Power Rangers SPD to be Dubbed in Japanese

TOEI just announced that they will dub Power Rangers SPD in Japanese. It will begin airing in August as part of the Sentai anniversary on the TOEI channel. All the original Dekaranger cast members will dub their SPD counterparts. Although I'm not a fan of dubbing, this I think will be interesting. I like both series and love the Dekaranger cast. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

American Influence on Super Sentai

First, I want to say sorry for not posting in nearly two weeks. It was the end of the school year, which is also the bussiest (I had 2 research papers and 3 finals to do). Now I'll have a little more time to dedicate to this blog, as well as create some new blogs.

It is well known that Power Rangers is based on the Japanese series Super Sentai. Sean Akizuki has even posted about Power Rangers' influence on Super Sentai, as well as Chinese influence on Super Sentai. Today, I want to talk about the other American influences on Super Sentai.

English Language




The use of the English language has been incorporated into Super Sentai as well as many other Japanese programing (anime, jdoramas, exc.). Conversational english is rarely used, however, english phrases and english catchphrases are quite common. English phrases have been used more in receent Sentai series than they were in earlier installments. Above are two Sentai characters, Gaku (Gaoyellow) and Hoji (Dekablue), who frequently used english phrases.

Sports Figures



Some American sports figures, or characters based off of American Sports figures have been used in Super Sentai. Above is the character Pachy Bonds, who was in Episode 19 of Abaranger (this episode is parodied in the Dino Thunder episode Lost and Found in Translation). Pachy Bonds is a baseball player who is clearly based off of former San Francisco Giants slugger, Barry Bonds. Like Barry, Pachy is African American and supposedly the "home run king," like Barry Bonds was during his career. Fortunately, unlike Barry Bonds, Pachy Bonds does not take steroids :)

American TV Shows




Above is Miss America, from the 1979 Sentai series Battle Fever J. During this time, Super Sentai's owner, TOEI, had a partnership with the American company, Marvel Comics. This allowed TOEI and Marvel Comics to bring Spiderman to Japan. The Battle Fever J series, and in particular the Miss America character, was based off of the Marvel Comics character, Captain America.




Above is Jan (Gekired). To me, Jan seems to be a character that is at least partially based on the American cartoon, George of the Jungle. Before becoming Gekired, Jan lived and grew up in the forest.

American movies
American movie influences are quite numerous in several Super Sentai episodes.

Timeranger- I can't find a picture for it, but there is one scene where the timerangers are riding bicycles in the night sky with the moon in the background. That scene resembles the Steven Spielburg movie, ET.

Dekaranger- Dekaranger has several episodes with storylines similar to American movies




Above is a picture from Episode 20, which has a similar storyline to the movie Die Hard with A Vengence, which was the third installment of the Die Hard series. In this episode, the alienizer Germa Seijin Baiz Gore planted a bomb powerful enough to blow up the earth, and he made the Dekarangers play a game by sending one player running all over town to find the next hint. If he didn't make the deadline, the bomb would explode. In Die Hard with A Vengence, a criminal who calls himself Simon threatened to set off bombs around New York City if Bruce Willis's character, John McLane didn't find the next location and hints within the time limit.




Episode 26 is similar to the Rocky Balboa series. Rocky Balboa, played by Silvester Stalone, is boxing's ultimate underdog that usually starts out getting his ass kick before winning the match. In episode 26, Hoji fights the undefeated champ, Jiva, in an illegal match. The first match Jiva beats Hoji easily, but then Hoji trains for a rematch, which Hoji, the underdog, won by knockout. Above is Hoji after he won the match.




Episode 38 is similar to the movie Speed. In Speed, a bomb is planted on a bus in Los Angeles. Once the speed of the bus reaches 50 miles per hour (roughly 80 kilometers for those who are not familiar with the English measure system), the bus cannot travel under that speed or it will explode. In Episode 38, Ban and Yaako (the piglet in the bike), ride a bicycle given to them by an alienizer (unkown at the time) when Yaako becomes car sick. After Ban reaches the speed of 25 kilometers per hour (about 16 miles per hour), a bomb on the bicycle activates. If Ban's speed goes under the 25 kmh speed, the bomb will explode.




