So, why do people hate Samurai/Super Samurai?

[Garhdo]

Having just watched both series all the way through on Netflix while I have to say its not my favourite of all the seasons I've seen so far its nowhere near as bad as some people make out. So I have to ask what people seem to have against it?

I found a lot to like about the show.

For starters the action: Samurai featured a lot of unmorphed fights - something I have always liked since MMPR, and something RPM before it had done very well. There was also a lot less of the slo-mo explosions that had plagued all of the Disney seasons including RPM. And while there was a lot of reliance on Sentai footage the use of plenty of unmorphed fights at a similar quality meant the transition wasn't as jarring as I've seen it in some other seasons. I also really liked the addition of the Mega Mode and Shogun Mode, although I wouldnt have given them all a crested shield.

As to the writing: I have no problem with the adaption of Shinkenger's plot - its a good plot, and other seasons of PR have done the same thing before (Time Force being a notable example). Deker as a secondary villain was great, and having Ricardo Medina in the role was incredible. Some of the dialogue was bad, notably Octoroo who really got on my nerves, and it continued the loud attack announcements from RPM which I wasnt a fan of (but still not as bad as it will be in Megaforce). The one-liners didnt really bother me though - RPM had them, so did every other season, and at least most of them were clever. I do agree that Bulk and Spike were underutilised, but only because their scenes were so separate to the plot. It wasnt like back in the day when Bulk and Skull were friends with the teens and they all hung out at the juice bar - I feel using the Shinken Brown plot from the Sentai could have prevented this, and it did improve somewhat in SS, but not enough IMO. Although at the end of the day they were standard slapstick for the kids, which I am fine with - My kids loved them, and they even made me chuckle. I also loved the foreshadowing of Jayden's secret, and how he felt lost after Lauren took over.

Finally the characters. I've already said I loved Deker as a secondary antagonist, and Serrator's plan was a good subplot, although a bit late in the game for my tastes. I liked Xandred and Dayu as villains however, and was a big fan of Dayu's rivalry with Mia, breaking from the Red Ranger focus we were getting with Deker and Xandred. I did love seeing Bulk back, and while Spike did at first really annoy me he grew on me fast.

As to the Rangers.... I liked them. Mentor Ji was a bit bland, but he was a good mentor for the team overall, motivating them and reminding them of their mission. Jayden is a brilliant Red Ranger and a perfect leader for the team, aware of his team's strengths and determined to overcome his own limitations to meet the challenge of the Nighlok. I liked the fact the characters all had a clear backstory and character traits that were present across the entire series. Mike and Emily stood out as my favourites among the main five, but I never disliked Kevin or Mia. Antonio was one of my favourite sixth Rangers, reminding me an awful lot of Gai in Gokaiger with the way he came to the team and his enthusiasm. And despite her brief stay with the team I was a fan of Lauren, finding her a lot warmer than both Jayden and her counterpart Kaoru Shiba.

I thought the roles were competently acted - nothing special, but they were all believable in their roles. The actors were probably on a par with or even slightly better than the original Mighty Morphin Rangers (who were really not good actors for the majority of the first series, anyone who says they were is being coloured by nostalgia). Were they as good as the Time Force actors, or the RPM actors? No of course not, but they were good for what they were, and having three PR alumni in major roles in the series certainly helped.

[MattEmily]

I believe there's a few points with why some people might hate Samurai but first I will reply to your points.

For starters the action: Samurai featured a lot of unmorphed fights - something I have always liked since MMPR, and something RPM before it had done very well. There was also a lot less of the slo-mo explosions that had plagued all of the Disney seasons including RPM. And while there was a lot of reliance on Sentai footage the use of plenty of unmorphed fights at a similar quality meant the transition wasn't as jarring as I've seen it in some other seasons. I also really liked the addition of the Mega Mode and Shogun Mode, although I wouldnt have given them all a crested shield.

Yes Samurai did feature a lot of unmorphed fights which was nice to see.
In regards to the slow-mo explosions before Samurai that was something that was Koichi's idea because of a Disney order. Disney had ordered them to remove all violent stuff but it wasn't something the Executive Producer couldn't do because it was a fighting show so they had to come up with a compromise with Koichi's assistance hence why all of the Disney seasons are so full of original footage and very little Sentai footage.
I did like the Mega and Shogun Modes as well but I didn't like their usage.

As to the writing: I have no problem with the adaption of Shinkenger's plot - its a good plot, and other seasons of PR have done the same thing before (Time Force being a notable example). Deker as a secondary villain was great, and having Ricardo Medina in the role was incredible. Some of the dialogue was bad, notably Octoroo who really got on my nerves, and it continued the loud attack announcements from RPM which I wasnt a fan of (but still not as bad as it will be in Megaforce). The one-liners didnt really bother me though - RPM had them, so did every other season, and at least most of them were clever.

