Tag: tokusatsu

Shout Factory! Unveils ‘Gosei Sentai Dairanger’ DVD Cover

by Eric Francisco

Shout! Factory did the impossible earlier this year when they released Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, the original 1992 Super Sentai series that Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers was adapted from, to foreign shores. It was the first American release of a Super Sentai and it was a time to be alive.

Well it’s time to stay alive for another round. Announced back at San Diego Comic-Con, Shout! will be releasing 1993’s Gosei Sentai Dairanger — from which the fabled White Ranger hails from — and they’ve unleashed the DVD cover to go with it.

https://twitter.com/RangerCrew/status/633368186897960960

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Looks exactly like something that came out in 1993! The colors are gaudy and mismatched. Yup, that was the ’90s.

Like the Zyuranger set last year, they’ve got the actors front and center but have noticeably omitted any neat shots of the (fugly) Dairanger costumes. This year it makes sense, no one except the hardcore fans recognize the Dairanger costumes, but last year they didn’t feature the Zyuranger costumes and that was pretty questionable. They don’t even have the White Ranger costume, and having him would be an instant “The hell is this?” from lesser-informed parties.

Then again, you don’t see these sets at Target. No one shopping at Target gives a damn, only fans in convention halls and shopping online so the paying customers already know what they’re looking for.

It goes without saying, but clearly there is a demand for these DVD sets here on western shores. If you have Zyuranger and Dairanger sitting in your hard drives, delete them and buy these DVDs. These are a dream come true and we as fans, who demanded these for fucking years, need to make good on our rage-filled keyboard strokes and buy these.

Oh, one last thing: Did you ever buy the Zyuranger DVD? I’m in it!

https://instagram.com/p/zl3ZxLgN2T/?taken-by=ericthedragon

‘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!

Former Yellow Ranger Karan Ashley Interviews ‘Zyuranger’ Cast on Uncensored Talk!

by Eric Francisco

Full disclosure: As stated in previous posts, former Power Rangers actress Karan Ashley (“Aisha,” the second Yellow Ranger) is a friend of mine.

But objectively, just as a fan of Power Rangers, the Super Sentai series and this whole bizarre niche of sci-fi and fantasy, this is incredible. This past weekend at the Lexington Comic & Toy Convention in Kentucky, both sides of the pacific clashed in a wonderful celebration of these color-coded space ninjas they built their careers upon in Karan Ashley’s Uncensored Talk, a web-based talk show that has featured the likes of Star Trek‘s Nichelle Nichols and other former Power Rangers.

Due to its length (just under 28 minutes) I haven’t had the chance to watch the whole thing yet, so check back later when I update this post with my reaction.

But I can say that when I was 10 years old and just discovering the online Power Rangers fandom (and why in the hell did my mom let me on the internet at 10-years-old?), Super Sentai felt like this weird, underground thing only the real fans knew about. Never mind that it wasn’t, it just felt like it. This was when even mainstream geek culture perceived Power Rangers to be a total Voltron knock-off, so knowing about Super Sentai gave the begrudging fans ammo and cred for years.

Now over a decade later as fandoms have penetrated the mainstream and knowledge of Super Sentai has become more widely known, no one has remained unreachable. That feeling of attainability, to shake the hand of someone you never thought you could, started when Yuta Mochizuki  (“Geki” the Tyranno Ranger in 1992’s Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger) appeared at last summer’s Power MorphiCon.

Fast forward a few months later to the hype of the Lexington con and almost out of the blue, Reiko Chiba (“Mei” the Ptera Ranger), Takumi Hashimoto (“Boi” the Tiger Ranger), and Aohisa Takayasu (“Goushi” the Mammoth Ranger) announced they’d be showing up for the convention, and who else but the amazing ball of enthusiasm and energy Karan Ashley sat them down for a half-hour for a truly historic meeting of geek legends.

For every Power Rangers and tokusatsu fan, this recent weekend in Lexington was a historic treat. I saw it all happen on my Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram feeds while I was stuck in New Jersey. I was hella jealous, sure, but I’ll feel better when I pimp out my weekend in San Diego this summer ad nauseam.

For now, enjoy Karan Ashley getting Austin St. John to hang out with the Zyurangers and come back to this post later when I update with my reaction.

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.