Moved to Wordpress

Due to the continued problems with Blogger, I haves moved over to Wordpress at yanrecapsstuff.wordpress.com. Please go there for any future updates.

Blog On Hiatus

Due to some unidentified problems with blogger, I am putting this blog on indefinite hiatus. Sorry for any inconvenience, though I'm not sure as to what capacity this would ever be considered an inconvenience. Have a nice day!

OSMSSR: Episode 129 - Super Transformations Again! Pegasus' Power

Goodbye to Kaito Kumon, Yoko Minato, Ryouma Sengoku, Lock Dealer Sid, and everyone else who died brutally in Kamen Rider Gaim. May you all rest in peace in tokusatsu heaven.

OSMSSR: Episode 128 - Meeting of Fate! The Night Where a Pegasus Flies

No, I'm not deleting those black rectangles on the sides. Ah, the bane of not viewing stuff in widescreen.

Opinionated Sailor Moon Super S Retrospective: An Introduction

No, the name totally wasn't taken from SF Debris! Whatever gave you that idea?

I love Sailor Moon more than life itself. Well, not really; if I had to choose between living another day, and never getting to watch/ read anything SM-related ever again, I probably would choose the former, though how wide the margin is is uncertain. Of course, being a fairly big and massively popular franchise, there were moments that many fans would like to forget, or at the very least accept somewhat grudgingly.

Kamen Rider Taisen Part 3: When You Wish Upon a Doomsday Machine

Last time: A boy acted like a jerk to his mother. His father acted like a jerk to his son. The writers acted like jerks to pretty much everybody. And there were explosions. Lots and lots of explosions. Moving on.

Shu's really starting to regret joining Willy Wonka in the glass elevator.

Kamen Rider Taisen Part 2: A Soap Opera with Some Riders in It

I'd really like to announce "Now updated every Friday!" but that would imply actual commitment, and I could never do that. But what's a little white lie, anyway?

Now updated every Friday!

Last time: Some stuff happened to Kouta, a wild Takeshi Hongo appeared, there's a kid who can turn things inside out, potentially being able to kill people in ways too gruesome for Toei to consider acknowledging it, and there are scenes between Takumi Inui and Keisuke Jin that are Oscar-worthy. During all of this, strawberries are eaten and no worlds are destroyed. And now, the continuation.

It's Kamen Rider, where girls don't talk about serious things.

Kamen Rider Taisen featuring Boredom and Confusion

I don't want to recap this movie. Not because it's bad (actually, I think it kind of is, but 100 Years After was worse), but because talking about this movie will basically reveal how little of the Kamen Rider franchise I actually know. As an Asian child to immigrant parents, I didn't exactly have assloads of spare time as a kid, and most of the things I follow currently I started in late high school, which is a BAD time to start becoming a fan of anything. It's kinda deflating to see people having discussions about which Rider suits looked the coolest, bitching about Kamen Rider Decade or the Chou Den-O movies, or debating whether the Showa or Heisei Riders were more badass, while I have to frantically try to catch up in addition to school work. Fortunately, from what I've seen, the fandom seems friendly enough, though I suspect that's partly because the Toku fandom in general is nowhere near big enough to have a huge supply of bigoted vocal minorities.

Anyway, now that I've gotten confession time out of the way, this is Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen feat. Super Sentai, a movie in which the titular showdown is shoehorned into the last three minutes, and barely features that other franchise that a couple of people may have heard of. After years yelling at each other about how the Showa Riders did actual stunt work with no CGI, or how the Heisei Rider attacks look way cooler, finally the fans get a movie which answers all of their questions about who would win in a fight.

Actually, no it fucking doesn't! What it does do is meander around, trying to tie up loose ends from previous series, and piss all over the legacy of the Showa Riders, without which the Heisei Riders would never have even existed! And I haven't even watched most of the Showa era! Or the Hesei era! How do you try to make a movie to pay tribute to a long-running massively popular franchise, and piss off a relative newcomer like me? That's a pretty big crime for any anniversary movie.

The Domination Part 3: The Godfrey Complex

Last time: JAMES HONG!!!

And now, the conclusion.

Just looking at the fine scenery before moving on with the film.

The Domination Part 2: This Pisses Me Off to No End!

I really need to remember to insert jump breaks immediately without hastily updating.

Last time, a ninja got a cheaply valuable sword so sharp you can cut yourself just by looking at it, the girl from Electric Boogaloo gets hit on by the piece of slime who functions as a makeshift Coke advertiser. Sam Firstenberg decides "Screw stunts, I'm winging this!" What will happen now that Christie has held a sword and shook in around? Let's find out now!

Meanwhile, with the Zucker brothers...

R. I. P. Robin Williams

So... Robin Williams has passed away..

I admit, pop culturally, I didn't have the most... traditional childhood, so I don't have as many nostalgic memories of him as I probably should. But I do know that he brought joy and happiness to millions of people. And anyone who does that deserves to be remembered.

