The Force Awakens With Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger This February 12, 2017
I'm calling this post "The Force Awakens" because that was the title of the first Star Wars film that was made by Disney Entertainment. Kyuranger is a space-themed Super Sentai series where its' set in a distant future ruled by the Jark Matter organization. From what I read from Ukiyaseed's Blog, head of the organization is known as Shogun Don Armage who is assisted by Minister Eridron. They steal Planesium and why they do it is yet to be revealed.
Here's a bit of Star Wars shade. We have the rebellion is led by Shou Lonpou with his nine Kyurangers. The Kyurangers come from different systems. Star Wars' first three movies focused on the rebellion's battle against the Galactic Empire. I guess Shogun Don Armage might be the show's tribute to Darth Sidious and maybe Minister Eridron would be a tribute to either Darth Vader or Grand Moff Tarkin. According to Den of Geek, Greg Mitchell of Bandai America acknowledges that Star Wars and Marvel are both competitors with Power Rangers are Star Wars and Marvel (both under Disney). I guess this may explain why Power Rangers Ninja Steel now has the Galactic Games storyline. Coincidence or not Galvanax is also a space shogun and so will be Kyuranger's main villain.
My concern is how will new staff members keep up with what was left behind by the great innovators of Super Sentai in the past? A lot of the fan favorites have burned out after some time. Hirohisa Soda, Yasuko Kobayashi, Toshiki Inoue and we have Naruhisa Arakawa waiting for his turn. Judd Lynn has also showed signs of burning out in later episodes of Power Rangers Dino Charge and may flunk big time with Ninja Steel. There have been some experiment with new head writers every now and then. Kyoryuger had Riku Sanjo giving it a shot. Ninninger had new head writer Kento Shimoyama. The current head writer Nobohiru Mori was involved as a secondary writer for Kamen Rider OOO and Kamen Rider Gaim. I'm a fan of OOO and Gaim. Hopefully, Gen Urobutchi will also get involved with the series as a sub-writer.
Not to mention, this year we also have the upcoming Dekaranger vs. Gavan film which will premiere on June 17, 2017. Although it's already the next generation Gavan but it's nice to see how time passed. Funny we're having a lot of space theme inserted into Tokusatsu this year. As I mentioned earlier, Power Rangers Ninja Steel has the Galactic Games plot. Kyuranger is a space themed Super Sentai. Then Dekaranger and Gavan are both galactic police organizations. The difference is Dekaranger tends to be more like Winspector, Solbrain and Exceedraft where there's no real main villain. It's nice to have the Dekarangers again though I'm still WTFed at Jasmine marrying that child she saved. I believe Arakawa's hitting burnout ville anytime soon because of that!
It's probably best to give lower expectations as of right now. Super Sentai has been suffering from a rating drop since Go-Busters and Zyuohger wasn't spared from the backlash. It's upsetting to think of how Kyoryuger even had lower ratings than Go-Busters (but toy sales backed it up) and ToQGer wasn't so fortunate even with the award. So what happened? What's causing ratings to drop in Japan? But I could still enjoy Super Sentai overall even if there are bad seasons. No Super Sentai is perfect but there's always a lesson to learn on how to make Super Sentai better. If you've got bad seasons then there's a lesson to learn. The path of innovation has never been an easy road but a road of trial and error.
What are your thoughts as you await for the Force to awaken this February 12, 2017?
I just am intrigued in seeing how 9 rangers will be developed throughout the season. I mean we've had Sentai teams with 7 or more members for, but usually it was like a few episodes. This is starting with 9 out of the starting gate with the addition of one more. I cant wait to see this
ReplyDeleteI know it would be a challenge to drive a nine ranger team at once. If you've tried seeing Chinese wuxia series, some of them form their own "Super Sentai". One Wuxia team had up to eight members at once called the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea.
ReplyDeleteIMO, I think Super Sentai may break from tradition after 40 years of having only 3-5 members to start with. I wonder how the new formula will work.
Hopefully, writers will find a creative way to mix the Kyurangers and succeed. Until then, it's best not to expect too much as innovation always involves a lot of trial and error along the way.