Mirai Sentai Timeranger
Aug. 5th, 2011 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cypsiman2Go Over Time and Space...
"People from the the year 3000 AD and one man from the present have met by chance, for the sake of marking a new passage of time...!"
Really, how could the Super Sentai for the year 2000 not be about time travel, and all the attendant themes therein? Mirai Sentai Timeranger is definitely one of the most consistently serious and mature super sentais to have been released, and is one of the major fan favorites among old fans and new alike. So logically, it should have a lot going for it, that it be so popular, yes?
Oh, and the subs that are currently available are of exceptionally low quality.
The strength of Mirai Sentai Timeranger unambigously lies in its characters; the writing, characterization, and development is much more subdued and mature than most other super sentais, with capable performances by all the actors. From the future we have Yuuri, TimePink, who's family was murdered by a hitman hired by Don Dornero, the criminal that she and the rest pursued into the year 2000. Ayase, TimeBlue, has a fatal heart condition that can't be cured even in the year 3000, and he has only a year or two left to live. Sion, TimeGreen, is from a planet that was destroyed in warfare shortly after his birth and was raised in a laboratory. Domon, TimeYellow, was late to one match too many, and was expelled from the leagues for life. Tatsuya Asami, TimeRed, our representative from the present, is an upbeat and positive young man who chafes under the weight of his family's name and seeks to forge his own way through life. Oh, and in due course he comes to realize just how filthy stinking priveledged he is, and develops greatly for it.
And then there is the Sixth Ranger, Naoto Takizawa, also from the present and an old friend of Tatsuya. He sees his position as TimeFire as a way to obtain the power he believes that Tatsuya stupidly threw aside, himself having grown up poor among the wealthy elite. He is an anti-hero in the truest sense of the word.
The relationships between the characters are very nuanced and rich, and the romance between Yuuri and Tatsuya is very sweet, tender, and of course has the tragic end that everyone knew was coming but pursued it anyway because it was that kind of love.
Then there are the villains, the Londarz criminal family, consisting of Don Dornero a big blue lizard man who loves his money, his moll Lila, and robot Gien who's kind of like the joker, in that his main love is killing as many people as he can. At first they come of as incongruous and inappropriate as villains to a time travel sentai, but by the end of it, they get fleshed out in surprising ways and I wouldn't be able to imaging the series without them.
Unfortunately, as great as the characters are, and they are great don't get me wrong, the story lets them down. While each episode generally advances the characters and their individual stories very well, the larger storyline moves only in very occasional bursts, most episodes being almost entirely self-contained. And when we finally get our answers to all the mysteries of what's really been going on all along...they are unsatisfactory, simple as that. Furthermore, the nature of how time travel works in Timeranger is more than a little muddy, and the first episode contains a doozy of a plot hole that we the viewer are simply forced to accept and move on with.
Plus, the second to last scene reeks of having been horribly rushed.
In the end, I do recommend it highly, but not quite as much as I would have liked to have been able to.
"People from the the year 3000 AD and one man from the present have met by chance, for the sake of marking a new passage of time...!"
Really, how could the Super Sentai for the year 2000 not be about time travel, and all the attendant themes therein? Mirai Sentai Timeranger is definitely one of the most consistently serious and mature super sentais to have been released, and is one of the major fan favorites among old fans and new alike. So logically, it should have a lot going for it, that it be so popular, yes?
Oh, and the subs that are currently available are of exceptionally low quality.
The strength of Mirai Sentai Timeranger unambigously lies in its characters; the writing, characterization, and development is much more subdued and mature than most other super sentais, with capable performances by all the actors. From the future we have Yuuri, TimePink, who's family was murdered by a hitman hired by Don Dornero, the criminal that she and the rest pursued into the year 2000. Ayase, TimeBlue, has a fatal heart condition that can't be cured even in the year 3000, and he has only a year or two left to live. Sion, TimeGreen, is from a planet that was destroyed in warfare shortly after his birth and was raised in a laboratory. Domon, TimeYellow, was late to one match too many, and was expelled from the leagues for life. Tatsuya Asami, TimeRed, our representative from the present, is an upbeat and positive young man who chafes under the weight of his family's name and seeks to forge his own way through life. Oh, and in due course he comes to realize just how filthy stinking priveledged he is, and develops greatly for it.
And then there is the Sixth Ranger, Naoto Takizawa, also from the present and an old friend of Tatsuya. He sees his position as TimeFire as a way to obtain the power he believes that Tatsuya stupidly threw aside, himself having grown up poor among the wealthy elite. He is an anti-hero in the truest sense of the word.
The relationships between the characters are very nuanced and rich, and the romance between Yuuri and Tatsuya is very sweet, tender, and of course has the tragic end that everyone knew was coming but pursued it anyway because it was that kind of love.
Then there are the villains, the Londarz criminal family, consisting of Don Dornero a big blue lizard man who loves his money, his moll Lila, and robot Gien who's kind of like the joker, in that his main love is killing as many people as he can. At first they come of as incongruous and inappropriate as villains to a time travel sentai, but by the end of it, they get fleshed out in surprising ways and I wouldn't be able to imaging the series without them.
Unfortunately, as great as the characters are, and they are great don't get me wrong, the story lets them down. While each episode generally advances the characters and their individual stories very well, the larger storyline moves only in very occasional bursts, most episodes being almost entirely self-contained. And when we finally get our answers to all the mysteries of what's really been going on all along...they are unsatisfactory, simple as that. Furthermore, the nature of how time travel works in Timeranger is more than a little muddy, and the first episode contains a doozy of a plot hole that we the viewer are simply forced to accept and move on with.
Plus, the second to last scene reeks of having been horribly rushed.
In the end, I do recommend it highly, but not quite as much as I would have liked to have been able to.
