One thing I noticed with Zyuranger was a number of recurring themes utilized in many of the stories and in connection with the monsters featured. There is the overwhelming prevalence of magic, mysticism as well as fantasy and fairy tale elements as it pertains to the various characters and plots. most of the drama or even the focus of some of the plots or even some of the solutions are derived from elements taken from fairy tales or some sort of magical item.
also children tend to feature rather prominently in many of the plots, and most plots tend to revolve around Bandora's particular hatred for children and very frequently we see children in peril very often on the series.
its actually pretty cool, and it merely adds to the appeal of this series, and without a doubt is a series most geared towards a family viewing audience. There is a charm and a certain amount of magic and adventure in this series that feels natural, and organic unlike other shows I've watched that are supposed to be for kids or family viewing and they come across as being just downright annoying.
Looking forwad to seeing the rest of this series subbed.
Recurring themes and motifs
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- Hyakkiyakou wo Buttagiru
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Re: Recurring themes and motifs
That's what ZyuRanger is all about. It creates a story with dinosaurs and creates a "fairy tale" theme with it. Every episode has a lot of things that would make you go "Wow, that's totally unrealistic". When ZyuRanger aired in 1992 in Japan, it was more popular with the kids than the grown-ups because the story was too childish for the older audience, especially since ZyuRanger came after Jetman, an outrageously popular Sentai series of the 90s that made the fans crave to the point that Toei released a manga version of Jetman a few years after.
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- Hyakkiyakou wo Buttagiru
- Posts: 146
- Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 11:33 am
- Favorite series: Dekaranger
- 2nd Favorite Series: Maskman
- Favorite Actor?: Johnny Depp
- Alignment: Chaotic Good
- My boom: Tokusatsu
- Quote: 'If you can't learn to love yourself... how the hell are you gonna love anybody else?' - RuPaul Charles
Re: Recurring themes and motifs
I get that the fantastical elements featured in Zyuranger would be seen as 'childish' especially when following directly from something as intensely dramatic as Jetman.
My wife and I felt the same way when we attempted to watch 'Magiranger' immediately after coming off 'Dekaranger'.
We felt it was a mistake to do so, and that reason being that, much like the situation when Zyuranger first came out after Jetman, expectations were very high that the next Sentai program would follow on in a similar fashion from the kind of storytelling that had been utilized in the previous series.
I may give Magiranger a second chance, but I'm still not sure.
Anyway, I feel that the fairy tale elements on display for Zyuranger actually work, because it also illustrates and demonstrates an innocent and childlike quality of what is essentially pure imagination, where anything is possible and things like logic have no bearing. Its one of the things that seems to be missing from a majority of children's programming nowadays.
The definition of children's programming in today's world lacks any real imagination or innovation, and just seems content to talk down to children rather than educate them or even inspire them.
Something like Zyuranger has elements that appeal both to children and adults without any particular element having complete dominance over the other, it is essentially a perfect blend of some serious dramatic elements, some light hearted slapstick comedy, action, adventure, wonder and imagination, all working together in perfect harmony.
My wife and I felt the same way when we attempted to watch 'Magiranger' immediately after coming off 'Dekaranger'.
We felt it was a mistake to do so, and that reason being that, much like the situation when Zyuranger first came out after Jetman, expectations were very high that the next Sentai program would follow on in a similar fashion from the kind of storytelling that had been utilized in the previous series.
I may give Magiranger a second chance, but I'm still not sure.
Anyway, I feel that the fairy tale elements on display for Zyuranger actually work, because it also illustrates and demonstrates an innocent and childlike quality of what is essentially pure imagination, where anything is possible and things like logic have no bearing. Its one of the things that seems to be missing from a majority of children's programming nowadays.
The definition of children's programming in today's world lacks any real imagination or innovation, and just seems content to talk down to children rather than educate them or even inspire them.
Something like Zyuranger has elements that appeal both to children and adults without any particular element having complete dominance over the other, it is essentially a perfect blend of some serious dramatic elements, some light hearted slapstick comedy, action, adventure, wonder and imagination, all working together in perfect harmony.