ABARANGER Talk Up

[SamuraiEchidna]

Surprised no one has started this sooner considering Imagination Station finished subtitling the entire series, movie, and all the specials...

Aba, Aba, Aba, Aba, AbaRanger!

Ladies and gentlemen, let me give you a fansubbing history lesson...

1. TV-Nihon is founded, and they sub 1 or 2 episodes before they drop the series and focus on other things like Blade, Faiz, and DekaRanger.
2. Skewed Studios Fansubs picks up AbaRanger years later, but releases are SUPER slow. They make it as far as episode 10 (the one mentioned in Dino Thunder) last time I checked. Their website is currently down and they may or may not still be subbing the show, but it's no longer necessary.
3. Later still, Midnight Crew Subs decided to subtitle episodes 9, 10 and the Deka VS Aba special in spite of TV-Nihon's version. Doing this spurs them on to subtitle the entire series, only to drop it after the first 7 episodes as well as a number of other projects they started. They apparently wanted to dial back and focus on the things they care about the most, but they are still doing some tokusatsu stuff. It's unknown if they'll pick up AbaRanger again, but like I said, it's no longer necessary.
4. Finally, Imagination Station comes along. They were originally going to subtitle ToQger, but decided not to compete against Over-Time. Instead, they decided to focus on a series that needed attention: AbaRanger. And with weekly continuous updates, with an average of 2 episodes a week, the show was soon completed specials and all.

Let me tell you, everyone, it feels SO good that this series finally got the fansubs and the respect it deserves. When Power Rangers Dino Thunder disappointed me, all I've ever wanted was to experience AbaRanger. Back in the day, I even went so far as to buy a bootleg copy from China with "Engrish" subtitles. But even then, it just wasn't the same... You have to understand that for MANY years, it looked like no one was ever going to touch or complete this series. But now, it's nice to have an old friend back with the subs it deserves.

And over all, I really like this series. They did a lot of nontraditional things in this series, and it was still popular enough to reference in future Sentai shows. There were multiple Blastosaurs (or Dynasaurs, according to IS), but there was no cluster-fudge super robot. One of the heroes was not only engaged, but became a father. The main hero himself was pretty much a father from start to finish. It had a very brutal ending, especially with Abare Killer.

I remember back in the day, people use to say they didn't like AbaRanger because it had too much humor. But honestly, the humor is NOT without purpose, and it does not overshadow the seriousness of the series nor the finale. Abare Black and Aba Red are by far my favorite characters of the show, and Mai is just the cutest child in all of Tokusatsu history, even with her childhood innocence. And screw the Dino Thunder Battlizer, because Abare Max is all I need! Way better power up by comparison.

Thank you, Imagination Station. I hope this will not be the last time you guys sub something Super Sentai or Kamen Rider related. And now, I gotta find a recipe for Dino Curry...

 

[Toku Prime]

Surprised no one has started this sooner considering Imagination Station finished subtitling the entire series, movie, and all the specials...

I suspect a lot of people were a bit like me, and despite Imagination Station's assurances that they'd sub the entire series they just thought "new sub group, dunno who's involved, I'll wait for the full series batch." So as soon as they release that it'll climb to a high spot on my backlog pile (right behind the KR Stronger series batch :sweat.

 

[kamil88]

Thank you very much, SamuraiEchidna, i had no idea, that Abaranger was being subbed

 

[MagiShineDX]

Finally, Imagination Station comes along. They were originally going to subtitle Toqger, but decided not to compete against Over-Time and TV-Nihon.

Really glad Imagination Station finally did a series that has needed to be resubbed for a long time, watched the HK Bootlegs Subs in 2008 I think it was and they were ok but this definitely feels like a more professional quality subbing job. About to start episode 30, been putting it off for a few weeks due to other interests.

 

[cypsiman2]

I myself have been watching ever since IS finished their subs for it, I'm up to episode 46, and needless to say it is just a world of improvement over the grainy and garbled HK subs that fandom was forced to subsist on all this time; one nice thing is that so much of the humor comes out so much better when you can properly understand what everyone is saying as opposed to having to decipher it all through bad grammar and the like.

And of course the story is incredibly intense and in many instances quite non-traditional for Super Sentai, and the designs for the Trinoids and Giganoids are some of my absolute favorite MotW designs in all of Sentai for how astoundingly creative and alien they look, like no human minds or hands were involved at all.

 

[GVman@Guts]

Glad to hear it. This is a Sentai I've wanted to see for a few years now, mainly because I saw this tragic clip of some character dying in the show. After that, I figured I needed to see it.

Thanks for alerting us to this, SamuraiEchidna, and it's good to see some of the old Japan Hero people still active.

On a mostly-unrelated note, I feel like Imagination Station needs a better abbreviation than IS; at first, I was confusing them with Islamic State.

 

[arnoldmcguire335]

On a mostly-unrelated note, I feel like Imagination Station needs a better abbreviation than IS; at first, I was confusing them with Islamic State.

Maybe it's better with the periods (I.S.)?