Arguing about Magiranger
 

So recently, I've been talking to someone about Magiranger. However, this person keeps proposing that Magiranger is strongly derived from Harry Potter. *twitch twitch* I argued that it isn't and several other aspects of the characters' abilities, weapons, etc. came from a much broader range. (Used European culture, mythology, RPGs, and mainstream anime and manga as some of my reasons.) Even after hearing this, he's still pushing the Harry Potter argument because of its popularity. I kinda think this is biased and he's only going on the coincidence of it being recent. Should I even bother trying to prove my argument at this point?

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

I would have to agree with your friend, I feel that Magiranger, in terms of it's creation relied on the Harry Potter craze. Of course the show probably didn't rip off it's plot, characters, setting, etc. But the whole magic theme, with spells like "Magi Maagi Majiro!" is definetely inspired by Harry Potter. But as far as I can see that's where the inspiration ends. So I guess you guys are both right, while Magiranger does jump on the magic bandwagon it also takes other mofits and elements from other things to give it a sense of individuality.

So that's the way I see it unless some else has concrete proof that the the writers weren't inspired by Harry Potter.

But I have question of my own, why is it that when People say that "Magiranger is influenced by Harry Potter" sentai fans get a mad? I remember when the series first started people over at Japan Hero were having a hissy fit because other fans were comparing it to Harry Potter and their counterpoint would be "No Magiranger wasn't influenced by Harry Potter but by Lord of the Ringers and blah blah blah". I mean what's the big deal if Magi was inspired by Harry? I mean that's what the people at Toei do right? Anytime they create a new series they always look for a craze(Magiranger), or look at the times(Timeranger), or take an old theme and put a new twist on it (Hurricanger, Abaranger,etc), or just look for something they never did before. As long as the sentai is good, I don't care what inspired it (well probably not too much).

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

Yeah and Timeranger's based off Scarface.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

People tend to get crazy when they hear the word 'rip-off'. Just tell Batman fans that Batman was a rip-off from a classic horror film and they'll flip.

I'm certain that part of the idea was based on the Harry Potter craze. I've seen things that have been used in the Harry Potter movies (e.g. the brooms, the talking mandragora that cries when it's taken out of its pot, the design of their hideout etc.), but the real question IMO isn't if Magiranger ripped off Harry Potter (and it didn't, because plot and characters completely different), but how much did Harry Potter use from the culture of magic in the first place. For example the flying brooms were used in HP, but it was definitely a well-known tradition in the culture of magic.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

Aren't the HP spells Latin based?

Speaking with MF in mind (I wasn't around when Magi did), those fans may have thrown hissy fits because people were using 'It's a Harry Potter ripoff' as a reason to criticise the show and it's a pretty dumb reason to do so.

I think LOTR gets brought up to help show that Harry Potter wasn't even the originator of the things that Magi/MF supposedly ripped off.

I don't have a real opinion on the matter because I don't know much about HP but Magi didn't feel like a derivative work while I was watching it. MF doesn't either (apart from the obvious).

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

MF gets that Lord of the rings feel.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

Magi dose have one thing over that harry pothead is of course Houkachan(in love emoticon)

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

How can you use those two to compare Magi to HP? At least with MAgi and HP, there is a possible connection.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

Don Dornero was a mobster. That's the only connection I can make.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

Just argue to your friend that everything is a rip-off of Shakespeare's works or the Illiad and that he shouldn't watch anything because of that.

Fight fire with fire.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

Harry Potter is Magiranger on crack.

I don't get it. LOTS of shows use magic as a premise. EVERYTHING can't "rip-off" Harry Potter. I, for one, was waiting for the year that Sentai/Power Rangers did a magic-based season. It just seemed like a logical thing to do eventually. That doesn't necessarily mean it was ripped off from everything.

You think Magi ripped off HP? Fine, then that means Harry Potter ripped off legends about magicians and wizards and magic, etc. I'll bet the next magic-based show/movie/whatever will be claimed to be a rip-off of Harry Potter, too, just because it's soo big. Face it, HP wasn't a completely original idea, nothing is. Everything is based off of something else.

The end.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

I wouldn't be able to answer since I'm not into Harry Potter all that much that but what I getting at is the idea of how the spells vocalized, I think that Magi was inpsired by Potter as well in that aspect. Not in terms of origins the words but just using it that in that vocal fashion. Like in Harry Potter he might say something like, oh I don't know... "Levitatous Returnis" (just guessing from what I think I heard in the first movie, if someone could they can correct me) to do the spell.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

Well, I personally defintely got serious Harry Potter vibes when I saw Hikaru open up the wall and take the rangers into the train station that Travelion was on. I think that that aspect, at least, was inspired by Harry Potter, I mean, it's not that secret magic trains are prevailent in all forms of fiction, though and personally have never heard of a secret magic train that can transform into a mecha (Transformers don't count since they're not powered by Magic).

