Saturday, April 12, 2008

Power Rangers/Super Sentai Character Conversion: Wild Force / Gaoranger

Power Rangers Wild Force [2002] / Hyaku Juu Sentai Gaoranger (Hundred Beast Soldiers Growl Ranger) [2001]

Young people chosen by animals to fight monsters created out of ordinary things bent on polluting the Earth.

Cole Evans / Kakeru Shishi (GaoRed)
Kakeru is an animal vet that is sympathetic, genial, and amiable. He has the empathic ability to understand animals and communicate with them, he does this by closing his eyes. Cole was orphaned as a child when the main villain killed his parents and he became a Tarzan-like lad. He is unfamiliar with the modern world and can speak to the zords. They are similar although Cole is more of a jungle boy.

Taylor Earheart / Gaku Washio (GaoYellow)
Other than the gender difference, they are very much alike. Both were air force pilots and very stern and had problems with the red warrior being the leader. Gaku dyed his hair not to be recognized by the air force, who thought he was dead. Taylor was somewhat romantically linked to Time Force's Eric. Taylor is the last female ranger to have a male counterpart from the original source.

Max Cooper / Kai Samezu (GaoBlue)
They are both the young ones, the kids basically. Difference is acting and cultural tweaks.

Alyssa Enrile / Sae Taiga (Gao White)
Sae is the basic girl of the group, Alyssa was more of a 'perfect' student, nothing seemed to dent her facade. Her ethnicity was one of question, but her father was Native-American. They had the same father issues, in which their fathers wanted them to continue their martial arts style. Another difference was that Alyssa was a college student and Sae was a high school student.

Danny Delgado / Soutarou (Gao Black)
They were both gentle souls that were weak when it came to women. Major difference was acting and cultural quirks. Soutarou was more reserved, while Danny was just a big old geek.

Merrick Baliton (Lunar Wolf Ranger) / Tsukumaro "Shirogane" Oogami (Gao Silver)
Both Merrick and Shirogane were warriors from the past who riskily put on an evil mask that let go a beast that took them over and then when brought to our time, fought the Rangers. The spell was broken but both tried to stay away from the team because they felt guilty for all the bad they did. The major difference was that Merrick was romantically linked with the priestess Shayla, but that storyline didn't go anywhere. And his wolf self was split and in the end of the story, he went off on a journey with him. Shirogane just became a nomad.

Princess Shayla / Tetomu
Tetomu was the Gaoranger's guidance, her grandmother was the one who dealt with the original warriors like Shirogane. Shayla was the just the original one, who kept young through eternal sleep. They both held from a turtle-shaped island and saw our world through a spring of water. Tetomu was much more braver and tolerable, Shayla was a bad Disney Princess meshed with Celin Dion.

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