#like kyoryuger was the first New one i watched as it was airing. but i think gokaiger holds a more special place to my heart

[clownkiwi]

yes i Did just listen to the ten gokaiger version of super sentai hero getter while reading out the new lyrics

yes i Am crying right now

[biomic]

How do the Nick seasons of PR compare to the SS seasons? I heard that Robo Knight, the Power Rangers version of Gosei Knight, is the best part of his show, just like Gosei Knight. Also, for clarification, I'm not a Gosei hater, I just deeply love Gosei Knight.

i haven’t watched all of the nick seasons (my intense love for power rangers kinda stalls after rpm ends) but from what i’ve watched/picked up from other people:

samurai: just a poor, soulless, note-for-note translation of shinkenger. astonishingly bad acting even for power rangers, horrible misuse of bulk’s character, and any credit it gets from people is usually stuff that was, again, directly adapted from shinkenger and done far better there. sticking close to the sentai isn’t an inherent problem since most of the target audience has never seen that stuff, but at least shows like time force and spd had real passion behind them while the samurai showrunners just didn’t care. clash of the red rangers is kinda fun but mostly for memes

megaforce: copy/paste what i said about samurai, but worse since it’s supposed to be a celebration of 20 years of power rangers that doesn’t actually celebrate the show. i empathize with the writers for having to mash goseiger AND gokaiger footage together (which i assume was a mandate), essentially cramming 50 episodes worth of toys into 20 episodes, and then having to do that AGAIN in the next season with the same cast. that’ll mess with any show, good or bad, but at the end of the day there’s nothing else to really make up for the baggage it was saddled with. boring characters, episodes with 15+ minutes of sentai footage, and almost a total lack of care or appreciation for the show’s history that made its sentai counterpart so special. i’ve heard the writers wanted to do more with the story and characters but producer jonathan tzachor wasn’t having it, which i totally buy. robo knight’s okay (he raps sometimes) but i much prefer gosei knight’s arc. honestly the best part of megaforce is orion, the silver ranger. his backstory is basically just green arrow as a power ranger, but he was likable, well-acted, and not a lazy rehash of his gokai silver or a stock mmpr character archetype

dino charge: i watched season 1 as it aired, but i haven’t seen season 2. i’ve heard a lot of negative things about the second half of the show and how it goes off the rails, but i’ve also heard some people say that fans are too harsh on it. i dunno, i can’t speak on it until i watch it. but i did really enjoy what i saw. after samurai and megaforce it finally felt like the people behind the show cared about what they were making again (which makes sense since tzachor finally left). it really put a focus on its characters, which i felt was something kyoryu seriously lacked, and it made for one of the most fun casts in the show’s run i think. i’ll finish it one of these days, but even if i end up having issues with s2 i still imagine i’ll put it above kyoryuger

ninja steel: watched the first episode and never followed up on it. i was kind of unimpressed with the premiere since brody’s story felt like an immediate rehash of tyler’s from dino charge, and while blue and pink were cute it wasn’t enough to hold my interest. i thought it might end up being an okay season of pr, but everything i’ve heard about it since talks about how it’s unquestionably one of the worst seasons in the entire franchise. i guess i’ll find out for myself one day when i watch it for completion’s sake, but from what i’ve seen i feel like the fandom’s probably right on this one. anyways stan shuriken sentai ninninger it’s way more enjoyable than anyone gives it credit for

beast morphers: haven’t watched it but people seem to like it! it looks like they’re taking things from gobus and really putting a new spin on them, which i love to see in an adaptation. im not eager to jump into it now bc i hate how nickelodeon stretches the story out across two years, but im looking forward to checking it out when it’s finished (or when that rumor about dr. k from rpm coming back is true bc then i HAVE to binge it)

[eienias20]

Lupinranger VS Patranger is now over and Ryusoulger apparently begins next month?

That is kinda insane. As long as I’ve watched Super Sentai (which I started with Gekiranger way back in the day) once a season ends, next week where the next episode would normally air would be the next season. So to me, this is unprecedented.

