Mirai Sentai Timeranger Review

Imma go ahead and give my verdict on the show right here because I kind of somewhat have to go into some spoilers to talk about these characters: I enjoyed this show a lot and I can't recommend it enough. Its got engrossing drama and great characters all around. Without further adieu...Go over time and space!

The show opens with a group of Time Protection Bureau cadets being given orientation in the 30th century. While this is happening, a mafia boss (Don Dolnero) is being transported to the building's cryo-prison. Dolnero and his crew stage an escape and actually tricks the TPB into accidentally sending him back in time to the 20th century. Four of the cadets are assigned to chase after him in order to keep him from changing the past. They run into a man from the 20th century and enlist him to help them track down Don Dolnero.

Characters: This cast is pretty good and all of them are compelling characters in one way or another. Their actors also give great performances all around. Its a tough call to pick who my favorite character is.

• Tatsuya/TimeRed: Tatsuya is pretty cool. He comes from a rich family but gets very noticeably uncomfortable around his father and in his interactions with his family's rich associates at a party in one episode. He tends to be light-hearted and jovial. His plot basically involves trying to get out of his family's shadow and live his own life as his own person and not who his father wants him to be. Masaru Nagai really captures Tatsuya's drive to prove there is more to him than just the name Asami as well as his frustrations with his father. 
• Ayase/TimeBlue: Ayase is the calm and collected type. He dreamed of being a racer but had to give up his dream when he was diagnosed with an incurable disease known as Osiris Syndrome. His plotline basically involves him dealing with this and living his life while a lot of his focus episodes end up dealing with death in different ways. Due to this disease, he developed a relatively reckless streak shown early in the show to the point of willingly throwing himself in front of an enemy's attack because he thinks the danger doesn't matter because is basically living on borrowed time anyway. Ayase's episodes are usually pretty nice and tense with his best episodes being episodes 39 and 40. Yuji Kido manages to play him to the point where he is very stoic but also manages to get across the idea that dying is always in the back of Ayase's mind.
• Domon/TimeYellow: Domon is the team's easy-going strong guy with some pretty cool goofy and serious moments. Shuhei Izumi plays this role really well and gives him a very nice amount of likeability. He starts out really relatable in his first focus episode because its revealed he is homesick and is pretty freaked out at first at the idea of them being stuck in the past. Beyond that, his plotline revolves around him falling for a reporter while grappling with the fact that he will eventually have to leave her behind and return to the future. Needless to say, his best episodes are the episodes dealing with his romance with Honami. Surprisingly, this is the plotline I was the most invested in. I'm usually not a fan of the "will they, won't they" romance trope but Timeranger did it really well.
• Sion/TimeGreen: Sion is the smartest member of the team and the tech guy. He is a Hubbardian and the last of his kind. He was raised in a lab so a lot of his episodes involve trying to find his place both on the team and in the world. I like Sion well enough and Masahiro Kuranuki does a good job in the role but his episodes are probably the weakest in the show. Aside from his first focus episode and episode 21, something about his episodes just makes them not hit the way they should. They're not bad as there isn't an episode of this show that I dislike, something about them just feels off.
• Yuuri/TimePink: Yuuri is a tough as nails detective from the Anti-Mafia police division. She starts out really cold and distant at first but the other Timerangers manage to keep her grounded. Her dramatic episodes tend revolve around her having lost her family to Don Dolnero as a child and her drive to beat the Londerz in hopes of recapturing them. The show brings up how this drive is her main reason for living a few times and it gets heart-wrenching near the end of the show. Mika Katsumura plays the role well and brings the right amount of seriousness to her character while capturing the pain of losing her family.
• Naoto/TimeFire: Naoto is Tatsuya's friend from college. He is basically Tatsuya but coming from the opposite direction in life. He tends to be more serious and cynical compared to Tatsuya. Shinji Kasahara plays the role really well and captures Naoto's cynical nature perfectly as well as his thirst for power. He is introduced late in the show but it works perfectly because by that point, we already know who exactly Tatsuya is and so the contrast between the two comes across without needing much establishing on Naoto's part.

Timeranger does something really neat with Tatsuya and Naoto's relationship and it honestly fascinates me. Tatsuya and Naoto are essentially after the same thing, they want to carve out their own futures with their own hands. This is even reflected in their suit designs. TimeRed and TimeFire have similar suits and its really fitting because even their suits tell you about their personalities. Tatsuya has arguably always had the power to forge his own path, he just needed the other Timerangers to open the path for him. He also approaches serious situations with jokes and laughter hence the white highlights on his chest and the silver bands on his gloves and boots. Meanwhile, Naoto has always known the path he wanted to take but didn't have the power to open that path until he became TimeFire. Due to this, he tends to be more serious and cynical than Tatsuya hence the black highlights on his chest, the black bands on his gloves and boots, and his edgier visor. Maybe I'm overthinking it and this whole thing may have been unintentional on the writer's/designer's part but either way it adds a whole new layer to the show.

