Hasbro's Power Rangers era and General Tokusatsu discussion

Today marks the 25th anniversary of Caaaaaaaraaanger!






Full season is on Shout factory if anyone is interested in checking it out

https://www.shoutfactorytv.com/series/super-sentai-carranger

 

Ah, Carranger. Which used the title that was almost used for Turboranger seven years previously, and then confusingly got adapted into Power Rangers Turbo.

 

TTFC has uploaded Kamen Rider Blade episode 1

 

I thought that Carrangerwas a pretty fun series. It got some chuckles out of me, and I enjoyed the characters and the goofy situations fairly well. Not a top tier toku show, but probably the best one I've seen that is also an outright comedy. It did a good job of being funny and goofy but still feeling like a real Sentai show, unlike things like Akibaranger which I found intolerable.

 

Saber 24: Not bad. I like how Ogami talks to his son as an equal and shares his problems with him, instead of saying "Don't worry about it, you're too young." Although when the kid said (translated) "Why don't you just fight with Touma?", I thought he meant "fight with" in the sense of "fight alongside," but it turned out to be "fight against" (it's a perennial annoyance of mine that English has that ambiguity).

I'd thought that Master Logos might actually be Tassel, but I checked, and the actor is different (it's the former ShinkenGold). Meanwhile, Tassel seems to have packed his bags and skipped town. I wonder if we'll get a new narrator next week, or no narrator.

So now it looks like everyone's on Touma's side except Rintarou, and maybe Ren, whose decision was left ambiguous. Rintarou thinks he's being loyal to the organization that raised him, but what is the organization without its members?

Meanwhile, it looks like next week,

Spoiler

we finally get a female Rider, as Reika becomes Sabella (or Sabera). That's good, but she fits the usual pattern where female Riders are either introduced late, villainous/ambiguous, or both.

 

Interview with Angela Mei (Reika in Kamen Rider Saber ). Photos in the article could be considered as spoilers FYI

https://mantan-web.jp/article/20210...MJ1b_hMR8GqnG1dxgavhk5eq8Xoi6z9PvZiw1AQ_6FqwE

Den-O was also my first series too.

Spoiler

Judging by how the scene was framed I think we're lead to believe Tassel is Calibur

 

A new Power Ranger stunt show is being planned

https://powerrangerslive.com/

Wow. Those costumes are terrible

 

Yeah, those are not great.
They did some similar Marvel and Batman shows a while back that looked pretty impressive.



It will be interesting to see how the PR show compares.

 

Kiramager episode 45


Here we are at the end of another season. It's been a whirlwind no thanks to Covid-19 that cut the season short a few episodes and resulted in KirameiRed's actor getting Covid-19

The series had alot of good action and heart. Gotta give props to the cast for being able to do the Ki Ra Mei pose and Rio Komiya doing that flip

I like that we got a recap of everyone's talents showcasing what they bring to the team.

I liked the reference to zoom calls and having technical difficulties



I loved the time jump/epilogue just to get an idea of where everyone is going afterwards. And Jyuru drew Zenkaiger!

Congrats to the cast and Arakawa for another fun season. There was certainly alot of creative ideas and gags they did this year







Some thought this might have been canceled or impossible due to covid-19 but we're getting a VS special with Ryuusoulger!







So ranking the last 9 years after Gokaiger ended here's where I rank the sentai seasons from good to bad

1. Kiramager
2. Ryusoulger
3. LuPat
4. Go-Busters
5. Zyuohger
6. ToQger
7. Kyoryuger
8. Ninninger
9. Kyuranger

I found Kyuranger pretty boring. I fell asleep on some episodes like the baseball or RPG one.

Ryusoulger I'm bringing down simply because of Canalo and his weak story and drive/purpose.



And now the yearly passing of the torch ceremony

 

Pretty good finale, though a bit cursory in some ways. I'm a sucker for the helmetless roll calls, but it felt a bit tacked on this year, like just "Okay, time for the helmetless roll call now." They work better when there's a dramatic buildup, when it's the culmination of the building crisis and they've been driven to an extreme and they're rallying for the final push. Here, they just showed up and started doing it. So it could've been better.

