My Opinion on Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai

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My Opinion on Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai

Post by FangTrigger »

Although it's been a few months since this series came to an end, I just finished watching the final episode of Super Samurai on netflix yesterday so I can officially give my complete and honest opinion of Power Rangers Samurai.

It sucked.
This show blew harder than Teenage Tattooed Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills. (Well, not that bad, but it was a close second.)

But, like any honest review, I'll weigh the good with the bad then let you guys decide.

Overview:
Power Rangers Samurai is the 18th Season of Power Rangers (Super Samurai being the 19th), also marking the return of Saban to the PR circuit. It features footage and stories from Samurai Sentai Shikenger, along with a few new gemicks made strictly for toy sales, which almost any and every kids show does, but I digress. This time, Saban decided to take the show back to Power Ranger roots, meaning that he wanted to focus on a younger demographic (children ages 3-10) instead of trying to mix the show so it targeted both new and older fans of the show, which, depending on your opinion, is a good or bad move.
(Note, some topics may be used more than once.)

The Good:
Return of Bulk- I loved the fact that Bulk himself returned to the Power Rangers as a comic relief. It was great seeing him back in is old role.
Decker (Juzo) & Dayu Relationship- This was an interesting turn for Saban to take, and a welcome one at that. This was a relationship that spawned many fan-fictions while Shikenger was running, and once I saw that Saban decided to take that extra step and have them be married, then betrayed and cursed, I was glad. It brought back the usual 'failed romance in tokusatsu' gimick that sputtered and died after Mighty Morphing.
Incorporation of the Ebi Origami/Lobsterzord- This was something that was initially overlooked in Shikenger, especially in later episodes where
Spoiler
Jii brought out a scroll depicting all the origami combining, yet the Ebi Origami was created by Genta while training to be a samurai
. However, when Mentor brought it out and talked to Antiono about it and it's past, it made the Ebi Origami have some weight in the series.
Sentai Story- They incorporated many of Shikengers elements and episodes, like Pink's inability to cook or the episode where the boy was missing his father (making him a soldier was a nice touch as well.)
Naming of the Megazord combinations (at least, two of them)- Beetle Blaster Megazord sat well with me. I don't know why, but it just did.
Mike and Emily (A.K.A. Shiken Yellow settles down with Shiken Green)- This was another of those moments Shikenger missed out on. Sure, Kotoha was more like the 'Little Sister' of the team, and Chiaki Tanibut the connection between them

That was the good of the series. Now for the bad.

The addition of Spike- With Bulk back in the game, we had to have someone to match him. That someone was NOT Spike. Where Skull was funny and a good side-kick for Bulk, Spike was just plain annoying. Whenever he laughed, I felt like stabbing my ears with rusty metal nails and running a current through them.
Mega Modes- The design was awesome, but the functionality of it in show was pretty much nill. It was pretty much only there for toy sales. Saban would've had something really good going if he gave it more use outside of Megazord control, like a team-power up/armor for the later half of the series.
The Puns- The whole show was full of annoying and irritating puns. I haven't heard any that bad since the 'We're gonna toss your salad remark from Power Rangers Turbo (look it up. It exists) To show just how bad they were, take this quote from TheLastTatlFan, a fellow user here on the forums:
Spoiler
TheLastTatlFan wrote:
Spoiler
"They had me all tied up, and I was in knots! And that was KNOTS fair!"

Now, lemme walk you through that.

Somebody. Wrote that line. Intentionally typed it up, read it back and thought to themselves "Yeah, this is totally quality work worth submitting that won't get me fired."
And then, someone else read it and thought "Yeah, this is PERFECT! This is totally a good line!" And paid someone else to record it.

They do, indeed, assume that their target audience of young American children is the only audience that matters.
And they believe the children of America are retarded.

