Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger Review

Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger Review

Personally, I love kung fu films. There is just a beautiful feel to an old kung fu movie. The choreography is delicate and precise, the stories are fun, and the characters are people you want to get behind and root for. And this weeks fair is no different. It has some incredible characters, a fun story, and just great fighting, but I might be getting a bit ahead of myself here. This is Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger.

Everybody was KUNG FU FIGHTING! ...sorry about that.

    Gekiranger is the 31st sentai series, following up right after the hugely popular anniversary season, Boukenger. It is an animal martial arts based sentai, with most of the heroes using Geki Jyuken, while most of the villains are using  Rin Jyuken. I’ll get into the martial arts style later, and just a warning, I will be getting into stuff shown later in the series, so spoiler alert, for what it’s worth. The plot to Gekiranger is actually surprisingly simple, when you really think about it. There are good and bad martial arts, the bad ones want to create a bit of chaos and suffering to make themselves stronger, and the good guys don’t exactly like that so they go and stop them. And really that’s it, there is a bit of an over arching plot thingy later on, but only really gets revealed around the last 10 episodes or so, and is still basically what the original plot was, just more. But with its simple plot, it has much more room to explore the shows characters, and that is where Gekiranger shines.

    Gekiranger is one of those rare sentai that starts off with three main heroes, and then takes an actual length of time to add there additional members, only 2 this season, so there is a grand total of five rangers, which is kind of rare for modern day sentai. Our main protagonist, and red ranger, is Jan, a boy raised in the mountains of Japan by tigers and pandas and other animals that don’t actually live in Japan. One day he meets a Miki, a head of a sports equipment company and secret ranger training ground. Jan helps save her, and shows that he has Geki, prompting Miki to take him form his jungle and make him a ranger. Jan represents the body of Geki, which I will get to later Jan is the most developed character in this whole series. His growth is very palpable, but also believable. When we first meet him, well there isn’t any other word for it, he was an idiot. But that was to be expected he was raised by animals in the middle of a forest. He knew how to speak, but he would constantly make up words for concepts he didn’t understand. Adamantly, this really got on my nerves early season, but later on I started to dig the way he spoke. When he is first introduced, he is really a child, and we see him grow and mature. He becomes more mature, more accepting of things that would have earlier confused him, and even considered wise. There is a bit where Jan learns about his family, and thinks that the path he is walking down is not one of his own volition, but that destiny has taken control and this legitimacy scares him. But he figures it out, and decides to walk his own path, even if that path takes him to the destiny he was originally thinking of avoiding. And when a character alter on goes through something similar, Jan can honestly help him, and we really get to see Jan go from the jungle boy to the hero he was.

    While Jan got all the character development, his teammates got realistically very little. Ran is the yellow ranger, the official team leader, the only female member of the Gekirangers,  and the heart of the teams Geki, which I will get to later. She is the team mother or older sister, she is bossy but always means well. She also likes period pieces and samurai era Japan a fair bit, but other then that, there is very little to say about Ran. She is form a rich family apparently, and chose to start doing Jyuken to help people, leaving behind her wealthy life, which shows she is naturally good and is always looking out for others. But that’s it really. Ran is the one who gets shafted the most in character development of the main 5, and that’s too bad, it would have been interesting to see what they could have done with her character. Retsu is the blue ranger. He is serious, the smart one, and represent the technique of the Geki, which yada yada yada you know the drill. Retsu is a famous artist, who chose to go into Jyuken when his older brother, who was also a student of Jyuken, went missing. He is an orphan, his only family being his older brother. In the series he becomes much more relaxed the how he was in the start, and learns really to be his own person, and not to live in his brothers shadow, or under his brother’s thumb. But again, that’s really it. His only real burst of growth is when his brother comes back, which leads to the next character. Gou is the fourth Gekiranger, Geki Violet, or the purple ranger. He uses another form of martial arts, like Geki Jyuken, but of his own design, called Shigeki. He acts cool, but is really impulsive at times, and  blames himself for everything that happens in the series. He is Retsu’s older brother, but wants his bother to live a good life without fighting, nearly forcing Retsu to quit the team. Like the rest he doesn’t really grow, but he does become more accepting of what is and what isn’t, and just becomes a more relaxed figure. And then we have Ken, the fifth member of the team, or Geki Chopper. He also uses a slightly different form the main martial arts, where in he can concentrate his Geki into a precise point to create a aura blade of sorts. Ken represents natural ability and talent. He is a genius but lazy and really dumb at times.

So. Many. Posing. Shots.

