Thats your opinion. To me, its something that doesn't need to be translated in subs. They don't need to translate everything. While TV-N may go too far when it comes to not translating things at times, completely subbing every little word isn't a better idea, atleast in my opinion. Sentai doesn't need to be translated as squadron, or anything else, and henshin doesn't need to be transform/change. It all comes down to personal preference. I just like henshin better. Also, I don't recall saying henshin was a phrase :shrug:
This is basically the argument for not translating "Ore Sanjou!" Not the one I've used, but the one people seem to think is the reasoning of TVN.
I think they left Ore Sanjou untranslated not *just* because it "sounds/looks coolor" but because it is a catchphrase. Catchphrases, titles, and proper names are hardly ever translated because you are meant to associate them with a specific thing, person, or situation.
A few posts ago it was mentioned that Kami's name is not translated in foreign versions of DBZ despite "kami" literally meaning "god". Now, the underlying meaning of this is naturally lost if you don't know what kami means but at the same time referring to a character by the literal meaning of his name defeats the purpose of a name.
It is somewhat similar for catchphrases, though not as clear-cut. A catchphrase is meant to be associated as-is with the situation that accompanies it. If an available translation also fits with the cadence and style of it, then maybe you lose nothing by changing it.
For an example, Sailor Moon's little speech she says is translated/subtitled. But Rurouni Kenshin's amakakeru ryu no hirameki isn't, despite having a literal meaning (piercing wind of the dragon fang or something). It's a matter of weighing which is more important to convey to the audience. Is it the character's essential style and the iconic nature of the phrase? Or is it the meaning of what's being said?
I don't personally believe that almost any of the untranslated words in Den-O deserve to be left as-is. Ore Sanjou has a meaning, the understanding of which is NOT outweighed by its iconic nature. And this is evidenced by situations like "Ore Sanjou by bike!" which was referenced a few pages ago.
But henshin's meaning is basically superfluous. It's what a superhero says when he changes. You lose nothing by not knowing what it means because its only purpose is to be said when transforming. The subs of Kuuga that I watched had a scene where Godai says something like "What if when I change colors I say something cool...like, 'Chou Henshin!', yeah?" And that's all I needed to know. Godai wanted to sound cool. The syllables and the flow of the words are part of that and therefore outweigh the need to know its meaning.
But "Kamen" is another in the Den-O boat. It is silly not to translate it. It's not there to sound cool. "Rider" is there to sound cool. It's a word that the Japanese specifically chose to use instead of their own because it sounded cooler. Hell...we should translate 'Rider' into Japanese and add that to 'Masked' instead if we want to preserve the effect!
But now I'm thinking about that...it's a very Japanese thing to do, to have foreign words that are potentially unknown to the audience but sound cool...maybe all the translators should do that. Every time there's an English word used for effect in a Japanese program translate that into Japanese for the subtitles!