"Let's DRIVING!!!!!"
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2007
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- 6,481
Well, with the hype of the V-Cinema reunion special of our beloved Dekas making a comeback after 10 years, I've pretty much taken the liberty of re-watching the series to see if it's still awesome. But, lately, after re-watching all 50 episodes, the general movie and its' team-up movie with the Abarangers, I've pretty much questioned myself if the 28th installment of the Super Sentai series sucks or not. So let's do a quick recap on the synopsis of the show....and be warned, this contains a lot of spoilers. So, if you have not seen the show yet, don't read this thread.
THE PLOT:
-"S.P.D.-Special Police Dekaranger. Five detectives with burning hearts and fighting cool. Their mission...to protect Planet Earth from Space Criminals and Alien Invaders called, Alienizers."
The show starts off with the introduction of its' fireball, hotheaded rookie, Banban "Ban" Akaza/Deka Red chasing after a criminal on a remote planet across the galaxy, while the SPD headquarters on Earth has already have four detectives (Houji, Senichi "Sen-chan", Marika "Jasmine", and Kodou "Umeko") assembled before Ban is re-assigned to the S.P.D. Earth Branch. While in pursuit of a case, they come across an robotic assassin under the orders of a mysterious space criminal named Agent Abrella. Just as the four Dekarangers are taking out the numerous of robotic footsoldiers, the main robot is about to escape, until Ban enters to Earth and catches the robot and destroys it without any idea of what's going on. Their leader, an anthropomorphic talking alien dog, "Doggie" Kruger is the mentor of the group who is also known the legendary Guard Dog of Hell (Jigoku no Banken) who later becomes the additional sentai hero, Deka Master. But, only in situations where the Dekarangers doesn't really need his help to fight their battles. Doggie is also accompanied by the base's cheif machenic/enginner, Swan Shirotori who would later serve as the "motherly-figure" of the team and is pretty much Doggie's on-and-off secret lover. The only time when she decides to get her hands dirty is when she turns into Deka Swan in one universe where she learns that a former colleague of hers at S.P.D. is designing a new robot to prove that he deserves more recognition for his designs, but throughout the majority of the show, she pretty much serves as the typical damsel-in-distress. After a few filler episodes later, The team comes across three deadly Alienizers called, "The Three Siblings of Hell".....Blitz, Bon-Goblin, and Succubus. But, they are also being pursuit by a mysterious Dekaranger in white, called Deka Break. His actual identity is Tekken "Testu" Aira, and he is a part of special counterattack group called, "Tokukyou" where they are trained to deal with more dangerous and over-powerful Alienizers, but, he's considered to be a rookie, because he is inexperienced in learning how to fight with emotions, instead of fighting without emotions at all. After defeating the three siblings of Hell, Tetsu has put in a request to be re-assigned on Earth to stay with the S.P.D. Earth Branch to lean more about fighting with emotions and being a detective at heart first and a Tokukyou afterwards. The five Dekarangers later acquire the S.P.D. S.W.A.T. mode after going through S.W.A.T. training under the guidance of an old friend of Doggie and Swan, Tortorian Buntar. In order for Ban to understand what is the true meaning of being the #1 Space Police Officer and that is to work together as the #1 Space Police team. The gang is then introduced to Tetsu's Tokukyou chief and personal mentor, Lisa Teagle/Deka Bright, who only came to visit Earth to have Tetsu relocated back to the Tokukyou base in order to be re-trained to not show any emotions or passions during the line of duty and to be re-tooled as the "perfect soldier". But after dealing with a pyrokenetic alienizer and learning of its' real weakness, Tetsu has proven to his chief that he may not be fitting to fight as a Tokukyou anymore, but he's still a detective by heart. Later on in the show, after several successful solved cases, Ban later ask the Supreme Chief of SPD, Cheif Numa-O for the whereabouts of Houji and Jasmine's former leader/mentor, Leonian Gyoku Rou, the first candidate to become the first Deka Red in the past, in order to save Houji and Jasmine