    After those three, we have all the masters of Geki-Jyuken that guide the main characters in the series, and there are a lot. Well seven to be precise. I’ll go through them quickly, because I will be talking about them more later. They are the seven Kensei, the seven heroes of the great Jyuken rebellion who defeated the three Kenma, the ones who were doing the actual rebelling. The first is the main master of the Gekirangers Master Shafu, who firsts with Felis-ken, or basically cat style. He is an oversized house cat basically. This is because in order to defeat the Kenma, the 7 Kensei had to use a forbidden technique, which cause all of them to take an anthropomorphized form of their beast marital arts style. For Shafu, it is a cat, for some reason. Then we have Elehung Kam Po, who likes to have fun, and hit on girls who are thousands of years younger then him. He teaches Ran how to use the Geki-hammer, a ball and chain type weapon. Then there is Bat Li, who believes trances are the best way to train. He is series, and teaches Retsu how to use the battle fans. Then there is Sharkie Chan, a large shark man who is the youngest of the Kensei. He teaches Jan how to use the twin shark sabers. He is over emotional and cries at the drop of a hat, but is a good teacher over all. Then there is Gorrie Yen, one of the three Masters, and is one of the Kensei the Gekirangers must defeat in order to gain the next level of training, Kageki. He is a writer and actually a bit of a psychotherapist for the characters. Michelle Peng is also a member of the three Masters, she is a business woman and extreme sports lover, especially snowboarding and skateboarding. The final member is Master Pyon Biao, who is a gazelle. He roams the savannah, protecting the animals from poachers and the like.

The Seven Kensei, you know, just chillin.

    And after all that, there are still people I have to talk about. Now the big baddies. Rio is the current leader of Rin Jyuken, the Jyuken of evil. He once practiced Geki-Jyuken, but his lust for more and more power drove him to join the enemy. He uses Lion style martial arts, and has a dual story line with Jan, both of the growing stronger, acting as rivals to one another. Unlike Jan, though, all of Rio’s life was being manipulated by the real big bad who we don’t see for the majority of the show, Long. Learning this causes Rio to turn back to good, making him one of the most believable hell-face-turns I’ve seen in recent memory. His partner in crime is Mele, a user of chameleon style martial arts, and who is completely and utterly devoted to her man Rio. Mele is actually more of a promoted foot solider, she was the first to be resurrected and is the most devote to her master. Also, all the enemies have been resurrected, based on the Chinese vampire until they get promoted to be a monster. I realize have forgotten to mention this. Mele’s dedication to Rio is her character, allowing her to sacrifice everything for him, including her evil nature. She actually joins the good guys with Rio when he defects to the light side. That is how deeply she cares for that man, and the best part is that her romance plot is not unreciprocated. This is rare, and should be appreciated. The other main baddies are the Kenma, the evil version of the Kensei, and the ones who tried to rebel and kind of failed. The three are the Kenma of the Sky Kata, who uses hawk-ken and uses hate to grow stronger, the Kenma of the Sea Rageku, who uses jellyfish-ken and once had a relationship with master Shafu, and gets stronger with the power of jealousy, and Maku, the Kenma of the Land, who fights with bear-ken and uses rage and anger to increase his power. All three act as masters for Rio at some point in time, except Maku who just really accidentally teaches him things. Also there is Bae, a fly who lives in Mele’s stomach. He was a Geki-Jyuken user who tried to use the same forbidden technique the Kensei used, but messed up, turning himself into a actual fly. When Mele was resurrected by Rio, so was Bea. He is fun, and commentates on the big mecha battles, always rooting for our heroes to win the fight, though really he just likes giant monster/mecha fights a lot.

The three Kenma, you know, just posing.

    Jyuken itself, being one of the main parts of the series, is interesting and surprisingly detailed. And because of this, I must rant. I apologize for the following rant if it comes of nonsensical and confusing, but I assure you, it is the one major thing about this series that causes me mental pain, and I need to work it out. So here we go, in what I like to call “The Problem with Shafu”. Lets start with a history lesson on Jyuken. It was invented by Master Brusa Ii, who used rhinoceros-ken and is based off of Bruce Lee. From what the show tells us, he taught 10 students in the way of Jyuken, each person becoming the Kensei and Kenma we see today. Now one of the biggest parts of Jyuken we see, or at least Geki-Jyuken, is the use of the triangle as their perfect form. Instead of having one person be just ok at several styles, the have a team of three acting as one, a perfect triangle. The parts that make up this triangle are heart, technique, and  body. Heart is like the fighting spirit, while technique is the intelligence and the know-how, and the body is just physical strength. Ran, Retsu, and Jan fit into these perfectly, each of them covering for the weakness of the others. Ran is full of spirit, and decently strong, but her technique was lacking. Retsu was smart, and had a strong will, but was the physically weakest of the three. And Jan was strong and knew how to fight, and had some instinctive knowledge instead of smarts, but could very easily get disillusioned and give up. They all grew to better themselves in those weaknesses later on, but it still stands that they worked in a triangle. And we see this triangle repeated and repeated in some of the Kensei. For instance, the three masters who teach the main three how to use new weapons, Elehung Kam Po, Bat Li, and Sharkie Chan, also all fit into this triangle. They mimic the triangle of the main three rangers, where they taught the person with their individual third of the triangle. Elehung represented heart, and was the most light hearted and full of spirit, like heart. Bat Li learned and taught technique through lack of technique, creating a trance like mental state to train in. Sharkie Chan only taught those with a strong enough body, like Jan, reflecting his own strength. And apparently he won a sumo tournament, so that works also. Again, these three create a triangle that complements each other and covers up for any weaknesses they have. Then there is the master trio of Gorrie, Michelle, and Bion. They two represent the triangle, and are even known for their master triangle, which was considered strongest in Geki Jyuken. In this case, they taught the character that had the great deficiency in their best field. Gorrie, who was known for his raging heart, taught Jan, while Michelle, known for her supreme technique, taught Ran, while Retsu was taught by Bion, who was known for his undying body. They again show the perfect triangle that I believe Master Bruca Ii wanted his students to learn. Even the Rin Jyuken rebelers still worked in a triangle, and you can tell who was what before they rebeled and went to more negative efforts. Maku was body, Kata was heart, and Rageku was technique. Everybody falls into these three categories except for a number of people, and almost all but one or two can be explained away.

