Great Scott! Remember the 5th of November

For some reason, November 5 gets remembered for some crazy Catholic trying to blow up British Parliament. People seem so quick to forget that today marks the greatest scientific achievement of our … of any time!

W is in Extremely Hot Water

Here we have the music video for Kamen Rider W’s opening theme – “W-B-X ~W Boiled Extreme~.” The singer is Aya Kamiki. Now, I’m not going to pretend like I know anything about J-pop. I hardly know crap about American music. Still, the theme is pretty decent, and I like the video. The gimmick with Kamiki and guitarist TAKUYA changing with the gaia memories is cool.

However, is it just me, or does Aya Kamiki kind of look like Kristin Kreuk? Except that she’s hotter and actually Asian, therefore an obviously superior choice for Chun-Li.

Short Friday Post of New Toku Toys

Didn’t get much done this week for NikoScream. Working on a movie review that will hopefully be posted elsewhere soon. Of course, you can still find me on CineGeek for weekly comic reviews and occasional appearances on the CineGeek Podcast.

And for those who love me, here are a couple of new tokusatsu toys for an early Christmas list after the break.

MMPR Toys Morph from Old to New

Bandai has unveiled their new Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers toyline, to be released in 2010. Cheesy narration aside, the video got me excited. The figures themselves look nice, and I’m jumping for joy for a chance to finally have the original MMPR Megazord.

Mark Next Year’s Oct. 2 on Your Calendars

The County of Los Angeles and the Hero Initiative have declared October 2 at “Stan Lee Day” in honor of the man who brought us Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Daredevil and so much more.

While this only applies to Los Angeles and Long Beach, this holiday should soon spread and become a national holiday. Imagine the future where on every October 2nd, children have the day off from school and get to sleep in for the day, only to wake in their Spidey pjs to  a copy of Just Imagine Stan Lee Creating the DC Universe, Lee’s autobiography of Excelsior!: The Amazing Life of Stan Lee and a stack of old comics with “Stan’s Soapbox” columns by their bedside.

At night, the family would gather around the television set, roasting fire in the background, watching Marvel movies to catch Lee’s cameo. Just before the night is done, a candle is lit in the memory of Jack Kirby, igniting a gas to make everyone see Kirby dots.

This is a holiday I can believe in.

(Via Newsarama and The Hero Initiative)

Japan’s Former PM Promoted to Ultraman King

Japan’s ex-Prime Minister Junichirō Koizumi, who served in the early ’00s, is doing the voice for the Ultraman King premiering in the Ultra Series film Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend the Movie. The film features several of the past Ultramen from throughout the franchise.

I tend to actually enjoy politicians’ attempts to mingle with popular culture. It’s a nice try at trying to connect with people who don’t care about politics, even when it’s superficial at best. It’s usually humorous, either intentionally or not.

A Monster Invades AniMonday

SyFy’s AniMonday block premiered the suspense-thriller anime Monster last night with the first two episodes. Monster (click here for a trailer) is based off of the manga of the same name by Naoki Urasawa. It’s about Dr. Kenzo Tenma tracking down a psychopathic murderer who was once a patient that lead to Tenma’s fall from the hospital’s good graces.

Monster is a good departure from the typical anime we see air on American television. As serious as some people take shows like Gundam 00 and Gurren Lagann (guilty), Monster is a mature mystery without the stigma that giant robots or fantasy settings may bring to some people. Just a simple (or not-so-simple) murder mystery and good old scruple-less hospital bureaucracy in Germany around the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It’s an intriguing plot that starts laying out clues from the start and keeps going from there. Definitely worth a look even if it wasn’t in a short list of anime on American television.

SD Gundams Invade the Three Kingdoms

I guess adding a Gundam spin-off to the Dynasty Warriors game franchise wasn’t enough for Bandai. ANN reports that Bandai announced the anime adaptation of the SD Gundam model line based off of the famous Chinese story Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Titled BB Senshi Sangokuden, the model line re-imagines Gundams as characters in the story.

Some Gundam fans may still be carrying the stigma of the SD series, thanks to the completely CGI kiddy series Superior Defender Gundam Force. The SD line is also populated with parody series from the end of the ’80s – beginning of the ’90s, as well as multiple long-running model lines ranging from chibi-fying popular mobile suits from main Gundam series to modifying traditional Gundams to have a more fantasy samurai look. It’s that latter model line that’s inspired this new production, so to those Gundam fans dreading a rebirth of the CGI Superior Defender Gundam Force, don’t go into this with those same expectations and keep an open mind.

From (Skull) Man to Rider

With my last post, I mentioned how Kamen Rider Skull appeared to be a reference to the proto-Kamen Rider work – The Skull Man. I figured I’d show how it got from point A to point B, most likely missing some stops along the way.

Introducing Kamen Rider Skull

Just in time for Halloween.

Adrienzo over at the toku blog site ossia unveiled the latest addition to the Kamen Rider W cast: Kamen Rider Skull. Skull seems to appear in the December W movie, and the hat may be a tip to his identity for anyone who has seen the first episode of Kamen Rider W.