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09-09-2021, 05:41 AM | #8861 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,558
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Oh yeah. And people miss this detail, but Hurricanger is the 10th anniversary of the tsuika senshi. And we know Toei is celebrating cause what else is green and wears a lot of gold other than Burai? Shuri-freakin-kenger. But yeah Hurricanger really did a good job in re-using the plot for Liveman and give it a ninja flavor. And Gouraigers were the best thing to come out of this show for sure. I also love the alumnis playing the many disguises of Shurikenger.
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09-10-2021, 01:11 PM | #8862 |
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Join Date: May 2019
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After 8 covered movies, I have reached my optimum point. My passion, research, knowledge and style, for the sake of covering this movie again, I will put these skills to good use. I will bring “this” to you.
Androzani’s Tsukai Detour And this week, we’re back where I started the year. Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger vs Gaoranger “Rivals since the Sengoku era, two ninja schools are wiped out by the Space Ninja Army Jakanja. However, three Hayate Way survivors become the Hurricanegers; they fight alongside the Ikazuchi Way brothers, the Gouraigers, to protect the Earth.” “Wandering space, the Space Ninja Army Jakanja come to Earth. Protecting the Earth from the evil space ninja is the Ninpu Sentai Hurricaneger. The three ninja warriors use Chou Ninpo to fight the out of control space ninja. The giant Ninja Commanders face the Karakuri Giant Senpuujin. When its body duplicates, it cuts one after another. Bunshin Maboroshi Giri is an invincible attack that only ninjas can do.” Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger: the Hayate Way’s Legendary Successors. Yosuke Shina/HurricaneRed: a Sky Ninja student who is part of the 507th class. While the school was active, he was one of its poorest students, yet also the one with the most potential. Of the three, he cares the most about defeating the Jakanja and avenging their school. His signature move is Chou Ninpo: Soragake, which allows him walk on the air. In his day job, he ostensibly works as a window cleaner, but his boss has him put to work doing other jobs. Nanami Nono/HurricaneBlue: a Water Ninja student from the 507th class. While dedicated to doing well as a Ninja, she also aims to be famous. Her signature move is Chou Ninpo: Suiryuha, which allows her to fire a beam of concentrated water. In her day job, she is an enka performer, who’s manager is slowly giving her bigger jobs to pacify her. Kouta Bitou/HurricaneYellow: a Land Ninja student from the 507th class. Of the three, he cares the most about helping others, which extends to his day job as a physical therapist, having been motivated by his sister being rendered temporarily disabled below the waist. His signature move is Chou Ninpo: Mai Jishi, which splits him into multiple copies. Denkosekka Gouraiger: The Ikazuchi Way’s Legendary Champions. “The rivalry between the Hayate and Ikazuchi styles began in the Sengoku era. After much struggling, it was our Hayate Way that reigned supreme. While our rivals, the defeated Ikazuchi, remains shrouded in mystery to this day.” - Headmaster Mugensai Hinata. Ikkou Kasumi/KabutoRaiger: One of the two survivors of the Ikazuchi way. Since childhood, he and his brother Isshu were raised by their father Ikki to fight with only rage and hatred, so that when the time came, one would kill the other and claim the mysterious power known as “that”. Ikkou, not realising the full means to obtain “that”, planned to use it to make the Gouraigers the greatest ninjas in the universe, even if Earth was destroyed in the process. Eventually, after being exposed to Girigiri Gas and losing his mind, Ikkou realised that “that” was worth the sacrifice and vowed to take down Jakanja in revenge for tricking him. But as a result, Manmarva has implanted within his heart a space scorpion egg, which will kill him when it hatches and can’t be removed through conventional means. His signature move is Ikazuchi-Ryu Kengi: Raigeki-Zan, wherein he slashes his opponent with the elemental power of thunder. Isshu Kasumi/KuwagaRaiger: The younger of the two brothers. Isshu loathes the Ikazuchi style for how they hid in the shadows for 500 years instead of fighting to reclaim their glory and he hates his father for treating him and Ikkou like sacrificial pawns (considering him worse than Jakanja). Though he no longer seeks “that” to do so, Isshu intends to rebuild the Ikazuchi Way better than it was before. His signature move is Chou Ninpo: Kiba Inazuma, wherein he fires Lightning from the fangs on his helmet. Allies: Shurikenger: “I am ninja of ninja. The ninja amongst ninja. The green light bullet, Tenkuu Ninja Shurikenger!” -Shurikenger introducing himself. A mysterious masked ninja who claims to represent the “Space Union Ninja Way”. His identity is unknown except by his master Gozen (who only Mugensai is aware exists). Whenever he appears untransformed, it is always as someone who’s likeness he has copied. Can transform into a slimmer appearance known as Fire Mode. His signature move is Chou Ninpo: Hidan Senbon Knock, wherein he fires multiple baseballs at his enemy to defeat them. Mugensai Hinata: Formerly headmaster of the Hayate Style, he was stuck in the body of a hamster (leading to everyone dubbing him “Hamster Headmaster) due to mispronouncing a transformation spell. As such, he spends most of his time in the Hayate headquarters, providing the Hurricanegers with his wisdom and missions (while also maintaining regular contact with the mysterious Gozen). Oboro Hinata: Mugensai’s daughter and a graduate of the Hayate Style’s 487th class. She develops the Hurricaneger gear based on an ancient ninja secret. Gaorangers: Tsukumaro Ogami/GaoSilver: A 1,062-year-old GaoWarrior who was sealed away a thousand years ago after becoming possessed by the demon Rouki. After being defeated by the Gaorangers, he is physically separated from Rouki and joins the team as GaoSilver, the Sparking Wolf. He controls GaoWolf, GaoHammerhead, and GaoLigator. Space Ninja Army Jakanja: “After 500 years, one of our space probes has finally activated. Your malice, bloodlust, wrath and Ninpo, for the sake of conquering that bloated wealthy planet, I will put those evil powers to good use. You will bring “that” to me.” - Tau Zant spells out the mission statement for Jakanja. Tau Zant: the Boss of Jakanja who has been searching for “that” for 500 years. He possesses 100 legs like a centipede. He leads Jakanja in landing on planets and corrupting them to try and bring out “that”. First Spear, Furabijo (Friday - bee -bijou [beauty]): Jakanja’s evaluator, who grades the performances of everyone who goes out either to corrupt the planet or to do another job. Second Spear, Chuzoobo (derived from “Tuesday”): Commander of the Bio Ninja Corps. He developed a rivalry with the Gouraigers due to their knowledge of “that” eclipsing that of Jakanja’s. This led to him trying to fulfill a prophecy that would sacrifice the two of them to create “that”. But this ultimately failed, resulting in the Gouraigers leaving Jakanja, forming an uneasy alliance with the Hurricanegers and Chuzoobo’s death at the hands of the newly created GouraiSenpuujin. Third Spear, Manmarva (Monday, maru [sphere] and larva): Jakanja’s prophet, who is never wrong in his predictions. He discovered