Captain America and why Super Sentai is /co/ related

So, ever since the debut of Kaizoku Sentai Goukaiger and Saban reacquiring the rights to Power Rangers and porting Samurai Sentai Shinkenger as Power Rangers Sentai .

Now, a certain American imageboard of a larger site of ill repute has been particularly butt-frustrated about everyone’s gusto about showing info about both series. Now, as some (READ: none) of you know, there are a few things that have honourary status on /co/. Power Rangers is one of those things. Most people, in a ridiculous attempt of nerd hierarchy, try to distance themselves from anything Eastern, deeming it “stupid”, and “for weeaboos”. Now, one of the most quoted phrases on /co/ is “not /co/ related”.

Fine, you don’t think Super Sentai’s /co/-related? Let’s take a trip back to 1978.

Toei gets a license to make live action shows based on Marvel characters, the first one that they decide to do is Spider-Man, renamed as Supaida-Man.

Now, there was on thing that Supaider-man did that no other Tokusatsu show had done at the time…

SUPAIDA-MAN FIGHT VILLAINS WITH A HUGE FUCKING ROBOT.

 

Now, this leads to Toei wanting to place a giant robot in their Captain American and the Avengers show. However, they didn’t get around to making a Captain America and the Avengers  show; they took the concept of an international Superhero team that pilots a giant robot to fight crime. Now, to make it Japanese, they meshed it together with a series that they had only 2 entries for.

That series was Senta, consisting of:

Himitsu Sentai Goranger

And J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai

Now, Marvel and Toei combine Avengers, Cap, and Sentai and gave birth to the few Sentai show to be called Super Sentai:

BATTLE FEVER J

Therefore, Super Sentai is quite /co/ related.

Now go back to playing with your Ponies; me, your sister, and your cooler older brother are going to go watch a huge fucking Sentai War.

Localizing Kamen Rider

Now, I’m sure that most of the people who come to this site know about Kamen Riders (don’t lie; as of the writing of this post, the most frequently viewed topic on this site is Top 5 Heisei Kamen Rider Series), so most of you have at least a working knowledge of the fact that our beloved bug-eyed battling hero has only made a few appearances in the United States.

Top 5 Heisei Kamen Rider Series

I’ve been thinking a lot about the current generation of Kamen Riders as of late. With the stunning opening of this year’s Kamen Rider Decade, I realized just how awesome the franchise has been consistently over the last 9½ years. Now, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, shame on you. However, I will be kind and link you to some knowledge: Kamen Rider. Study it and be back later for the test. In the meantime, this list should give you a good place to start if you happen to be interested in checking out some of best tokusatsu Japan has to offer. Of course, be sure to dive into the original Shōwa Era Riders as well, including: Kamen Rider (1 & 2), V3, X, Amazon, Stronger, Skyrider, Super-1, BLACK, BLACK RX, and the movie riders Shin, ZO, and J.

Requirements: I’m considering the Rider designs, the show’s concept and motifs, the originality and execution of the aforementioned, and the overall quality of the show and its story-telling.

5. Faiz

This one is all about the story-telling. A slow-paced drama, Faiz could have easily lasted two or episodes longer than it did. Actually, I wish it had; the end was rushed to make way for the next series, Blade. Despite this, the character-driven story of this series is worth following, as the ending genuainly leaves us feeling for all the characters, those that are lost and the ones that are left up to our imagination. The Greek alphabet motif is done well; the Riders look good and have neat toys. Also, I liked the open-endedness of the Rider Belts in this series. They do “belong” to certain characters, but almost anyone can use them – kinda. Let it suffice to say that the belts change hands almost every episode or so.

More Power Rangers!

Good news everyone. Power Rangers will continue to air as usual, so it seems.

How is this news? I’ve been meaning to type up a post about the “supposed” end of Power Rangers, brought on by this New Zealand article about PR’s last season to shoot at its home since 2003 when Power Rangers Ninja Storm began filming in NZ instead of US.

Now, it seems I’ve lucked out. According to a Bandai press release Henshin Justice picked up, PR still lives on!!!

Given, this is a Bandai press release, and I often suspect some amount of communication discrepancy between Bandai and PR parent company Disney, as shown in Bandai of America’s Power Rangers TCG having names not matching the series. Still, I believe this is close as we’ll get, as Disney has been pretty tight lipped about the recent season.

Either way though, Power Rangers RPM has been doing pretty decent, quality wise. The opening episodes really suprised me with how good they actually were, a far cry from the mind-liquifying stupidity of Operation Overdrive just two seasons prior.

Now, how will Disney actually adapt Shinkenger?