It's that time again! For the third year in a row, our
I...kinda approached this series with a little bit of caution given that I have only watched it in it's entirety once in the past. The previous series that have been released on DVD I can almost recite lines from, but Megaranger...yeah, I never clicked with this show. That said, I was excited to give this one another whirl since it's been forever since I've watched Super Sentai chronologically and the last series I watched was Carranger.
What can you expect in this post? Characters... I know in my Carranger post I kicked it off with a big post on the production as a whole. Carranger is kind of a special circumstance though, as the series is unique in a number of ways. I've always grouped early Super Sentai series in threes since it seems to take that long before any noticeable change occurs. That leaves Ohranger-Carranger-Megaranger grouped together. There is some logic behind grouping those three series together...and it's something I hope to elaborate on in the next post.
What can you expect in this post? Characters... I know in my Carranger post I kicked it off with a big post on the production as a whole. Carranger is kind of a special circumstance though, as the series is unique in a number of ways. I've always grouped early Super Sentai series in threes since it seems to take that long before any noticeable change occurs. That leaves Ohranger-Carranger-Megaranger grouped together. There is some logic behind grouping those three series together...and it's something I hope to elaborate on in the next post.
Megaranger turned twenty years old this year, but I feel like I still need to get the necessary *spoiler alert* out of the way just in case. You've been warned, lazy.
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Denji Sentai Megaranger
High School slacker Kenta Date is whisked away by INET executives after mastering the Megaranger arcade game. By coincidence, his friends and classmates from Moroboshi High School's Digiken club are investigating the secretive INET facilities. After sneaking in and running into Kenta, Nejirejia begins their attack forcing Dr. Kubota to give the young, but promising High Schoolers the ability to become Megarangers. From there, the five must balance their secret identities as Megarangers while also dealing with everyday High School life.
...or I can sum up the first episode as "I guess we're Megaranger now LOL". The conflict definitely came later on with couple of "I'm quitting LOL" episodes, but when exactly zero party is jazzed about who is wearing the suit, the only thing you can really think is "Where exactly as they going with this?". The cast is extremely likable however and, given the circumstances, probably were the best people for the job than say...the Jetman characters.
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Kenta / Megared
I kinda have a hard time placing Kenta. Of the core members, he is probably the one I like the most as a Megaranger. Like, he has zero interest in technology outside of playing the latest game at the arcade. That said, he took the whole assignment in stride and it really only took him until the very end to have his major "I quit" moment (if you can look past that time when he accidently punched a child). Really, though, outside of Miku he had the least ambition for the future which made him willing to risk himself (and his team) if he was in a life or death situation.
The only thing that really got me was that he was pretty close in personality to Kyosuke/Red Racer from Carranger. Having two similar Reds back to back was a little risky, but it at least set the wheels in motion for the series. Kyosuke suited Carranger far better than Kenta suited Megaranger.
I like Kenta, I just wish we got to know him better.
I kinda have a hard time placing Kenta. Of the core members, he is probably the one I like the most as a Megaranger. Like, he has zero interest in technology outside of playing the latest game at the arcade. That said, he took the whole assignment in stride and it really only took him until the very end to have his major "I quit" moment (if you can look past that time when he accidently punched a child). Really, though, outside of Miku he had the least ambition for the future which made him willing to risk himself (and his team) if he was in a life or death situation.
The only thing that really got me was that he was pretty close in personality to Kyosuke/Red Racer from Carranger. Having two similar Reds back to back was a little risky, but it at least set the wheels in motion for the series. Kyosuke suited Carranger far better than Kenta suited Megaranger.
I like Kenta, I just wish we got to know him better.
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Koichiro / Megablack
The kinda-sorta leader of Megaranger. Koichiro really had a habit of micromanaging and over-analyzing the tiniest of details, which usually backfired given how unpredictable Nejirejia could be at times. This usually put him in self-destruct mode whenever he did make mistakes. Luckily there was usually someone there to talk him down from the ledge--even if they did annoy him by being a little too carefree for his liking.
He is definitely one of the smarter Megarangers, but unlike Shun he relies on careful regiment and lots of studying to excel in school. When Koichiro is in one of his cooler moods, I really dig the guy. It's just a shame his laser focus on school AND being a Megaranger really leaves no room for a personality. We all know or knew someone like Koichiro...so I can't really hold that against the character.
