[algo448]

Finished Gekiranger.

An excellent show, great characterization, a story that keeps raising the stakes without going overboard, great fight choreography, and an excellent set of antagonists, that keep the story moving even in the "filler" episodes.

Jan is innocence incarnate, he's a tiger boy, wild, unrefined, but strong, honest and kind. His journey is an incredible road, Jan changes and matures but remain honest to himself all the way through, he's fun wihout being stupid, and know when to be serious.

I loved Ran and Retsu, Ran was a great leader, and she totally deserved that position, there are so many shows where the protagonist is the leader whether he's the most capable one or not, but geki played it smartly. Retsu's search for beauty captivated me, his Cheetah-Ken and Bat-Ken are art and his training with Bat Li, remains one of my favorite moments in the show.

Gou was a tricky one for me, there were times I though he was ok, but another times he drove me nuts, but as I learned more about him and understood his plight, I liked him more and more, he's not my favorite Gekiranger, but he's a great character with an interesting story. Ken, I love him, he's fun, aloof, and a little bit careless but he's able to go for further lenghts than one would expect, and he's one of my favorites on the show.

The Kensei are great supporting characters, they are wise but can be silly, and as a result of their non-combat vow don't steal the spotlight from the main characters, Natsume is a suprisingly likeable kid character, and since Jan is pretty much a kid too she works better than other kid characters, Miki... could have done more, I liked her, but I'll be honest, I didn't think her actress was that good, and for someone so involved in the story could have done more.

The other side of the coin RinJuken Akugata, Rio is an excellent antagonist, his journey is as fascinating as Jan's there are times you want to kill him, and others you want to hug him, but all the time he's a great lead for the RinJuken side.

I love Mele, a though but insecure girl with an interesting story, and along her comes Bae, who really deserved more time, the two are great characters, with great performances by their actors.

Kata, Rageku and Maku, are great, great, and kind of a letdown, for a guy who was all about hate he was prety chill sitting there all comfy, and taking away the spotlight from the other two.

Long was a joy, that's all I'll say.

And so ends Gekiranger, a story about personal growth, and surprisingly enough I'm not sad, it had a great ending and it feels like the journey is truly over, I can say goodbye to Gekiranger with a nikoniko and continue to aim higher.