the Gouraigers, believing they were the Sixth and Seventh Spears, and brought them into Jakanja’s fold. But after they left, he transformed into a humanoid “imago” form and vowed revenge on them, planting a a space scorpion egg in Ikkou’s heart and manipulating it so that it will hatch sooner. Fourth Spear, Wendinu (Wednesday and Undine): Jakanja’s resident seductress and sword-master. She is in charge of growing the Ninja Commanders. Fifth Spear, Sargain (derived from “Thursday”): A tiny ant-like alien piloting a robotic suit who leads the Mecha Ninja Corps.. His Ninja Commanders are mechanical “puppets” he creates himself. He is a technical genius, creating his own Karakuri Giant, Megatagame, based on copying the plans for the Karakuri Giants used by the Earth Ninjas. Sixth Spear, Satarakura (Saturday and Sakura [cherry blossoms]): The newest addition to Jakanja’s attack on Earth and leader of the Masked Ninja Corps. He prefers to have fun with his battles, thinking that life is boring if you can’t have fun. Though that being said, he has some sadistic ideas of fun (namely, trapping the Earth Ninjas on a rigged game show where they would be lowered closer to a pit of lava after every question). What do I think about Hurricaneger? Well I have that written here. As for the movie, it’s the first to be co-produced by Hideaki Tsukuda (now better known as the producer for W and Fourze), the script comes courtesy of Naoyuki Sakai (I suggest you check out my Hurricaneger thread for more on who he is), while the director is the same guy as last time, Noboru Takemoto. With all that said, let’s get on with the re-review. We open with the Hurricanegers defeating a whole army of Magerappas, through the use of stock footage (which is fairly obvious, as they go from a forest, to a lake, to a quarry and finally to the coast). As they call out for the Jakanja to send them someone good, they get blown back (be careful what you wish for) by these guys. As the Hurricanegers are shocked, GaoRed says this. (Followed by “Hurricanegers, prepare yourself”) Cue titles, which come with a one off modification with the Gaorangers added to the opening shots. Whoosh and arrive (arrive) With a whoosh, there are ninjas. Create a hurricane of courage. Though you feel as if you are overwhelmed If you change these feelings to a smile. You can run towards new days, looking only forward. For the sake of protecting this planet, we’ve inherited this secret power. Three hearts gathered as one, believing in a future to work hard for. Whoosh and arrive (arrive) With a whoosh there are ninjas Get ready, get ready, absolutely get ready. Whoosh and arrive (arrive) Whoosh through today, go go. Burn up the hurricane of justice Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger. Become the wind. A fight breaks out, with the Hurricanegers being beaten down, with GaoWhite pushing Nanami into the water where GaoBlue has the advantage, GaoYellow avoids Kouta’s Earth-based techniques with his wings and Yosuke’s techniques and weapons are outmatched by GaoRed and GaoBlack. Oboro bids the three retreat, which they do just as they get his with a blast from the Gaorangers’ JuuOhKen (Don’t ask how a sword can fire a laser). At Ninja Base, Oboro and Hamster Headmaster explain that the 5 Gaorangers - Kakeru Shishi, Gaku Washio, Kai Samezu, Sotaro Ushigome and Sae Taiga - defended Earth from Org while the three were training at the Ninpuukan (Nice to see them explain why the current heroes haven’t heard of the last ones, rather than just have that be a thing that happens). As the heroes wonder why heroes of justice would turn evil, we cut to the Centipede, where the Seven Spears (still two short) celebrate having overpowered the Hurricanegers, with Manmarva giving praise to the Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger’s power. This victory turns out to have been brought on a new member, Chubozoo (No title, he’s just Chubozoo). As Satarakura praises “Chubo” (coming from him, that’s not nothing), Sargain suggests a different reason for his success. As we see that all of the regulars now have a glowing pendant around their necks, Chubozoo asks to inherit his brother Chuzoobo’s place as the Second Dark Spear, to which Tau Zant agrees, provided the plan succeeds. Elsewhere, the Gaorangers have begun to attack the Gouraigers, with the Hurricanegers catching word and running in to help them. They stop Ikkou from shooting the Gaorangers with the Double Gadget, before asking the Gaorangers why they’ve joined the Jakanja, to which the 5 detransform, revealing that at least, they look like the real thing. The Gaorangers then explain themselves while passive-aggressively insulting the Hurricanegers. It then turns out the whole thing was just an excuse to make colour puns (hmm, who else likes making bad jokes?). Yosuke of course, isn’t amused. GaoRed then explains that they’re evil for a very good reason: They sold their souls to the devil (Finally, a simple explanation for villainy). They then transform back and restate their desire to destroy the Hurricanegers, calling the Gao Jewels to return to them. The Gaorangers then use the Gao Jewels to summon the Power Animals, forming GaoKing. The Hurricanegers and Gouraigers summon their Shinobi Machines to form Senpuujin and Gouraijin. The Gaorangers then escalate by summoning GaoGiraffe, combining with it to form GaoKing Spear, which defeats Gouraijin with its Neck Thrust attack. This causes Yosuke to get dangerous and transform Senpuujin into Senpuujin Hurrier to fight in earnest. We then see the male Gaorangers and the Gao Miko Tetom tied up in a cave, watching the scene helplessly. But where is their sole female member, Sae? She escaped and runs towards the battlefield, where GaoKing defeats Senpuujin with the Super Animal Heart. Sae yelling causes GaoTiger to block GaoShark from destroying Senpuujin. When Sae explains the ruse, the Power Animals disengage the combination and eject the fake Gaorangers, who dodge an attack with a ninja dash (curiouser and curiouser). At Ninja Base, Sae explains that they were captured by a Jakanja monster (Chubozoo) who stole their G-Phones and attached talismans to them that limit their movement. After a closer examination, Oboro and Hamster Headmaster have determined that the talismans are transmitting a copy of their victim’s biological data somewhere (which they surmise to be the fake Gaorangers), but Ikkou wonders how the Jakanja found out about the Gaoranger. The answer reveals itself when the captive Gaorangers ask the same question: the Duke Orgs Yabaiba and Tsuetsue, who survived being crushed to death in the destruction of the Org Temple. They then proceed to torture the Gaorangers in revenge for their defeat. The heroes and Sae make their way to the cave where Chubozoo is keeping the Gaorangers (One wonders why he doesn’t just imprison them on the Centipede). Then the fake Gaorangers appear, no longer acting as the Gaorangers and displaying familiar behaviours. Sure enough, the fakes turn out to be the Jakanja’s Seven Dark Spears (still two short), who have the G-Phones. They then proceed to transform into the Gaorangers, complete with transformation sequence, before they do a corrupted version of the Gaorangers’ roll call. Shurikenger then shows up, having been informed of the situation, to help the Gouraigers face the Jakanja-as-Gaorangers while the others go on, where they end up facing Magerappas untransformed (and Yosuke’s actor Shun Shioya breaks his arm. That’ll be important later) and Chubozoo. Unfortunately for the former three, it turns out that the