Headscratchers / Power Rangers Samurai

• Why are the episodes aired in such a weird order? Without having watched the Japanese show, you can't pick up any of the tropes used. Or even the plotline. Or the villain names. Arrgh...
  • Actually, can someone post a summary of the Japanese show? Because a lot of us have no idea what the heck's going on, and there's a rumor circling that they won't air the first two eps.
  • The episodes aired so far were based on episodes 3 and 4 of Shikenger so it's likely that they are airing them in order but for some reason they skipped episodes 1 and 2, one preview clip did involve footage from episode 1 of Shinkenger so they have adapted that one, just not shown it yet.
    • Or they decided to start the show In Medias Res and are saving the How We Got Here episode for later, either for plot advancement or just something to help boost rating mid-season.
    • The most likely option is so they could "start with a bang." The show had to overcome a Channel Hop and being Un-Cancelled, so they decided to skip the exposition heavy openers and got right into the good stuff.
    • In my opinion this has actually worked fairly well. If you MUST air this show out of order episode three is actually a fairly good place to start since it tells you almost everything you need to know about the characters and where they fit in the Five-Man Band without explicitly shoving it in your face.
  • Supposedly someone contacted Saban and they confirmed the episodes are not being played in their intended order.
    • But "The Team Unites" is a very premiere-y title. Do we have this on better authority than "supposedly someone?" Anyone?
    • How about this?
  • Ask and ye shall receive http://supersentai.com/episodes/index.html

• Why do the Samurai Rangers need use the Mega Ranger power in order to pilot the Zords? It was perfectly normal in the original and didn't have any reason to change.
  • Whoever claimed they were normal?
  • Rumor has it Bandai already made the suit designs thinking Shinkenger wouldn't be adapted, and since the Shinkenger's faces were often visible in the cockpit through their visors, they probably had to film new cockpit footage, so my guess they decided, since they had more of the Mega Ranger figures made, they decided to just throw it in. I kind of like it myself.
    • On top of that, the final giant fight of Shinkenger had the team in their street clothes in the cockpit; wouldn't exactly be easy to pull that off with PRS without new footage.
    • So why not have it as just a Midseason Upgrade instead of having it on the get-go.
    • To Sell Toys.
    • Plus, assuming they follow Shinkenger, there's already a mid-season upgrade, the Super-Shinken Mode. Adding the Mega-Mode at the same time would detract from it.

• Time for me to try not to be That Guy, but in all seriousness, what exactly is Bulk and Spike's role in PRS besides unrelated hijinks? In Bulk and Skull's original run, they had a part to play in the overall story; but in this one, the story can be run completely without Bulk and Spike's inclusion and you wouldn't loose anything. That's not to say having Bulk back is a bad thing, but he just seems tacked on.
  • Considering that Spike is stated to have a crush on Mia, they will presumably have some interaction with the rangers at some point. But as of right now, I agree with you; they do feel kind of tacked on.
  • At this point, the Rangers aren't allowed to interact with normal people frequently, thus they can't interact. There's a rumor that one of them will be Shinken-Brown later on.
  • They've been gaining more and more screen time as the series has gone on and are even interacting with the Monster of the Week again, so they're getting back to Bulk and Skull's original role.

• Just something that I've been wondering: Why exactly are the Nighloks targeting a city in America? The prologue clearly shows that they originate from Japan, so why have they decided to attack the West?
  • They have a fear of pirates.
  • It's said in the opening monologue that the Symbol Powers are passed from parent to to child, so it's likely a blood-fued kind of thing.
  • Also, it's possible the as of yet unaired pilot would reveal this.
  • Well, Nighlocks, Moogers, Xandred, the monsters themselves don't sound Japanese. Maybe they just happened to attack Japan last time, and now for whatever reason they're in America now. And the new Rangers just followed them.
  • Maybe, but Xandred and the others' conversations could also be interpreted as a form of Translation Convention. At the same time, they live in a Chinese junk, which is floating on top of Sanzu River, a place in Japanese Mythology. And then there's the fact that Dayu still has her Japanese name (well, the first half, at least)... I'm still kinda confused. :/
  • Given Dayu's Shinkenger origins, she's definitely got a reason to be Japanese. As for everything eles, well, yeah, point sort of taken.
  • Since the Shiba Clan's decendent is living in America now. The Nightlocks want to kill him before doing anything else, so they are popping up in America.
  • Eh, maybe they're just tired of attacking Japan all the time, and want do something new for a change???
  • America? Isn't it New Zealand?

• If these ''Samurai Symbols of Power" have been passed down from parent to child how come we only have one Asian ranger? There aren't very many white or black folks who can trace their family trees back and find Samurai.
  • Their ancestors emigrated from Japan soon after the Nighlocks were sealed, and then proceeded to marry non-Asians for several generations.
  • Even the Asian ranger isn't of Japanese descent, if the actress is anything to go by. She's of mixed Chinese and Korean heritage, and was born and raised in Minnesota.
  • The main page does a good job of describing this. Feudal Japan regularly did business with Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish settlers in the 16th and 17th centuries, so that should explain Jayden and Emily. Also, there is one documented case of an African slave serving as a samurai, so that may account for Kevin. As for the Latino Mike, the aforementioned immigration statement would best suit him.
    • Actually, Mike's latin heritage is probably from the Portugese/Spaniards you mentioned. Jayden & Emily don't seem very Dutch, so a different explanation is in order for them, I think. My guess is that Emily's ancestors emigrated, and mixed with whites, whilst Jayden's (who seems very close to his samurai ancestors) stayed and mixed with white immigrants.

