So after watching the first episode i've got a few comments on it.....
The Good
1. How faithful the episode was to Shinkenger. I own 5 of the Shinkenger DVDs and the Comeback Shinkenger DVD and must say that seeing episode 3 (one of my favorites) in an Americanized form was really cool.
2. The MegaMode was surprisingly cool. When I first saw the pictures of it I must say I thought "WTF is this crap?", but after seeing it in the episode I was impressed.
3. The opening. Love that it's a throwback to the original MMPR.
4. The episode itself I thought was an interesting take on the story. It had a start in Mike lacking self confidence, a middle in Mike coming to the realization that he has to work with the team in order to get the job done, and the end when the team kicked butt. The acting also was not nearly as bad as some of the promos led it to be.
5. Samurizer. Good name for a morpher.
Now the not so good
1. The episode order. As has already been said this was a big issue for me. I already knew the episode by heart, but the average American doesn't even know that Super Sentai exists. I can see how it would have totally been confusing for a first time viewer, you'd think you were in the middle of a season or something.
2. The morphing. While I like that they kept the 火、水,木、土 and 天, the one morphing part I did not like (and still dont) is when those silly face masks come up before their helmets go on. I just think they look cheesy, my two cents.
3. Spike and Bulk. IDK, to me it just felt unnecessary and random. If they were going to include it at all it should have been woven into the plot instead of just randomly inserted.
4. The episode music aside from the opening. It just didn't do anything for me, but then again, the really good MMPR music wasn't in the first episodes either.
5. Go Go Samurai. This to me just seems kind of awkward, but then again its probably my age (21) showing. I loved the "It's Morphin' Time!", "Shift Into Turbo", "Let's Rocket", etc.
Overall I thought it was a solid episode and I throughly enjoyed it. As someone who has not watched Power Rangers regularly since Lost Galaxy when I was a kid I was pleasantly surprised. Can't wait for the new episode on Sunday.