I assume its cause of the changing of Japan’s ruler? The Heisei era is coming to an end, its the whole backing point behind Kamen Rider Zi-O. It’s also why instead of Ryusoulger, next up is a new crossover event for Super Sentai: Strongest Battle! I am excited for that, I spotted a lot of cool Sentai warriors, Captain Marvelous is always a win in my book.

Either way, final thoughts on LuPat? It was okay at its best points, meh at the worst. The issue is just that I loved the Patrangers and they were sidelined way more than half the time. They put and gave so much to the Lupinrangers I only grew to like them less as the series went on, come the end. I didn’t care. Bummer cause when the season was first announced the concept had me beyond excited. Oh well, its over now so what does it matter?

Ryusoulger is hitting up dinosaurs again...it hasn’t been that long since Kyoryuger has it? (hits up wikipedia) 2013-2014. Six years ago? Really? it was over a decade between Abaranger and Kyoryuger, so wow. huh.

Also thank you wikipedia for telling me Strongest Battle is a miniseries, now i’m even more excited for it.

I don’t do a lotta blog posts about sentais i watch. maybe i should? who knows. until then I’ve got Kamen Rider Zi-O which is really freakin good

OH AND ONE MORE THING

We’re getting a Lupinranger VS Patranger VS Kyuuranger? AWESOME! i LOVED uchuu sentai kyuuranger, that is excite too, can’t wait to see them again. have we not been getting crossovers? did that stop? or am i crazy?

[toku-explained]

Jyuden Sentai Kyoryuger: Brave Forever It's pretty hard to deny we're living in some pretty incredible times as Toku fans. Ultraman is in its longest continuous broadcast period ever, even if it is only having new shows during the latter half of the year, it's working great. We're still getting Space Sheriff Next Generation material coming out this year. Sure it's V-Cinema rather than shows but the format is working. Both Rider and Sentai are including more material than ever before, with post series V-Cinemas for both being the norm, and each having their winter crossovers (this year's Sentai crossover notwithstanding) to give us something great at the end. We've consistently been surprised by returning actors for the spring films (regardless of your views of their quality) and their spin-offs with Red One, GoseiRed, GokaiRed, Rider 1, X-Rider, ZX, Decade, Faiz, half of W, Black, Zeronos, Blade, Garren, Chalice, Leangle, KyoryuGold, Zolda, Aoninger, Beet Buster, Baron, Marika, Another Agito all having their actors at least return in voice for the spring crossovers while they lasted. In projects that weren't part of the inter franchise crossovers we saw the unexpected but welcome returns of 5 Zyurangers, 2 Abarangers, all 5 Hurricangers, one of them twice, NinjaRed, Jiraiya, Accel, all of the Dekarangers twice, Ouja, and, the one I wouldn't have believed would happen if you'd told me it was coming a month beforehand, all 6 Gokaigers. But there's one return that just happened which I think I can honestly say none of us saw coming. And in a way, it was the most likely to happen. Since in a way, it never really left. Jyuden Sentai Kyoryuger was the last Sentai I managed to keep up with as it aired. That isn't anything against Toqger, Ninninger, Zyuohger, and definitely not Kyuranger, but somehow that's what happened. By comparison, I kept up with Ultraman and Rider week by week no matter what, save for the latter half of Ghost/the early half of Orb, where real life caused me to kind of run away from pretty much all my regular online activity at the time for a couple of months. It's remained probably more popular than any of the series that followed except Kyuranger, although I can't guarantee that as I kind of try to avoid seeing too much fan opinions since it turns to vitriol at the drop of a hat. Sure people had problems with Kyoryuger, although even those who hated the show's Daigo focus seemed to hate Takaharu for it more despite the fact he was by a huge extent the lesser offender. Probably more upsetting to most people was the out of nowhere romance between Daigo and Amy in the last three episodes, which had no build up beyond a minor plot point in a single episode 30 episodes earlier, especially bizarre given Sanjou has written far better handled romances in W and Drive, and Daigo had an established love interest he plainly actually liked (people will also tell you Amy had more chemistry with literally every other member of the team). But enough about that. Over the course of a year we fell in love with these 14 men, women, ghosts and bird people, and their 11 dinosaur partners. The movie managed to actually be important to the overall story in some way. Heck, it was the last time the movie mecha actually appeared in the show (and not just for a one time appearance either) with subsequent movie mech being limited to a scene in the crossover or appearing in the V-Cinema. But eventually the series came to an end, Deboss was destroyed, leaving us a plot thread for the Vs film to come and a chance for some of the characters we'd come to love to show up again, and we turned to waiting for the V-Cinema and the Vs movie. The V-Cinema had a pretty interesting concept, placing the action 100 years in the future with the team's descendants struggling against a new Deboss Army. There was part of the story I would have preferred not to happen but it was good and just genuinely a lot of fun. It also turned out we were also getting another Toei Hero Next project, the 4th and currently final one, as a vehicle for the main cast, happening to feature several other Sentai actors in other roles. We're the Bounty Hunter Troupe managed to be a fun if very Kyoryuger referential story set in the same world with the cast being a group who used scripts devised by one of them to help them Bounty Hunt, enabling the actors to portray characters who were very much different to their first familiar roles. Most of us watched it the once if that and then forgot it to look to other things. It must have done pretty well though since it got two stage sequels. The first came out 18 months after the original, and featured only half the original Kyoryuger cast, the rest of the team was filled up by Blue Buster, GokaiGreen and Toq5, playing different characters with their own quirks different to the roles they were replacing. A talk show after each performance had different guests on different nights, including GokaiRed, Toq2, and the three Kyoryuger who weren't in the play, depending on the night. 14 months later another stage happened, with the same cast as the previous just with GokaiGreen replaced by KiNinger. Both also featured other Sentai actors in other roles in the plays. I feel like even if the original Toei Hero Next film didn't fly under our radars, the two stage shows definitely did. What didn't however was the amazing news last year of Kyoryuger Brave. It may not have been the best developed story, considering it amounted to around 2 hours and that's including 12 uses of both the OP and the ED, but the designs were nice, especially the modified Zyudenryu, and the changes made to create the Neo Deboss were also cool. In fact sadly, I imagine most feel the biggest issue with the series was the actors, though K can't be sure of that. Still it was a fun rise. And now in what's possibly more unexpected than even Brave, episode 33.5, with all 6 main actors returning to play a simple non-plot intrusive story, to promote a mobage of all things. It's nothing special but it is fun and if you have a spare half hour go watch it. It has a new Debo Monster and all (unless it's really well modified) which is incredible. I will not be surprised if this is the last we see of several of these actors in their Kyoryuger roles, though it's heartening to see them all willing to return after so long. Kyoryuger has certainly enjoyed a life well beyond its expected length, and that's pretty Brave.

