I recently bought Ninja Storm's full season. I've been debating whether I essentially want to repurchase the same thing.
I know that some PR seasons were near-exact adaptations of the SS equivalents --
Time Force, Wild Force, Samurai -- but was
Ninja Storm that close? I had the impression it was rather different in its characters and tone -- it used mostly original villains, for instance.
Anyway, I'm currently watching
Gaoranger, and while I can tell it's very close to
Wild Force, I find I'm enjoying it more. I'm not sure why -- maybe I like the actors better, or the humor is more effective. I think I like some of the music better too.
Zi-O: For an aspiring King of Time, Sougo is really bad at catching on to the whole altered-timeline deal. Yet more evidence that the
Generations movie isn't being counted, since he dealt with an altered timeline there (which still leaves the mystery of how he got the Kuuga and W watches).
That Woz -- what a sellout, twice over. I forgot that his true loyalty is to the demon king. I thought at least he'd be loyal to the future Sougo version of Oma Zi-O, but it looks like he'll back whoever holds the title. Unless maybe he's a double agent...?
Grand Zi-O didn't use Den-O's sword right -- the blade literally flies off the handle (appropriate for Momotaros's weapon) and is maneuvered through the air by the hilt. But I guess Sougo isn't experienced with its use. I guess this was his
hissatsu attack, Part Zero.
Ryu: I know I've seen another monster with this same power to force couples apart magnetically, most likely in one of the
Kamen Rider shows. I don't recall what it was, though. Its use here was a bit cursory, but it got the point across that Canalo was starting to bond with Koh. Also, I don't think switching the monster's polarity from S to N would've helped, since it's still like poles repelling.
Once again, it's surprising how much the Kishiryuu are being written as characters with their own drama and conflicts, rather than just vehicles or helper animals. Here, Mosa Rex is the one insisting on maintaining the old hatred for the land Ryusoul Tribe, so he's surely the one who'll have to be convinced to change his mind.
Some cute wordplays here, with Ui's father responding to her saying "Ui" with "Bonjour," and with Canalo's weapon saying "Itadakimosa" (basically "Thanks for the mosasaur"). There seemed to be some wordplays in the bit where the guys ended up in random cities too, but they went by so fast that I had to go through that bit a couple of times and freeze-frame long enough to read the annotations.
Seeing Creon hit on an adolescent girl (even a 123-year-old one) was kinda creepy, though, even granted that he's played as childlike himself. But how did he intend to stab her to death with an obviously blunt giant novelty fork? Anyway, his new boss is quite a tyrant.
