Tokusatsu Controversies Vol. 1

0:01 Before we begin, I'd like to say I'm not an expert in Japanese culture. The reason this is important is because this affects our perception of scandals. Of course, we should base our ideas on what happened, but that doesn't stop cultural views from shaping public perceptions, especially considering all of these happened in Japan and the proud American is talking to you. I'm not here to tell you Japan bad cuz different, just that there's a cultural gap between me and the controversies I'll discuss. Also, for our purposes, if you were involved with Tokusatsu at all, which includes Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, and you did something bad, you're on the list. If you have a problem with that, then keep watching. I'd hate for your food to get cold.

0:53 Joe Odagiri was the actor in Kamen Rider Kuuga, but what if I told you Joe doesn't like Kamen Rider? This all started with a rumor that the role for Kuuga was removed from Joe's website. Eventually, he went on to the Kaiju Radio show of Shingo Torihada, an executive producer of some Kamen Rider and Super Sentai shows, most noteworthy Kuuga. Joe said the website doesn't really include all his roles and that he wasn't able to give Kuuga a special place since it wasn't his debut role. He also says he's not a fan of Tokusatsu, that being superheroes transforming and fighting monsters, which I can't blame him. This stuff would kill me if I was lactose intolerant. Joe's dislike of Tokusatsu comes from his preference for more grounded acting.

1:39 As a kid, Joe's mother would leave him at the cinema and he wanted to be a director. He went on to study film at California State, but due to some mistake, he ended up joining the theater or acting course. Whether the mistake was due to some language barrier or assuming the theater course in America included directing like in Japan, I'm not sure. So, after 2 years, he went back to Japan and continued studying to be an actor. Joe's agency forced him to audition for Kuuga and Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoV. Agencies will push their actors into Tokusatsu roles as an entryway into the entertainment industry, as said by Yutaka Kobayashi, who starred in Kamen Rider Gai. During the audition for the Sentai show, Joe was asked to pose and said something like he'd rather kill

2:24 himself. Joe had reservations on Kuuga after the auditions, but Torihada convinced him that this wasn't the same as past Kamen Riders. Shingo Torihada wanted to create a completely different Kamen Rider for a new generation, and Kuuga took inspiration from drama shows like ER except the police had to deal with monsters. Even though Joe doesn't like Tokusatsu stuff, he does say it was his destiny to be Kuuga. He was motivated by Shingo Torihada's ideas of a new gen Kamen Rider and the idea of destroying what Kamen Rider was. Kuuga was not just popular with children, but performed so well with women they coined the phenomena after Joe. The Odagiri effect is where a program attracts a lot of women due to attractive characters, mostly attractive

3:11 men. Kuuga was popular among older women, think moms who could watch along with their kids to admire the new actors. Personally, I think what Joe disliked about Kuuga is people seeing it as the only thing he's done. While it is one of his more important roles, it's not the only thing he should be known for. A quote I found from him says, "If you can't erase the previous character even after playing the next role after one work, I'd rather quit my job as an actor." Joe and many other Toku alumni aren't just their Tokusatsu roles, [music] they're actors that become the characters, and I'd hate to have a filmography this long only for people to see me as that guy from Kuuga. In the end, Joe doesn't like Tokusatsu stuff,

3:58 but doesn't hate the time he spent on Kuuga or his cast members. If there's anything I guess he doesn't like, it's probably Toei, but, you know, you'll learn more about that later. >> [music] >> Uchu Sentai Kyuranger is a zodiac-themed Sentai show that was adapted by Saban into Cosmic Fury. Except they only took the Zords and used more stuff from Ryu Soldier. Unlike other Sentai shows, Kyuranger has a 12-ranger cast, and that's barely scratching the surface on why this was never adapted to Power Rangers. Alongside the fact that Sentai shows were vastly underperforming against Kamen Rider and Saban's only concern was using popular shows to make more money. The ending dance in Kyuranger was changed from a pelvic thrust into a chicken wing. Doesn't seem

4:45 that bad, but remember, American. I don't speak Japanese. Did you know that tama translates to balls or in slang terms testicles? And you have a dance with air humping? The Kyuranger transform with colored balls, so well-intended, but kind of questionable. So, imagine the humping motions with the lyrics of balls and you can >> [laughter] >> I'm not mature at all. You can see why parents would have an issue with this, especially considering Super Sentai is huge in Japan, and kids don't have the money to buy the second memorial edition Oja Caliber. One funny tweet about the controversy said, "What's wrong with hip shaking when kids were born as a result of their parents hip shaking?" Look, I know this