[furederiko]

Kyuranger's 26th episode offers us a neat metaphor, of how emotions plays a crucial key to unlock the darkness in one's heart!

- Our episode immediately begins with a mecha fight. A concerning fact, because in case you forget, it's a Super Sentai sign that a bad thing is going to happen in the latter half. And since last week, it's very obvious who's going to be involved in one: Naga Ray. - Yes... he's still reeling in to what happened at Planet Tocky, that he ends up disrupting the balance of Kyutamajin. Pointing out a good minor point, that all 12 members need to be in sync to operate this massive combination. Phoenix Soldier eventually 'benches him out', as the giant robot is separated into its smaller components to take down the two Indavers and Consumarz. Naga wrongfully thinks that him being 'different', is helding the others back. - Problem is, this comes to the attention of someone unwelcome: Vice-Shogun Akyanba! Hideous and atrocious-looking design aside (Seriously, what is she based on? A ray? And what about that disturbing dino-head torso? Those crooked teeth... ugh!), we can already tell that Akyanba is a clever and cunning antagonist. Why? A good antagonist observes the situation, and plans ahead before making an attack. And that's exactly what she's doing. She's aware that if one member is out of the equation, the team can no longer form Kyutamajin! That's why Naga instantly becomes her prime target... Fun fact: Lest we forget, Akyanba is voiced by (another) former yellow, Arisa Komiya. Komiya played Yellow Buster in the 2012's "Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters". She showed up in Kyoryuger's TOEI NEXT V-Cinema title, and then last year's "Kamen Rider Ghost". Just like Raptor's VA, she has been branching out to the Voice Acting business in recent years. - Naga tells the others, that despite spending half a season all these time with the team, he hasn't acquired any emotions. Which is a bit ironic, since feeling frustrated, worried, and expressing disappointments (all signs circling around envy)... are in fact sign of emotions! Commander Xiao even kindly points that out. LOL. - Sadly, the team's concentration is being split to work out their 'Time Travel' mission. Particularly Tsurugi's concern on how it will affect the timeline. So they seem to be neglecting Naga's inner struggle. Since Balance needs more time to sync the ORION with the Horologium Kyu Globe, Xiao decides they should have a break. Barbeque break! A seemingly harmless intermezzo, that ends up backfiring instead. Because it opens up a solid opportunity for Akyaban to hatch her plan. - Ironically, Naga initially wants to stay behind and help Balance. But the golden mechanical life-form tells him to "take the load off". And then later, Hammy goes out her usual blatant way, and tells Naga to stop relying on Balance. She says that Naga should start thinking and doing things for his own. Nothing wrong with what both are doing, right? Yep, except for the fact that they are unintentionally pushing Naga to the edge, plunging him directly into Akyanba's manipulative play. - Obviously, seeing Akyanba draws out hidden emotions from humans, intrigues Naga. Just like TOEI, Akyanba isn't even trying to be subtle, as she specifically approaches Ophiucus Silver during the fight, offering him to... 'unlock' his true emotions. Another proof of her cunningness, as she pulls out of the fight right after. She's not trying to destroy the Kyuranger by power, nor by force (she actually can, since Phoenix Soldier points out that she's gotten more stronger), but by tearing them apart from the inside. - The team is concerned about this development, when Tsurugi shares that people from the Ophiucus System originally had 'incredibily intense emotions'. Naga tells Hammy that his people used to be overcomed by hatred and rage. Apparently, they decided to abandon emotions and individuality, in order to achieve peace. - Unfortunately, Naga's desire to have emotions... to be 'the same' like the other Kyurangers, is just too strong to resist. Thus the unexpected but inevitable happens: Naga himself, chooses to accept Akyanba's offer. Yes, a startling twist