Friday, December 6, 2013
Ressha Sentai Tokkyuger confirmed!!!!
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Power Rangers MegaForce Review: First half (episodes 1-20)
As you've probably guessed by now, I'm not much of a fan of this season. When MegaForce first started, I was excited for the season and I was really looking forward to seeing how Saban Brands was going to handle it. At first, I enjoyed the premier, I mean it brought back the unmorphed fights (unfortunately they didn't stick around for long) but after the initial nostalgia fog wore off, I became somewhat disillusioned with the season and then I just became bored with it. Just to clarify, I keep watching just to see if it gets any better and that I'm well aware that its a kids' show so please don't bring up that tired old argument. I won't be getting into the characters other than Roboknight yet because the entirety of MegaForce isn't over yet. If you've spoken with me about MegaForce before now, I'm probably sounding like a broken record to you. Anyway, I've got quite a lot to say so lets get started. Despite how this review may sound, it is not meant to be a rant in any way.
Saban Brand's Intentions: I'm starting with this instead of the writing or acting because its been bugging me for a while. Its made obvious from the very first scene in the first episode (Troy's dream sequence) why the company wants you to watch this season: The Legend War. With that in mind, this first half seems really lackluster and it really feels like the writers and production company don't really seem to care what they put into this half. I've constantly asked myself why they didn't just bring the veterans into the first half to spice things up if they were going to make it this bland.
I've had people respond to me with "Then it wouldn't be its own show. It'd just be the season with the returning rangers". It already doesn't feel like its own show. It feels more like a love letter to MMPR than anything else. Thats another issue I have with this half, other than being what started it the franchise, there is no reason why MMPR deserves the entire first half as its tribute. Its just Saban Brands trying to recapture its glory days from that era. When the first thing you show is a dream sequence with older rangers and couple it with bland and boring writing, then it becomes quite obvious that you intend it to be the "season with returning rangers"and expect older fans (and to a lesser extent children who have seen other seasons) to watch for that reason alone. If they wanted to make it feel like its own season then they should've either: 1. Not shown clips of the Legend War as the very first scene or 2. They should've put more effort into this first half. Though I will give them credit for not shutting out the Titanium ranger completely given the photos that have surfaced over the past few months even if its just the suit and not the actual actor.
I've also come to the conclusion that they're likely saving most of their money for the second half but that just shows how lazy they appear to be if the only thing they're going to put a decent amount of effort into is the nostalgia value of having veterans return. When something is touted as being a "mega celebration of 20 years", they should go all out from the start. Clearly they intend on making this show more about nostalgia than anything else. I know people give Disney a lot of crap for its run on the franchise but at the very least, they put some effort into something other than the returning rangers during Overdrive, even if Overdrive itself wasn't that good. Yes I said it, Overdrive was a better anniversary than MegaForce has been so far!
Theme song: This is barely worth mentioning but I'll go over it anyway. Its one of the more unimaginative theme songs in the franchise. Like the Samurai theme song its just a cover of the MMPR theme but with the words "MegaForce Altogether" spliced into it at various points. This doesn't really help the case that Saban Brands isn't trying to recapture MMPR now that it has the reigns again and it sort of helps reinforce my belief that they're just trying to cash in on nostalgia. It fails to get you hyped up which kind of misses the point of a theme song.
Acting: Power Rangers has never really been known for its acting caliber outside of Time Force and RPM. With this half the acting ranges from meh to sub-par, especially in the cases of Troy and Emma. Troy for the most part is emotionless when saying his lines, a cinder block would be a better actor than him and even Roboknight shows more emotion than Troy does (thats right, the bland robot shows more emotion than the red) but I'll get to Roboknight later as I have a lot of issues with him. I know Power Rangers isn't supposed to have Tripe A acting but Troy's acting is sub-par even by Power Rangers standards. As it stands right now, Troy is on par with Kevin from Samurai acting-wise. He just looks bored throughout most of this half, other than the episode that was nothing but one big joke and it came off more creepy and forced than anything else. Granted he does improve slightly near the end of this half and he isn't as bad as Vypra from Lightspeed Rescue, but the dude seriously needs to start showing more emotion. He is in my bottom three actors in the franchise, the other two being Vypra from Lightspeed Rescue and Kevin from Samurai. He just can't seem to get rid of that look of boredom.
Gia, Jake, and Noah are decent enough actors though Gia hasn't had many focus episodes compared to the others so far. Emma's problem oddly enough is the complete opposite of Troy's, while Troy underacts, Emma overacts. Her actress tends to come off as a little too cheery when saying her lines even during what should be more serious moments for her and the other rangers but she is definitely better than Troy. Her focus episodes have thus far been a little too environmental for my tastes with the writing not being nearly convincing enough for it to work out well. I'm not even sure how Troy's actor got the role. Even the nameless child actor from the episode "Staying On Track" is a better actor than Troy and Emma and that kid had at most 5 or 6 lines in that episode. In the episode "The Human Condition", the writers seemingly acknowledge how much trouble Troy has conveying emotions. When Roboknight asks Troy to tell him about tears, Troy pretty much says "Go ask Emma. She knows more about tears than I do.". Granted it was probably just away to pass Roboknight's question off to Emma and who in turn would lead him toward the other rangers, I can't help but think it was the writers taking a subtle jab at Troy's actor.
Writing: The writing has been sadly sub-par for this half and on occasion it has been downright painful. It hasn't changed much from Samurai's level of writing. The lowest point would have to be two episodes in the Mutant arc: Roboknight's premier (which was really bland for a sixth ranger's premier) and the end of the mutant arc. In those episodes they basically spell out the underlying environmental message of this arc by basically having the villains say "Humans are lazy for not cleaning up the planet" or "Its humanity's fault we exist so we're gonna make you suffer". Not to mention that they kept bringing up the Mutants origin every episode. Did they seriously think kids would forget that in-between episodes? The whole thing about Jake being love-struck by Gia and her not picking up on it makes Jake come off as slightly stalker-ish and his crush on her honestly feels kind of forced on the audience. This is definitely not how you celebrate 20 years. There is no excuse for this when you have 19 other seasons as a guide to help your writing. At certain points, it feels like it is talking down to its audience or even insulting their intelligence like Emma's over-done obsession with the environment and the Mutants' motivation. The writers feel the need to spell everything out for the audience for some reason. Just because your target audience is children doesn't mean you should spell it all out for them.
Its also really weird when the better one-liners are given to the villains and occasionally random extras instead of the rangers. For some reason it seems like they have a lot of trouble writing Emma's focus episodes and they just feel off to me. The only passable focus episode for her in this half is the episode Dream Snatcher. The humor is just par for the course consisting of cheesy jokes and one-liners without the show having enough cheese to make it work. I'm not asking for gold here, I'm just asking for decent/tolerable writing. Another issue I have with the writing is Troy's logic behind why the wild sword rebelled against Vrak, his whole line about how the sword "wanted to protect the Earth" was really just speculation on his part. That line might have worked better if they had done some build up to the sword's appearance but the sword comes out of nowhere and it kind of felt forced. Had this not been a combined season, its appearance would've most likely been a two-parter since it lead to the ultra mode power-up. On a semi-positive note, Jason Smith (Jungle Fury Red) is going to be doing some of the writing for Super MegaForce, including his own tribute episode and I've heard he has some decent writing experience. While I don't much care for the thought of Casey returning as the Jungle Fury representative (he was the most boring character in JF and RJ would've been a better choice) I can only hope he helps the writing get better. He can't possibly make it any worse.
Roboknight:
Thats right, he gets his own section. This is one of the most frustrating parts of this half and its my major gripe about it. His character is something I feel could've been something good but sadly, it feels like he has been relegated to being a simple placeholder for the Silver MegaForce ranger. While that in itself was a terrible idea, they took it a step further and tried to disguise it. They tried to give him this really cliche "robot learns from humanity" plot-line and it hasn't been executed well in the first half. He has gotten arguably less development than Gia, the only thing I'd even dare to call decently handled or convincing development for him was the meteor scene during the episode "Dream Snatcher". It was a nice looking scene and seeing the meteor shower reflected in his visor was a nice touch. It feels like the writers don't even care for him as character and the voice actor doesn't sound like he is trying. Its Power Rangers for crying out loud, robots have emotions in this universe. Roboknight doesn't need to sound like he doesn't care.
