No.

Also keep in mind that the ratings drops are indicative of an overall decline in TV ratings in Japan. Popular J-Dramas, anime, period dramas, and variety shows have all had similar drops as people begin to shift their viewing to DVR and online sources. It's pretty similar to ratings trends in America.

The Liveman V2 torrent finally finished! Now I can rewatch the first half of the series and wait a decade for the next batch~~~

I love the grand set up for this series, the progressive feel of Liveman is what makes it so great to watch. Visually it's very dated, but it has lots of ideas which are ahead of its time. It makes me sad that everyone knows what Jetman is, but very few really know much about Liveman. I certainly think it's a much better example than Jetman as to how great early Sentai could be.

What is also interesting is the different style of storytelling in classic series. Liveman doesn't really have a gimmick like today's shows do, so the opening episode is very story heavy and the action is just big epic set pieces rather than the usual opening episode which advertises what you can collect over the course of the series, and a vague outline as to what the show is to be about.

Minus the hilariously camp looking villains and despite the dated effects, the show largely holds up through the strength of the designs and the imagination in the fight scenes. In many ways Liveman is flashier than a lot of modern shows. I mean just look at those mecha designs!

Also the music in this show rocks.

Gekiranger 25-27

A trio of episodes about GekiViolet. First one was how he actually gets his GekiViolet powers. Gou generally initially felt he wasn't the type to be a hero, which is why he developed Shigeki, a style similar to Rin Jyuken. But in reality...he's really a good guy and just rather play by his own rules and be the loner. He's just a little too overconfident in himself, resulting in his forbidden technique werewolf situation.

I like his whole boxing theme. From the bell on his morpher, which is much more similar to a standard morpher, to his henshin. I'm certain the explanation for him to suddenly summon a boxing ring dimension...is Shigeki? I dunno, but it's cool. GekiWolf is a cool enough zord. When combined with Geki Touja it suitably fits his fighting style.

Next episode was Gou figuring out his place in the balance of the team. At first I thought Jan was frustrated in figuring out how Gou synched with the rest of them. I suppose I should've known better and figured it was something simpler...

And Gorrie Yen runs some type of kung fu clinic to give sagely advice for Jyuken practitioners...Even Rio respects his advice...somewhat. He kinda went into a rage when Gorrie didn't give him the answer he wanted. But he seems to have found a way to access DoRinki once he realizes that his old rival Gou has found new strength.

Spekaing of Gou, he can just summon Jan and Retsu's Geki Beasts? Though, it sort of makes sense in a way since Retsu' his brother and Jan's the one he had the most interaction with this episode.

And then we have the episode where Gou finally confronts his curse head on and defeats the werewolf within. I'm really disliking this sleazy mystery dude helping out Mele. Obviously he has some bigger role in the plot, but he looks like he needs to get punched in the face some.

Surprisingly Bae gets a starring role in this episode, finding kinship with Gou since they're sort of stuck in a similar situation being stuck in a beast-mode they didn't to get stuck in, only Bae's seems permanent for now. It's kinda funny that the Gekirangers NEVER noticed Bae's commentary before. The Kensei had to, they've participated in it. Though, I wonder how much they were paying attention, considering that they questioned Bae's allegiance when he's pretty much been rooting for the Gekirangers the entire time.

And we also see that Mele sort of cares for Bae. In a...weird way, but still. She took him back without stirring much conflict with the Gekirangers, seeming almost grateful that Bae was alright. And Rio seems to know what to do to master his Dorinki finally. To find some sort of god on these sacred grounds. The one that appeared in the opening. Dunno why, but I never thought they'd be too important.

And next up....the Rhino ranger, already?!

Don't forget, Gou was the wild card. The rhino ranger, GekiChopper, was the one they were expecting to arrive.

They just included the boxing ring for the debut to compliment the his Muay Thai fighting style.

Yup. The first time I watched Geki I thought they were expecting Gou to suddenly return, but rewatching during LWW I realized they were expecting Ken instead.