Arakawa really seems to like the kind of sequence where you think one thing has happened, and then it turns out that it was all part of the heroes' plan and you get flashbacks explaining their clever fakeout and what really happened. I guessed they were doing that here, but I guessed wrong about how -- I thought they were going to use that little blue stick-figure thingy to create duplicates of themselves for Yodom to devour, and instead they used the illusion stone.

Oh, that explains the weird poses. Never much cared for them.

Oh, cool. About a year late, but better late than never.

So that means there will be new Ryusoulger content at the same time Dino Fury is airing in the US. I think that might be the first time a Sentai series has released new content concurrently with its Power Rangers adaptation since Gekiranger vs. Boukenger in 2008, though I haven't checked completely thoroughly.

Hmm, I'd rank them fairly similarly except for Kira and Ryu. They were both kind of middle-of-the-road for me, fairly good but not exceptional. I'd put them maybe under ToQger. For me, the best ones were the Junko Komura (LvP, Zyu) and Yasuko Kobayashi (Go-B, ToQ) seasons.

I might also put Ninninger above Kyoryuger, if only for Kasumi.

 

The premise of the VS looks to be our occasional "trip into movie world" plot(complete with Edo set appearance)

VS involves the Yodon Army using a film-making Minusaur to gather Yami Energy, with Yodonna acting as the producer.

ACTION!




Also this was posted by Yodonna's actress. YodonnaVision anyone?

 

Dino Fury episode 3 preview



The monster is from the 3rd Ryuusoulger episode "Cursed Gaze" which had green and black

The Dino fury clip looks like it's deviating from the ryusoulger episode. After Amelia says " I hate fighting blind" which is actually sentai footage the episode cuts to Mucus grabbing the camcorder which is American footage


Ryusoul Green and Black show up and blind the minusaur

 

Power Rangers Dino Fury episode 3




So Green and black did not appear in this episode. They should next time because after that(episode 5) it sounds like they're already part of the team

Vypeera just looking at Ollie and Amelia while they morphed was just bad. It could have attacked them right there but it just looks at them. The morphing sequence just goes on too long.



Simon Bennett the series show runner who has been with Power Rangers since Ninja steel says episode 4 is his favorite.


https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1368229149043613698

 

You've just described practically every tokusatsu episode ever. What about Saber where the Swordsmen have to stand there waiting for the Wonder Ride Books to finish reciting their lengthy "story" phrases before they can henshin?

What gets me are the team-cannon finishers where the monster just stands there in place for however long it takes for the cannon to be assembled and charged up, and never tries to dodge when it fires.

 

Zenkaiger 1: I kinda liked it. A fairly interesting premise and some pretty good character writing right off the bat. Kaito's world is somehow accidentally merged with part of the conquered Kikainoid world (which is somehow preventing Dynasty Tojitendo from assimilating Kaito's world, so they try to conquer it old-school instead), and at first the two species try to get along, but it takes very little for the humans to turn on the Kikainoids in fear when they assume they're the same as the robotic invaders. Zyuran, the red robot based on the Zyurangers' mecha, is just trying to get along and hang out at parties, but everyone misjudges him except for Kaito, your typical tokusatsu-lead character who's a good-natured, ambitious dreamer quick to see the best in people. But Kaito has a bit of pathos, because his parents disappeared after discovering parallel worlds (and secretly building the whole Zenkaiger combat system and secret lair with records of all the Super Sentai worlds).

The henshin sequence and a lot of the fighting is typically overproduced and overly CGI-reliant, a trend I'm not fond of. It seems that the Sentai Gears just give the Zenkaigers powers or weapons associated with past Sentai teams, rather than changing their costumes like in Gokaiger or Kamen Rider Decade/Zi-O. Well, unless it's a costume addition like ZyuEagle's wings. It seems a bit underwhelming for an anniversary-powers gimmick.

It turns out that the robot parrot, Secchan, is the creation of Kaito's parents, so there's a sentimental link there, as well as it being the source of information about Sentai powers and worlds. But its voice is really shrill, loud, and annoying, and the tic of saying "tune" at the end of every sentence exacerbates it.

I noticed glimpses of two of the other Zenkaigers-to-be; Magine is a bot-on-the-street interview on TV, and Vroon is the Tojitendo's janitor. Apparently Gaon had a cameo too, but I didn't register it.

