Uchuu Keiji Shaider 1-12, or, Mr. Shaider’s Wild Ride

Well, since Disneyland (and everything else) is closed, enjoy a different kind of wild ride, Shaider!

Hi there. Hope everyone is doing well. Definitely didn’t expect a pandemic to be happening during my next post. Crazy. Anyway, here’s the first batch of Uchuu Keiji Shaider, or Space Sheriff Shaider, the 1984 Metal Hero series and last Space Sheriff series.

Shaider is known for… being weird. Like really weird. Surreal. Creepy. The villains even call all of their stuff “strange”, and trust me, it is. Sharivan was just the tip of the iceberg with this sort of stuff. Seriously.

For starters, the main strategist of Fuuma is Priestess Poe, clearly meant to be a female, but is played by a man (Jun Yoshida in fact, who also played Bilgenia in Kamen Rider Black). There’s also a cast of random monsters who just basically dance around all the time and make noises. Plus their boss, Kubilai, looks ~~like a nutsack with a vagina on its forehead~~ weird too. The designs are just ridiculously bizarre.

Screenshot (176) — This is a Fuuma battleship. I don’t even know what to make of it. Is it supposed to be a kappa? An English barrister? So many questions.

If you think the designs are weird, wait ’til you hear some of the plots. They are just the most convoluted, crazy, roundabout ways to take over humanity. Most of them involve targeting children, which is fair I suppose. Japanese children in tokusatsu shows make themselves easy targets. There’s one where they’re trying to make everyone on Earth lazy (where do I recognize that plot from), but the victims all share something in common.

Screenshot (181) — They all lie in giant cotton cocoons constantly eating fried chicken, which is what I’ve been doing during my “stay at home” order. Oops. Maybe Fuuma got me.

There are not one, but two plots involving animals. One episode they turn kids into animals to see if the parents will still love them (?), the other they turn animals into ferocious beasts (another recycled trope, oops), but then uh…

Screenshot (177) — The monster of the week’s human form is a little person dressed as an angel playing the trumpet. Remember when I said Shaider’s episode 2 turned the crazy meter up to 12 out of 10? Yeah, here we are.

OK, Fuuma’s weirdness has been sufficiently covered. Let’s talk about Shaider and Annie! They’re both new recruits, so there’s a slight learning curve for the first few episodes, which is an interesting light to see our heroes in. Annie is played by Naomi Morinaga (who went on to play Helen in Spielvan), but in a change from the past two Space Sheriff series, she is the JAC trained stuntwoman, and our Shaider (played by Hiroshi Tsuburaya, grandson of Godzilla co-creator and Ultraman creator Eiji Tsuburaya) is the pretty boy who can’t really fight. Which means a lot of Annie action scenes ensue. Yessss.

Shaider’s blue combat suit looks a little more high-tech than Gavan’s and Sharivan’s, but the real star is Vavilos, Shaider’s battleship. Gavan’s Dolgiran was cool for sure. A giant robot dragon? Yes please. But Vavilos?

Screenshot (175) — Vavilos turns into a freakin’ gun! A literal BFG! Try not to be excited in episode 1 when this first happens. Just try! IT TURNS INTO A GIANT GUN AND HAS THE BEST THEME MUSIC EVER!!!

But wait! There’s more! It’s a triple changer!

Screenshot (178) — Screw you, Juspion. I was the first metal hero with a giant humanoid robot!

As with the other Space Sheriff series, Chuumei Watanabe composes the music, and it’s probably the best out of the three if you ask me. Except (unfortunately) the Laser Blade theme, which is not my favorite. Sharivan holds that title. My favorite insert song “Shaider Blue” plays in episodes 9 and 15, sung by Takayuki Miyauchi while he was taking a break from singing for the Bioman soundtrack. It will lighten whatever mood you’re in, I promise.

One major theme is Fuuma’s “Strange Song”, which you can listen to here. In the show, it makes people do weird things. In real life, it’s just a weird, funky track that’s an earworm, so be careful of/enjoy that. A bunch of the background tracks are variations of it, including the haunting hymnal version you’ll hear in… well, you’ll see.

I’m so excited to bring this masterpiece to you all, so get over to the Releases page and get downloading!

Uchuu Keiji Sharivan 41-51, or, The Many Lives of Demon King Psycho

[There will be no batch info post for the final batch of Sharivan. For the first time since Metalder, there are no updates to previous files (ie. no v2’s). Hooray!