that might be the first in Super Sentai history, because a hero agrees to be swayed into the darkness... on his own free will!!! Fun fact: The 'Evil Hero' trope itself is actually annually used in the franchise, but most if not all of them involved brainwashing, mind control, or other similar tricks. For example, "Shuriken Sentai Ninnninger" has used this 'swaying a hero into their dark side' trope before, in the whole pointless minor subplot that had Kyuuemon Izayoi lured StarNinger to become evil. It failed miserably, if you ask me. Also, it might be more than just a coincidence, but the 27th episode of "Kira Kira Precure A La Mode" that was aired on August 13th (yep, a week before this episode), also attempted similar twist to Cure Gelato. I'm using the word 'attempted' because well... the antagonist Elysio only succeeded for a brief moment *sigh*. Interestingly, looks like that female-targetted SHT show is going to dwelve into similar angle for its 29th episode that will air this Sunday! - The team has to be split into two. Lucky, Tsurugi, Stinger, and Spada address Hammy's call for help to prevent Naga from 'surrendering' himself to Akyanba. Raptor, Champ, and the combi of Garu and Kotarou, hit the town to deal with the emotionally berserking victims (using Lyra, Aries, and #34 Coma Berenices Kyu Globe respectively... to hillarious effects). While the second team succeeds, it's already too late for the first team... as Naga has already entered the Dark Side. You're correct, it IS another a "Star Wars" reference! Dang it though, that witch-like scene that sees Akyanba infusing and suffocating darkness into Naga... is both juicy and creepy to see *shivers*. - Yes, Naga has acquired his hidden emotions now, and well... it's NOT good. AT ALL. He has been turned into a completely different person who's exuding sassiness, angst, malice, and... just plain evil. An ironically snake-like personality for someone from the Snake-Charmer constellation system. If you ask me, it's an amazing albeit terrifying scene, as Naga's actor seems to be going all out, hamming up his performance. Clearly he's having fun with this 'evil' version, because unlike Naga's usual 'flat' personality (which is much bigger challenge for an actor, IMHO), this enables him to showcase a variety of emotions. Spock to Spook, eh? - And things turn to worse. His Ophiucus Kyu Globe evolves into the Dark Kyu Globe, along with the purple/black-colored Dark Constellation Blaster. He's no longer Ophiucus Silver, as he has now become... Ophiucus Metal. Sure, this 'power up' form does look a bit corny and over-the-top, especially with all those weird add-ons and Egyptian nods. But I have to admit, I'm totally LOVING this scary berserking personality. The blaster uses that ominous minor tone that just sounds right for my taste, and he can even shoot deadly beam from that huge disturbing eye on the torso. Not to mention, that amazing and fitting BGM? It helps amp up this painful fight between comrades to feel more... eerie, dire, and disturbingly emotional. Ophiucus Metal almost kills Chamaeleon Green on the spot! Seriously, this entire scene is giving me all the chills!!! Fun Fact: The name 'Ophiucus Metal', is actually a neat little pun. Because in Japanese, it would be 'Hebi-tsukai Metal'. Get it? Hebi-Metal? 'Heavy-Metal'? Also, we know that Silver itself is a Metal element, so it is generally a smart choice of name. LOL. - The emotional turmoil is not over. The team obviously has to inform Balance about this unfortunate turn, and he's not taking this easy. At the same time, Hammy is openly blaming herself, for talking 'too much' to Naga. Balance decides to stay off the 'Time Travel' mission to bring back Naga to the good side. Lucky, Hammy, Garu, and Kotarou decide to stick around to join his crusade, while the others depart to the past using the Horologium-powered ORION. For the first time in Super Sentai history, we have 2 teams of 6 heroes (we still need to count Naga as well, right?) in one show, separated across time and space. From the beginning, Akyanba's main goal has been to split the team apart. Looks like it doesn't take long for that to come into fruition, huh?

