Among most Sentai characters, there's been many I've liked, some I feel are ok, some bland, and a few others that I disliked. However, there's a handful of characters that I don't know what to think about and generally have some mixed feelings about. Here they are.
Mei- Ptera Ranger
Generally, I think Mei is cute and some of Mei's focus episodes are pretty good (especially the punk episode with Dan). But other than Mei's "cuteness" and her rivalry with Lamie I feel she doesn't have much else to offer. She's really stereotypical of other pink senshi, granite she was one of the first kawaiiko's, and having a rivalry with one of the main villains is also pretty common among pink senshi. Also being the way Zyuranger is written, it feels often that the only two characters in Zyuranger that matter much to the story are Geki and Burai.
Naoto- Time Fire
Naoto is on both my mixed and dislike list. The reason why he makes my mixed list is from a story perspective, he works out perfectly well. I felt like the first half of Timeranger is kinda slow and episodic, but when Naoto arrives the pace of the story really picks up. He added the spice to the story and another dimension. The problem I have is with his character, and he's the only Timeranger character that I don't care much for. I know some others may like it but I feel his arrogance makes him too unlikable for my taste. To me he comes off as too much of a jerkass, and unlike many other of the jerk-like characters like Gai, Hoji, and the Go-On wings, Naoto's attitude doesn't change the slightest bit.
Yousuke- Hurricane Red
Yousuke really has me split. Sometimes I like him and other times I feel he's kinda bland. I really liked his rivalry and evolving relationship with Ikkou, but from a development and personality perspective there's not a lot to him. Especially when you compare Yousuke to many other red senshi. He's not a bad character, just that for a red senshi Yousuke feels like he's lacking.
Ran- Geki Yellow
Mei- Ptera Ranger
Generally, I think Mei is cute and some of Mei's focus episodes are pretty good (especially the punk episode with Dan). But other than Mei's "cuteness" and her rivalry with Lamie I feel she doesn't have much else to offer. She's really stereotypical of other pink senshi, granite she was one of the first kawaiiko's, and having a rivalry with one of the main villains is also pretty common among pink senshi. Also being the way Zyuranger is written, it feels often that the only two characters in Zyuranger that matter much to the story are Geki and Burai.
Naoto- Time Fire
Naoto is on both my mixed and dislike list. The reason why he makes my mixed list is from a story perspective, he works out perfectly well. I felt like the first half of Timeranger is kinda slow and episodic, but when Naoto arrives the pace of the story really picks up. He added the spice to the story and another dimension. The problem I have is with his character, and he's the only Timeranger character that I don't care much for. I know some others may like it but I feel his arrogance makes him too unlikable for my taste. To me he comes off as too much of a jerkass, and unlike many other of the jerk-like characters like Gai, Hoji, and the Go-On wings, Naoto's attitude doesn't change the slightest bit.
Yousuke- Hurricane Red
Yousuke really has me split. Sometimes I like him and other times I feel he's kinda bland. I really liked his rivalry and evolving relationship with Ikkou, but from a development and personality perspective there's not a lot to him. Especially when you compare Yousuke to many other red senshi. He's not a bad character, just that for a red senshi Yousuke feels like he's lacking.
Ran- Geki Yellow
Ran is probably the character I like the most on this list. She's kinda like the kawaiiko and the action girl rolled into one. She's cute, sweet, and tough, kinda like a mix between Sakura (Bouken Pink) and Saki (Go-On Yellow). I think some of her focus episodes during the first half of Gekiranger are some of the better ones IMO, specifically 11, 15, and 23 where she was named team captain. What I'm really mixed about is her lack of development, focus, and how her leadership was handled during the second half of the season. While I think the second half of Gekiranger improves quite a bit with the action, story, characters, and drama, it falls short with Ran's development. After episode 23, she only got a single focus episode (37). Being the team captain, I felt they should have figured out how to squeez in at least a couple more focus episodes for her. In short, I like her character and don't have a problem with the character herself, I just don't like how her character was poorly handled by the writers.