5:32 is a rough translation, but why say this? I'd rather parents know what their kids are watching considering some parents give their kids tablets and wonder why they show up to a funeral in a fursuit. Sentai shows and Kamen Rider are made for kids, so keeping things appropriate for the kids watching makes perfect sense. I can't remember how much I have had. I think we can agree there's nothing wrong with drinking alcohol. Though, as your mental capabilities are encumbered, there's no telling what someone might do under the influence, like Ryo Yoshizawa. God, I feel kind of mean for doing that. Um, Ryo is a popular actor whose relevance to Tokusatsu is in his role of Kamen Rider Meteor in Fourze.

6:19 From what I gathered, on December 30th, 2024, Ryo was allegedly out drinking with his friends, and he lost his memory. By that, he means he accidentally entered the home of his neighbor, who for some reason left their door unlocked, and used their bathroom. This led to the neighbor calling the cops on Ryo and Asahi terminating his contract. Asahi is a beer company that launched a campaign to promote a lower alcoholic beer with their Super Crystal Dry beer, which has a 3.5% alcohol by volume. For comparison, Bud Light is 4.2 and the standard Asahi Super Dry beer is a 5.0. Should Ryo be punished in some way? Yeah, and sadly, it makes sense why Asahi dropped him following this controversy. Their campaign was selling

7:06 low alcoholic beers, and I'm guessing Ryo wasn't found with Super Crystal Dry's. Ryo also has the image of a wholesome face, something I'd seen in the titles of lots of articles about the incident, which would make this more shocking to the average Japanese person. This incident also delayed the live-action Bon Bon Vampire movie that Ryo was also starring in. The film was supposed to release on February 14th, 2025 and was later released on July 4th, same year. Ryo apologized to his neighbor, and his agency stated that he didn't have any ill intent while he walked into the home. He kept his contract with another company, Iris Ohyama, a company that sells home appliances and storage bins. People respected Iris for not dropping Ryo unlike Asahi. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and Ryo

7:52 reached a settlement with his neighbor. So, the moral of the story is don't commit a crime related to a product you're promoting. Lock your doors cuz people are weird. Oh, don't drink excessively. That one's probably the moral that I should have led with. You're welcome, anyway. Typecasting is a practice where actors are casted based on their looks, past roles, or personality. The problem with typecasting is that actors are supposed to have a wide range, and limiting someone like that cuts back on the roles they can play. This is the Ki Ranger from Himitsu Sentai Goranger. Baku Hayato Kiyama was the original Ki Ranger. After high school, Baku briefly

8:38 attended Waseda University, but dropped out to join the Self-Defense [music] Force. Once his service was complete, he wanted to pursue an acting career. Now, meet Mitsuru Sugaya, a manga artist best known for Game Center Arashi, but he also worked with Shotaro Ishinomori, the guy who made Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. Baku was employed at an agency run by Mitsuru's cousin, which led to Baku and Mitsuru becoming friends, later working with Ishinomori on the Great Adventure of Finger Five. Later, Ishinomori's studio received a request from a Toei producer, Toru Hirayama, to find people for Himitsu Sentai Goranger. Mitsuru told the executives that Baku would be a good fit for the role of Ki Ranger based on Mitsuru's sketches, and Toru was happy. Children looked up to the Ki Ranger character that Baku played

9:25 as a strong man with a love of curry, which nearly scared away Ryo Narushima from acting in Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman. During the show's run, Baku wanted a break to participate in a play, >> [music] >> so from episodes 55 to 67, Jiro Daruma became the Ki Ranger in Baku's place until Jiro's [music] character was killed off for Baku's return. Sadly, once Goranger ended, Baku struggled to find work as an actor, and at 34, tragically took his own life by hanging. He left a note citing financial problems, a dwindling [music] career, and his inability to escape being typecast as the key ranger as reasons he committed suicide. Naoya Makoto, who played Aka Ranger in Gorenger, said in interviews that he regretted not being there to stop Baku from taking his life. Mitsuru even talks about Baku in his