Villains:

The villains are pretty cool. The Londerz are pretty interesting group imo because their main motivation isn't actually conquest, they just want to make money. Well thats Dolnero and Lila's deal anyway, Gien however is pretty messed up and he has thing for destruction. Dolnero is a lot deeper of a character than I was expecting and its pretty much all tied into his relationship with Gien. Dolnero feels like he owes Gien so much because its his fault that Gien is the way he is now. That reveal kinda puts the episode where he turns on an old friend of his for interfering with the family into a new light. Lila loves buying expensive things and is usually seen going on shopping sprees. The series treats her as if she just hangs around Dolnero for the money but near the end she reveals that she kind of would've liked him even without the money. I'm not going to spoil it here but Gien is pretty tragic. I legitimately felt bad for the guy after finding out how he met Dolnero and what he went through. The Londerz goal of making money is a neat thing about the show imo because instead of going into each episode wondering what powerful foe the Timerangers had to overcome, I went in intrigued as to what the Londerz racket was going to be and how the Timerangers were going to bust it up. It managed to make even the petty criminal Londerz memorable.

Favorite Episode: Given how the show is structured, I actually have a few contenders so I'm going to split them up. First, episodes I think stand pretty well on there own: Battle Casino and Deathmatch City. Battle Casino plays out like an episode from a cop show and I love it. Basically a dude a goes missing after going to an underground fight club prompting his wife to hire the Tatsuya and the others to investigate his disappearance. The rest of the episode plays out like a classic cop show sting operation. The action for this episode handled really well and its cool seeing Tatsuya go toe-to-toe with fighters in the club out-of-suit because all of them are played by suit actors. Deathmatch City is basically the start of Domon and Honami's subplot. It centers around a Londerz basically forcing a city's population to beat each other for an experiment with the intent to escalate things to what would have been likely more fatal outcomes. The whole episode is pretty tense and scary. It feels straight up like a horror movie and I felt bad when Honami got in the way during the episode when the Timerangers have a plan to stop the Londerz early on. Even without the subplot starting there, its a pretty solid episode with some great atmosphere. 

My favorite episodes overall however hands down are episode 39 (A Lie Soaked In Rain) and episode 40 (Ayase Retires!?) as they are Ayase's best episodes in the show. It gets to the heart of who Ayase is, where he stands in regards to his disease, and how he views what time he has left. I won't go much into spoilers for those two episodes but I will say they are the best written episodes in the show. As soon as I finished these episodes, I immediately wanted to rewatch them (which I did shortly after finishing the show itself). They're so good that Ayase is probably my favorite Blue because of them. They're actually on my list of favorite episodes in all of Sentai.

Music: The music in this show is pretty great. The opening theme has this ominous epic feel to it. As soon as it starts you get the vibe that you're in for a grand adventure that will decide the fate of the world. The ending theme is pretty good and its got some nice energy to it. Its actually a more addictive song for me than the opening theme. The episodes Battle Casino and Pink Temptation feature a nice saxophone cover of the ending theme during their montages.

Mecha: I like TimeRobo and the show makes it feel cool. Its a pretty nice looking mecha and it even has 3 seperate modes. Timerobo Alpha is meant for melee combat with its sword and shield combo, Beta is designed specifically for long range combat, and Jet Gamma is built for speed and maneuverability. Having these modes gives the main mecha a nice degree of variety and utility. I wish the franchise would do another mecha like this.

TimeShadow is pretty cool and I quite liked its introduction episodes. Its debut in the show is pretty ominous. Its got this cool summoning scene where it basically bathes the world in a solar eclipse then flies out of the moon. I just really wish it got more time to shine by itself. Sadly, only a few episodes after its debut, it gets relegated to being add-on parts for Time Robo for the most part. It does get some more use as a solo mecha in the last handful of episodes but thats about it.

V-Rex is nice. I love its design and it fights like a wild best before Naoto takes control of it. Its robot mode is pretty cool and its interesting that for the most part like Dragon Caeser and Delta Mega, Naoto does not need to be inside the robot to control it since its operated by his voice. Thats actually a pretty good Achilles heel for it too since a Londerz manages to take control of it by copying Naoto's voice and stealing his brace. It has a surprising variety in the number of weapons it uses. Its got the fangs and tail in Rex Mode and blaster, missile launchers, and a rocket punch in Robot Mode.

