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Ninja Steel Reaction Post #3
Nothing hurts quite like than being let down after being really excited about something. And it's not the first time Power Rangers has done this to me--I was super-excited for Lost Galaxy when it first came out, because I'd loved Power Rangers in Space. But when its first episode dragged on and the sense of urgency felt much lower, I gave it up for years. When Saban first bought the franchise back, I was excited about Samurai, but it turned out to be a letdown. Megaforce and Super Megaforce were even worse.
I had decent expectations for Ninja Steel, given that Dino Charge was so good, and I knew it would have at least a great Blue Ranger because Peter Sudarso is just as precious as his brother, but three episodes in, and I'm only watching for Preston.
I can't say that it's the Sentai blinding me either, because I had this same exact problem with Ninninger, except then that I had more than just Yakumo to like--I also loved Kasumi and Kinji. Like there, I'm having a hard time remembering the characters' names--except where Ninninger kept failing me on Nagi's name (and given how little he had to do in the whole series, yeah, you can understand why), I literally had to look up Hayley's, and I had to keep repeating Calvin's to myself. I keep being surprised that Kelson Henderson's name is Mick, and part of me expects to see the cat from W whenever the name is called. Not to mention that by next week, I will forget Monty and Victor's again, and I will probably forget this week's nicknames of "Pinky and Gaston." They're a particular source of aggravation, and they will never cease being so; I understand that this is the 25th anniversary season and they want to harken back to MMPR, but dear god, we ALREADY HAVE MMPR 2017 and the catastrophe that was Megaforce! We don't need another soft-reboot this soon! And we don't need a new Bulk and Skull--the originals were enough! They started off annoying, but they had 5 years to develop into heroes, and then Bulk got another year to develop into a bumbling but goodhearted uncle.
Brody still doesn't impress me. Like Takaharu, he comes off as an airhead with no concept of teamwork. And like Takaharu's later performances, he's still failing to put enough emotion into his voice. I get that he hasn't been on Earth since kindergarten or first grade, but while he may be far behind in basic math skills (and who on earth has EVER had a quiz done like Jeopardy where only 10 students are earning the grades for the entire class?), he isn't an overgrown 6-year-old--he was captured and enslaved for 10 years! If anything, he should be...well, I guess more like Andros. It's the Orion problem again; the character is way too innocent for all of the trauma he's gone through. And in this case, way too immature. I'm sitting here asking why Mick talks about Brody having the courage to become leader when, quite honestly, NOTHING has shown courage--courage is doing something despite your own fear. Brody has no fear--that is not courage, and he doesn't have enough personality yet for it to be foolhardiness.
I hate being this harsh on the series and especially on Brody, but the Red Ranger is the most important character of the season's start--if you don't have a strong one, then you don't have a strong center for your team. The trick after that becomes making sure the rest of the Rangers aren't completely outshone, and Brody is still managing to outshine them despite being a dim star. The exception, of course, being Preston, because Peter put SO much thought into his character--look at his preliminary character notes! He planned the character with inspiration from Tokkatchi, Ziggy, Billy, Neville, and even DRACO! He's been watching PR and Sentai since he was a kid, and he's been auditioning for years, so he knows what to do! I just...I don't even know what's going on with this beyond Chip Lynn letting me down again.
And another thing that I forgot when I reviewed the previous episode--KODIAK IS A FUCKING BEAR! Okay, if...shit, blanked on her name and had to look up...HAYLEY named the zord after her dog, then just go with "Kody" Zord. But no, "Kody" comes from "Kodiak," and there's no Kodiak wolf, but a Kodiak BEAR. HOW?!
I had decent expectations for Ninja Steel, given that Dino Charge was so good, and I knew it would have at least a great Blue Ranger because Peter Sudarso is just as precious as his brother, but three episodes in, and I'm only watching for Preston.
I can't say that it's the Sentai blinding me either, because I had this same exact problem with Ninninger, except then that I had more than just Yakumo to like--I also loved Kasumi and Kinji. Like there, I'm having a hard time remembering the characters' names--except where Ninninger kept failing me on Nagi's name (and given how little he had to do in the whole series, yeah, you can understand why), I literally had to look up Hayley's, and I had to keep repeating Calvin's to myself. I keep being surprised that Kelson Henderson's name is Mick, and part of me expects to see the cat from W whenever the name is called. Not to mention that by next week, I will forget Monty and Victor's again, and I will probably forget this week's nicknames of "Pinky and Gaston." They're a particular source of aggravation, and they will never cease being so; I understand that this is the 25th anniversary season and they want to harken back to MMPR, but dear god, we ALREADY HAVE MMPR 2017 and the catastrophe that was Megaforce! We don't need another soft-reboot this soon! And we don't need a new Bulk and Skull--the originals were enough! They started off annoying, but they had 5 years to develop into heroes, and then Bulk got another year to develop into a bumbling but goodhearted uncle.
Brody still doesn't impress me. Like Takaharu, he comes off as an airhead with no concept of teamwork. And like Takaharu's later performances, he's still failing to put enough emotion into his voice. I get that he hasn't been on Earth since kindergarten or first grade, but while he may be far behind in basic math skills (and who on earth has EVER had a quiz done like Jeopardy where only 10 students are earning the grades for the entire class?), he isn't an overgrown 6-year-old--he was captured and enslaved for 10 years! If anything, he should be...well, I guess more like Andros. It's the Orion problem again; the character is way too innocent for all of the trauma he's gone through. And in this case, way too immature. I'm sitting here asking why Mick talks about Brody having the courage to become leader when, quite honestly, NOTHING has shown courage--courage is doing something despite your own fear. Brody has no fear--that is not courage, and he doesn't have enough personality yet for it to be foolhardiness.
I hate being this harsh on the series and especially on Brody, but the Red Ranger is the most important character of the season's start--if you don't have a strong one, then you don't have a strong center for your team. The trick after that becomes making sure the rest of the Rangers aren't completely outshone, and Brody is still managing to outshine them despite being a dim star. The exception, of course, being Preston, because Peter put SO much thought into his character--look at his preliminary character notes! He planned the character with inspiration from Tokkatchi, Ziggy, Billy, Neville, and even DRACO! He's been watching PR and Sentai since he was a kid, and he's been auditioning for years, so he knows what to do! I just...I don't even know what's going on with this beyond Chip Lynn letting me down again.
And another thing that I forgot when I reviewed the previous episode--KODIAK IS A FUCKING BEAR! Okay, if...shit, blanked on her name and had to look up...HAYLEY named the zord after her dog, then just go with "Kody" Zord. But no, "Kody" comes from "Kodiak," and there's no Kodiak wolf, but a Kodiak BEAR. HOW?!