Move Over Power Rangers & Ultraman - Korea's 'SFX Fantasy Rayforce' Is Here!

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Comicbookmovie.com

Over the past decade, the creators of Korean fantasy films and television have been doing their best to take on the Japanese entertainment industry head-to-head. Nothing has been sacred, the Koreans have even taken on the giant monster film genre, made famous by the Japanese with their Godzilla and Gamera film series, with the highly acclaimed, "The Host" and the heavy effects driven, "D-War" (Dragon Wars).

Now, T3 Entertainment, which has made quite a name for itself in the video game market is trying to reinvent the Asian super hero genre with, "Shigong Jhun-gi Rayforce" (Dimension Chronicle Rayforce or SFX Fantasy Rayforce), a series which looks like it's designed to give Japanese shows like, "Super Sentai" (Power Rangers to us westerners) and "Kamen Rider" a swift kick to the gonads.

The series looks like Japanese occult anime, superhero and giant robot series all thrown in a blender, which one would assume would be a recipe for destruction, but from what I can see here, it works, and works how.

Indeed "Shigong Jhun-gi Rayforce" has it all, the cute young girl with the gnarly powers, the costumed superheroes and a cool giant robot. Let's also not forget the over-the-top villains. All staples of Japanese fantasy entertainment, movies, anime and manga all included.

The Korean entertainment industry has never been 'shy' about 'borrowing' from Japanese pop-culture in the past. The nations most popular animated character, "Taekwon V", is an unapologetic clone of the Japanese giant robot, "Mazinger Z". In fact, I believe the only difference between the two robots, is their head designs.

Don't ask me to explain how Asian copyright law works, sometimes I think everything is up for grabs there. Well, unless it looks even remotely like Godzilla anyway.

Rip-off or not, "Shigong Jhun-gi Rayforce" looks pretty bad-ass! If the series is even half as good as the promo clip, T3 Entertainment may have a real hit on it's hands. The effects look like a real good blend of CGI and live-action. The characters look cool and ya just gotta dig their powers and fighting styles. The costumes aren't bad either. Let's just hope that they can develop some interesting bad guys and monsters for these guys, and gals, to fight.

Unfortunately, we will probably never see this one released over here, unless it's in a 'Korean language only', or possibly with Chinese subtitles, DVD format for people who have migrated to the US from Korean, through Asian importers.

Still, may be worth the money though.