• How exactly do Nighlocks grow? Are they just not going to address that? True, the Rangers expect it to grow, but an explanation would be nice.
  • Assuming the episodes were aired out of order, I imagine the official firt episode will explain it. It'll most likely follow Shinkenger and have it just be part of a Nighlok's pyhsiology that when they're killed, they get a second life only much bigger.
  • OP here. The Second Life does seem to apply; in "Fish Out Of Water," Yamiror thanks the Rangers for allowing him to grow and pollute the city more, implying that them killing him is what triggered his giant form.
  • It's not just Monster of the Week now, we even have base-level Mooks going giant and being able to swarm down a Megazord for about 5 seconds, maybe less.

• So, what exactly happened to Emily's sister?
  • She's just really, really sick.

• Mike wants to be a stronger samurai than Jayden... why? Where the hell did that come from? Oh I know, it's because the writers are translating the Sentai, which isn't an awful thing to do, but they're translating it while cutting out scenes THAT CONTRIBUTE TO WHAT THEY'RE WRITING. Why are the writers half assing it this year? I would love it if Samurai was totally original, but if they're going to translate, I'd rather they actually be good at it.
  • Well, since this approach worked so well for Bruce Kalish, how could they resist?
  • The worst part is how Saban talked about all the potential Disney was wasting. This is even less original and more potential-wasting than under the Mouse!
  • This leads to another problem. Outside a couple stylistic differences in their former lifestyles before becoming Rangers and the fact that they aren't using the Shiba clan, all of the stories so far are ripped-piece by piece- from the Sentai. Power Rangers was known for having storylines that varied wildly from the original material. What gives?
    • Well, not really. Remember, Time Force and Wild Force had very similar stories to Timeranger and Gaoranger, respectively. Although I totally agree that Samurai is too similar to Shinkenger. The biggest wall banger is that so many fans watched Shinkenger because we thought Power Rangers was over.
    • I think part of this is a personal preference of the showrunners and part of it is just it being easier to pretty much just translate the show (changing some details to better suit an American audience) and then shoot new footage with new actors rather than trying to come up with a totally or even partially original storyline for the series. This way they get their "American Sentai" like they wanted and don't have to hire as many writers as a cost saving measure (since the show is coming back from cancellation, again). They're not actively trying to alienate the fans, they're just trying to keep the show going.
    • Additionally, the finished product also relies on the quality of the writing and acting. An example of this done right would be Time Force. The source material could also be a factor: Timeranger is mostly sci-fi, and as such can translate well into English. Shinkenger is rooted in Japanese culture, considering that the theme is samurai and yokai, so there are a few problems when trying to make an English language version and trying to stay accurate. Only time will tell if Samurai can overcome these problems.
    • Amen to that, so far we've actually seen some decent acting from all of the five Rangers, something the series is not exactly known for. Personally, I can forgive a show being unoriginal as long as it's good at what it's attempting to do.
    • I can agree with that, as long as things eventually change for the better of come into original footage, which I would enjoy to no end, especially if they really shift around the ideas a little and create some continuity.
  • And once again, we get another translation of the Shinkenger script without any Samurai input: Mike is disobedient? When? Where? I remember Chiaki being that way, but Mike is the clown, but not a team troublemaker. The out of character moments thanks to translating the sentai script it bringing this season down. They aren't showing us anything and it's irritating the hell out of me. Awful story telling in a season that is supposedly trying to reboot the series.
    • Additionally, there's the scene where the Rangers see the overreacting crowd and Mike comments that they've "all turned into Kevin," a line taken from the Sentai. However, just a few episodes ago, Kevin was called "boring" by Negatron. Uh...

• Getting really nitpicky here, but is it "Nighlock" or "Nighlok?" I've seen it spelled both ways. And for that matter, what exactly does Nighlock/Nighlok mean?
  • Isn't that the name of a deadly plant?
    • If it is a reference to poisonous plants, its a portmanteu of "nightshade" and "hemlock", not a single plant.
  • Can't help with definitions, but episode 4 is officially spelled "Deal with a Nighlok.

• The whole decoy thing in Deker's first major appearance. I mean....what?
  • Maybe it's because he used to be human.

• How is Serrator the Nighlok king even though Xandred is clearly more powerful than him?
  • The other Nighlok got fed up at Xandred for basically sitting on a boat and doing nothing most of the time. Sure, they know it's because of the incomplete sealing spell, but he's still sitting on a boat doing nothing most of the time. Serrator may have just impressed them enough by being proactive that they said "Hey, you're the king now."

• Also in that episode, the Rangers clearly reveal themselves to all of the brides.

• So, are there Gap Sensors all over the city?
  • Just as it was in Shinkenger. They have to be anyplace that the monsters can emerge from.

• Something that's been bothering me since the first (aired) episode: What is the NAME of the city?
  • The City of Gaps?
  • Maybe 'Gap City?' Lol.
  • "Jayden's Challenge" suggests Harbor Village. Though I wouldn't mind if the Samurai Rangers were taking up the mantle of defending the Angel Grove of 2011...
  • The "Origins" episodes finally reveal the proper name of the City of Adventure: Panorama City.

• It is really necessary to try to make Samurai extremely as similar as possible to Shinkenger, making the characters speak the same words, in English, from Shinkenger and acting the same as the Shinkenger. It just gets awkward after awhile and there is not really a good unique quality that makes the Power Ranger Samurai unique from Shinkenger.
  • Shinkenger had roughly 50 episodes^note 49 eps and a half-hour movie set between 22 and 23, and Samurai is only supposed to have 40, so there will be some differeces. The thing is, exec producer Jonathon Tzachor is (what many fans refer to as) a Sentai purist, meaning yes, it will be pretty much a straight adaptation.
    • There are suppose to be two seasons...At least from what I heard anyway...
    • Of roughly 20 episodes each, and all in one calendar year. 43 episodes total.

