryuji and the commander lecture him about stealing, which Masato replies that he needs enetron for his transports and can't wait around for it to be given to him.  Later, Masato questions why Ryuji isn't as enthusiastic about being an engineer as he use to be, and his reasoning for fighting Vaglass.  Later, as commander Kurohin is about to supply Masato with enetron, Enter attacks, forcing Yoko to drop the tank full of enetron.  This time, along with the metaroid Enter created, the megazord that Enter had spent ten episodes stealing supplies to build it is finally activated.  This megazord splits off from another megazord, which is a beta-type megazord.  They're unable to defeat it with Go-Busteroh, which leads to their individual zords losing enetron fast.  Ryuji tries to shield Hiromu and Yoko with his Buster Machine.  Seeing the chaos, Masato and Beet J Stag summon their zords and save Ryuji.  During the fight, Masato tells Ryuji that he must find his own reason to fight, because Hiromu and Yoko have theirs due to their parents.  Ryuji decides that his reason to fight is so he can become an engineer after the fighting is over.  He begins to suck enetron from Hiromu and Yoko's Buster Machines, and then destroys the weaker of the two megazords.  Masato transforms his Buster Machine into Go-Buster Beet, which is identical to the megazord Enter had built.  Go-Buster Beet defeats Enter's megazord.  The episode ends with Masato giving Ryuji stolen engineer books and also stealing Ryuji's wallet.

This episode was mixed for me.  It had some enjoyable characterization for Ryuji, a funny scene at the end, and I liked the scenes with Masato as well.  Masato has become my favorite character on Go-Busters.  Perhaps because of his personality and the plot twist he brings.  However, the problem with this episode is Enter's megazord plot.  It already had pacing problems, taking 10 episodes from when he first stole the design to actually using it in battle.  Then this episode added another problem to the plot; an anti-climatic defeat.  While it knocked Go-Busteroh around quite a bit, it was defeated easily once CB-04 and SJ-05 entered the battle.  It was extremely disappointing to see Enter's megazord defeated in just one episode after having ten episodes worth of build up.  It makes Enter look like a weak villain, which is disappointing considering that he had been outsmarting the Go-Busters to get all the supplies for this megazord.  The writers could have at least made this a two-parter.  Or even better, they could have had this megazord appear before Masato and Beet J Stag came, in which Masato and Beet J Stag would have came to the rescue.  So despite some enjoyable scenes, the anti-climatic defeat of Enter's megazord made the episode disappointing.  Overall I give it 6/10.

A Look at Sentai's Screaming Reds and Ditzy Chicks

Some of the most controversial characters in Sentai can be classified under two subgroups, the "screaming reds" and the "ditzy" girls.  These characters tend to have similar traits, hyperactive, bubbly, sometimes childish, and outright idiots.  They divide fans.  Some love these characters for being fun, energetic, or even funny.  Other fans get headaches from watching them, being annoyed by how loud one screams or squeals, or even how hyperactive they are.  One thing I've noticed is that while Sentai had these or similar types of characters before, the trend seemed to start with Dekaranger.  Perhaps it was Dekaranger's popularity that influenced writers and producers to make more similar characters.  Also, while there were a handful of ditzy girls before the 2000's, I'm focusing more on the 2000's because that's what I've seen mostly and where the trend seems to start.




Yousuke is seen by some to be the first screaming red type.  He was the stereotypical idiot hero, but was more of a screecher than a screamer.  With Yousuke, I'm not entirely sure if he's even meant to be as much of a screecher as he is.  The actor's acting wasn't very good and often had awkward delivery.  As a character, Yousuke also fell flat in comparison to the other Hurricaneger characters.  His character had ego problems, and often fought over little things, had conflicts with his sensei, or with Kouta over who was chosen to be captain.  Yousuke also didn't have a storyline that stood out with his character, like Nanami with her singing career, Kouta with his sister and grandmother, the Goraijers with their father, or even Shurikenger with Gozen.




Some fans classify Nanami as one of the ditzy girls, though I don't really see it that much.  Like the other Hurricanegers (and many who fall under the ditzy stereotype) she's cheerful and energetic, but I don't really see the "airheaded" part in her.  Nanami acted like an airhead in episode 43 after reacting to Gozen not eating her New Years dinner that she cooked, but that's really the only time throughout the series where she seemed airheaded to me.  She had some instances where she fell for a Jakanja trap, but I don't think it would be any different for any average human given the situation. The character herself I thought was fun and enjoyable.  I felt her actress did a good job handling the hyperactive aspects of her character, and had her idol drama going on as well.