I typically don't pay attention to the writings. I didn't have a problem with Octorooo or Xandred except for Xandred not really doing anything. He was called Master Xandred but really he did nothing until he actually fought the Rangers on his own. He barely even gave any orders to begin with.

Yes other seasons did something similar with staying true to the Sentai (Time Force, Wild Force) but it was like a similar issue with S.P.D. and Mystic Force, it was dumbed down too much.
I didn't have a problem with the one-liners since that's the trademark of Power Rangers, they've done that since the beginning, my other issue however is how often they spoke during fights, they never spoke that much during the old days.

I do agree that Bulk and Spike were underutilised, but only because their scenes were so separate to the plot. It wasnt like back in the day when Bulk and Skull were friends with the teens and they all hung out at the juice bar - I feel using the Shinken Brown plot from the Sentai could have prevented this, and it did improve somewhat in SS, but not enough IMO. Although at the end of the day they were standard slapstick for the kids, which I am fine with - My kids loved them, and they even made me chuckle. I also loved the foreshadowing of Jayden's secret, and how he felt lost after Lauren took over.

I also agree in regards to Bulk and Spike being underutilized since they did very little with the Rangers. Yes adapting the Shinken Brown plot would have worked but I don't know anything about that so I don't know if it'd be appropriate for their characters or not.
The foreshadowing with Jayden's secret was nice as well as well as his development including when Lauren took over.

Finally the characters. I've already said I loved Deker as a secondary antagonist, and Serrator's plan was a good subplot, although a bit late in the game for my tastes. I liked Xandred and Dayu as villains however, and was a big fan of Dayu's rivalry with Mia, breaking from the Red Ranger focus we were getting with Deker and Xandred. I did love seeing Bulk back, and while Spike did at first really annoy me he grew on me fast.

Yes Deker was a pretty cool villain. In the case of Serrator and his plot there wasn't a whole lot they could do there since they were following the Sentai footage so close to the point that most of the head villains and their lead minions (Xandred, Serrator, Deker, Dayu and Octoroo) barely had any original footage to begin with.
I wasn't a fan of Mia's rivalry with Dayu since Mia originally was sympathetic (I hope that's the right word) when she learned the story that foreshadowed the whole thing with Serrator, Dayu and Deker.

As to the Rangers.... I liked them. Mentor Ji was a bit bland, but he was a good mentor for the team overall, motivating them and reminding them of their mission. Jayden is a brilliant Red Ranger and a perfect leader for the team, aware of his team's strengths and determined to overcome his own limitations to meet the challenge of the Nighlok.

I actually didn't like all of the Rangers. I personally didn't like Ji at all since he was too bland except for when he was motivating them.
Jayden wasn't my favorite but he was definitely a decent leader for the team.

I liked the fact the characters all had a clear backstory and character traits that were present across the entire series. Mike and Emily stood out as my favourites among the main five, but I never disliked Kevin or Mia. Antonio was one of my favourite sixth Rangers, reminding me an awful lot of Gai in Gokaiger with the way he came to the team and his enthusiasm. And despite her brief stay with the team I was a fan of Lauren, finding her a lot warmer than both Jayden and her counterpart Kaoru Shiba.

That's where I have to disagree on their backstory since Mia really had nothing except for the constant attacks on her bad cooking.
Mike and Emily, they were enjoyable and Emily's backstory was nice to see but I do agree with you with Kevin. I wasn't a fan of Kevin and at times the actor seemed a bit too stiff with his delivery.
I did like Antonio, he seemed to be rather enthusiastic like you said.
Lauren was definitely a warmer presence but I can't really compare her to her Sentai counterpart since I haven't seen Shinkenger yet.

I thought the roles were competently acted - nothing special, but they were all believable in their roles. The actors were probably on a par with or even slightly better than the original Mighty Morphin Rangers (who were really not good actors for the majority of the first series, anyone who says they were is being coloured by nostalgia). Were they as good as the Time Force actors, or the RPM actors? No of course not, but they were good for what they were, and having three PR alumni in major roles in the series certainly helped.

I personally didn't notice the acting too much since it's not something that I look for but I did notice the thing with Kevin's actor that I had previously mentioned.
I think the problem some fans have in that regard is that a lot of the cast were told to talk down to the audience like they were talking to 5 years old.

[PRangerX]

It has a lot to do with the heavy adaption of Sentai. Also the characters being made to talk like five year olds. I agree with the idea that there was a lot of expectations with the Saban buyout and people ended up disapointed.