It's been a long, long time since I've done one of these...
Welcome to the topic jambalaya known as CCLemon99 Magazine! I haven't done one of these in almost two years, but I guess I have enough small topics rattling around in my brain to do another issue.
Before I get started, I hope you're staying safe and sane. It's been rough lately and I know that a lot of us exist on different levels of introvert. Personally I love to travel and was in Las Vegas *just* before things started shutting down. I miss getting out, but I also want to be a responsible person. The State that I live in is being hit particularly hard, so it's really important to be diligent and take things slow. I hope you're staying well during all of this.
Enough of that...let's get into some topics.
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Streaming!
This shouldn't be a massive shock, but I'm not a fan of streaming. I know, I know...the guy with the massive media collection doesn't like the idea of shelling out $10+/month in perpetuity to have the chance to view things as long as precious licensing agreements are intact. Call me fickle, but I just like having a disc.
However.
The past couple of months have been awesome for Tokusatsu fans.
There are a few small blips of weirdness.
-Super Sentai releases are not happening in North America due to licensing (my next post will cover this more indepth) but are available outside of NA.
-Kamen Rider series are being done elsewhere.
-Some Metal Hero series are being omitted due to licensing (VR Troopers, Beetleborgs). Juspion had itself a big Bluray release recently, which I hope you all snagged! I think Kamen Rider ZO and J will likely be skipped out due to the same reason the VR Trooper Metal Hero series are.
-All of the Fushigi Comedy Series are being released...except Shushutorian. I have a theory that the Ultraman episode is what killed that prospect. I can't see any other reason for that series to be skipped. Maybe the girls' reunion in Kakuranger 35 brings it a little too close to that Sentai license? Nah......
Once they got over the initial hiccup of the channel being copyright taken down by none other than Toei (Ha!) It's been running solid with the uploads.
Ultraman...nothing really new there. I am certainly enjoying the ongoing Bluray releases more than the streaming. Looking forward to eventually getting a Leo and 80 Bluray.
This really is the golden age of legal Tokusatsu accessibility outside of Japan. Please...let's not screw this up.
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Long-time pal Mike Dent created excellent 25 minute doc on the Shogun Warriors line on his Vintage Henshin Youtube Channel. I also recommend checking out his Unpacking The Toys That Made Us video for obvious reasons.
Be sure to give him a like, a subscribe, a smooch and tell him I said "Hi".
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Some Isolation Listening
During this whole global mess that we're in as of this writing, I've been mostly staying home. When I do have to venture out for work, I do so alone. So I've really been listening to music and podcasts non-stop to keep myself occupied.
Here are some mini-reviews of a handful of random things that stuck out during a re-listen.
I write about music all the time on this site, yet I never really dig into what kind of music I like outside of the random album I may be talking about. KMFDM has always been one of those bands I've dug the most out of my love for industrial rock. The [symbols] album in particular holds dear since it was the first thing I ever picked up from the band.
In 2020 this album still slams. It isn't my favorite effort of theirs, but I found myself even more drawn to it upon my recent revisit. Especially as the world has kinda spiralled into madness recently. Oddly prophetic for 1997...or were they always just calling out the inevitable? I mean the album's name is a set of Emojis before they were even a thing...
Some other great songs from other albums are the '90 version of GODLIKE, Virus [Dub], Liebeslied, and Help Us Save Us Take Us Away. Oh...and ITCHY BITCHY! I could go on and on about KMFDM, but I can almost feel your eyes glazing over through the internet.
Just know that if a song is a whack-ass dance banger from the late 80s and early 90s, I probably like it. It's why I have such an affinity for the Liveman's Ashita ni ikiru ze!.
KMFDM sucks!
Tokusatsu Oh!~Forever Chumei Watanabe~
I talked about this album way back in 2015, but I'm here to report that I still love it. This is the ultimate Tokusatsu cover album...and I genuinely hate Eurobeat! Maybe I don't, though. Maybe this is the only instance where it's done right.
The whole album is definitely an experience and one that I just wanted to remind you of it's existence.
I couldn't find this album on Youtube, though I didn't look particularly hard. I'm feeling generous, though. I'm likely going to rip this for flacs soon and they may accidentally leak out onto the internet... Anything is possible...
I may talk about this one in the future since I know there are some Sukeban Deka fans out there. This album is the most recent Sukeban Deka CD release and is already pretty much sold out. Trying to collect every song from all three series is a pain because it seems like everyone had their own label.
This disc has a lot of the really fun songs, though. None of the girls are particularly good at singing, but Yui Asaka is probably the most competent. I really enjoy the mastering of this album. It's loud and forceful...great for a set of largely upbeat tracks.
The movie itself is easily my favorite of Jackie Chan's Police Story movies. No, I don't mean the US version called "Supercop". The unedited Police Story III with the Cantonese track for me, please. The movie is just so gritty and grim. It used all of the weird happenstance stuff from the first two films and removed the cartoonishness. He may have gone a bit further with Crime Story, but that movie rules as well.
The movie has a great soundtrack to accompany it. The Cantonese version of the ending credit theme by Jackie Chan is also probably my favorite song of his. Yes, better than Kung Fu Fighting Man. I picked it up this CD like a thousand years ago when it was still reasonably available and still give it a random re-listen.
I started to write about this beast, but ended up hitting the pause button. How about a full review? I have another SEGA product to review as well. Maybe I should make a month of it? Hmmm...
More to come...
I've had this 3-Disc set for yeeeeears and never listened past the first disc. In all fairness, I mostly picked it up for it's low price and the fact that the first disc has some great songs. Overnight Heat, The Mi-Ha, and 17 Sai are great singles to build a career on. Personally I love The Stress -Stress Chuukinto Version the best. Oddly enough I just found out that the weirdly delightful video for the song got caught up in the Youtube algorithm recently for whatever reason. *shrug*
I decided to give the rest of this set a listen. Not so much for this mini-review, but because I paid for the whole set, not just the first disc. Besides, some of Moriaka's most successful work was released beyond the first disc.
I regret not getting into her later songs sooner. Things really pick up with her 1995 single Futari wa koibito -- a song that I absolutely adore now. The video for the song is pretty rad too since since Moritaka does dual duty on drums and other instruments for the majority of her songs. Moritaka is definitely a very talented entertainer and once the 80s were behind her, she really shined just a little bit brighter.
While I don't think the set needs a full examination, I really did enjoy scoping it out more. Even her Chistmas single is pretty damn catchy...
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I almost made a full post out of this, but I think I should just reduce my stress and complain about this as briefly as possible.
I haaaaaaate the packaging for a lot of the Kiramager toys. So far I've only gotten the DX Kiramai Changer and I don't think I have many thoughts on the toy itself. The packaging is so close to the lousy "TRY ME!" type packaging that all shitty American toys use. It doesn't go that far, though. The toy is still contained fully in plastic. The issue is that any kind of window, especially a protruding one like this, has to be handled with extreme care. It's just going to pick up so much dust and scratches and schmutz over the years.
The toy itself seems to be of the same fragility. Yeah, if you go on Amazon Japan you'll find all kind of third party sellers selling screen protectors for the damn thing. Really?? I see a lot of damaged loose toys in the future.
Like I said, I don't want to get into this too much for my sanity's sake...but c'mon!
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That's all I have for now. Feel free to check out past issues of my little magazine deal for more irrelevant chatter. I'll be back next month with a post that has been marinating for almost an entire year. I think. Unless I write about something else.
Take care and see you soon!
-CC
CCLemon99 Magazine Issue 2
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