from being killed by an old enemy from the past who was responsible for crippling Gyoku Rou and traumatizing them over the years because of the wrecklessness and naivety. The team later defeats the Alienizer after Houji and Jasmine are re-united and encouraged by the words of their former mentor to fight with a burning heart and cool passion. After being impressed with how much his apprentices have changed over the years and by the Dekarangers' teamwork, he then re-acquainted with the gang and has revealed that he was re-assigned and enlisted as the head of yet, another special counter-attack group from S.P.D. entitled....the Fire Squad. Gyoku Rou was also impressed with Ban's performance on the field earlier and has requested for Doggie's permission for Ban to be drafted to join the Fire Squad after their final battle with Agent Abrella. Of course, Ban pretty much accept the offer, but not before he finishes one final case on Earth which would later lead to Agent Abrella's final assualt on S.P.D. by raiding the Deka Base while the Dekarangers are dealing with an Alienizer that is possessing Ban's body. After defeating the Alienizer, the Dekarangers were at a huge disadvantage becauase Agent Abrella can now deactivate their Deka Suits whenever he wants and so the team has to find an emergency switch that is located in their mechanical dog, K9-Murphy's dog house. Ban manages to reach the switch located in Murphy's dog house and has given the other Dekarangers the upper hand to reclaim their base and defeat Agent Abrella once and for all. With all of the evil defeated, the case is now closed....Tetsu is re-assigned to stay on the Earth Branch as a "normal badge" Deka and as active leader of the Dekaranger, while Ban is now drafted into the Fire Squad.
THE CHARACTERS:
-Ban/Deka Red.......He's short-tempered, hotheaded and is basically a trigger happy lunatic with spiky hair. Translation...."He's trigger happy, "Michael Bay"-ish caricature of a gun-toning narrow-mind psychopath with a douchebag hairstyle."
-Houji/Deka Blue......He's the "professional" of the group, but he also fancy himself of being a "perfectionist" and is always refusing to acknowledge Ban as his partner, until the final episode.
-Sen/Deka Green.....The brains of the team with a remarkable ability to think things through. But oddly enough, he does his best thinking when he's upside down, calling this pose the "Thinking Pose". In other words, he's more of a baffoon to his enemies. But, that's only to draw confusion.
-Jasmine/Deka Yellow......The "older sister" of the group, but her specialty is that she has psychic abilities, whenever she takes off her gloves and touches people and objects. Translation....."she's hot, but she's also weird!"
-Umeko/Deka Pink......She's the youngest "cutie" recruit who always complains about how she doesn't like things and she considers herself to be the "Leader of the group", even though she's not. She loves to bathe in a tub on-screen just to attract horny, perverted fanboys. And that's it.
-Tetsu/Deka Break.....Probably one of the absolute best characters that the show has to offer, because he is a rookie, even though he's a part of a special counter-attack group of S.P.D. Most importantly, he's a likeable character and he loves to sprout out his catchphrase, "Nonsense!" to any situations that he knows that he would prevail.
-Doggie Kruger/Deka Master.....Secondary absolute best character of the show, despite the fact that he looks like rejected muppet. And that's all I can say about this guy.
-Swan Shitatori......Probably my least favorite character of the show, simply because her character was written to act more like the "Princess Peach" of the group. Not, that I have anything against that, but, it's just that I'd expected more of her to actually grow as a character. But, the main problem is the script didn't really give her actress to do almost anything.
-The Villains: Well.....to be honest, I really didn't think that Agent Abrella was that much of a threatening villain. He's just a typical, generic, greedy salesman. But, with no actual motif or a purpose. The rest of the alienizers are just forgettable, including the movie villains. However, the real villains that should've been the absolute threats of the show are the Three Siblings from Hell; Blitz, Bon-Goblin, and Succubus. They literally scream.....MAIN VILLAINS and Agent Abrella could've easily served as their general/#2 guy.
