New Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger promo streamed

Just recently, the official Akibaranger website posted the second promo for the upcoming Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger: Season Two which starts on April 6th on BS Asahi which tells us the story for this season which takes place in an alternate universe or parallel world 9 months after the Evil Group Stema Otsu Corporation have been defeated by the Akibarangers!

There will also be plenty of guest stars who have worked on previous tokusatsu shows like Yu Kamio who played Dr. Maki from Kamen Rider OOO, Keiichi Wada, who is best known for his role as Ryo, Ryuu Ranger from Gosei Sentai Dairanger who also made a guest appearance on Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, Sakina Kuwae, best known for her role as Natsume Masaki from Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger, Ichiro Tomita, otherwise known by his stage name MoJo who performed the theme songs for Battle Fever J, Dai Sentai Goggle V, and Kagaku Sentai Dynaman, and Yukio Yamagata who is best known for performing the theme song of the 25th anniversary of the Super Sentai Series, Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger will all make guest appearances.

At the near end of the promo, we are shown the imaginary legends that will be appearing for this season!

Dragon Ranger and Tyranno Ranger from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger

Black Condor and Blue Swallow from Choujin Sentai Jetman

Deka Yellow from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger

Bouken Pink from Gogo Sentai Boukenger

And Kibaranger from Gosei Sentai Dairanger

For everyone out there who doesn't know about Power Rangers, Dragon Ranger and Tyranno Ranger had their footage from Zyuranger used for season 1 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as the Green and Red Rangers, and Kibaranger had his footage used for season 2 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as the White Ranger. The 5 main suits from Zyuranger were used for all 3 seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers until the annual suit change began with Power Rangers Zeo which was a loose adaptation of Chouriki Sentai Ohranger!

Anyways, who else is psyched about season 2 of Akibaranger besides yours truly?

Details of Akibaranger season 2 have emerged!

All of you may remember back in early January of this year, there was an official announcement that a season 2 of the comedic parody of the Super Sentai Series, Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger would be happening and that not much else was known about it!

Now we have more information about the upcoming season as well as the premiere date!

The second season officially called, "Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger: Season Two" (非公認戦隊アキバレンジャー シーズン痛(ツー) will be debuting on BS Asahi which is a broadcasting satellite, as well as Tokyo MX starting on April 6th. The good news is that almost all of the original cast members from the first season will be returning. The bad news is that Kyoko Hinami who is now best known for her role as Mitsuki Aoyagi will not be returning!
Unfortunately, the reason that Kyoko has chosen not to return for season 2 is unknown and left to fan speculation at this point! And as you can imagine, the fans of the first season aren't taking the news very well and are just as amazed and shocked about this as yours truly.
Replacing her will be 14 year old Shione Sawada as the new character, Luna Iwashimizu. And joining the cast for the 2nd season as the new villain is Ryo Horikawa who is the Japanese voice actor for Vegeta in the original Japanese dub of Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT, and Dragonball Z Kai as well as Makuramon on the original Japanese dub of Digimon Tamers and as Akumaro Sujigarano on Samurai Sentai Shinkenger as General Tsu.
There's also some new changes to the Akibaranger suits including a garter belt on Akiba Blue's legs, Akibba Blue and Akiba Yellow are sporting new 'hairdo's' for their new outfits, and Akiba Red has an armor upgrade in the form of an Aoi looking girl!

TV Nihon will be subbing Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger: Season Two since they did sub the first season as well as the announcement about season 2 back in January. So be sure to go to TV Nihon to download the fan subs as soon as they are released. Still no word on if Over-Time will be subbing Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger: Season Two at this time.

Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger season 2 announced!

Last year, Toei decided to do something a little bit different by creating a show that was geared towards the adults who used to watch the Super Sentai Series as a kid by coming up with a parody of the Super Sentai Series itself called Hikounin Sentai Akibaranger (Unofficial Squadron/Task Force Akibaranger).

The basic premise of the show is this:

Three individuals (a Super Sentai otaku, a cosplay otaku, and a closet anime otaku) are chosen by a beautiful scientist to become the "Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger" and "protect Akihabara" from a powerful group of villains that exist in their delusions. However, the fight eventually gets literally real when the villains begin to materialize in the real world.

This is REALLY a show that you have to watch for yourself is the only way to describe it!

