Ninja Sentai Kakuranger: The Complete Series (DVD) Review: Interesting

In 1996 “Power Rangers” fans were introduced to “Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers” after the regular rangers were turned into children and lost their powers. That series served more as a bridge to “Power Rangers Zeo” than anything else. In the past few years, “Power Rangers” fans have started to watch the Japanese versions of the show and found out that “Alien Rangers” is based on “Ninja Sentai Kakurangers” and found out that they were ninjas and not aliens. Shout! Factory, showing how much they love their fans, have released the complete series of “Ninja Sentai Kakuranger” on DVD in America.

During the Sengoku Era, five ninja sealed the leader of the Youkai Daimaou behind a mystical door. In modern times, the ninja’s descendants are tricked into opening the sealed door and now must protect the world from the Youkai.

The plot itself isn’t anything too creative, but the overall experience of the series is great. The five main leads are all great and memorable, especially Tsuruhime (probably the best Sentai female character) and Jiraiya. The Youkai are all creative and each has their own personalities even if some of them are goofy.

Speaking of goofy, the first dozen or so episodes are chock full of goofy things and, while it dies down a little in later episodes, it’s still there. Some include comic book style sound effects whenever an enemy is hit, really weird looking chase scenes using bad green screen effects, the leads drive around in a food truck that’s actually a living being called Nekomaru and Jiraiya wearing a goofy cowboy costume when he first appears to show he’s “from America.”

The goofy things may turn off some viewers, but if they keep watching the series gets really dark. Unlike some shows that get dark and the writing falters, here the show stays interesting until the end.

However, the ending is a bit weak. Yes, it is different, but it does fell like a bit of a letdown. Another weird nitpick is that some people will notice the fight music sounds like the “Mortal Kombat” theme. Whether this is coincidental is a mystery.

“Ninja Sentai Kakuranger” may have its goofy moments, but the great characters and monsters make this show a blast to watch.