First Impression: Shinkenger

Thus far, I've watched the first three episodes of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger on YouTube.

What do I think? It's a pretty good start.

Japanese storytelling is more likely to be clear and concise than its Western counterpart, and even though none of what I've watched was subtitled, that's not a big deal.

From what I've read, this is the most emphatically Japanese Super Sentai ever produced. While it's hardly the first to use heavily Japanese themes and mecha, I can't think of any remotely such intrusively Japanese elements as some of what has appeared in Shinkenger.

For instance, the good guy's leader, the Red Shinkenger, apparently is answerable directly to the Japanese Emperor, and is his vassal.

Just let that sink in for a moment.

The villains come very directly from Japanese folklore; more amusingly, their leader calms his rages by chugging sake from a dish.

Since the characters are apparently literally considered to be samurai, they are served by a large number of... servants, who are based on the stagehands of traditional Japanese theater. (And they are hilarious.)

And an integral part of the powers the characters use is the writing of kanji to morph, summon things (including horses, which cracks me up), and cause their teeny tiny, itty bitty magical pseudo-animal companions to turn into giant Zords. (I sense that the series is intended to encourage Japanese children to learn their writing.)

It makes me very curious about just how they'll adapt Shinkenger for an American audience, as the rampant... Japaneseness... is rather more overt.

Anyway, I like the look of the season. The costumes are really sharp thus far, and with the exception of that thing from the first episode with the faceskirt, the monster costumes are solid. (Even that thing was pretty good from the waist up.) I particularly like that short and fat Cthulhu guy. They seem to be going with a combination Japanese folklore/sea life theme.

One thing that does concern me is that they'll try to take out the "gattai gag" from the second episode.



(Er, if you saw the intro a second time here, sorry. Had some issues with YouTube there... It's fixed.)

Of course, it's not exactly like it's something that would be labeled as inappropriate in the United States, it's just something that would make me sad if it wasn't there.

And this year's mecha are the best since at least Boukenger/Operation Overdrive. Forget that nonsense from last year (or coming up in RPM), these are proper Sentai mecha designs. It's also nice that they made the stylistic choice of the animal mecha being puppets rather than CGI; it's a nice, refreshing change. (I really miss those old sequences.) In fact, the whole series feels like it's a '90s Sentai/Power Rangers, except with a little bit sharper effects. (Don't take this as a criticism of the modern series-they're often highly enjoyable. I was even enjoying watching some Go-Onger the other day, and I hadn't thought that was possible.)

Another refreshing facet is that the Red Shinkenger is not the same exact character as every other Red Ranger has been for the past however many years in Sentai. The typical Sentai Red Ranger's role (reckless guy leading the charge) has been taken by the Green Shinkenger, while Red is a cool, even-tempered, and calculating warrior.

Overall opinion so far? Refreshing and nostalgic, and rock-solid as Sentai go. Invid approves.

I really ought to get to work on the season summaries... Or maybe get that first essay straightened out.