10:11 blogs that are mostly unavailable, but still there thanks to the Wayback Machine. The translations were kind of rough, but here's one part and Mookie was Baku's stage name. It was 2 years later in the summer of 1978 that Mookie was informed that he had committed suicide in his apartment. He says he was worried about his work, but he doesn't know the truth. This was also when I was desperately working to escape from living in an apartment without a bath and my opportunities to meet with Mr. Mookie had decreased dramatically. At the request of his parents, he decided to refrain from attending the funeral where he was buried in his hometown and decided to entrust his condolences to Mr. F, a fellow actor who attended as his lone representative. Apparently, because he appeared on many programs, he was

10:57 slandered by saying he couldn't act for adults. [music] It's unclear whether that's true or not, but if Key Ranger's image was too strong and influenced by his subsequent work, wouldn't I, who pitched him for the role, also be partially responsible? I was depressed for a while because I kept thinking about things like that. Jeez, that's rough. Sadly, things don't get much better for Jiro, either. Jiro also struggled to get another acting role thanks to being typecast and eventually retired from acting. He moved to the Philippines, got married, [music] had a kid, and later moved back to Japan where he took on lots of part-time work. He suffered from osteoarthritis and had surgery on his right knee, leading to him not having a job and needing a cane to move around. Following that, he suffered [music] respiratory issues and now had a breathing tube in his throat. Jiro from

11:44 this point could not find work due to his health problems and in 2012, his wife eventually left him with their son, leaving him alone. He did manage to find some work, but hadn't been seen in the public for some time until 2014 where there was an attempted reunion of the Gorengers. Sadly, Naoya couldn't make it, but left a letter to Jiro wishing the best for him. In 2017, Jiro released a piano ballad about his life titled Perpetual Dreams, which you can listen to on YouTube. Then on April 5th, 2025, this happened.

12:40 >> [music] [screaming] >> A quote from Jiro says, "I just barely made it into this group. This is the condition I'm in now. I can't even speak without pressing on my throat, but I'm still here. Uh This makes me happy." One last quote from Naoya talking about their gathering today says, "The fact that the Super Sentai series has continued for 50 years and will go on is something to be proud of, but today I'm truly happy. [music] My comrades from 50 years ago, including Jiro-chan, who's not in perfect health, still came out. Being able to see everyone again is overwhelming." >> [music] >> Aw, that's nice. I wonder what's next

13:27 for Super Sentai. Oh. First impressions? Pretty mid, but we'll see. The Gorengers gathering was also to announce the All Super Sentai exhibition that shows off all heroes throughout the years, which is a great way to show off number one Sentai Go-Onger, the anniversary series that was still ongoing during the exhibition. Ultimately, it's tragic what happened to Baku and Jiro as a result of typecasting. I'm sure everyone who knew Baku is still hurting from his loss and I hope Jiro, along with the other Gorengers, are doing better. Toru Furuya is not just any voice actor and narrator. This guy's been around for years. For our purposes, he was the voice of Aka Red in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger along with voicing Gao Red and

14:14 Magi Red in the GoGo Sentai Boukenger V Super Sentai specials. But for fun, let's go through some of his other roles. The protagonist of Gundam, Amuro Ray, Pegasus Seiya from Saint Seiya, Yamcha from Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest's Abel, Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon, Sabo in One Piece. In Detective Conan, he was Hiroshi Akimoto plus Toru Amuro. But in 2024, Furuya's momocon appearance was canceled and he lost the acting roles for Sabo, Ray, Yamcha, and all of his roles in Metaphor: ReFantazio, which begs the question, Man, what did he do to make them [ __ ] that mad? He cheated on his wife with a 33-year-old fan for 4 and 1/2 years that

15:00 he admitted to assaulting and forced her to get an abortion. Yeah. Um This scandal was brought to light by Shukan Bunshun, or Weekly Bunshun, which is a tabloid site in Japan that I want you to remember for the next segment. The best way to describe Bunshun is with this tweet from MovieBob, or a better quote is from the Wikipedia article about them. Bunshun is also known for sensationalist headlines and text that put the subjects they deal with in a bad light because in a system in which advertising profits are increased by the number of contacts, what matters is attracting the attention of readers, acting alongside the concept that the interest is [music] economically