They've tried to make him feel as inhuman as possible and it really doesn't help you get attached to him as a character, he is just there and he isn't as interesting as other robots in the PR universe. It feels like they were just trying to hide that he is a placeholder and he won't show up in Super MegaForce. They even rushed his development to make him seem like a complete character in the episode "The Human Factor" with a less than convincing internal conflict about humans being good or bad for the Earth that lasted all of two minutes. That might have worked better if the episode had been a two parter. In the episodes "Staying On Track" and "The Human Condition" they try to make you think he is actually a character by adding on some extra "development" and to make you think he actually mattered in this half. The scene of him rapping at the end of "The Human Condition" was funny just because of how awkward it was with the voice actor's monotone voice. Due to the pacing (I'll get to that later), a lot of his "development" wasn't that convincing. It feels like he was only included because the stock footage called for it. They tried to force so much development into the last few episodes that it made wonder why they just didn't do it starting after his premier. He has been around since episode 8 and they decided to give him development that is just barely passable at the end. They've had 12 episodes to work with him yet they only decided that they want it to look like they care about him during the last 3 or so episodes. No character deserves to be treated this way.
They could've helped push his whole "robot learning to be human" plot-line in a more positive direction by giving him a sort of hologram projector to give him a human form so he could blend in with humanity more thus make him learning from the rangers feel more impactful. With a boring tone to his voice you just don't feel for the character and the hologram projector could've helped balance that out more. If they wanted him to feel like a ranger or that he actually mattered much, they should've come up with a better plot-line for him. The fact that he is a temporary character was even more of a reason why they shouldn't have wasted him.When you give a temporary character the title of "ranger" or whatever title is equivalent to a ranger, you should make him/her as memorable as possible simply because they won't be around for long. You should want to make sure the character has as big an impact as possible on the audience. Take the Phantom ranger from Turbo for example, he was a temporary character but he still had some sense of importance during his short time on the show, even if he did get written out of In Space before they could close his plot-line. Under no circumstances do you relegate a character to place-holder status just because they won't be in the footage you're planning to use in the latter half of the season. Sadly, it seems Roboknight was just reduced to being a bland, boring character that neither Saban Brands nor the writers cared much for in the first place.
Villains: Since this half was based off Goseiger, they decided use all three villain groups that were present in the Sentai. The Warstar were just boring with really weird plans and they were just used as standard fodder for minor very character development for pretty much only Jake, Emma, and Noah during the first arc. The second group were the Mutants. They are my least favorite group of this half since the writing gets worse than it already was during this arc . They had weirder plans than the Warstar did, such as stealing people's shadows or sealing them away when they laugh. Their constant need to bring up their origin started to aggravate me very quickly and the blatantly obvious environmental message of their arc didn't help much.
The machine arc is where the villains get tolerable for me, specifically Metal Alice. While on her own, she would just be an ok villain, compared to the others she is great. She feels like the only villain in this half that feels like a semi-legitimate threat for the rangers. Unlike the other villains she has some sense and gets straight to the point. In the episode "Staying On Track" her plan was basically kill people by disabling the train system and it almost resulted in the destruction of a loaded passenger train. Her ruthlessness makes an appearance once again in the episode "The Messenger" when she holds a tower full of people hostage by pointing a missile at it to try and buy Vrak some time so he can adjust to his new body. She is the only villain I've semi-liked in this half and she is by far the most tolerable one for me. She is a refreshing change of pace from the boring Warstar and the annoying origin obsessed Mutants. Her voice actress beats half the rangers in terms of acting. Vrak is kind of useless and I can't help but think they are trying to play him off as this brilliant tactician and manipulator but he doesn't do much other than form pacts with other villains and make monsters grow. The episode "The Messenger" built him up as being more important to this half's overall plot than he actually was. Yeah he is going to be related to the guy leading the invasion in the Gokaiger half but that is pretty much the limit of Vrak's importance in this half. With that said, the episode "End Game" gives me some hope that he will become more important in the second half. However, the most useless villain in this half is definitely Malkor, he did absolutely nothing for most of this half and his defeat in the episode "The Human Condition" amounted to essentially nothing at all. He felt more like another monster of the week than he did an enemy general and I honestly forgot he existed until the episode before his defeat.
The fact that its a combined season really hurts these villains and it barely gives them any time to shine. Due to it being paced so badly, they would've been better off ditching the three separate groups concept and just combining them all into one custom villain group. They really could've done more to make the Mutants and robots feel connected to the Warstar other than just showing scenes with them and Vrak together. The Warstar could've acted as the first wave of the invasion and when Malkor got destroyed Vrak could've summoned the Mutants to Earth to begin their onslaught and they would act as the second wave. The robots could've acted as the third wave after the Mutants were crushed and still have kept their "beacon" status as a signal for the Zangyack's counterpart to takeover the invasion. It would've worked nicely given how diverse the alien populace is within the Zangyack Empire in Gokaiger and given that Vrak is going to be the brother of the leader of the Zangyack invasion it would make sense that he has access to all three factions if they were apart of the same overall force. They could've made them seem more like one large interconnected military force that way and it might have helped give the impression that the Warstar and the Mutants were actually a threat or that they amounted to something at all. Otherwise, the only connecting factor with these three groups is Vrak which just seems like a misstep because as I said they didn't build up his importance much and they even make him seem more important than he actually was. Just because they had to work with the stock footage that was provided doesn't mean that they had to have all the groups feel so disjointed like that and they definitely didn't have to follow the Goseiger concept of having them be separate groups. All they had to do was take a few liberties with the script and this disjointed feeling they give off would've never been a problem. Sadly the villains in this half other than Metal Alice just seem like filler villains with none of their plots being interesting to me and even in Metal Alice's case the only notable thing about her is her ruthlessness.
Worst episode: As for the worst episode in this half, well that award goes to the fake ranger episode "Stranger Ranger". You have no idea how mad this episode made me. This episode was insanely stupid and its the dumbest episode I've seen in this half. What aggravates me the most is how stupid the extra character for this episode was. He almost dies and runs back to the fight to get a better seat. I understand the need to teach kids' to be themselves but you do not do it with such a stupid character.
It would've been a decent episode if they had made him go back to save a civilian caught in the crossfire and it would've actually shown him how a ranger is supposed to act since he was so keen on imitating one. Unfortunately, the episode only results in him putting his life in danger as well as the rangers' lives all because he wouldn't listen and got in the way again after being told to run. This was all in an effort to throw the old cliche of "Be yourself. Don't pass yourself off as something you're not." in our faces. While that is actually a pretty good lesson, it was presented to the audience in a very badly done way. There is a far better way to get the message across. Though I will give the writers credit for not having the rangers forgive him immediately afterwards. I'm so glad the rumors about him becoming the silver MegaForce ranger weren't true because that would just be rewarding the guy for stupidity and I would've had to do a rant about him. This episode is on par with the Buddyroid Strike episode from Gobusters for me. This episode is better left dead and buried in Power Rangers history.
The Halloween clip show: While this is technically a bonus episode and not actually part of the first half, I'm bringing up this episode specifically because the monster of the week could've been used for an interesting episode. He was a monster that could mess with technology. They could've used him to show just how dependent humanity has become on technology and shown how devastating the grid going down could potentially be. Sadly they decided to go the lazy route and just waste him as a filler/clip show villain. Its really a shame, for the first time in this season, they ignored the obvious yet far more interesting and thought provoking route for the sake of writing filler. I will never understand why they chose to do that. It also had a rather out of character moment for Gia. While viewing the images in the crystal ball she gets scared and grabs onto Jake despite having already seen the images once before when she was fighting the actual monsters. Seriously the big tough girl Gia is afraid of things she has already seen and is the only one of the rangers sitting at the table to react like that. It felt like it done was just to push the Gia/Jake thing the writers seem to be going for on us. Even if it was a clip show but they should've at least kept her character consistent with that they've shown so far.
The pacing: The show has been moving at break-neck speed for the power-ups and Megazords for this half. They've left us with virtually no room to breath. Granted this can be partially attributed to Nick's ridiculous 20 episodes a year limit. That is the main reason why I don't think Saban Brands should've renewed their contract with them. That combined with their contract with Toei not allowing them to skip seasons pretty much forced them to combine Goseiger and Gokaiger into one season. However, they could've completely avoided that by simply saying the remastered MMPR 2010 season doesn't count but thats beside the point. This is first time since MMPR that they've combined Sentai seasons and it hasn't helped the pacing one bit. The main reason it worked for MMPR is because each season was still at least 50 episodes long. I'm predicting major pacing problems with Super MegaForce. When you have such a slim time-frame like Nick requires, it becomes that much harder to write because you have to whittle it all down to less than half of each season of the source material and you still have to try and come up with some sort of coherent and interesting story when you're combining seasons like this. Proper pacing becomes all the more important when you're doing something like that. Unfortunately, it also meant that they had to rush the development of the place-holder Roboknight.
