Every once in a while a person needs a
reminder as to why they love or hate different things. I had one of
those moments over the weekend when I visited a mead hall during a
Nordic themed festival. It was loud, overpriced, packed with people,
just generally lackluster though it served as an excellent reminder
of why I do my drinking at home. That may not be the most glamorous
or socially accepted form of intoxication but it's how I like it. The
connection I'm drawing to viewing Kyuranger is that while it is far
from my preferred show, I still love the Super Sentai franchise. Even
in it's weakest entries, it provides a unique entertainment cocktail
I wouldn't miss for the world. As you recall, the premiere episode
was a pretty major flop though I'm pleased to report some marked
improvements over the past two weekends. It's not a good show, not
yet, but it's my duty to point out progress.
The big improvement thus far is the
introduction of characters with a bit of personality. In episode two
it was the double dose of Balance and Naga, our gold and silver
rangers respectively. Let's talk Balance first. He's a robot or as he
prefers to be known a “mechanical lifeform.” He's a blowhard and
a tad obnoxious though what sets him apart is that he's very
self-serving. Instead of justice or lofty ideals, Balance is on a
quest for jewels and wealth.
Also on his own selfish quest is Naga,
a young man who hails from a planet that cast off emotions as a means
to end conflict. Yes, they're essentially Vulcans but Naga is a
little different than the rest of his kind. The guy's on a quest to
experience emotions. Often times he tries to react to situations only
to pick the wrong emotional response.
Episode two also made the stride of
offering small bits of character development for other team members.
We learned that Raptor, the pilot and eventual pink ranger has
something of a temper. We also witness multiple examples of Sparda
being protective of Hammy. Not in a romantic sense, more like an
older sibling.
Episode three introduces yet another
ranger while providing some backstory for Champ, the robotic bull.
The new guy is the Orange ranger, Stinger. What sets him apart from
the others is that he seems to be a killer. Granted this is presented
in such a way that the writers could back out and claim he never did
it, but generally he seems to be a shitty guy. The story is that
Stinger apparently killed Champ's creator, Professor Anton. Beyond
that, the dick attacks our crew and currently works alongside Jark
Matter.
On the subject of Jark Matter, we've
gotten a few more details as to their operation. First up, the group
utilizes a food pyramid style chain of command which is where all the
villains of the week will stem from. For once we don't have to learn
the ins and outs of monster creation or rapid growth methods. All the
baddies already exist and many of them have large robots or space
ships to back them up.
On the evil plans front, Jark Matter
has a lust for a material called planetium, which is the life blood
of planets. The baddies harvest it to the point that planets become
unstable and blow up. Yeah, seems pretty evil to me.
With just these two episodes, this
series has made great strides in pushing the storyline and developing
its' cast. In particular I'm very happy to see the introduction of
rangers wit their own goals separate from simply fighting evil. This
is all the more when interesting you consider some of them are
morally lacking individuals.
Even with all those improvements,
there's still plenty to dislike here. Lucky continues to be very
annoying and some of the other heroes are still thin as paper. I
haven't even spoken about Garu, mainly because he's as interesting as
paper towels. The show also hasn't found its tone quite yet. While
the rivalry between Champ and Stinger should have been intense, it
was mostly limp.
What's odd is that Kyuranger isn't our
only outlet for Super Sentai this year. It was just announced that
for the first time ever, there will be an official Korean Spin-off.
Turns out Kyoryuger was crazy popular in Korea where it aired under
the Power Rangers moniker (cause why not make this franchise more
confusing?) and now there will be a twelve part spin-off. Rest
assured if this is made available with subtitles I will give it some
write-ups.
Is that it? Am I caught up? I'll admit
last weeks illness took me out of it for a bit and only now am I
recovering most of my common sense. Currently I'm that period where
it's great to feel good again but I'm trying to make up for a week of
mostly lost time. You know what that means, it's time for me to go.
Stay cool kiddies.
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