Wacky Post: How King-Ohger's Himeno Ran Made Me Rethink Of Beast Morphers' Zoey Reeves (Updated Post)

Some time ago, I wrote a comparison of Haruka Kito with Yoko Usami and Zoey Reeves. I was putting this wacky post for a long time. I did see several photos of actress Erica Murakami (who's half-Canadian, I want to know her real surname) without her wig. What might not be easy to notice is that she does bear certain resemblances to actress Jacqueline Scislowski. The characters of Himeno Ran and Zoey only have yellow spandex in common. Both actresses were also born in 2000. 

Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger might be a celebratory season after all. I feel like many events that happen within the show are Easter Eggs towards several very old shows. Heck, I even feel Jeramie Brasserie himself has to be a reference to Japanese Spider-Man way back in 1978. That's all before Haim Saban produced what I'd dub as Saban Spider-Man in 1994. I feel that Rita Kaniska herself was really named after Rita Repulsa. It's Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' 30th anniversary. It's also the 25th anniversary of Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, and the movie The Man in the Iron Mask. Did the sibling rivalry of Racules and Gira become a reference to the said movie? Maybe, maybe not, but Toei has been using American pop culture references. Heck, just think of how Tokosou Robo Janperson does reference Robocop a lot even if said hero was always a robot.

Note: After finishing King-Ohger -- I decided to update this post written last July 14, 2023, FOR FUN. Some spoilers ahead!

Photos of Jacqueline at the farm make me joke, "Oh it's Ishabana visiting Toufu!" The monarchs visited each others' kingdoms for certain reasons. Most of the kingdoms in King-Ohger felt like they should be acted by WHITE PEOPLE. However, I doubt Toei has the budget to ship white people from the West for that reason. Toei may not even be able to get these whites to speak Japanese in time either. If the King-Ohger cast were to show up at Power Morphicon -- they'd still scratch their heads because of language barriers. Austin St. John and Yuuta Mochizuki may have had awkward thoughts due to non speaking each others' language. Instead, they decided to do what Faerie Tale Theatre did with the episode "The Nightingale". The whole series had Japanese pretending to be white people -- like white people pretending to be Japanese in a school play. 

Elegance Moun is the Head Nurse of Ishabana. There are times I felt Elegance Moun could've used a brother like Ben Burke in Beast Morphers. Moun is portrayed as a comedic character. There are times I felt that Ben and Betty could've been helpful here. Instead, the writers probably decided Moun as a comic relief was more than enough. These are times when I felt that Beast Morphers could've chosen to give Ben and Betty better things to do than be comic relief. Moun is both comic relief and plot material at the same time. 

However, Himeno does share a tragic backstory closer to Yoko Usami from Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. Yoko is Zoey's Super Sentai counterpart. What Takahito Oomori was thinking when he decided to murder a lot of people before the show began? Himeno lost her parents to a mysterious man (who's actually Grodie -- one of the Five Jesters). This became a driving plot in the second half's even more serialized storytelling than the first half. Zoey's mother was shown in Beast Morphers. However, Zoey's father remains ambiguous like superhero relatives that are mysteriously absent. Yoko lost her parents before Go-Busters began. I can't expect Himeno to have Zoey's more positive vibes. 

My feelings on how King-Ohger's continuity came to be brought back more memories of Zoey from Beast Morphers

I had a cycle of emotions when King-Ohger turned out to be part of the Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger community. I may have enjoyed the action scenes done by the main cast. It's something that's usually meant to be timed or they can ruin the plot. I may not be a huge fan of Kyoryuger but I enjoyed its action scenes. I was reminded of how Jacqueline Scislowski met an incomplete cast of Power Rangers Dino Charge -- another action-heavy show. It doesn't help that So Kaku kinda resembles Yoshi Sudarso. So and Yoshi forming a wrestling tag team would be good. I always wanted King-Ohger to be its own independent entity. However, clues were dropped that Chikyu was a planet on the far edge of the Universe.

It can be noticed that King-Ohger's crossover episodes had only four out of six Kyoryugers. That reminds me of a harsh criticism I made against Kyoryuger vs. Go-Busters. I'm not afraid to say it but that special was an OVERCROWDED MESS. Heck, my criticism of that special extended up to Beast Morphers -- which was 10 years after Power Rangers RPM. Erica met only four out of six members. Jacqueline also only met four out of six members. However, Erica managed to meet the whole cast in the follow-up film King-Ohger vs. Kyoryuger -- the film where the whole cast showed up.

Sure, I bummed up over it but the action scenes somehow wowed me. However, what I can note is that Kyoryuger doesn't have too many Ranger History lessons. Well, it's only fair enough since both Kikou Sentai Zenkaiger and Avatar Sentai Donbrothers were blatantly throwing in the lessons. Kyoryuger was merely 10 years ago. I'm glad that none of the tossing in more and more Super Sentai Ranger History lessons happened. That's why I thought Beast Morphers failed to live up to its potential. Beast Morphers could've just chosen to focus on where RPM left and take place in that SAME DIMENSION. Instead, the random Ranger History Lessons weren't helping. Beast Morphers wasn't meant to be an anniversary like Power Rangers Wild Force or Power Rangers Operation Overdrive. 

The King-Ohger finale arc unintentionally played with my mind

As I watched Beast Morphers -- I was reminded of how much older Super Sentai series rush their conclusions. Himitsu Sentai Goranger's final episode had the Black Cross Fuehrer come up with some random desperate attack. Dengekitai JAKQ had a rushed pace presumably due to a lack of ratings. No build-ups weren't done in much earlier Super Sentai entries. What excuse Beast Morphers had not to work on the build-up toward the finale. Sure, Toshiki Inoue and Yasuko Kobayashi aren't the type to write the best finales. I still feel Go-Busters' finale could've been better such as the Messiah Virus returning or Enter executing a Doomsday plan. Instead, Go-Busters' finale is anything to write home about -- knowing how Kobayashi writes finales! However, Kobayashi gave Ressha Sentai ToQGer a rather hanging finale. Emperor Zetto falls into a coma and that's it? It's kinda like how Kamen Rider Faiz's Orphnoch King was just left in a coma. 

King-Ohger worked on the evacuation plot better. Beast Morphers' final episode was rushed. Reading through Dryed Mangoez -- I agree with the author that the finale was rushed. Just this part of a review from Dryed Mangoez came back to my head: 

The revelation that Evox was Venjix landed with a thud. It’s not like this was an OMG IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW moment! Nope, it was just pulling something out of thin air. There was no build up or development toward the revelation or even Evox’s plan. No, they don’t need to drop obvious hints throughout the season. But aside from there being no rising tension regarding Evox’s endgame or his “real identity,” this finale feels like any other MOTW. And that speaks to the show resisting any kind of serialized narrative.

Evacuation plots need some build-up IMHO. King-Ohger gave evacuation scenes the build-up they hardly had. I'd even mention Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive's two-parter grim finale lacks evacuation build-up. In a sense, GoGoFive's finale had them thinking they got rid of Grand Bitch Grandienne BUT she's causing a hate plague after that. Grandienne's destruction causing some kind of plague was really exploring Ninja Sentai Kakuranger's dilemma with Daimaou. However, I still complained about the evacuation's zero human casualty result. It's not really possible in real life since there are stubborn people. 

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Overall, I felt like the "need" to rant like this. I'm still on with the King-Ohger hype even now. I'm just slowing down with Boonboomger. I'd say that slowing down can help the mind.