Why do people like Dekaranger so much?

[NeonZ]

And that's another thing; the Judgement mode. I don't care how advanced your alien tech is, there is absolutely no way that a program that works like a 'roided-up lie detector could be accurate 100% of the time.

Huh... It wasn't a lie detector. That's Power Rangers SPD. It's a link with the universe's ultimate court. A perfect ultimate court making super fast judgments is fantasy, but it's still there...

And even though prisons seem to exist in this universe, we never see the Dekarangers actually arrest anyone.

They do arrest the bodyswitch alien before he attempts to escape. Most aliens resist and attack them, or just are already way too guilty to live (like several ones which are charged for destroying entire planets).

 

[mr.smith10]

After skimming through all the posts, here's some of my thought's on what's being discussed.

* Yes, Dekaranger is episodic with very little of an overarching plot, but it's episodic done well. While it was new to Sentai at the time, I'm assuming it's nothing new to most users here who have either watched Power Rangers in its early years or watch American TV in general. What I like about Dekaranger is it manages to deliver an interesting storyline each episode related to its cases or characters. Dekaranger has some of the most well remembered episodes in Sentai, like episode 17 or even 37. What amazes me with these two episodes is how Dekaranger manages to execute comedy very well in one episode (17), and drama in the other (37).

* In regards to Umeko, yes she acts childish and ditzy, but she pulls it off in a fun way. Like FL said her actress plays the character really well and isn't annoying like Akiko from W. She's not all that dumb, and had some of her best moments when she showed competence when needed, like using drunken boxing to beat a drunk MOTW, or willingly going undercover in the dream world to save others. That's far more than I can say for Houka (I wouldn't put Natsuki in Houka's position either).

* A lot of Jasmine's appeal is her actress's looks, and no one including myself will deny she's an attractive woman. However, I think among all the characters who get the fanboy praise (including Nanami, Miu, and Luka, who I also like to some degree), she's executed the best. Her backstory with how she learned to deal with her ESPER powers really brought out the best of her characters. Her actress did a great job of portraying the different emotions her character had to. She has some quirky dialogue as well, but that's what I think made her fun. I can't imagine liking the character as much if she wasn't making those sarcastic remarks, like imitating the Abaranger theme song.

In fact, I think all the Dekaranger actors in general did good with the characters they played, though Hoji's actor did slip a bit on a couple scenes. I can't really imagine any other Sentai actors portraying these characters the same way that the Dekaranger actors portrayed them.

About the villains, I think it's hard to judge them since there's only one main villain and the MOTW are all independent agents. I think Abrella served his purpose. He was an arms dealer behind the scenes, and I think did his job well. He's nowhere near the best villain, but was good for what he was.

 

[Sentaifan'07 Xman]

I think it's probably because a lot of people were more interested in some of the silly moments and a few of the hard moments like Hoji killing his girlfriend's brother to get his gold badge. But in the end, it was just any other police story but with a touch of Hard-Boiled attitude.

 

[icecreamhendrix]

Huh... It wasn't a lie detector. That's Power Rangers SPD. It's a link with the universe's ultimate court. A perfect ultimate court making super fast judgments is fantasy, but it's still there...

Sorry. It's been a while since I've seen either series. But still, it seems like a really cheap plot device just to have a finisher move. For the record, SPD is one of my favorite Power Rangers series ever.

They do arrest the bodyswitch alien before he attempts to escape. Most aliens resist and attack them, or just are already way too guilty to live (like several ones which are charged for destroying entire planets).

I don't remember that episode, but I'll take your word for it.

The whole 'destroying entire planets' thing also seem really cheap. Oh, they committed this crime that would get them a prison sentence by itself....but they totally blew up like 100,000,000,000,000 planets when you weren't looking, so it's okay to kill them.

...Maybe I'm just comparing this to Timeranger, which had the alien criminals freeze-compressed even though they committed just as bad of crimes as the ones as Dekaranger. Is that fair? Maybe not, but they are part of the same franchise, and Timeranger came out 5 years before Dekaranger.

 

[NeonZ]

...Maybe I'm just comparing this to Timeranger, which had the alien criminals freeze-compressed even though they committed just as bad of crimes as the ones as Dekaranger. Is that fair? Maybe not, but they are part of the same franchise, and Timeranger came out 5 years before Dekaranger.

But they didn't? I mean, you're complaining there about how blowing up planets is cheap, but it's still there even if you don't like it, and in many episodes the aliens were attempting to push forward some plan that would destroy Earth or give them power to destroy planets. That came into play as early as episodes 3-4. The scale of Dekaranger's crimes is just much bigger than the one of Timeranger.

 

[icecreamhendrix]

But they didn't? I mean, you're complaining there about how blowing up planets is cheap, but it's still there even if you don't like it, and in many episodes the aliens were attempting to push forward some plan that would destroy Earth or give them power to destroy planets. That came into play as early as episodes 3-4. The scale of Dekaranger's crimes is just much bigger than the one of Timeranger.

Fair enough. I kinda wish there were more indications that they actually did these thing that we don't see them do, but I suppose they might not have had enough budget for that. That actually is one of the handful of things I liked about Dekaranger: the scope. A big part of that was DekaBright (and DekaGold, even though I didn't like her as a character. But she was only in the movie so she doesn't bother me all that much. And hey, she's perfect for Ban!)

You know, this thread's actually working out really great. Seeing all these people give reasonable and thought-out arguments is actually making me want to give Dekaranger another chance someday. Maybe it's not as bad as I thought it was.

 

[Toku Prime]

So I've just powered through the rest of Dekaranger over the last few days, and thought I'd make a few comments.