THE ACTION:
Well, as much as I really loved the choreography of the show, I have to admit at most of the times, it does get a little too cliche. Like when Swan was easily captured by Ben-G as was wrapped up in dynamite?!?!? Yeah....I felt like I was re-watching and episode of Dudley-Do-Right! But, I personally don't blame that on the action coordinator on his job, it's just that the writing and the execution of that one rescue scene during Dekamaster's debut just made the situation felt too cliche for my taste.
FINAL VERDICT:
Well, after quickly re-evaluating this series and after my quick comparisons with its' US counterpart, Power Rangers SPD...I've pretty reached to a conclusion that Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger really wasn't that great of a Sentai season to begin with. I mean, I liked the idea that it was a Space Police drama for kids, but, the thing is....I barely see any form of drama in the show, except for that one episode where Hoji has to pass his Tokukyou entry exam to get his gold SPD badge and he has to "delete" his girlfriend's brother in order to solve a case. Oh and speaking of the whole "delete" thing?!?! Yeah, that really shouldn't have been a good idea because there were like some Alienizers that really shouldn't be killed off because of some petty. I mean, not that I'm saying that it's wrong to kill off space criminals, but, it's just that they should've just given certain Alienizers a warning before the Dekarangers did the whole "Judgement Time!" segment. I get that it cleans the streets of any law violators and that it gets the job done, but the thing is....these guys are supposed to be law enforcing police officers who would uphold the law, not at as jury, judges and executioners. They are not above the law, they are suppose to enforce the law and that's about it. Now, I'm not sure how the actual justice system in Japan works, but, I'm pretty sure that this is not a perfect example of how law enforcement is supposed to be represented in a kids' show.
I would have to give Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger a C+
It's got great action sequences, but, definitely not the best representation of a space police drama for kids. However, I will say that's best to just watch the movie version and the Sentai team-up instead. But, if you really want to watch the V-Cinema 10 years after reunion movie, then you have to watch all of the episodes and the movie, "Full-Blast Action" and Dekaranger vs. Abaranger to understand how much has truly changed since the last time we saw the Dekarangers in action.
"With This.....The Case is Complete!!!!"
THE PLOT:
-"S.P.D.-Special Police Dekaranger. Five detectives with burning hearts and fighting cool. Their mission...to protect Planet Earth from Space Criminals and Alien Invaders called, Alienizers."
The show starts off with the introduction of its' fireball, hotheaded rookie, Banban "Ban" Akaza/Deka Red chasing after a criminal on a remote planet across the galaxy, while the SPD headquarters on Earth has already have four detectives (Houji, Senichi "Sen-chan", Marika "Jasmine", and Kodou "Umeko") assembled before Ban is re-assigned to the S.P.D. Earth Branch. While in pursuit of a case, they come across an robotic assassin under the orders of a mysterious space criminal named Agent Abrella. Just as the four Dekarangers are taking out the numerous of robotic footsoldiers, the main robot is about to escape, until Ban enters to Earth and catches the robot and destroys it without any idea of what's going on. Their leader, an anthropomorphic talking alien dog, "Doggie" Kruger is the mentor of the group who is also known the legendary Guard Dog of Hell (Jigoku no Banken) who later becomes the additional sentai hero, Deka Master. But, only in situations where the Dekarangers doesn't really need his help to fight their battles. Doggie is also accompanied by the base's cheif machenic/enginner, Swan Shirotori who would later serve as the "motherly-figure" of the team and is pretty much Doggie's on-and-off secret lover. The only time when she decides to get her hands dirty is when she turns into Deka Swan in one universe where she learns that a former colleague of hers at S.P.D. is designing a new robot to prove that he deserves more recognition for his designs, but throughout the majority of the show, she pretty much serves as the typical damsel-in-distress. After a few filler episodes