15:46 superior to quality information. To be fair to Furuya, Bunshun is generally untrustworthy, but he admits to a lot of this stuff when directly questioned. The fan's name will be Ako as I'm going through this story. Ako became a fan of Furuya following the release of Detective Conan: Zero from 2018. Furuya's role as Toru Amuro brought him an award, new fan attention, and the moment where he met Ako. She went to one of his meet and greets in 2017 where she had a chance to closely interact with him. But on New Year's Day of 2019 is when Furuya sent her a message. They first went out on dates in February and in March, the two had sex in a hotel. During the encounter, Ako was worried about getting pregnant, but Furuya said he, quote, "Can't produce sperm, so

16:33 there'll be no worries of her getting pregnant." Ako recounts that, quote, "Even though he said that, I was still anxious about getting pregnant. >> [music] >> But he was my idol, someone I admired deeply. In September 2020, at Furuya's villa, the two got into an argument over their relationship. Furuya loved Ako, but wasn't going to divorce his wife to be with her and wouldn't break things off with Ako. During the argument, things got heated and Furuya hit her. Ako, terrified, ran to the bathroom and dialed 110 for the police. Furuya then broke in and shut off her phone. When Furuya refused to give Ako back her phone, she decided to leave the villa. But guess who chased after her begging for forgiveness and convinced her to go

17:20 back? God, why? When they returned, the police were waiting outside the villa. Ako confronted them while Furuya hid in the back room. Despite this incident, the two managed to maintain their relationship thanks to Furuya using the voice of Toru Amuro, the Detective Conan character, to say he loved her. Then in March 2021, Ako learned she was pregnant and Furuya apparently said, "I'm sorry. I want you to get an abortion. Is it really mine? That can't be called the life yet." The two then went to the hospital to abort the pregnancy. Ako wanted Furuya to sign hospital consent forms following the

18:07 abortion, but he refused, eventually signing a memorandum after the surgery. The two didn't talk after the abortion. But they still managed to get back together. For the love OF GOD! [screaming] PLEASE! They eventually broke up about a year later in September, arguing over their futures. Furuya got angry and brought up the abortion along with the fact he was a married man when Ako got involved with him. In the moment, Ako felt betrayed and eventually Furuya left. Ako says the relationship was a mess, but there were moments where she felt genuinely happy. Okay, I have to bring this up because if I don't mention this quote, I'm going to be doing you all a huge disservice.

18:52 One thing Furuya said to Ako during their relationship was, "I have not been intimate with my wife in decades." [laughter] So, being with you isn't cheating. Then the Weekly Bunshun requested an interview and I won't go through all the questions and answers, but I will go through most of them. Is it true you were in an affair with Ako for 4 and 1/2 years? Yes, that's true. There's no denying it. There is a 37-year age difference between you and her, making her the same age as your daughter. I was completely caught up with the idea of being with a young, attractive woman. I let myself get carried away.

19:37 >> [music] >> Did sex play a big role in your relationship? Yes. Being with her made me feel like I was still a man. >> [laughter] >> I still had it But, had it in me. For [ __ ] sake. Did you think there would be no consequences even without protection? Years ago, when I got checked out at the hospital, I was told there was no possibility of pregnancy through normal intercourse. Is it true that you were violent with her at your villa? It's true, but it wasn't with a fist. It was with an open hand. I hit her two or three times. During our fight, she started saying she

20:22 was going to leave. I panicked. I lost control >> [music] >> and lashed out. You also said, "That can't even be called a life yet." She was about 5 weeks along at the time, and that was my thinking back then. But, I said that intending to console her as she was struggling with the situation. Does your family know about the affair? I told them everything before this interview. My wife said I was foolish and short-sighted, and that we'll have to live with this shame. It seemed she told our daughter, who apparently said, "I'm on dad's side." Stop the cap. Is everything you've said here the truth? Yes, without doubt. I am completely at fault, and resorting to violence was despicable, the lowest

21:09 thing a person can do. I am genuinely sorry. I'm ready to accept any repercussions that come my way, even if it means losing everything because of this. Finally, there's Furuya's apology. I have an apology and report for the great crime I have committed. I had an affair with a female fan for a long period of 4 and 1/2 years up until September last year. I was attracted to her for her direct support, so I contacted Ako myself and started a relationship with her. During that relationship, we got into an argument and couldn't help but raise our hands. It was the worst thing a human being could do as an [music] adult. I also made the unforgivable mistake of having my pregnancy terminated. [music]