Since everyone knows my next project is Shaider, there’s no need to detail that either. Shaider will be released in batches of 12 episodes each, with the final batch having 13. The movies will be released alongside the episodes their original releases were closest to.

If you have the previous releases of Sharivan, just uncheck them when your torrent client starts and you can download only the new episodes.]

Well, here we are! The end of Sharivan. Two-thirds of the way through the Space Sheriff trilogy. All your questions will be answered! Where’s Miyuki? What about the Iga Crystal? Will Reidar take over Madoh? Who the f**k is that bald stalker dude?

Screenshot (169) — We find out, I promise! But, the bald dude is actually Kazuyoshi Yamada, a JAC stuntman who was later the main suit actor for Juspion, Spielvan, and Metalder. No wonder he had no lines! He went on to serve as action director for many tokusatsu and drama shows between 1988 and 2015.

After a few random episodes (well, I shouldn’t say that, there is one plot episode involving Helen, plus the Holy One shows up a couple of times), we get to the endgame portion of the show starting with episode 48. It’s a headscratcher for sure, involving kidnapping a character and then… huh?

Screenshot (168) — Add a few incredibly hot latinx actors and actresses, and you’ve got the makings of a hit telenovela.

Right. Moving on. Let’s hope said character makes it through, for her sake. Things happen, events unfold, I won’t spoil anything, although we do find out who the bald dude is after 50 episodes (yessssss). The final episode has Gavan come back to Earth to assist Sharivan for an awesome team-up finale!

Screenshot (173) — Including this incredible, although unfortunately short spar scene between Kenji Ooba and Hiroshi Watari directly in front of Mt. Fuji.

All’s well that ends well. I won’t tell you the ending, but… you know, it’s a tokusatsu, so I’m sure you can guess what happens. One thing to note is the budget for the last episode must have run out because there are several long scenes of just laughable effects. Plus they manage to sneak in one more stock footage fight of the Grand Berth before we go.

Screenshot (171) — Speaking of laughable effects, there is one thing in Sharivan that drives me the craziest. I understand that special effects in 1983, especially on TV, were not like they are today, and I love Sharivan, I really do, but why did they have to do an overhead shot every time Sharivan fights with his laser blade? YOU CAN SEE THE POWER CORD! IN EVERY DAMN EPISODE!

Explosions, tearful goodbyes, and cue the credits, we’re done! Another series under my belt. Head to the Releases page to get downloading. Stay tuned for Shaider in the coming weeks! Crimson Shine!

Screenshot (170) — I wonder if they passed any characters from Changeman or Flashman on the way out.

Uchuu Keiji Sharivan 31-40, or, A Child’s Guide to Psychological Warfare

Hello hello hello! The next batch of Sharivan is ready for downloading and I hope you’re excited! We’re entering the home stretch; only 11 more episodes to go.

The batch starts out strong with a series plot episode where we find out what happened to Miyuki and the Okuiga Island girls. Well… we are reunited with them… for a minute or so. So we know they’re on a planet somewhere? And because of the episode’s plot, some…time? At least they’re alive I suppose. I guess we’ll find out more in the last batch, as I’m sure they won’t just leave that storyline hanging. The episode also has a remake of the scene in Jabba the Hut’s chamber at the beginning of Return of the Jedi. Weird.

Screenshot (165) — I checked. Return of the Jedi came out 3 months before episode 31 aired. Coincidence or blatant ripoff? You decide.

These episodes have some really dark plots, most of them having to do with psychological harm. Mostly toward Sharivan, but a few other characters too. Even one of the kids of the week gets in on the trauma.

Screenshot (164) — I’m not going to tell you how Den knows this girl is suffering from age regression. I’m going to let you find that out for yourself. And boy, it’ll make you feel weird. In fact, the whole episode is one long creepfest.

Madoh has a big shake up with the arrival of a new soldier from the underworld (wha?), Reidar. He’s creepy and powerful and Psycho pretty much accepts him right away for whatever reason. Although once you see what he’s capable of, you’ll see why.

Reidar is played by Mitsuo Andou, probably the creepiest villain actor in all of tokusatsu. Seriously. Previous credits include Professor Gill from Kikaider, the Black Cross Fuhrer from Goranger, and Professor Monster from Toei Spiderman. Reidar was actually his final role before retiring from TV acting. Sad.