Final Thoughts: Timeranger is a weird case for me because while Domon and Honami's romance is my favorite plotline, Domon is not my favorite character. Its a tough call but if I had to choose, I'd say Ayase gets that award, with episodes 39 and 40 being the reason. I wasn't actually expecting the show itself to confirm that Domon and Honami had a kid. I might have to rewatch Gokaiger's Timeranger tribute to see if it hits any differently. Masaru Nagai plays a dual role later in the show but I like the show so much that all I'm gonna say is that he is able to play two vastly different personalities really well. A neat little aspect about the show that I didn't catch until the 40s is that for the most part each episode is dated in-show with the date the episode aired (minus the multi-parters). Overall the show well written, well acted, and I enjoyed it a lot. Note: I didn't talk about the suits because the review was getting kind of long and I plan on covering them in the 2000's Sentai suit post.

My Favorite Sentai Suits: Team Looks

Since I did a post for the individual suits, I'm going to do one for team looks now. How a suit looks by itself is important but equally important is how it looks next to the other members of its team. Due to this being based on visuals, I'll be including suits from series I haven't finished yet. I couldn't think of a good order for these so they will not be ranked. Note: these are not actually all of my favorite suits because this would be far too long if I were to list them all.

Hikari Sentai Maskman:

These are probably my favorite Pre-Zyu sentai team suits. They're rather nice and simple looking. They're also very sleek, stream-lined and easy to identify at first glance. The white portions of the suits makes all five colors pop really well. I particularly like the white streaks on the boots. The big 5 logo on the chest looks great. Sentai has used white gloves for a lot of teams but they really work well here. Its probably because of the colored guards on the back of the hands. I absolutely love the different designs on the helmets. Another detail I really like is that Yellow Mask and Pink Mask's helmets have earrings on them.

Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger:

Nice and simple yet hard to forget. They have a very classic look to them. The white portions really complement all each member's color. The helmets have a lot of nice detail to them. I especially like the trunk pattern and tusks on Goshi's helmet. I love the belts for the Zyurangers. Something about the henshin device being their belt buckles really clicks with me. Out of all six, Burai's suit is probably my favorite. The gold works really well with the green and the gold Dino Buckler completes the look.

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger:

These are probably my favorite of the most recent sentai suits. I love the pirate hat sculpting on the helmets. It works really well with the jackets. The black spandex complement the colors for all six really. The gold stripes and belts work really well with all six colors. These suits really sell the pirate motif at first glance. My favorite suit out of these six is probably GokaiSilver's. I love the anchor design on the top of the helmet and the colored visor looks great alongside the silver suit.

Gosei Sentai Dairanger:

The gold portions of the helmets look great and have some really nice detail to them. The white portions of the main five's suits work really well with the gold trim and complements their colors rather well. I love the way the Dairanger emblem looks. Kibaranger's suit looks great. The black and gold chest-plate complements the white really well. I also like how the gold bands are outlined in black. I especially love the gold belts on all six suits.

Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger:

These suits look great together. The white spike patterns on Ryouga, Yukito, and Ranru's suits complement their colors rather well. The gold spike patterns on Asuka's suit complement the black really well. The black spikes complement Mikoto's white suit really well and I particularly like the gold trim on the chest-plate. It looks just different enough from the other 4 to stick out while looking just similar enough to feel like it belongs with them.

Choushinsei Flashman:

Seeing these suits in Gokaiger was what made me originally want to watch Flashman. These suits have a very nice space-age and hi-tech feel to them while managing to look simple. The black on the sides of the suits really help complement the each of their colors and I particularly like the darker shade of green for Green Flash. The helmets pretty much scream "This is alien tech!". Like the stripes on the sides of the suit, the black outlines on the top of the helmets help complement the colors as does the white. A detail that I really love is that the visors are actually retractable. The design of the emblems are nicely done.

Mirai Sentai Timeranger:

I absolutely love the colored visors and its something I'd like to see done more. The black on the helmets really help the visors pop. The white on the suits complements each color nicely. The sculpted mouth pieces really suit them well. I like how the braces don't vanish when they're transformed and are actually worked into the arm-piece of the suits. The silver arm-pieces and belt buckle look great with the black on them. I love the design of the belts.

Choudenshi Bioman:

Like the Flashman suits, the Bioman suits manage to look simple yet hi-tech at the same time. The white really complements each color. I like the Bioman emblem, its nice and simple. It being integrated into the belt works rather well. The emblem looks great with the black on the belt. The helmets look really hi-tech thanks to the domes on the head with visible circuits. The circuit board pattern across the chest helps sell the look as well. The sculpted mouth-pieces on the helmets really mesh well with the rest of the suits.

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger:

These suits look great together and they just might have my favorite overall look. The silver highlights on the main five's helmets work really well. I think the main five having one black arm is a nice look. I like how each Dekaranger's number is plastered on their chests. Despite the differences from the main six, DekaMaster and DekaSwan's suits compliment the over-all look of the group very well. They also look like a natural evolution of the main six's suits. Those two also happen to be my favorite suits out the Dekaranger suits. I especially love the more armor-like look they have. DekaBreak's suit is probably the best in terms of overall color combination. The blue, gold and white complement each other very well.