• If they wanted to do a near-identical adaptation, wouldn't it have made more sense for Kevin to be a budding stage-actor with hopes of performing on Broadway, rather than a swimmer with ambition for the Olympics?
  • His element is water, I guess it was a good way to connect with his Symbol Power than Broadway.
  • It also fits into the whole physical fitness Aesop the show is doing.
    • Do you know the level of physical fitness you need to be a standard Broadway actor? Those dance numbers require a very strict exercise regiment to pull off properly, not quite as much as outright dance or many sports but it's still miles above the baseline. It could have been an interesting look at other things that can be done for fitness outside of the usual.
  • Maybe they didn't want people comparing him to Dax.
    • Except Dax was a stuntman - unless they had Kevin say he had film/TV aspirations, odds are that no one would compare him to Dax.

• When Ji is talking about Jayden's father, the flashback clearly shows the Red Ranger using the Shodophone. Does this mean that Jayden's dad was from Japan? If it does, then was Jayden's dad Japanese or not? If he was, what happened to Jayden??? (On an unrelated note, was that flashback directly taken from Shinkenger?)
  • This could simply be an Editing Error Power Rangers is full of These. For example In one episode of Dino Thunder The Red Ranger is seen falling in the sky over what appears to be Japan Even though The main setting Reefside is in California.
  • Slight editing out of flaming arrows aside, yes, it came straight out of Sentai. And hey, maybe each generation of Samurai rangers have slightly different morphers. In Shinkenger, the first generation shodophones were made out of wood. And seeing how it was dark and we didn't see anybody's faces, the Rangers' parents' ethnicity are still unknown.
  • Maybe it's Female Red Ranger's father, not Jayden's? After all, this season is almost exactly the same as Shinkenger plot-wise though there are rumors that The Female Red is Jayden's Sister Plus Jayden's Challenge Seems to confirm that Jayden's Father was indeed the red Ranger.
  • Both Jayden and his father look like they could have Asian blood in them, although diluted from several generations marrying non-Asians.
    • This could also explain the other Rangers (save for Mia). That, or their ancestors were non-Japanese people who joined up with the Samurai Rangers at one point.

• Why is the Ika Origami now the "Octozord"? It's quite clear that its a squid, did they think that viewers wouldn't be able to tell the difference? Also, what is the purpose of the name change? Is "Squid Zord" too silly a name? Sure they did the same thing back in RPM with Tail Spinner and Falcon Copter, but at least "Tail Spinner" left the species open to interpretation and Toripter kind of looks like a falcon anyway. I just don't get why the writers felt the need to make such an unnecessary alteration when they literally translated every other Origami name even when one of them would clash with Power Rangers Classic (unless that was supposed to be a homage).
  • Actually, it has a bit in common with an Octopus, the fewer tentacles and lacking really long ones, the eyes facing forwards instead of on the sides, and its head still resembles an octopus. If anything, it has traits of an Octopus and a Squid, so it could have either name.
    • That would make more sense if Octopi had oblong pointed bodies and fins/flaps on its sides to facilitate swimming. Regardless, the "Octozord" still bears more resemblance to a squid than an Octopus, unlike the Falcon Copter which can go either way (with regards to it being a falcon or chicken). Then again I did see Shinkenger before Samurai so I might be a bit bias, but I highly doubt anyone could take one look at the thing and not think "That looks more like a squid".
    • Another thing to point out is not everything in the show is their fault. Most of the toys were made and prepared before the show was even created, and that's were the Mega Modes come from. Bandai may have named it the Octozord and already had everything set to go when Saban started filming, so they had no choice but to role with it.
    • That still doesn't explain why anyone would call it an octopus when it looks more like a squid, my point still stands regardless of who translated the names of all the zords/toys. Admittedly this is a minor thing to comment on, but I just can't think of a justifiable reason for the name change.
    • Another possible reason is that "Squidzord" sounds kind of odd. "Octozord" just sounds cooler. I'd rather they translate it correctly, but the way it sounds is always a reasonable factor.

• There are various points in the show where distinctly Japanese places show up. Two examples are the temple in "There Go The Brides" and the torii in "Unexpected Arrival." Assuming the show is still meant to be set around the Greater Los Angeles Area, it doesn't seem that big a stretch that these would feature. My only question is: Why hasn't anybody in-show commented on them? In Wild Force they described the Bell Org's home as an old temple, but the temple Dayu holds all the brides is left unnamed. It just bugs me that they haven't given much explanation for these places.
  • OK, this will require a little history lesson. Remember that Commodore Perry was the one responsible for the opening of Japan to the West. With the samurai culture fading away at the time of his arrival, samurai practitioners had to look elsewhere to continue their craft — and they had found their goldmine in the California area. Those immigrants, after a bargaining deal with the British colonizers who established Angel Grove, established their own colony presumably next to the famed City of Adventure. Also, the dream world in the episode Broken Dreams is a mixture of British and Japanese culture (you can notice an Asian wearing a very Western dress and Bulk all decked out in samurai armor), and Deker and Dayu's human forms are undeniably Western in appearance. And the Nighloks? After suffering setback after setback at the hands of the Power Rangers' samurai ancestors, they decided to follow them all the way to the US colony for revenge, even establishing another Sanzu River in a foreign land.

