Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (2009–2010) User Reviews (3)

Greatest Sentai I've ever seen in my life!!!!!

[optimusprime0217 · 10/10 · 9 March 2012]

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger is defiintelly one of my favorite Sentai series of all time and is what a Sentai should be. Is it a comedy? Is it a kids' show? Is it a drama? Is it a fantasy? Is it an action show? It is all in one, written very well with best stories, best score, best acting, and overall, best pwnage.

My 2 favorite Shinkenger in the series are Ikenami Ryuunosuke and Umemori Genta because they are part of the reason why there's comedy in the show itself. No matter what either one of the 2 do, I always laugh at their humor.

And if you were to compare this with Power Rangers Samurai, you will think to yourself "Yeah, Shinkenger wins by default." I higghly recommend it to any Sentai fan or for those who are new to Sentai.

Review

[ihsan-sandind · 10/10 · 3 August 2012]

This is the best sentai ever!!! I saw super sentai from zyuranger, dairanger, kakuranger, ohranger, carranger, until the newest sentai, Go-Buster.. And samurai sentai shinkenger is really really the best!!! Nothing compared with the other sentai!! Shiba Takeru is the best samurai ever, the best red ranger ever!!! When i know shinkenger has been adapted into "power ranger samurai", power ranger samurai is b******t.. Nothing compared with shinkenger.. This is japan culture!! How can, American ranger henshin with "kanji"??? The origami is brilliant.. Shinken oh is brilliant!!! And the best is, samurai ha oh!! Shinkenger is champion!!!

Bleach? Oh no its called Shinkenger.

[grandascent · 9 February 2010]

Shinkenger is a Sentai based on old Japanese legends with Yokai which are basically Japanese bogeymen. The Shinkengers are an order of samurai dedicated to fighting the Gedoushu as they are called and are aided by the use of Mojikara which is basically magic.

A run down of the rangers is Takeru who is the lord and red ranger, mostly a stoic. Mako who is the motherly support figure who is pink. Ryunosuke who is the overactive yet loyal blue ranger. Kotoha is the shy and submissive yellow ranger who feels unworthy. Then theirs Chaiki the brash and loud ass of the group, who feels he deserves more than is beyond his ability.

Later on we see Genta who is an avid sushi seller and age old friend of takeru. He is a mojikara genius which generally puts takeru to shame as he is supposedly lower cast but is the only one among them capable of creating any mechas.

Their is also a support character known as Jii who is a wise old man looking after Takeru so he is the Alfred to him.

The villains consist of Doukoku an abusive drunk general who is a powerful berserker lacking the brains to be a manipulator. Luckily he has his adviser on hand Shitari who is a good strategist and a fill in for whenever the villains need direction for Doukoku's absence. A bard like character exists for this set known as Dayu who plays eerie music which can calm down doukoku, she was the woman scorned in her human life.

Later on we get Juzo who is a demonic swordsman who was once human. He serves as the rival to Takeru because he believes they both stray the path of a true samurai and nothing can satisfy him more than a fight. Also arriving is akumaro who is a master manipulator and quite powerful but forced into shadowy work because he is no match for Doukaku.

Now as a series its rather middling in quality as although many of the characters get development including the villains and particularly takeru. The characters never take it upon themselves to give each other true motivation. Take the villains for instance, Doukoku fights well because he's just angry. Juzo fights because he likes fighting, well theirs a surprise. Dayu well she just spends time reminiscing and only fights so that she can hold onto her shamisen. Akumaro is the only character who goes to the lengths to be seen as a true villain establishing himself with other characters in the past and manipulating people into his favour. Whilst he certainly makes the effort he feels much like a court jester because of Doukoku and that diminishes his ability to be a serious villain.

Whilst many character get their own little stories it doesn't really carry through in much of the story anyway. Only Takeru gets the consistence throughout the series in his character development which can follow through. unfortunately his character is bland and unappealing. Whilst near the end a well thought out plot twist puts many things into perspective it usually equates to mopping episodes where all the character show anguish over what has happened. While that is all nice it generally gives over to endless monologue sequences of stuttering pondering. Only Genta and Jii it seems have the balls to back his friend and actually add to the story rather than share a revelation hog stealing moment where character say the same damn thing.

The rest of the characters under the stern yet boring leadership of Takeru are truly just cheerleaders and exist to scream "donnnooo" as well as act as meat shields at times.

The fights are some of the most boring fights to have ventured Sentai history. Seeing as swords are their main weapon it means the choreography plays out nearly the same way with few exceptions on certain episodes. They have secondary weapons or Shinkai as i like to think of them which are seldom used unless your name happens to be takeru. Another detractor from fights is the addition of their super modes which is really just a long-tail no sleeve white coat giving them the power of cut scenes and no real change in battle style or tactics. Lazily followed by hyper mode which is simply a red version with at least a different main weapon. Eventually their is a Mougyu bazooka which severs as a baffling one hand cannon despite its size and only takeru really uses it.

Now i like to think of this as bleach seeing as they have Shinkais and even a Bankai mode with the super and hyper resembling Ichigo's. Along with Mojikara (cough kiddo) and gendoushu being a lot like hollows. So i'm not really impressed with the creativity of this series.

The mecha are a fair clunky bunch but nowhere near the cluster level of rpm. Some of the additional mechas really get few episodes of their own and are later resigned to kibble on the jumbo tron. The fights are short cut scene filled and that makes them at least tolerable.

To summarise shinkenger is certainly not horrible but not memorable either. Aside from one nice twist not a lot of suspense goes into this series and characters are grossly uneven in every known aspect. Contradictory roles often negate any kind of character development and it just roles back to status quo. Unoriginal ideas and fight scenes makes it feel like i've seen that same fight before it even finishes. This certainly is no change in any sentai formulae and definitely no game changer. Ultimately its just another in long line, unable to be anything more than its origins.