I will realize that Mei herself is very typical, but I'd just say that she falls right in the part like Ran: Underused. Let's look at it, she certainly had some of the possible plot backgrounds about her, such as that arrow which is the only thing that can destroy one Dora Monster, or about her life force which can destroy one Dora Monster that even Burai can't dent. It was like they already planted seeds for Mei being more important than she is currently, but... well, Burai proved too popular and most of the plots went to him.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's just me though. But I do agree that Mei was over the top in terms of kawaiiko, starting from constantly-changinga hairstyle, cute face and cute high pitched voice you'll most likely find in anime (that's the kinda forte Reiko Chiba had).
Maybe I should make a topic about this, my version, later.
I think Mei is a good character. But just underused. The first half of Zyuranger just focuses on the children of the week, while the second half focuses on Burai. Kind of a shame really. But I still like her for what we got out of.
ReplyDeleteI personally wouldn't put Ran on the same level as Mei. I think Ran was a whole lot more involved in her respective story than Mei was. Yeah, she could've used a couple more focus eps, but I think she did awesome for what she was able to get. And honestly, I can live with the fact that they didn't shove her leadership in my face. It was neat that she was the leader, but there was still a story that needed to be told. I felt like Ran did get good development, and that she got it all at the start, so she could focus on supporting Jan. Plus, she serves as Mele's rival which I thought was cool as well.
I like Naoto, but I can understand why you wouldn't like him. For me at first, he was the kind of character that I loved to hate. Especially since he brought even more epicness to Timeranger. By the last 10 episodes, I thought he became quite likable.
I thought Yousuke had a pretty good amount of development. But yeah, I get what you mean. Though I still like him for being all happy happy joy joy. ^__^
@ Chris, I actually don't have a problem with Mei being a kawaiiko. I actually tend to like most of the kawaiiko characters, some more so than the more serious female characters. It's just partly because she's underused and there's other kawaiiko characters I like more.
ReplyDeleteI mixed on the entire Zyuranger cast. Most of them don't really stand out for me, and the show sort of pushes them aside in favor for Ozoora, I mean, Burai XD. I'm mixed on the Bioman cast as well, but it had Jun/Yellow Four II, so...
ReplyDeleteI really like Naoto. Many sentai characters who start out as jerks soften later, but Naoto was different, and unique in that sense. I really think he's cooler than the other jerk-type characters (i.e: gouraijers, dekablue, go-on wings, and others).
Even though I really like Hurricanger, the cast for me was... not so memorable. I agree about Yousuke, there isn't a lot about him. Although I would take him over someone like Dekarangers's Ban. Speaking of Deka, I'm mixed on both Ban and Umeko. I don't mind Ban's character (on paper), but the actor (ryu Sainei, is his name?) doesn't do the best job to interpret him; he's okay. Umeko is cute, that's all. Deka fans might kill me XD, but I think Umeko is one of the weaker sentai characters from the last decade. I guess not every sentai heroine would be as cool as Sara/Yellow Flash. I quite agree about Ran, though.
Now, these are some sentai characters that I was mixed on: Maskman's Kenta, Turboranger's Daichi, Jetman's Ako, Dairanger's Kazu, Kakuranger's Saizou, Carranger's Yoko, Gingaman's Hikaru, Timeranger's Ayase, Gaoranger's Kai and Silver, Abaranger's Ranru, Magiranger's Tsubasa, Boukenger's Masumi, Gekiranger's Retsu, the entire Go-onger and Shinkenger cast. Wow, that was quite long :)
rescuesoldier
ReplyDeleteI guess we're kinda on opposite ends since I'd take the Goraijers, Hoji, and the Go-On Wings over Naoto. Although initially I was mixed over Hoji, but I ended up liking him more as I began to watch more Sentai.
As far as Ban, I don't think there was any problem with his acting. After watching the Sentai's that follow Dekaranger, I think Ban's character was written and meant to be over the top. Umeko might be one of the simpler characters but I think her personality was more than enough to make up for it. I'd take other pink senshis like Yuuri and Sakura over her, but I also think sometimes simplicity is better. I also felt she had some solid focus episodes like episodes 17, 24, 39, and 46.