Kudo Haruka to star in Lupinranger!

 

Today is a very happy day, despite the fact that it looks completely gloomy outside and was raining earlier. Also, it's the first entry of the new year of 2018! Whoo~

So as the title says, Kudo Haruka will be starring as Hayami Umika/Lupin Yellow in the upcoming new Sentai series Kaito Sentai Lupinranger which was begin next month after Kyuranger. Okay, technically there are two teams this year. However, for the sake of simplicity and context of this post, I'm just going to shortened it as Lupinranger. Although, I personally nicknamed this as Sentai-48 because there are two teams and I know there are going to be even more people coming into the series. And lord, I though Kyoryuger and Kyuranger had too many people in it. Anyways, that's not the point of this entry. Let's move on before it gets too off-topic.

From what I can gather online, Hayami Umika is described to be the little sister type of member within the trio compared to the rash Yano Kairi (Lupin Red played by Ito Asahi) and the black-hearted Yoimachi Touma (Lupin Blue played by Hama Shougou). This will be the first time there is a Sentai team based on phantom thieves and is inspired by the known gentlemen thief character Arsene Lupin.

As a Kudo Haruka stan, I'm just so e x c i t e d. Personally, for me, this is the first time I'm really excited for a Sentai team ever since Tokkyuger. If you know me really well and follow me very closely, I actually really like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. Within the past few years, I'm become more lenient towards Kamen Rider compared to Super Sentai. However, I still watch it and I do like it to an extent. When I first heard that there was going to be two teams, the idea was so bizarre yet it made me interested because I wanted to see how they would execute the idea.

Ever since Haruka graduated from the group, there have been rumors that she would be a part of Lupinranger. She did mention that her first major acting role had been set but she couldn't announce it yet. Concerning Lupinranger, one of the things I heard was that one of them would be a former idol and Haruka fits that profile. Yet, I didn't want to get my hopes up in case it ends up being someone else. Now knowing that my ult is in fact Lupin Yellow, I'm even more excited to watch the series.

During her tenure in Morning Musume, a majority of her acting roles up until then had been in the stageplays. She was known to play the more boyish roles such as False (spoiler alert: Sophie Anderson, Nishii Yukito's successor in the role) in Lilium Shoujo Junketsu Kageki, Asada in Triangle Alpha/Beta, and then snagging the role of both Sariokis and Sneferu in Pharaoh no Haka. While if you do compared to her to more experienced actresses like Aragaki Yui for example, yes she's not the greatest out there. However, her performances within the musicals shows that she is one of the better actresses to come out of Hello! Project as of recently. I enjoyed watching her in all of those musicals. She definitely stole the spotlight and I couldn't care less about the other characters in whatever musical they were in.

She has built up all that experience in acting from the musicals, but I can still slightly feel wary about how she will be in Lupinranger. This isn't technically some big shot movie or drama, this is a forty year-old series that's being marketed towards children. However, Super Sentai is still nonetheless a very big series with a very dedicated fanbase worldwide. There is some pressure to an extent as musicals are a completely different world than television. However, there's a part of me that feels very confident about Duu and that she will definitely be a lovable ace in the series. Plus, I'm very curious to see how well she works with her co-stars and how well the chemistry between their characters plays out (not romantically, but in general).

Also, I just want to add:

Translation: I want to be a Sentai Hero!!

Rough Translation: You're probably do it in the next five years

Five years ago, Haruka shared that she loved Super Sentai (preferring it over Kamen Rider actually) and wanted to become one. It's sincerely amazing to think that exactly five years later- she's really going to be a part of the Super Sentai franchise and part of a very unique team/series for the year. As one of her stans, I feel incredibly proud of her and I can't wait to watch Lupinranger. While I can't guarantee that it'll be one of the best Super Sentais in this generation, I have a good feeling that I'll still enjoy it nonetheless.

The series this year is going to have a good handful of Hello! Project fans watching it just for Haruka. So if you are an H!P fan (who has no experience with Super Sentai), hi~ Welcome to my blog. If you end up liking Lupinranger, I might recommend you other Sentai series you might like as well or something like that~ Hmm, I might do a recap series about the show on my blog. Who knows? We'll see about that during February when the show starts airing.

That's it for today's entry. Again, I'm just very e x c i t e d to watch - knowing that Duu is staring in it. What are your thoughts on it? Are you excited to watch it? If you're also a Super Sentai fan, how do you feel about Haruka staring in it and what are your favorite series?? (I want to know!) Until my next post, jyaa ne~