Final Thoughts: I'm not even going to bother giving this half a rating. The show has been pretty underwhelming so far and I can only hope it gets better in Super MegaForce. The show was promoted as a "Mega celebration of 20 years" but it hasn't even come close to living up to that title. Its more of a disappointment than anything else. It just feels like they aren't even trying with this half and that they're intending to make their money off of the nostalgia value of the second half, Super MegaForce. Contrary to what my past rants about MegaForce might have you believe, I didn't want to dislike this season and yeah if this was a regular season then I'd let some of the writing issues slide but this is supposed to be an anniversary season meaning its supposed to celebrate everything the franchise has done until now and how far it has come in terms of storytelling, but it just doesn't feel up to par with even the regular seasons. I've really tried to let some of my criticisms go this season but I just can't seem to do it. Its really weird when I can only pick 2 or 3 episodes out of the first 20 that I can honestly say I've semi-enjoyed. This is not a good way to start an anniversary season or to even lead up to one. I've had people explain to me that its bland because they're saving everything for the second half. My questions are: Why should the half with the veterans take priority while the first half suffers? Are they just trying to bank off of the nostalgia of the older fans and hoping they'll stick around for the second half? That harkens back to my MMPR fanboy rant so I'm not going to repeat myself here. I've also had people tell me that its Super MegaForce that will be the true anniversary for this season. If that is Saban Brands actual logic then that makes me think that due to Nick's 20 episode per year limit they decided to cheap out on this half simply because they can make more money off of the veterans in the second half. If you're going to promote something as a mega celebration then your best bet is to go full force right out of the gate. That is how you repay the fans for their loyalty all these years. Its very bad when half a season makes a loyal fan like me question why they stuck with the series for its entire run. I don't like being made to doubt my place in this fandom. Will things get better in Super MegaForce? I sure hope so.
Let me be very clear that I have given this show chance after chance after chance to impress me, but alas, it didn't work. I was actually tempted to drop it after Roboknight's premier but I decided to keep watching. I've seen good seasons and bad seasons but never one that outright bores me like MegaForce has. You could argue that I'm being too critical regarding a kids' show and its fine if you think that, but the truth is that this season just isn't up to snuff compared to other PR seasons and its turned into one of the most frustrating seasons I've sat through so far. It feels like no one cared enough about this half to put some effort into it, especially the writers. Unfortunately, that glowing review I gave the premier has since turned into a huge middle finger from me. The most infuriating thing about this half isn't that its bad, its that its boring which is arguably worse than being bad. If something is bad then I can at least have some fun cracking jokes about it but the only thing I can joke about at the moment is Troy's acting. You'd think that would mean I love the season so far, but no! While it does get a bit better near the end, it isn't enough to outweigh its blandness and how boring a lot of the episodes are. Seriously, this half is so bland and boring that I got tired of dealing with it after episode 15 and it takes a lot for a show to do that to me. I found myself semi-exhausted after watching a lot of the episodes. That in and of itself just tell you just how messed up this first half is for me. Though the cliffhanger ending for "End Game" was a nice touch. Despite how boring this half was for me, I will still watch Super MegaForce.
It really doesn't feel like an anniversary caliber season outside of the nostalgia value and its kind of weird that a show this bland has given me this much to talk about. As for the rumor that the veteran rangers will only be in the last two episodes of Super MegaForce, all I can say is that since they seem to care more about that half, those two episodes had better be among the best in the franchise because its clear to me that its the only reason they want the fans to watch. If they're going to treat something as special and as important as an anniversary like this and only focus on the veterans then it kind of makes me worry about the seasons to be adapted after the Gokaiger half. They should've put a lot more effort in this half than they did. I hate having to say things like this about any season in the franchise especially one that could've been so much better if they had at least tried more. I can only hope that Saban Brands steps its game up in Super MegaForce.
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| Its obvious why you want people to watch when this is the first scene you show. |
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| I will give them credit for this. |
Theme song: This is barely worth mentioning but I'll go over it anyway. Its one of the more unimaginative theme songs in the franchise. Like the Samurai theme song its just a cover of the MMPR theme but with the words "MegaForce Altogether" spliced into it at various points. This doesn't really help the case that Saban Brands isn't trying to recapture MMPR now that it has the reigns again and it sort of helps reinforce my belief that they're just trying to cash in on nostalgia. It fails to get you hyped up which kind of misses the point of a theme song.
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| This face says "I'm happy!"...at least I think it does. |
Writing: The writing has been sadly sub-par for this half and on occasion it has been downright painful. It hasn't changed much from Samurai's level of writing. The lowest point would have to be two episodes in the Mutant arc: Roboknight's premier (which was really bland for a sixth ranger's premier) and the end of the mutant arc. In those episodes they basically spell out the underlying environmental message of this arc by basically having the villains say "Humans are lazy for not cleaning up the planet" or "Its humanity's fault we exist so we're gonna make you suffer". Not to mention that they kept bringing up the Mutants origin every episode. Did they seriously think kids would forget that in-between episodes? The whole thing about Jake being love-struck by Gia and her not picking up on it makes Jake come off as slightly stalker-ish and his crush on her honestly feels kind of forced on the audience. This is definitely not how you celebrate 20 years. There is no excuse for this when you have 19 other seasons as a guide to help your writing. At certain points, it feels like it is talking down to its audience or even insulting their intelligence like Emma's over-done obsession with the environment and the Mutants' motivation. The writers feel the need to spell everything out for the audience for some reason. Just because your target audience is children doesn't mean you should spell it all out for them.
Its also really weird when the better one-liners are given to the villains and occasionally random extras instead of the rangers. For some reason it seems like they have a lot of trouble writing Emma's focus episodes and they just feel off to me. The only passable focus episode for her in this half is the episode Dream Snatcher. The humor is just par for the course consisting of cheesy jokes and one-liners without the show having enough cheese to make it work. I'm not asking for gold here, I'm just asking for decent/tolerable writing. Another issue I have with the writing is Troy's logic behind why the wild sword rebelled against Vrak, his whole line about how the sword "wanted to protect the Earth" was really just speculation on his part. That line might have worked better if they had done some build up to the sword's appearance but the sword comes out of nowhere and it kind of felt forced. Had this not been a combined season, its appearance would've most likely been a two-parter since it lead to the ultra mode power-up. On a semi-positive note, Jason Smith (Jungle Fury Red) is going to be doing some of the writing for Super MegaForce, including his own tribute episode and I've heard he has some decent writing experience. While I don't much care for the thought of Casey returning as the Jungle Fury representative (he was the most boring character in JF and RJ would've been a better choice) I can only hope he helps the writing get better. He can't possibly make it any worse.
Roboknight:
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| This is how I feel when I think of what Roboknight could have been. |
They could've helped push his whole "robot learning to be human" plot-line in a more positive direction by giving him a sort of hologram projector to give him a human form so he could blend in with humanity more thus make him learning from the rangers feel more impactful. With a boring tone to his voice you just don't feel for the character and the hologram projector could've helped balance that out more. If they wanted him to feel like a ranger or that he actually mattered much, they should've come up with a better plot-line for him. The fact that he is a temporary character was even more of a reason why they shouldn't have wasted him.When you give a temporary character the title of "ranger" or whatever title is equivalent to a ranger, you should make him/her as memorable as possible simply because they won't be around for long. You should want to make sure the character has as big an impact as possible on the audience. Take the Phantom ranger from Turbo for example, he was a temporary character but he still had some sense of importance during his short time on the show, even if he did get written out of In Space before they could close his plot-line. Under no circumstances do you relegate a character to place-holder status just because they won't be in the footage you're planning to use in the latter half of the season. Sadly, it seems Roboknight was just reduced to being a bland, boring character that neither Saban Brands nor the writers cared much for in the first place.
Villains: Since this half was based off Goseiger, they decided use all three villain groups that were present in the Sentai. The Warstar were just boring with really weird plans and they were just used as standard fodder for minor very character development for pretty much only Jake, Emma, and Noah during the first arc. The second group were the Mutants. They are my least favorite group of this half since the writing gets worse than it already was during this arc . They had weirder plans than the Warstar did, such as stealing people's shadows or sealing them away when they laugh. Their constant need to bring up their origin started to aggravate me very quickly and the blatantly obvious environmental message of their arc didn't help much.