Specials- These were pretty much Saban flexing his Monetary Muscle and adding some more American Exclusive things to Power Rangers. These half-hour shows were pretty much the definition of 'filler episodes.' All of them were either full of bad puns and textbook flashbacks that really weren't needed or just incorperating extra footage from Shikenger (it wasn't even edited right in some points).
Weapon and Attack Names- I get that this was a kids show, but some of the names were just plain basic. No imagination to them whatsoever. I mean, Fire Smasher? Dragon Splash? Airway? Tree/Earth Symbol Striker? You can do better than that. WAY better.
Symbol Power- Hearing that was irritating. What was worse was the fact that they actually admitted to the symbols being kanji in the last two episodes of Super Samurai, a fact that I think could have been added at the start of the series.
No talking Daigoyou- I guess this really isn't something new, considering that in Dino Fury the Dinosaurs were supposed to communicate with their rangers, but it still ticked me off that we get another Mute assistant.

Now, some may think that this is over here. Trust me, it gets worse.

The Ugly.
Master Xandread: I absolutely hated the way his character was. I know it's a kids show, but they completely screwed over Doukoku. The thing I despised was how they pretty much removed the minor compassion he showed for Tayu (or Daiou) and just left him pretty much like Bredoran. That just really pissed me off.
Cast innacuracies- This show was pretty much a carbon copy of Shikenger, so why is there only one person that looks like they have some Asain roots? If these guys are decendents of samurai from Japan, shouldn't they show more Japanese heritage? From my understanding, most high class samurai clans didn't exactly allow marriges to outsiders or people of a forigen blood.
The Toys- I disliked the fact that saban decided to cut corners and remove the origami folding gimick. And remove the lights and sounds from the Lobsterzord and the 'charging' effect from the bullzord. He could've made some serious money there.

Now for a section that is kinda self explanatory in the title.

Things That couldn't be helped.

The 'medicine'- This was something that I completely understood had to be changed. These days, most American kids lack something called 'common sense and discipline.' If it was known that Xandread had a drinking problem, I'm quite certain that many little kids would be raiding their parents liquor/wine cabinets just to see how it felt to be Xandread for a moment.
Editing of the second Halloween Episode- This filler episode featured some (badly edited) clips from Shikenger Returns and Saban had to do something with the footage. Although, I don't really agree with the use of Mako's dream to cover for some of that, namely just almost whiting her out instead of having Mia actually sing on stage (the have the film lot for it. We can see that by the number of American Extras that were there.) And the Cross-dressing thing? That was never gonna fly in the states.
The Clash of the Red Rangers 1hr special/movie: This was one of those things that could have waited until every actor was in place. The entire thing felt rushed and unorganized. I understand why Saban had to do it this way, but at the same time, he should have done better. If every person from the past season of rangers is missing, you can easily skip around this team-up and save it for a later date (or just not do it at all.)

Overall, for Sabans return to the saddle, I felt that he really screwed the pooch here. Disney had it right seeing how they targeted not only kids, but the older generations that still watch and follow the show. Power Rangers has it's knack for standing out against it's Super Sentai counterparts, but this time Saban tried too hard and failed to deliver a show really deserving of the title 'Power Rangers.'
Last edited by FangTrigger on Fri Jan 18, 2013 1:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: My Opinion on Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai (T

Post by locuas »

I agree, i think the deker & dayu decision was a great one, in my opinion. And, to be honest, i think they are a little better as characters than their counterparts, specially dayu.
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Re: My Opinion on Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai

Post by TheLastTatlFan »

Pretty good review, I'd say it sums it up nicely... As for my own input...

-Somebody needs to explain to Saban Brands' writing staff that a harmonium is an actual instrument, and it is nothing like a shamisen.

-Is it really necessary for Deker to say "My sword, Uramasa" or "My true sword, Uramasa" every time he refers to it? Gets kind of annoying after a while...

-I think having Mike and Emily explicitly be an item was a mistake.
The actors had no real chemistry together (That hand-holding in the finale felt awkward just to watch), the characters had no real moments establishing it, it was a Telling Without Showing affair that I can't really fathom why they would include (The show's target demographic being an age group that still sees girls and romance and kissing and such as "yucky"), aside from I guess the head writer having shipped Chiaki and Kotoha and using the show as fanfiction?

