Are you a fan of dark and edgier or light hearted sentai or power ranger series? Then take a little of your moment and read this article from a friend.
Via original author, Sean Akizuki:
"Sentai- we might as well know it back as Goranger which was shown in the Philippines with that rather awful dub called Star Rangers followed by JAKQ. One might consider that Sentai back then was usually more violent with the idea of blood, darker stories and so on. Which of course, one could consider the tone of Super Sentai especially back in the 80s were really serious and you might as well consider, darker. One could consider even the supposedly "lighter shows" had all the darker and edgier elements.
So we are introduced to Hirohisa Soda whose writings after Goggle V, Dynaman and Bioman started to even get more serious. I can remember even in the premiere of Bioman, there was blood at the first episode. Changeman, Flashman, Maskman, Liveman, Turboranger and Fiveman were still serious. Okay not really Turboranger and Fiveman were lighter but still more serious compared to today's Super Sentai.
Now we are going to talk about the era which MMPR came in. Compared to Power Rangers, one might consider Super Sentai to be darker during the 90s up to 2000. One could consider this:
Chojin Sentai Jetman was Toshik Inoue's first headwriting work. Some say it's the most serious but I think Liveman still gets that vote. Maskman was more serious than Jetman for me. Toshiki Inoue wasn't sucky yet but he did show he was bad at one thing- his shock value. He could have killed Gai Yuki honorably, but why kill him in such a way to troll audiences? Inoue is known for having contributed to Flashman, Maskman, Liveman, Turboranger and Fiveman. He also wrote for Zyuranger, Dairanger and Kakuranger.
The Sugimura era- The late Noboru Sugimura wrote Zyuranger, Dairanger, Kakuranger and Ohranger. Zyuranger despite it supposedly "light" had a chock full of nightmare fuel even before Burai came. Compared to MMPR, Zyuranger had more, I mean more darker and edgier stuff. Dairanger and Kakuranger were pretty serious. The darker and edgier Ohranger shifted to a lighter and softer tone due to the Sarin gas incident but despite that, it was still considerably darker than its Power Rangers counterpart, Zeo.
Carranger came in to kick in a lighter and softer Sentai. Carranger was campy, full of laughs and while it attempted to be a parody, it wasn't. It was funny for some but it can't be considered all nonsensical either, just a new formula for Sentai to try to be lighter.
Carranger came in to kick in a lighter and softer Sentai. Carranger was campy, full of laughs and while it attempted to be a parody, it wasn't. It was funny for some but it can't be considered all nonsensical either, just a new formula for Sentai to try to be lighter.
However after that, Megaranger came with still some serious and funny which was probably a test to "balance" things out. During that time, Megaranger was most likely what you would call "lighter and softer". It was pretty much trying to "pay tribute" to the Soda era with elements from Bioman, Flashman and Turboranger rolled into one. Yasuko Kobayashi came in and she's very known for her darker and edgier stuff and she wrote a good portion. Meanwhile Power Rangers in Space was Power Rangers attempting the darker and edgier.
Then we have Gingaman (Kobayashi's first headwriting work) and we later have Lost Galaxy (Judd Lynn's second headwriting work, his first was Power Rangers in Space). Gingaman happens to be Kobayashi's "magnum opus" and a great start, like Inoue's was with Jetman. Power Rangers Lost Galaxy was one of the more serious Power Rangers seasons. In fact, one might consider that Lightspeed Rescue and Time Force were almost as serious as their original counterparts Gogo V and Timeranger. Time Force did try to eventually water down its seriousness because of the 9/11 incident but fortunately, it didn't go down the drain.
After Timeranger, everything started to get a little bit lighter. For one, you might consider that Power Rangers either played an influence also on Super Sentai. You might as well consider most Sentai these days are lighter and try to avoid being overly serious. You might consider that after Timeranger, most villains weren't as frightening as they used to maybe except for Abaranger, Dekaranger, Shinkenger and Gobusters but none of them are really overly serious. In fact, it seems to day that most kids prefer the lighter and softer. If you talk about comical you might want to put Magiranger, Boukenger and Go-onger to that list. Gaoranger is a more balanced season.
Now for Gobusters. Did Gobusters fail because it attempted to go back to darker and edgier? Yasuko Kobayashi usually had her forte with darker and edgier but sad to say, the show bores me. Maybe it's because of Naomi Takebe then again, she is the producer of Kamen Rider Kiva and Kamen Rider OOO which are two seasons that I like. But let's face it, Gobusters may have failed because kids found it too serious compared to the Sentai they used to watch or it's just plain boring. For me, it's more of the "plain boring "side and that like Inoue, Kobayashi is more or less in the same level of burnout.
So they tried Kyoryuger to which was the third dinosaur season. Dinosaurs and samba, that show feels stupid for me. I might try to watch it later but it feels bad. Yet Toei had allowed Saban to skip Gobusters for Kyoryuger. Then we have Toqger lately which feels like a parody.
What are your thoughts?"
What are your thoughts?"
So what's your genre like? Are you one like me who likes dark and edgier or someone who likes a little less seriousness and light on the side?
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I'm more for the darker edgier tone and Go-Busters was my first sentai of the type and I loved every minute of it. Sad to see so many people don't enjoy it. Great blog.