• In Room for One More when the group leave to go and fight the Nighlock, Jayden and Mia are both wearing their training gear. But when they arrive at the construction site, they're in plain clothes. Did they seriously go back and get changed while the Nighlok was killing construction workers?
  • Symbol Power: 迭衣 Change Clothes!
  • Ugh... That's so annoyingly plausible.
  • Changing Clothes Is a Free Action, using Flung Clothing. All Ninja rangers so far have displayed this intrinsic ability not using any called words or incantations, so it stands to reason that the samurai would too.
    • Samurai=/=Ninjas
    • Actually, yes Samurai=Ninjas. Ninjas were simply Samurai on covert missions. The popular idea of Ninjas is a myth.
    • Not really, the idea of a ninja or a shinobi is really the male version of the kunoichi or female ninja. Unlike the shinobi there are actually written records of the existence of kunoichi's existence. In fact one of the empresses had an entire network of them. The myths have nothing to do with samurai outside of the fact that they come from Japan.
    • Wait... so Ninjas are actually Spy Samurais?! O.o
    • In this case, they're both Japanese culture-based martial fighters ostensibly centered around use of special techniques of a specific fighting school but functionally specializing in Japanese-flavored combat wizardry. In real life? Very different. As Power Rangers motifs? The only difference is the sword focus.
    • The morph sequence always shows them in their training gear, so instant changing may actually not be that far off.

• So, Ji never noticed that the Octozord was missing for the past couple of years?
  • I believe he mentioned that when he had realized what Jayden had done, Antonio was too far away for the Octozord to be called back.
    • And even if they could get it back, it really wouldn't be much help paired with just the Lion Zord.

• Did Antonio create his morpher from the broken cell phone he found? I didn't hear most of the conversation, but it seemed that way.
  • It's actually never explicitly stated, but it seems to be the implication, yes.

• So, who exactly are the people that drive those black vans the Samurai Rangers ride in?
  • Obviously they are Kuroko.
    • Only better since you aren't supposed to notice the Kuroko...

• If Emily lost her soul in Team Spirit, how did she wake up? For that matter, why were all the other victims moving around in their beds?
  • Emily herself said she felt "empty", meaning they were alive but felt empty without their spirit. As for how she woke up, she's got the most willpower of the Rangers.
    • Yeah, Emily probably has so much spirit that Monster of the Week wasn't able to finish properly while Emily was morphed, so she might have been able to by both sheer willpower and some residual spirit because she was demorphed when her spirit was sucked out, and judging by some other stuff morph mode has some power level. The people in the hospital? Maybe the monster didn't have time for an effective drain while mass-attacking and using that body swarm when the rangers counterattacked and presumably hit the flying mouths, forcing them to partially let go of its captured soul, and the fragment returns to its original owner, waiting for the rest to show up so it can join up and revive the person. :D
    • So she became a Nobody?
    • That is entirely plausible...

• The series seems to be sticking to Shinkenger whenever possible. So why did they change the Claw Zord's origin? It makes no sense. The reason Genta's color scheme was the same as the Ebi Origami's was because he made it. the reason Antonio's color scheme is the same as the Claw Zord's is...why, exactly? The reason the Ebi Origami wasn't in the picture of the other origami animals around Inromaru was because, again, Genta made it. The reason the Claw Zord wasn't in the picture of the other folding zords around the Black Box is...again, why?
  • Presumably, it could be because it would make Antonio seem too powerful. Mind you, he already apparently built a morpher, complete with a Ranger form, from scratch. Even in the larger Ranger-verse, that would mean he was somehow able to tap into the Morphing Grid by himself. As for the inconsistency with the picture with the other Animals, yeah, point taken.
    • But wouldn't it make more sense to make a zord by reverse engineering a zord than making a morpher by reverse engineering a zord? Although, I guess he could have merely figured out how use Symbol Power from the Octozord.
    • But then in the next episode, part 2 of "The Tengen Gate" he does what NO OTHER SAMURAI IN HISTORY HAS DONE, by "hacking" the black box to give the rangers the completed power up. What skills they what to give him is inconsistent if the worry is "Too powerful" So now hes created a ranger suit, learned symbol power, repaired a zord, AND created a power up no other samurai has ever finished.
    • How many past Samurai knew how to work with computers? (Or at least artificially recreate magic so that it could work in technological state and make it easier to work with...hm, is this overpowered actually?)
  • The Claw Zord is the only zord that can turn into a Megazord by itself, while all the others have to combine. Maybe that's why it wasn't included in the picture, because it wasn't originally designed to combine with the other zords?
    • Except that its North mode combines with the Octozord.
    • Well, what we mean is it can create a robot form on its own and doesn't require other Zords to combine with to form a Megazord. That's how it's been that way in pretty much most PR seasons when it comes to the 6th Ranger's Mecha.
  • Speaking of the Black Box, why did they not actually use it at the end of "Boxed In?" Antonio says he wasn't able to complete it in time, which means they don't use it to beat Arachnitor, like in Shinkenger. For that matter, Arachnitor just kind of... disappears at the end of the episode. The rangers say that he gave them the slip, but it just seems kind of... odd.
    • So they can drag it out out a 3-parter.
    • Except not. If they did that, they'd have tacked a "To be continued" onto the screen, like what they've been doing. From what I think, the Black Box will be completed by the beginning of the next episode. But hey, at least it's something different from Shinkenger. And, knowing the episode sequence, next time is when Mia will find out about Dayu's past (like it was foreshadowed in the first part, when she said she felt like she knew the woman who became a Nighlok many years ago from somewhere).
    • if it walks like a 3-parter, talks like a 3-parter, and acts like a 3-parter it's still a duck...er 3 parter. The MOTW got away, the McGuffin wasn't finished, and Deker hasn't had his duel, a lot of things were set up in the 2 parter, none of which were resolved, the lack of "to be continued" does not invalidate it being a 3 parter.
    • That and at least they actually gave us something unique instead of the same thing as Shinkenger. And also, there's the possibility they decided to introduce the Battlizer in the same episode (though I think Hyper Mode would probably work better for that).
    • Two episodes have aired since the end of "Boxed In". It's implied at the end of "The Ultimate Duel" that Antonio is still working on it, and Arachnitor still has not returned (the MOTW for both episodes was Rhinosnorus).

