Chôseijin Gransazer

[Xenorama ™]

Ryô Segawa ... Tenma Kudô / Sazer Tarious (Fire Tribe)
Asuka Shimizu ... Mika Shidô / Sazer Mithras (Fire Tribe)
Kôhei Takeda ... Ken Shidô / Sazer Lion (Fire Tribe)
Hideaki Serizawa ... Akira Dentsûin / Sazer Remls
Maya Hoshino ... Ryôko Amemiya / Sazer Velsou
Ren Matsuzawa ... Jin Hakariya / Sazer Dail (Wind Tribe)
Tomohide Takahara ... Naoto Matsuzaka / Sazer Tawlon
Sayaka Isoyama ... Ran Saotome / Sazer Visuel (Earth Tribe)
Sôji Masaki ... Gô Kamiya / Sazer Tragos (Earth Tribe)
Shunsaku Kudô ... Atsushi Misonogi (Chief of Defense)
Mika Chiba ... Karin Saeki (Akelon Agent)
Shoichiro Akaboshi ... Ichirô Horiguchi
Kumiko Itou ... Ai Uozumi / Sazer Pisces (Water Tribe)
Hideki Okada ... Makoto Sorimachi / Sazer Gorbion
Takuma Sugawara ... Taippei Mikami / Sazer Gans
Tomonori Yoshida ... Soichiro Okita

well, episode one is kind of interesting. i do miss shows shot on film, though i can see why it's done this way now.

anyway, lots of fighting, better than the current crop of Kamen Rider shows. boy, did that "matrix" style crap get old in a hurry. sure, one shot is cool, but really, does every show have to do the 360 degree rotate?

[ultramaniscool]

I never liked this show. I always thought that it was toho trying to rip off sentai.

[Shonokin]

This was a nice attempt by Toho to get back into the groove of sentai and metal hero stuff. Kawakita's effects were top notch and I'd dare say a lot more artful and stylish than his Godzilla work in the 90's. I find the 5 team sentai headache inducing so the really massive cast for this one was pretty overwhelming. Justirisers was more my speed with just the three heroes. I'd watch the Toho stuff any time over Toei's sentai.

[Zone Fighter]

Actually, it was Konami (Toho's sponsor) trying to cut in on some of Bandai's toy sales. Anything that reduces Bandai's hold over tokusatsu is a good thing. There was a time when toys were produced as a result of a successful series, not before the series even aired.

Toho had group of heroes in Bankid, back in 1976, while Toei's Goranger was still running. And Toho was the first to combine a group of peole in different colord suits with a giant hero (not a mecha) in Megaloman, in 1979.

And finally Toei stole the multiform bit for their Kamen Rider Kuuga and later series from Toho's 1972 series Rainbowman.

[Xenorama ™]

i think i'd like to see more, but i'm not in any hurry. so much out to watch from so many sources... yikes! but that's fine for me.

thanks for sending it, Zone!

[Shonokin]

Oh I wanted to mention, I liked the heavies in Gransazer much more than the ones in Justirizer (If I'm remembering correctly). In Gransazer they are more in-depth humanoid types whereas in Justi they are more run of the mill sentai-like comicbook villains. That gave the episodes something more to glam onto as the story progressed.