21:55 I am truly, truly sorry for deeply hurting the other woman both physically and mentally. [music] I'm here. I can't apologize for betraying disappointing hurting and tarnishing the character of the fans who have supported me for so many years. [music] We have betrayed the trust of all those involved and are causing great inconvenience. >> [music] >> There was I will spend the rest of my life making amends wholeheartedly. I am prepared to accept any sanctions. I am truly sorry. He apologized. I'm not sure why Toei carefully considered dropping Furuya, nor do I understand why some Japanese fans are happy to see him in Suchi as car story comments. Guy returned to the public about half the duration of his 4-year-long affair,

22:41 and people are acting like their fathers returned home. Furuya kept Ako close enough to use her, yet knew he couldn't make her happy and wasn't going to divorce his wife for her. Furuya initially reached out to her, and I don't think I've heard a story about a voice actor using the voice of a character they played to say I love you to someone. I won't even rehash the abortion or assault at the villa, either. Furuya knew what he was doing and deserves no sympathy in my books. He's a 70-year-old man with a wife and daughter roughly the same age as Ako. But then again, if people learn empathy at 30, then this must be another thing you pick up with age. Furuya did seem remorseful in his apology and even when the Bunshun interviewer came to talk to him, but it seems way too soon to suddenly forgive him. It's a bad call to

23:27 let him have voice acting work again. When you abuse that power and influence you gain as a celebrity to take advantage of your fans, you've proven you don't deserve to keep that power. Furuya proved that he isn't some role model for people to strive towards being and shouldn't have another opportunity to do voice work. In the same way you wouldn't hire a preschool teacher convicted for touching children to work at another preschool, you shouldn't hire a voice actor who took advantage of a starstruck fan to be a voice actor again. Only time will tell if Furuya is genuinely remorseful, but I'd wait a little longer before I pretend this incident didn't happen or was just, you know, a little mistake. Maya Imamori is an influencer and gravure model who became the first

24:13 female black ranger starring in number one Sentai Go-Onger. Maya was let go after she was found drinking while being underage. That doesn't sound that bad, except because agencies in Japan own your likeness, and Maya's drinking violated her contract, she was removed from everything. The intro to the show, the show itself, the website. Her lines were dubbed over, and she was replaced with Kohaku Shida from Donbrothers. Her removal from the show also led to reshoots and potentially some lost media. [music] All for the crime of drinking at 19 in Japan, where the legal drinking age is 20. Maya apologized on Instagram before she privated all her socials and hasn't been seen online since. You might be thinking grimly that's

24:59 clearly not everything that happened, and you're kind of correct. I'll admit my recollection of events is a bit messy, but from what I gathered, Bunshun alleged Maya was in an affair with Kosuke Asai. Asai is the suit actor for Go-Onger and many other shows. Weekly Bunshun, the same people who caught Furuya for his affair, stated Maya and Asai's stemmed from translated tweets from a 13-year-old Maya tweeting about Lupin and Patranger. These tweets are being used as proof that she had a crush on Asai, which doesn't make any sense. What kid watches these shows and thinks about how cool the suit actors are over their civilian forms. On top of that, the article makes Asai sound like his character from the

25:44 show. These are the sorts of things you'd expect to hear from an influencer joking about the scandal after the fact. Even for a tabloid, this is scummy and completely unearned. And mentions of the affair are from unknown acquaintances / shadowy staff members. There's so little in here, I applaud Hawk Achilles, the Anime Secrets podcast, and Chubby Cat, who have a pretty decent timeline on the scandal and for paying to read the Bunshun articles cuz I wasn't going to. But, what bothers me is that people took this seriously enough to condemn Maya over. Sure, Bunshun was right when they caught Furuya, but that doesn't mean every time Bunshun says something it's true. Asai posted on Instagram after Go-Onger, he retired on January 1st, 2025. Due to health issues, he left the

