Happy New Year, My Thoughts on Power Rangers Samurai and Gokaiger

First, I would like to apologize for my recent decline in posting. First, I was busy with school due to midterms/finals and then after winter break began, I've become more occupied with other things, such as non-Sentai Japanese TV dramas. I haven't forgotten this blog, so don't worry, I'll continue to keep posting. I would also like to wish all my fellow bloggers a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Years. :-) With the new year, I'd like to talk about the upcoming new Power Ranger and Sentai series, PR Samurai and Gokaiger respectively.

First about PR Samurai. I have to admit my excitement that Saban repurchased the Power Rangers series has died down quite a bit. PR Samurai looks like it will be mostly a carbon copy of Shinkenger, with a few minor differences. I was hoping for a more original series. However, I will say that after watching the promo, the dialog and the humor does seem somewhat interesting. I also hope that the rumors that Cole (Wild Force Red) will appear in PR Samurai are not true. But, until the series premiers, the verdict is still out.

With Gokaiger, I also have mixed feelings. I'm a bit skeptical as to rather the pirate motif will actually work with Sentai, but I do think it's cool that the Gokaiger can travel to "different Sentai worlds" like they could in Kamen Rider Decade. I think that would be interesting to see a team-up with a previous Sentai almost every episode. The suits are ok, I think the weapons are awesome, and do really look pirate like. The mecha seems ok, what you would typically expect from Sentai. I do hope, however, that they won't resort to CGI zord use or the mecha overload syndrome that Sentai has done since Gaoranger. Like PR Samurai, until I actually watch the series, the verdict for me is still out.