Post by Thai Ladyboy on Feb 24, 2014 17:38:32 GMT -6
I discovered this thing a year ago. I originally thought it was just another Super Sentai series, and while I certainly grew up on localized/tagalog-translated versions like Bioman, Jetman, and Power Rangers, right now I'm already too jaded to actually enjoy the extremely formulaic format. They were clearly meant for kids.
Turns out I was wrong about Akibaranger. It's the kind of Super Sentai show targeted towards people like me, who grew up with the shows but now find them too silly and childish after the whole growing up thing happened. It's basically a comedy show set in the real world (kinda. I'm not gonna tell the real setting because it would ruin a major twist), where the Super Sentai shows are just TV shows from Toei - the same reality we live in. There are no superheroes, no monsters or evil empires of any kind. It just focuses on a bunch of otakus who are trying to become the next "official sentai team," and they do it by going to a virtual reality world (a basic computer simulation that's only in their heads, not a matrix type virtual world with consecquences and shit) and fighting fictional villains.
Most of the female cast members are hawt! One of them is retired Japanese pornstar Honoka, while the others are either gravure idols or models.
It's heavy on the references, but there's always an explanation provided either through the dialogue or through pop ups, so you won't get lost even if you're not familiar with the old shows. They play a lot with tropes and use both slapstick and verbal comedy (the translations are provided by Bandai themselves, so they're surprisingly good.) - it's also in the same vein as Blackadder, where it's mostly comedy but manages to incorporate serious and even sad parts. There's interdimensional travel, Japanese idol lifestyle, and corporate takeovers tackled in the stories. It's something that you really have to watch to appreciate.
Thankfully, there's no need to pirate stuff. Bandai has uploaded all the episodes for season 1 and 2 on Youtube. Each episode is fairly short (less than 20 minutes if you take out the opening and ending theme songs), and there's only 13 episodes per season.
Season 1: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEDC79F33828B989C
Season 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=51XbhMRekGo&list=PLlSnW-KXuA9ezv_SvX1GHgAL6hKXNV943
I heard that Bandai put the videos under region lock, so if you can't view the videos, your country is not allowed to view the show. They're also available on Daily motion, so it's no biggie.