Is it just me, or does Atsushi Ehara have a kinda/sorta/maybe passing resemblance to a Hiroshi Miyauchi?
The kinda-sorta leader of Megaranger. Koichiro really had a habit of micromanaging and over-analyzing the tiniest of details, which usually backfired given how unpredictable Nejirejia could be at times. This usually put him in self-destruct mode whenever he did make mistakes. Luckily there was usually someone there to talk him down from the ledge--even if they did annoy him by being a little too carefree for his liking.
He is definitely one of the smarter Megarangers, but unlike Shun he relies on careful regiment and lots of studying to excel in school. When Koichiro is in one of his cooler moods, I really dig the guy. It's just a shame his laser focus on school AND being a Megaranger really leaves no room for a personality. We all know or knew someone like Koichiro...so I can't really hold that against the character.
Is it just me, or does Atsushi Ehara have a kinda/sorta/maybe passing resemblance to a Hiroshi Miyauchi?
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Shun / Megablue
Could this dude have gotten any more head wounds during the series?
I kinda feel bad for Shun. He seems like a guy who, more than anything, has some real problems he probably needs to work out. While it's implied that he's really popular with the girls in school, we never really see him with one or even with a passing interest. Early in the series he is seen to be mourning his dead mother. It's probably more of a coincidence in the writing, but I kinda feel like this is why he was like "That's nice, I quit by the way...have fun being Megarangers". It was never fleshed out, but there is a little bit more to the guy and his hang-ups. I mean, he at least could have played off Miku a little bit.
Shun seems way out of place. Not so much as a Megaranger rather he almost seems like he's gifted but doesn't really apply himself outside of building a future career in computer graphics. He probably belongs in a better high school, but for one reason or another remains in class with his friends.
Could this dude have gotten any more head wounds during the series?
I kinda feel bad for Shun. He seems like a guy who, more than anything, has some real problems he probably needs to work out. While it's implied that he's really popular with the girls in school, we never really see him with one or even with a passing interest. Early in the series he is seen to be mourning his dead mother. It's probably more of a coincidence in the writing, but I kinda feel like this is why he was like "That's nice, I quit by the way...have fun being Megarangers". It was never fleshed out, but there is a little bit more to the guy and his hang-ups. I mean, he at least could have played off Miku a little bit.
Shun seems way out of place. Not so much as a Megaranger rather he almost seems like he's gifted but doesn't really apply himself outside of building a future career in computer graphics. He probably belongs in a better high school, but for one reason or another remains in class with his friends.
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Chisato / Megayellow
Megaranger's dual threat. As she is very bright, she is often seen hanging around Koichiro...but she's also a girl so let's pair her up with Miku. It was a little bit of a curse since she was mostly along so that whoever was being focused on would have someone to talk to. I kinda feel like the whole talent show episode was a little bit of an apology for almost leaving her with nothing of her own outside of an overbearing Grandmother episode and making friends with a child whose Birthday is coming up.
She seemed to be the most reliable out of the Megarangers and the only one who really utilized their personal device feature through the series. I mean, the Digicam Search was a pretty neat feature. I'm not sure why she was Yellow, though. Her color really should have been chameleon based on how she blended in most of the time.
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Miku / Megapink
When a strained face is the result of assembling a thought...we must be talking about Miku.
Like any other Tokusatsu series, the stupidity was only ever played up when it was convenient for the plot. Really, though...is she *that* stupid? I don't think so. She isn't a great student, that's for sure...but who was the one who needed tutoring at the end of the series because they were in danger of not graduating? Kenta. Miku just seems like more of a fun ditz with little self-awareness than anything. She never really came up with any day-saving plans, but she could hold her own enough in a fight.
I kinda feel bad for Miku and her portrayal in Megaranger vs. Carranger. Yeah, she loves food...but if that was your only taste of Megaranger, you'll only know her as "Duuuur CAKE!". Kyosuke on the other hand ordering Katsudon matter-of-factly as if he were in a restaurant was pretty hilarious and expected. At least they made Miku much more fun in Gaoranger vs Super Sentai.