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

I don't anyone is saying Harry Potter created the whole Magical theme of wizards and witches, I think it's more that Harry Potter made it more popular. And because it popularized theme and the franchise itself is popular when something else comes out in the same vein people just naturally compare it.

Just like Halo, Halo wasn't the first first-person-shooter to come out but it made that genre a helluva lot popular and because the game was good people usually use that to compare other first person shooters. That's just the way it is, especially in entertainment. When something good comes out and because popular other companies try to jump on the bandwagon to garner that attention and make some money of the craze. I can easily go on with the exaples.

Now I still stand by my word that Magiranger was INFLUNCED by the Harry Potter CRAZE but I'm not saying that it ripped-off the HP movies cuz If that was the case the Magiranger would be about 3 alchemy students in a Acedemy of Magic and Magired would be a boy with glasses and lightning bolt on his forehead...etc.

For those of you out there, there is a difference between ripping off and inspiration

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

HA, Halo is a well-selling series, but it's hardly the game that popularized FPS. If anything, Halo jumped on the bandwagon already started by games like Doom, Goldeneye, Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which all argueably did far more for the genre than Halo, and all of which are argueably better during their time than Halo during its.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

I completely agree. But the problem is that there are so many people who believe that Magi is actually RIPPING OFF Harry Potter, which it is not.

But personally I hate HP, so... yeah.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

[QUOTE=Aren't the HP spells Latin based?QUOTE]

The spells used in the books are parodies of "spells", and use a kind of latin that was used in Road Runner cartoons:

Deletrius
“Delete� means “to erase�. Used to erase spell images conjured by Priori Incantem.


Densaugeo
Enlarges the teeth of the victim.


Diffindo

Latin for “to split�. A spell that rips an object in half.


Disapparate

The opposite of Apparate – you have to Disapparate before you Apparate at the other end.


Disillusion

Literal meaning is to remove an illusion. Generally used to indicate unhappiness with a situation. Spell used to hide something. Typically used to hide magical objects and occurrences from Muggles.


Dissendium

This is possibly a path-revealing spell. It was used to open a secret passage to Hogsmeade.

Engorgio

“Engorge� means “to fill to excess�. Causes an object to enlarge

(http://www.mugglenet.com/info/other/spells.shtml)

I prefer the spells used in Magiranger--as the words are not as much as the "courage" and strength of the spellcaster.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

Based on what I've read here, MF has more similarities to Harry Potter than Magiranger ever will, but it's still nothing like coming straight out of the book.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

Both Magiranger and Mystic Force have similarities to Harry Potter. In Magi, the banners for each of the Magirangers hanging on the wall in the "secret room" (Room of Requirement?) are reminiscent of the Hogwarts' Banners.

Mandora Boy equals the Mandrake plant from HP. Both have cries which are fatal to humans when they are removed from their soil.

Chess imagery=Wizard's Chess from HP.

However, a lot of the elements, as others have stated, are common to Witchcraft/Socerery/The Occult. Those elements are part of the public domain. Were the creators of Magiranger Force inspired by the popularity of Harry Potter? Without a doubt. Mystic Force is kind of stuck. As Disney inherits whatever Toei does, they have little choice but to follow the pre-determined Japanese theme.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

While Harry Potter is one of the elements of Magi...there's references to Lovecraft in there as well. As well as, Aladdin, Lord of the Rings, Universal Monsters, etc.

However, when Magiranger first premiered, many felt that the magic theme was solely dominated with Harry Potter references. It was hard for some to catch the other "magical" references until later on.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

I never saw Magiranger but MF does appear to be a mix of Harry Potter and Charmed. That's how I view it anyway. But it's not the first show to rip off another show or movie. American shows do it all the time.

Re: Arguing about Magiranger
 

I don't know what the whole fuss is about. If you go up to JK Rowling and tell her in her face that Harry Potter is remarkably similar to LoTR and Narnia, she'll tell you that you're just about right.

As it was pointed out earlier, the early episodes of Magi are heavily influenced by Harry Potter (even some of the BGMs). The one advantage that Magi has is that it draws its resources from wayyyy more legends around the planet than Rowling does, and that's pretty damn good.