Overall: In case you haven't realized it yet, there's one thing that Kyuranger is REALLY good at as a show: to toy and/or mess around with our emotions. After the heartgutting arc with Stinger, Commander Xiao's past regret, Tsurugi's lone-survivor syndrome, and Kotarou's brief moment with his mother just last week, one would doubt they can deliver another serving, right? Wrong. Seeing Naga succumbed himself into darkness, in order to obtain the one thing he truly desire, was intense and equally (if not more) heartbreaking to watch. I found myself genuinely feeling terrified for his sake, trembling with goosebumps and fear, particularly when the others failed to prevent him. And that says A LOT. While other shows have tried to pull it off with various results, with Naga, it hurts so much. Meaning, audience (clearly I'm not alone in this) truly cared about this character! His fall into the dark side came with such a big twist too: he himself CHOSE to be that way. As far as many recall, it's something new that hasn't been done in the franchise before. So it was more than just heartwrenching, but also shocking. More importantly, this turn of event did NOT come out of left field. It's a natural progression to his character! Hints towards this have been peppered throughout since his debut (Remember Planet Vela? And then on Planet Tocky...). After all, Naga DID become a Kyuranger to obtain emotions. He's just, a bit 'impatient' to have one, which was the core message here. What's happening to Naga is a subtle metaphor about those who are 'different', or as the negative-society often calls as... 'abnormal'. It's about the worst possible outcome of what happens when someone is pushed to the limits, in order to 'fit in' with the others. That's truly a strong and sensitive issue! I also really loved the fact that this plot helped push a wonderful development in other characters as well. In this case, the considerably 'underused' Hammy, and his BFF Balance. Hammy's way of spouting anything on her mind sort of backfired and pushed Naga towards the wrong direction. So it was equally painful to see her blaming herself for it. And then there was Balance and his carefree way of seeing things lightly. This trait failed him to see that his BFF has been struggling, and it might lead towards dire consequences. Furthermore, this arc continues another really neat trend of the show: it's the internal members, and not the the antagonists who tend to complicate matters for the team! Which is great, because it attracts conflicts that direct towards stronger team-bonding moment. Overall, this is truly yet another highlight of the show. Another proof that Kyuranger is just such a fantastic season to follow. TOEI is firing on all cylinders here! Beside... Evil Naga is simply a delight to see, even if we might only see him for a brief amount of time... XD Next week: Trouble aboard the ORION? What happens in the past, stays in the past...

Episode 26 Score: 8,4 out of 10

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