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Dr. Kubota
"Don't do it!!!!" *Does exactly what he said not to do, saves day* "Idiot!!! ......nice job"
Rinse... Lather... Repeat....
Dr. Kubota is the brilliant doctor who runs the Megaranger program within INET. He occasionally has reservations about sending fighters so young against Nejirejia...despite the fact that he planted the recruiting tool in an arcade, but whatever. Despite Kubota's ongoing clashes with the Megarangers and Yuusaku, he never fails to stick up for his team whenever upper management tries to pull the plug or make a drastic change. He also came up with some pretty rad designs and gadgets.
Like every other character, Kubota really doesn't have much to him outside of being into his trumpet, boxing, and his sweet Jaguar. There is only a little bit more to him we learn (see: Dr. Hinelar) but I feel like we really should have learned more...
"Don't do it!!!!" *Does exactly what he said not to do, saves day* "Idiot!!! ......nice job"
Rinse... Lather... Repeat....
Dr. Kubota is the brilliant doctor who runs the Megaranger program within INET. He occasionally has reservations about sending fighters so young against Nejirejia...despite the fact that he planted the recruiting tool in an arcade, but whatever. Despite Kubota's ongoing clashes with the Megarangers and Yuusaku, he never fails to stick up for his team whenever upper management tries to pull the plug or make a drastic change. He also came up with some pretty rad designs and gadgets.
Like every other character, Kubota really doesn't have much to him outside of being into his trumpet, boxing, and his sweet Jaguar. There is only a little bit more to him we learn (see: Dr. Hinelar) but I feel like we really should have learned more...
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Yuusaku / Megasilver
The chief engineer at INET behind the Voyager Machines. I think making the Voyager Machines must have caused the dude to snap at some point. He abruptly showed up and transformed into the unfinished prototype Megasuit, Megasilver.
Leave it to the lone adult member of the team to bring the levity. Yuusaku saved the day a number of times either by sheer skill or through complex strategy. He's an easy-going guy and always itching to get into battle when he isn't either working on Mega Voyager or completing work on the Megasilver suit.
I really like Yuusaku. He's probably the closest any Super Sentai character got to City Hunter's Ryo Saeba. Hell, he even looks like him kinda. The only thing missing is the Mokkori powers...
The chief engineer at INET behind the Voyager Machines. I think making the Voyager Machines must have caused the dude to snap at some point. He abruptly showed up and transformed into the unfinished prototype Megasuit, Megasilver.
Leave it to the lone adult member of the team to bring the levity. Yuusaku saved the day a number of times either by sheer skill or through complex strategy. He's an easy-going guy and always itching to get into battle when he isn't either working on Mega Voyager or completing work on the Megasilver suit.
Jukou!
I really like Yuusaku. He's probably the closest any Super Sentai character got to City Hunter's Ryo Saeba. Hell, he even looks like him kinda. The only thing missing is the Mokkori powers...
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Jaden Okoku Nejirejia
Nejirejia are the villains of the show. Their motives are the usual, take over the world to make it their own personal playground. You think their dreams would be a strange digital hellscape...but the budget hit them pretty hard and they just wanted human slaves wearing either red, blue, or yellow jumpsuits.
With a razor-thin motive like that, let's just take a look at the individual players to see why they want to take over the world...
Nejirejia are the villains of the show. Their motives are the usual, take over the world to make it their own personal playground. You think their dreams would be a strange digital hellscape...but the budget hit them pretty hard and they just wanted human slaves wearing either red, blue, or yellow jumpsuits.
With a razor-thin motive like that, let's just take a look at the individual players to see why they want to take over the world...
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Dr. Hinelar
The lead scientist of Nejirejia. He was once a colleague of Dr. Kubota known as Dr. Samejima, but after a devastating incident that resulted in the death of his daughter, he snapped and Tron'd himself into Nejirejia. He largely resides in Gran Nejiros during the series, but does make the occasional appearance to either taunt Kubota or see how his terrible plans are going.
In addition to taking over the world, he is also obsessed in proving that he is the better scientist than Kubota. Needless to say, this doesn't really work out...but he does develop some interesting technologies and hurdles for the Megarangers to overcome. By the end of the series, he becomes a full-blown mad scientist. He makes claims of immortality until the very end--even as his body begins to uncontrollably warp as a side effect to being a human in Nejirejia.
