Movie REVIEW: Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger: 10 Years After

There are few Super Sentai series that can say they were so popular that they supposedly almost got a second series. In fact, Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger may in fact be the only one that can. After a handful of the cast made a brief return for a cameo appearance in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, the alien-busting police themed Sentai celebrate their 10th anniversary with a one-off V-cinema release. In the same vein as the Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger: 10 Years After special released back in 2013, Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger: 10 Years After reunites the cast of the beloved show for a brand new case. Roll back the clocks and pretend for a moment it's still 2005, because it's judgement time once again.

Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Deka Green

"Three! For the future of scientific investigation!"

Hot on the heels of the Tamashii Web exclusive Deka Blue was S.H. Figuarts Deka Green, the third release from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger. Like Blue, Deka Green is also a web exclusive leaving Red as the only mass release member of the team (unless Deka Break or Deka Master are potentially announced at some stage...but that's unlikely) and was originally released back in December 2012. Bandai's methods aren't ideal if you're someone planning to buy the whole team, but this is a much better option than not getting the figures at all.

Once again we have the standard Dekaranger packaging, only this time in green and sporting a "3" like the ranger inside. The green on the clear window is a brighter shade than the box itself, making the name of the character probably stand out the most on the whole thing. The box is standard Figuarts size, with just one plastic tray to house all of the components.

If you've been buying the Dekarangers as they come out (which is likely unless a particular exclusive one is your favourite), you'll probably be quite familiar with the body by now - only this time its in green! Much like Deka Blue the little silver SPD details seem that much sharper than the mass release Deka Red, and the weird shoulder style of Sentai Figuarts has clearly evolved from being a potentially scary break area. Sure you'll probably find yourself poking them around by hand in order to cover up the inner mechanics, but the fact they move so freely when posing the arms is a very fair trade off. The articulation is superb as usual, with  a fully poseable head, shoulders, waist, (swing-down) thighs, ankles, double jointed elbows/knees and a hinged toe area to top it all off.

Deka Green comes with three weapon holsters that can be plugged into the belt, all of which fit very firmly and don't move about even when getting the figure into the more dynamic poses it can pull off.

Deka Green features a wide number of accessories including 13 alternate hands, flip-open SP license, D-Knuckle and D-Rod (both folded and extended). Admittedly these are also the accessories included with Deka Blue, however this is accurate to the show as they did indeed use the same weaponry. The only unique accessory is the combined D-Knuckle and D-Rod, which forms the D-Blaster (as opposed to Blue, who comes with the D-Sniper).

Out of the three Dekarangers released so far, I have to say that Green is probably my favourite. There aren't any big differences between him and Deka Blue (other than the colour obviously) aside from the combined weapon piece, but Deka Green feels like a much tighter figure overall. He's easy to get into good poses, and the holsters stay securely locked into the belt even when you're handling the figure trying to get it into a good pose. It's status as a (rather rare at the moment) Tamashii Web exclusive may put a few people off, but if you can actually track one down they go for a quite reasonable price. Deka Green isn't a perfect figure since it's still the same mould as the other two, but rest assured if you're picking him up or planning to get the whole set you may find yourself pleasantly surprised with Deka number 3.

Anime REVIEW: Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls

Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls (or simply 'Samurai Girls' in the West) is a 12 episode anime series released in 2010. Based on the light novel series of the same name, as you can guess from its name its main contents are samurai, girls and plenty of fan service.

The Girls (from left to right): Nia, Hanzo, Sen, Jyubei, Yukimura, Matabei, Kanetsugu  

In an alternate version of Japan known as Great Japan (where the Tokugawa Shogunate has remained active yet isolated from the rest of the World), the Buou Academy is a school at the base of Mt Fuji where those from military families train to become samurai. Muneakira Yagyu arrives at the school to take over the Yagyu dojo and quickly becomes involved in a power struggle between the school's student council and Yukimura Sanada, the 13-year old lolita leader of the Toyotomi faction. During a battle between the two groups, a mysterious girls falls from the sky and kisses Muneakira, granting her amazing samurai abilities.