 

That was bonkers. Alot of comedy bits in the premiere. I thought they actually took it quite slow compared to past premieres that throw everything at you

I can't believe they actually did it. Jyuran's finishing move is a homage to Godzilla




Also part of the jingle for the GearTlinger is paying homage to Goranger with

"Banbarabanbanban Banbarabanbanban
Banbarabanban Banbarabanban Banbarabanbanban"

The scene where Kaito's meal is ruined by Tojitendo's invasion is a homage to the first episode of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, where the Gokaigers' lunch at Snack Safari was destroyed by Zangyack's attack.

After the Kikainoids phase in the first time, you can see Zyuran, Gaon and Magine appear in the crowds. Then Magine's on TV.

 

Saber 25: Pretty impressive. A strong dramatic episode with a recurring theme of how different characters approach doubt. Touma is honest about his uncertainty; Rintarou is tortured by doubts he doesn't believe he should be feeling; and Reika is driven by blind, unquestioning faith that makes her ruthless and fanatical, seeing the very idea of doubt as intrinsically treasonous.

The confrontation and reconciliation between Touma and Rintarou was nicely done too. I hadn't realized how much they'd come to care about each other. And they're pretty overtly toying with gay subtext, to the point that it practically becomes text, or at least Mei takes it that way.

Reika makes an impressive debut as Kamen Rider Sabela. She's highly skilled, powerful, dangerous, and literally untouchable with her ability to turn to smoke. Although as a female Rider, she's subjected to objectifying tropes that Valkyrie/Yua was fortunately spared from last season -- her henshin sequence involves a faux-nude silhouette, and her fighting style is heavy on high kicks and splits calling attention to her crotch. And her costume's overly ornate and a bit cluttered, I think. Still, a formidable opponent. (She's the second female Rider in a row to have an insect theme, though it's her primary form while Lightning Hornet was Valkyrie's secondary form. We don't see insect-themed Riders that much anymore, thought Zero-One reverted to the original grasshopper motif.)

And OMG, not only is Sophia in the episode, she actually says a few words!

 

Zenkaiger episode 2

Episode 2 continues some of the running jokes from the first one - like Gaon also shooting a foot soldier and Jyuran still dancing to the music - and ramps up the comedy a lot more since it has all the exposition out of the way.

Kaito trying to recruit more members by making a public announcement was a little bit of a homage to a Gokaiger episode where they tried to ask people where their great power was.

The accidental kiss Gattai was hilarious

So I guess we're going to have to get used to more greenscreen sets for this year

Saber- Megid base
Zenkaiger

-green screen secret base
-green screen villains' lair
-green screen cockpit




Shirakura mentioned in an interview how set spaces have become really limited in recent years, which is why we saw the idea of enemy strongholds fall away

Apparently with Sentai having less profit and a lowered tier status and Toei having many many other shows set space is more limited

On the positive side. A virtual set could prove quite interesting for more dynamic sets than just 3 studio walls

Something to think about for future seasons

 

A fun episode. So apparently there are more captured worlds than just Sentai worlds, and the monsters are upgraded footsoldiers imbued with the power of those various worlds, and the Zenkaigers free those worlds when they defeat the monsters. Okay. And obviously Ijirude stole the gear technology from Kaito's parents and is hiding it.

The character work is still pretty fun. Gaoon joins the team because he thinks Kaito is a cute pet to adopt, and he has no use for Juran, basically ignoring him the whole episode. Kaito and Juran's attempt to recruit more Zenkaigers was funny.

They do seem to be making more of an effort these days to make the giant battles integral to the story rather than just tacked on formulaically. Here it was a genuine escalation of the threat because the mushroom power spread out of control, and it was a character beat for getting Juran and Gaoon to work together grudgingly (though the fact that they're basically forced into a continuous open-mouth kiss the whole time is a little creepy). Plus it freed the captured world at the end.

Also, a lot of this episode (certainly the entire climactic battle) was shot on the Toei studio lot. You could see the numbered soundstages in the background. I wondered if that was for COVID-related reasons -- easier to control the scene and limit exposure on the studio lot than out in the world.

I like the continuity between the exterior and interior -- in the cockpit, you can clearly see how the two robots fit together. Usually there isn't as much logic to how the cockpit theoretically fits into the robot.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention -- I chuckled when Secchan said "If you spin the sword in a big circle, it'll make it more powerful." A nod to a common trope of Sentai giant-robot finisher moves going back to the very first, Battle Fever Robo.