Shanqio

Ah I remember when PR first came on and how big it was. It's splicing of Super Sentai footage was so flawless that unless you saw the respective SS series you didn't even know it was from Japan originally. So all I can say about PR now when I actually sat and watched it for story purposes is that it's very shallow entertainment with storybook clichés and bad writing that would make a 9 year old cringe with disgust. Seriously it's pretty bad. And since Disney took over it hasn't gotten any better. All of the story lines have been done before in someway or are bastardized, watered-down rip-offs from the Sentai series. The "action", or so the stuff that Disney calls "action", is ridiculous to the point of where it's completely unbelievable and fake. Sure some things are from the sentai series and they don't always look to good, but to take out some of the more realistic looking combat from the Sentai series and replace it with fake looking Matrix combat it just stupid. The actors Disney gets are pretty bad too. It's not like Saban's Power Rangers series were the holy grails of entertainment, but they were much better than what Disney's put out recently from Ninja Storm-Operation Overdrive which, every series in that area has been completely disappointing in some way, shape, or form.

Here's the thing, as much as I dislike PR now, Saban really did a much better job in terms of everything with the PR name compared to Disney simply because they were much more original, creative, and took more "risks". Let's take Saban's PR. They were good because they did not simply "cut and paste" the Sentai story lines and they created their own story lines with a good result. Like Lost Galaxy which is Sci-Fi/Adventure-esquire in comparison to Gingaman which is like Lord of the Rings. What I'm saying is that if things like Lost Galaxy can be made using something with hokey fantasy sentai, then why does Disney not try something original? Also, compared to now, Saban's PR were also "riskier" by having deaths of characters for example, but it's only because Disney just a big pussy when it comes to this stuff, ala, no guns, missiles, exploding buildings, "good guy" deaths. Completely lame. 3 of those things really make Power Rangers, the other would just be plain badass if it happened. Speaking of Disney, Why do I hate them so much, well...there are series like Power Rangers SPD. SPD is the biggest show of laziness and uncreative thought that I've ever seen from Power Rangers why? Because 90% of the story lines are nearly the exact same thing, but very watered down, as the episodes in Dekaranger or are slightly changed. The other 10% is original but it's like I'm watching Battle of the Planets compared to Gatchaman. You know, they're both kinda, nearly, the same show it's just that ones completely watered-down and retarded. Now half of the time when I watch some things in SPD, I see the exact same character motives, and story lines and then there's no other creativity whatsoever. It makes me wonder that instead of spending so much money on reshooting and hiring meh actors, why not dub the sentai series if you're going to use the same story/plot for some of the episodes? The world will never know. That and Disney's "original" episodes from SPD, or anything they've done PR, are just storybook clichés that any 3rd grader can write. It's not too good.

Overall, Power Rangers has been going downhill since Disney. Their lack of creativity and decent storytelling have just left this void feeling in comparison to the old Saban PR where things were actually creative, had good story lines, and weren't so much just a bastard copy of the Sentai series it came from. In fact I'd say that everything that Saban did was original and did not resemble the Sentai series it came from too much.

4/10

I've never seen Robotech outside of 6 episodes out of the Macross part so I feel like I can give a proper review without mentioning aspects about Robotech TNG vs Mospeada differences and having those sway my rating or decisions. I do take offense to the review that's on here where all it accomplishes is elitist Robotech propaganda and doesn't even review the series but only bashes it by saying Robotech is better which, there's no way it is. It's part of the reason I made this review since I know I had nothing to compare it to. Now the review.

This series is mainly about a man named Stick Bernard and he's trying to reach a place in North America called Reflex Point and team up with the army to defeat the Inbit, an evil race of aliens that have taken over Earth. He gets caught off course and he has to find his way to Reflex Point without knowing where he is. He eventually gains allies and they all travel together with him to find Reflex Point while sometimes having dangerous skirmishes with the Inbit.

Sounds good right? Well it's alright to be honest, but could have been a lot better at least in my opinion. The problem I had with this series, and it was a really big problem, was that instead of focusing on plot and story elements, like most series of this nature, a good 80% of the episodes are very episodic based. Meaning, for those that don't know, those episodes don't advance the plot too much at all. There are a few episodes here and there that are story and plot oriented but a majority are about random adventures that have no significance and can easily be done without. I wouldn't say that there is no story but I can say is that the ratio of episodes you need to episodes you don't need is very high. The reason why that's a problem is because the series establishes itself at the beginning as a story based mecha anime series, but as soon as establishing that it ends up turning into a random space and futuristic series that comes on Sci-Fi, and then back into a story based mecha anime series toward the end. Some of the episodic episodes are horribly painful to watch as well. I know I could've finished this series within a weekend but the episodes became chores to watch and felt draining after watching only 1 or 2 episodes.

There are some good things about this series. The Seiyuus (Japanese voice actors) really play their parts well. They actually helped me to continue watch this series. If it wasn't for Bin Shimada and Hirotaka Suzuoki, I don't think I could've finished this series. The Mecha designs are nice. Though the Legioss is completely ripped-off from Macross' Valkyrie. The Mospeada bikes are great they were very innovative. Same with the music. Though it sounds goofy and dated at first it really fits the mood of the series and is very fitting at all times. And Yellow Belmont's vocal songs are amazing.

Overall. I really wish that this series wasn't lacking in plot. If it had more of a story then I'd easily love this series but the episode structure and lacking story elements only make this more of a average Real Robot anime series that happened in the 1980's. It's a shame really I was gunning for this series the entire time. I know somebody'll like it though, it just wasn't for me.

6/10