You all may have noticed during the
hiccup of March updates that I've barely touched on Kyuranger. Truth
be told I've been sort of avoiding it. After the debacle that was
Iron Fist I needed better superhero television in my life. After some
recovery time I've been able to look at Kyuranger again and well...I
still don't much care for it. Ok, so I should probably elaborate just
a little.
When last we covered this show, the
group was still searching for one more team member and trying to
figure out how to turn the seemingly villainous orange ranger to
their side. Episode four was all about the missing part of their team
as Raptor, the ships pilot/secretary became the pink ranger complete
with a set of wings.....for some reason. We were also given a little
bit of advancement for her character along with Sparda. In her case
it's that she's very much a daydreamer and with him it's that his
protective nature can get a little out of hand. If that doesn't seem
like a lot of details it's because this episode was also home to some
much needed exposition.
Turns out the evil empire Jark Matter
makes a point of mining each planet they conquer for a material
called, get this, plantium. It's the life blood of every planet and
once enough is siphoned off, everything goes poof. The planet in the
most imminent danger just so happens to be Earth so our heroes have
an excuse to hunker down in Japan and give the budget a break. Maybe
I was expecting too much but when the idea of a galaxy faring team
was first presented I didn't expect them to sit around Earth for what
is so far over half the series.
Speaking of budget, that's also given
a little wink wink joke when the kyu roulette is introduced. The
celestial energy the team uses may not be infinite so every mission
they have a roulette to see who will make up the team. Normally I'd
be for this as a means of ensuring different characters get their
chance to shine while finding unique pairings. Problem is certain
characters are always included, like Lucky, the annoying pox that he
is. Viewers who prefer a more tertiary character like Raptor get to
suffer as their favorite is ignored week after week while Lucky hogs
the spotlight.
Episode five brought Stinger back to
the forefront so he could finally be wrapped up into the team. Turns
out he was never a bad guy, he was just under cover for the
rebellion, or maybe he is a bad guy since he still seemingly killed
the black rangers creator, but he definitely doesn't kill kids so in
this shows logic he must be good enough. Yeah....I don't get it
either.
There is some deeper storytelling at
play here however as Stinger has his own personal quest to deal with.
His older brother sold out their people to Jark Matter and became a
top assassin for the organization. Family feuds may not be all that
original for space opera but I'm willing to give this show a bone
when it earns it.
Episode six was pitched as if it might
be a focused on Hammy. The primary drama was about her aim to be team
leader, and her irritation at Lucky for getting so much so easily
while she works and trains like a dog. The lesson of this tale? She
doesn't realize how great Lucky is. Oh god dammit! Is this shit for
real? When given the opportunity to present some actual drama and
talk about the issue of a character who just magically wins at life
the show just rubs that character in our face all the more. And the
excuse? Lucky is only the most lucky person in the universe because
of how positive he is and that positive energy attracts luck. I'm
about to throw up. Even the notion of picking a team leader is cast
aside because Lucky doesn't think they need one since everybody on
the team is a star according to him. Don't ya love it when team
praising platitudes come outta the guy who gets all the attention?
What a load of horse cum.
Episode Seven was an honest to god
attempt at a fully featured team story line. A monster steals
Balance's birthday and the whole group has to try and make things
right. This almost works except for a completely unnecessary cameo by
the current Kamen Rider that only serves to eat up time. Not to
mention contued focus on....you guessed it, Lucky.
You've probably noticed I hardly
mention the monsters and frankly it's because they're boring. So far
there hasn't been a real baddie to latch onto. I suppose that's only
natural for a show that doesn't even have time to properly feature
its own heroes but the result when combined with the relative ease of
each mission is that nothing feels like a threat, There simply isn't
much at stake here which makes the action scenes boring.
Nearly two months into the series and
Kyuranger still just isn't working. It feels like a show that wants
to be the new classic Sentai yet it refuses to put in any of the
work. Instead it throws explosions and shiny shit at the screen like
a spoiled rich kid hoping to earn your love with sheer dumb
spectacle. This is all the more obvious when I watch my DVD's of
older series like Kakuranger, a show with likable heroes who find
themselves in interesting situations against challenging monsters.
That was just a basic show but it succeeds by making an honest
attempt to be entertaining. Kyuranger has nothing standing in it's
way yet continues to stand in place and wave around sparklers.
I'm gonna give the show a couple more
weeks as the episode ten mark usually involves an upgrade in threats
and a shift in story line. That's a matter for another day though.
I've gotta attempt to sleep before going to work and setting this
years April Fools projects in motion. I take my April Fools pretty
seriously around here.
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