• I don't like to nitpick but why was Jayden at the amusement park at the end of the day off episode? To me it felt a little tacked on and made the moral more of a Broken Aesop since it wasn't a balance between work and play that saved the day. It seems to me it would have worked better if Jayden learned his lesson over time of several more episodes instead of at the end of that one.
  • It seemed to be more about Jayden having worked himself so hard mastering the Beetle Disc, he figured he'd finally earned some time off.

• Why is it only the five original zords fold into symbols? You'd think all the zords in the samurai set would be easier to store and hide if they could all disguise themselves as cheap souvinirs you might bring back from a trip to Japan.
  • Because in Shinkenger, the Mecha Expansion Pack Origami (Kabuto, Kaijiki, Tora) were kept in their respective disks while Ebi Origami and Ika Origami were kept in an aquarium in a portable sushi stand, as Genta treated his more like pets (i.e. calling Ika Origami "Ika-chan" and Ebi Origami "Ebizou").
  • Which is simillar to Antonio, who keeps them in his fishing case and treats them more like pets and friends, to the point that the Octo zord at least has a nick name in Octo.

• In The Ultimate Duel, Jaden gives Kevin the Lion disk and Beetle disk in case they need to form the Megazord without him. A couple of things don't make sense though. First of all, why does Jaden suddenly have the Beetle disk? I thought that belonged to Mike now. Second, why give him the Beetle disk at all? If they're just forming the basic Megazord (which they do), they don't need the Beetlezord. And if they were going to make the Battlewing Megazord, they would still be lacking the Tigerzord because Jaden didn't hand that one over. Third, going by the above post about zord disks, why does Jaden give him the Lion disk? Shouldn't he be giving Kevin the Lion symbol/origami/whatever the Power Ranger name for that thing is? I've never seen Jaden summon the Lionzord through the disk.
  • My guess is a clumsy re-write because they only realized at the last second that they had written out the Black Box and it's "Combine all the Folding Zords we have at this point in the plot" disk for whatever reason. Speaking of...

• Why did they hold off on having the Black Box finished? I'm asking about the writers, not the characters. And will we ever find out what Arachnitor's been up to since he gave the rangers the slip on his second, gigantic life?
  • The second season of PRS will be called Power Rangers Super Samurai, and that is the point where the Black Box will finally be put to good use.

• If the Nighloks are sealed in the Sanzu River, then how is it that a super powerful Nighlok and about a dozen moogers are able to escape into the mortal world on a weekly basis? Jayden's dad must have cast a really weak sealing spell.
  • It's specifically said the seal was done incorrectly and didn't stick. It worked for a little bit, but didn't hold forever like it should've.
    • And for that matter, why IS the sealing spell so hard to do? Does it require multiple symbols in a specific order or an obscene amount of symbol power or what? We never actually see Jayden practice it.
    • 1) The Seal is specifically meant for Master Xandred, 2) yes, it requires massive levels of Symbol Power to pull off, and 3) all kanji must be written in their correct stroke order to work for the Rangers. And yes, there is a reason we never see Jayden practicing, but for the sake of those who never watched Shinkenger, it probably shouldn't be mentioned in specifics too often.

• This is something that was touched on higher up on the page, but... Did the writers really not care what it meant when they changed the Claw Zord from "Gold Ranger's invention" to "damaged zord they've had all along and had the gold ranger repaired?" i.e. that the Shiba house was, for whatever reason, completely incapable of repairing their own technology and had to wait for some fisherman who only learned about symbol power because of his desire to help Jayden?
  • Odds are, everyone who knew anything about that sort of thing was either killed in the last battle, or off helping train Lauren. Thus, it took someone with Antonio's understanding of the technology to effect the repairs.

• If tears make the Sanzu River rise then why are the nighlock even bothering to interfere in the mortal world? There should be plenty of sorrow going around already what with the US being at war with THREE countries. The greiving families of the soldiers who are killed there should make more than enough tears to overflow the river. So why don't the nighlock just sit back and enjoy the show until the Sanzu river runneth over and flood the earth?
  • Maybe only tears only flow into the river when caused specifically by a Nighlok.
  • Or, thanks to Zordon's World-Healing Wave and other Power Rangers related occurences, the world is in a far less miserable state in their world.
  • Could be that they needed to concentrate the tears into a certain area, explaining why they attack only one city.

• Why is it the magic spinswords were useless against the grinders but the man-made street saber mowed them down like grass?
  • The street saber was specifically designed to fight them, perhaps?
    • Makes perfect sense to me. The Grinders were created by Venjix, Venjix was created by Dr K. So since his technology is basically her technology, she could very easily desgin the Nitroswords and Street Saber specifically to pierce Grinder armour.
    • Then how do you explain one of them getting cut in half by a BUS DOOR
    • Bus doors are magic, didn't you know? It's how they open and close like that.

