Samurai Sentai Shinkenger

Woo! Time for my first review, and I though as a different approach from doing an anime review I figured I’d go the different rout and do a review of some live action Japanese media. Today I’ll be reviewing the series Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. Super Sentai has been a major staple of Japanese media just as anime has been for the past sum 40 years. This series is the 33rd sentai series that Toei has produced. Anyway, lets get started!

For many generations, the samurai of the Shiba family had a sworn duty to fight the Gendoushu. The Gendoushu were demons that enter our world through the gaps between buildings and various objects, and while here on earth they cause destruction and chaos to cause the Sanzu River to overflow into our world and take it over. The youngest and current head of the Shiba clan must gather together his vassals, to form the team Shinkenger and stop teh Gendoushu fom taking over our world.

So far five episodes of this series have been aired, now I am a huge Tokatsu and Sentai fan and after seeing the recent string of sentai series, this has has to be one of the best series so far in a couple of years. The team dynamic itself is something not normally seen in a sentai series alone. Unlike previous sentai series, where the Red Leader is the glue that ties the team together. Takeru Shiba is a very cold and introverted leader, taking his role as the Samurai Lord of the Shiba clan to its fullest, always looking down on the other members not as teamates but as his loyal vassals that he commands. Though deep down, despite this nature of him he truely does care for his teamates and will always look out for them. I find this to be a very refreshing change of pace because in teh past few years, the Red Leader has always been overly cheerful or severely childlike. Takeru as I said before is the complete opposite of the normal formula.

The episode formula of the series is pretty Sentai basic. Typical monster of teh day attacks and it coincides with an internal struggle the team is facing that helps them grow and develop bonds and also helps them grow personally into a better person. Of course, these lessons are usually directed towards young kids, but the action and drama that coincides with the series is great for any age.

The special effects are pretty typical, nothing too amazing. However, probably due to the current economy, the giant robots which have had a recent trend of using CGI have been somewhat reduced most likely to save money. Despite this, it doesn’t look too cheap and displeasing to the eye unlike Boukenger which totally looked like the robot suits were throwbacks from the 90s.

So in conclusion, will I be following this series? Yes, I will definitely. Should you watch it? Yes you definitely should, I highly suggest you watch this series before it is brought stateside and turned into Power Ranger….Samurai…..team…Go…or something. Also, the intro song is performed by Psychic Lover, which is a personal fave of mine when it comes to J-Rock.

Next time, I will do a review of another Tokatsu series. The current Kamen Rider Series; Kamen Rider Decade.