As Munakira and the girls (whose numbers grow as the series progresses) investigate this girl, Jubei Yagyu, they soon discover that she has two personalities - childish and airheaded, yet when she kisses Muneakira she becomes a highly skilled yet sadistic samurai warrior with a power level of five million. Not only this, but Munakira's kisses are able to grant others the powers of a Master Samurai, with him having the power of a general. Amongst the harem hi-jinx that quickly ensue, the group also become involved in a dark aura that is covering Great Japan and an evil presence that is drawing ever closer.

Muneakira, oblivious protagonist.

While powers from a kiss is hardly the most original of concepts, there are some other noteworthy aspects to the plot and setting. Despite it looking like the Sengouku or early Edo periods of Japanese history, the series is set in modern day, meaning traditional styles clash with present day technology - from gene therapy and fighter planes to laptops and digital cameras. The problem lies in that while it sets itself up quite well, very little is explained in the course of the show (especially Muneakira's powers), and this is because in reality Samurai Girls is an ecchi show first and foremost. Early on the jokes are somewhat amusing, but as it becomes more and more clear that its getting in the way of the actual plot and spiralling down into near-pornographic levels they do become a little discomforting. The characters are heavily clichéd (the slightly dimwitted protagonist, the tsundere, the flat chested loli etc.) and save for the three girls who become master samurai (Jyubei, Yukimura and eldest daughter of the Shongunate Sen Tokugawa) are largely forgettable as they fall into the background quite quickly. There are plenty of supernatural harem/ecchi anime that have been able to balance plot and fan service, but this show doesn't quite get the hang of it and the end result is most of the plot being crammed into the final three episodes.

Jyubei: 0 to badass in one kiss flat.

One aspect of the show that is worthy of praise though is its beautiful and somewhat unique art style. Heavy brush strokes, muted colours and thick character outlines make the series feel as if it were drawn on time-worn scrolls. The ink blot technique used for scene transitions (and also censorship if by chance you're watching the TV version) also emphasise this feel, with the blotting often also changing colour to suit the characters and/or attacks on screen at the time. While the animation does shift to black and white for the final episode's climactic fight, it does make for a powerful visual effect. It's just a shame that such great art direction is mostly wasted on lackluster comedy and gratuitous fan service.

Instead of an AWESOME SAMURAI ANIME, this is what you get most of the time.

While not completely awful, Hyakka Ryōran Samurai Girls certainly leaves plenty to be desired. The actual plot (which on paper had the potential to be quite interesting) plays second fiddle to harem jokes that have been done a million times before (and often better) and more breasts than you can shake a sword at. At 12 episodes, it's hardly a strenuous watch and if you aren't adverse to such a quantity of fan service the art is certainly good enough to keep you watching. If however you do have some sort of aversion to animated nudity, I recommend you steer clear of the Samurai Girls.

Series REVIEW: Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger is the 28th entry into the Super Sentai franchise, following on from Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger and preceding Mahou Sentai Magiranger. The story begins when Banban Akaza (nicknamed Ban/DekaRed) is transferred to the Earth branch of the SPD (Special Police Dekaranger) and arrives in the city of Megalopolis. His teammates are Houji Tomasu (Hojo/DekaBlue), Sen'ichi Enari (Sen-chan/DekaGreen), Marika Reimon (Jasmine/Deka Yellow) and Koume Koudou (Umeko/DekaPink). Under the guidance of their chief, the Anubian alien Doggie Kruger and scientist Swan Shiratori the Dekarangers defend the city of alien criminals, known as alienizers. Midway through the series, they are also joined by Tekkan Aira (Tetsu/DekaBreak), an elite member of SPD's Tokkyou division.

The main cast are excellent, each having very contrasting personalities and thus being able to to bounce off each other well and each adding something different to the combined team. Between the 5 (or 6) of them there is no obvious leader, so the chain of command fluctuates episode to episode depending what the operation is. Despite the format of the show (which I'll get into next) each character has their background explored adequately and the relationships between them are properly expanded on.

What's instantly the most noticeable thing about Dekaranger is the format of the show. There's no evil witch/demon/empire trying to take over the world, no ongoing story about a team of heroes preventing the world from turning to ash etc. Instead, Dekaranger is an episodic series that deals with the SPD dealing with "low-key" criminals (well, on a Sentai scale anyway) such as murders and arms dealers. Most episodes are stand alone from each other (with multi-part episodes appearing every so often, usually when there's a new addition to the cast and/or arsenal) and a minimal amount of recurring antagonists. The variety of alienizers in the series is massive - there's everything from the standard hulking sentai monsters to small prop aliens, aliens in human clothing (the space mafia, complete in tuxedos, was a highlight of mine) to even humanoid villains with human faces. Not that all the aliens are villains of course, because the world of Dekaranger is one where aliens live among us, meaning there are plenty of 'ordinary citizen' alien characters too.