Episodes 42 and 43 are very similar to Armageddon. In episode 42 and 43, a meteor full of planet eating browgouls is headed straight for the Earth. In a pinch, similar to the Armageddon ending, Ban sacrifices himself to stop the meteor, and sends Hoji back to the earth, to make sure Hoji doesn't sacrifice himself and to make sure he's at his sister's wedding. In the Armageddon movie, A.J. (played by Ben Affleck), was suppose to sacrifice himself to destroy an asteroid heading for earth. At the last minute, Harry (played by Bruce Willis), sends A.J. back to the ship, and thus back to earth, and sacrifices himself so A.J. could marry his daughter. The only difference is unlike Armaggedon, Ban didn't die.




Magiranger- Magiranger had a magic motif. At the time, TOEI and Super Sentai were trying to capitalize on the success of magic themed American made movies, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, which in turn were based off of British books.





Boukenger- Boukenger had an adventure motif, similar to the Indiana Jones series. The Boukengers looked for treasures called "precous" to keep them away from evil villans. This is also similar to Indiana Jones which tried to keep certain "treasures" away from certain agencies or governments, such as Nazi Germany.

Welcome

As a fan of both Super Sentai and Power Rangers, I would like to welcome you to my new blog. This blog will be both informational, and my personal opinion. I grew up as a Power Rangers fan and have over the last couple of years started watching more Super Sentai footage. Disclaimer, I have not seen every single Power Rangers or Super Sentai series, so I do not claim to know everything about both series. However, I have begun to watch more of what I haven't seen, so that will change soon :).





About Super Sentai









Super Sentai is a Japanese kids show owned by TOEI, and is part of the Tokusatsu genre (or Super Hero in English). The Tokusatsu genre includes other Japanese shows such as Kamen Rider (also owned by Disney) and Godzilla. The word Sentai translates into English as "task force" or "fighting squadron. Super Sentai begain with Himitsu Sentai Goranger in 1975 and lasted two years. Since then, Super Sentai has changed incarnations, cast, suites, and weapons every year. The current Super Sentai series is Tensou Sentai Goseiger. Most Super Sentai series' have at least five super heroes or "rangers". Starting with Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger in 1992, a sixth hero (and sometimes a seventh) has also been added to the show midway into the season.





About Power Rangers

Most people who come across this blog will know what Power Rangers is. For those that don't I will give a brief discription. Power Rangers is the American adaptation of the Super Sentai series. Power Rangers was originally created by Saban Entertainment but is now owned by Walt Disney. Power Rangers uses battle footage from its Super Sentai counterpart, but Power Rangers is NOT a dubbed version of Super Sentai. Instead, Power Rangers has its own characters and its own story line. The first Power Rangers series- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (MMPR)- begain in 1993 adapting footage from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. MMPR lasted three seasons until 1996. After MMPR, the next series, Power Rangers Zeo (PRZ) begain. Unlike Super Sentai, the four incarnations of Power Rangers (and first six seasons) had the same characters and a common storyline. This is commonly known as the Zordon Era (named after Zordon, the Power Rangers commander who dies at the end of the "Zordon Era"). The Zordon Era includes MMPR seasons 1-3, PRZ, Power Rangers Turbo (PRT), and Power Rangers in Space (PRiS). Starting after the Zordon Era in 1999 with Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (PRLG), Power Rangers adopted more Super Sentai traditions such as changing the cast and storylines every year, and making team-up specials. Changing ranger suits every year had begain in 1996 with PRZ. Power Rangers ended (or at least is in hatius) in 2009 with Power Rangers RPM.





Differences between Power Rangers and Super Sentai


Besides what is written above, there are many other differences between Power Rangers and Super Sentai, mainly because of cultural differences. For example, what may be viewed in Japan as appropriate or acceptable for children to watch may not be in the United States. Super Sentai tends to have stronger, more mature content than Power Rangers. This includes more violence, sexual innuidy, and foul language.