He invented Jyuken. Kind of.

   Lets count out any of the foot solders and monsters form those who do not work in the triangle ideal. While if you work at it, you could probably work it somehow that each of those fit into either heart, body, or technique, it isn’t worth it to do so, and all of them only show up once or twice, so they don; really matter. Mele is also counted out in this, as she is a promoted foot solider. I am also not counting Brusa Ii, because he started the style, he gets special status.  This leaves us with Gou, Ken, Bae, Dan, a character I will get to briefly, Rio, and Shafu. Gou is easiest to explain. We see him actually working in a triangle earlier on, with Rio before he turns evil, and a younger Miki, before she ran a multinational country. As far as I can tell, Rio represented the body, Miki represented technique, and Gou represented heart. I believe he was the heart of the team because later on, when he is part of the Gekirangers, he is conserved to be Iron Will, which I see as an extension of heart. Then there is Ken, who comes in towards the later half of the series, is a jerk, is terminally lazy, and actually sold one of the macguffin’s that is both ancient and powerful to a pawn shop for some quick cash. But he is a genius.  He is a super genius who can use Geki like no one else. This is really the only way he gets past the whole triangle thing, because he so good at Geki Jyuken he would ruin any other perfect triangle, which is why he is not part of the main’s triangle, but more of a helpful sword. That acutely sounds like a complete load, but it works. Then there is Bae. My original thought on Bae was that he was part of Shafu’s triangle, but when they met Shafu had no clue who he was at first, and then almost accuses him of joining the bad guys, so that was out of the water. But then they told us how he fought. He uses his Geki and puts it into his words, allowing him to manipulate what is going around him with just speaking. I feel as if Bae represents an older version of Gou, someone who was once part of a triangle, but because of a personal evolution in fighting style, now no longer uses Geki, and subsequently no longer needed in any triangle. After Bae is Dan. Dan was there as an older student when Rio, Gou, and Miki were being trained by Shafu, and because he was considered so strong, became the rival of Rio. He seems strong, but he is alone, we don; see anyone that could be part of his triangle. Again there are two possibilities. The first is that he is just old. He is an older man, already with a kid, so it is possible the rest of his triangle had left the coop and gone out to do there own thing. And I think this is accurate to a point. And the point is that we see a woman, revealed to be Dan’s wife, use Geki for a short period. I personally like to thinks she was part of his triangle, and hook up with Dan, meaning the third member is either dead, or just doing his own thing, living his life. But we at least get to see someone who could be part of Dan’s triangle. Not so for Shafu. Shafu is an enigma in this show. It is never indicated that he has had partners. It is never brought up that he is the soul member of a triangle. It isn’t even mentioned that there were only ten students, meaning inevitably one of them would have to be alone. Maybe Shafu drew the short straw? I do have an idea however. It is possible, though never said or even hinted at, that Jyuken, before the rebellion and the split and all that, was suppose to be singular. One person doing the job of all three parts, heart, technique and body. But such a person is impossible, with the exception of Brusa Ii, but he is allowed because he is Bruce Lee, so he has a freebee on that one. But Shafu does not. There is a quick mention that Shafu was the best of Brusa’s students, but does that mean that Shafu alone exhibited an equal amount of all three traits? And does that mean further that the triangle idea was created after, or even during the war, where in the Kensei and Kenma both realized that they need someone else to cover up for their own inadequacies so they can function at peak performance? I admitting have no clue. It is never answered. And it is my biggest complaint about this show. And when my biggest complaint about the show is that one main character out of 19-22 reoccurring main characters gets a bit muddled, I think that means the show is pretty good.

You are one confusing kung fu cat.

    I do have a few more gripes about the show, but really nothing to minor. Like I said the plot is simple, but this is to allow for some really great character development for Jan and Rio. But the other characters, Especially Ran and Retsu get the shaft in that department. I mean, they get a little, but not anything close to what Jan and Rio get. Sometimes the mecha fights seem out of place, but they are usually used in a positive way. Really, this was a great season. I have just little complaints. Almost every episode was working towards some sort of forwarding of the story line, either adding to the main characters armaments, or following what was going on with the villains. All in all, this is one of the better Sentai series I have seen in awhile, and the story and character development is just fantastic. I really liked this show, but what comes next? Well, I’m thinking I will go a little more digital. Until next time, have fun watching.

All together now.