Pages

Friday, February 22, 2019

The Secret Life Of Tokusatsu Geeks: Fuka Koshiba in “Tokusatsu GaGaGa”

Fuka Koshiba as Kano Nakamura in Tokusatsu GaGaGa
Adorable Kano Nakamura (Fuka Koshiba) is a peppy and ordinary working OL on the outside, but what her co-workers don’t knows is that Kana is a closet Tokusatsu Geek who spends her every free moment at home watching Japanese Sentai shows and her whole paychecks go to purchasing Superhero CDs, DVDs and Magazines!
So obsessed with the Sentai Superheroes is Kano that they appear to her whenever she is in a dilemma as a sort of spiritual conscience such as giving up her seat on the train when she is DEAD tired from staying up and watching Tokusatsu all night!
While standing on the train, she happens to see another pretty young woman (Kana Kurashina) with a key charm featuring a character from her favorite Sentai show! Oh, how she wishes she could run up and tell the girl that SHE is a Tokusatsu fan, too! 
But she can’t. Because in the world she lives in, she knows that a grown woman still obsessing over superhero shows and toys would immediately be ostracized by her friendly co-workers!
She likens her hidden love of the genre with the Christians of early Japan who had to use code to relate to other Christians that they were of the same faith, and realizes that if she can get ahold of a similar keychain, then it would be a sign to other fans that she was  a tokusatsu geek like them!
And with that, Kano hilariously begins her mission to scour the city going to the vending machines in search of that perfect Sentai keychain hero, taking her to the arcades, stores and side streets!
But no matter what, she NEVER seems to get the trinket she wants, making her more and more and MORE obsessed!!! 
She even ventures to a candy store that she normally avoids run by a seemingly yakuza type thug in an attempt to get her desired keychain! She sees him take off for a smoke break and tries to get her toy...Unfortunately, he returns and she is forced to flee!!


I love this scenario so much! It reminds me of an old “Chibi Maruko-chan” episode where Maruko was secretly in love with Ichimonji “Kamen Rider 2” Hayato and would sneak to the candy store to purchase the bubble gum that his card came in (and failing just as spectacularly, I might add!)
Another relatable plight of the Tokusatsu fan is when Kano is at Karaoke with her fellow co-workers, and when she is forced to sing by a superior, she realizes she only knows Superhero songs!!!
Faced with the crushing embarrassment of being a secret Sentai geek, Kano flees the Karaoke room- only to be confronted by her childhood Sentai Hero…who tells her that the only way to get through it is to FACE her worries by going back…and SINGING her SENTAI songs HARD and TRUE!
With a new resolve, she goes BACK to the room, and grabbing the mic, belts out her childhood Sentai Show theme song  with ALL the passion she can muster, and like a rousing rendition of “Kamen Rider X”, she gets ALL her co-workers jumping up and SINGING ALONG!!!
AWWWWW, I’m LOVING this show (thanks Hamanosilence for the recommendation as always)…Fuka Koshiba is absolutely DARLING as the spazzy and sweet Kano,  and I can’t WAIT to see what she gets up to next!
PS: Bonus points for having Haruka “Murasaki” Kinami as a seemingly cold superior of Kano’s
 …and Yuki Matsushita as Kano’s strict, Sentai-hating MOTHER! LOL!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com