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Current Super Sentai Series Kiramager Gets Spinoff Net Anime Shorts

Mashin Sentai Kiramager, the 44th and most recent series in Toei's long-running live-action Super Sentai franchise, is inspiring a spinoff short anime. Mashin Mukashi-Banashi Gekijō (Mashin Folk Tale Theater) will debut on the official Toei Tokusatsu channel on YouTube on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. (Saturday at 9:00 p.m. EDT).

The anime features the deformed versions of Mashin, the vehicular partners of the Kiramager team, reenacting classic folk tales. In the first episode "Momotarō" (Peach Boy) on Sunday, Mashin Fire (the fire engine Mashin voiced by Kenichi Suzumura) recounts the well-known Japanese tale about a demon-fighting boy who was born in a giant peach. Suzumura also voices various other Mashin characters all by himself in the episode.

Mashin Sentai Kiramager itself premiered on March 8 and airs on Sundays at 9:30 a.m., although it has delayed new episodes since May 17 due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Mashin Sentai Kiramager star Rio Komiya was diagnosed with COVID-19 in late March, but was released from the hospital on April 9. Toei closed its studio on March 31 for disinfection following Komiya's diagnosis, and the series resumed filming this month. A new double-feature film tentatively titled Gekijō-ban Kamen Rider Zero-One/Mashin Sentai Kiramager the Movie is slated to open in Japan on July 23.

Mashin Sentai Kiramager features jewels and vehicles as its motifs. The beautiful Kiramei Stone jewels with their mysterious hidden powers have chosen five individuals as warriors, to battle an army of darkness bent on robbing humanity of hope and brilliance.

Various anime series have retold folk tales for over four decades under similar titles such as Manga Nihon Mukashi Banashi, Manga Sekai Mukashi Banashi, Baka Mukashi Banashi, Nihon Omoshiro Mukashi Banashi, and Furusato Saisei Nippon no Mukashi Banashi (Folktales from Japan).

Source: Comic Natalie