26:30 show in early September or around episode 28. And Maya's contract was terminated on November 8th. People heard they both left the show and believed there was some truth to the Bunshun articles. While I was researching this, the idea of underage drinking being a cover for something else kind of checked out in the back of my mind. I couldn't blame someone for coming to that conclusion, especially if you didn't know how Japanese agencies work. Additionally, rumors of a video or photo showing Maya drinking circulated on TikTok, where she was at a party with her friends drinking champagne. I've only heard people mentioning this, and I'm not sure if anyone's found it. Bunshun also accuses Maya of cheating on football player named Yutaka Michiwaka with Asai. Apparently, Bunshun reached

27:16 out to Seiju, Maya's agency, who investigated the claims and confirmed they weren't in a relationship or cheating on each other, which destroys both articles. You can't two-time anyone if you aren't in a relationship to begin with. There were also reports about Maya working at a bar / lounge, which also comes with another story on the day episode 37 aired. A TV exec said Maya was supposed to publicly apologize for the affair she was or wasn't involved in. Instead of going to the TV execs and apologizing, Maya said sorry from her dressing room. Then, she filmed an episode for Go-Onger, and the TV execs questioned whether her apology was genuine. The staff and cast members were also allegedly angry at this, which is odd because

28:02 this story happened in September, and Maya was removed from the show in November, meaning there was a whole month where everything seemed fine. Then, they learned about Maya allegedly working at a bar that let her serve alcohol at 19, where serving alcohol in Japan requires you to be 20, and didn't tell her agency where she was working. According to the article, all of these factors led to Seiju terminating Maya's contract, though it still leaves some questions. One, why are so many people in this story anonymous? Maya is a 19-year-old with no connections and a TikTok account. She has no influence is what I'm saying. If you're going to say all this stuff about somebody, then you should do it with your name tied to it, or you could

28:47 shut the [ __ ] up. Second, how can someone work on one of the most popular shows in the country and potentially need a second job to make ends meet? We interrupt this controversy to bring you a second controversy. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Toei agency method. Five years ago, the Tokusatsu network put out a video talking about how much Tokusatsu actors are paid. Fumiya Shizuka, an actress from Kamen Rider Fourze, said in 2011 she was paid about 50,000 yen a month as a debut / new actor, which is about $600. Because the yen is very weak right now, that's $318 a month, even with Toei offering you

29:34 lodging. Also worth noting that the 50,000 yen is what she got paid after her agency got their part of the money. If you become a big-name actor, then people will pay more for you, but there's no guarantee you get it. It's more like you're being paid in exposure. The minimum wage in Japan is currently 1118 yen and assuming a 40-hour work week with roughly 4 weeks in a [music] month, that's 194,308 yen a month, aka about four times what you'd make as a debut actor. Fumiko stayed with her parents to not worry about food costs, but the actor Yuki Yamada or Shinken Blue said in 2011 he would have done about $300 a month after fees while filming Shinkenger, saying,

30:19 "It's such a difficult life." But looking back on the hero shows held at the Tokyo Dome City and the other places he said, "Children, do your best. I was standing there just by doing that." He recalled saying that he was able to get through it with cheers. Regarding his eating habits, >> [music] >> he said, "How should I divide this pasta? And if I played a game, could I get into it without eating? So, I just played the game." Then, there's Tori Matsuzaka or Shinken Red. Matsuzaka talked about his water-heavy diet. Due to the low wages paid to new actors and hero actors in particular, the star would often find himself subsiding on water to try and drink more than necessary so as to make his stomach feel full. After hearing from Fumika, Tori, and Yuki, it's no surprise that Maya would

31:05 have a second job. Assuming she did have one, then she should have told her agency about it. But if it had no effect on filming, this story is true, and she wasn't drinking while working at the bar, then I'm not seeing the harm. Again, you have to be 20 to serve alcohol in Japan, but you could work at bars at 19. Ultimately, agencies in Japan wield a lot of power over their talents. >> [music] >> If you'd like to learn more, then Japanalysis has a video talking about idols in Japan. I notice a lot of overlap with idol agencies and actor agencies. So, check that out. Maya was also harassed for being half Filipino, but this one's also kind of weird. [music] I've heard that there was some harassment campaign against her for it, but you could say there was as much harassment coming from the tabloids.