-Paul Schrier ad Felix Ryan had nothing to do
I didn't think Spike was that bad (Or rather, at least he wasn't much worse than Skull), the comic relief duo's real crime was simply wasting their screentime. Spike had his crush on Mia, and there was that episode where they found the mansion and begged for training, but as far as the rest of the show goes they were entirely filler characters.

-I hate how the Clawzord was a damaged Zord the Shiba house had all along and Antonio just fixed it. If it and the Light Zord had been written as failed experiments that Antonio tinkered with and got working, that would've been fine, great, even, but as-is it just makes the forces of good look so incompetent as to be incapable of repairing the very technology they pioneered.

-They completely botched the twist.
Spoilers involved, don't click unless you've finished Shinkenger.
Spoiler
The twist in Shinkenger is that Takeru, the man we're told is the rightful head of the Shiba clan, is actually a decoy, and his loner persona and insistence that the others worry about their own survival before his is because he sees himself as a fake and doesn't want anyone needlessly dying over a lie.
Samurai completely, unsalvageably fucks this plot point up by downplaying Jayden's social status and making Lauren his older sister. So he actually IS the head of the Shiba clan, with Lauren being dead to the world. At one point Mike claims "He must have felt like his whole life was a lie..." What, exactly, would he be claiming about his identity that's not true? That he's an only child? That he's slacking off on learning the sealing symbol? And then he decides to leave because, if he stays at the mansion while Lauren is red ranger, and I quote, "Dangerous mistakes could be made." Like what? The other rangers calling out the wrong name in battle? And for this exceptionally vague reason, he decides to abandon HIS CHILDHOOD HOME and HIS LAST LIVING RELATIVE. It infuriates me...


-Also holy shit Kim Crossman is really cute, and easily the best actress in the show. I wish they'd done a few more episodes between Lauren revealing herself and the finale. Oh well, there's always the Megaforce crossover...

-Dayu and Deker's relationship was a good idea in theory, but it went to waste.
They really needed to spend more time establishing that Deker is becoming increasingly heartless as the days go by. His live-by-the-sword philosophy towards the end would have made more sense, and it would have emphasized the depths of despair Dayu had reached by the time she was absorbed into Xandred.

-And it bears repeating: the puns are plentiful and painful.

In conclusion, I'd say the core problem with Samurai is that it's stuck between trying to be a back-to-basics return to form for Power Rangers, while also attempting to be a faithful adaptation of Shinkenger (Which has it's own problems with the cultural differences between America and Japan, but that's a whole other thread). It should have tried harder to have it's own story, because it NEEDED to re-establish the PR brand, and trying to be like Shinkenger was a contest it could only lose, miserably.
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Re: My Opinion on Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai

Post by FangTrigger »

TheLastTatlFan wrote:-Is it really necessary for Deker to say "My sword, Uramasa" or "My true sword, Uramasa" every time he refers to it? Gets kind of annoying after a while...


-Paul Schrier ad Felix Ryan had nothing to do
I didn't think Spike was that bad (Or rather, at least he wasn't much worse than Skull), the comic relief duo's real crime was simply wasting their screentime. Spike had his crush on Mia, and there was that episode where they found the mansion and begged for training, but as far as the rest of the show goes they were entirely filler characters.

-I hate how the Clawzord was a damaged Zord the Shiba house had all along and Antonio just fixed it. If it and the Light Zord had been written as failed experiments that Antonio tinkered with and got working, that would've been fine, great, even, but as-is it just makes the forces of good look so incompetent as to be incapable of repairing the very technology they pioneered.

-They completely botched the twist.
Spoilers involved, don't click unless you've finished Shinkenger.
Spoiler
The twist in Shinkenger is that Takeru, the man we're told is the rightful head of the Shiba clan, is actually a decoy, and his loner persona and insistence that the others worry about their own survival before his is because he sees himself as a fake and doesn't want anyone needlessly dying over a lie.
Samurai completely, unsalvageably fucks this plot point up by downplaying Jayden's social status and making Lauren his older sister. So he actually IS the head of the Shiba clan, with Lauren being dead to the world. At one point Mike claims "He must have felt like his whole life was a lie..." What, exactly, would he be claiming about his identity that's not true? That he's an only child? That he's slacking off on learning the sealing symbol? And then he decides to leave because, if he stays at the mansion while Lauren is red ranger, and I quote, "Dangerous mistakes could be made." Like what? The other rangers calling out the wrong name in battle? And for this exceptionally vague reason, he decides to abandon HIS CHILDHOOD HOME and HIS LAST LIVING RELATIVE. It infuriates me...


