Saban's Portrayal of Asians

For some reason, I want to talk about with how Saban portrayed Asians. Unlike the white characters, it seems Saban puts them as the unique person, maybe the cool character, the team moral support, the tough guy/gal and probably the most skilled. Well knowing Saban is Asian himself, I guess it's normal that he portrays Asians the way he does in the shows.

Trini Kwan- This started some controversy to a yellow ranger being Asian but she was one of the coolest, if not the coolest member of the team. She was portrayed to be one who despite the fact she's hesitant to fight, she turns out to be a pretty skilled martial artist herself and the most knowledgeable in that field of defense. IMO she reminded me of Bioman's Mika Koizumi (the first yellow ranger of the show who died in episode 10) and later of Maskman's Haruka, both yellow rangers in their respective Sentai series. I feel like her ethnicity is left ambiguous because the show doesn't mention whether or not she is Chinese, Vietnamese or Korean. The late Thuy Trang being Vietnamese made me assume that this character is Vietnamese. When she left the show, some fans berated the series as she was a very likable character and the team's best fighter despite her gender.

Adam Park- So I kind of find it weird that despite the fact that Johnny Yong Bosch is only half-Korean (and it's obvious), Saban had him portray a full Korean instead. He was a pretty cool character who some fans however felt wasn't close to being cool as Zack Taylor (I agree, I like Zack Taylor more). He returned in Operation Overdrive for a short time having his original powers but the new morph wasn't welcomed by fans.

Cassie Chan was the first and probably only will be Asian pink ranger. So I kind of thought that she reminds me of Momoko from Maskman, being a skilled martial artist in the defensive stance and being gentle despite her tough exterior. So okay Patricia Ja Lee is Korean but I wonder why the writers made her character Chinese. Some fans however felt she was underrated. For some reason though IMO I wish she were yellow instead.

Kai Chen- I wonder if he and Cassie are related. Joke. Okay he's too different because he's the smart one of the team, he's the counterbalance to Leo Colbert's rashness in the team making him the ideal leader IMO. He's far too different than his Gingaman counterpart Gouki who wasn't much of a thinker like he is. He's the first one to be Chinese in script and played by a real Chinese actor.

Chad Lee is an exceptional fighter in the team, probably the most skilled of the group. He's the team "tough guy".


I wonder if he counts at all:

The actor Michael Copon is half-Filipino (father side) and half-German (mother side) born in America but his character Lucas Kendall seems to be ambiguous in ethnicity. So he's the cool guy of the group, just like his color.