Ah, Boukenger, one of the most overrated sentai series ever. Where do I begin:
1. There are too many mecha, and they are all BOOORING. I mean, in Gaoranger, we had a lot of mecha, but each mecha combination in Gaoranger was different and they had personality.
2. Way too many villains.
3. The alum cameos do nothing for the children watching the show. In Gokaiger, the former sentai warriors appeared, showing that super sentai is a series that has been going on for a long time, and that no matter how old you are, you can still fight and be a superhero. The children knew "hey, that guy who is my dad's age played OhRed. That's really cool." I guess the alum cameos in Boukenger are supposed to be a wink to the older fans, but first off, they are too subtle. You can't recognize the sentai actors--especially GaoBlue, considering his was a dragon abomination most of the time. Secondly, Super Sentai airs at 7:30 on Sunday morning. Kids are fine waking up early to watch their favorite show, but teenagers and adults want to sleep in.
4. The monster designs are supposed to be another "subtle" wink, as they are supposed to be homages to sentai mecha. But I can't tell that clusterf!ck monster A is a tribute to BioRobo. And the kids aren't obviously going to get it.
5. Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai>Boukenger vs. Super Sentai. I mean, in Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai, they got some recent actors, all who played lovable character who you'd want to see again (gentle giant Gouki, spunky cell phone addict Miku, and hellfire calcium-obsessed Daimon) and then they get Red F!cking Falcon, who does this amazing scene with GaoYellow, and BIG ONE who is in his 60s, and still kicks ass, and somehow gets cooler and likeable because he's older. Boukenger didn't even dig deep enough, and only got recent actors. Granted, AbareBlack is cool, but still.
6. The forced Red/Pink romance. I hate BoukenPink. The actress is okay, I don't hate her. I hate the character. She is a Mary Sue. And looking back at all of the female sentai characters, she is the only one I could think of that is a Mary Sue. She's a perfect fighter, she's the subleader of the team, she's smart, and every guy on the team wants to bang her, and she gets red in the end. It's so forced and thrown in. Most of you guys know I hate Red and Pink shipping (because it's lazy, amongst other reasons), and it's like the writers wanted to give me the middle finger before I even got into sentai (although I doubt they know me). So yeah, let's throw it in last minute. BoukenPink is soooo perfect but she has one flaw: she loves red. But he doesn't notice. Gollie Jee Wilickers! What's a girl to do?
But no, those all pale in comparison to this realization I had:
So, originally it was Satoru, Souta, and Sakura who were on the team. Then they hire Masumi and Natsuki. Now, I can understand Masumi, I mean, he's a treasure thief or whatever, but Natsuki. I know Masumi found Natsuki who was trapped under a rock or something, but she has no skills.
In fact, Natsuki shouldn't be on the team. She should be in a hospital, for rehabilitation as she's been unconscious for 3000 or so years! You know how when astronauts come back to earth, they need to do some physical therapy because they are adjusting to the increase in gravity, well, what Natsuki endured is more than a few years in zero gravity. She should be undergoing the process the Timerangers went through in the first episode of Time Ranger, when they had to watch 20th history really fast and absorb it all in before travelling to the past.
And because Natsuki didn't get any help, she is a trainwreck. And that's when I realized the real reason she was on the team: so they could feel better about themselves. And so they could look good in comparison to her. And that just makes them even more horrible people. Natsuki has nothing to offer the team despite the fact she gets random psychic visions sometimes--but she shouldn't be fighting. Satoru is all like "she has the soul of an adventurer" or something in the first episode--no, she doesn't, Satoru is really saying "hey, if we screw up, at least we aren't like her." At least she's a scapegoat.
And because of that, the Boukengers are horrible people.
Hi ThatChick! Nice to have you back!
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'd like to disagree about BoukenPink being so perfect. I mean, she's a very cold person, that's a real flaw. I mean, she can be too strict and unreasonable in a way. Just glad the actress isn't like her character.
Sean, being cold and strict isn't a major dramatic flaw. I think you're blinded because you think she's pretty.
DeleteWell, I think YOU'RE gorgeous!
DeleteI don't know why you think being cold isn't a major flaw. Though I'll admit I can be very cold and I consider that my major flaw.
Deletehello ThatChick! I'd like to disagree on the villains. Boukenger only had 3 main groups of villain. Operation Overdrive had *a whole lot more*.
ReplyDeleteWell, sorry for bringing up Power Rangers but really, comparing Boukenger 3 groups with 5-6 groups of OO, I think Boukenger is as small as having 1 set of villains.
I agree about Sakura so hard. People make out that she and Mako (and sometimes Yuuri) are the only competent or worthwhile Pink Rangers and all the others are girly-girly idiots. I'm so fed up with seeing her used to bash other characters, or her romance with Akashi treated like it's twu wuv and empowering when it's horribly contrived and the writers obviously thought that she needed this "weakness" of being in "love" with the hero otherwise she'd be too strong and a b*tch.
ReplyDeleteAnd then people also use Boukenger to bash Gaoranger ("it's bland!!!! Boukenger is so much more exciting!!!!!!1111") and Gokaiger ("it's terrible! it has no plot, villains or character development! Boukenger is so much better, it's got ITS OWN STORY!") Change the record, why don't you?
First off, cool user name. Second off, agreed. Also, if you want strong pink rangers look at Dynapink (she uses a fencing sword as a weapon and is an amazing fighter and played by an amazing actress), Pink Five (she can hold her own, and can making flute playing look epic), Change Phoenix (reconnaissance is one of the toughest and most dangerous jobs you can do in the army, and they gave it to her, not any of the men) pretty much most of the Pink Rangers of the 80s. And I love Gaoranger and Gokaiger. That's how you do an anniversary series. And I can't say anything bad about the team members with regards to their personalities (unless you want me to discuss about how the fans portray them). It's nice to find someone who agrees with me about Boukenger.
DeleteThank you! I love Starlight Express, so I can't wait for next year's train Sentai XD
DeleteI agree that most '70s - '80s Sentai heroines were just as tough as, if not more so, than Sakura. Supposedly, Sakura was based on MomoRanger but if that's the case, what we have is a really weak imitation with an unnecessary romance thrown in. It's like Masumi is supposed to be based on Black Condor yet has nothing that made that character likeable and popular, and basically comes across as a whiny teenager a lot of the time. In Natsuki's case, people are very hypocrite about her. One minute they're saying that she has the mind of a child so she can't be blamed for her flaws or held responsible for her actions. The next they say that she's an adult so it's ok for the audience to drool over her, for Masumi to fool in love with her, and she's still grown-up and smart enough to be a totally badass heroine! Well which one is it, then?
On the subject of Boukenger Vs Super Sentai, I think people love it just because they got back a lot of the most popular characters of recent years. Everyone is a fanboy for Nanami. MagiShine was a really popular character. Deka was a huge hit that was still recent at the time of the movie, so people were glad to see Tetsu back. It seems like ever since Go-onger, the fandom has been way more critical of recent Sentai, and there's a sizable group that holds up early to mid-2000 shows including Bouken, Deka and Magi as the "best" way to do a modern-day Sentai. I believe that has a lot to do with it.
I had the Boukenger hangouver myself but I do agree that Gokaiger is done better in terms of nostalgic flashbacks and making a Sentai gush a lot. For Gaoranger, I like it better than Boukenger and Gokaiger execution-wise.
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