Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger S2 09 – General Pain Strikes Back

After General Pain discovered the wonders of the Grand Delusion and how it affects reality, it's time for him to execute his plan to destroy the Akibarangers! What is this plan and why our heroes recreating a couple of stock Super Sentai plots?

This episode is the nerdiest episode of the show's two seasons. It's so nerdy that there are a lot of times that I am geeking out! I mean, it's just that I recognize those stock episodes and the unintentional call backs they made to the previous season. For starters, Nobuo said that he wants a swimsuit episode in the previous season... and he finally has it in this episode only for it to happen in the wrong time! They also did the fake wedding stock plot, which lead to some great comedy considering that most of it ends with an almost kiss and Nobuo exaggerating the kiss is seriously fun to watch.

But what I didn't expect is that they feature a plot that has something to do with a marathon that happens before Christmas. I don't remember Super Sentai having that kind of episode that is until it makes sense when General Pain revealed his plan. Turns out that he wants the Akibarangers to experience all the major stock episodes of your average Super Sentai episode till they reach the part the team is at its weakest. In short, around the time they have introduced all the toys, which is in December. In short, the plan is so nerdy that it makes a lot of sense in a Meta fashion!

With that in mind, it is time to release the Coelacanth Kans, a giant enemy mecha inspired by the Mecha Giants from Choudenshi Bioman. What I like about it is that this Mecha Giant feels like an actual Mecha Giant from Bioman, except it is made with better materials. Another thing great about its arrival is the opening the battle, the use of the Bio Robo theme is really great and the CGI for the Itashar Robo looks so real that I wish that scene featuring Itashar Robo lasted longer, but nope, Itashar Robo must lose because that's how Super Sentai works.

But since this show is an authorized love letter that pays tribute to the Super Sentai franchise's very long history, it's obvious that our heroes will win! But since this episode is halfway done and they can't do the obligatory training episode, the only option left is a debut of a new mecha. To make matters more complicated, a brainwashed Malsheena is hunting our heroes! It's quite interesting seeing Malsheena not arguing with General Pain for once, I mean, she feels so lifeless. Her attitude that makes her one fun character to watch is now lost. But hey, at least she's got some new Wolzard like powers. What's more is that after she absorbed the Akibaranger's Penultimate Powers, she summoned 3 past Super Sentai enemy generals!

To be honest, the choice of summoned generals doesn't make sense. I mean it's not the counterparts of the respective Penultimate Powers and that there is no representative of the 80's and 90's enemy generals! I know it has something to do with cutting costs when it comes to costumes, but at least have one 80's or 90's Super Sentai villain! Oh well, at least the combined weapon based on the three villains looks rushed and I am okay with it.

Powerless, Hakase finally bought our heroes a new car that will serve as their secondary mecha... and it turns out to be a toy car. This is when things start to become interesting. Earlier in the episode, Luna once again emphasized that the reason why she became an Akibaranger is for her career. In this scene featuring the new mecha, she tries her best to say the words for the car to transform. The reason why she is doing it is because she easily accepts that the little toy car is their new mecha. This is when I realized something; her honesty is one of her strong traits. She just tells us what she feels and what she wants and it didn't help that she is sincere every time she says it.

Because of her actions, the two surprised Akibarangers accepted it since hey, it's their new mecha whether they like it or not. As per tradition, since this mecha is smaller than the main mecha, its name is Itashar Boy, and boy, he has some moves that your Itashar Robo doesn't have such as flight and can fight machines 10 times of its size, heck, make it 20 times of its size! Seeing this tiny mecha punch Coelacanth Kans is one amazing sight to see. I mean, it looks impossible but it is now happening that's why it is awesome! It didn't help that General Pain's facial reactions while seeing his precious monsterkins getting beaten up by a tiny toy robot is just priceless.

At the end, General Pain is shocked and a plot twist from the previous season returns. Yes, Hakase's scorpion mark makes a comeback but the bigger question is what the is mark's role this season? Also, we see more of Malsheena taking care of some guy in a hospital. The bigger question is who is the guy in the hospital bed and why Malsheena is taking care of him/her?

Hiroyo Hakase Demonstrates the Different Functions of the DX MMZ-02

Maaya Uchida recently reprise her role as Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger's Hiroyo Hakase in a special video presentation of the DX MMZ-02 Munyu Munyu Zubaan!