Recently, the second season of Akibaranger was announced at the tail end of a "Kamen Rider x Super Sentai Live & Show 2013" event which was held at the Tokyo International Forum in Japan on the evening of July 12th! Sorry, but there's no subtitles so you guys will have to make do with it.

Unfortunately, there was no other information was given but I will keep all of you updated when new info becomes available like the premiere date! If you are an American fan who loved the first season like many of my friends from RVT Entertainment have, then you will want to download the subbed episodes from TV-Nihon!

Update: The fine folks at TV-Nihon have subbed the season 2 announcement of Akibaranger so everybody who has watched the Youtube video that wasn't subtitled can now download the subtitled version of the announcement and watch it for themselves!

Power Rangers 20th Anniversary!

It's almost been 20 years since the Power Rangers franchise began which is very hard to believe!

I know, I know, the official anniversary isn't until August 28th of 2013 but still. Now, for those of you who may or may not know, I've had this idea brewing in my head to have a special edition of the Nerd Fortress podcast celebrating the 20th anniversary of the franchise here in America.

And this is also going to be a good way to try and come back to the world of podcasting I feel!

Granted, I'm going to need to find a way to learn some audio stuff between now and August 28th, but this has been something that I've had planned ever since the original inception of the podcast. (No pun or relation to the movie intended)

I might get some other people to join in for this as well so it won't be just myself and my new co-host Devin which I feel would definitely work out a lot better. I'll try and talk to some people and see what happens but I'm not promising anything. But I'd really like to get some other people for this very momentous occasion. If I don't get anybody else on board, at least I can say that I tried!

Nothing is really set in stone as of yet so this gives me plenty of time to brainstorm and what not! And if anything does end up happening, I want it to be a surprise to everybody. That means I'm not going to be letting any type of information out into the open at all whatsoever, so you will have to wait and find out!

But for now I'll leave you with this, the 2nd intro for season 1 of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers that was used from the finale of the "Green With Evil" mini-series up until the start of season 2! "May the power protect you!"

My thoughts on the premiere of "AKB0048"

I just recently got finished watching the debut of the anime based on the very popular J-Pop idol group AKB48 called "AKB0048"! And to be quite honest, it is very different from your usual anime that you find watching nowadays. Like I said on the last episode of The Nerd Fortress Podcast before the hiatus, I have no idea what is is about stories with a post apocalyptic future with an oppressive government that feels like that they have to have control of everything or vice versa, but it just absolutely fascinates me!

AKB0048 tells the story of 4 teens who decide to audition to become members of the fictional group AKB0048 that are the successors to the real life popular Japanese Pop idol group AKB48  in a dystopian future where music is deemed illegal after an interplanetary war broke out where the Earth's ecosystem was damaged, and humanity was forced to flee the planet.

Not only does AKB0048 perform free concerts, they also take up arms to defend not only their careers, but their fans as well from the illegal ban on art and entertainment which also labels the idols as terrorists! And did I forget to mention that there are giant mechas in this anime also? 

Unfortunately, the only way for you to experience the anime for yourself is to download the first episode at http://evetaku.com/blog/2012/04/akb0048-episode-01-released/ since the Youtube video I previously had posted has been taken down because of a copyright claim!

Also, some of the members of AKB48 like Sumire Sato, Mayu Watanabe, and Amina Sato voice the 77th generation trainees of AKB0048 while popular voice actresses such as Mamiko Noto known for her work on the Japanese versions of Gunslinger Girl, Hell Girl, Witchblade, Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, and many others voicing the real life AKB48 member Haruna Kojima, Yukari Tamura, known for her works on the Japanese versions of games like Soul Calibur II, III, and IV, NIGHTS: Journey into Dreams, and Star Ocean: First Departure, as well as animes like Ouran High School Host Club, Fullmetal Panic!: The Second Raid, and S-CRY-ed, as well as the voice of Navi on the 35th anniversary season of Toei's Super Sentai Series, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger as real life AKB48 member Mayu Watanabe among others!

If your a fan of AKB48 or are a fan of action and sci-fi anime like the Gundam series, then this anime is definitely worth checking out! Sadly, I don't think this anime will be dubbed into English and given a North American release since AKB48 is mostly considered either underground or unknown in the American music market that is vastly different to the Japanese music market in Japan!

So don't feel bad about downloading fan-subs of this American AKB48 fans!