Parody and Homage
The Super Sentai Series have been airing in Japan for the past 36 years, and have been parodied as well as emulated in various ways throughout the world. In Japan, it has been parodied in the form of the manga and anime Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman and Astro Fighter Sunred. Several other media have featured Super Sentai parodies, such as the Ginyu Force in Dragon Ball, the Karakura Superheroes in Bleach, and the Prism Rangers of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness.
There have been many tribute series that pay homage to the long-running franchise, starting with the Japanese fan film Patriotic Squadron Great Japan (愛國戰隊大日本, Aikoku Sentai Dai-Nippon?) created by what is now Gainax. The most recent tributes have been the Thai TV series Sport Ranger and the French online series Jushi Sentai France Five (now Shin Kenjushi France Five); the latter being so popular in Japan that anison singer Akira Kushida recorded its opening theme.
As part of the Omoikkiri Ii!! TV television program, they produced a series of features on various spas and onsen around Japan titled Bihada Sentai Sparanger (美肌泉隊ＳＰＡレンジャー, Bihada Sentai Suparenjā?, Handsome Muscle Spring Corps Sparanger). This featured tokusatsu and drama actors Takashi Hagino (Changéríon of Choukou Senshi Changéríon and Kamen Rider Ouja of Kamen Rider Ryuki) as Spa Red (ＳＰＡレッド, Supa Reddo?), Kento Handa (Kamen Rider Faiz of Kamen Rider 555) as Spa Blue (ＳＰＡブルー, Supa Burū?), Kengo Ohkuchi (the trapped subway worker Kazushi Mizuno in Kamen Rider 555) as Spa Green (ＳＰＡグリーン, Supa Gurīn?), Masashi Mikami (Bouken Blue in GoGo Sentai Boukenger) as Spa Yellow (ＳＰＡイエロー, Supa Ierō?), and Kohei Murakami (Kamen Rider Kaixa in Kamen Rider 555) as Spa Murasaki (ＳＰＡムラサキ（紫）, Supa Murasaki?, "purple" or "violet" in Japanese, a running joke would involve people referring to him as Spa Purple).
The boy band Kanjani Eight has since 2005 had a series of skits called "Kanjani Sentai Eightranger" in which they dress up in different colored suits in their concerts and portray characters. In 2012, the skits were turned into a film titled Eightranger (エイトレンジャー, Eitorenjā?) starring the band as parodies of themselves.
The Japanese anime studio Gainax produced a short 13-15 minute Super Sentai parody series called EA's Rock (エアーズロック, Eāzu Rokku?). EA's Rock is set in a airsoft shooting range bar known as Shooting Bar EA located in Kichijoji, Tokyo where the characters are former members of the Kankaku Senshi Gokan Five (感覚戦士ゴカンファイブ, Kankaku Senshi Gokan Faibu?). EA's Rock is Gainx's first live-action series. The show airs on "Tomeihan Net 6" UHF channels (TV Saitama, Chiba TV, TV Kanagawa, Mie TV, KBS, SUN-TV) during midnight and is also streamed on Nico Nico Douga.
Read more about this topic: Super Sentai
Famous quotes containing the words parody and/or homage:
“The parody is the last refuge of the frustrated writer. Parodies are what you write when you are associate editor of the Harvard Lampoon. The greater the work of literature, the easier the parody. The step up from writing parodies is writing on the wall above the urinal.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“I am so much a Unitarian as this: that I believe the human mind can admit but one God, and that every effort to pay religious homage to more than one being goes to take away all right ideas.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)