The lead scientist of Nejirejia. He was once a colleague of Dr. Kubota known as Dr. Samejima, but after a devastating incident that resulted in the death of his daughter, he snapped and Tron'd himself into Nejirejia. He largely resides in Gran Nejiros during the series, but does make the occasional appearance to either taunt Kubota or see how his terrible plans are going.
In addition to taking over the world, he is also obsessed in proving that he is the better scientist than Kubota. Needless to say, this doesn't really work out...but he does develop some interesting technologies and hurdles for the Megarangers to overcome. By the end of the series, he becomes a full-blown mad scientist. He makes claims of immortality until the very end--even as his body begins to uncontrollably warp as a side effect to being a human in Nejirejia.
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Javious
The mysterious leader of Nejirejia. Seriously, though, don't even mind Javious. He is little more than the nagging force behind Hinelar's actions early on. I mean, he consistently lacked a design. At first he was an eyeball and later he was some pizza boxes stacked together. Someone likely suggested that there has to be something bigger than just Hinelar.
The mysterious leader of Nejirejia. Seriously, though, don't even mind Javious. He is little more than the nagging force behind Hinelar's actions early on. I mean, he consistently lacked a design. At first he was an eyeball and later he was some pizza boxes stacked together. Someone likely suggested that there has to be something bigger than just Hinelar.
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The thing burning? It's a Birthday cake...
Shibolena
The android recreation of Samejima's dead daughter. Maybe it isn't cool to lead off Shibolena's description with a major spoiler that wasn't revealed until the last episode, but who didn't see that coming? She eluded to being Hinelar's creation early-on...so nyeh. Also, this is Tokusatsu. Voluntary surgery equals death. Involuntary surgery? Kamen Rider.
Shibolena seems to have much more ground time/interactions early on. She is largely limited most of the series to dispatching the weekly Psycho Nejilars, though. She did have her uses when someone in Nejirejia needed to blend in with humans. She was also a fairly decent fighter on the occasions she did make it into battle.
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Yugande
One of the best designs in Super Sentai.......progressively ruined as the series went along. It's almost comical how many times Yugande was beaten. Let's take a look at all of his incarnations...
He was a great fighter and was involved in pretty much all of the memorable battles in the series. He was created by Dr. Hinelar along with Shibolena and acts as more of the muscle/bodyguard.
Seriously, though, that original design is amazing. By the time we got to Burning Yugande...ugh...
One of the best designs in Super Sentai.......progressively ruined as the series went along. It's almost comical how many times Yugande was beaten. Let's take a look at all of his incarnations...
Yugande Relive...which isn't bad...
Yugande Strong...you're pushing it now...
Yugande Burning
He was a great fighter and was involved in pretty much all of the memorable battles in the series. He was created by Dr. Hinelar along with Shibolena and acts as more of the muscle/bodyguard.
Seriously, though, that original design is amazing. By the time we got to Burning Yugande...ugh...
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Bibidebi
The growth device of the series. Bibidebi is given an operation that gives him the ability to genetically modify the defeated Psycho Nejilar to become giant. One of the gags that I enjoyed that slowly got abandoned was how the Psycho Nejilar would scream "Waaah!" when Bibidebi bit them to begin the enlarging process.
Of pretty much everyone in Nejirejia, he actually pulled off the only time Nejireija did any permanent damage to the Megarangers. While nobody was looking he dispatched Canary Nejilar, which stole Chisato's voice and forced her to not be able to sing in the talent show. Pretty much every other time in the series the Megarangers were able save the day and continue with their lives unhindered. This was Chisato's last chance at singing in the talent show after being forced to miss it in previous years.
You think it's all going to work out, but it doesn't. Chisato misses her chance and her classmates pretend to be excited to see her show up way after the show. Damn you, Bibidebi!
Oh yeah...and what the hell happened to him anyway? Yugande died in battle, Shibolena died after breaking the news about Yugande to Hinelar, and Bibidebi booked a flight to the Bahamas because he knew shit was not going to last much long with just Hinelar left...
