Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger - Thoughts & Opinions

[Lynxara]

I thought Hurricanger did the "Harry Potter Sentai" thing a lot better than Magiranger did. Gouraiger was totally, hilariously Slytherin.

 

[Sentaifan'07 Xman]

I thought Hurricanger did the "Harry Potter Sentai" thing a lot better than Magiranger did.

How so?

 

[Dr Kain]

I've never been a big fan of Hurricanger, but it does have some cool moments. The only problem is, those moments are far apart from each other. First off, I really did not care for the three main rangers. I thought, while not bad, they were not that good either, whereas I found the GoRaijers to be pretty badass the entire time. Next, I did not care for the villians all that much. They were interesting at times, but most of the time, they just did not feel like villians, especially Chubuzo and Wendenu. On the other hand, I liked Sandaru and Satorokura, and find most of their episodes to be enjoyable. However, Shrukinger was the one that stole the show, as every moment he was on screen was good. Sadly though, the biggest problem with Hurricanger is that it did not take any risks. It is like watching a dumbed down version of KakuRanger, but only without really feeling anything like a ninja series. I will admit though, if someone were to properly sub the series, I would definitely download the entire thing and watch it sometime in the future as it was not all bad.

 

[Lynxara]

How so?

So, the Harry Potter books-- especially the early ones out around the time Hurricanger was made-- really emphasized the competition between the various Houses. While there were four Houses in Harry Potter, only two were really important to the plot, Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Now, Hurricanger's theme is shinobi, which means that all the rangers are not just ninjas but magic ninjas. They're super-Japanese wizards-in-training, basically. The Hayate School is basically Gryffindor, all noble and heroic and junk, while the Ikazuchi School emphasizes the back-stabbing egotism that always characterizes Slytherin in the early books.

The main conflict in Hurricanger to me always felt like it was really between the Hayate and Ikazuchi ninja, not really with the villains. I always had this sense that if the two schools could just get along, beating the bad guys was a foregone conclusion. This is also one of the big ideas of early Harry Potter that pays off later on.

Magiranger uses more of Harry Potter's surface tropes, particularly the magic spells, but the characters don't have much in common with the novel characters. Meanwhile, the Hayato protagonist trio are basically just Harry/Ron/Hermione made more Japanese and into ninjas and the Ikazuchi duo are Draco Malfoy's traits divided between two different people.

Likewise, Magiranger's plot has basically nothing to do with the sort of story the Harry Potter novels tell. It's a very typical Super Sentai story. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but... if you want to imagine what Harry Potter would be like as Sentai, Hurricanger really goes there while Magiranger only takes on the surface elements of the idea.

 

[KingRanger]

So, the Harry Potter books-- especially the early ones out around the time Hurricanger was made--.

Sorry but no. The first harry potter book came out in 1997.

And yeah Magiranger does have Harry Potter type stuff in it. You cracks me up.

 

[Black Fang]

^ But she just acknowledged that.

 

[KouAidou]

Sorry but no. The first harry potter book came out in 1997.

Didn't get a Japanese translation until 2000, though.

 

[Lynxara]

Harry Potter doesn't turn into a global phenomenon until the early 2000s, either... driven particularly by the popularity of the third book, Prisoner of Azkaban.

This is the book that starts introducing more mature themes after the very genre-typical first couple of books. I feel like the era of Harry Potter that Hurricanger really draws on is the first three or four books.

 

[Sentaifan'07 Xman]

Okay, but I still thought of Magiranger as its own homage to the Harry Potter series, but yeah, I liked how you became clear on the Hurricaneger/Harry Potter thing.

 

[KouAidou]

I think they are both references to it but in a different way.

Hurricanger is more like "Hey, these Harry Potter books are pretty good children's lit. I wonder if we could use a similar sort of structure in this 'ninja schools' show we have to do."

Magiranger is more like "HOLY **** GUYS THIS HARRY POTTER THING IS HUGE WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING TO CASH IN ON THIS WIZARD THING"