[guncannon109]

Alright, so while I'm currently reading Mystery of Magica and I'm really enjoying it (Seriously OOO, it's very good thus far), I have decided to do a little mini review or first impressions on something special. Recently I help out XW1n5t0nX with the designs for his own series Ken-toshi Sentai Starranger and I just wanted to give my opinion on the series as it has recently completed it's third episode but simply with my unwritten rule of not reviewing anything that I have been personally involved with and the fact that it currently doesn't have enough in terms of story to warrant a full on review at this time. So instead, I'll give you all a little first impression of the first episode of the series.

Ken-toshi Sentai Starranger First Impressions

Episode 1: Star Birth
The series starts with a star ship entering our galaxy and arriving in earth's orbit. From inside, we are introduced to our villains for the series, Lord Xorpeon (probably the most fun I had designing a villain btw) who already shows promise of being a great villain. I just love his twisted " It wouldn't be fun to conquer a galaxy without any living beings on it to crush" attitude that he has while still casting the evil shadow that we expect from Sentai villains. The Xespian Army's introduction ends with Xorpeon sending down a monster to earth.

We then go to an observatory in Tokyo where we are introduced to Dr. Mutoh and Dr. Nakamusa. We don't get much out of them here aside from a simple "Rita's escaped, recruit a team of teenagers with attitudes" exchange of dialogue before going Takami High School. See, now that Zordon quote makes a little more sense now doesn't it?

The school day just ended and we are introduced to Starrangers Hiko Kasai and the Yukishiro sisters Ayu and Sora (favorite one by the way), as are exiting the school building and are picked up by Dr. Shinrai from the observatory as well as my one gripe with the writing style of the series. The inclusion of Japanese words in day-to-day conversation.

I'm sorry but this stuff has always bugged my, using words like Konichi wa and honorifics like San and Chan in English writing just comes off as odd to me. I usually find it a little strange when the dub of an anime keeps them in, and I normally ignore them in Manga or replace them with their western equivalent. I know there are people who think otherwise, but I feel that they are often distracting and a little out of place.

Moving on, the three teenagers are brought to the observatory from before (Which makes me ask, were their parents notified about this? The three are basically snatched right from school and they just go along with it. But hey, if Zordon can do it, why not scientists?) and we are introduced to the final two members of the core team, Kazu Sanouske and Ryuji Enishi and the five obtain the Star Graphers, the morphers for the series.

I feel that now is a good time to discuss the team as a whole. Kazu, takes the position of Red Ranger and although he is a bit stubborn, he shows the potential of being a great leader. He very much reminds me of Marcus Damon from Digimon Data Squad in the fact that even if he doesn't know how to solve a problem, that's not going to make him quit.

Ayu, taking up the role of Green Ranger, might not be Tommy Oliver but clearly has a kind heart that's needed to keep the team together when the world is falling down around them. As for her sister Sora, going back to the quote from Zordon, she's probably the only "Teenager with attitude" in the team. She's just an all around fun character with great a fighting spirit and enough personality to wash the bad taste of Samurai out of my mouth.

Now for Ryuji. At first I was worried that he would be relatively emo and just sit in the corner not saying much, but man was I wrong. He might not have much of a social life, as it seems that he just hangs around the command center all day but he has a good joke every once and a while and is a fast thinker on his feet.

As for Hiko, he has a bit of an issue right now where he's just kind of there to fill space on the team. I would like to say more about, but right now all I know is that he always knows exactly what to say for any given situation. He's not a bad character, just needs more to do, that's all.

After the team receives their morphers, they are told their mission as a troop of Fangos (the footsoldiers for the series) attack downtown Tokyo and the they head out to defeat it. The next bit is fairly standard, they confront the monster and morph into their ranger forms and learn what their powers are based off of. Some taking it better then others. The episode ends with a face off against the team and the Fangos.

Star Birth is a good start to the series, it gets all the characters where they need to be at a very nice pace with some good character defining moments to give it a sense of realism. If XW1n5t0nX is reading this I have one thing to say, keep up the good work and I look forward for more!

For a link to Ken-toshi Sentai Starranger, click here.