Never fear, though! Sharivan gets his own new ally in Helen Bell, a galactic soldier who’s come to Earth to fight Madoh! She’s a recurring character, so sometimes you’ll see her and sometimes you won’t. She’s played by (notorious) toku actress Yuki Yajima, famous for playing the first Yellow Four on Bioman. She can fight, which is awesome. You all know I love an actor that can fight.

Screenshot (167) — So if you don’t know the story, Miss Yajima didn’t show up for ADR dubbing for episode 7 of Bioman and was never heard from again. Ever. The actors for Green Two and Pink Five said in an interview in 2013 that they thought they saw her once in passing, but they still don’t know whatever happened to her. Crazy, right? (credit goes to Japanese wikipedia for that story)

We’re slowly moving into the last batch of episodes. No real cliffhangers yet, but all of your questions will soon be answered. Head to the Releases page to get downloading!

Uchuu Keiji Sharivan 21-30, or, More Female Demon Monsters Please

This batch has two of them (which is two more than usual), and really, I would like to see more. Especially if they look like this piece of work:

Screenshot (159) — I feel like this is what the monster designers think people in Hollywood dress like all the time. Or drugs, I dunno.

Greetings! Here’s the next batch of Sharivan for you enjoy. Not a lot of plot going on (maybe one episode, sort of), but the one-offs are definitely getting a little more bizarre.

First, a cast member change. Actually two. Miss Devil 1 and 2’s contracts must have ran out, becuase they were both replaced in episode 23 with new actresses. Uh… ok? Like we wouldn’t notice? I mean I know they’re bit players, but still. At least Miss Devil 1 (purple) is played by the same actress as half of everyone’s favorite genetically reconstructed lesbian power couple from Flashman, Wolk! Don’t pretend like no one ever shipped them. I guarantee there is fan-fiction out there somewhere.

Screenshot (161) — Yes, hello, nice to meet you. Who are you again? Are you new here?

The episodes in this batch are a little dark. Suicide, betrayal, child endangerment. You know, the usual. The Vision World fights are starting to get really weird. Weird backgrounds, weird props, just weird all around. Like this one in episode 30:

Screenshot (160) — Was this fight on the Ultra homeworld? Why is there a mummy? There were no mummies in the episode. At least it’s not as disconcerting as the episode with floating Easter Island heads that are bleeding from the eyes. No, really. You’ll see.

Still loving those hand drawn composite backgrounds too. Except for one.

Screenshot (163) — I don’t care how many jaunty Akira Kushida insert songs you play, this is nightmare fuel and I will not stand for it.

This batch contains one… let’s call it plot adjacent episode. Some galactic organizers have come to Earth to call to all the warriors in the universe to come and fight Madoh. Awesome! Also, some guy shows up who escaped from Madoh supermax prison and turns out he and Sharivan are both Igan descendants. Personally, I would call this a wham episode, but I’ll let you decide.

Screenshot (162) — It’s hard to take it seriously when one of the organizers is played by a little person, though. Don’t @ me. Also, the other dude is General Deathgiller. There is seriously a pool of about 7 actors that do all of these Toei shows.

What do I spy in the preview at the end of episode 30 but a PLOT episode! Yes! Can’t wait to see you in the next batch, Miyuki! What happened to that damn crystal? Find out soon! Head over to the Releases to get downloading!

Uchuu Keiji Sharivan 11-20, or, “Iga Crystal Power, make up!”

Sadly it’s not the type of crystal that fits nicely in a brooch. Or causes a 45 second henshin scene.

Ohai! Here are some new episodes of Sharivan to whet your appetites. The batch starts out a little slowly, but we get a good amount of plot advancement, especially in the last couple of episodes. Let’s dive in.

We begin with a few one-offs, one of which has some background about Sharivan’s past for whatever reason. It just kind of shows up, but it’s pretty important to the plot considering it’s just a scene in some random episode.

Then this happens:

Screenshot (158) — I’d be running too, Grandma. I’d be running too.

Yay, more Poltergeist type stuff.

You know, I actually really like those little scenes of Sharivan and the Demon Monster of the week fighting in a hand-drawn background. They actually look really cool sometimes. This one had me wondering about when CDs started being a thing.

Screenshot (153) — Which led me to a Wikipedia article that says Japan was actually the first country to release CDs commercially back in 1982. Ah, wikiholes…

There’s a really great episode co-starring Gavan, which features Madoh trying to get the Hoshino Space Cannon, which was a big focus toward the end of Space Sheriff Gavan. Lots of action ensues, the writing and the acting are on point the whole episode.

Screenshot (157) — The most range Doctor Polter has shown in the whole show so far.