From an early age, Williams wanted to entertain, and dwelling on tragedy is decidedly not entertaining. People will grieve for a few days, but when grief will give way to memories. Memories that not even death can snatch away. Robin Williams will not be remembered as a victim of asphyxiation. He will not be remembered as a depressed soul who caved in to the pressure. He will be remembered for making people laugh in Aladdin. He will be remembered for making people cry in The Dead Poets Society. He will be remembered for going up on stage, doing silly voices and impressions. And that's how it should be.

Robin Williams was once voted "Least Likely to Succeed" when he graduated high school. I'll bet whoever voted for him back then is kicking themselves now, knowing that the kid they thought wouldn't amount to anything grew up to be an inspiration. That little factoid made me laugh. Even his life was funny. Plenty of crying will come in the next few days. Why not do some laughing? Robin would have wanted it. So let's oblige.

Ninja III: The Domination of Cheapness

As most people would instantly tell you, there are a LOT of things that were wrong with the 80's. This is one of them. For one, this is the decade that was largely responsible for completely bastardizing the image of the ninja, long before Naruto made it cool. And that brings us to our subject, the Sam Firstenberg masterpiece that finally reveals the immortal truth that only a ninja can defeat a ninja.

Sam Firstenberg was a dominant force in the 80's independent film market, with his drama One More Chance gaining plenty of recognition at film festivals. Since then, he has been content with hopping on cultural bandwagons of the time period, with classic films like the American Ninja franchise, and the immortal Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. Truly this was a man born to carry the 80's.

But more importantly, this movie stars Sho Kosugi, pretty much THE go-to guy when someone wanted a ninja in his movie. Heck, he's so well-known for this type of role that he would be in the homage film Ninja Assassin years later. His other claim to fame is getting to fight Jean-Claude van Damme (as a ninja, obviously) in Black Eagle, and he would go on to become heavily involved in Japanese television in the 90's, including voice roles in Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero and even Ninja Sentai Kakuranger! I swear that last bit of trivia was just a coincidence; not everything I talk about is Super Sentai related! So much for getting readers other than people looking for fansubs of tokusatsu illegally uploaded online.

100 Years After Part 2: Dancing with the Has-Beens

Naturally, Nobuta is the only one staring at the camera.

Last time: It's 100 years in the future, but no significant advancements have been made except for mechanical pets! The future Kyoryugers aren't dazzling and can't do splits, so they have no hope of defeating the Fashionista Bros. The new Paragon, Candelira, is still annoying and can't lead to save her life! The Love Touch remake has a 32% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 3.8 on IMDB! Okay, I made that last part up, but more importantly Luckiero is captured or something! But there is still hope, as the Kyoryugers discover their proper Ranger colors at almost exactly the same time, just as Candelira discovers some easily uncovered Beast Batteries! Can this uncanny streak of narrative convenience and luck continue long enough to bring the bad guys to their explosive deaths? Spoiler alert: Yes, it can.

Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger: 100 Years After (People Stopped Caring)

I was originally going to make this post a super long one, but I've decided that since no one would be suicidal enough to read something that long (unless it's The Agony Booth), plus the fact that I need some actual content on here, I'm splitting it into two parts. Most recaps will probably be in multiple parts.

You're back! And no one missed you!

I can't stand Kyoryuger. I really can't. I know that it has its fans, and apparently it's one of the most financially successful seasons of Super Sentai in a while now, but if I were to introduce someone to this massive franchise, this is one of the last seasons that I'd use. Frankly, I think the characters are boring, the villains are ineffectual, and any chance of any sort of emotional impact that the series could have inflicted went down the drain almost instantly with lots of unfunny moments (with exceptions, of course), and inane asspulls on the writers' parts. I probably wouldn't be as pissed off if I hadn't already known that Super Sentai was capable of so much more, but I do know, and I'm very disappointed.

On that note, the wonderful, wonderful folks over at Over-Time just released their fansub of this direct-to-video spinoff movie, and being the unconditionally loyal fanboy that I am, graciously lent my free time to subject myself to the further adventures of the superhero team that I couldn't care less about. And I must say, wow. And not the happy, bubbly "Wow!" that Amy would sporadically shout in the show. I mean the shocked wow at the sheer knowledge that something this painfully annoying could exist. I may not be a big Kyoryuger fan, but nothing could have prepared me for this. I was wondering what my first real post should be, and then along came this "movie" (which is 51 minutes long, by the way, 50 minutes too long). And now you shall suffer with me, whoever was unfortunate enough to stumble on this page.

Obligatory Introductory Post

Hello, all.

So I started this blog, largely because I have spent far too long on the internet dealing with poorly written and unfunny reviews of stuff, and I thought to myself, "Hey, that could be me, too!" So now, naturally, here I am, writing half-assed and lazy blog posts about whatever happens to cross mind, most of it relating to random shit about pop culture, and virtually none of it to anything worthwhile. 

I am still not entirely sure of what I am going to be ranting on about, but it will definitely be very recapful, hence the title.

So anyway, a little about myself. I am a college student with embarrassing amounts of free time, and a tendency to talk about monsters and the rainbow colored freaks who fight them. I am the defender of all things Studio Ghibli and the destroyer of all things Seth MacFarlane and Chuck Lorre. 

Expect a lot of misinformation, infrequent updates, bias and narrow-mindedness, coming soon, to probably no one's computer screens.

Good-bye, all.