The growth device of the series. Bibidebi is given an operation that gives him the ability to genetically modify the defeated Psycho Nejilar to become giant. One of the gags that I enjoyed that slowly got abandoned was how the Psycho Nejilar would scream "Waaah!" when Bibidebi bit them to begin the enlarging process.
Of pretty much everyone in Nejirejia, he actually pulled off the only time Nejireija did any permanent damage to the Megarangers. While nobody was looking he dispatched Canary Nejilar, which stole Chisato's voice and forced her to not be able to sing in the talent show. Pretty much every other time in the series the Megarangers were able save the day and continue with their lives unhindered. This was Chisato's last chance at singing in the talent show after being forced to miss it in previous years.
You think it's all going to work out, but it doesn't. Chisato misses her chance and her classmates pretend to be excited to see her show up way after the show. Damn you, Bibidebi!
Oh yeah...and what the hell happened to him anyway? Yugande died in battle, Shibolena died after breaking the news about Yugande to Hinelar, and Bibidebi booked a flight to the Bahamas because he knew shit was not going to last much long with just Hinelar left...
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Kunekune
The series grunts. My second favorite grunt design of the 90s right behind the Dorodoros from Kakuranger.
I have more to say...but I think I'll save that for next time.
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Guirail
"The boss sent me down from corporate to get you slackers in line!"-Every mid-series regular villain ever
Every series has one...few series try to make it interesting. Megaranger isn't one of them. Guirail is sent by Javious to get Hinelar and the others back on track. As with the usual middle-management bad guy he's super strong at first and then gets wiped out like a dozen episodes later.
"The boss sent me down from corporate to get you slackers in line!"-Every mid-series regular villain ever
Every series has one...few series try to make it interesting. Megaranger isn't one of them. Guirail is sent by Javious to get Hinelar and the others back on track. As with the usual middle-management bad guy he's super strong at first and then gets wiped out like a dozen episodes later.
Amid the turmoil he did do something at least a little bit interesting. He fused with Yugande to become Giga Guirail. Like the snake he is, he abandoned Yugande to get defeated once again by Megaranger. It did set the ball in motion for Hinelar's not giving a single shit about Javious when he Bomber-The-Great'd Guirail into Mad Guirail. Can't say I didn't see that coming.
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Nejiranger
Hinelar eventually finished the work that he initially began as Samejima--to create his own team. This time, however, it was more about being the better scientist than Kubota. At first, the Nejirangers gave the Megarangers a run for their money. Things quickly started to fall apart, however. The Nejiranger were quickly dimishing Javious' power--which is what was giving them life. The Nejirangers themselves almost seemed to mirror the personalities of their corresponding Megaranger. Nejired was impulsive while Nejiblack told him to cool it and wait for further instructions from Hinelar.
They later figured out they were basically on a suicide mission as Hinelar's goal was for the Nejirangers to both kill the Megarangers, Javious, and themselves in one swoop. This would leave Hinelar left at the top of the Nejirejia food chain and ruler of the world with any opposition gone. It wasn't a terrible plan, but the resulting battle only left the Nejirangers and Javious dead with his heart left behind.
This wasn't the complete end of the Nejirangers, though. Oh no. More on that next time...
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I have a lot of plans for the next post. I didn't want to make this a three-parter like I did with Carranger, but I'll be sure to go over everything I didn't get to in this post.
Especially that one critical point.....whether or not I even liked this show upon rewatch...or ever for that matter...
Stay tuned!
-CCLemon99
They later figured out they were basically on a suicide mission as Hinelar's goal was for the Nejirangers to both kill the Megarangers, Javious, and themselves in one swoop. This would leave Hinelar left at the top of the Nejirejia food chain and ruler of the world with any opposition gone. It wasn't a terrible plan, but the resulting battle only left the Nejirangers and Javious dead with his heart left behind.
This wasn't the complete end of the Nejirangers, though. Oh no. More on that next time...
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I have a lot of plans for the next post. I didn't want to make this a three-parter like I did with Carranger, but I'll be sure to go over everything I didn't get to in this post.
Especially that one critical point.....whether or not I even liked this show upon rewatch...or ever for that matter...
Stay tuned!
-CCLemon99