-Dayu and Deker's relationship was a good idea in theory, but it went to waste.
They really needed to spend more time establishing that Deker is becoming increasingly heartless as the days go by. His live-by-the-sword philosophy towards the end would have made more sense, and it would have emphasized the depths of despair Dayu had reached by the time she was absorbed into Xandred.
I agree with you on these points. Juzo didn't refer to his sword so much, he just simply said that he was cursed and desired the ultimate duel. And Bulk and Skull actually had a reason to be on the show (for the most part anyway. They sometimes served to move the plot along.) Bulk and Spike were pretty much wastes of space. Although it was true that both the Claw and LightZord were pretty much given B.S. stories, it did help, especially with the Clawzord. Lightzord on the other hand..... It just wasn't the same without Daigoyou's voice and character.
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Re: My Opinion on Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai

Post by Kuchiri »

I've spoken my biggest complaint multiple times.

They are descendants of Japanese warriors... I understand Saban always want to have a racial diverse team. However, they should have at least made the Red Ranger Japanese. I could see 1-3 of them not being Japanese if their ancestors married other races. Heck it would be sort of unique if they had 5 Japanese with one Caucasian and give stories about cultural diversity and stories of acceptance that way.

However the only Japanese person we got was the Pink Ranger.

The Red Ranger is supposed to be royalty he should have been Japanese, or a great twist would have been if his sister Lauren was Japanese and it was revealed to everyone he was adopted. It would have been a nice nod to Shinkenger and could have open the whole story of accepting someone for not being who they said they were and would give kids in foster homes a hero.
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Re: My Opinion on Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai

Post by FangTrigger »

Kuchiri wrote:I've spoken my biggest complaint multiple times.

They are descendants of Japanese warriors... I understand Saban always want to have a racial diverse team. However, they should have at least made the Red Ranger Japanese. I could see 1-3 of them not being Japanese if their ancestors married other races. Heck it would be sort of unique if they had 5 Japanese with one Caucasian and give stories about cultural diversity and stories of acceptance that way.

However the only Japanese person we got was the Pink Ranger.

The Red Ranger is supposed to be royalty he should have been Japanese, or a great twist would have been if his sister Lauren was Japanese and it was revealed to everyone he was adopted. It would have been a nice nod to Shinkenger and could have open the whole story of accepting someone for not being who they said they were and would give kids in foster homes a hero.
Although I agree with you, many people in the states would play the race card and then demand that the show get taken off the air because for the lack of a African-america/Caucasian/pick a race. Our ignorance goes wide and far on matters like that
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Re: My Opinion on Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai

Post by locuas »

I don't mind the diverse races...but blue's actor just plain Suuuuuck. I don't know if it was the actor or the dialogue, but everytime blue spoke soething, i wanted to hit my head against a wall.
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Re: My Opinion on Power Rangers Samurai and Super Samurai

Post by JT515 »

Kuchiri wrote:I've spoken my biggest complaint multiple times.

They are descendants of Japanese warriors... I understand Saban always want to have a racial diverse team. However, they should have at least made the Red Ranger Japanese. I could see 1-3 of them not being Japanese if their ancestors married other races. Heck it would be sort of unique if they had 5 Japanese with one Caucasian and give stories about cultural diversity and stories of acceptance that way.

However the only Japanese person we got was the Pink Ranger.

The Red Ranger is supposed to be royalty he should have been Japanese, or a great twist would have been if his sister Lauren was Japanese and it was revealed to everyone he was adopted. It would have been a nice nod to Shinkenger and could have open the whole story of accepting someone for not being who they said they were and would give kids in foster homes a hero.
either way Takeru Shiba for the win :)
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