Remembering Eto Ranger This Year Of The Rat 2020

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Eto Ranger is probably one Anime that either you heard of it or you haven't. It was an Anime series during the late 90s by Shaft Studios and aired on NHK. It does take inspiration from the Super Sentai franchise and somehow Ucchu Sentai Kyuranger had inspired it one way or another. Now, it's time to remember the time ABC-5 (now TV-5) used to air it in the Philippines with dubbed names. I could remember Bakumaru (my favorite character) dubbed as Powell and Cream dubbed as Kelly. Right now, it's all about the actual Japanese names that make it feel more authentic. The Tagalog dub just phases out of my head eventually.

So, here's the REAL names and not the names that were given in the Tagalog version:
  • Bakumaru the rat
  • Hols the bull
  • Gao (Growl) the tiger
  • Cream the rabbit
  • Drago the well, dragon
  • Nyori the snake
  • Pakarachi the horse
  • Souffle the sheep
  • Monk the monkey (and he even temporarily became Sun Wukong!)
  • Tart the chicken (and nope, it's not a rooster but a hen)
  • Pochiro the dog
  • Uri the pig

So, what's with the plot? The Anime itself is clearly based on the 12 Animals of the Chinese Zodiac. There was the story that the cat was rejected for some reason which the show gives us a good reason for it. The cats have become enemies. The true reason for Nyanma's rejection was that Demon Goddess Bagi tricked Chocolat (who became Nyanma) into starting the race earlier. Bitter, Chocolat voluntarily serves Demon Goddess Bagi who seeks to destroy the Novel Worlds by vandalism.

What was enjoyable was their missions to save fairy tales from getting rewritten. But how sure are we that the stories presented here are the original? Fairy tales do change over time. I don't know why Hans Christian Andersen would put in bloody plots. Also, Cinderella also had the wicked stepsisters cut their toes to get the glass slipper. Okay, I'm getting too gory! Whatever, the basic plot is to get the Novel World back to normal by defeating the assigned monster of the week. Many of them are giant-sized while others aren't that huge. Either way, they are TROUBLE when you consider that rewriting the stories in the Novel Worlds disrupts the balance.

It was interesting to see how the show unfolded. I did remember seeing the characters drop like flies only for them to return. Granted, Eto Ranger did only have 39 episodes so plot pacing can be pretty rushed. I remembered watching Chojinki Metalder and thought that it was rushed due to the 39 episode format. I wish that the show had at least 11 more episodes to at least help develop some plots like Chocolat's brainwashing, Gaoh's past with Chocolat, and maybe flesh out some possible romances such as the whole Bakumaru x Cream shipping that the show does a lot. I do find the whole interspecies romance between a mouse and a rabbit just weird but you know cartoon logic. However, it seems that Bakumaru x Cream is better than Kermit x Piggy in The Muppets Show.

Just to consider that 2020 is the start of the 2020s. Quite coincidentally, everything is back to the first animal namely the mouse taking the spotlight this Chinese New Year.

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