Super Sentai is more commonly known as Power Rangers outside of Japan, but don't be deceived, Super Sentai is not simply Power Rangers in Japanese. On the above picture is the newest Super Sentai, the 35th Anniversary show, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (Pirate Task Force Gokaiger, and yes, Gokaiger is a totally made up word). The Gokaigers are space pirates from another planet with, of course, the ability to speak perfect Japanese. Besides simply being a pirate-themed Sentai, they also possess the unique ability to transform into any previous Sentai, regardless of color or gender. Already demonstrated in the 2nd episode was the entire team transforming into red rangers with the two girls gaining skirts when they transform. Gokaiger is also notable for being... well incredibly violent even by Sentai standards. While it's normal for Sentai to feature blood and on-screen permanent character deaths, it's still rare for Sentai guns to fire blanks rather than lasers. Gokaiger is only 2 episodes in, but the series is quickly moving forward to feature what seems to be as many previous Sentai actors as possible.
On the top left is the latest Kamen Rider show, Kamen Rider OOO. Kamen Rider has received two American adaptations: Saban's Masked Rider, adapted from Kamen Rider Black RX, and Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, adapted from Kamen Rider Ryuki. Masked Rider was an incredibly poor and cheap adaptation of Black RX, cancelled because Saban ran out of Black RX footage and because ratings were downright atrocious. Dragon Knight was the 2nd attempt to bring Kamen Rider to the US, but while it featured good ratings and good reviews by Kamen Rider fans, CW's incredibly stupid policies led to the show being cancelled with 2 episodes left to air. It seems that the CW 4Kids requires seasons to end before December 31. If a season does not finish airing by then, it will not be considered for renewal and will be automatically cancelled. This fallout has led most to speculate that Kamen Rider may never again see the light of day on American television.
Kamen Rider follows a similar format to Super Sentai/Power Rangers, but varies in having typically only one hero and a few supporting cast members that typically total around 3-5 cast members (Kamen Rider Ryuki being an extremely notable exception). They are called "Riders" because they ride motorcycles, although some Kamen Riders have become notorious for rarely riding their bikes and some Riders (typically the secondary or evil Riders) not having motorcycles. Kamen Rider also typically has a darker and more mature tone than that of Super Sentai, even though both are targeted towards children. Not like you'd notice of course, since Japan has very different standards than the US does.
Actors who have appeared in Super Sentai and Kamen Rider have admitted that because of the deep storytelling, mature themes, and permanent character death, the two shows really should be considered family shows, as opposed to children's shows. Because of the mature themes compared to what Americans get with Power Rangers, Americans tend to view the two shows as being for a teenage audience.
Stay tuned, I'll be posting my reviews of the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider shows I've seen and I'll even post my thoughts on who did it better: Super Sentai or Power Rangers.
No comments:
Post a Comment