Jakanja-with-Gaoranger-powers are still Jakanja, abilities and all. And to make matters worse, the talismans kick in, draining Sae of her energy mid-fight. Elsewhere, a mysterious figure feels the wind calling. Then Kouta notes that they’re controlled by the device on Chubozoo’s chest. A series of flashy combos later, the device gets hit and the talismans are destroyed (or more accurately, the Hurricanegers hit Chubozoo in a random area and the device stops working). Seeing that their easy prey can fight back, Yabaiba and Tsuetsue summon the Magerappas (apparently, none of the Orgettes survived the destruction of the Org Temple) and flee. The heroes all reunite, but the Gaorangers still don’t have their powers back, which the Jakanja take advantage of, with Tsuetsue and Yabaiba saying some variant of “this is for Masters Shuten, Ura and Rasetsu” (but not Senki). It’s then that the man in the shroud appears and reveals himself: he’s the last member of the Gaorangers, Tsukumaro Oogami. Tetom gives Tsukumaro his G-Brace Phone, which he uses to communicate with the Power Animals to strip the powers of the Gaorangers from the fakes. As the fakes are weakened, the Hurricanegers perform a Kage no Mai to detransform them, allowing the G-Phones to return to their rightful owners. Tetom then restores the jackets to the Gaorangers, causing them to start referring to each other by colour, like the good old days. (For reference, Kakeru is Red, Gaku is Yellow, Kai is Blue, Sotaro is Black, Sae is White and Tsukumaro is Silver). We then get an extended transformation sequence and roll call for everyone (Shurikenger goes into Fire Mode), ending in a group shot (not this one, a different one), with “Kaze yo, Mizu yo, Daichi yo” playing in the background. Gaorangers: Gao Access, Ha! Summon, Spirit of the Earth! Hurricanegers: Ninpuu, Shinobi Change! Ikkou: Jinrai,… Isshu: Shinobi Change! Shurikenger: Great Reversal! Face Change! Red: The Blazing Lion, GaoRed! Yellow: The Noble Eagle, GaoYellow! Blue: The Surging Shark, GaoBlue! Black: The Iron Bison, GaoBlack! White: The Belle Tiger, GaoWhite! Silver: The Sparkling Wolf, GaoSilver! Red: Where there is life, there is the roar of justice! Hyakujuu Sentai… All: Gaoranger! Shurikenger: The Green Light Bullet, Tenkuu Ninja Shurikenger! In Fire Mode! Ikkou: The Crimson Lightning! Horned Ninja, KabutoRaiger! Isshu: The Azure Thunder! Fanged Ninja, KuwagaRaiger! Ikkou: I face the dark, I slash the dark! Isshu: I face the light, I slash the light! Both: Denkousekka Gouraiger, revealed! Yosuke: The wind blows and the sky rages; Sky Ninja, HurricaneRed! Nanami: The water dances and the waves crash; Water Ninja, HurricaneBlue! Kouta: The land trembles and the flowers sing; Land Ninja, HurricaneYellow! Yosuke: Unknown to the people,… Nanami: Unknown to the world,… Kouta: We become shadows to combat evil. Hurricanegers: Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger… Yosuke:…has aaaarrived! The villains then charge into battle… except for Satarakura, who has to be dragged in. And so a fight breaks out. Yosuke and Red take on Chubozoo, breaking his inherited Kyodai Ni no Yari, Ikkou and Silver have a bike duel with Manmarva, Kouta and Yellow beat up Yabaiba, Blue helps Isshu take down Sargain and in a battle with all the girls, White gives Wendinu what Nanami considers a flattering new look, before defeating the three wit a combination Tiger Baton: Byakko Jumonji Giri/Chou Ninpo: Ranbu SanJuShou. After Shurikenger and Black beat up Satarakura, the former teams up with Silver to defeat all 5 Jakanja regulars with the Shuriken Zubat and the HajaSeijuu Cue. The two then launch their attacks in tandem, with Silver delivering his iconic “Evil, die gloriously!”, blowing up the Jakanja (but this being a V-Cinema released near the end of the season where 3 of them were still alive and 2 had had death episodes, they survive). The main teams then confront Chubozoo and the two Duke Orgs with the Victory Gadget and the Haja HyakujuuKen. The two attacks hit the three targets with both teams giving their post-victory lines (“Say bye bye” for the Hurricanegers and Gouraigers, “Evil, disperse” for the Gaorangers). As the Duke Orgs state they’ll be together in death, Chubozoo uses the Yami Majin Damashii Shokan no Jutsu to revive himself. He then calls forth Island Ninja Girigirigaishi (Or as I call him, “Papa G”. Anyone who’s read my thread will know why) (from Scrolls 17 and 18), Disaster Ninja Kangaroulette (from Scroll 20) and Mirage Ninja Jin-Giron (from Scrolls 21-22). The heroes respond by summoning their robots. Red: Hyakujuu Gattai! Gaorangers: Birth, GaoKing Sword and Shield! Silver: Hyakujuu Gattai! “…Advent, GaoHunter!” Shurikenger: Hishou Henkei! (Soaring Transformation) “…Tenkuujin, on stage!” Ikkou: Ikazuchi Gattai! (Lightning Combination) Gouraigers: Gouraijin, on stage! Hurricanegers: Ninpuu Gattai! (Ninja Wind Combination) “…Senpuujin, on stage!” In the ensuing fight, Tenkuujin re-enacts its last showdown with Jin-Giron and GaoHunter hits Papa G with the Revolver Phantom, before combining its Beast Hurricane with GaoKing Sword and Shield’s Evil Crusher to destroy Kangaroulette (so much for fair play). As Gouraijin wielding Karakuri Ball 04: Plant Axe hits Chubozoo with the Kyukyoku Ougi: Daikaiten Todoroke Giri, he uses Uchuu Ninpo: Aniki Damashii Shokan no Jutsu, which, as the name implies, summons Chuzoobo to attack Senpuujin and Gouraijin. To counter this, Yosuke and Ikkou activate Karakuri Balls 07 and 08, to create Karakuri Senshi Furaimaru, who gives a different speech to his usual one. Furaimaru: We cannot let the Gaorangers down. Let us go, everyone! Fu! Rai! Go! Ha! Yosuke: Ryuuhachoetsu… (Pathway Transcendence) All: Furai Gattai! (Wind-Thunder Combination) Furaimaru: GouraiSenpuujin, on stage! GouraiSenpuujin finishes off Chuzoobo with one punch (apparently, not even death prevents villain decay). Chubozoo then combines his power with his remaining two monsters, releasing an energy wave that knocks GouraiSenpuujin’s arm off and knocks the others out of the fight. And for added symbolism, Yosuke’s broken his arm (a script change resulting from the injury I noted earlier). GaoRed then suggests going into GaoMuscle Striker so they can rejoin the fight, but GaoLion has other ideas. GaoRed then appears in Yosuke’s cockpit (Don’t ask how), with the idea GaoLion gave him. Yosuke accepts the idea, with the other half of Gourai Stag detaching so that GaoShark and GaoTiger can take their place, before GaoElephant joins in, forming GouraiSenpuujin Sword and Shield. Hamster Headmaster is surprised, but Oboro isn’t. (Because she knows Hurricane Dolphin, Hurricane Leon, Gourai Stag and Tenkuujin were designed to be backwards compatible with the Power Animals due to how well they sold). After destroying the two monsters with Hissatsu Ougi: Furai Hyakujuu Giri, all that’s left is Chubozoo. Luckily, Shurikenger and GaoSilver are on hand with another idea. Shurikenger: Tenkuu Busou! (Heavenly Armament) All: TenkuuGouraiSenpuujin, on stage! And they then channel the power of the Power Animals into their ultimate attack. The full power of this attack destroys Chubozoo. As GaoRed formally passes on the Earth’s safety to Yosuke, every duo celebrates… except one (Its not Kouta and GaoYellow. They were celebrating, but I didn’t have a picture of them). Tsukumaro returns his jacket and Brace to Tetom before mounting his bike. He tells Shurikenger that it would be harder if he said goodbye to everyone’s faces, and refuses to answer where he’s going clearly. Shurikenger calls him a snob for his non-answer (this coming