Last week, I finished watching Mahou Sentai Magiranger (Magical Taskforce Magiranger), which was a freaking BLAST and I loved it to death. This is the first time in a while that I’ve actually felt a sense of loss at the end of a series. Usually I’m at least a little bit relieved when I finish watching something, because then I can go on to other things. But I wanted Magiranger to keep on going. 😦
In case you don’t know, Magiranger is a Super Sentai series, and if you don’t know what Super Sentai is, look it up. It’s the first one I’ve ever watched– no, I never even saw Power Rangers as a kid because I thought it looked stupid. I’m almost afraid to watch more Super Sentai because I don’t know how any of the others could possibly be as awesome as Magi was.
Even though it’s not anime, it had everything that I originally loved about anime: cool magical attacks, colorful costumes, kickass action, lovable characters, shocking plot twists, catchy songs, and last but not least, giant robots. I expected that the live-action would make it intolerably cheesy. Wrong!
Okay, the acting was stiff for like, the first ten episodes. But after that, they all got better. In fact, everything about the series kept getting better. And then Hikaru/MagiShine showed up and was all, “Hello, I’m awesome.” And after that things REALLY took off. Hikaru is my favorite, by the way. I think I have a crush on him.
Have a look at the second opening, which has Hikaru in it (he’s the gold one).
The closing is ridiculously cute and catchy and I love it and wish I could do their little dance. (Don’t ask about the talking plant.)
And because the whole world should know how awesome MagiShine is, here’s his first transformation and fight. Check out this GQMF:
Okay, okay, I’m done now, I promise.
June 7, 2010
Annette
7 responses to “Magi Magi Magiiro!”
DJ D
June 7th, 2010 at 13:12
OMG, the poses that they all do in that opening had me cracking up. And why does it always take these guys like 45 minutes to transform into anything? In all these shows, it’s this big production with shit flying all over the place and the guy yelling something every 5 seconds.
All of this (especially tthe talking plan thing) just further backs up my theory that the Japanese as a whole are out of their minds. Every one of them.
Annette
June 7th, 2010 at 13:51
The Japanese are deliciously insane and I love them for it.
I think back in the day, they started having guys call out the names of their attacks and weapons and such so that the kids would know what they were called, thus making it easier to sell them the related toys. Also, kids like to imitate things, so that could be another reason. In Magiranger, it actually makes sense for them to call out things because they’re supposed to be sort of like incantations or spells.
As for long transformations, I think it’s part style and part cost-saving measure. Stock footage is a cheap way to pad out the length slightly if you need a couple extra minutes. And in this show, if they were pressed for time or had a lot going on plot-wise, they left out those sequences and cut right to the chase.
In any case, I think it’s pretty awesome. But then again, I cut my anime teeth on Sailor Moon, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Oh, by the way, the talking plant is supposed to be a Mandrake of some sort. Whenever someone pulls him out of the pot, he shrieks and everybody falls over holding their ears. Good for comedy relief every so often.
In10Words aka "Galileo"
June 7th, 2010 at 22:23
Ah, the Sentai series that Mystic Force was based on. Never saw that one. I personally stopped watching after Time Force, but I heard good things about this one and RPM.
I suggest you check out Zyuranger, the series that the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were based from. In terms of overall plot, it’s absolutely NOTHING like “Floating Head with an Annoying Robot recruit 5 Teenagers With Attitude Against a Migraine-suffering Witch.”
The rangers themselves are warriors from 5 separate tribes that lived over 100 million years ago during the time of Dinosaurs that went into suspended animation after their war with evil ended. Rita Repulsa is instead Bandura, a witch who went insanely evil over millions of years after dinosaurs killed his son. Instead of Zordon we have an old man who is the caretaker of their chambers, as well as the groundskeeper of the apartment building that was built over it that also serves as HQ.
Each weapon that the Rangers are given in the US are instead gradually earned over time. Hell, the zords don’t appear until episode SIX. I think it takes another episode for them to actually merge into the Megazord.
Then comes the Green Ranger. In the US, he’s Tommy, the new kid in town who’s brainwashed by Rita to become the Evil Green Ranger and destroy the others…but ultimately fails when he turns good, causing Rita to plot to take the powers back from him, ultimately succeeding until next season where he returns as the White Ranger. In Japan? He’s the Red Ranger’s long-lost brother, who also went into suspended animation and is hell-bent on revenge against his brother for not being around to save their father all those years ago.
Unfortunately, when he IS awakened and eventually turns good, it turns out that he’s slowly dying and must enter a magical room to keep himself alive. Of course, he’s brought out again and again until he finally does does. It’s because of THIS reason is why Tommy didn’t show up that much after his initial arc.
This, BTW is the cliff notes of the whole damn thing. I suggest looking up Linkara’s awesome “History of Power Rangers” series. He’s currently up to “In Space” (and the end of the Zordon era), but it’s assured that he’s going to review the rest of the seasons.
Annette
June 11th, 2010 at 01:11
I’ve definitely been considering watching Zyuranger, and also Gekiranger (which was turned into Jungle Fury or somesuch). I’m also kind of interested in Go-Onger– that’s RPM, I think, but I could be wrong. I was never really into Power Rangers, but I could definitely make a hobby of tracking down and watching all the Super Sentai series. 😛
In10Words aka "Galileo"
June 11th, 2010 at 20:52
I was a big Power Rangers nut as a kid, and I’m always dismayed when I hear that people my age either didn’t watch it or STILL think it was stupid. Sure it was stupid, that’s what made it great!
If you do watch Go-Onger, be warned that it’s completely different in tone than RPM. Go-Onger is a goofy car-zords show (not unlike Carranger, which became Turbo). RPM is about the Ranger team fighting a computer virus that became sentient and built a robot army that destroyed 99% of the planet, save for a single city.
Ashley
June 9th, 2010 at 07:42
So I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch ALL the videos…but I dids watch that third one. I pretty much fell out of my office chair laughing — did he use a cell phone or a universal remote to transform? I couldn’t tell. And when he grabbed the sun…that was pretty awesome. XD
Still, it looks like a ridiculously fun show, and if you ever feel like watching some for random lolz when we’re together, I’d be ok with that.
Annette
June 11th, 2010 at 01:07
He did use a phone (all the Magirangers do) but his is kind of a strange design for a phone! He has card things (I think they’re actually supposed to be tickets, in keeping with his train theme) and he punches holes in them with the phone. He has different cards depending on what he’s trying to do. It sounds pretty weird when I explain it like that, but whatever. XD