31:50 Bunshun used tweets from a 13-year-old Maya to allege she wanted to get with the Sai, the football player Michiwaka, who I'm not sure has any connection to Maya, was also used to make her look worse. Even the articles about the bar and TV execs are questionable. Everyone's anonymous or insiders, which to me makes it harder to gauge the credibility. I can't find where this was stated, so take it with a pinch of salt, but some tabloid allegedly threatened to put out a third article about Maya if she wasn't dropped by either her agency or Go Zyuohger. It's no shock that this Gizmodo article mentioned the idea that Maya was being targeted by the tabloids. After everything I've learned, I could totally believe it. Again, I'm not here to tell you that Maya wasn't harassed for being half Filipino, just that there are other Toku actresses that aren't fully Japanese

32:36 that weren't harassed for it. Though, while Maya was being harassed, Seiju, her agency, apparently didn't do anything to help her. The statement summarized says, "Don't mess with our talents or we will take you to court." Kind of weird considering Maya at this point was no longer involved with Seiju. I saw this statement was posted on November 13th, 2025, but it's possible it was out sooner, which would make Seiju look a little less crappy. On the note of the harassment, people online have said Maya's drinking stems from the bullying. Not sure I believe this because there's dozens of other coping mechanisms or the fact there's no context on Maya drinking other than she was drinking and apologized for it. But by saying Maya drank due to the bullying, this sort of attempts to excuse her behavior.

33:22 On its face, what Maya did is both a crime and violates her contract with Seiju. They are within their rights to enforce that contract as much as I don't think it's a big deal. Do I think Seiju should have waited until after Go Zyuohger to drop her? Definitely. And I think that would be a better move for all parties involved. But if you want to be angry, point your anger at people like Seiju, Toei executives, Bunshun, the Japanese entertainment system, or weirdos who are comfortable saying [ __ ] like this online. These people heard she got into an affair with a married man and wished it was them while showing off her photos. But don't fret. We have tools to fight them, the power of prayer. Everyone, please bow your heads. Dear heavenly father, I am not worthy to ask this of you, nor should I hold up the

34:09 prayer line with my selfish request. Yet I humbly ask of you, please make these people infertile. For this, we all say, amen. The controversy surrounding Maya doesn't sound that bad. She's definitely no Toru Furuya, but this happened at the worst time for Toei. Super Sentai has been on the decline in terms of toy sales for some time, and while it's funny to laugh at a corporation making slightly less in the billions of yen or roughly 6 mil USD, it's less funny for the people who are underpaid and overworked. Having less money to work with cuts down on Toei's ability to produce anything or pay people. Additionally, as an anniversary show, Go Zyuohger bears a heavier cross than normal.

34:55 It's not just its own story, it's a way to cap off 50 years of Sentai history and pay respect to it. So, the controversy with Maya doesn't just hurt her, considering she lost a minor acting role completely unrelated to Go Zyuohger, it also negatively hurts the show. I personally didn't watch Go Zyuohger. I've heard some mixed things about it online, so I got my brother who actually watched it to talk about Maya's removal from the show. I was watching Go Zyuohger from the moment it started along with Gav. For the most part, it was a really good show and it still is. But the removal of Maya Momoi and the reshoots they did with Kohaku Shida really did damage the show. I watched a review from a guy being like, "Oh, I'll wrap up my thoughts, but I won't bring up any celebrity drama."

35:40 But you kind of have to when it affects the main content. We already know about the episodes where Suimono was just conveniently off-screen for everything [music] that wasn't a fight scene where she was in her full armor. But then you have [ __ ] like during the reshoots, all four male actors will be on one side of the camera saying something and they'll conveniently cut to her on the other side of the screen being like, "Yeah, I second that." Most egregious was during the final episode where everyone was lined up in their uniforms, Maya's their masks ready to do their roll calls, but Kohaku's character was just wearing her helmet. It's so distracting, especially since she was front and center during the entire thing, which makes the least sense considering they gave her the least amount of attention after the controversy happened. It ruined an arc where she was supposed to find her sister. They did a clip show early on in

36:27 the season, which was fine, but then before she was recasted, they did another clip show episode. At the end of the second clip show episode, Suimono's character conveniently gets a power-up that other characters had [music] to overcome some emotional test or a trial to get. And from the way her arc was seeming at the time, I don't think she would have actually found her sister by that episode. Maybe it would have just been her reaffirming [music] her commitment to saving her. But it doesn't matter anyways because at the end of the show when the main character wins the Battle Royale, he chooses to use his wish to start the Battle Royale over again, only uh with his friends revived at the moment. Once the second Battle Royale ends, completely off-screen by the way, we do get a scene of Suimono and her sister playing at the beach. And despite the weird feet shots, which there were a