from a guy who never reveals his face?). Cue credits. You too Can you hear it? The song of the sky The waves of the sea The voice of the earth This irreplaceable Blue planet's Signs of pain Are an S.O.S. for us We want to receive The pulsation of these souls We want to embrace it With the whole of our bodies We become even stronger Now that we are inside the wind When it's time to stand up to the future The energy is born We become even gentler Now that we are inside the wind Only the true courage Is the energy we know As the credits role, Tetom screws up Oboro’s computer, Ikkou and Sotaro wrestle (This is exactly how JUNretsu got started), Nanami and Sae go shopping, Kouta spars with Gaku, Kai draws in a crowd of women - to Isshu and Yosuke takes Hamster Headmaster to Kakeru for examination. Turns out being a vet doesn’t include courses on turning hamsters back into humans. After the credits, we get one last scene with the Gaorangers signing off to the Hurricanegers and Gouraigers to end on. Uchuu Ninja File: Candidate for the Second Spear, Chubozoo: He’s a bit of a cocky rookie. Final thoughts: A fairly good crossover with a very unique application of the “vs” part of “vs movie”. I also lie, that they explained how the current Sentai was unaware of the older one, unlike how some crossovers just gloss all of that over (Goseiger vs Shinkenger is another favourite for similar reasons). The challenge: In this movie, the Jakanja pulled off a reasonable impression of a Sentai group. So I ask what other villain group do you feel could pass as a Sentai? There’ll be something different next week, as I’ve already reviewed Abaranger vs Hurricaneger. So I’ll be skipping ahead to do “Dekaranger vs Abaranger”, which is considered by some circles to be the best Sentai VS movie. Will I agree? Let’s see. |
09-10-2021, 01:14 PM | #8863 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,428
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Quote:
Anyway, still sad that this never got adapted for Ninja Storm. Seems like alot of fun!
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09-15-2021, 08:06 PM | #8864 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
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~Fish's Zenkai Tour!~
Episode 27 – Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger Abaranger has a real way of staying off my radar, for whatever reason. I know stuff about it, but not that much, and I know people seem to like it, but I don't hear it talked about enough to really gauge how much. I have a feeling this is once again down more to my own ignorance than anything. And I do mean ignorance! Like, it wasn't until embarrassingly recently that I figured out this was the first Sentai that Naruhisa Arakawa was main writer on. I mean, I've definitely seen that information before, but when I think of a mid 2000's Arakawa Sentai, there's always been a certain show I think of, and it isn't this one. It's like the fact he was the lead on more than one Sentai that decade was utterly incomprehensible to me for the longest time, and I have no idea why. You'd think I'd be well aware of all the juicy details of the first Sentai show helmed by Arakawa, a lifelong toku nerd, long-time episode writer for Sentai even back then, and the guy who had, only a few years prior to Abaranger, played a huge part in revitalizing the Kamen Rider franchise as the main writer for Kuuga, a show I'm rather fond of, to say the least. The guy's got passion and talent in abundance, so surely I've been missing out on something pretty awesome ignoring Abaranger for so long, right? Well, if Abaranger's first episode is any indication, I have definitely been missing out. Like I said, Arakawa knows his stuff, and he applies that here to create a debut that subtly breaks the mold in a lot of places, and feels so much fresher for it. You can tell it was written by someone who knows the rules well enough to know which ones he could disregard. Right away, the show is living up to that abare mentality, because this premiere is on a rampage out of the gate! Hurricaneger introduced cold opens to Sentai midway through its run, which freed Abaranger up to not even bother with a title sequence here. Instead, you've got the team's first additional member, Abare Black, throwing down with bad guys on another world as the theme song plays, which is rad as heck. It reminds me of when a video game starts you with all the power-ups you're going to get before taking them away to dole them out gradually later. It's a great way to generate a sort of intrigue by teasing you with the prospect of all this cool stuff you'll be seeing, presented in such a deliberately overwhelming fashion that you've just gotta stick around to see where this is all going. I didn't call Abare Black the team's first "additional" member by mistake! He won't properly be fighting again for a good while after this intro, but before he loses his ability to transform, he demonstrates a bunch of powers and abilities that will all be relevant down the line. The writing here is very conscious of this being the viewer's introduction to this world in a way that felt significantly more clever than usual to me. The rampage just keeps on going as three giant robot dinosaurs start, well, rampaging all around Tokyo, because this episode just needed to be even cooler, I guess. But wait! This is a show about dinosaur-themed heroes! So naturally, these guys aren't actually the bad guys, but merely under the control of the real villains. Unable to become Abare Black for the time being, it's up to our courageous hero from another world, Asuka, to find people on our Earth who have the Dino Guts needed to become Abarangers and get this situation under control. Fortunately for him, things are looking promising, with five people who have the power to hear the dinosaurs' cries for help. But wait! This is a Sentai with three people again! See, this is where not having the usual opening pays off, because the episode gets to do the most dumb, amazing, ridiculous, impossibly clever thing imaginable by having Asuka's first recruits be some klutzy girl and an elderly man. And they get to wear the transformation devices and everything! And try to transform with them! And the stock footage even starts going! The episode seriously waits until the last possible moment to admit the trick it's playing, and I can't help but admire the commitment it has. It's definitely more purposeful than just a wacky gag, which helps its case, but even if it was done entirely for the sake of it, it'd still be so much weird fun. Again, Arakawa knows exactly the right ways to play around with the formula. And of course, the episode does all this while still giving a decent taste of what the actual main trio are like, establishing the partner dynamic between each of them and their dino of choice (taking Gaoranger's ideas a step further by having the robots speak this time), and even dropping hints of some epic lore surrounding one of the big bads for the series, all done succinctly enough to leave time for another fight set to the teme song, the team officially receiving their name, AND a cliffhanger to top it all off. (!) I really can't stress enough how much raw swagger this episode has. I'm a little blown away by it, but I guess I shouldn't be, because, Arakawa! They put this one in safe hands! There are premieres I've covered as part of this tour that make me want to go watch the rest of the show right away, and then there are ones that make me upset I haven't already done that. Abaranger is most certainly in the latter category.
