(above, watching the last episode of Zyurangers after 50 episodes, us hyping the kids up but we low-key enjoyed it more than them lol)
Before the 2020 lockdown and tv watching grew to insane heights, my kids were binging Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on Netflix. Then the next series, Zeo, then Turbo, then In space…..then….and then… It was bad enough that looking back we see how bad the show was spliced together with Japanese footage and how cheesy it was. But when my oldest son said “can we watch the first power rangers again”? I just couldn’t do it. I’ve always been a tokusatsu/mech fan through Godzilla, Eva, etc. etc. so I planned to one day find some original Super Sentai on dvd and show the kids. Luckily I randomly went on Tubi and seen that they had about six versions of Sentai up for free to watch with subtitles. The show has been on for over 30 years but the ones on Tubi parallel the first handful of releases of the American versions of the show.
We started watching… my wife and I take turns reading subtitles aloud so they can understand plots and names. We fell in love with the original version of the show. It has death, and loss, Kami vs Satan, all kinds of things that American audience are told they can’t digest, and this is a kid/family show. We watched all 50 episodes of Koryu Sentai Zyurangers (Dinosaur Squadron Zyurangers) a completely different show then what I watched as a kid. I saved a lot of my Power Rangers action figures from my childhood and gave them to my son. Even bought some extras that were lost off of Ebay. A friend of mine bought some for the kids too. The toys now have more meaning that they watched and love the original.
It’s been interesting seeing them digest the names and culture, which they already do at times because they watch anime with us, but this was way more hands on. Instead of Megazord its Daizujin. Instead of Rita it’s Bandora, not Tommy but Burai. A main character even dies. The bad guys’ motives were way higher stakes.
We finished this series and since moved on to the next one Gosei Sentai Dairanger, which they’re surprisingly loving just as much as the last. The subtitles helps motivate my 5 years old to read along, and understand the plot is a big deal here because one of our rules is if you don’t understand what’s happening lets turn it off and find something else to do. Glad they understood it and enjoyed it. I just wanted to blog and share. If you’re curious go to Tubi its free and doesn’t need a login, fire up Zyurangers and watch what we never seen that was left on the cutting room floor. Be safe.
