My third trip into Bandai's S.H. Figuarts line is yet another Sentai, only this time it's not a Red. Shinken Gold is the 6th member of the Samurai Sentai Shinkenger team, and the second (and last) to be made available at retail. Shinken Blue, Green, Yellow, Pink and Red (Kaoru ver.) were all Tamashii web exclusives). Much like his red team mate, Shinken Gold has a fantastic sculpt which captures both the simplicity of the suit and the raised visor pieces on the helmet. The gold and blue colouring compliment each other nicely, with the gold not being too flat nor too shiny. He uses the same system of joints as Shinken Red, so unless you are familiar with how they work you might want to be careful when initially posing him just so there aren't any accidental breakages from putting pressure in the wrong places. Removing the hands is a simple task and stay firmly on the wrist joints when applied. Shinken Gold also comes with a fantastic range of accessories - beside...

Juken Sentai Gekiranger is the 31st Super Sentai series, taking over from GoGo Sentai Boukenger. 4000 years ago, a martial art known as Jūken was created by man named Brusa Ee in which one mimics the abilities of animals as well as trying to attain spiritual peace. However, dissent grew among the creator's ten students. Three of them believed that they should use the suffering and hatred harnessed within humans to increase their power, using their power to assume monstrous forms; the Three Kenma. After murdering Brusa Ee, the Kenma gathered followers to practice an evil form of the Jūken style known as Rin Jūken Akugata. The other seven students believed that true strength should come from within and engaged their former friends in a great war, ending the fight with a forbidden technique to seal the Kenma' powers at the cost of losing their own human forms in the process, becoming the Seven Kensei. Followers of the Kensei created the Geki Jūken Beast Arts school: the Jūken of ...

Back in December 2009 I gave the Macross Frontier TV series a 5 out of 5 review . Not only was it a brilliant series, but it was also my first foray into the Macross franchise, which quickly became one of my favourite anime properties. But the Macross Frontier story didn't end there (well, it technically did, but work with me here), as 2 feature films were released in 2009 and 2011. These films, titled 'The False Songstress' ( Itsuwari no Utahime ) and 'The Wings of Goodbye' ( Sayonara no Tsubasa ) do not follow the events of the TV series, instead offering an alternate story with the same characters much like 'Do You Remember Love?' did with the original series. I decided to patiently wait until both films were released so I could review the entire story, and now that time has come. Since I've already reviewed the series, I won't go into the initial premise of Macross Frontier, and will begin by taking a look at the first of the two movies. The...

At an anime convention I attended over the summer, Alien Defender Geo-Armor: Kishin Corps (or Kishin Corps for short) was summarised to me as "people fighting aliens and Nazi robots that shoot swastika lasers". With a description like that, obviously my interest was piqued and I immediately went home to download the 7 episode OVA series. Based on a series of light novels by Masaki Yamada, Kishin Corps is set in an alternate history, specifically during World War II. Amidst the war and destruction, the planet is also hit by an alien invasion, but the two sides seem content on continuing their war despite this aggressive new threat. An orphaned teenager named Taishi suddenly finds himself at the center of a struggle over a mysterious black case entrusted to him by his father, Professor Tokamura. The case contains the controlling mechanism for one of the giant Geo-Armor Robots, and the Japanese Kanto Army, the alien invaders, and the Kishin Corps all want to recover the d...

Power Rangers S.P.D. (or Space Patrol Delta) is the 13th season of the Power Rangers franchise, following on from Power Rangers Dino Thunder. The story takes place in the year 2025, after Earth has welcomed alien beings to live peacefully with the human race. But peace is short lived, as the planet-conquering Troobian Empire turns its destructive attention to Earth. When the Earth's first line of defense, the S.P.D. A-Squad, vanishes without trace, the protection of the planet falls to their replacements: the B-Squad Rangers, and their doglike alien commander, Anubis "Doggie" Cruger. When two reformed thieves join the team as the Red and Yellow S.P.D. Rangers, tensions threaten to tear them apart. With the alien threat growing stronger every moment, the Rangers must put aside their differences and go into action as one. S.P.D. has an excellent group of protagonists. Where I've often found other series' have left particular members underdeveloped at the expens...

A complete set of original Power Rangers Zeo action figures! I've had the red, green, yellow and gold rangers since they were first released, but for some reason never got blue and pink. Managed to get a blue off eBay a couple of months ago but an affordable pink had been eluding me for ages - I seemed to either completely miss auctions or I'd get outbid in the last second. So yeah, I'm pretty happy right now. Hoping I can pick up a gun and blade for Pink and Blue's tonfas at some point.

Bubblegum Crisis is possibly the first anime I ever heard about. When I was younger, any VHS I bought released by ADV (so the Sonic the Hedgehog and Tekken movies) always had an advert for it, and even then it always looked like something I'd enjoy. So here I am, years later, watching the original Bubblegum Crisis OVAs for the very first time. These eight episodes were released between 1989 and 1991. The series takes place in the year 2032 in the city of MegaTokyo. Japan is still slowly piecing itself back together after the destruction of the Second Great Kanto Earthquake. The Genom Corporation, known for their intelligent labour robots (called Boomers), took a major role in the rebuilding of Tokyo, and as a result has become one of the largest corporations in the world. While the Boomers are supposed to serve humanity, in the wrong hands they are a deadly threat. Enter the AD Police force, who are tasked with dealing with any Boomer-related crime in the city. The only proble...