To get this thang started, I'll make a copy of my LJ post about the whole Dekaranger fiasco.
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I was able to get my hands on a couple episodes of Dekaranger, the current Super Sentai (Power Rangers) series running in Japan, and I must say, it seems like it's gonna be pratty good. Now of course, there's nothing stopping us Americans from totally butchering it when it's brought over here for next year (even though some parts might could use it), but I still have high hopes.
So the full name of the series, translated into English, is something along the lines of "Special Investigation Taskforce Detective Ranger". In a nutshell, this series is a combination of Time Force and Lightspeed Rescue, maybe with a touch of In Space.
You have your team of rangers, one of which transferred from another planet, who act as policemen of sorts, to put a stop to the likes of alien criminals. Sometimes this comes in the form of a giant alien waving a bus around.
They immediately set into action, one morphing in plain site of everyone (obviously being a ranger isn't a secret here), and use their zords in a coordinated plan to "arrest" the criminal.
Then it's to Dekabase, where we see their commander.
THAT'S RIGHT. HE'S A BLUE DOG. And, I'm sorry, but his name is Doggie Kruger. It seems stupid at first though, but as time goes on, he plays a decent part. I just cry at the thought of what kind of retarded personality and voice he would have in an American version of the series, unless they totally write him out. Though that might be tricky, considering Dekabase is actually shaped like him somewhat, and his head is in their badges.
The guy to Doggie's right will be our red ranger for the evening. Or well, unfortunately, for the series. Of the five, he is the only one who is completely retarded. But I guess they have to add in some kind of wacky guy who likes to yell a lot to make it like the typical Japanese show.
Oh, did I mention they drive real police vehicles too?
Anyhow, I won't go into the story too much, mostly since I didn't take a million screen captures, but there's a bad alien space dude who wants to rip apart the Earth and use its raw materials to make jewels. We, of course, can't have that. So along comes episode 2, where the rangers have to stop his big bad drilling machine.
This is where things get interesting. I'll post the pictures first, then actually explain what's happening.
YES. THE MEGAZORD DID COOL THINGS. I have never seen such coolness happen before. When attacked, he dives out of the way, fully computer rendered, leaping head-over-heals while shooting back, before landing on his feet, skidding somewhat, resulting in a cool pose. After being attacked again, it goes into a roll along the ground, blasting yet some more, before taking cover behind some tall buildings. It truly was the best thing ever.
So anyway, they blow his dirty jewel-making machine up, and then, to finish off such a cool thing, they twirl their gun around (computer rendered again), before holstering it in their leg compartment (ala Robocop), and stand there like some kinda awesome coolguys.
The series in general uses a lot of neat effects, like on their little PDA-like things, which they use to receive orders and scan things. I can't say I'm crazy about the morphing sequence, as considering everything else, it coulda been better, but I won't cry.
There's one thing I found kind of dumb though. During the credits, they do a music video type thing, which is really kind of goofy, as there are times when it looks like it's straight out of an N'Sync video, but whatcha gonna do. The rest of the show made up for the few silly parts.
As for when it's translated, I know that many things will be edited, such as their blasters using normal gun-like sounds (even the megazord's) instead of laser beams. In one scene a security guard even fired a real gun at a burglar, who was hit by a truck while trying to escape (using a dumb effect to make it look as if he was really hit). Not gonna happen in our version. But with any luck, they'll get a decent cast and whip up a good story to go along with things.
K THAT'S ALL BYE NOW.