Of course (because every old toku series has one) we have a “field trip to a hotel/hot springs/other island of Japan” episode. Madoh is up to no good on the Izu Peninsula, known for its hot springs resorts. Of course our friends get to stay at a beautiful hotel (that may or may not have paid Toei to be featured) while they fight evil.

Screenshot (154) — And for whatever reason, the Patrouille de France is shown as being part of Madoh’s forces via stock footage. Uh… ok? Blink and you’ll miss it, seriously.

The real chunk of plot happens in the last couple of episodes, where Sharivan finds out A LOT about his past, and figures out what Madoh has really wanted for the last 2,000+ years. Wait, what? They’ve been around for over 2,000 years? Are Gyler and Polter over 2,000 years old? What’s the story here? Why do they look so good? Glaring omissions!

Turns out, it’s some kind of infinite energy crystal from Planet Iga (seriously), which Madoh attacked 2,000 years ago, but of course it slipped out of their clutches and ended up on Earth and they’ve been trying to find it ever since. Hoo boy. Nice to know what we’re fighting for then.

Screenshot (156) — Wait, what? How…? Ladies and gentlemen, tokusatsu science.

According to the preview for episode 21, after the heavy plot in episodes 19 and 20, things go back to the usual filler, so I’m assuming don’t expect any answers right away. We’ll get them eventually though, don’t you worry.

Head over to the Releases page to get downloading!

Uchuu Keiji Sharivan 1-10, or, I Gotta Have More Cowbell

If you’re not fortunate enough to have seen one of the greatest sketches in Saturday Night Live history, “More Cowbell”, here’s a chance to watch it. I highly recommend it. Given that the Sharivan theme song has more cowbell in it than a dairy farm, it’s perfect.

Can’t stop, won’t stop! I’m back fast with the first batch of Sharivan. I’m pretty motivated because I’m so happy to be doing a Metal Hero series again. Really happy. The dark, but still completely ridiculous plots have me wanting more.

Screenshot (148) — I cannot describe how deeply satisfying it is to sub this every episode.

Sharivan continues exactly where Space Sheriff Gavan left off, except it takes the off-the-wall action to 10 pretty much right away. I don’t remember Gavan episode 2 being totally crazy, but Sharivan’s is. Shaider episode 2 is a 12 out of 10 on the crazy scale, so look forward to that.

Screenshot (150) — It takes them a very short time to get to weird shit like this. It’s episode 2, and there are nuns playing a piano in a quarry to dancing women dressed up in fox masks and bathrobes. Which is immediately followed by…

This first batch of episodes is just bizarre in terms of plots. Lots of psychics, the occult, and people going to discos in the middle of the day for some reason. No, seriously, this happens twice. Does anyone in Japan have a day job?

Screenshot (151) — Real photo of when Kojirou auditioned to be on Battle Fever J.

The plots are crazy, but the action is the real star! We definitely get to see why they cast Hiroshi Watari as the lead. He does most of his own stunts and is a real treat to watch in a fight scene. Sadly, there aren’t any other actors in the main cast who can fight (yet). Not to worry, they make it all work and it looks great.

We get introduced to Sharivan’s arsenal in the first few episodes, including his giant spaceship, the Grand Berth. Gavan’s Dolgiran turned into a dragon, which was just spectacular. The Grand Berth turns into… a vaguely humanoid robot? Uh…? Kind of reminds me of Gran Nazca’s Combat Formation from Spielvan.

Screenshot (147) — Every time I see the Battle Berth Formation, I see a little kid in a pool with a pool ring. Especially with those little dangling legs. And now you can’t unsee it either. You’re welcome.

Going back to the opening theme, you’ll notice from episode 9 forward that there’s a different version that doesn’t have the rockin’ electric guitar track. I looked it up on Japanese wikipedia, and apparently the reason is when the official soundtrack came out between episodes 8 and 9, the music producers had never made a mono TV size version to use on the show, which was broadcast in mono (as opposed to stereo). When they made the mono TV size version for the soundtrack, the guitar track somehow sounded so bad that Toei decided to just take it out altogether. A tragedy really, although you can still hear the regular version as an insert song throughout the series.

Sharivan is completely enjoyable and I highly recommend it. Releases will be in batches of 10, with the last batch having 11. I will be releasing the 480p DVD and 720p Blu-ray versions simultaneously. Head over to the Releases page to get downloading!