The fact that its a combined season really hurts these villains and it barely gives them any time to shine. Due to it being paced so badly, they would've been better off ditching the three separate groups concept and just combining them all into one custom villain group. They really could've done more to make the Mutants and robots feel connected to the Warstar other than just showing scenes with them and Vrak together. The Warstar could've acted as the first wave of the invasion and when Malkor got destroyed Vrak could've summoned the Mutants to Earth to begin their onslaught and they would act as the second wave. The robots could've acted as the third wave after the Mutants were crushed and still have kept their "beacon" status as a signal for the Zangyack's counterpart to takeover the invasion. It would've worked nicely given how diverse the alien populace is within the Zangyack Empire in Gokaiger and given that Vrak is going to be the brother of the leader of the Zangyack invasion it would make sense that he has access to all three factions if they were apart of the same overall force. They could've made them seem more like one large interconnected military force that way and it might have helped give the impression that the Warstar and the Mutants were actually a threat or that they amounted to something at all. Otherwise, the only connecting factor with these three groups is Vrak which just seems like a misstep because as I said they didn't build up his importance much and they even make him seem more important than he actually was. Just because they had to work with the stock footage that was provided doesn't mean that they had to have all the groups feel so disjointed like that and they definitely didn't have to follow the Goseiger concept of having them be separate groups. All they had to do was take a few liberties with the script and this disjointed feeling they give off would've never been a problem. Sadly the villains in this half other than Metal Alice just seem like filler villains with none of their plots being interesting to me and even in Metal Alice's case the only notable thing about her is her ruthlessness.
Worst episode: As for the worst episode in this half, well that award goes to the fake ranger episode "Stranger Ranger". You have no idea how mad this episode made me. This episode was insanely stupid and its the dumbest episode I've seen in this half. What aggravates me the most is how stupid the extra character for this episode was. He almost dies and runs back to the fight to get a better seat. I understand the need to teach kids' to be themselves but you do not do it with such a stupid character.
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| The idiot on the the far left is the one I'm referring to. |
The Halloween clip show: While this is technically a bonus episode and not actually part of the first half, I'm bringing up this episode specifically because the monster of the week could've been used for an interesting episode. He was a monster that could mess with technology. They could've used him to show just how dependent humanity has become on technology and shown how devastating the grid going down could potentially be. Sadly they decided to go the lazy route and just waste him as a filler/clip show villain. Its really a shame, for the first time in this season, they ignored the obvious yet far more interesting and thought provoking route for the sake of writing filler. I will never understand why they chose to do that. It also had a rather out of character moment for Gia. While viewing the images in the crystal ball she gets scared and grabs onto Jake despite having already seen the images once before when she was fighting the actual monsters. Seriously the big tough girl Gia is afraid of things she has already seen and is the only one of the rangers sitting at the table to react like that. It felt like it done was just to push the Gia/Jake thing the writers seem to be going for on us. Even if it was a clip show but they should've at least kept her character consistent with that they've shown so far.
The pacing: The show has been moving at break-neck speed for the power-ups and Megazords for this half. They've left us with virtually no room to breath. Granted this can be partially attributed to Nick's ridiculous 20 episodes a year limit. That is the main reason why I don't think Saban Brands should've renewed their contract with them. That combined with their contract with Toei not allowing them to skip seasons pretty much forced them to combine Goseiger and Gokaiger into one season. However, they could've completely avoided that by simply saying the remastered MMPR 2010 season doesn't count but thats beside the point. This is first time since MMPR that they've combined Sentai seasons and it hasn't helped the pacing one bit. The main reason it worked for MMPR is because each season was still at least 50 episodes long. I'm predicting major pacing problems with Super MegaForce. When you have such a slim time-frame like Nick requires, it becomes that much harder to write because you have to whittle it all down to less than half of each season of the source material and you still have to try and come up with some sort of coherent and interesting story when you're combining seasons like this. Proper pacing becomes all the more important when you're doing something like that. Unfortunately, it also meant that they had to rush the development of the place-holder Roboknight.
Final Thoughts: I'm not even going to bother giving this half a rating. The show has been pretty underwhelming so far and I can only hope it gets better in Super MegaForce. The show was promoted as a "Mega celebration of 20 years" but it hasn't even come close to living up to that title. Its more of a disappointment than anything else. It just feels like they aren't even trying with this half and that they're intending to make their money off of the nostalgia value of the second half, Super MegaForce. Contrary to what my past rants about MegaForce might have you believe, I didn't want to dislike this season and yeah if this was a regular season then I'd let some of the writing issues slide but this is supposed to be an anniversary season meaning its supposed to celebrate everything the franchise has done until now and how far it has come in terms of storytelling, but it just doesn't feel up to par with even the regular seasons. I've really tried to let some of my criticisms go this season but I just can't seem to do it. Its really weird when I can only pick 2 or 3 episodes out of the first 20 that I can honestly say I've semi-enjoyed. This is not a good way to start an anniversary season or to even lead up to one. I've had people explain to me that its bland because they're saving everything for the second half. My questions are: Why should the half with the veterans take priority while the first half suffers? Are they just trying to bank off of the nostalgia of the older fans and hoping they'll stick around for the second half? That harkens back to my MMPR fanboy rant so I'm not going to repeat myself here. I've also had people tell me that its Super MegaForce that will be the true anniversary for this season. If that is Saban Brands actual logic then that makes me think that due to Nick's 20 episode per year limit they decided to cheap out on this half simply because they can make more money off of the veterans in the second half. If you're going to promote something as a mega celebration then your best bet is to go full force right out of the gate. That is how you repay the fans for their loyalty all these years. Its very bad when half a season makes a loyal fan like me question why they stuck with the series for its entire run. I don't like being made to doubt my place in this fandom. Will things get better in Super MegaForce? I sure hope so.
 |
| Really hoping this makes up for the first half |
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Happy Birthday Godzilla!
A product of nuclear weapons
and forever symbolizing the destructive power of man and how nature will
fight back if need be. Godzilla's Legacy is forever remembered for not
just being a monster but giving way to the genre we call Tokusatsu
today. Godzilla was my first entrance in the Toku genre and to this day
remains my favorite.
He was there for me when I was little acting as
not only my hero but also representing all the feelings I felt growing
up. Feeling angry, sad, alone, etc. Godzilla was there to be the
representation of what I felt. I am forever grateful for Godzilla for
being there and hopefully making a better person to everyone around me.
Without him there might not be this popularity in Toku there is today
and I might not have the wonderful friends I have today. I could so
much more as typing this now is very emotional but I want to say Happy
Birthday Godzilla though you may be a fictional creature you provide a
good representation of real people and feels, thank you Godzilla for
being there for me and continue to sleep till we fans need you again.
Hail to the king of the monsters and thank you.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Building up a Ranger Death
It's not common for Toei to kill a hero, but there are some out there. Some of them are great example of a proper build up, while others comes in as a real rushed work. I'm going to classified the ones who happened in their respective series AND stayed dead once it ended. Finally telling why I think they belong there. This is my opinion
BEST:
AbareKiller
Dragon Ranger
Black Condor
Beet Buster
Shurikenger
Why I think they belong in this category? Because of the writing or the message belong it.
Let's see: we all know the story behind the scenes of Dragon Ranger. For the ones of you who don't, I'll recap it from memory, so forgive me if I say something not completely right. After the introduction of Burai (and I think already established he was destined to die), Toei received bags and bags of letters from the audience begging them to find a way to not kill the character. Toei discussed it with the writers and went along with the original idea the staff had. They did that to teach the kids heroes can die too! Great message if you ask me. Not everything has to be like they want. Life lesson :D
On the other hand we have Black Condor, who during the course of Jetman faced/died many times. And I think his ultimately death was well craft. Even if the other Jetman were in the same position as Gai, every experience he had helped him to explain how was possible for him to be at the Legend War (and the Jetman tribute episode in Gokaiger). I really love that for 19 years, most fans were discussing if Black Condor was dead or not. I didn't need Gokaiger to tell me that in my first time watching Jetman.
AbareKiller and Beet Buster shares the same kind of writing. They're both destined to die since their first episode, but the writing were completely different. Their background stories is what makes them being among the best writing deaths. The way they were executed was handled differently and that's what I love of them.
