Years ago, when
the merciless Zangyack Empire descended upon the Earth, 34 Super Sentai Teams
united and sacrificed their powers to repel then. Now, the Zangyack have returned, more
powerful than ever, to finish what they started. Their arrival coincides with a group of Space
Pirates who have come to Earth seeking the Ultimate Treasure. Led by the flashy Captain Marvelous, Joe,
Luka, Doc and Ahim not only fly as the Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger but also possess
the ability to summon the powers of the other 34 Sentai Teams as well. They aren’t here to save the Earth, but if
anyone gets in their way, it might be something to do for a day.
The 25th
Anniversary Season of Power Rangers, Power Rangers Super Megaforce, is widely
considered one of, if not the worst season of Power Rangers. And after watching the first episode of
Gokaiger, I can see why that probably is.
Gokaiger is meant to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the
Super Sentai Franchise and looks to do so in the most epic fashion ever,
showing off a super cool, very OP yet still cool new team while also harkening
back to the past and bringing back costumes (and apparently past cast members
too) from throughout the long history of Super Sentai. I’ve heard nothing but good things,
especially in regards to the roguishly handsome leader of the Gokaiger bunch
but is the first episode as promising as one might want out of a milestone
season of one of Japans longest running sagas?
The Legendary
Battle that opens the series is incredible.
Even though we in the US missed about 10 years of these teams, it’s
still jaw dropping to see all of these Sentai fighting side by side. Unlike Super Megaforce shoehorning this in as
an afterthought for its finale, this feels like a greater way to honor what’s
come before just before jumping into the new stuff. As for the new Sentai that follow them up,
theyre a heckuva lot of fun. I really
like the Pirate motif and this quintet really sticks to the mindset. While they do jump into action against the
Zangyack to save a bunch of kids, they play it off by saying the Aliens ruined
their lunch and pissed them off. They’re
mercenaries with a heart of gold. Theyre
not here to save the planet but wont necessarily leave it to die. However, I get the feeling based on comments
Doc made that maybe they have had to do that once or twice, hinting at a bit of
a darker history for this crew.
My personal favs from the crew are Luka and Marvelous.
Luka is ridiculously cute and has style to
boot in and out of Sentai form and Marvelous, he’s just too cool for school,
oozing confidence and self assurance even when his plans feel half baked.
He’s never in the wrong, at least in his
mind, because he’s the leader, the Captain.
But he’s also got the skill and power to back it up.
The visual style of Gokaiger is a lot of fun too with a
nice combination of practical and digital effects.
The Gokaiger’s arrival on their ship, the
Gokai Galleon, features both a model of the vessel attacking Zangyack ships
before forming a mostly CG Megazord to tear through the rest of the advanced
fleet with ease.
Despite the dark
invasion threat posed by the Zangyack, there’s still a light hearted wackiness
to Gokaiger’s look.
I love the over
exaggerations on Luka and Doc’s faces when things go awry for the group and
also how well the team is able to coordinate in battle, passing blasters and
swords back and forth between teammates to up their efficiency in battle.
And, of course, there’s the mid battle changes
to older Sentai Teams.
The first episode
features the powers of three past teams: Gorenger, the very first Super Sentai
Team; Shinkengers, the Sentai used for Power Rangers Samurai; and Magirangers,
the team used for Power Rangers Mystic Force.
It feels like random usage to show off that these and other teams can
appear at any time in the season but idk, I think that Marvelous being a decent
tactician shows he might know what Sentai to bring out at the right time and
the change is pretty instantaneous.
Plus, how cool would it be to summon any teams powers at any time?
The first episode of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger is just
straight up fun with a promising cast, nice utilization of visual effects and
that freaking amazing epic battle with every single Sentai team from the
past.
It feels like it has it’s own
incredible story to tell while also being up to the challenge of honoring the
history that has come before.
Unlike
Super Megaforce, which could never use Gokaiger’s premise to its full potential
and likely was just an Anniversary ploy for Power Rangers to sell more merch,
Gokaiger understands its task from the get go and I think it might be a series
worth keeping an eye on.
Of course, if
youre gonna celebrate a franchise like this, you have to know why you’re making
the calls you make…and also have some fun along the way.
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