Power Rangers Samurai: What Happened?

Eh... this was still better than megaforce

Actually, Saban didn't begin with the Mike episode intentionally, it was actually a mistake by Nick themselves so I feel that Saban shouldn't be blamed for that.

Who else laughed at the thumbnail.

What's a real shame about Samurai is how most of it's flaws are a result of it mostly copying the story and characters from it's Japanese counterpart, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. If they had gone out of their way to create a more original story or do more to differ it from Shinkenger

ahhh samurai , aka shinkenger with a 4 kids dub

Emily's backstory was the only part of Samurai that stuck in my mind for years.

In my opinion, they could've taken this as an opportunity to teach American audiences more about Japanese culture. This would give more insight/justification to why they act the way they did, while honoring the country that the content originated from.

The biggest problem with Samurai was that it was a cut and paste job from it's Japanese version Shinkenger. Saban was trying to get a series out fast because the show had practically been off the air for a year, so they basically took the plot from Shinkenger and only changed the bear minimal they could. Some of the changes worked like the intertwining of Deker and Dayu worked pretty well, others like making Antonio a fisherman instead of a sushi chef wasn't that major, but their biggest mistake was the alterations to the Jaden and Laura relationship. In Samurai, they are brother and sister. In Shinkenger there was no relationship, the red ranger was a shadow lord set up to be a target for their enemies while the true air, who hadn't been born yet so no one knew she was a girl, was hidden away to try and learn the sealing symbol. When she is revealed it leads to conflict in the group as the rangers are torn between their duties as samurai and wanting to help the man they had called their lord but at the same time feeling betrayed because they put their life on the line protecting someone who they thought was special but was really of the same social class they were. It also strengthens the whole red ranger always wanting to go alone attitude he had because he didn't want them putting their lives on the line to protect someone who was no better than them. Sorry for rambling there, I appreciate that you like Samurai and my only reason for sharing is I want you to understand why they did it this way and what went wrong. I would encourage you to find a fan sub of Shinkenger like I did and compare and contrast the shows for yourself and maybe you can understand why I feel people need to know about this.

The problem I have with Power Rangers Samurai is that it basically is a note for note telling of the Sentai but it takes away little parts of Shinkeneger or flat out change them. For instance, Mako's (Mia's counterpart) sisterly bond with Chiaki (Mike's counterpart) and how she was always the first to call it Takeru on his bullshit. Or in the changed category, Ryonouske's (Kevin's counterpart's) worship of Takeru was played for laughs. Or the big one. Takeru and Kaoru (Lauren's counterpart) were not related! Takeru's family served the Shiba clan by being their stand ins and Takeru felt guilty because the other Shinkengers were risking their lives to protect him when he was little more than a sacrificial lamb meant to keep the Gedoushu off Kaoru's trail.

What makes this show bad? It's because that it's pretty much a weak carbon copy of Shinkenger.

still better than megaforce

This is the season I grew up on. So much nostalgia

"Jayden of Nazareth" 😭😂

I like your idea of switching up the scenario with Lauren and Jayden. Would have been an interesting play on series' expectations, though we know that Tzachor never would have considered something that creative.

Whenever I hear complains about Samurai all I can think of is "but this made sense in Shinkenger!". I know this is usually a childish complaint, but I'm serious; about 90% of the problems of Power Rangers Samurai come down to the writers copying the superficial elements of Samurai but not the essence. The whole Red Ranger worship made sense because he was a literal Feudal Lord and the Rangers were his vassals; Ryunosuke groveled because Takeru was his lord and that was his place (and everyone else thought it was kind of pathetic); Genta whole issue is that he's a commoner and as such he really doesn't belong among the high class of Samurai. Also, Chiaki and Mako did resent their roles as Shinkengers even if Mako never expressed it; and the show did explore the issue of Kotoha as a replacement and had the subtext that she's a lot younger than everyone else. Finally Takeru's deal was that he was a Kagemusha, a fake; he wasn't just the real Red Ranger he wasn't a Lord at all, he was a random commoner kid they picked up to serve as a meat-shield to hide the real Lord Kaoru Shiba. Again, that's a big deal when you're dealing with actual literal Feudal Lords, not to mention that Takeru's whole life was a lie. And yes, the sexist subtext is still there, but it's less obnoxious when you say that the Male Red Ranger is a literal impostor and the Female one keeps returning for crossovers. With Samurai copying things like Kevin worshiping Jayden, but not Jayden being Kevin's lord, or copying the characters behaviors, but not their motivation, or copying Jayden being a replacement but not a fake; you get a very flat kinda weird show without any of the interest the original had

