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Saturday, December 12, 2015

Winners and Losers of 2015: Tokusatsu and Anime

It's almost the end of the year again. Fourth time I do this but second time it is Anime and Tokusatsu.
WINNERS
 Female Blue Ranger Fans
Zyuohger has the 5th female Blue Ranger in Super Sentai history. Also fans of Elephant Rangers are happy about the green elephant ranger.
Sailor Moon Crystal Fans
Second series of Sailor Moon Crystal will cover the Infinity Arc coming this summer which includes Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Saturn! (Fan made image above)

New Zealand
One of the objectives of Dino Charge was to advertise New Zealand as the TV/Film business was declining after many productions had left the country. The aim was to have a character from New Zealand and given the rest of the four Ranger actors were American, one native actor would not be among other New Zealand/Australian actors with American accents like in Disney seasons (sort of like Mystic Force but Richard B is Australian). Anyway, native Kiwi James Davies plays Chase, a New Zealander. Now has this had a positive effect to New Zealand film and tourism? I am not sure. But at least American kids are learning of another country that rarely gets spoken about in American Pop Culture.

LOSERS
Fans of more complex mecha
I don't really mind the Jyyuouger mecha but fans have called it 'an insult' and 'garbage.'
Fans of upgrades or different modes being slowly introduced
Fans have complained that Kamen Rider Ghost is quickly introducing different modes rather rapidly, once an episode. But Power Rangers have been blamed of this as well but since most Sentai and Kamen Rider have 50 episodes or so to slowly do so, this does have pacing issues.
Saban Brands' secret keeping
As much as Saban Brands wanted to keep secret about the female Red Ranger back in Samurai, fans already knew because of Shinkenger and also Carlos Pena revealed in a YouTube video that Kimberley Crossman was the Red Ranger. Also given that the episodes aired earlier in Latin America. Also when they wanted to hide that Cameron Jebo as the Silver Ranger for Super Megaforce, fans already tracked that he was Orion and found a pic of his back and his photo in a production room. I have to admit they did a good job at keeping secret Davi Santos as Ivan. As soon as Claire as cast as Kendall, fans deduced she would be purple (the glasses were a giveaway if you saw Kyoryuger). Also the eps of her becoming Purple aired in foreign countries before the US. They tried to keep it secret. Even in a interview video for World Wide Play with Yoshi and Claire, Yoshi Sudarso almost revealed Claire was a Ranger. The female Purple Ranger toy has been spotted and the description is vague on her identity but the episode aired today in the US on who she is. So what's the point?