Midway-in the series does begin to sow seeds for its finale episodes, and the Dekaranger's main antagonist is revealed in full - Agent Abrella. As I said before, Abrella isn't the typical Sentai villain dealing in galactic conquest, he's only interested in one thing - money. From smuggling to developing weapons to sell on the black market, most one shot villains in the series have had some contact with Abrella. His minimal use in the majority of the series makes him a much more interesting character, and when he's eventually fully revealed its apparent how effective he is for a criminal with such simplistic aspirations. Certainly one of Sentai's most memorable offerings in the villain department.

The next thing to mention would be the impressive amount of rangers this series boasts - a total of 10. Besides the main 6, Doggie Kruger also has the ability to transform into the too-awesome-for-words DekaMaster, Swan makes a one-shot appearance as DekaSwan, and then there are also one-off appearances from DekaBright (the head of the Tokkyou division) and DekaGold (movie only). While appearances from the other rangers are scarce, its a rare treat to see more than 6 rangers outside of a team-up movie, and helps emphasise the larger scale of the SPD. DekaMaster is also without a doubt the highlight of the show, stealing every scene he's included in. If I had to recommend this series for a single reason, it would be for Doggie.

Finally, the other thing that sets Dekaranger apart from other Sentai series is its approach to mecha fights. Since the villains of this series are aliens rather than outright monsters, there's actually very little 'growing' in the show (some aliens do grow to fight the Dekaranger mecha, but that only happens a handful of times). What Dekaranger provides instead is some alienizer-piloted mecha (named Kaijuki in the show), giving us some genuine mecha vs mecha fights. The enemy mecha designs are varied at best (some are excellent, while others look like an after thought) and its not long before the same design starts appearing in different colour schemes but with the amount of character design that had to go into this show, its a pretty fair trade-off and an excellent change of pace. The episodes don't always end with 'giant monster/mecha fights Dekaranger Robo and is beaten' either - mecha fights often begin an episode rather than end it, and more often than not (well, until DekaWing Robo comes around) the alienizer is killed by the Dekarangers themselves rather than the robot. This mix-up of events helps the show be less formulaic than standard Sentai show, meaning you're not watching the same plot progression over and over again. The Dekaranger mecha themselves are all excellent, particularly Dekaranger Robo - individually looking like futuristic police vehicles and together having a nice uniform combination that at the same time stands out (its also nice to see a main mecha that doesn't use a sword as its main weapon). The later combination with Dekabreak's DekaBike is just as smooth, adding armour in all the right places to prevent it from looking like a mesh of vehicle parts. DekaWing Robo doesn't really have much focus as individual components, but more than makes up for it in combined mode (not only does it form a brilliant robot, but can also turn into a GIANT FREAKING GUN). Deka Base Robo (as the name suggests...the robot mode of the mobile part of Deka Base) is the weakest of the lineup, but its easy to let slide given both its gigantic size and that fact that (in-show) it was built to be more of a giant weapon than a mobile robot.

It may be small, but the show does suffer from one flaw - the narration. It's not so much that the narration is bad, more that it's horrifically repetitive. When certain key moments happen in the show (such as Jasmine's ESP powers, Sen's thinking pose and judgement time) narration appears over the show to explain what's happening. The only problem is, it does that for every single episode that moment appears, and as you can expect 'judgement time' happens EVERY EPISODE. Hearing the explanation in the first 10 episodes or so makes sense as its a chance to fully come to grasps with the concepts of the show (not that they're difficult to get anyway), but hearing them in episode 20, 40 or even 50 (that's right, the last episode) is ridiculous - no one would just jump on the show at that point, so what's the point of explaining it again?

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger is a show that gets a lot of praise, and it deserves every single bit of it. The wide range of aesthetics and alien design really help create the impression of a world filled with alien life, the main team all work fantastically together and apart and it has a very minimal amount of forgettable episodes. Arguably one of the best Sentai Series of the noughties, and certainly a worthy contender for a top spot in the franchise's 35 year history.