New Advertising from Japanese Super Heroes

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Secret Trick Virtual Operations

(photo credit: Bandai Official Channel on YouTube)

The range of creativity YouTube enables for its audience is mass. Music videos, online commercials, skits, you name them. Corporates are no stranger to making those contents as the video streaming website has become a major social media platform .

Actor Ukyo Matsumoto explains how to play Ganbarizing.

(photo credit: Bandai Official Channel on Youtube)

Toy company Bandai is no exception with their newly launched video series named Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Secret Trick Virtual Operations. The 10-minute video series features super heroes from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid transforming with a step by step explanation of their transformation device. The videos also have the actors demonstrate the company’s arcade game Ganbarizing as the actors themselves, rather than the characters they portray.

The “simulation” not only requires the heroes to check their suits’ power status once transformed, but also in reality, is an eye-opening form of advertisement for the following five reasons.

(photo credit: Bandai Official Channel on Youtube)

1. It demonstrates how the toy works. The fictional device used for transforming is also the toy sold at stores, so the younger audience will see how to play with it and their “want” to buy the product will be stimulated.
2. Income will generate from displayed advertisements. Advertise, promote, and getting money from doing so? Talk about making money.
3. The video borrows footage involving CGI from the show. This most likely reduces the budget to be spent to create new media content.
4. It gives actors from the show an appearance outside of TV. The actors are basically reenacting a scene from the show, just in a different way, and demonstrate how to play Ganbarizing. The more appearances, the more money for the tough survivors in the citing industry.
5. Each episode is in conjunction with the TV show’s storyline. For the older audience, it renders them to watch and follow even the slightest detail of the show.

For a brand recognized nationwide in Japan like Kamen Rider, YouTube sure has enabled the franchise to expand its audience on the Internet and create more. This certainly is a specialty the TV show and Bandai have because of the solid audience they have established for over decades. In an era where the Internet is valued by corporates, it can be said that an idea like this YouTube series is marvelous and an example corporates from any country and field may want to follow.

A short article, but something I definitely wanted to talk about.

See ya again next month!

Yoshi Sudarso; His life as a Power Ranger

(Photo credit: Neo-Saban Power Rangers on YouTube)

“Koda, as I have decided, is 99,872 years old. So he was frozen technically, not a hundred thousand years,” are the words of Yoshi Sudarso, who portrays the ancient caveman Koda, a.k.a the Blue Dino Charge Ranger, on “Power Rangers Dino Charge.”

Isn’t it great when an actor makes such headcanon of his character? It’s even better when that love comes from himself being a Power Rangers fan.

So today I’m wiring about Yoshi and his involvement with Power Rangers that led him to have experiences he probably would’ve never thought about.

(Photo credit: @Yoshistunts on Twitter)

Yoshi is an actor and stuntman who appeared on various films and Youtube videos, such as “The Maze Runner” and Super Power Beat Down series by batinthesun.

His passion for stunts is rooted in his athletic background growing up. He played various sports such as badminton and track, but eventually discovered flipping and thought it suited him better than other physical activities. With his friends’ suggestions, he began his career in stunts and worked distinct avenues including movies, skits, and live events on stage.  

(Photo credit Den of Geek)

While pulling off his stuntman actions, Yoshi had also been auditioning to become an actual Power Rangers on Television since 2010. The franchise finally welcomed him to be part of the Ranger family in 2014, when he obtained the role to play Koda.

Also a fan of Super Sentai, the Japanese Television franchise in which Power Rangers gets its costume design and fighting footage from, Yoshi watched the Japanese counterpart of his show “Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger” before auditioning, during the audition, and after getting the role.

Ever since the role landed on the geeky actor, Yoshi made contributions to the show a regular Power Rangers actor would not. He had the rest of the Dino Charge cast watch Kyoryuger, suggested an idea for the show’s transformation sequence, and pointed out the mistakes of the props the staff made with his knowledge on Kyoryuger. He also actively posts behind-the-scene photos and stories on his social media accounts and shares his interests in both the American and Japanese technicolor superheroes with fans.

(Photo credit: @Yoshistunts on Twitter)

(Photo credit: @Yoshistunts on Twitter)

(Photo credit: DryedMangoez.com)

But being a Blue Ranger was only the beginning of his dream-come-true ranger journey. He was able to meet Yamato Kinjo, the actor who played Yoshi’s Japanese counterpart in “Kyoryuger.” Furthermore, Yoshi got in touch with Toei, the company that owns Super Sentai, and met the cast of the 2015 Super Sentai season “Shuriken Sentai Ninninger” and made a cameo appearance on the Japanese show.

(Photo credit: @PeterSAdrian on Twitter) 

(Photo credit: Morphin' Legacy)

To his surprise, “Ninninger” was the season to be adapted in America as “Power Rangers Ninja Steel,” and his younger brother Peter Sudarso was casted as Preston, the Blue Ninja Steel Ranger. Peter’s role was kept as a secret to Yoshi until the cast revelation was made at Power Morphicon 2016, a Power Rangers exclusive convention held every two years. A video of Yoshi hugging Peter in tears at the convention quickly became viral among fans online.

“Power Rangers Dino Supercharge” is about to reach its finale this month. That means the beloved Blue Ranger will leave the TV screen soon, but at the same time this enables fans to get ready to watch for Ninja Steel and see the color Blue passing on to Peter.

So that is it for today.

See you on the next article!