• This kind of bugs me but...How old is Spike supposed to be, and how many years after In Space is this supposed to be taking place? In real time its only been like 12 seasons since Skull was a regular, and if we were going by the usual "one season equals one yeaR" rule, Skull wouldn't have had time to convieve a son who now looks to be in his late teens or maybe early twenties.
  • Yah, Spike can only have been born some time between Zeo and Turbo, which would place the conception right around the time of Kimberly's Dear John Letter. And the writer of Forever Red stated that Kimberly and Skull got married by the time of that episode. Its, like, the perfect storm of accidental horrific implications.
    • That could easily be overwritten. Bhaumik was a wanker who wanted to bump off Leo and Aurico in Forever Red because he thought they were extraneous. And nothing was ever shown on-screen or actually mentioned. Speaking of which, I'm certain that pointing this problem out to Saban (begin sending letters, people) will prompt urgent rewrites.
  • It's a universe with a breathable atmosphere and Earth-like gravity on the moon.

• What bugs ME is the intermittent generations of battles. Putting that in as they did forgets to take into account the previous seasons aside from RPM (MMPR is the first time Earth saw a Megazord deployed or had Rangers appear where they'd be recorded). It also makes it even MORE questionable how Deker never noticed any of the other warriors, good or evil, who would have been worthy opponents. Jason, Tommy, Goldar, et al. Unless there was a long gap between the ancient Samurai battles and when Jayden's father sealed Xandred (and said sealing occurred during the 2000s), and for the longest time the Foldingzords and whatnot were lost for the longest time until that generation found them, it doesn't fit. Is Samurai another alternate universe like RPM or something?
  • The above post has hit the nail right on the head for this troper. Johnathan Tzachor is admittedly a huge Super Sentai fan and his fanboy colors show. He's so obsessed with making a faithful adaptation of Super Sentai, that he fails to realize that Power Rangers has a more concrete mythology and is significantly different than its source material. This isn't the first time he's demonstrated this problem
    • Perhaps Deker specifically needs a Samurai to undo his curse? The only previous Samurai Ranger was Cam. compared to a couple dozen teams, cam is easy to miss
    • He specifically said he needed the Red Samurai Ranger.

• Let's just ask the question: How the hell does the Power Rangers timeline works with the inclusion Samurai? This timeline at least sets the sealing of Xandred in 1999 (same year as Lost Galaxy by the way); but it doesn't answer the question of what were the Samurai Rangers predecessors doing during the 90s. I mean, what did the Samurai Rangers thought of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers? Did they ever met them, or at least the ones without secret identities? How come Tommy didn't mentioned them during the clip show? He didn't know about them? Did Zordon knew about the Samurai Rangers? If so, how come he never mentioned them to the Mighty Morphin? Or Nijor? Or the Ninja academies? Just what the hell is going on?
  • First thing is that the timeline's chronological order is a little off because Samurai takes place in 2012-2013. Secondly it seems that the archive Tommy made only talked about direct successors to the MMP Rs. Its been said that there are rangers that existed before them and Tommy didn't bring up them.
    • The earth wasn't really shown in Lost Galaxy, so the events of Samurai could've happened off-screen. As for why the other teams didn't fight alongisde the Samurai Rangers, Superman Stays Out of Gotham

• Thanks to a comment on a Youtube video, if one looks at the source material and Ep: #6 of Super Samurai, one would realize CODY DID THE COVETED SEALING SYMBOL TO FREE THE BULLZORD. WHAT. THE. HELL???
  • It's not THAT sealing symbol. If it's anything like Shinkenger, the sealing character is completely different.

• At the end of "Kevin's Choice", Kevin just jumped into the race at literally the very last moment, just before his old friend would have had to go out with a leg cramp. While it's a sweet gesture and great lesson for kids to always be there when your friends need you, shouldn't such an act also mean the entire team is disqualified for using an unregistered swimmer?
  • Kevin was a member of the team though.
    • "Was" being the key word. The whole point of the episode was that Kevin had to quit his swimming team to join the Rangers; he wouldn't be listed for registration!
  • He did just run off though. Maybe officially he was never taken off the team; he was still in the paperwork but he just never showed up.

• What is the point of Shogun Mode? I understand the Mega Mode was a necessity because of the redesigned toys made before Saban bought the show back and to replace the Shoudophones with the Samurizers and I can understand the Super Mega Mode and Mega Shark Mode as simply design changes that reflect what form a Ranger was previously in but I do not understand what the purpose of Shogun Mode is. I know the reason it exists but I don’t get what it does. Do we really need FOUR different forms for only piloting the zords? Why couldn’t Shogun Mode have been a Battlizer used for actual fights? As it stands it is completely pointless. It supposedly makes the finishers stronger but they look exactly the same and produce the same effect so there is no point. This becomes even weirder with the Samurai Spear; another new weapon just to make the finisher’s even stronger. Why does it exist if it literally does nothing and has no excuse for being used the way it is?
  • Latin America already got the finale, where Shogun Mode is used to finish off Xandred's first life.

• What is the deal with Serrator's plan? In Shinkenger the reason for his deception and treachery is because he wants to bring Hell to the world, which would also doom the Sanzu River. However in Samurai his goal is to bring the Netherworld into the human world and take it over, which is the same goal as Master Xandread. I know that Octoroo has problems with his plans for its danger but why does he need a different plan then Xandread if his goal is the same? The implication seems to be that the only difference is that he wants to be the one in charge but that raises another question. How was Serrator planning to deal with Master Xandread after he revived? Serrator knew that he couldn't beat Xandread in a straight fight and he made his power play because Xandread was out of commission, but he should have known Xandread was not permanently gone. Even if his plan had succeeded he wouldn't have been strong enough to defeat Xandread and would simply be killed while Xandread regained control of the Netherworld. In fact he would have screwed himself over completely because flooding the human world would prevent Xandread from drying out, the only thing that saved Serrator's life the first time. Why would Serrator, who is so smart and cunning create a plan that guarantees his own downfall?
  • The only explanation I can come up with is that Serrator was banking on impressing all the other Nighloks by being the one who flooded the human world, thus earning their loyalty. Either that or he was hoping that by the time Xandread returned, Serrator would have finished building his own empire. His plan after taking over the human world may entail creating a size-able army of nighloks and strengthening his own power to the point that an isolated Xandread would stand no chance of seizing power from him. Alternatively, his plan could have been to imprison a still-recovering Xandread after taking over both worlds.
  • The danger is the explanation. Serrator went behind Xandred's back to try an unauthorized plan that MIGHT work, or it could DESTROY THEM ALL. Is it really a shock that Xandred's not happy with that? I thought it made more sense than basically being in Japan's version of the River Styx but suddenly out of nowhere "Hell" is now a thing. (Not that mixing the concepts can't work, but... well, that's not how you do it. This should be a big deal that shakes how they know the world to work, that Judeo-Christian concepts are as real as the youkai stuff. Don't suddenly make hell a thing outta nowhere unless you're going to do something with what its existence means to this world. Serrator had a plan that makes sense with the rules we'd been given.)
  • I wouldn't expect it to be judeo-christian. I would assume that the japanese character bound to the japanese buddhist "river styx" was referring to the japanese buddhist "hell". The existence of the sanzu river already indicates the existence of buddhist "hell"
• At the end of Fight Fire with Fire, it makes sense that Jayden has to step down as the red ranger, but why does that also mean he has to leave his life-long home and last living relative (who he'd only just been reunited with)? The reason he gives is that "The others are too loyal to me. If I stay, dangerous mistakes could be made." Like what? Them accidentally calling Lauren "Jayden" in the heat of battle?
  • It's been shown before that the other rangers are very protective of Jayden. In the episode Test of the Leader, the rangers agree that they need to protect Jayden so he can perfect the sealing symbol. Even though he talks them out of it, they probably still had that mentality to an extent. Now that Lauren is around, they really need to keep her protected, but Jayden now worries that the rangers' loyalty to him might result in them choosing to protect him instead of her.
  • There's another possibilty as well. Way back in "Wild West Rangers", Zordon forbids Kimberely to give her ancestor the older version of Pink Power Coin because, to use his words "too much pink energy is dangerous". Also note that in Dino Thunder, the White Ranger clone caused a glitch in the Morphin' Grid because there were now two identical White Rangers drawing power from the same Dino gem. Is it possible that a ranger team can't support two rangers of the same colour? (barring Time Force obviously, but they came from the future, maybe they found a workaround) That could even be why past rangers don't stick around once a new team shows up. A one off team up is okay, but multiple rangers of the same colour working in close proximity on a regular basis could be harmful. So basically, Jayden needs to leave because the Morphin' Grid can't support two Red Rangers working together long term.
  • Going off of the first suggestion, it's probable that Jayden was concerned about splitting the team's loyalties. Suppose, for example, that Mia and Kevin chose to support Lauren as the leader of the team, but Anonio, Mike, and Emily decided that they wanted Jayden back as leader. He left to head off any sort of dissension that could weaken the team.
  • As long as Jayden stayed in that house, the possibility of him returning as the Red Ranger will stay in the back of everyone's minds. He needed to remove that mentality and dash any hopes of him ever becoming their leader again. Personally, though, they should have just gotten Antonio to create a new morpher for Jayden to symbolize his new position on the team. Titanium Samurai Ranger, anyone?
  • For a production related explanation, it's because of the same reason the Titanium Ranger didn't appear much in Lightspeed Rescue, Sentai footage - Shinkenger only had 6 rangers. However, you'd think they would have just addressed that by having one of the other rangers bring it up, and have Jii say something along the lines of "Unfortunately, the Morphing Grid only allows for a certain number of rangers on every team to be transformed at a time, and unless one of the other rangers was willing to sit out every other battle, we would exceed that limit". Not only would that tie the series in with the main continuity more, but it would address one of the main plot holes in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive- namely, Rose's suggestion that Andrew Hartford buy an army.

• In the episode 'Trading Places', garbage collectors come to the event site to pick up all the "useless objects" that were left behind, unwittingly throwing human souls away. While Bulk and Spike may be picked up as trash given their forms as a soda can and a newspaper, consider all the other forms that people are stuck in: a coat rack, a mailbox and a bike are among several items that looked to be in perfectly working order. Who throws out a perfectly good bike, let alone all the other stuff?
  • Lots of people don't want to give their old-but-functional stuff away or give it to a recycling center for whatever reason (the item reminding them of a past tragedy, etc). It happens.

• So, quick question ... are the rangers still active or what? Ji says he has to be vigilant for the next Nighlok attack, if there ever is one, but there wasn't any big morpher hand-over sequence, and Jayden kept his morpher when he left the team, so are all the Samurai Rangers still active in their respective destinations? Does Ji just have loads of morphers he could hand out in a hurry to new teens with attitude?
  • Whether the rangers keep them or not, I doubt Jii would just go out and recruit a new team at random. Considering this team had been in training their entire lives, I think it's most likely that the next generation is currently in training now. But I imagine our Samurai Rangers wouldn't actually hand over their morphers until the next generation is ready, which would probably take a few years yet. So I would guess that the Rangers still have their morphers.
    • Also, someone online confirmed a while back that there'd be a Samurai/Megaforce team up, so it's likely that they'll still have their morphers.
    • Confirmed- at least two Samurai actors were brought back for the Saban version of Megaforce's Legend War, and Jayden will be getting a special episode later on, like Casey from Jungle Fury.
  • They likely have their morphers, since no mention was made of them handing them over. As for being active, technically, no. With the threat defeated, the team is now on inactive status awaiting the next threat. While they will likely continue training (especially since they need to be prepared to train their children, as per the custom) they aren't technically active anymore.
  • I think it's like any other team shortly post-series: they're not active active with the threat they were brought together to fight neutralized, but if more bad guys showed up on a teamup occasion, they'd be the ones to respond instead of all new ones. Especially since they were trained all their lives.

• What's with the lack of transportation? No, really. In Shinkenger, I always rolled my eyes at the ridiculous scenes of the gang running from the Big Fancy House waaaaaay outside of town to the site of the battle, and just assumed that PR, with its non-sentai vehicle toys to promote anyway, would do its usual thing, especially now that there was a need. The toyline indeed has those really sweet Disc Cycles. So why didn't we see anything like that? You'd think by the time the Rangers could get to the middle of town on foot, the monster would already have done its thing and moved on.
  • They probably spent the budget that would have gone to the cycles on the Mega Mode armour instead. As for getting around, maybe they summon their symbol power horses off screen.
  • Well, according to a very popular web-series, it's speculated that the morphing grid provides all Power Rangers with a major speed boost by a factor of 32 times.

• Why didn't the Rangers ask Antonio to make Jayden a new morpher? He built his own... wouldn't it have made sense to have them create a new ranger, a 7th ranger, to help them out? Lauren can be the Red Ranger and Jayden is the Black Ranger or the Silver Ranger or the Orange Ranger. He is a skilled warrior... why not have him fight? And yes, sentai footage... but then why not include a comment to explain this in-universe?
  • This is a valid question - since Samurai has several callbacks to old seasons, you'd expect them to make a callback to the Titanium Ranger from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue and have an original ranger (maybe using a repainted Red Ranger costume as a reference to Jayden's original status as the Red Ranger?). While it would have been expensive to film new footage with the hypothetical 7th ranger, they could have just had the ranger appear for a few episodes, then when Lauren fails against Xandread, have Jayden put the 7th Ranger morpher aside and then regain his position as the Red Ranger. It would have also made the lack of a full team morph into Lightspeed Rescue in Power Rangers Megaforce^note not counting the Extended Version of the Legendary Battle a lot less irritating, since Saban could have just said "Oh, we did pay homage to LR in Samurai". Or, if they had the cash for a new outfit, maybe it could have been a Black Samurai Ranger who looks like Miyamoto Musashi for Rule of Cool? Plus, it would have been a PERFECT shout out to Seven Samurai.
  • You're presuming it's something that can be done easily, quickly, and with what they have available. The fact that Antonio could do it once is remarkable given that all others have either been alien technology, mystical, or built by groups with vast resources. There's also the varying power sources (coins, crystals, advanced tech, magic, personal animal spirits). It's likely Jayden would have to master, or at least learn some new element to power it.
  • Creating new ranger powers seems to be much easier when you have an available zord to tie it to, likely because the zord is already tied to the morphing grid so you're just tapping into and expanding on that connection. Antonio had a spare zord to work with when he built his own morpher, did they have an unattached zord to work with for Jayden?
• I get that they had to make it so that Xandread wasn't drinking Sake, since even if they knew kids wouldn't want to drink as a result of seeing someone drinking on Power Rangers, alcohol on a kids' show is still a no-no, but why not just change it to Sanzu River Water? You can't exactly get ahold of that in real life, and before anyone tries to point out that it's never stated if drinking it is a good idea, he basically had to soak in the river for a long period of time - if he could soak in it, surely it's drinkable if you were to just boil it or something.
  • I always liked the way they'd handled that. They changed "useless villain just sits around getting drunk" into "the incomplete sealing spell leaves him in constant agony that can only be partially alleviated by his 'medicine.'" (I forget where it's said/implied that it's because of the sealing spell, but I'm pretty sure it was.) That's a lot cooler than the usual 'turn it into milk or something' solution most dubs go with. Also, being prone to headaches make him more like another PR Big Bad you might remember.
• Why do they keep having Grant McFarland play Asian people when he doesn't look remotely Asian and it's not like Asian actors are in short supply?
  • Questionable Casting.
• How come Dayu can't take on a human form like Deker? They're both formerly human, and Dayu's still human enough that Xandred could absorb her to gain a human side and immunity to a Nighlok seal. (Yes, it was the same in sentai; no, it makes no sense there either.)
  • Gonna take a stab in the dark, but maybe she's in a constant low-level state of stress/heartbreak/etc. over Deker's state that prevents her from concentrating enough to do so.
  • Too many painful memories, perhaps? Not like she'd want any more reminders of what led her to this state.
• Why is Mentor Ji called as such? On many occasions, the rangers address him as "mentor" like it's his title. Also, wouldn't it have made more sense to call him Sensei Ji?
  • My first instinct was to blame this on an overly literal translation, wich would make sense if the sentai used an honorific like "-sensei", but no such luck. As far as i can find the sentai never refers to him as "sensei" or "mentor" or anything like that. The only thing we can pin on weird translations is his actual name, "ji".
• When the Rangers pilot any of the auxiliary Zords, they use that Zords' specific disc; yet when piloting the Megazord and its individual components, they use the basic Power Disc.
• The ancient Grand Shogun: the Black Box was never completed until Antonio joined the team, and the Shogun Mode armor isn't available without the Super Mega Mode. So how can the ancient Shogun have the armor?
• Why is the morph individual in "Trickster Treat"?