Ohranger Episodes 26-28

 

EPISODES 26, 27 & 28

An old hero. An old legend.

You know me, I'm not a fan of sixth heroes. If they're not hogging screentime, then they throw off the chemistry that's long been established by the main five. But the '90s approach, before they locked in to what would be the typical way of introducing the sixth, was a looser and more experimental time. New Kamen Rider shows will debut with more than one Rider now, so of course Sentais now have a sixth hero well before they need one. You'll never see a Sentai introduce one in the late 20s again.

I like Riki's storyline, though, and his design's cool. I like when heroes have a personal connection to the villains -- beyond it being just the job -- and that's something Ohranger lacks until Riki, even if they don't put it to its fullest use. That he's a legendary warrior who once banished Bacchushund from the Earth recalls Senshi Shaider, but Sugimura's spin is that he's such a young warrior. (Of course.) It goes with the character's whole Egyptian theme and aesthetic, even if doesn't make total sense with what the show has said about the ancient civilization in which all of the Ohranger's arsenal is based upon.

And I like Miura and all, but it seems like he's such a BS expert in these episodes, when he's giving us all the history of Riki and Dorin and the way that he somehow knows it was Machine Beasts they were fighting, and then THEIR history, and it's like...yeah, c'mon. The Baranoia were meant to be mysterious when the show started, Miura basically just lucking out that he was able to tap into Choriki and some of the ancient civilization's mysteries, but now he just knows everything. I know you're not meant to question The Miyauchi, but c'mon.

The ancient civilization creating Bacchushund, Machine Beasts and, by extension, the Baranoia is a little too tidy. I really have to shake the image of the show Ohranger began as and what it's become, and that's just difficult. Like I said, the Baranoia were meant to be a little mysterious, and having them originate on Earth seems to be convenience and a way to explain away or smooth some inconsistencies or anachronisms.

The war between people and the machines beginning on account of the Machine Beasts feeling they were better than being the servants they were created to be is such a classic sci-fi idea that demands to be explored, but Ohranger never does. You have to wonder if Sugimura would have delved deeper had the show not changed tone. So it's another instance where you are forced to ignore the show Ohranger was supposed to be and is getting further away from. Especially since with Riki comes Dorin, who brings far more of Sugimura's taste for fantasy to the show than Ohranger, the hard sci-fi show about invasion, was obviously meant to have. Riki's basically like bringing a Zyuranger into the mix -- an ancient warrior who deals with the oddity of modern day with the greatest of ease. (There's at least a nice scene -- a cool night shoot -- where Riki seems overwhelmed by amusement park rides speeding by; that wouldn't be fun for a kid who spent his life fighting killer machines. Still, a little more of him and Dorin acclimating to the present would have helped.)

(Speaking of Sugimura, this is the first episode he's written in, what, eight episodes? Dang.)

Dorin's just weird to me. She's like an odd combination of Changeman's Nana and Turboranger's Shiron but doesn't come anywhere close to them. It seems like the show was too afraid to have Riki be a full royal -- a pharaoh -- as he obviously was, so they found it humorous to give him this ethereal kind of magical fairy that outranks him. So Sugimura gets to bring two kids into this show as semi-regulars!

Fine, Riki's youth could work for the character, but it's still just too much to have another kid sixth right after Kou. I mean, Riki's way better than Kou, but it's still strange to me to have back-to-back kid sixths, even if Sugimura's involved. (No, Ninjaman doesn't count. Although he certainly acted like a kid, didn't he?) Both Kou and Riki's actors were 12 when they started their shows, for cripes sake.

I've been pretty hard on Riki actor Shouji Yamaguchi over the years. He's not a great actor, but he was supposedly cast for martial arts ability -- so you have to cut him some slack. (Not unlike some of the people they cast in early PR. I'd like to say this casting was some kind of further homage by the producers to Sentai's anniversary, an acknowledgement of Sentai's victory in the States with MMPR, but that's a mighty stretch.) There's something likable about him, and something sad seeming. It's weird seeing him with the rest of the cast, though, who all seem so mature. It's weirder to see him transformed and try to picture the same character. It's also weird deluxe if you saw Power Rangers Zeo first and think of Austin St. John -- he could believably be behind the King Ranger mask. But this shrimp?! (Not to mention, a Red -- the original Red, who had been unceremoniously written off -- returning was a huge, huge deal.) And the Ohranger here keep getting outdone by him and he's offering commentary when they're getting pwned -- and it makes them seem a little pathetic to be pushed aside by this kid, even if he IS meant to be the strongest warrior. But we know he's going to suffer the Fate of the Sixths -- no matter what a big splash they make in their intro, they soon get pushed back into the background, so I guess it doesn't matter.

In his first two episodes, Riki/King is dubbed by Takumi Hashimoto for some reason I can't find concrete proof of. I'd have preferred if Hashimoto played the character...and the design for the character -- which is glimpsed briefly in his debut episode -- even resembles him a bit, so I wonder... (Hashimoto would have been about 18 at the time; obviously older than Sugimura wanted, but Hashimoto still looks young even by the time he's playing a high-schooler in Megaranger at age 20.)

This looks to me like the character design for the production, not just a graphic they whipped up for this scene.

 

So we get the reveal that Bacchushund is a creation of the ancient civilization and he's out for revenge for being driven away, and we're introduced to a bizarre cohort of his, Keris. They don't ever bother to explain her deal. She's dressed like a lion tamer and does experiments for Baranoia -- with more than just machines, since she kidnaps little girls (in a creepy subplot) and wants to turn them into animal hybrids -- but she doesn't appear to be a machine at all, and the monster she uses doesn't seem machine-like. (Her monster form even becomes giant in a different way than usual.) I don't know if we're to assume that she's some funky alien Bacchushund's picked up on his travels or what. There's leaving things mysterious and there's "We don't care to keep up any quality or consistency of this show, we don't care," and this falls into the latter, which is a complaint I have with a lot of Sugimura's stuff. And here we're supposed to overlook everything and forgive the show because of stunt-casting, which would be a sadly wasted Yoko Amamatsuri. It doesn't work this time, show!

And I kinda think they should have gotten another suit actor for King Ranger. Naoki Oofuji's awesome and has always been one of my favorite suit actors, but the show doesn't even try to pretend like it's Riki in suit. They needed someone like Tsutomu Kitagawa or one of the Super Hachisuka Brothers. (And why give this ancient Egyptian warrior all of those Bruce Lee mannerisms!?)

Random observation: King Pyramidder -- a pyramid mecha! -- is a neat, unique idea for a mecha, but I can't help but feeling like it's a creation of MacMillan Toys and Josh Baskin would think it's a shitty toy.

Random observation 2: There's a subplot where Riki is kidnapped and they pretend to transform him into the Machine Beast Bara King. It's a fake-out, although it would have been kinda cool if it had actually been him; he has a neat, appropriately Egyptian dog design.

Familiar Face of Sentai Past: Akiko Kurusu/Yoko Amamatsuri, aka Liveman's Mazenda and Dairanger's Gara, wasted as the underwritten Keris. I feel like the human looking Keris was meant to be a bigger deal, which was probably ruined by having the human-form of Bara Kakka just a couple of episodes back.

Familiar Voice of Sentai Past: Takumi Hashimoto, aka Boi/Tiger Ranger, dubbing Riki/King in episodes 26 & 27. As mentioned, I don't know the official reason behind this. But isn't it funny that, in Power Rangers Zeo, Gold Ranger -- in his debut -- is dubbed by the guy who played Ryan Steele in VR Troopers? Two former heroes dubbing the new guy for some reason.