In the show's second season, the MMZ-02 is used by AkibaRed to call forth his waifu, Aoi-tan to become Super AkibaRed! This 1/1 scale representation of the item is 360mm long and combine with the DX MMZ-01 to form the Moe Moe Zubaa-Cune.

The DX MMZ-02 Munyu Munyu Zubaan costs 15,750 yen and is slated for a September release.

[via JEFusion]

Akibaranger's Kyoko Hinami Now Hospitalized After Taxi Accident

Last August 15th, actress and model Kyoko Hinami of Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger fame was hit by a taxi in inner Shibuya.

The accident happened around 8pm when she was walking in the streets when a taxi hit her. She was apparently hit hard in her head and back, which caused her to lose consciousness. According to eye witness accounts, they claimed that Ms. Hinami has a confused look on her face and walked rather strange right before she was hit.

As of August 17th, she has regained consciousness with no life threatening issues. From all of us here, get well soon.

Source: Henshin Justice

S.H. FiguArts Chou AkibaRed Super Official Images

Bandai Tamashii Nations posted the official images of S.H. FiguArts Chou AkibaRed Super! This figure represents the special appearance of Super AkibaRed as seen in Akibaranger Season 2's 12th episode.


This figure stands 150mm tall and comes with an extra scarf, MMZ-01, MMZ-02, Itasshar BOY Decal and a set of interchangeable hands. This Tamashii Web Exclusive figure costs 3,675 yen and is set for an October release.

S.H. FiguArts Chou AkibaRed Super Revealed

The latest issue of Hobby Japan magazine revealed that Bandai will release a S.H. FiguArts Chou AkibaRed Super! This figure is basically S.H. FiguArts Super AkibaRed in gold paint.

This Tamashii Web Exclusive figure costs 3,675 yen and is set for an October 2013 release. More information and images about this figure will be revealed in later weeks.

Source: Firestarter's Blog

Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger S2 Episode 13 Preview

Here's the preview of Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger Season 2's 13th episode. Just like the first season, this episode is also a recap episode.

Official Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger S2 English Subs Now Available on YouTube!

Just like last year, Toei Company, Ltd. and Bandai Hong Kong collaborated to release the official English subs of Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger Season 2 on YouTube!

As of this writing, the first episode of the season is available in both English and Chinese subs. It is likely that this video is not available outside of Asia.


It's been nine months since they fought a decisive battle in the Delusion World to protect Akihabara. Now, our heroes have returned to their daily lives. Visiting the Sentai Café Secret Base, Nobuo reminisces with Hiroyo Hakase about his days as an Akibaranger. Yet something isn't quite right about their recollections...

Akibaranger S2 Ending Album & Official Soundtrack Covers Revealed

The cover art for the Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger Season 2 Ending Album. Said album contains the ending themes used in the TV series. These ending themes are covers of the opening, insert and ending and more songs from "official" Super Sentai shows.

In addition, a Deluxe Edition of the Ending Album will also be released. Said album contains an extra disc, which features unreleased tracks. Both albums will be released this July 3rd. Pre-orders are now available via CDJapan. You can start pre-ordering by clicking the links found below.

Regular Edition (2,667 yen) | Deluxe Edition (3,333 yen)

In addition, here's the cover of the Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger Season 2 Official Soundtrack, which features music composed by Kenji Kawai. The album also includes insert songs as bonus tracks for the album.

This album will be released this June 26th and costs 2,800 yen. Pre-orders are now available via CDJapan.

Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger S2 08 – A Villain's Legacy

And the legacy of badass sunset duels.

Tento Raiger is now Mutou Mushiten, a Beast Fist practitioner whose special ability is to use moves coming from past Super Sentai enemy commanders! With that in mind, how can they stop him? Also, can the Akibarangers find General Pain at the end of this episode?

Now that General Pain can enter the Delusion World freely, it adds up the difficulty of the situation our heroes are in. What made it more interesting is that he can now interfere every time Malsheena tries to pull a death flag, ensuring his victory over our heroes. This is when Mutou Mushiten comes in; he is like the ultimate Super Sentai enemy commander as he has all the abilities of past Super Sentai commanders! What's more is that according to Nobuo, his moves are the real deal and not just some imitation made by a fan!

