Why Power Rangers Should Keep Adapting Sentai

So I'm writing this hesitantly because I have no clue who will read this my last I’d say major Power Ranger themed blog was a call to arms for female fans of the show to change the color of the Triceratops Zord from purple to pink. Now why that change did come to pass I don't really feel like my voice was heard the post only got 38 views, but I don't always write this stuff expecting the 100s of views my old Transformer reviews got.

So I think before I get to into this I need to explain a little. Now for those who don't know what I mean by the title since it conception Power Rangers has been an adaptation of the Japanese Sentai franchise starting with Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger.  Now 2017 looks to be an interesting year as Power Ranger will have options. One of those options may be to leave the Sentai behind. I’m going to break this up in to parts to better explain why I feel the way I do and why I make the claim in the title. 

The Challenge of Originality

One of the things I love about Power Rangers and Sentai is finding out where this where changed between the shows. Example Might Morphin (Season 1) was a complete thematic change as MMPR was about 5 teenagers saving the world from an evil alien witch whereas  Zyuranger was about 5 ancient warrior waking up to prevent the return of an evil witch. Sometimes this wasn't always the case many seasons where scary similar to the Sentai example Samurai.  Then other season took a complete opposite approach like RPM. This is where power rangers both shines and falls short some do a great job and others well fail spectacular by trying to do too much i.e. Megaforce. Now Dino Charge is so far amazing and I can't wait for more and I love just how different it is from Kyoryuger.

Some Sentai is Made to be Power Rangers

Now I think it’s important to talk about what I mean here.  Originally the agreement was that whoever was producing Power Rangers be it Disney or Saban could not skip a Sentai season. This is another reason Megaforce failed as they had to use both Tensou Sentai Goseiger and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger . Now this agreement changed some time during the shows airing in 2013 or 2014. This cause them to skip what is one of my favorite Sentai seasons ever Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. Now I can’t remember where I read it but one of the higher ups said the reason it was skipped was that it didn’t market well. This sadly is true as toy line bombed in Japan and lacked the little collectable that Gokaiger and Kyoryuger and many other Sentai have. Now my whole reason for bring this up is Go-Busters was made to be a Power Rangers show all of the Mechs both good and bad where called MegaZords, the morphers called out “It’s Morphin Time!”, and even the theme felt like a Power Ranger show.  This one could have been called Power Ranger Special Ops and the super half Super Ops and could have been just like Samurai and I would have been ok.  If this has peaked your interest in the show you can find it at TV-Nihon.

I Know it Looks Bad

So right now we are adapting Kyoryuger into Dino Charge and that will last till early 2017 shortly after the movie premieres a new season with a new team will begin. Here where the problems start Saban has said nothing about what will be next for Power Rangers. This has led to the rumor that they want a team to tie into the movie skipping or outright dropping the Sentai   from the show. Now before we go on let’s look at the next Sentai after Kyoryuger.  Ressha Sentai ToQger follows the ever popular dino theme with trains. Yeah the premise is that there are two factions the Shadow Line who want to cover Earth with darkness and the Rainbow Line who protect the earth with the power (I can’t believe I’m about to type this) IMAGINATION! Yeah you read that right and I did the all caps thing because the conductor never just says imagination.  Another problem with the show was a joke that got picked up by Kotaku and took off even we here are guilty of making it and that was the Mech could look like it had an erection.  Hell even the show did this in episode 3 which Kotaku covered as well. Now if they do skip this then next is Shuriken Sentai Ninninger. This one is also problematic as the show is heavy with Japanese mythology and Ninja Lore that might be lost on American audience much like Samurai was. Honestly I think both can work with ToQger needing a bit more tweaking than Ninninger.

I Understand Why

Now even though I’m against this I understand why Saban would do this. In a marketing sense you would want your show to link with the movie you want brand synergy. I also understand that for a toy company having two different lines is well expensive.  Let refer to the last two Power Ranger Movies. The 1^st movie had a small toy line that was just reboxed season 3 figures with the only original toys being the monsters from the movie. Turbo however did not even have a different toy line for the movie all figures where the same for that season and movie. Now I completely understand why Saban would want to make the show and the movie relate in some way as it would make marketing simple and easy.  

Final Thoughts

So as I finish this up I still have no clue what the result of the next few years will be and while I would love to see Power Rangers continue to adapt the Sentai I full understand as to why it may not. I love Power Rangers it one of my 3 childhood passions that stayed with me to adult hood. It’s from this love that I looked into Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, Metal Men, and Ultraman.  I digress I guess I just needed to vent a little about this fear. Does it mean I will stop watching Power Rangers or keeping up with? No. I will stay with the show for as long as it airs in hopes that it continues to get better as the show goes on.

If you want to weigh in on the matter leave a comment below I look forward to hearing what you have to say