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Thread
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What are you watching (Sentai edition)
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09-01-2021, 08:49 PM
#
8840
Fish Sandwich
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
~Fish's Zenkai Tour!~
Quest 25 – Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger
Gaoranger was a
huge
deal back in the day, by all accounts. The very approachable concepts and storytelling won it scores of fans both inside and out of its target demographic, many of whom are still deeply fond of it all these years later. The renewed emphasis on directly promoting the merchandise led to a massive herd of Power Animals being released by Bandai, redefining and expanding Sentai's approach to combining robots to include smaller individual releases that act to supplement the larger sets. This new formula helped ensure Gaoranger's immense financial success (it's right up there with Ohranger), while also leaving behind a legacy of designs that are once again, strong fan-favorites to this day. On top of selling like crazy and providing a clear focus to the plots, the depiction of these Power Animals on-screen emphasizes the evolution of Sentai's digital effects, with CG conveying a lively sense of motion that would've been difficult to replicate with suits and props. Gaoranger is maybe the ultimate proof that animal-themed toku heroes simply ARE a good idea? It seems like you couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate Super Sentai's 25th anniversary!
And yet, despite all this, Gaoranger is also the next show after Fiveman I know as the Worst Sentai Ever for some reason? Like,
Japan
clearly loves it just fine, but as an English-speaking Sentai fan, I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone say it's anything better than "not as lame as I thought it'd be"? I don't know if this is just a result of the particular circles I'm hanging around or what, but it's always had a bit of a stigma attached to it from what I can tell. (Although the robots are still well-loved.) Maybe it's rooted in some belief that it's a notable downgrade from the more sophisticated Timeranger. Maybe that belief is well-founded, or maybe it isn't. I can't exactly say, because while I was rather fond of Gaoranger's loyal-if-stilted Power Rangers adaptation at the time, I haven't actually watched
Gaoranger
at all until now.
I gotta say though:
animal-themed toku heroes are *such* a good idea!
I wouldn't say Gaoranger had some particularly amazing, top-tier debut or anything, but it's a really solid episode that's fully loaded up with things that remind me why I never, ever get tired of seeing this motif.
The nighttime debut of most of the team in action provides thrills right away as everyone gets to demonstrate their unique powers, and when all this chaos happening on the city rooftops results in an elephant down on the ground getting spooked, it makes for a rather effective way to introduce the guy who will become Gao Red, who uses his natural affinity for animals as a veterinarian to peacefully deescalate the situation, stopping some trigger-happy cops from doing it the not-so peaceful way. Like,
dang!
How many other Sentai protagonists are out there preventing acts of police brutality in their first scene? I love this dude already! And I'm not the only one, evidently, because this act of kindness gets him recruited to fill that last slot on the Gaorangers. Although only after the big red lion on the floating sky island says he's cool, of course. I've said it before, but I'm a sucker for living mecha in Sentai, and a huge part of that is how charming I find the whole dynamic it creates. By making them more than just simple machines, it creates an emotional connection to the characters, and through that, the audience can also have a much greater attachment to them than merely how cool they look. Sure, the Gaorangers are five people at the start, but already, the
team
is so much bigger than that.
All the other plot beats are similarly to my tastes here. For one thing, the newly-minted Red gets to demonstrate some worth as a leader by uniting the team after receiving some timely advice from Gao Lion that only his unique ability to communicate with animals allows, which is cool. (And by "uniting the team", I mean they combine their weapons into a huge sword to explode a monster, of course.) Prior to that, though, and way more importantly, I deeply appreciate the way the episode frames his decision to commit to the cause with so much weight. He's kinda treating this whole crazy day he's having like it's a dream at first, understandably confused by everything that's going on, which is nicely human, and it's only when he actually sees firsthand the fear and suffering of people and animals alike at the hands of the villains that he realizes this is something he needs to do, which is nicely
heroic.
Another thing I've said before is that I value superhero stories that emphasize the protagonists as protectors, rather than fighters, and Gaoranger nails that out of the gate. There's such a specific, kinda humble scale to that scene I adored. It's not some grand notion of preventing planetary conquest or anything; it's one man feeling empathy for all the living creatures around him, and making that concern his strength.
Plus, I mean, when they all start fighting, it's
awesome.
Yet another thing I've said I liked before is toku heroes with very active, animalistic body language, and the Gaorangers push that to a whole new level. In Gingaman, the team ran with their torsos low to the ground to look more like beasts. In Gaoranger, they're literally down on all fours at points. Their gloves just have straight up claws on the ends sometimes.
It's so cool,
in the kind of insane way you could only get from tokusatsu. Gaoranger hits me right in a such a sweet spot (it kind of
created
that sweet spot for me, after all), and it made the entire climax such a blast to watch.
Top it all off with a bunch of giant robot animals firing laser beams out of their mouths at a giant monster, and it's just like... people say this show is
under
whelming? I'm having some trouble believing that myself, with how completely rad this first episode was. I don't even think I appreciated just how good it was until I was going to describe some of the things that happened, and realized what I was typing. Laser beam mouths, people! Is it really any wonder the toys were flying off shelves this year?
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 03-05-2022 at
06:29 PM
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