Power Rangers vs Super Sentai(Mostly Samurai vs Shinkenger)

[Goty]

making blanket statements gets you nowhere

not letting a personal bias over a season cloud one's judgement

I'm no lover of Shinkenger, so anything that I thin improves on a cool idea that was wasted is good in my book and I think Power Rangers Samurai is on the road to do that.

Not the greatest job avoiding blanket statements and cloudy judgement though :laugh:

Seriously, one needs to be too terribly and irrefutably biased to find some sort of improvement in Samurai. Yes, there are many good PR seasons, but this isn't one of them.

 

[lazycoconut]

The only good PR was RPM anyway, and the reason for that was that production team actually cared that time around.

Then why was it so horribly marketed? And believe it or not RPM had its problems. Not everyone likes it

For one to give up their everyday lives to serve a dono is a tradition in Japan, but in America, it doesn't make sense.

It's like a Power Rangers show about the heroes becoming knights to a feudal lord in a castle - yes, there is a cultural tradition of that in the west (like there is of samurai in Japan) but no one has done it for hundreds of years, so to some extent it's still removed from the viewer

 

[FieryRed]

Isn't this just a "It's a kids show!" argument? It doesn't mean it has to be low quality if it is for kids.

Aoi Kurenai, you disliked Shinkenger, Hurricaneger AND GoGoV? But liked Ninja Storm and are willing to give PRS another chance? I believe we have a mighty case of different taste because you just blew my mind. Yeah, there are decent Power Rangers seasons, sometimes producers genuinely care, sometimes they add some good design ideas (mooks in Sentai in 90s were ridiculous, for example) but these are exceptions, you know?

I've finished watching Shinkenger and close to do that with Hurricaneger (up to ep 48 now), and imo both of them are pretty good sentai series. I haven't checked out GoGoV yet, due to the fact that I can't find any sub of this series anywhere, but to dislike both Shinkenger and Hurricaneger is kind of weird.

My problem with Power Rangers Samurai is that several aspects of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger are culturally impossible to adapt to a western environment. First off, why are these gaikokujin Samurai in the first place? For one to give up their everyday lives to serve a dono is a tradition in Japan, but in America, it doesn't make sense. In addition, Antonio being a fish vendor has no meaning compared to Genta running a sushi cart. At least we know first-hand that Genta has a purpose in life outside of being a Shinkenger.

Well, I don't think following a feudal lord in modern-day Japan can be described as a tradition. Aside from Ryuunosuke, just about everyone else had some misgivings about treating anyone as a lord (particularly Chiaki). But to do it in America by five American teenagers sound even more outlandish imo.

 

[Raiden]

I can totally understand why they have to remove the thing about serving a lord. I mean, think about it; it would be a total pr nightmare; the blue guy is a black guy serving a white guy.
Some stuff and ideas just don't translate well; that is a fact.

But I also think that Saban needs to learn again how to make a power rangers series. The did great job in Zeo and "In Space"; but that was almost 15 years ago. There is going to be some growing pains until they get it right; lets just hope it is fast and they can save the series before the end.

 

[areaseven]

One other thing: what exactly is Master Ji's role in Power Rangers Samurai?

 

[Bigdog]

One other thing: what exactly is Master Ji's role in Power Rangers Samurai?

He's basically a dickhead who's a cynical twit. That's all I got .

 

[Painted_Outlaw]

I can totally understand why they have to remove the thing about serving a lord. I mean, think about it; it would be a total pr nightmare; the blue guy is a black guy serving a white guy.

Any worse than Black guy is black ranger, asian girl is yellow ranger?
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｱﾊﾊ八八ﾉヽﾉヽﾉヽﾉ ＼ / ＼/ ＼

 

[Raiden]

One other thing: what exactly is Master Ji's role in Power Rangers Samurai?

I'm think he is supposed to teach them "samurai skills" and what not; thats why they refer to him as teacher. But so far I haven't see him done anything that backup this. He is just there, and I haven't found his character particularly supportive or wise.

The character he is based on from Shinkengers was more like a butler. He also raised Takeru (the red ranger) like a son. Although interestingly he has his own family and even a granddaughter that he does not seem very often (I remember being mentioned on some chapter). On Shinkengers he is also a comedic relief, being the straight man to the rest of the group.

 

[Raiden]

Any worse than Black guy is black ranger, yellow girl is yellow ranger?
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｱﾊﾊ八八ﾉヽﾉヽﾉヽﾉ \ / \/ \

That was 15 years ago also I don't think that is as sensitive subject as the "other thing". And don't forget the character he is based on (Ryunosuke) is the most subservient of the 4 of them.

 

[areaseven]

I watched both versions of the bride-kidnapping episode, and needless to say, Saban screwed up on their adaptation. The problem here is that Ryunosuke's kabuki background was the single most important element of the episode. PR took away that element and decided to make Kevin/Blue Samurai Ranger a former swimmer instead. As a result, the punch line of the episode was completely lost in the PR version.

BTW, that particular episode was a loose remake of the Wedding Gown Org episode of Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger.