2japanese4me
Hidden among men is the Hayate School, a school that trains people to become ninjas. Studying in this school are Yosuke, Nanami and Kouta who are training to become Hurricanegers, the legendary successors of the school. Meanwhile, Jakanja, a group of space ninjas is fast approaching Earth so that they can invade it.
The first episode of the series established a couple of things, first is that Oboro, the daughter of the school's headmaster is the one responsible for sending the Jakanja signal, even though it's by accident. Second is that we have three imbeciles for heroes and third, their enemies are space ninjas. First is with Oboro, she's just curious on what she is picking up, so her action of being the one indirectly responsible for Jakanja wanting to invade our planet is quite understandable. She's just a curious technician who wants to make sure that nothing bad happens to the school she is currently employed at.
Now for our heroes, Yosuke, Nanami and Kouta, these three are basically the worst students from the bunch. Worst in a sense that their current ranking in their designated department is 507th and to make matters a bit worse for these guys, they are trained by the school's headmaster... and he expects them to reach Hurricaneger rank before their fight with their rival, the Ikazuchi School! Even if that is the case, I like these three, they slack off instead of attending the school's opening ceremony and they are basically misfit heroes. I love those kinds of characters and I want to see them grow as the series progressed. Speaking of which, this episode forced them to become heroes because they are the only ones left who can fight Jakanja.
The Jakanja are one interesting bunch of space ninjas, aside that their five generals are named after a day in a week plus a flower; they look menacing and feel like an actual threat. Their leader, Tau Zant looks intimidating and mysterious, he kinda reminded me of Emperor Zeba from Maskman if I will base it on appearance alone. As for the generals, I can't say much about them less Frabeejo. Based on her appearance and the fact that she is one of the enemy generals, guesses she is one ninja with a lot of hidden abilities that can cause her opponents to lose their guard every time she is on the battlefield.
The first monster send by Jakanja under Tuezebo's Corps, sets a good first impression for our villains. They are competent that the first thing they did is to send the ninjas from Hayate and according to Oboro, Ikazuchi School in some pocket dimension. What's funny about this scene is that during the time when the headmaster is trying his best to fight the foot soldiers, the other students of the school are just standing there doing nothing, and I thought the main trio are a bunch of slackers! In short, the capture of the ninjas in this series didn't leave much of an impact in me since these guys didn't fight off the enemy foot soldiers.
As for the headmaster, he managed to escape by transforming into a hamster. As for the other three, they noticed that there is something wrong. Instead of running away, they actually went to the area to see what's happening. Because of this move, I am starting to like the main trio a bit more. Even though these guys like to slack off, at least they have the sense to check their surroundings. What's more admirable is that after learning the fates of their comrades, they decide to fight back, even if it will cost their lives.
Before these three will get killed by the enemy ninja, Oboro teleported them to a secret hideout wherein they learned how much the headmaster expects these three to become Hurricanegers in the future. Since the world is in grave danger, Oboro has no choice but to give these three their own Hurricane Gyro, the transformation device in this series. Now that they have their changers that grant them access to wear special Shinobi Suits, it is time to face the enemy ninja and save their headmaster, who is under their clutches, to be more specific, now resting on Frabeejo's hands.
The transformation sequence of the Hurricanegers looks really cool, but I can't help but be bothered with the CGI used in the sequence. Oh well, at least it doesn't look awkward like the CGI used in the Timeranger transformation sequence! As for the roll call, I love the mix of traditional Japanese music elements, and some of the cultural stuff they used to make it look and feel and like that it is saying a statement that this team is a Japanese Super Sentai team.
The biggest surprise is their moves, considering that they were labeled as imbeciles by the narrator of the show and even the headmaster, I was quite surprised that they can pull such cool ninja moves in just a short span of time. I am expecting that their movements are a bit sloppy and that they only know basic ninjutsu, kinda like how Sasuke and Saizou did in the first episode of Kakuranger. They really suck in ninjutsu that Tsuruhime does most of the ninjutsu stuff before they started training off-screen!
When they are badly beaten by the enemy ninja, two mysterious figures are just watching from afar. By the looks of it, the Blue one wants to help the team, while the Red one just wants to observe and see how strong these three are. By the looks of it, they might be the survivors from the rival Ikazuchi School. Since the Hayate School has Hurricanegers, it is likely that these two are the equivalent of those three. Now I am more interested on who these three are and the way they fight their enemies.
Even if these two ninjas leave the battlefield, the Hurricanegers were able to turn the tides with the help of the Hurricane Winger, gliders that they use for aerial combat. I love how our heroes use these gliders in battle, but that's not the concern here. My concern here is how many episodes they will use these gliders considering that this show has limited budget. After they are done beating the crap out of the enemy ninja with their gliders, Yosuke performs the "Ultra Ninja Art: Shadow Dance", a move that basically utilizes the shadows to create one cool visual eye fest.
Lastly, our heroes have weapons called Shinobi Gadgets, and these weapons have something to do with their respective element. The Quake Hammer does what it says, the Sonic Megaphone is well, a megaphone that can control the movements of the enemy and the Drygun is well, a gun that shoots fire. Combining these three weapons form the Triple Gadget, which they use to finish the enemy once and for all. I like the effects for the finisher, but it feels too technological for me, and not mystical, like what I think most ninjas are. But hey, who am I here to complain considering that one of the Kakuranger finishers involved catapulting a motorcycle!
Now that this is over, our heroes remove their masks in a really cool way. I kinda like how the mask just retracts back to the helmet; it gives the suits this modern ninja vibe in it. But the fight is far yet from over as the other four enemy generals finally arrived on Earth, as well as their enemy base. Oh, and the headmaster can finally talk while he is on his hamster mode. With that in mind, can the Hurricanegers save their headmaster who is under the hands of Frabeejo?