37:12 lot of by the way, Toei, I'm looking really square at you guys. The scene was especially good because I guess since they only had to worry about getting two actors in one place, they managed to actually get Kohaku Shida in the same area as the girl playing Suimono's younger sister, which made it feel more authentic cuz for a second there I thought they weren't going to since the scene started off with both of their backs facing the camera. The scene itself was detached from everything else. You had all the other guy characters in the cafe area completely separated from her, but for her character, it does make really good sense as an ending. I've seen a couple other Sentai shows before, but definitely not enough to say whether or not Go Zyuohger is a good ending to the franchise as a whole. All in all, the whole Maya-gate thing was a pretty ugly

37:59 thing to do to a person. And of course, my brother already went into heavy detail about why that whole thing was shitty. But really, it only left a massive ugly stain on Go Zyuohger and the uh the ending of Sentai as a franchise as a whole. It's fine. It's fine. The rest of the show is fine. It's fine. >> [laughter] >> All in all, the whole Maya-gate thing was a pretty ugly thing to do to a person and it did leave a massive stain on the pretty good show that Go Zyuohger was, especially with all the promotional material making it seem like Maya got [ __ ] Mussolini'd or stalled. And I'm not a historian. But other than that, the show was fine. It's just a really

38:45 distracting and uh thing, you know? I doubt Toei wanted to spend more on reshooting from episodes 37 onwards, >> [music] >> and I'm sure the editors had a fun job trying to add Kohaku in post. But look, Super Sentai is a kid show and you want [music] your cast of characters to be role models for the kids. I get that. But the way I see it, this turned from a learning opportunity into a hazing session. What lessons are we teaching kids through this [music] controversy? Assuming the story about the TV execs is true for a moment, [music] then put yourself in Maya's shoes and tell me what she should have done. If she doesn't apologize, then the crew would probably believe all the rumors and treat her silence as an admission of

39:31 guilt. Yet, if she goes out and publicly apologizes for the affair that she likely [music] wasn't involved in, people would call her every synonym for a you can imagine. plus this would make things worse for Asai, his wife, and Michiwaka. There's nothing she could have done in the bar story to prove she wasn't involved with Asai. The game was rigged when she signed the contract or my personal theory, blow off one of these 80-year-old men at one of these companies and then in retaliation [music] wanted to ruin her life. There aren't many innocents in this controversy. The president of TV Asahi publicly apologized for the scandal and says they aren't going after Maya for damages. But beyond that, Toei should pay debut actors way more assuming the

40:17 numbers haven't changed. Nobody should believe anything from Bunshun or any news organization without solid evidence. And while Maya is wrong for violating her contract, [music] her failings reflect worse on Seiju, her agency. They should have done more to defend Maya from the harassment, nurture her as a talent of their agency, and possibly give her another chance to do better. Kids will make mistakes. And instead of rubbing their faces in their failure, it's better to teach them so they can grow up and do better. That's all you can hope for. But Toei was only concerned with maintaining a clean image. And this is how Sentai ends. 50 years of Sentai ruined not by Maya for her drinking, but by a system

41:02 that exploited her and other young actors [music] in Japan. Along with, you know, declining toy sales. That That That's probably the bigger part, but you know. In a recent interview, screenwriter Akihiko Inoe and producer Daigo Matsuda believe they'd be ushering in a new era of Sentai shows until episode 10 when they learned that the series would end with Go-Onger. It would have been screwed regardless of what Maya did, though the scandal doesn't help. [music] So, don't believe the idea that Sentai was canceled because of her. And yeah, my opinions as a foreigner meaningless because the show isn't made for me. So, I guess I'll never talk about anything related to Japan ever again. Well, if you enjoyed that,

41:50 I'm not sure how you enjoyed much of what I talked about today. Um Leave a like if you thought this was interesting or dislike if you hated it cuz I did, too. Comment your thoughts down below, things I missed, or if you have other controversies for me to add to the list for another time. I'll be streaming on Twitch when I'm not procrastinating or struggling to find work still, so you can talk to me live. Till next time. Later, flesh bags.