Tag: Ninninger

‘Power Rangers’ Will Not Be Exclusive to Netflix in 2017

by Eric Francisco

Last week Collider reported that Saban and Netflix had finalized a deal in which the 20-plus year old children’s superhero franchise would be an exclusive to the popular on demand streaming service. According to our friends at Den of Geek!, it’s false.

“[T]here is no accuracy to the report that Power Rangers is moving exclusively to Netflix in 2017,” said a Saban Brands rep to Den of Geek!

Not confirmed is whether or not Power Rangers will stay at its current home on Nickelodeon.

In the original Collider rumor, the 24th season of Power Rangers would be an adaptation of the currently-airing Shuriken Sentai Ninninger and that the new Power Rangers would be titled Power Rangers Shruiken. My radar should have gone off when I noticed “Shruiken” was totally misspelled, but I chalked that up to people not knowing their Asian weapons of warfare. People pronounce katana “ka-tay-na,” for example.

Not to throw shade at Collider but whoever is giving them scoops seems dubious. Their reports on the 2017 Power Rangers film have been spotty; the site recently revealed the alleged character names in the movie; the Red Ranger was named “Callum Oliver” which fueled rumors regarding the continuity of the movie (“Oliver” is the last name of original Green/White Ranger, Tommy). In a confirmed tweet by the official Power Rangers Twitter, the report turned out to be incorrect.

As of now, Power Rangers is expected to continue broadcasting on Nickelodeon with Power Rangers Dino Supercharge airing 2016. Later this month, the Red Ranger balloon will return to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

‘Shuriken Sentai Ninninger’ Episode Previews Reveal Return of TWO Veteran Red Rangers!

by Eric Francisco

I haven’t been watching Ninninger as much as I originally wanted to, but I loved the pilot and the rest of the episodes I have saved for a rainy day. No really, that’s when I like to binge-watch.

On a Tumblr fan blog this morning, it was revealed in a few episode previews that Teruaki Ogawa and Shun Shioya, who portrayed “Sasuke” in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger and “Yousuke” in Ninpu Sentai Hurricanger respectively will be reprising their roles in the current Super Sentai series!

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From shurikensentai:

Here are Ninninger’s episode summaries for April. The scan states that all titles are tentative. What’s interesting is that we’ll be getting some special guests in the seventh episode!

 

(April 5th) Episode 6: “Ninjutsu Midterm Exam!”
Summary: During the re-test, it’s Takaharu versus the other four! But Fuuka gets captured!?

 

(April 12th) Episode 7: “Emissaries From the Past”
Summary: Tsumuji brings in Ninja Red and Hurricane Red to teach the Ninningers.

 

(April 19th) Episode 8: “Brother and Sister”
Summary: Nagi and Fuuka enroll in high school.

 

(April 26th) Episode 9: “Star Assassin”
Summary: “The end of shuriken”, Yakumo’s Mother…

This is somewhat unprecedented. Not counting Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger in which the very premise was the return of veterans, this will be the first time a team-up will occur within the main series. Team-ups between rookie and veteran teams have occurred almost every year, and in recent years with the Super Hero Taisen blockbusters it’s amazing all of Japan hasn’t run out of spandex. But they always happened in separate movies, because the novelty of seeing the teams interact is enough of an attraction on its own.

But to have a team-up, and so early in Ninninger‘s run? Exciting!

Let us know if you know literally ANYTHING I said above in the comments!

Low-Res Banner Reveals “Shuriken Sentai Ninninger,” 2015’s Super Sentai Series

by Eric Francisco

While Power Rangers Dino Charge is right around the corner, standing quietly behind it is the next iteration of Power Rangers’ Japanese sibling show, Super Sentai. Long-rumored to be the ninja-themed Shuriken Sentai Ninninger (yes, that’s a small typo away from trouble), a very pixel-y, low-resolution banner image has been leaked and posted on RangerBoard.

Confirmed: Yes, it’s Ninninger and they are ninjas.

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With 1994’s Ninja Sentai Kakuranger and 2002’s Ninpu Sentai Hurricanger, this is now the third ninja-themed Super Sentai series in the franchise (but certainly not the third to have ninjas at all, see: 1987’s Hikari Sentai Maskman). And, I like it!

Every year around this time the look of the next Super Sentai series is leaked in some form or another in very low-resolution images. This year is no different, but for once the costumes look pretty good despite the Windows 95-era image quality. The suit designs are expectedly a mix of Kakuranger, Hurricanger, and somewhat of a surprise, I see a little of 2009’s Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.

For the past few years I avoided Super Sentai due to incredibly dumb premises I couldn’t get past. I can definitely get behind plain, badass ninjas. Have you seen this year’s Ressha Sentai ToQger? If you frequent sites like Uproxx, you might have heard of it.

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This isn’t a bootleg. This is real.

ToQger looks silly and goofy (and I’ve been told it really is, because Jesus Christ look at the picture above), and not in the charming ’66 Batman way either. 2013’s Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger mixed dinosaurs with samba dancing, which only makes sense in Japan. 2012’s Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters has been hailed as a storytelling masterpiece by my fellow peers, but I couldn’t stand the low-rent C-3POs each Ranger had as their companions robots.

On the topic of spandex color and genders, this is the first since 1985’s Dengeki Sentai Changeman to feature a female White Ranger and Pink Ranger. Retro! And, look, about that.

I know I’ve been serving as the sort of official/unofficial liaison between Geekscape and the Power Rangers fandom, and I hope you’ve been finding my job at that satisfactory thus far, but there are some nuances — like the gender/color combination as a thing to care about — that are totally normal to me but weird to you and that’s something I take for granted. Fans looking forward to what colors will be used and the gender of each Ranger has become something of a …thing to speculate. I can’t tell you why. It just is. Thanks for just going with it, I sincerely appreciate it.

Anyway. Unlike Dino Charge, which has TV promos online, toys already on shelves, and even a smart phone app to play with, Ninninger is still just away from arm’s reach. This pixel-feast of a banner is all we have. So stay tuned to Geekscape, we’ll post more information as soon as we know more.