NEUTRAL:
Kiiranger II
Bull Black
Battle Cossack I
Mele & Rio
Why I think they belong in this category?: Their writing was ok. Nothing impressive to emotionally move me but it's not horrible as to despise them. Maybe Bull Black might be a bit silly, but I think there were worst. They die trying to save a cause, I don't see anything bad on doing that.
WORST:
Yellow Four I
Gosei Green
Time Fire
Why I think they belong in this category? Merely because of the writing/timing.
Let's see: Gosei Green only lasts onscreen 5 minutes, no build up to know the character, no mention of him previous or after the episode. He's there to say, "Hyde had a partner but he was killed trying to save his kind and humans." Give Hyde a driving force and nothing more. Ok, I get he's not the protagonist of the show, but at least, if the writer wanted to tell us something about Hyde and how equal he was before , they could at least dedicate most of the episode on both characters. How they were like, how he died. Definitively Not what we were thrown our throats.
Time Fire's death is pathetic to say the least. Dying over returning a bird to a little girl? Ok, I get it. Wanted to show the human part on the character. Failing to notice a single minion? Inexcusable! Nothing more to say.
Yellow Four I is lame for the timing, though it's not the writers' fault. Yet, I think it could be handed better. Let's see: the Biomen are all scattered around doing their thing, Mason attacks Yellow Four, she transforms and is hit with the Anti-Bioman particles. The others get the notice, meet with her and start what we see in the episode. See? I made the episode a bit better. Now, you may think I need the actress to play it right? No, because the camera would focus on the character once she's transformed :P Least to say, Yellow Four I's death is bittersweet because it occurred earlier in the series unlike with the other dead senshis in this post. What a shame is the fact she was one of the protagonist of the show (unlike Gosei Green).
To sum it up: I believe doing a hero's death is not an easy task which can turn out to fit in one of the three categories displayed above. Death is at its best when the story goes that way or when there's a collab between the writers and the actors (best example is Black Condor from Jetman). Death is ok when it's a complete surprise but the hero dies trying to do his/her job (best example is Kiiranger II though I find Battle Cossack II's intro ep is better handled). Another ok is when a bad guy dies trying to redeem himself (always considering he/she was destined to die since episode 1--best examples are Mele & Rio from Gekiranger). Dying is at its worst when they make the character idiotic, even though it was not what they were aiming (best example is Time Fire from Timeranger). When the character was never mentioned before and only appeared on-screen 5 minutes and it's never mentioned again. Why bother to create a character with that conditions? I top this kind of death as the winner if there were an award for "Worst Death Writing in History". No excuses. And if there was an award for "Lame Death Writing in History", I'd choose the killing a main character early in the series with a smart plan not fully developed at that time.
What do you think? Do you agree with me? Do you think I'm picky? What do you think on Death of Heroes? Do you like them?
BEST:
AbareKiller
Dragon Ranger
Black Condor
Beet Buster
Shurikenger
Why I think they belong in this category? Because of the writing or the message belong it.
Let's see: we all know the story behind the scenes of Dragon Ranger. For the ones of you who don't, I'll recap it from memory, so forgive me if I say something not completely right. After the introduction of Burai (and I think already established he was destined to die), Toei received bags and bags of letters from the audience begging them to find a way to not kill the character. Toei discussed it with the writers and went along with the original idea the staff had. They did that to teach the kids heroes can die too! Great message if you ask me. Not everything has to be like they want. Life lesson :D
On the other hand we have Black Condor, who during the course of Jetman faced/died many times. And I think his ultimately death was well craft. Even if the other Jetman were in the same position as Gai, every experience he had helped him to explain how was possible for him to be at the Legend War (and the Jetman tribute episode in Gokaiger). I really love that for 19 years, most fans were discussing if Black Condor was dead or not. I didn't need Gokaiger to tell me that in my first time watching Jetman.
AbareKiller and Beet Buster shares the same kind of writing. They're both destined to die since their first episode, but the writing were completely different. Their background stories is what makes them being among the best writing deaths. The way they were executed was handled differently and that's what I love of them.
NEUTRAL:
Kiiranger II
Bull Black
Battle Cossack I
Mele & Rio
Why I think they belong in this category?: Their writing was ok. Nothing impressive to emotionally move me but it's not horrible as to despise them. Maybe Bull Black might be a bit silly, but I think there were worst. They die trying to save a cause, I don't see anything bad on doing that.
WORST:
Yellow Four I
Gosei Green
Time Fire
Why I think they belong in this category? Merely because of the writing/timing.
Let's see: Gosei Green only lasts onscreen 5 minutes, no build up to know the character, no mention of him previous or after the episode. He's there to say, "Hyde had a partner but he was killed trying to save his kind and humans." Give Hyde a driving force and nothing more. Ok, I get he's not the protagonist of the show, but at least, if the writer wanted to tell us something about Hyde and how equal he was before , they could at least dedicate most of the episode on both characters. How they were like, how he died. Definitively Not what we were thrown our throats.
Time Fire's death is pathetic to say the least. Dying over returning a bird to a little girl? Ok, I get it. Wanted to show the human part on the character. Failing to notice a single minion? Inexcusable! Nothing more to say.
Yellow Four I is lame for the timing, though it's not the writers' fault. Yet, I think it could be handed better. Let's see: the Biomen are all scattered around doing their thing, Mason attacks Yellow Four, she transforms and is hit with the Anti-Bioman particles. The others get the notice, meet with her and start what we see in the episode. See? I made the episode a bit better. Now, you may think I need the actress to play it right? No, because the camera would focus on the character once she's transformed :P Least to say, Yellow Four I's death is bittersweet because it occurred earlier in the series unlike with the other dead senshis in this post. What a shame is the fact she was one of the protagonist of the show (unlike Gosei Green).
To sum it up: I believe doing a hero's death is not an easy task which can turn out to fit in one of the three categories displayed above. Death is at its best when the story goes that way or when there's a collab between the writers and the actors (best example is Black Condor from Jetman). Death is ok when it's a complete surprise but the hero dies trying to do his/her job (best example is Kiiranger II though I find Battle Cossack II's intro ep is better handled). Another ok is when a bad guy dies trying to redeem himself (always considering he/she was destined to die since episode 1--best examples are Mele & Rio from Gekiranger). Dying is at its worst when they make the character idiotic, even though it was not what they were aiming (best example is Time Fire from Timeranger). When the character was never mentioned before and only appeared on-screen 5 minutes and it's never mentioned again. Why bother to create a character with that conditions? I top this kind of death as the winner if there were an award for "Worst Death Writing in History". No excuses. And if there was an award for "Lame Death Writing in History", I'd choose the killing a main character early in the series with a smart plan not fully developed at that time.
What do you think? Do you agree with me? Do you think I'm picky? What do you think on Death of Heroes? Do you like them?
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Ash Ketchum Rant: Is he the worst trainer ever?
With Gen 6 launching soon, I've been reflecting on the franchise and the anime. Let me just start by saying I've grown up with the anime and it along with digimon, power rangers, and other stuff are some of the reasons I'm the nerdy person I am today. Reflecting on the anime has reinforced what I've learned over the years: Ash Ketchum is the worst trainer I've ever seen! I had no problem with Ash during the Kanto and Johto seasons and after that he just got really stupid. Anyways, lets get started!
My main gripe is about Ash is that in anything past Johto, pretty much none of his knowledge sticks or gets used again so he has to relearn it during each region. This is most evident in his gym battles. He constantly makes stupid rookie mistakes that he should already know with how much experience he has. For example, in each region he somehow forgets that he can use a gym's terrain to his advantage or use it to nullify a gym leader's advantage until he is already about to lose. Not to mention he has been seeing the gym leader using the terrain the entire match. Why does he not think of the obvious? He has known how to use a gym's terrain since Kanto! Its ridiculous! Experience does not just disappear like that! With all the experience he has, he should not be having anywhere near as much trouble as he has been having against these gym leaders. I'm not asking him to be super broken, I just want him to be competent again! Not mention the creativity that Hoenn and Sinnoh brought to the table in terms of move combinations and the counter-shield maneuver he even invented during Sinnoh. Does Ash remember those tactics either? Nope! Everything gets wiped as soon as he sets foot in a new region!
This next problem is what I like to call Ash's crowning moment of stupidity. In his first battle in Unova, Pikachu is unable to use its electric moves due to being hit by Zekrom's lightning and it somehow shorting Pikachu out. Ash continues to try and use electric moves despite seeing that they wouldn't work the first time. He completely forgets that Pikachu knows Quick Attack and Iron Tail. He lost to a trainer who got his Snivy barely five minutes ago because he refused to think! What I find even dumber is that Pikachu has to be at least level 100 during this fight. Seriously WTH?!