later, The team comes across three deadly Alienizers called, "The Three Siblings of Hell".....Blitz, Bon-Goblin, and Succubus. But, they are also being pursuit by a mysterious Dekaranger in white, called Deka Break. His actual identity is Tekken "Testu" Aira, and he is a part of special counterattack group called, "Tokukyou" where they are trained to deal with more dangerous and over-powerful Alienizers, but, he's considered to be a rookie, because he is inexperienced in learning how to fight with emotions, instead of fighting without emotions at all. After defeating the three siblings of Hell, Tetsu has put in a request to be re-assigned on Earth to stay with the S.P.D. Earth Branch to lean more about fighting with emotions and being a detective at heart first and a Tokukyou afterwards. The five Dekarangers later acquire the S.P.D. S.W.A.T. mode after going through S.W.A.T. training under the guidance of an old friend of Doggie and Swan, Tortorian Buntar. In order for Ban to understand what is the true meaning of being the #1 Space Police Officer and that is to work together as the #1 Space Police team. The gang is then introduced to Tetsu's Tokukyou chief and personal mentor, Lisa Teagle/Deka Bright, who only came to visit Earth to have Tetsu relocated back to the Tokukyou base in order to be re-trained to not show any emotions or passions during the line of duty and to be re-tooled as the "perfect soldier". But after dealing with a pyrokenetic alienizer and learning of its' real weakness, Tetsu has proven to his chief that he may not be fitting to fight as a Tokukyou anymore, but he's still a detective by heart. Later on in the show, after several successful solved cases, Ban later ask the Supreme Chief of SPD, Cheif Numa-O for the whereabouts of Houji and Jasmine's former leader/mentor, Leonian Gyoku Rou, the first candidate to become the first Deka Red in the past, in order to save Houji and Jasmine from being killed by an old enemy from the past who was responsible for crippling Gyoku Rou and traumatizing them over the years because of the wrecklessness and naivety. The team later defeats the Alienizer after Houji and Jasmine are re-united and encouraged by the words of their former mentor to fight with a burning heart and cool passion. After being impressed with how much his apprentices have changed over the years and by the Dekarangers' teamwork, he then re-acquainted with the gang and has revealed that he was re-assigned and enlisted as the head of yet, another special counter-attack group from S.P.D. entitled....the Fire Squad. Gyoku Rou was also impressed with Ban's performance on the field earlier and has requested for Doggie's permission for Ban to be drafted to join the Fire Squad after their final battle with Agent Abrella. Of course, Ban pretty much accept the offer, but not before he finishes one final case on Earth which would later lead to Agent Abrella's final assualt on S.P.D. by raiding the Deka Base while the Dekarangers are dealing with an Alienizer that is possessing Ban's body. After defeating the Alienizer, the Dekarangers were at a huge disadvantage becauase Agent Abrella can now deactivate their Deka Suits whenever he wants and so the team has to find an emergency switch that is located in their mechanical dog, K9-Murphy's dog house. Ban manages to reach the switch located in Murphy's dog house and has given the other Dekarangers the upper hand to reclaim their base and defeat Agent Abrella once and for all. With all of the evil defeated, the case is now closed....Tetsu is re-assigned to stay on the Earth Branch as a "normal badge" Deka and as active leader of the Dekaranger, while Ban is now drafted into the Fire Squad.
THE CHARACTERS:
-Ban/Deka Red.......He's short-tempered, hotheaded and is basically a trigger happy lunatic with spiky hair. Translation...."He's trigger happy, "Michael Bay"-ish caricature of a gun-toning narrow-mind psychopath with a douchebag hairstyle."
-Houji/Deka Blue......He's the "professional" of the group, but he also fancy himself of being a "perfectionist" and is always refusing to acknowledge Ban as his partner, until the final episode.
-Sen/Deka Green.....The brains of the team with a remarkable ability to think things through. But oddly enough, he does his best thinking when he's upside down, calling this pose the "Thinking Pose". In other words, he's more of a baffoon to his enemies. But, that's only to draw confusion.