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 03-05-2022 at 06:36 PM.. |
09-15-2021, 08:13 PM | #8865 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Abaranger is... it's an insane show, to put it mildly. It's perhaps one of the most perfectly Sentai Sentais in existence for how it has a very clear heart to it all but it's communicated in the most crazy, wild, over-the-top ways possible. It's definitely a show you'd never get bored watching!
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09-15-2021, 08:15 PM | #8866 |
Reiei
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 3,691
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The Yodonna TTFC was fun. Even though I'm watching it context-less. I came for Sakamoto Saikawa and he didn't disappoint.
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09-15-2021, 08:25 PM | #8867 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
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Location: Michigan
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Sounds like Dino Thunder's' early episodes in terms of pacing, but like, the exact opposite in terms of everything else.
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09-16-2021, 06:28 AM | #8868 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
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Abaranger is great if you feel like pigging out on curry rice while watching toku.
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09-17-2021, 10:30 AM | #8869 |
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Due to scheduling issues in my future, I’m moving this feature to Friday now. So let get on with, at it’s new time…
Andozani’s Tsukai Detour And this week, skipping over Abaranger vs Hurricaneger, we’re doing… Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger vs Abaranger “S.P.D.. Special Police Dekaranger. Five detectives who fight cool with burning hearts. Their mission: To combat space criminals who invaded Earth. They will protect the peace and safety of all humanity.” “Agent Abrella profits off space criminals called Alienizers with powerful mecha known as Kaijuuki. Standing in the way of Alienizer crimes is the Space Police's Earth branch S.P.D., Special Police Dekaranger. ” Dekaranger: Banban ‘Ban’ Akaza/DekaRed: The newest recruit to the S.P.D Earth Branch, sent to them from planet Chambeena. While the descendent of a swordsman, he has invented his own for of gun-based martial arts, known as Akaza Juu-kundo. Houji ‘Hoji’ Tomasu/DekaBlue: The most senior member of the Earth Branch team and the resident sniper. The most professional member of the team and second-in-command, Houji tends to be arrogant of his skills, and is extremely stubborn. He also does not allow his emotions and personal life to interfere with his job as a detective. Prone to blurting out English phrases, his catchphrases are "Perfect!" and "Super cool!", commonly said after finishing a criminal. He also tends to say "Unbelievable!" at things out of the ordinary, and when shocked or dismayed has yelled "Oh my God!". He has a standoffish relationship with Ban, due to the latter constantly calling him “partner”. Sen’ichi ‘Sen-chan’ Enari/DekaGreen: He brains of the main team. Born in a poor family as one of seven siblings, he is the brains of the team with a remarkable ability to think things through. Oddly, he does his best thinking when he's upside down, calling this pose the "Thinking Pose." He has a fear of dark, enclosed spaces that was caused by an incident of falling into a well when he was younger. He was rescued by a policeman, who inspired him to work for the police department. Sen-chan usually maintains a calm, eccentric composure, but he is said to be pretty scary when he is angered. Marika ‘Jasmine’ Reimon/DekaYellow: Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger’s DekaYellow. A psychic (ESPer), as she can pick up sensory impressions of others through handling an object or visiting a location her target has touched or been to, although she can get exhausted if she overuses them. Jasmine wears gloves to help control her powers when she doesn't need to use them. Koume ‘Umeko’ Kodou/DekaPink: the self-proclaimed leader who was the last one to join before Ban. She tends to be a ditz, but she has a good heart, and can often bring the team together under the direst of circumstances with her perkiness. She spends every moment she can in a bubble bath with her three rubber ducks, whom she calls Umeyo, Umenosuke, and Umegoro. Aira ‘Tetsu’ Tekkan/DekaBreak: An officer from the elite division of the space police known as ‘Tokyou’, who was assigned to Earth to delete the Hells siblings. After seeing the Earth Branch’s belief that justice would always win prove stronger than his detached professionalism, he decided to stay on and learn from them. When he was a child, his parents were murdered by the Alienizer Genio from the planet Speckion. As a Tokyou officer, he is a master of a unique martial arts style known as Seiken Accel Blow. Allies: Doggie ‘Boss’ Kruger/DekaMaster: The commander in chief of S.P.D’s Earth Branch from the planet Anubis. In his younger days, he was known as ‘the Guard-dog from Hell’ due to his relentless pursuit of criminals. During his more active days as a Dekaranger in his youth, he was quite feared to be faced in combat, due to his sword style being one of the strongest in the universe. Doggie is a tough leader and being honorable, he will do anything to save the ones he cares about. He seems to have feelings for his assistant Cignian Swan Shiratori, panicking whenever he hears that Swan has an admirer. He also occasionally assists the Dekarangers as DekaMaster, wielding the powerful D-Sword Vega. His fighting style is the Galaxy Single Sword Style (銀河一刀流 Ginga Ittoryu), chosen by his Sensei to learn the style's secret technique, Vega Impulse. Swan Shiratori: Kruger's assistant from the Planet Cigno. She's the one who provides the Dekarangers with their arsenal, and constantly amazes the others with her amazing intellect. It has been suggested that Doggie and Swan may be "more than just friends", but they both would hastily deny it. Trinoid 12: Yatsudenwani (Yatsude [fats plant] + denwa [telephone] + wani [crocodile]): A powerful Trinoid who was seemingly killed by AbareKiller before he could do any harm. But in reality, he was captured and forced to be Mikoto's manservant, making Yatsudenwani a disgrace to his "dad", Mikela. To redeem himself, he decided to capture the other Abarangers, resulting with his crush on Ranru Itsuki and stalking her on occasion via phone. But soon, after the Killer Giganoid incident, Yatsudenwani moved into Dino House and became a member of its staff. Space Criminals Alienizer: A special priority criminal group who S.P.D is charged with dealing with. Agent Abrella: An intergalactic arms dealer, providing Alienizers with robotic foot-soldiers known as Anaroids, Mecha