He could've wiped that Snivy out just by ramming it. Even if Ash's tactics are somewhat lacking, he shouldn't have lost that fight so easily. The writers forced that loss on him just for some small amount of character development that won't carry over into Gen 6's anime. They'll probably press the reset button on him as soon as he sets foot in the new region...again.
The knowledge reset unfortunately has the same effect on the gym leaders as it does on Ash. They just don't look as strong as they should be because Ash barely has above beginner knowledge in each new region. It looks like they're just beating up on a new trainer until he decides to use his brain. By having Ash fighting at full strength the entire battle, you can get more out of the gym leaders and that will result in a more exciting gym battle with more creative fighting.
I don't mind him starting each region with just Pikachu. I get the concept of wanting Ash to start fresh in each region, hence why he leaves his current team with Oak except for Pikachu. I also understand that the show is also a way to sort of promote the new games to some extent, but making Ash an idiot at the beginning of each region is just stupid. There is no excuse for it! Knowledge and experience don't disappear just because you've changed regions. I stopped counting the fact that its a new region and he has never been there before as a valid reason for his mistakes a long time ago. That kind of logic may have worked in Johto or Hoenn but now its become nothing more than an excuse for the writers to pull this stuff during each new journey. His experience as a trainer should more than out-weigh the shock of going to a new region.
While a case could be made that he is a good trainer simply because he cares about his pokemon and can take care of them to some degree (though he usually needs help from Brock or Cilan), its kind of a moot point given how much danger he puts them in a lot of his battles. There have been way too many times that I've seen him put his pokemon up against pokemon that they're obviously weak against. Pokemon are mortal beings in his world and he knows that. If they take too much damage they can die! He shouldn't be stupid enough to put them in a fight with a pokemon they have a clear disadvantage against. When he does that he is essentially saying "Hey buddy, I care about you, so I'm gonna throw you into the ring against something you're weak against. You might die but just remember, I believe in you". That is the most idiotic thing you can do in a situation like that. Everytime he has done that I've shouted at my tv "You idiot! Why are using that pokemon when you already have the gym leader's weakness with you!". I can't bring myself to root for a character who has that much experience yet still does something so stupid. That plays back into how much he actually cares about his pokemon. If he cared about them as much as the writers want us to think he does, they wouldn't have him do something so stupid. The reset concept becomes even more stupid when you consider something else: His chosen way for becoming a pokemon master is through battling. Its gonna be pretty hard for him to become one if he can't remember a single tactic he learned in the last region.
In short: Is Ash a good trainer in terms of caring for his pokemon? Debatable. Is he a good trainer in terms of battling? Not even close! To be honest, he shouldn't even be a trainer if he has so many issues with his battling abilities and his ability to retain any tactics he learns in each region. I will never understand why the writers try so hard to make him an idiot again in each region. I think its about time they retire Ash and move on to a new protagonist, one whose new trainer status will at least qualify him to make these kinds of mistakes, though thats not likely to happen given that Ash is pretty much the face of Pokemon at this point.
 |
| Ash over the years. |
This next problem is what I like to call Ash's crowning moment of stupidity. In his first battle in Unova, Pikachu is unable to use its electric moves due to being hit by Zekrom's lightning and it somehow shorting Pikachu out. Ash continues to try and use electric moves despite seeing that they wouldn't work the first time. He completely forgets that Pikachu knows Quick Attack and Iron Tail. He lost to a trainer who got his Snivy barely five minutes ago because he refused to think! What I find even dumber is that Pikachu has to be at least level 100 during this fight. Seriously WTH?!
 |
| He lost to this guy! WTF! |
The knowledge reset unfortunately has the same effect on the gym leaders as it does on Ash. They just don't look as strong as they should be because Ash barely has above beginner knowledge in each new region. It looks like they're just beating up on a new trainer until he decides to use his brain. By having Ash fighting at full strength the entire battle, you can get more out of the gym leaders and that will result in a more exciting gym battle with more creative fighting.
I don't mind him starting each region with just Pikachu. I get the concept of wanting Ash to start fresh in each region, hence why he leaves his current team with Oak except for Pikachu. I also understand that the show is also a way to sort of promote the new games to some extent, but making Ash an idiot at the beginning of each region is just stupid. There is no excuse for it! Knowledge and experience don't disappear just because you've changed regions. I stopped counting the fact that its a new region and he has never been there before as a valid reason for his mistakes a long time ago. That kind of logic may have worked in Johto or Hoenn but now its become nothing more than an excuse for the writers to pull this stuff during each new journey. His experience as a trainer should more than out-weigh the shock of going to a new region.
While a case could be made that he is a good trainer simply because he cares about his pokemon and can take care of them to some degree (though he usually needs help from Brock or Cilan), its kind of a moot point given how much danger he puts them in a lot of his battles. There have been way too many times that I've seen him put his pokemon up against pokemon that they're obviously weak against. Pokemon are mortal beings in his world and he knows that. If they take too much damage they can die! He shouldn't be stupid enough to put them in a fight with a pokemon they have a clear disadvantage against. When he does that he is essentially saying "Hey buddy, I care about you, so I'm gonna throw you into the ring against something you're weak against. You might die but just remember, I believe in you". That is the most idiotic thing you can do in a situation like that. Everytime he has done that I've shouted at my tv "You idiot! Why are using that pokemon when you already have the gym leader's weakness with you!". I can't bring myself to root for a character who has that much experience yet still does something so stupid. That plays back into how much he actually cares about his pokemon. If he cared about them as much as the writers want us to think he does, they wouldn't have him do something so stupid. The reset concept becomes even more stupid when you consider something else: His chosen way for becoming a pokemon master is through battling. Its gonna be pretty hard for him to become one if he can't remember a single tactic he learned in the last region.
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| Ash's collection before Gen 5 |
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Importance of female characters in Super Sentai.
At its beginning, Super Sentai was one of the few tokusatsu franchise including female superheroes, who could change into superpowered suits to fight enemies. Among early Superheroic female characters in toku, Bijinder from Kikaider 01 was one of the first ones, and at the same time that the first sentai series, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger aired, Kamen Rider Stronger aired as well, with Tackle being Stronger's female sidekick, who was able to change into the ladybug-looking Tackle suit. However, while Tackle was Stronger's assistant, in Gorenger, Peggy Matsumoto/Momoranger was an equal partner among the five Gorenger. Since then, (with one exception) Super Sentai always had at least one female hero, and, starting with Battle Fever, villainesses were shown as well. In each series, the female characters had the opportunity to have episodes focusing on them.
However, the importance of those female characters in each series's plot was not the same in the series, either as heroines or as villainesses. I'm gonna review the history of Super Sentai and put emphasis on shows that gave more spotlight to female characters.
1) Early era : Gorenger and JAKQ
As episodic shows without villainesses, no female character had have important roles in the main plot ; but the same could be said for the male heroes as well: the heroes fought the villains as a team, and each teammates was important ; Gorenger also had some female supporting characters, one of them even filling sometimes as Momoranger for Peggy.
2) Late Uehara era: plenty of villainesses
Battle Fever J, Denziman and Sun Vulcan weren't the best series for heroine focus: because of Diane Martin's miscast, the first half of Battle Fever almost forgot it had a female teammate (Maria Nagisa in the second half however, had a more prominent role), and Sun Vulcan didn't even have a female ranger. However, all those series had major villainesses : in Battle Fever, Salome was by far the most active villainesses, often involved in the battlefield and closely working with the Monster of the Week: and Denziman and Sun Vulcan had most of the antagonists being female characters: Denziman's Big Bad was Queen Hedorian, played by Machiko Soga, and her two female agents (Keller and Mirror) were a lot involved in the Vader's evil plans, doing spy work disguising as normal women to carry out their schemes, and leading the Mooks and Monsters of the Week in the fights. Sun Vulcan used the Zero Girls in the same vein, brought back Machiko Soga as a main villainess, and Amazon Killer also had a major villainess role.
3) Soda era: great era for both heroines and villainesses.
The Soda era was a great era for female characters in sentai. Goggle Five and Dynaman had some great lone female rangers (especially Dynaman, with Rei Tachibana/ DynaPink).