Ban was the first true "screaming red" character in Sentai.  With the exception of Boukenger, Ban was the first of a series of screaming reds that ended with Go-Onger.  He seems to be modeled after the cowboy cop stereotype.  Him and Jan are probably the loudest of the screamers, as such he tends to annoy fans more.  His actor does overact at times, but I found many of his quirks to be pretty funny.  Examples being drop kicking Hoji for acting pathetic from a mistake, and the wild, recklessness of his character.  What made his personality interesting was the sharp contrast between him and Hoji, the by the book cop, and how both characters interacted throughout the season.  At times this interaction got a little grating because of their respective personality nuances, but it was still fun to watch them grow together and respect each other throughout the series.




While Umeko wasn't the first ditz in Sentai, like Ban she started a trend with this type of character. Dekaranger through Boukenger all had a ditzy female character, and later Goseiger had a ditz as well. Among all the ditzy characters, Umeko is probably the most simplistic, without much depth or development.  However, her actress IMO did the best job with the character and was fun to watch.  Her actress had good comedic range and was pretty funny.  She had funny moments like the drunken boxing episode, and she felt like what the writers were aiming for: a cute, funny, and more like a kid who was untypical for a cop, but still had her traits that made her valuable to the space police.  However, Umeko isn't all that ditzy.  Despite having her airhead moments, she has some rather good ideas for handling the various cases that the Dekarangers encountered.  This included situations like her being a negotiator, and going under cover in the dream state to help her team catch an alienizer who invaded other people's dreams.



Following Dekaranger's success, Magiranger built many of their characters with similar personalities to their Dekaranger counterparts.  This included Magiranger's version of the screaming red, Kai.  Kai was a lighter version of Ban, reckless, rash, and a screamer, but not as loud as Ban.  As such, he doesn't get criticized as much as Ban does.  Being the youngest sibling of the Magiranger cast, Kai had an innocence element that also added a bit of flavor to the character.  He also matures later on towards the end of the series.  IMO, Kai was descent.  His innocence, along with his interaction with Yuka and rivalry with Wolzard made him interesting enough to watch.



Likewise, Magiranger had its own version of the ditz, Houka. But with Houka, having her as the "kiddy ditz" didn't really make sense.  She was the second oldest of the Magiranger siblings, and the writers seemed confused as to whether they wanted to make her the comedic ditz or the motherly figure of some past Sentai pinks.  They got something in between that didn't quite work.  Her ditzy characteristics were the worst part of her character.  The actress IMO didn't really fit well with the character.  Furthermore, she felt more often like she was more meddlesome and in the way, than fun.  One example being her trying to be a matchmaker for Kai and Yuka, but making the situation more messy.



Of all the ditzy child-like characters, I felt Natsuki was the most believable and understandable, in the way that she was written.  She acted childish and was airheaded, but she was a character that felt like she actually was a child in an adult's body.  She had no memory of herself, and was in fact, in suspended animation throughout what would have been her childhood.  So without a real childhood and ignorant of civilization, I felt it made more sense that she would act like a child, was airheaded, and still growing up.  Her storyline also helped make her interesting.  The actress did ok with her role, but was still enjoyable nonetheless.



Like Natsuki, Jan was the most well-written of the screaming reds.  I'm personally mixed on the character.  Like Natsuki, he has a believable background of growing up away from civilization (in a jungle actually), and didn't know how to interact with humans regularly.  He also has an interesting storyline to go with his character.  My complaint with him are some of his quirks.  I felt he screamed and overacted too much at times, and also the way he threw temper-tantrums at times got really grating.  He does mature towards the end of the series which helps, but at times it felt like a chore for him to get there.



In terms of IQ, Sousuke is easily the dumbest character on this list.  Sousuke was the standard idiot hero, and had little of a storyline in comparison to Jan, Kai, or Natsuki.  At times his idiocy does get over the top, but I felt he pulled off the idiot hero character pretty well.  He didn't annoy me like other idiot hero characters do, and I felt his actor had the charm to make him enjoyable to watch.  Like Hoji and Ban, the contrast between him and Hiroto made the two enjoyable to watch.  But what really helped his character was his relationship with his Engine partner Speedor.  I thought the two had some good interaction and character development from this interaction.



Eri is the last character to be a ditz so far. She was... up and down.  Compared to the other Goseigers she had a little more personality and probably the most consistent characterization along with Alata (which isn't saying much).  However, there are times where she can get irritating, particularly when she squeals or when her mind goes to a thousand places at once.  Also like virtually all of the Goseiger characters, she has very little character development.  Her actress did an ok job in general, but like the rest of the Goseiger cast, didn't know how to handle the bad script.

New polls

In attempting to get my blog more active again, I decided to finally update the polls.  One is on choosing your favorite between the two currently airing sentai (Go-Busters and Akibaranger).  The other is asking the viewer their favorite tribute episode from Gokaiger.  Have fun with it.