Gingaman VS Mega Ranger
By JC

Introduction:

Yo, JohnCrichton here of the CNX Message Board. I've been an anime nut since before I knew what I was watching was anime and been a firm lover of martial arts and old kung-fu flicks since I was about 4 years old.

Somehow a combination of those things above made me give a little know show called, Power Rangers a second chance after writting it off as some kind of Saved By the Bell meets Voltron hybrid. Thank God I did, cuz it quickly turned into one of my favorite shows of all time!

I'd heard only the vaguest stories of what PR was based off of something called Sentai. Lots of pointing, clicking, dancing the PR Message Boards and finally I got my fansub loving fingers on some Sentai. And that Sentai being:

GINGAMAN VS. MEGARANGER!!!

Summary:

They're battles done and won, the fun loving warriors of legend, the Gingaman enjoy another day in their mystic forest hidden away from mortal man. Until the intergalactic space pirate, Gregory comes crashing to earth, determined to revive his old friend and former arch-enemy to Gingaman, Zeihab. With his Power Sword and help of Hizumina, a clone of an old Megaranger villian, Gregory intends to resurrect Zeihab and all his evil swashbuckling crew! Will the mystic warriors Gingaman be enough to hold back the tide of evil threatening to destroy the entire Earth.... proably not! Good thing they're not the only heroes that happen to be in town...

My Opinion:

If there's a better fansub Sentai movie to start with, I haven't seen it.... but that's because Gaoranger vs Super Sentai hasn't been subbed yet. I'll do a review of that later tho. ^_-

The use of digital special effects in this are great and well used. I'm not saying it's Hollywood quality, but it's definatley a cut above the rest of what you usually see out of this genre of Japanese live action.

The pacing and direction of this film is swift, kinetic and just all around fun. My favorite shot was in the opening scene of the movie when it is let know that a threat has come to the Earth. Camera zoom's in on Ryoma(GingaRed)'s eye, zooms into it and comes out the other side to be rushing through a forest as the opening theme roars in! The action in this film hardley ever lets up. Only time it ever stops is so that the two teams of Super Sentai can smile and be jovial. The actors seem to have so much fun at these moments too. Like they're actually excited to be working with each other.

As lovable as the character chemistry is, don't think they let up at all on the action. There's so much in here, that there's enough left over to make a couple sandwiches out of for at least a week. Please, forgive my forced attempt at humor here, this is my first review for a website. Heh, I'll wrap this up.

Final Word:

If you're going to start a collection, or you just want to say you own some Sentai, this is the place to start until Gaoranger vs Super Sentai is subtitled. Characters are bright; the villians are big, nasty and plentiful, and the action is all one could ask for. Thanks for reading, and more to come soon. "My name's JohnCrichton... an astronaut! ...You'll never know... the wonders I've seen..."

<< Keith "JC" Hayward >>