Update: Torrents and Remakes

Hello hello! I’m back from the holiday break with some updates on my computer issues. While I was gone, I was able to download all of my old files from torrents, except for the Metalder Movie in 720p Bluray .mp4 version. That now has a new torrent if you are looking for it.

Also, the Dynaman .mp4’s are also up, so if you were waiting for those, hooray, you’re in luck.

Thanks for your patience while I sorted all of this out. Look forward to Sharivan soon!

Update: New Dynaman torrent file

So… I did something on my torrent client that somehow deleted all of my video files. I… don’t know how or why. They’re just gone. So now, I have to redownload all of my own files like an idiot.

I did successfully re-encode the Dynaman .mkv files again though, and they are out in a new torrent (which will hopefully finish uploading so people can seed it if anything goes wrong again).

Please disregard the previous torrent, it will never download to 100% no matter how long you wait.

I will re-encode the .mp4’s when I get back from the holiday break. I fly out in the morning and Handbrake takes way too long to finish 51 episodes and the movie by then.

Thanks for your understanding and enjoy!

Secret Side Project: Kagaku Sentai Dynaman 1-51 + Movie, or, Tails, Kiddie Hijinks, and High Explosives

Show of hands, how many people knew I was even working on this? None? That’s why it’s a secret!

An unexpected drop to add to your backlog of shows to watch, it’s the 1983 Super Sentai series, Kagaku Sentai Dynaman (translated as Science Squadron Dynaman), fully subbed in its entirety.

I realize another group was doing Dynaman, but after a status update 10 months ago saying they only had one episode left, they still haven’t released the final 15 episodes. Rather than pick up where they left off, I decided to do the whole series.

Dynaman is a very interesting series. It was the first to use the spandex outfits that are used even today in super sentai. The suits look a little like baseball uniforms, and that’s because it was originally supposed to be a baseball themed series called V-Leaguer (there are even prototype suit photos out there).

At first, the series is funny, very kiddy, but full of action. Jun’ichi Haruta is back to kick more ass, Kouta Unoji (Blue) is also a trained stuntman, and Dyna Pink gets a suit actress, the first stuntwoman in the main team since Battle Fever.

Screenshot (143) — This is this monster’s actual attack. And my go-to drink at the bar.

Starting with episode 10, the runtime of each episode is cut down to 20 minutes, which would continue in super sentai shows until episode 8 of Megaranger in 1997. In my opinion, trying to pack so much action into a short runtime is what made the 80’s and early 90’s sentai the best.

Anyway, our heroes create inventions at Dr. Yumeno’s Invention Center with the help of some little kid friends. About episode 37 or so, that all changes when the series takes a really dark fork in the road. The kids and the Invention Center are gone, and the plots and consequences become a lot more dire.

Screenshot (144) — You wanted explosions? You got ’em! There’s about 1000 per second in the opening credits.

The Evilution infighting is also quite interesting and takes the focus in more than a few episodes, especially in the last 10 episodes when Dark Knight shows up. The villain ranking system is pretty unique. Reminds me a little of Metalder except WAY easier to understand.

Speaking of the villains, I’ve chosen to translate yuubijin (有尾人) as Salamander People. Yuubi are the first two kanji of yuubimoku (有尾目), which is Japanese for Urodela, the biological order of amphibians that includes salamanders. I haven’t seen this translation anywhere else really, but I think this is what the writers were going for, especially given the designs of the Tail Soldiers.

The movie is included with the batch. Very much the opposite of most tokusatsu movies of the 70’s and early 80’s, the movie was actually released early on in the show and then edited down and re-shown as episode 32, rather than the movie being a blown up version of an episode from the series.

Wander over to the Releases page to get downloading! Explode!

Keep reading for what my next series will be. Yes, I’ve always known what was coming next. You know I always plan 2-3 series in advance, right?

Continue reading “Secret Side Project: Kagaku Sentai Dynaman 1-51 + Movie, or, Tails, Kiddie Hijinks, and High Explosives” →

Dai Sentai Goggle Five 1-50 + Movie batch released

Here is your batch release info post.

The full batch has been posted on the Releases page.

The following episodes have been updated to v2: 2, 4, 5, and 22.

The reason is because the littlest Comboy’s name, the one paired with Goggle Blue, is actually Haruo, not Tarou like I’ve thought for legitimately 20 years since I first saw Goggle Five.

As far as I can tell, that’s the only edit, so you can update your files accordingly. If you just want the last batch, you can uncheck the files you don’t want to redownload when your torrent client starts.

Enjoy!