But, more importantly, starting with Bioman, the teams started to include two women, and the female rangers were able to wear suits that weren't pink (mostly Yellow, but also White (in Changeman) and Blue (in Liveman)). Many of Soda's heroines are some of the most memorables female rangers, such as Jun in Bioman, Sara in Flashman, Megumi in Liveman and Remi in Fiveman. Soda also always introduced at least one important villainess in his shows. Some of them, like Zenobia in Dynaman, could have major roles.
Among Soda shows, three of them gave especially important roles to female characters :
a) Changeman
Changeman had already two great heroines, with Nagisa Sayaka and Tsubasa Mai. However, Changeman can boast having one of the best sentai villainesses of all time : Queen Ahames. Ahames became an important general with very vicious plans as soon as she appeared, but, most importantly, she managed to earn the superpower coming from the Nana's Rigel's aura, at Giluke's expense, and replaced him as the Gozma's main general after Bazoo banned Giluke. She remained a very dangerous enemy, cruel towards her enemies but also her allies until her death, her last act being destroying the Changeman's base. On the good side, a supporting character, Nana had some major plots, like the Rigel Aura plot, and she was also involved in other key episodes, notably the final arc. Another villainess, Shima became the first villainess that changed sides and became an ally, and another supporting character, Zoori, played a key role in making her husband, Gator, defect Gozma as well.
b) Maskman
Maskman had two badass heroic ladies with Haruka and Momoko (Yellow and Pink Mask). But, more importantly, the most important antagonist in Maskman was without a doubt Prince(ss) Igam, since the main storyline mostly involved Takeru/ Red Mask and the two Igam sisters, Igam and Iyal, with Red Mask's love story for Iyal, and the bitter hate that Igam had against him as a result. Moreover, Igam and her sister were revealed to be the ones to be able to bring down Zeba, and make the Tube become again a peaceful subterran kingdom.
c) Turboranger
While Turboranger was one of the few shows of the Soda era with only one heroine (Pink Turbo/ Haruna), it can be argued that the most important character of the second half of Turboranger is the half Boma Kirika, aka Tsukikage Sayoko. Indeed, during the last 21 episodes of Turboranger, not only she was one a major villainesses, she also showed a lot of development during that era. First, she was shown turning from a normal girl into a bitter and cruel enemy. Then, she became a very dangerous enemy, but Soda managed to make the audience feel some sympathy for her, by showing her sad background and her need to find her identity. Lastly, after meeting her Boma father, she realized that she didn't have to be humanity's enemy and after much internal conflict, not only she stopped being the Turboranger's enemy, but she played an important role in saving Yamimaru from himself and become a peaceful man.
4) Jetman/ Sugimura era
While Jetman had two female rangers, a major love story between the main hero and a villainess (the Ryu/ Rie-Maria storyline) and the first female commander (Aya Odagiri), the main storyline still revolved mostly around the male characters (Ryu, Gai, Radiguet and Tran/ Tranza).
Zyuranger had the main villainess being a Big Bad (Witch Bandora) with a major female general in Lami.
Dairanger was notable for having plenty of major subplots, and two of them involved a lot female characters. The first one was the Daigo/ Kujaku arc, which revolved mostly about the doomed love story between Daigo/ Shishiranger and the peacock warrior Kujaku and the rivalry between Kujaku and the Gorma female general, Gara; Gara (or rather, fake clay Gara, was defeated by the spirit of the real Gara, who had become good again). The second one was the Kou/ Akomaru plot, with the involvement of Rin/ Houhouranger as Kou's friend and the two boys's mother.
Kakuranger was the first Sentai series having a female ranger involved in the central plot. Indeed, Tsuruhime/ Ninja White, not only was the leader of the Kakuranger, but she also had the key plot with her father Hakumenroh who was involved with the Yokai against his will.
5) Carranger and beyond
Carranger had two very well done female rangers, with Yellow and Pink Racer, but it also had a key romance plot with Red Racer and the villainess Zonnette, and that romance played a key role, not only as a major subplot, but also because the redeemed Zonnette was the one who made the remaining Bowzock help the Carranger defeat the Big Bad Emperor Exhaust and then, stop doing evil stuff.
After Carranger, while many sentai series had some very well done female characters, either as heroines or as villainesses, few of them became central characters in the series's storyline.
Among those sentai series, however, Abaranger deserves some spotlight because of the major roles of female characters in its storyline. While Abareyellow didn't have much focus compared to her teammates, two characters were pretty much some of the most central characters in the plot: Jeanne/ Mahoro and Lije/ Lijewel/ Mysterious Girl. And the interesting element is that not only they were important as evil characters, but also as good characters.
Jeanne was the most important Evolian general during the first half of the show, having a deep rivalry with Abareblack and involved in the most dangerous Evolian plots. Very quickly, her background (as Asuka's wife) was revealed, and a mysterious girl (in fact, the part of Lije's soul that managed to escape the evil Evolian's god influence) played a key role in stopping Abareblack and Jeanne from killing each other by reminding them of their past. When Abarekiller appeared and became a major antagonist himself, Lije started to get some spotlight as well, since she developed a crush for the evil ranger, playing a key role in him becoming the leader of the Evolian, and then, making herself turn from a little girl to a young woman, and, as a result, become a dangerous enemy herself.
However, at the same time, Jeanne had a final showdown with Asuka/ Abareblack, but, as a result of the mysterious girl reminding her of her past, Asuka telling her of his true love and then Asuka freeing her from the evil armor, she was able to turn back into the good Mahoro. After a few weeks with amnesia, she managed to remember of her past, and decided to become Jeanne again, to free Asuka from the evil armor and then, help the heroes defeat the Evolian by becoming a spy and gving the heroes very important information to defeat the Evolian. Lijewel, realizing that Mikoto was in danger because of Dezumozorya, also played a role in Mikoto becoming at last the heroes's ally, and the Mysterious girl was the one who managed to expel the Dezumozorya from Lijewel's body, saving her (and herself at the same time) from the evil God.
Other series had some key plots involving female character: GogoV had good female characters, with Matsuri/Gopink, the Saima daughter Dinas and GoGreen 's Sempai, Kyoko, and the Big Bad was the mother of the Saima siblings, Grandienne. Yuuri/ Timepink was the leader of the Timerangers. TsueTsue was a major villainess in Gaoranger. Magiranger had a lot of female characters, with the Pantheon Goddess Sphinx having plenty of development. Shinkenger also had a key plot involving a female character, with Takeru/ Shinkenred being the Kagemusha of Kaoru/ Hime Shinkenred.
And of course, the Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger has also most of its characters being female, and as such, having major roles. In fact, Nobuo/ Akibared, while the main character, was one of the very few main male character in the show.
However, the importance of those female characters in each series's plot was not the same in the series, either as heroines or as villainesses. I'm gonna review the history of Super Sentai and put emphasis on shows that gave more spotlight to female characters.
1) Early era : Gorenger and JAKQ
As episodic shows without villainesses, no female character had have important roles in the main plot ; but the same could be said for the male heroes as well: the heroes fought the villains as a team, and each teammates was important ; Gorenger also had some female supporting characters, one of them even filling sometimes as Momoranger for Peggy.
2) Late Uehara era: plenty of villainesses
Battle Fever J, Denziman and Sun Vulcan weren't the best series for heroine focus: because of Diane Martin's miscast, the first half of Battle Fever almost forgot it had a female teammate (Maria Nagisa in the second half however, had a more prominent role), and Sun Vulcan didn't even have a female ranger. However, all those series had major villainesses : in Battle Fever, Salome was by far the most active villainesses, often involved in the battlefield and closely working with the Monster of the Week: and Denziman and Sun Vulcan had most of the antagonists being female characters: Denziman's Big Bad was Queen Hedorian, played by Machiko Soga, and her two female agents (Keller and Mirror) were a lot involved in the Vader's evil plans, doing spy work disguising as normal women to carry out their schemes, and leading the Mooks and Monsters of the Week in the fights. Sun Vulcan used the Zero Girls in the same vein, brought back Machiko Soga as a main villainess, and Amazon Killer also had a major villainess role.
3) Soda era: great era for both heroines and villainesses.
The Soda era was a great era for female characters in sentai. Goggle Five and Dynaman had some great lone female rangers (especially Dynaman, with Rei Tachibana/ DynaPink).
But, more importantly, starting with Bioman, the teams started to include two women, and the female rangers were able to wear suits that weren't pink (mostly Yellow, but also White (in Changeman) and Blue (in Liveman)). Many of Soda's heroines are some of the most memorables female rangers, such as Jun in Bioman, Sara in Flashman, Megumi in Liveman and Remi in Fiveman. Soda also always introduced at least one important villainess in his shows. Some of them, like Zenobia in Dynaman, could have major roles.