Maybe it's bias because it was my first PR, but I love Samurai. It's unique, if nothing else, and it really doesn't feel like anything else (Except Shinkenger, it feels exactly like that.) Also, for being such a Sentai copy, it's funny how many original things they introduced. 4 new forms PER RANGER (Excluding certain ones for Antonio), a new weapon, and entirely new Megazord rooms that look way better than Shinkenger's.

I actually like Samurai. Also, it's not that bad of a season and it's So Much Better than Megaforce! My Favorite characters are Mike, Emily, Jayden, Antonio, and Lauren, while Kevin and Mia were boring. Jayden also made a Good Red Ranger and Lauren was fine and I liked how they Switched it Up.

Honestly, the way they treated Lauren was what did the show in for me. Even if she was there for only a short time, her story has a lot of tragedy behind it. If anyone had to feel regret about their samurai heritage, it was her. Everyone else had relatively normal lives before getting the call, but Lauren was kept in isolation, even from her own brother. And one of the first things her brother does is leave in the middle of her welcome party. Everyone is dismissive of her because she literally just appeared like an episode ago, but they make no effort to interact with her after Jayden leaves. Kimberly Cross (Lauren's actor) was acting her ass off, especially in her scene with Jayden before he left, and she's just swept aside for the almighty Jayden.

Samurai could have been really interesting if the whole "Jaden isn't the real Red Ranger" plot was the focus of Samurai and Lauren takes over as Red Ranger for Super Samurai. It'd explain Jaden's hesitancy to actually connect with his team, giving him something in the way of development and be really tragic when the thing he wanted to avoid, growing too close with the team despite knowing Lauren would one day come to take it from them, actually happens. It'd also keep the fans on their toes because something was up with Jaden the entire time and we'd have a mystery to solve. Then, in the finale of Samurai, Jaden gets severely injured during his fight against Deker and we're left on that cliffhanger. Then Super Samurai comes around and we meet Lauren, who has had to come back from her training early because Jaden is too injured to continue fighting as the Red Ranger. That way, Lauren failing with her plot is because she rushed back to help Jaden and not because "lol gurls suck haha". You could even have a nice bit of mirroring with Lauren being injured near the finale and Jaden stepping back in, either having just recovered from his injuries or come back after leaving at the start of Super Samurai. It would also add to the theme of choice because Lauren would have chosen to reveal herself before she was ready and Jaden would have chosen to take on the mantle of Red Ranger proper after Lauren's injury. Add in a few more choice-related things to help develop the characters and the series becomes a lot better. Emily chose to take her sister's place as Yellow Ranger and Antonio chose to become the Gold Ranger, so maybe have Kevin be forced to choose between his swimming and being the Blue Ranger or something similar. You could have Mia get given an opportunity of a lifetime and have to choose whether to take it and pass the Pink Ranger powers onto her brother or leave it and remain Pink Ranger. If you go with the whole Jaden leaves at the start of Super Samurai thing I suggested, you could emphasize that its Jaden's choice to leave and in return make it emphasized that he chose to return at the end.

On that note: in Japanese, Kaoru (Lauren's counterpart) was..kind of an Ice Queen and did not get along well. So in Shinkenger, the context makes sense why the team didn't like her. In Lauren's case, it was unfounded completely and was another example of copy-paste. She was nothing but kind and warm and welcoming to her new teammates but because "plot" she was treated like an outsider.