Seeing him in action proves how powerful he is as he easily trashed the Akibarangers with his moves. But because of Malsheena wants to defeat Akibarangers all by herself, she decided to interfere in the battle, causing Mutou Mushiten to lose interest. Because of his actions, General Pain decides to let Mutou Mushiten do what he wants and because Mushiten hates Malsheena, General Pain decides to preserve her in a block of ice similar to what happened to Princess Ial in Maskman. Speaking of which, I just love that most of Mutou Mushiten's moves are based on 80's Super Sentai shows. I mean, Gokaiger barely did any blatant references to 80's Super Sentai shows aside from the tribute episodes!

Because of Mushiten's power, they return to the real world and thanks to a lead found by Luna in the Delusion World, they continue their search to look for General Pain in the real world. This then lead us to some spa and now, their mission is to remove his towel to confirm that the man described by one of their earlier inquiries is General Pain. Their methods to force "General Pain" to remove his towel in the face and get some info from him is really fantastic. Their efforts on trying to get the info they want are really interesting, only to fail at the end... less Yuko of course.

Now that they were able to confirm that he is indeed evil, they decide to confront him, only to find out that he is veteran suit actor Yoshinori Okamoto aka O-BITOH in some of the credits! What I like about this scene is Luna's reactions, I just love that she has no freakin' clue on who he is and compared to those clueless Luna scenes in the previous episodes, I am not annoyed by it, instead I am enjoying it! This is when I realized something; Luna is becoming one interesting character after I understand her gimmick. She is an idol wannabe whose only knowledge about Super Sentai is very limited and is clueless about it for most of the time. I really like this gimmick; it's the complete opposite of the older Akibarangers!

Now that we meet O-BITOH, we learned that he was hired by General Pain to do some motion capture for him. Now it makes sense why Mutou Mushiten's moves are authentic! Guess that is likely the case of the commanders not suit acted by Okamoto then. I mean, General Pain is so nerdy that I can expect that he will do the same thing with the other Super Sentai villain commander suit actors just to make Mutou Mushiten one perfect enemy commander.

Speaking of which, we also learned one thing, Okamoto's love of losing beautifully. This is when I realize something, even if most kids will just ignore a certain enemy commander's death, the ones inside the suit put a lot of effort just to make the death of the enemy commander really memorable, and with that, my respect for the men inside the suits skyrocketed. What they are doing is what you call dedication and I just love how proud Okamoto is with his battle scars. Now that the Akibarangers understand Okamoto's love of losing beautifully, it served as their clue on how they can defeat Mutou Mushiten.

When they returned in the Delusion World, our heroes decided to perform what they learned from Okamoto. What better way to setup a perfect villain death is by having one cool sunset background and have Nobuo play the Niibori Red! Now that Mushiten is fired up thanks to the setup, it's time for the duel between these two and boy, it was amazing. So amazing that I was expecting that it will end up with Nobuo defeating Mushiten with his own hands, but nope, they need to use the new Penultimate Bazooka!

The formation of the Penultimate Bazooka is better compared to the formation of the Penultimate Cannon. What made it awesome compared to the Penultimate Cannon when it comes to the combination is that this formation feature the official heroes ceiling! As for the actual weapon, it looks really interesting for a team cannon finisher and is something that I already expected after seeing the Dairen Bomber for the first time. I mean, they can use other weapons representing Dairanger! The hand design just give away that the team will have new team bazooka when I first saw it.

At the end, they defeated Mushiten and for once, there are no changes that happened in the real world!  Oh, and the Akibarangers now have a new lead to General Pain's whereabouts. Meanwhile in some hospital, we are once again given a glance of the guy confined inside the hospital. The only clue we have is that he is one weak person and that he is watching Boukenger. Now the mystery of this strange guy is becoming more interesting.

Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger S2 07 – Obligatory Evil Sentai Team Episode

After discovering the powers of the Delusion World, General Pain decides to fulfill his dream to create a new Gouraiger... only for Malsheena to ruin it by turning her into Jakanja's Dark Spear No. 10. As expected, it caused a lot of problems in the real world but the bigger problem is that the Gouraigers are now space ninjas!

Before talking about the actual episode, I'll first talk about the technical stuff and to be more specific, it has something to do with the official voices. To be honest, I seriously find it funny that Nao Nagasawa is the voice of Hadezkin aka Tento Raiger instead of reprising her role as Hurricane Blue in the episode. Speaking of the Hurricanegers and the Gouraigers, they don't sound similar to the original cast, less Hurricane Blue who sounds like Nanami in her earlier years.