Humans and Igaroids, in addition to giant robotic Kaijuuki. What do I think of Dekaranger? While I like it decently, I can’t say a lot of it stuck with me. There’s a lot I only know about through pop cultural osmosis than anything in the show. I ended up preferring both shows either side of it. Now as for this movie, it’s the first with Hideaki Tsukuda as the sole producer, with Jun Hikasa having gone onto work on Kamen Rider Blade. The crossover itself is written by Naruhisa Arakawa, who was, unusually for a VS movie, head writer for both shows (All of Abaranger’s secondary writers went onto other projects, so he was the only real candidate), while the director is Tarou Sakamoto (see the Carranger vs Ohranger post for his major credits). With all that said, on with the review. We open with Dekaranger open route to an in-progress crime scene. They arrive on the scene to find three spiky suspects on a RAMPAGE. So what does Jasmine choose to dub this trio after everyone transforms? After a quick fight, during which the Abarangers make it clear they want the “Sentai wannabes” out of the way so they can focus on the real culprit: a bird carrying a jewel. But since Dekaranger doesn’t believe them, the Abaranger trio steal their car to give chase, doing an impossible jump in the process. But then reality gets off the bus after they get a few shots in (both with their Abalasers and with a camera), causing the car to bounce off the Tokyo Dome and it’s occupants to get taken in. One cutaway later, Sen-chan isn’t impressed with their story, nor the etymology of their names. Though their claim it’s fated coincidence doesn’t help their case. So Jasmine decides to use her special power to get to the bottom of it. “Jasmine is an ESper. She can read the memories of anything she touches” And mercifully, there are no side effects to the process. Umeko: Uh, what’s that? Now free to go, Ranru shares the evidence she gathered with Boss, who analyses the footage to find out that the bird is actually a shapeshifting Alienizer. And there is one matching his description and powers on file. The Abarangers reveal that he’s been tailing a friend of their’s who runs a curry house for some time, which is how they found out about him. Boss then decides to question the curry house owner, which leads to an argument between Ban and Ryouga about how crazy the latter’s methods are (Ban is pot calling the kettle black in this situation). As Boss puts a stop to it, Sanjou gets occupied with his chiropractic senses. And he decides that this is more important than going along to investigate. And it turns out Ranru is also distracted by her hobbies. As Ban and Ryouga go off on their own, Abrella and Kazack revive the jewel’s occupant, Trinoid 0: Saunaginkgo (sauna + unagi [electric eel] + ginkgo). Abrella provides some explanation on how there’s a Trinoid 0. Kazack promises violence if he finds out that Abrella is conning him, to which Abrella promises that this will work. Saunaginkgo then demonstrates his powers by reviving Succubus Hells from the planet Reversia (seen in episodes 21-23) and Genio from the planet Speckion (seen in episodes 29-30). But the Revived Alienizers have taken more out of him than expected, for reasons that soon become obvious. Abrella realises that they’ve been separated from the jewel, which Kazack doesn’t mind, since he can still hand out fragments of the jewels to the Revived Alienizers. We then cut to Dino Curry, which has found a way around the set being demolished. Ban and Ryouga then meet up with Ryounouske Sugita, who inquires as to why Ryouga’s niece Mai hasn’t appeared since he left for America in Abaranger’s finale. (That doesn’t sound like a good thing, but what do I know?) It then turns out that Ryounouske isn’t the president of Dino House anymore: Yatsudenwani is. And he’s not happy to find that Ryouga’s guest isn’t Ranru. Ban gets back on topic, asking what he called the Abarangers in for. The big question of how he happened to have the jewel is then answered. But he’s not a complete idiot, as he stored the ginkgo batteries separately. But then Kazack reveals himself, having shapeshifted into the carpet (now how did he get in there?), and takes the batteries. Ryouga and Ban then transform and give chase, but the fight gets derailed by Ryouga noticing a clock and running off. It turns out he’s placing a phone call to Mai in Hollywood. But much to Ban’s further annoyance, this gives Kazack the opening he needs to beat down both and proclaim his plan to revive Dezumozorlya (watch me misspell this throughout the rest of this). Ban is confused, so Ryouga exposits. Kazack explains that once he revives Devomixup, he’ll set up the Kazack family on Earth (So he’s planning to revive what is basically Satan… to commit organised crime. Talk about your lack of ambition). Elsewhere, Hoji, Sen-chan and Tetsu find Genio and think defeating him again will be a cinch. But unfortunately, this plan isn’t feasible this time, as Sanjou tries to warn them. Elsewhere, the three girls find Succubus, who Jasmine can tell is oozing bloodlust compared to last time (the last time where she planned to make Earth the 80th planet she and her brothers destroyed?). Their attempts to fight her off are derailed when Succubus spits mucus onto their Dino Brace and SP Licences, sealing them shut (Funny how both Abaranger vs movies have some loss of power for the heroes). After a hasty retreat, Ranru takes a sample and then comes up with an idea. One cut to the zero set later, all three ladies surround Succubus wearing kimonos and carrying parasols. Ranru: If you look down on us… Jasmine:…you might just… Umeko:…lose your head. After each of them get a hit in with the parasols, they throw them away and show off their back tattooes. They then pull out guns from nowhere and shoot her. (I assume there’s a kabuki reference in this scene that I’m missing) Everyone then returns to reality (um, what the heck was that?), where Ranru has finished analysing the mucus and applies an acidic substance to dissolve it from her jacket. They then transform and kill her again with the Triple Girls Tatsumaki Candles Attack (I don’t get the name either), leaving behind nothing but a crystal fragment. Elsewhere, Ban and Ryouga catch up with Kazack… and Ban still hasn’t forgiven Ryouga for bailing out on the last fight (and to be honest, neither have I. The excuse he gives does not cut it for me). This distraction allows Kazack to summon some Anaroids as a distraction and escape. As the two reds are distracted by their arguments, the two get overpowered by Kazack. Back with Hoji’s group, Sanjou figures out Genio’s weak point and has everyone hit him there to destroy him, leaving another crystal behind. Back with the two Reds, as all seems lost, a familiar harmonica song plays. (So this is his place to… oh wait, wrong show) Asuka then transforms into AbareBlack and does a combo attack with the other two (who have