-Jasmine/Deka Yellow......The "older sister" of the group, but her specialty is that she has psychic abilities, whenever she takes off her gloves and touches people and objects. Translation....."she's hot, but she's also weird!"
-Umeko/Deka Pink......She's the youngest "cutie" recruit who always complains about how she doesn't like things and she considers herself to be the "Leader of the group", even though she's not. She loves to bathe in a tub on-screen just to attract horny, perverted fanboys. And that's it.
-Tetsu/Deka Break.....Probably one of the absolute best characters that the show has to offer, because he is a rookie, even though he's a part of a special counter-attack group of S.P.D. Most importantly, he's a likeable character and he loves to sprout out his catchphrase, "Nonsense!" to any situations that he knows that he would prevail.
-Doggie Kruger/Deka Master.....Secondary absolute best character of the show, despite the fact that he looks like rejected muppet. And that's all I can say about this guy.
-Swan Shitatori......Probably my least favorite character of the show, simply because her character was written to act more like the "Princess Peach" of the group. Not, that I have anything against that, but, it's just that I'd expected more of her to actually grow as a character. But, the main problem is the script didn't really give her actress to do almost anything.
-The Villains: Well.....to be honest, I really didn't think that Agent Abrella was that much of a threatening villain. He's just a typical, generic, greedy salesman. But, with no actual motif or a purpose. The rest of the alienizers are just forgettable, including the movie villains. However, the real villains that should've been the absolute threats of the show are the Three Siblings from Hell; Blitz, Bon-Goblin, and Succubus. They literally scream.....MAIN VILLAINS and Agent Abrella could've easily served as their general/#2 guy.
THE ACTION:
Well, as much as I really loved the choreography of the show, I have to admit at most of the times, it does get a little too cliche. Like when Swan was easily captured by Ben-G as was wrapped up in dynamite?!?!? Yeah....I felt like I was re-watching and episode of Dudley-Do-Right! But, I personally don't blame that on the action coordinator on his job, it's just that the writing and the execution of that one rescue scene during Dekamaster's debut just made the situation felt too cliche for my taste.
FINAL VERDICT:
Well, after quickly re-evaluating this series and after my quick comparisons with its' US counterpart, Power Rangers SPD...I've pretty reached to a conclusion that Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger really wasn't that great of a Sentai season to begin with. I mean, I liked the idea that it was a Space Police drama for kids, but, the thing is....I barely see any form of drama in the show, except for that one episode where Hoji has to pass his Tokukyou entry exam to get his gold SPD badge and he has to "delete" his girlfriend's brother in order to solve a case. Oh and speaking of the whole "delete" thing?!?! Yeah, that really shouldn't have been a good idea because there were like some Alienizers that really shouldn't be killed off because of some petty. I mean, not that I'm saying that it's wrong to kill off space criminals, but, it's just that they should've just given certain Alienizers a warning before the Dekarangers did the whole "Judgement Time!" segment. I get that it cleans the streets of any law violators and that it gets the job done, but the thing is....these guys are supposed to be law enforcing police officers who would uphold the law, not at as jury, judges and executioners. They are not above the law, they are suppose to enforce the law and that's about it. Now, I'm not sure how the actual justice system in Japan works, but, I'm pretty sure that this is not a perfect example of how law enforcement is supposed to be represented in a kids' show.
I would have to give Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger a C+
It's got great action sequences, but, definitely not the best representation of a space police drama for kids. However, I will say that's best to just watch the movie version and the Sentai team-up instead. But, if you really want to watch the V-Cinema 10 years after reunion movie, then you have to watch all of the episodes and the movie, "Full-Blast Action" and Dekaranger vs. Abaranger to understand how much has truly changed since the last time we saw the Dekarangers in action.
"With This.....The Case is Complete!!!!"
