Jumping in Headfirst

*sighs* Adulting is hard.

Our heroes go up against the head of Jark Matter himself, Don Armage.  Let's see how they do!

Remember how I said this team hadn't really been tested yet?  Yeeeahhh, it looks like that's coming to an end.

Our hero is now a fugitive from justice!  ...Wait, that can't be right.  1.) Well, our intros appear to be handled by both Sento and Ryuuga, so I guess that's as strong a hint as anything that they're co-main stars. Also, seeing a guy in his 20's described as an "old man" makes me feel uncomfortable.  ...The rest of this description is pretty accurate, though.  2.) People who can't protect their secret identities properly don't deserve to have one . As Sentou and Ryuuga are trying to figure out how he got framed for murder (including a hilarious scene where Ryuuga tries to recount his entire life story), the reporter that Sentou saved from last week's episode sneaks in and says she thinks she can help with the case.  As the group is trying to figure out how she got into the secret hideout, the owner of the shop casually remembers "Oh, I forgot to lock the door."    So, at this point, the reporter should just go public with

It didn't occur to me until I was several minutes into this episode that I realized I hadn't seen 27 yet.  I'll try to go back, but no promises! 1.) Kyu Globe Update : The Camelopardalis Kyu Globe, which allows the user to....stretch their neck to absurd proportions for the most obvious attempts at reconnaissance ever. In Japanese, this is the "Kirin" Kyu Globe, which means I'm disappointed that it doesn't allow you to stop time . 2.) The group's second run in with Dark Naga works out about as well as the first one--they get freaking stomped.  Balance doesn't even try, refusing to fight his friend in the hopes that friendship would win out.  But nope , all that earns him is a scythe in the leg and nearly being murdered. I was hoping this wouldn't devolve into one of those times the villain had the upper hand yet left for some asinine reason and give the heroes a chance to recoup, so I was pretty happy when Naga decided "Fuck it,

And it begins~  Super Hero Time!  1.) Kamen Rider Build starts off with a pretty lengthy introduction of its alternate history.  Its a pretty strong deviation from what we're used to: at some point in their timeline, they had an expedition to Mars, where they discovered an item that would come to be known as "Pandora's Box".  When Pandora's Box was brought back to Earth, an unknown person activated it, creating something known as the Skywall, which split the nation into three sections: Touto, Hokuto, and Seito.  With Japan divided, each part began to focus on different things to focus their part of the nation--while foreigners from without seek to take advantage of the weakened country. It's a lot to get into, but I'm really digging it. Some of my favorite Kamen Rider series have been ones that established a strong sense of alternate history--2005's Kabuto and 2014's Gaim are both personal favorites of mine.  It lends a sense of the unique

Just in time for the upcoming episodes~   Finally all caught up, and Naga's a dick. 1.) I realize I'm harping on it for like the third episode, but I can't help it.  They keep bringing it up so I have to keep poking fun at it.  Kyuutamajin has all the stability of a robot from a parody of giant robots.  Just last week, the group used it to take out a Vice Shogun with ease, now suddenly if just one member (of twelve!) is asleep at the wheel, they can't even handle some giant-sized mooks?  This makes me think Kyuutamajin is more difficult to pilot than that Steel Battalion on Xbox. 2.)  I'm going to go more in depth with this later, but I feel like from the very beginning the way this "Naga seeks to attain emotions" thing has played out has been wrong.  In numerous occasions he's expressed emotions, they've just been on the darker end of the spectrum--sadness, anger, etc.  But just wanting emotions in itself was already feeling something

We're half-way through the series!  It's been a mostly easy ride for the Kyuuranger, but I have a feeling that's going to change soon!   The battle to bring down the first Vice-Shogun continues~ 1.) Coming from the Horologium System, it seems only fitting that Planet Tocky (Tick-Tock) is set up much like a clock, right down to having clockwork innards.  2.) As part of their quest to obtain the Horologium Kyu Globe, this episode makes the team face off against memories from their past, and invokes Sentai Rule #1 : Whenever a team runs into enemy's they've already faced, no matter how much trouble they had winning the fight the first time around, it's an easy fight the second.  See: Scorpio going down in all of three hits, and Lucky finishing off his opponent in a single one.  3.) Madaako makes a come back for the...fourth (?) time?  I'm losing track, because at this point she's been taken out more times than Team Rocket.   They tried to pas

I debated whether or not to bring this back since I got so far behind.  What made the decision for me in the end though?  Kamen Rider Build.  I just couldn't pass up the possibility of doing "Super Hero Time" and enjoying it.  So having said that...let's go ahead and start catching up!  By tonight I'll have us at least on episode 25.

More of the saga of the immortal Ohtori Tsurugi!

I didn't realize just how much happened in this episode until I tied to condense it all into just seven thoughts.  With the exception of a handful of episodes, Kyuuranger has kept its foot on the gas almost since episode one--with a perfect mix of plot and character development to keep me drawn in.  It's almost like an apology for all the series between it and Kyoryuger.

That wait was legen-wait for it...

And we back and we back and we back.... If you didn't know, this is Bottom of the Pile, the oldest column on Jumping in Headfirst, where I take the week's comics and do my imitation of commentary--it can be anything from silly comments and observations all the way up to mini-reviews.   Why Bottom of the Pile?  Because I believe in saving the best comics for last, so if you're looking at these, these are usually seven to twelve of the best comics of the week. If you like this column, please do me a favor and share it on Facebook or Twitter.

Here's what we're going to do: I'm going to try as hard as I can not to make this post a bunch of exclamation points, and you're not going to get upset when I inevitably fail, alright?  Let's go, team!

Follow the originators, not the imitators...

I think we got a hit.