So yeah, those are just some of my favorite suits. There are more that I absolutely love but I didn't want the list to run too long. These are simply the first suits that came to mind when I decided to do this list. In all honesty, there really aren't that many suits in Sentai that I don't like.

Mirai Sentai Timeranger First Impressions

Yes I have decided to check out the first few episodes of another Sentai series. Alongside Bioman and Maskman, I had an itch to scratch with Timeranger's first few episodes, I ended up watching the first seven. A lot of stuff happened so lets get right into it. Spoiler warning for this one since I'm going to cover their first character episodes as well. All in all, I saw the first seven episodes.

The series opens with a beautifully done shot of a city in the year 3000. We are then introduced to a batch of new recruits being given a lecture on the history of time travel and why it is banned. Shortly after we see a nice setup with Don Dornheirno about to be put into cryo-stasis and stored with other prisoners. A break out orchestrated by his right-hand man Gien occurs and the two actually managed to impress me with their creativity. They actually trick the Timerangers into thinking they had jumped into the past so they can have the time ship knock them and their prison into the past when they tried to chase after them. Heck to even make sure that the plan works, they had Lira go undercover as the commanding officer of the group of recruits the Timerangers were apart of. I can definitely say this group is competent. Dornheirno is interesting as just destroying things or taking over the world isn't his main goal. Its all about the money with him. In episode 6, he basically told Gien not to send in monsters to destroy the Timerangers because it wasn't going to make them any money.

Aesthetically, the main members Londarz family (something they named themself after they escaped into the past) are nicely designed with lots of bright colors. Dornheirno looks like a big, intimidating space frog. Gien looks rather creepy with his robotic skeleton being covered up on only one side. The sculpting on Lila's chestplate has some nice detail. The pink hair really fits the rest of the suit.

Time Robo is an interesting case for a main mecha. It has two forms: Time Robo Alpha for general ground combat and Time Robo Beta for long range combat. Alpha's design looks nice with all the red being balanced with silver and black. That really makes the green portion of the chestplate pop out. Its major weapons are a sword and shield.

Beta's design is nice as well though the fins on the shoulder pads are a little distracting to me. Otherwise, the blue balances nicely with the silver. The time flyer becomes a gun for the mecha. Its interesting to see a mecha that can flip between the two on the fly. It shows its versatility rather well. I honestly hope we see another mecha like that at some point.

There is a third form called Gamma but it isn't exactly a robot mode. All the time jets combine into an even bigger Time Jet. It was mainly brought out to counter long ranged opponents so its a lot more agile and mobile than the other two.

The Timeranger suits are very nicely designed and they've all got the colored visors which is something I always like to see. The black surrounding the visors looks great while the white going across the chest complements the each color. I especially like that the Chrono Changers don't vanish when they henshin. They get added into the sides of the gloves. The sculpted silver mouth pieces are usually distracting for me but they really work well here. The belt buckles are nicely designed. Its one of those unique designs where you can immediately tell what team it is from without seeing the rest of the suits.

The Timeranger's themselves seem interesting. I like Tatsuya's dilemma with his father in episode two. Parents who plan their children's future for them usually strike a nerve for me so I really felt Tatsuya's need to get away from his father's influence. He makes a great speech about how even if they can't change history itself, they can still change their individual futures. Their reasons for joining the Timeranger's seem interest with Yuri being a cop in honor of her dead family, Ayase formerly training to be stock car racer, Domon being a disgraced fighter, and Shion being an alien. Ayase in particular seems to have more to him than the show is letting on. Episode 3 was a great bonding moment between him and Tatsuya. Shion potentially being the last of his kind and raised in a lab is a nice way to explain his overly naive outlook and it makes him all the more endearing to me. Yuri's tale of losing her family was a tearjerker and it made her capturing the Londarz responsible extremely satisfying since he was outright shown to be scumbag. Out of everyone, Domon seems to be the one most affected by the prospect of being stuck in the past. I feel sort of bad for the guy, feeling trapped in a strange place and the sadness that comes with it is a terrible thing. It isn't often a show makes me care for everyone so quickly but this is one of the shows that managed to pull it off.

The beginning of this show is packed with so much its was exhausting to watch, but in a satisfying way. It was time well spent. One of my friends wasn't kidding when he said it was dialogue heavy. I had to rewind a few scenes two or three times to catch everything they said but in the grand scheme of things, that isn't a big deal. The action was well paced and well handled despite some speed blur in the first episode but that is more of a minor complaint. The model city in episode two got some real use. It is one of the few times that I've seen a monster pick up part of a building and throw it at the heroes. These first seven episodes were great and I look forward to picking the series back up once most of it is subbed.