Generally, I feel go buster was good. Although, the fact they tried to make it serious yet incorporate dancing at the end theme and comic relief with the buddy roid interaction kinda made it seem unusual. I think the humor and reactions of the actors felt to artificial. I loved some of the plots it used like Enter being the final villain and him being a dark buster was nice. Though it just seems so strange that hiromu freezes when seeing chickens and the other two are disfunctional. Basically, go buster had a pretty good plot overall but the small facts just made it strange sometimes. Kyoruger on the other hand sticks with a lighter feel. It seems fun and random, it's more like a humor show. Although, I liked kyorugers more cause they showed a bit more interaction between the kyorugers and their families/loved ones. I think go buster had tried to establish a meaning of familial bond, but it definitely fell short to its successors. At least in kyoruger, you can see kyorugers interact more with society. I also think kyoruger is better since all the members may be weird, but they don't have ridiculous weaknesses.
My first thoughts to this would be that you forgot to mention Shinkenger :D
As an overall story with a good mix of both light and dark, Shinkenger was the only sentai (in recent years) that was able to have both simultaneously. (ie. Shiba's fights with honor, loyalty, responsibility, etc... and Ryuunoske XD)
As for Kyoryuger, I advise others who hate the "light" type of sentai to avoid it. Personally, I found it to be a terrible season - filled with new toys popping up in EVERY episode. It did "try" to provide some dark moments, but ultimately failed. The lack of good plot, and strong character development is to blame.
Lastly, I wouldn't call ToQger a parody. In fact, I'd consider it to be 2nd to Shinkenger (for now). The story so far is progressing well, and everything makes sense, in terms of plot and characters. It obviously has the "light" aspect to it - given the whole concept of imagination and all, but it also incorporates some "darker" themes. (The 3rd monster they defeated dragged a coffin around - like, c'mon, how much darker can it get?)
There's the whole mystery of why they were chosen to be ToQgers that helps the story progress, along with the characters remembering bits here, and there. It is a humorous sentai, but you can't overlook the whole "mystery" vibe; it's somewhat similar to a murder story trying to be solved, imo.
I think you have Kyoryuger and toqger all wrong. I love both, but my rebuttal on that comes from a more logical standpoint. It was creative. They found a way to bind dinosaurs and humans together. Through the one thing that binds all humans together: music and dancing. Not only that, while it may have been a Daigofest (I've seen some refer to it as Daigo Sentai Daigoranger), the show had heart and sought to rebuke years old Sentai traditions. (i.e. the uproar over no yellow ranger being present before the show aired. And a particularly spoilery thing with the sixth dino ranger.)
Toqger isn't a parody. It's just plain nuts. I love it. The comedic moments are perfectly timed, and there is a hint that something much darker is lurking behind the scenes, I think this one will surprise us.
Other than those two, incredibly informative article and thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Before I say anything, I just want you guys to know that I have not been a long time fan of the Super Sentai Franchise.. My first was Gokaiger.. I loved Gokaiger due to its what I would call "Cool" theme.. but I definitely want to say that Kyoryuger was one of the best for me.. The theme was good, it had heart, it had its funny, sad, frustrating and dark moments..
That show me me laugh, cry, and feel angry at the bad guys at some point.. That just shows how good of a show it is since it has affected its audience..
I don't really mind Daigo to get most of the powerup cause he is Red.. The leader.. Anyway, for me all of them are good in their own way.. :D
I think the main reason Go Busters failed was because of poor characterization and inconsistent pacing. And also, Messiah.
Hiromu, Yoko, and Ryuji has to have the most subtle development I have ever seen. Really, did any of them change at all? Sure, there was that little bit of Hiromu asking for help now, but that wasn't much. So, following the exploits of three cardboard characters can get very, very boring. But Jin and J were pretty interesting.
The pacing after the mid point brought the plot to a slow crawl. The 13 Messiah cards then gave them an excuse to have 12 plus episodes of a differing, but essentially same formula. Again, very boring.
Finally, Messiah. At first, he was a menacing villain. Then after the mid point, he was just a plot device for Enter. His repeated revivals got boring too. It was just too predicable.
But everything not this was decent I guess.
How About Abaranger & Gekiranger, They killed some good characters there. Gekirangers was a good show, even The Red is a tarzan boy. Show is going softy after gekirangers. I agree that point that Kyoryuuger is stupid. Go-buster is col one in my opinion. Power rangers is getting softy lately the characters so lame. Gokaiger's Red is much stronger act there. I miss wes Red Time force he is a great leader & Cole is a wise red ranger. Abarekiller is the best ranger ever
I think calling Kobayashi a burn out is way completely wrong. ToQgers is going well, and she is the head writer. In fact she was the script writer for what show, Attack in Titan, one of the biggest hits in recent anime history. She did a great job adapting the manga to anime.
I started as a fan of Power Rangers but as time passed and I grew up I didn't watch until Samurai but when I saw Gokaiger I was really into Super Sentai and it got me into Kamen Rider.
Kyoryuger is fun.. super light and with a heart. It even has an ending with kids and adults dancing.. which they have submited. Gobuster was boring.