worked out their beef remarkably quickly, probably because Arakawa couldn’t take it any further without dragging out the runtime): Dino Thruster: Fire Inferno Special Gorgeous Deluxe (These names are getting more bizarre). With Kazack forced back after dropping the last jewel fragment, Asuka explains how he came to be back on Another Earth. (If you haven’t seen Abaranger’s last few episodes, you will get lost at this point)l Back with Saunaginkgo, things are now perfect for him to commence his ritual, covering the entire Earth in steam using the jewel fragments. With the extra energy this generates, Saunaginkgo dry runs the resurrection of Dizzymethsea by bringing back Ben-G from the planet Kajimeri. (See episode 13) (apparently his cybernetics were resurrected instead of the limbs he replaced with them) Millibar from the planet Barege (see episode 27) And Succubus’ younger brother Bon Goblin (from the first two episodes she appeared in). The heroes all arrive, a fight breaks out and I’ll call attention to this line from Kazack. (Why am I calling attention to it? Because a) it’s at odds with his prior characterisation, given that he’s seemed more focused on killing Ryouga than Ban, b) it comes entirely out of nowhere and c) it has no bearing on the rest of the movie). During the fight, SPD’s Supreme Commander Numa-O shows up to help Ban… only for it to turn out to be Kazack in disguise, who ambushes him. He then pulls the same stunt on the Abarangers, disguising himself as HurricaneRed, even down to having a Hayatemaru (but his voice gives him away before his attack). As all seems lost, with the heroes being detransformed, Saunaginkgo opens the portal to hell… out of which flies Bakuryuu TopGaler. And where you find TopGaler, you’ll find his partner, Mikoto Nakadai, alias AbareKiller (both died in episode 48 of Abaranger). And now we come to the exchange that got Twitter hyped up when I uploaded these pictures in preparation for this. (Ah Mikoto, you were definitely the best thing to come out of Abaranger) Before Saunaginkgo can try again, Boss shows up to shoot him down. And now it’s time for everyone to bring their powers together. Boos: Emergency… Dekaranger: Dekaranger! Abarangers: Bakuryuu Change! (And Mikoto still doesn’t get a sequence. And I wouldn’t have it any other way) Dekarangers: Face On! Ryouga: Explosive Energy, AbaRed! Sanjou: Exploding Seriously, AbareBlue! Ranru: Explosive Dash of Courage, AbareYellow! Asuka: The Invincible Ryuujin Spirit, AbareBlack! Mikoto: Excellent Excitement, AbareKiller! Ryouga: The Savage Dino Guts… All: Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger! Ban: One! To hate cruel wickedness… Hoji: Two! To pursue mysterious cases… Sen-chan: Three! For the future of scientific investigation… Jasmine: Four! Find the evils of space… Umeko: Five: … and with immediate speed, punish them! All: Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger! Tetsu: Facing outrageous evil! Smashing the terrifying darkness! The Daybreak Detective! DekaBreak! Boss: Cutting down one-hundred evil doers! The Guard Dog of Hell! DekaMaster! Ban: When professionals and amateurs work together… Ryouga: A new power is born! Ban: We are… Cue the theme for Dekaranger (It’s like Zubat. No. 1 in Japan) Oh, light, reach out for the angels of the city Like you could make the brightest dreams come true With the sirens' wail, it is the time to dispatch We will not let the stench of evil go free One! Emergency Two! Dekaranger Three! Action Four! Perfect! Five! Get on! Ready to go! Pursuing to the ends of the galaxy Hitting the gas with the souls coursing within our bodies Ready to get! Five powers coming together wherever our enemies are In order to bring back the silent stars, so... Get up! It's our chance (Get up! Dekaranger!) Wow-wow, judgement! Decide it! (Judgement! Dekaranger!) Special Investigation Squadron Dekaranger Since the numbers aren’t ever, they do a shuffle to decide who faces who. Group one is Asuka, Ryouga, Jasmine and Sanjou against Bon Goblin, which is fairly straightforward as fights go. Group 2: Ban, Sen-chan, Hoji and Ranru vs Millibar. Ranru swaps weapons with Hoji, causing major damage. Ban and Sen-chan then try it, but this only results in bullet dancing. After everyone swaps back, they defeat Millibar by throwing Ranru at him. Group 3: Tetsu, Boss, Umeko and Mikoto vs Ben-G. Umeko ain’t happy with this arrangement. Boss: Does it really matter? Umeko: A leader cares about coordination. Mikoto: You’re the leader, huh? You’re cute Umeko: Eh? You really think so? Tetsu: Nonsense. After another fairly unremarkable battle wherein Mikoto does most of the work, before Boss finishes it. Everyone then faces down Kazack and Saunaginkgo. Ban: Ginjif Seijin Kazack! For the crime of murder on 179 planets, among various other criminal acts, Judgement! (I guess trying to revive the devil can’t be pinned on him) SP License: Judgement Time! “For Alienizers, Dekaranger can request judgement from the universe’s highest court, located at the ends of the universe. (Red X) Ban: Delete* approved! (*Delete: the act of executing an especially heinous criminal and then destroying their body utterly, so that they cannot be reanimated or cloned) Saunaginkgo os then destroyed by a combined shot from the D-Bazooka and the Superior Dino Bomber (well he didn’t amount to much), while Kazack leaps out of the way and gets into his Kaijuuki, which isn’t named. And then Saunaginkgo revives as a giant, forcing the Dekarangers to call in the DekaMachines, forming Dekaranger Robo and DekaBike Robo. In the ensuing fight, the two robots have the upper hand against their enemies. But that doesn’t stop TopGaler from suggesting the Abarangers but in. Mikoto agrees, at which point it’s revealed that Brachio has found his way back to Another Earth, with Tyranno, Ptera and Tricera in tow. And he has a quote for the occasion. The 4 Bakuryuu then combine to form KillerAbarenOh, as the two Dekaranger robots combine into Super Dekaranger Robo (the last such combination where one of them is a glorified suit of armour for the main robot). As the fight continues to go in the heroes’ favour, Umeko realises that if the delete Saunaginkgo, then Mikoto will go back to being dead. For the record, the man himself doesn’t care about this. With these words taken to heart, the two robots March in and defeat their opponents by having Super Dekaranger Robo launch KillerAbarenOh at the two enemies, wherein it destroys both with its drill. With the fight over, Mikoto gives everyone a sincere (for him) goodbye, before fading away. But who cares, because it’s time for a big celebratory party set to the ED. Deka! Deka! Deka! Deka! Ranger! Deka! Deka! Deka! Deka! Ranger! Their hearts are always dazzling, hard-boiled… and (bang!) fiery. Under the thundering skies is a car chase Once we catch you... (vroom!) you won't escape On the highway at night, the stars are black Engines (nice!) at full throttle! (judge!) The perfect, flawless patrollers! Deka! Deka! Deka! Deka! Dekaranger! We will not let evil acts unfold. Deka! Deka! Deka! Deka! Dekaranger! Judgment Time! Dekaranger! During all this, it turns out that Boss used to be Ryounouske’ best customer (that must’ve caused a stir) The girls have a bath scene (which Yatsudenwani tries to crash) Ryouga notes something familiar about the two waitresses. Asuka’s wife and daughter catch up with him. And it all ends with everyone taking a photo. Final thoughts: I’ll admit, I thought I wouldn’t like this one, given that it resurrects the “two monsters” gimmick I didn’t like back in the Taketera-era VS films. But I think it was handled a lot better here. And while the story does have its weak points (why the hell did they try to insert a Mikoto/Umeko romance with no time to develop it), they don’t detract from the overall experience. Join me next time when I’ll see just how well magic and cops go together. |