Among Soda shows, three of them gave especially important roles to female characters :
a) Changeman
Changeman had already two great heroines, with Nagisa Sayaka and Tsubasa Mai. However, Changeman can boast having one of the best sentai villainesses of all time : Queen Ahames. Ahames became an important general with very vicious plans as soon as she appeared, but, most importantly, she managed to earn the superpower coming from the Nana's Rigel's aura, at Giluke's expense, and replaced him as the Gozma's main general after Bazoo banned Giluke. She remained a very dangerous enemy, cruel towards her enemies but also her allies until her death, her last act being destroying the Changeman's base. On the good side, a supporting character, Nana had some major plots, like the Rigel Aura plot, and she was also involved in other key episodes, notably the final arc. Another villainess, Shima became the first villainess that changed sides and became an ally, and another supporting character, Zoori, played a key role in making her husband, Gator, defect Gozma as well.
b) Maskman
Maskman had two badass heroic ladies with Haruka and Momoko (Yellow and Pink Mask). But, more importantly, the most important antagonist in Maskman was without a doubt Prince(ss) Igam, since the main storyline mostly involved Takeru/ Red Mask and the two Igam sisters, Igam and Iyal, with Red Mask's love story for Iyal, and the bitter hate that Igam had against him as a result. Moreover, Igam and her sister were revealed to be the ones to be able to bring down Zeba, and make the Tube become again a peaceful subterran kingdom.
c) Turboranger
While Turboranger was one of the few shows of the Soda era with only one heroine (Pink Turbo/ Haruna), it can be argued that the most important character of the second half of Turboranger is the half Boma Kirika, aka Tsukikage Sayoko. Indeed, during the last 21 episodes of Turboranger, not only she was one a major villainesses, she also showed a lot of development during that era. First, she was shown turning from a normal girl into a bitter and cruel enemy. Then, she became a very dangerous enemy, but Soda managed to make the audience feel some sympathy for her, by showing her sad background and her need to find her identity. Lastly, after meeting her Boma father, she realized that she didn't have to be humanity's enemy and after much internal conflict, not only she stopped being the Turboranger's enemy, but she played an important role in saving Yamimaru from himself and become a peaceful man.
4) Jetman/ Sugimura era
While Jetman had two female rangers, a major love story between the main hero and a villainess (the Ryu/ Rie-Maria storyline) and the first female commander (Aya Odagiri), the main storyline still revolved mostly around the male characters (Ryu, Gai, Radiguet and Tran/ Tranza).
Zyuranger had the main villainess being a Big Bad (Witch Bandora) with a major female general in Lami.
Dairanger was notable for having plenty of major subplots, and two of them involved a lot female characters. The first one was the Daigo/ Kujaku arc, which revolved mostly about the doomed love story between Daigo/ Shishiranger and the peacock warrior Kujaku and the rivalry between Kujaku and the Gorma female general, Gara; Gara (or rather, fake clay Gara, was defeated by the spirit of the real Gara, who had become good again). The second one was the Kou/ Akomaru plot, with the involvement of Rin/ Houhouranger as Kou's friend and the two boys's mother.
Kakuranger was the first Sentai series having a female ranger involved in the central plot. Indeed, Tsuruhime/ Ninja White, not only was the leader of the Kakuranger, but she also had the key plot with her father Hakumenroh who was involved with the Yokai against his will.
5) Carranger and beyond
Carranger had two very well done female rangers, with Yellow and Pink Racer, but it also had a key romance plot with Red Racer and the villainess Zonnette, and that romance played a key role, not only as a major subplot, but also because the redeemed Zonnette was the one who made the remaining Bowzock help the Carranger defeat the Big Bad Emperor Exhaust and then, stop doing evil stuff.
After Carranger, while many sentai series had some very well done female characters, either as heroines or as villainesses, few of them became central characters in the series's storyline.
Among those sentai series, however, Abaranger deserves some spotlight because of the major roles of female characters in its storyline. While Abareyellow didn't have much focus compared to her teammates, two characters were pretty much some of the most central characters in the plot: Jeanne/ Mahoro and Lije/ Lijewel/ Mysterious Girl. And the interesting element is that not only they were important as evil characters, but also as good characters.
Jeanne was the most important Evolian general during the first half of the show, having a deep rivalry with Abareblack and involved in the most dangerous Evolian plots. Very quickly, her background (as Asuka's wife) was revealed, and a mysterious girl (in fact, the part of Lije's soul that managed to escape the evil Evolian's god influence) played a key role in stopping Abareblack and Jeanne from killing each other by reminding them of their past. When Abarekiller appeared and became a major antagonist himself, Lije started to get some spotlight as well, since she developed a crush for the evil ranger, playing a key role in him becoming the leader of the Evolian, and then, making herself turn from a little girl to a young woman, and, as a result, become a dangerous enemy herself.
However, at the same time, Jeanne had a final showdown with Asuka/ Abareblack, but, as a result of the mysterious girl reminding her of her past, Asuka telling her of his true love and then Asuka freeing her from the evil armor, she was able to turn back into the good Mahoro. After a few weeks with amnesia, she managed to remember of her past, and decided to become Jeanne again, to free Asuka from the evil armor and then, help the heroes defeat the Evolian by becoming a spy and gving the heroes very important information to defeat the Evolian. Lijewel, realizing that Mikoto was in danger because of Dezumozorya, also played a role in Mikoto becoming at last the heroes's ally, and the Mysterious girl was the one who managed to expel the Dezumozorya from Lijewel's body, saving her (and herself at the same time) from the evil God.
Other series had some key plots involving female character: GogoV had good female characters, with Matsuri/Gopink, the Saima daughter Dinas and GoGreen 's Sempai, Kyoko, and the Big Bad was the mother of the Saima siblings, Grandienne. Yuuri/ Timepink was the leader of the Timerangers. TsueTsue was a major villainess in Gaoranger. Magiranger had a lot of female characters, with the Pantheon Goddess Sphinx having plenty of development. Shinkenger also had a key plot involving a female character, with Takeru/ Shinkenred being the Kagemusha of Kaoru/ Hime Shinkenred.
And of course, the Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger has also most of its characters being female, and as such, having major roles. In fact, Nobuo/ Akibared, while the main character, was one of the very few main male character in the show.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Mighty No. 9 Kickstarter Finished! End Result?
As of October 1st the Kickstarter campaign for the Keiji Inafune directed game "Mighty No.9" has concluded and the end result couldn't be any better for the game. The Kickstarter campaign started on August 31st and had the initial goal of $900,000. By October 1st "Might No.9" had received over 400 percent of what it was asking for, it gained over 4 million dollars in fundraising, $3,845,170 from Kickstarter and $186,380 through PayPal.
So with over 4 million dollars raised for this game what does it all mean? As shown through it's Kickstarted campaign, whenever a milestone in money was reached, a new stretch goal was achieved. Here are the stretch goals "Mighty No. 9" achieved through Kickstarter.
So what we can expect for the game is two more stages, a MAC/LINUX version, new game plus and turbo mode, a documentary about the making of the game, a boss rush mode, a PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U version of the game, a challenge mode, online co-op challenge mode, intro stage and boss, support characters, a PS4 and XBox One version, PS Vita and 3DS version, a single player call stage and boss, an optional retro-style chiptune soundtrack + FX, and an on-line battle race mode.
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| People Involved |
All
this was because of fans who donated their money to support this
project. For many fans it was because of Keiji Inafune who was one of
the creators of the Megaman or Rockman series and they see "Mighty No.
9" as the spiritual successor to the Megaman because of the design of
the character Beck and the side-scrolling action gameplay.
The story of "Mighty No. 9" is about Beck the ninth creation in a line of combat robots called the Mighty Number. After a strange computer virus infects the other robots of the Mighty Numbers as well as machines around the world, Beck must step up to the challenge. He must defeat the rouge robots and discover who caused these events and save the world.
"Mighty No.9" is a game development by Comcept known for such titles as "Soul Sacrifice", "Soul Sacrifice Delta" and "Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z" and Inti Creates best known for the Mega Man Zero series and Mega Man ZX series.
The expected date of release for the "Mighty No.9" is Spring 2015.
For more information about the game such as a more detailed description of the stretch goals and the other people involved in the project you can check out the Kickstarter page and the official site. You can also follow the "Mighty No. 9" on Twitter and like it on Facebook.
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