Super Sentai: The Movie DVD Box Set (2003)
Production: Toei Corporation
By Jmaruyama

DVD Specs

Color
Running Time: 565 Minutes (Total)
Coding: NTSC/Region 2
Picture Format: 16:9 - Letterbox
Video Format: MPEG-2- Dual-Layer Format
Sound: Dolby Digital Sound
Language: Original Japanese Track (No Subtitles)
Release Date: July 21, 2003
Distributor: Toei Video
Product Number: DSTD 02219
Price: 18,000 Yen ($150 American Dollars

Movies

- GoRanger Movie
- GoRanger: The Blue Fortress
- GoRanger: The Red Death March
- GoRanger: The Bomb Hurricane
- GoRanger: Fire Mountain's Final Explosion
- Jak-Q Dengeki Tai
- Jak-Q VS Go Ranger
- Denziman
- Sun Vulcan
- Goggle V
- Dynaman
- Bioman
- Changeman
- Changeman: Shuttle Base in Danger!
- Flashman
- Flashman: Big Rally! Titan Boy!
- Maskman
- Turbo Ranger
- Dai Ranger
- Kaku Ranger
- Oh Ranger

Review

While it is nice to have all these movies in one box set, I personally felt a bit let down by this release. Quality issues aside, having watched all the Sentai Movies in a row, there really was nothing special at all with these movies. With the possible exception of the Bioman and Go-Ranger vs. JAKQ movies, most of the Sentai Movies seemed more or less like glorified “big screen” TV episodes.

In fact, this was just the case with the Go-Ranger movies, which basically took existing TV episodes and just transferred them to the Silver Screen. Toei should take notes from Tsuburaya on how to make “real” special event movies. Unlike the Ultraman Movies, which looked and felt like they were “movies”, the Toei Sentai Movies are bland and almost obnoxious affairs. The Kaku Ranger Movie is possibly the worst of the lot in these regards.

I haven’t seen the actual Kaku Ranger TV Series, but if the movie is any indication, then I’m glad I haven’t. The Kaku Ranger Movie incorporates so much unfunny slapstick and tomfoolery that it is almost painful to watch. In keeping with its campy tone and possibly taking its cue form the 60’s Batman TV Series, there are also “comic book” style balloons that pop up like “Shu!”, “Don!”, and “Oh No!” Who knows, maybe Kane Kosugi suggested this touch to the producers. The worst part of the film had the Kaku Ranger members transform themselves using Ninja magic into cutting tools (a saw, a drill and a knife) to try and cut themselves out of their cage. The scene is so laughably inept that one can’t help but be disgusted.

The Dai Ranger Movie also incorporated equally unfunny tactics and in addition added irritating villains whose costumes elicits less laughs and more disgust at their gaudiness.

Granted, I realize that these were geared towards little kids but I would imagine even kids would find these movies “a joke”, unless they don’t mind incomprehensible and “dumbed down” storylines and comical villains who are neither villainous much less funny in the least.

The Bioman Movie is the only standout in this otherwise lackluster collection. The Bioman Movie is the longest of the Sentai Movies at 45 Minutes and it really does benefit from this. It is a true adventure story with deadly villains, a somewhat interesting story and very cool action sequences. The brutal fight between Yellow Four (Tanaka Sumiko) and members of the Ferra Cat Gang strangely looks out-of-place in this kid’s movie and could have belonged to Toei’s more adult ‘70’s Exploitation Films like “Onna Hissatsu Ken” (AKA Sister Streetfighter).

While I don’t necessarily regret getting this Box Set , I do find that this was not worth the $150 I paid for it (in fact most of Toei’s Tokusatsu Sets are outrageously overpriced owning possibly to just selective demand). It is nice to see the progression (or regression dependant on your view) of the Sentai Team genre from Go-Rangers to Oh Rangers. One can see that there was improvement along the way but that Toei never strayed far from the precedents it made in the series. Sadly Oh Ranger is no much better than Go Ranger in style and execution, although the costumes have definitely improved much.

Menus

Toei has yet to come up with a decent menu system for their Tokusatsu DVDs. The Sentai Box DVD set has some of the most terribly designed static menus I’ve seen. The pictures are bland and the menu system forces you to start each program separately (it does not appear you can play all the movies on a disc back to back). While the Chapter stops are welcomed, it would have been nice to be able to access these options directly from the top screen instead of having to go through submenus to get to the Chapter Stops for each program. Very annoying and cheap.

Video

While there are some instances where the age of the film print shows some wear (especially in the opening credits of Go-Ranger and JAKQ) colors are generally very sharp and bright. Images are clear for the most part and special effect animation shots are very clean. For these DVD releases, the episodes are presented in 16:9 aspect ratio (letterbox format), just as they were originally shown in the theatres. These are probably the best prints one could hope for although none were digitally re-mastered it would appear.

Audio

The DVDs feature a Dolby Digital audio track. The audio is clear and audible, rendering the dialogue and action sound effects perfectly clear. The BGM, OP and ED songs all sound great and definitely benefit from the improved sound. Other than that, the audio here is nothing special but quite sufficient.

Extras

The extras are quite sparse but are certainly welcomed considering that Toei usually does not include any extras in their DVDs.

The first extra is the must heralded “Super Sentai World” special. While fanboys will certainly enjoy the sight of five Sentai Teams (Kaku Ranger, Jet Man, Dai Ranger, Jyu Ranger and Five Man) joining forces, the special is little more that fan service and done mostly on the cheap. It seemed to be a promotional special to tout the then new Kaku Ranger TV Show.

The story opens with original villain King Daitei inexplicably jumping out of nowhere to terrorize a young couple taking pictures (why he choose these two solitary figures rather than attack a major metropolis is any one’s guess). The two victims are taken to an abandoned excavation site where Daitei’s other henchmen are assembled (an army consisting of just five generic looking henchmen and assorted troops culled from the various Sentai series). The Kaku Ranger Team come to the rescue but can not stop the assembled villains. Right on cue however, the Sentai Teams of Five Man, Jet Man, Dai Ranger and Jyu Ranger come to the rescue and together they destroy the assembled forces along with King Daitei.

There are some interesting wire-work and SFX scenes but the majority of the special looks very cheaply down and the villains are very uninteresting to look at. Not the grand spectacle many have claimed it to be.

The second notable extra is even worst. “Toei Hero Dai Sugo” (Toei Heroes Assemble) basically amounts to just random scenes taken from the TV shows JanPerson and Blue SWAT. It looks to be merely a preview sampling of these then “new” shows. Kaku Rangers is also hyped up in similar promotional splendor. Quite tacky and bland. Nothing special about it.

There is a 15 minute special featuring all the trailers for the Sentai Movies along with some of the other Tokusatsu Shows that played during the Toei Manga Matsuri specials. One can enjoy seeing such trailers for the movies for RoboCon, The Kage Star, Kamen Rider ZO, Kamen Rider J, Metalder and Shader. Very interesting but nothing to write home about.

The last extra is a curious one. A five minute special featuring previews for four shows (Bibyun, Kamen Rider (Sky Rider), Robot Hattchan and Space Sheriff Gavan). Hazarding a guess, I would suspect that these to promote future DVD projects (Gavan has already been released to DVD recently).

Jmaruyama