09-23-2021, 07:43 PM | #8870 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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~Fish's Zenkai Tour!~
Episode. 28 – Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger See, now this is the mid 2000's Sentai written by Naruhisa Arakawa I'm always thinking of. And it's not even like I've seen it already! No, sure enough, watching the premiere for the tour was the first proper episode of this show I've ever seen. But Dekaranger managed to leave one heck of a lasting impression on the franchise, and that wasn't really because it was influential or anything – it was just that *awesome*. People freakin' love Dekaranger, and it's even got the Seiun Award to prove it, a badge of honor for science fiction works in Japan that only a select few tokusatsu television series have ever received. These five cool detectives with fiery hearts have gone on to appear in a bunch of post-series material, including a ton of crossovers I have seen, so it really didn't even feel like stepping into uncharted territory finally checking out a bit of the series. I mean, I even already checked out the movie on a whim years ago. Oh, and the theme song rules, if that needs saying. This show sorta just feels like home, you know? If I've got my fansub history right, this was even the very first Sentai TV-Nihon translated waaaay back as it was airing, so it would've been one of, if not the very first Sentai to be made pretty readily accessible to international fans online. (Not that I was aware of any of this at the time, of course.) Sometimes I feel like all of us are fans of Dekaranger; we just don't always know it yet. But like, that's hyperbole, right? I'm probably just feeling way too fired up on account of Dekaranger's first episode being so full of that Arakawa swagger. This is another premiere that gets right to the action, with the very first thing that happens being an epic car chase scene on an alien planet, lovingly crafted entirely with miniatures, immediately establishing a conscious decision Dekaranger made to push in the opposite direction of all that fancy CG, bringing things back to basics for that raw feel you can only get with props. It's a glorious little sequence, thrilling, yet with a cute gag or two thrown in, and it gets you up to speed on the episode's titular Fireball Newcomer, Deka Red, who is all kinds of crazy. I mean, Reds by this point in the franchise already tended to be rather passionate, but Ban ramps it up to a whole new level. I said Dekaranger isn't particularly notable for directly influencing the franchise in the long-term, but Deka Red arguably codified a sort of new standard for that color that Toei goes back to all the time. I know a lot of these Reds rub some fans the wrong way, but I've always seen the sense in having the "main" hero be sort of a big kid, with uncomplicated and excitable outlooks that would generally be pretty relatable for the actual kids watching at home. Relatable as his personality is though, it's certainly not very professional, which might create some friction once he heads to Earth to join his new team. There's a very effective contrast between Ban's introductory segment and the other four Dekarangers. While the former is wild, energetic, and leans heavily on fantasy elements; over on Earth, things are much more precise, methodical, and grounded. There's a bit of Kamen Rider Kuuga's style poking through as we see regular everyday cops and citizens reacting to some creature terrorizing the city. Although in this case the actual problem is merely a giant alien holding a bus full of people hostage. Well, I mean, "merely", but trust me, the Special Police have got it under control – rolling up in their oversized vehicles that are shown making their way through ordinary traffic, the kind of consideration for realism ordinarily reserved for GoGoFive. The trick here is that, as I mentioned, the show is also completely unconcerned with realism elsewhere, so on top of simply looking cool, this is establishing the uniquely varied tone and style of the setting. Dekaranger was a cop show all about those weekly cases, and it makes sure to create room in that world for all sorts of stories to be told. (Or at least, I assume based on what I have absorbed about this show over the years.) The team heads back to base after wrapping things up (literally!), demonstrating yet more cool miniature and set design work, and also getting them hot on the trail of a much deeper case at the root of the one they just resolved. It's as cop show as can be as they hit the mean streets to track down leads, resulting in the obligatory confrontation with an obvious suspect – a shady robot in a trench coat. It's all pretty normal stuff, and the fight is cool... until Ban finally shows back up, and the fight becomes fiery. Dekaranger marks the first time in quite a while that Super Sentai got a new action director, and I'm going to assume that's part of why the climax to this one is so insane. Deka Red has a super distinctive fighting style, running around using his two handguns in all sorts of dynamic ways, only most of which actually involve firing them, and that means things get real intense when he's involved. It's such a delightful display, it's honestly hard to even care how right his new pals are about him being a showoff. Sure, Ban maybe has that punch to the face coming for blowing up their only lead, but, on the other hand, how cool was it when he blew up that robot!!!? So uh, yeah, Dekaranger is pretty sweet, but I already knew that going in. I love cop stuff to begin with, and this is that plus Sentai plus sci-fi plus Arakawa, so it's only a matter of time before I finally sit down to watch this show in full, and become the huge fan I know I'm destined to be. It's got its target locked on my heart!
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 03-05-2022 at 06:39 PM.. |
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