"What does your URL mean?"

It's not like this blog is getting thousands of visitors a day (I'm not getting any, AFAIK), but in the event that somebody is curious about it, it might be a good thing to have an easily available post explaining my URL. I admit I could have chosen something more obvious, but I get a kick out of this one, and here's why.

Enban Sensō Bankid [Flying Saucer War Bankid] was a 1976 tokusatsu television series produced by Toho. It was Toho's attempt to cash in on the brand-new (at the time) Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, which would become the foundation of the super sentai series. Bankid follows a team of children and teens who, led by their tutor, use their secret identities and fleet of aircraft and vehicles to fight against invading aliens (the Bukimi Seijin, literally "Bukimi Planet People" or I guess "Bukimians"). The Bukimi are led by an unseen commander (shirei) named Guzare, who ends most episodes by chastising and then summarily exploding whatever poor Bukimi had failed to invade the Earth that week.

For 25 episodes, Guzare exists as a disembodied voice (played by Kiyoshi Kobayashi), until episode 26, the series finale, when he finally gets fed up with how ineffective his underlings have been and comes down to Earth himself to have a little chat with Bankid. This is the first and only time in the series that we actually see him. Guzare's human form is played by Akihiko Hirata, and the getup Toho put him in is... well, it's a lot:

i really think toho loved putting him in shitty wigs more than any of their other actors

God, I haven't watched this episode in so long, but it still gets me. The show is good, actually, but incredibly cheap; the face actors double as the suit actors and there's two yellow "rangers" because I guess that's just what their suit budget allowed for.

So yeah, that's... that's why I have this URL. I really do recommend watching Bankid, it's never been subtitled but it's a ton of fun. The episode formula is consistent and entertaining every time: there's always a person who turns out to be a Bukimi in disguise, and every episode usually has a nice satisfying moment where one of Bankid "unmasks" them. The Bukimi were designed by Tohl Narita of Ultraman fame, so they look cool (no, really), and the opening theme is an absolute ripper. And to cap it all off there's whatever is going on in the final episode. Maybe this is where Gerard Way got that jacket from.

Edit: Since I originally wrote this post, I came across something that serves as an explanation for a lot of... that.

So, uh.

It would appear that Guzare was originally intended to be a woman.

anonymous toho exec ca. 1976: "sure. fine. cast whoever you want. but we're keeping the wig and the bodysuit."