Ohranger Episode 1

 

EPISODE 1

One of the great toku premieres. Well, it's one of my favorite toku premieres. It's in my top five Sentai premieres. Funny that some of the shows that I'm not the biggest fan of will have great premieres, like Fiveman. But Ohranger's is big and puts on a spectacle, and Yamaoka is just hitting it out of the park with the action from the get-go, from throwing the four Ohranger into mayhem to Oh Red's powerful first battle.

Junji Yamaoka, the best action director of toku, made his Sentai return with this series. He was action director of most shows from Goranger through Flashman. He did the first few Maskman episodes but left the series. He then moved on to the Metal Heroes, overseeing the action of Jiban through Blue Swat. Getting him back was just icing on the cake, because Ohranger's action is one of the best things about it. There are earlier Sentai shows that would lack substance, but Yamaoka would go and do his thing and make up for anything by delivering awesome action. (Honestly, a lot of the Metal Heroes he worked on would be so much lesser without his action scenes.) And I feel that's the case with Ohranger a bit -- the heroes not as deep as you'd like them? Who cares, look how much ass they kick!

This episode sets up the invasion just great, with parts of the world already defeated. The Baranoia here are mysterious, which really works for them. I've said before that I think this episode is so good and memorable because we don't spend a whole lot of time with the goofy Baranoia leaders -- we're mostly looking at the situation from humanity's perspective, where it's just an endless army of the foot soldiers and giant mechas that are leading the assault. And I think having it be a mystery who was behind it would have worked better than finding out right off the bat it's these cutesy guys. 

The episode also keeps vague just how long Goro has been fighting as Oh Red as the others are being prepared. He seems like he's been at it for a while, and I think that's a cool idea, to think that he's been out there kicking ass on his own. Maybe he tried to fight back Baranoia in other locations, even.

Yamaoka captures the peril of the four, as they're shot down by Baranoia and have to make a journey through nature, with his usual intensity. He throws everything at the performers -- we get crazy, cool shots of the heroes fighting and falling into waterfalls, but it's also like we're witnessing the cast and characters go through bootcamp. It's baptism by fire; they endure these attacks and come out of it ready to take on the Baranoia.

Another great thing Yamaoka does is convey the power of the Ohranger suits and the machines. He's going to make you feel the SUPER POWER, dammit, and he does. The unpowered four UAOH members aren't able to do much of anything against even just the foot soldiers -- they're too damned strong. If you think of other robotic Sentai grunts, like the Jinmers in Liveman, the show had the heroes deal with them without much fuss, even out of suit. The Barlow soldiers aren't shoddy bomb casings full of used pinball machine parts -- you'll bust your hand if you try to even just punch them. And once Oh Red enters the scene, HIS power is conveyed just as nicely, showing you the impact of his punches and kicks. Yamaoka has the Ohranger suit actors move in such deliberate and forceful ways, they carry themselves in such a way, they just seem so strong and confident. I've never been a fan of the Ohranger designs, but the way the suit actors present the heroes, and the awesome action scenes both go a long way in making them look good. I also have to credit the suit actors for being able to kick so much ass despite those helmets seeming like some of the most unpleasant helmets to see out of.

Just an action-packed premiere that keeps hitting. So many action set pieces despite the fact that there's no transforming hero until the last scene!

Familiar Face of Sentai Past: Ryousuke Kaizu, aka Takeru/Red Mask.

Familiar Voice of Sentai Past: The show's narrator is Nobuo Tanaka, who I like to think of as the Anniversary Narrator. He was Goranger's original narrator and then returned ten years later for Changeman; he was 10th Super Sentai Turboranger's narrator and then Ohranger's. It has to be more than bias for his involvement with Changeman because I just like Tanaka's narration: it's clear, but he puts a lot into it. I love how he does the episode previews for this show. "Choriki Henshin! OLE!!!!"