Now to the actual episode, it feels like it is parodying your typical Super Sentai Versus movies, the good guys of the past series are now evil, current team tries their best for the previous team to make them good again then the team up. What better way to parody this is by featuring the team with the most Super Sentai Versus team-ups, the Hurricanegers! No seriously, if you count the Gokaiger team-up, they at least teamed up with 3 Super Sentai teams, same with the Gokaigers. This is when the problem stars to rise, General Pain wanted an evil Sentai team, but what Malsheena did is to create new Jakanja members!

What made it interesting is the fact that General Pain ordered Malsheena to do her research the next time he sends a monster! I just love how they misunderstood each other, it adds up the chemistry of these two characters. Since Hadezkin is considered a MOTW and not an evil Ranger, she also has special abilities and her ability is to remove the "heart" of her victims. As seen in this episode, she removed the heart of justice of the Gouraigers and eats it. This is the reason why the Gouraigers are evil in this episode and I like this really cheesy explanation on why they are now evil.

After we are introduced to the three new Dark Spears, this is when General Pain explained his plan and thus, it led to the creation of the Ninja Beetle Sentai Jakanja! The new evil Sentai team is really fantastic and just like all evil Sentai teams in their first debut, they easily defeated our heroes, causing them to retreat. But that's not all, since they are also part of Jakanja's Dark Spears whose names are based on the days of a week, there are now 3 new days in the week! What made it interesting is that these 3 new days has new anti-otaku laws. It's seriously fun to watch and I like the fact that they are too serious with these anti-otaku laws!

Thanks to the anti-cosplay law, Yuko ends up running away from the law, same with General Pain causing them to meet up in your traditional warehouse with the rest of the Akibaranger team. This scene marks the first time all 3 Akibarangers meet General Pain. But thanks to Nobuo's delusion, they end up meeting Tento Raiger, which caused them to enter the world of Grand Delusion. This is quite a disadvantage to the part of the Akibarangers because their archenemy now knows their secret identity.

In the Delusion World, the Akibarangers fight the evil Sentai team while performing some moves from the ninjas in Super Sentai, well it's mostly moves from Kakuranger, but what the heck, it is nice to see some modern interpretations on some trademark Kakuranger moves! Anyway, their method in trying to remind the Gouraigers that they are Earth-based ninja is ineffective for obvious reasons. I mean, they are not doing Hurricaneger moves or Gouraiger moves! But thankfully, the Hurricanegers arrive just to save the Akibarangers... same with General Pain who makes his debut in the Delusion World. Guess it is now fair that both sides know who they are fighting.

The Hurricaneger fight scene in this episode is great, aside from the voices, my other complain in this episode is the Akibaranger "power up" for Hurricane Red. Seriously, it feels like it was made so that he will have a special Akibaranger attachment to his S.H. FiguArts figure just like what Ryuu Ranger, Kiba Ranger, Tyranno Ranger and Dragon Ranger have. Based on the symbol, he is wearing Shurikenger's Fire Mode symbol so that he can do Shurikenger's baseball finishing move... only to fail at the end. My friends, this is what you called forced toy advertising, and it didn't work out.

Now that this advertising is over, let's go back to the plot of the episode, how the Gouraigers remembered their past. I find it really hilarious that they remembered their past thanks to their old job as construction workers. The way they ponder that they are superheroes but they don't have money for their daily expenses is seriously brilliant. Also, this scene is a direct tribute to the fact that the Hurricanegers and the Gouraigers have day jobs as part of their cover and for them to have money. Now that their memory is back and that General Pain disappears, this is obviously the perfect death flag for Tento Raiger!

After the obligatory Super Sentai Versus roll call, they also poked fun on Super Sentai's logic when it comes to beating up monsters. I mean, why have five people or in this case, eight people beat up a single monster? It's hilarious and I really like their logic about why they need more than one person to beat a single MOTW. Instead of your typical Super Sentai Versus fight scene, they just went straight with the Penultimate Power of the Hurricanegers, the Hurricane Ball. The new Penultimate Power's finisher is just fine in my own opinion, it is not as flashy as the previous two powers and it does the job of defeat the MOTW.

Now that they are done with it, everything is back to normal, General Pain is making a new monster, which looks like Tento Raiger and lastly, we have this very brief scene in a hospital. I don't know how this scene will be important in later episodes, but I guess it is worth bringing up since they are likely to expand it in later episodes.