I still don't entirely understand the Umeko hate. Yes, she's the comic relief character. But she's far from the worst character in Sentai to embody the 'loud, childish girl' type. In fact, I'd say Tetsu is the show's most childish character (and spectacularly underdeveloped by sixth ranger standards). On the other hand, I don't entirely understand all the Sen-chan love. He's OK, but just the slightly bland 'smart guy'. All his focus episodes have the same plot - Sen has to rescue an innocent female from a nasty guy. Jasmine has quite a good sense of humour - always quoting other TV shows, making snarky, sarcastic comments, or having quick cheeky moments. And Ban and Hoji are your steroeotypical 'buddy cop' duo.

There still are a few gaps in the logic of the premise. Earth is meant to be a backwater planet, and only has five (later six) officers dedicated to investigating alien crime (and all in the same Megalopolis - presumably Japan has the world's only spaceport and/or is the only country to grant visas to aliens?). Yet it's clearly a multi-billion dollar operation, has Doggy and Swan assigned to it, who are both described as being highly regarded as some of the best in their fields, and one episode establishes that there are two space mafia dons on Earth (along with an inter-galactic arms dealer). There's a bit of a disconnect. Not to mention the number of random landings despite the first episode establishing that Earth has a planetary shield (I guess the writers forgot about it).

There's also the whole "judgement" issue. I come from a country that doesn't have the death penalty, so just having that was a bit weird at first. It's also weird that the scanner has no option for sentencing to imprisonment, only deletion. Would it have really been such a hassle to every so often show the MotW being pulled out of the rubble of their mech and having some cuffs slapped on? It's one case where being altered for the Power Rangers adaptation was definately a good thing.

It also wasn't the best ending storyline ever - Abrera goes from unknown weapons dealer to the galaxy's most wanted in only a few episodes, and the finale is riddled with plot holes. But overall I think Dekaranger is a pretty strong series.

 

[Fantasy Leader]

So I've just powered through the rest of Dekaranger over the last few days, and thought I'd make a few comments.

I still don't entirely understand the Umeko hate. Yes, she's the comic relief character. But she's far from the worst character in Sentai to embody the 'loud, childish girl' type. In fact, I'd say Tetsu is the show's most childish character (and spectacularly underdeveloped by sixth ranger standards). On the other hand, I don't entirely understand all the Sen-chan love. He's OK, but just the slightly bland 'smart guy'. All his focus episodes have the same plot - Sen has to rescue an innocent female from a nasty guy. Jasmine has quite a good sense of humour - always quoting other TV shows, making snarky, sarcastic comments, or having quick cheeky moments. And Ban and Hoji are your steroeotypical 'buddy cop' duo.

I personally like Sen mostly for reasons similar to why I like Umeko. I feel like the actor to Sen did a pretty good job with the role. While as the middle guy, the character was in danger of being the most forgotten member of the team, but I feel like Sen's actor displayed a strong range of emotions that really brought the character to life, and made him more believable than say, Ban or Hoji imo. I don't think Sen is a "bland smart guy" at all. I think he's more of a "smart guy who is calm and a tad bit eccentric with some hidden insecurities." And like I said, I think the actor pulls the character off beautifully. I will agree with you that some of his eps were kinda repetitive. Particularly towards the later portions of the series. But I blame that more on the writers. But overall, I think Sen is one of the better greens of the 2000s and is a worthy addition to the green lineage.

 

[icecreamhendrix]

In fact, I'd say Tetsu is the show's most childish character (and spectacularly underdeveloped by sixth ranger standards).

Underdeveloped by 6th Rangers standards, maybe. But more developed than most characters on this show, like Swan and Jasmine and Ban and...

On the other hand, I don't entirely understand all the Sen-chan love. He's OK, but just the slightly bland 'smart guy'. All his focus episodes have the same plot - Sen has to rescue an innocent female from a nasty guy.

Yeah, almost all of his episodes are samey, but he is probably the only character that acts like a complete human being, instead of a caricature.

And Ban and Hoji are your steroeotypical 'buddy cop' duo.

"Stereotypical" is putting it mildly. There is no good reason for Hoji to not like Ban!

 

[Toku Prime]

I personally like Sen mostly for reasons similar to why I like Umeko. I feel like the actor to Sen did a pretty good job with the role. While as the middle guy, the character was in danger of being the most forgotten member of the team, but I feel like Sen's actor displayed a strong range of emotions that really brought the character to life, and made him more believable than say, Ban or Hoji imo. I don't think Sen is a "bland smart guy" at all. I think he's more of a "smart guy who is calm and a tad bit eccentric with some hidden insecurities." And like I said, I think the actor pulls the character off beautifully. I will agree with you that some of his eps were kinda repetitive. Particularly towards the later portions of the series. But I blame that more on the writers. But overall, I think Sen is one of the better greens of the 2000s and is a worthy addition to the green lineage.

That's probably fair. I was probably oversimplifying a bit because I had a lot to mention and wanted to be as brief as I could. While I thought Sen was a decent character, I don't have the sheer love for him that a lot of other people seem to exhibit in this thread.

Underdeveloped by 6th Rangers standards, maybe. But more developed than most characters on this show, like Swan and Jasmine and Ban and...

I have to disagree there. I think Swan, Ban, Hoji, Umeko, and Doggie were all more developed than Tetsu. He's about on the same level as Jasmine and Sen.

"Stereotypical" is putting it mildly. There is no good reason for Hoji to not like Ban!

I think he does like him from fairly early in the series. The "don't call me partner" thing is more banter than anything else, plus it keeps Ban pushing hard to try and win Hoji's recognition. Hoji realises Ban is skilled, but wants to keep pushing him to be even better. It's in Hoji's character to want a partner at least as good as he is, and Ban frequently mentions wanting to be the best cop in the space police. As with most buddy cop relationships, Hoji can't help but like Ban despite also being aggravated by his disregard for Hoji's precious "professionalism".