It makes Gekiranger an even more unique series than it already is. I love that show to pieces. Needed better DX toys though :(

Gobus 45.

This shows constant stop starting is kinda hard to defend when it does pointless episodes like this so close to the end of the series. I mean it was mostly pretty fun but that doesn't change that this is EPISODE FORTY FIVE.

People have complained that the villain factions in Goseiger were underdeveloped, which I think is personally a very valid criticism but even then, it never once felt quite as aimless as this show has. It basically already ended once, in the twenties, this time in the early forties and both of those got retconned by the very series they were concluding. Both endings were also GREAT but both are somewhat ruined by the fact that the show just keeps damn going after them.

The Messiah Card arc was basically entirely padding and dressed up to look relevant and honestly with the way the later show developed pretty much the whole first half of the show became insignificant, Stealing Enetron was something the show forgot all about, despite the residual imagery of that plot point still laying around all over the place. By design this show actually has MORE filler than Kyoryuger has because everything it sets up as story focused is later retconned to insignificance by the same series that established it.

Plus, pointing out the similarities to other episodes doesn't somehow make it okay. It only makes it HARDER to defend. The closer I get to the end of Gobus, and the more series I have to look over, the more I'm kinda convinced this was actually a bad show. What I said before about this show having EPIC standalone moments or episodes isn't any less true but it's only really when you're in those moments that you can truly be distracted by them. And even episodes I liked, like the early episodes, have now become so meaningless it's hard to still care about them.

Is the Gobus/Gokaiger VS movie any good?

I've been watching since Gokaiger when Peaugh showed clips with one of his reviews, and I'm like, "well now this interests me," and I've been tempted to watch past seasons, but idk, kinda lazy. Also, it seems like pre GoGoV the footage wasn't best quality. In PR:LR I cringed at the zord scenes, and the washed out kinda bad looking footage in some scenes. But hey, I may just start watching Sentai after I finish power rangers this summer.

Its OK as a Go-Busters movie but as a crossover movie its not very good.

The Gokaiger are completely irrelevant to the plot outside of the villains being Zangyack teaming up with Enter, Ahim barely says a single sentence throughout the entire movie and the main plot is almost completely about the Go-Busters and their Buddyroids. The promotion for the movie was all up about "evil Gokaiger" but in reality their "evil" for the first five minutes of the movie before its (shockingly) revealed to be a gambit that went absolutely nowhere.

Go-Busters received a similar treatment in their Kyoryuger movie.

The trailer at the end of that Gobus episode made it look really Gokaiger centric, and I loved seeing the team dressed up in full on pirate gear, so I'm sad to hear they get shafted. At what point in the series does the film come in for Gokaiger? I don't want any spoilers.

Its set after the end of Gokaiger and there are quite a few late Gokaiger plot-points mentioned in passing.

Ah okay then, I'll wait 'til I've finished Gokaiger to watch the VS movie.

Gokaiger 11.

Considering how much Japan loves Shinkenger, I'm surprised by how little justice this really does for that show. Then again, the more I think on it, the more the tributes in this show have kinda sucked. I mean not Super Megaforce levels of suck, but when I try and think of the merits of the actual tributes outside of the actual merits of the episodes they're featured in...well I can't really think of any. They're basically cameos for cameos sake and the show kinda rides on the hope that nostalgia will distract you from the fact that the cameo is just sorta...there and isn't actually really doing anything. For in show reasons at a push, but it never seems any less superfluous even with that reasoning in mind. I dunno, maybe this is proof that a good body of sentai knowledge really is necessary for maximum enjoyment of Gokaiger.

It was kinda lucky that this was the most tacked on tribute of them all in a way though, as it allowed the episode to focus on much more interesting things. Most noticeably, some truly epic battles. As the Gokaigers shifted into Gingaman the battle really became high gear, that was some epic stuff.

Still a little confused though as to what this shows obsession with Joe is though, no character in this is underdeveloped, but it's just odd that he gets so much focus compared to anyone else. Plus I do still find it distracting that in the story Joe is our swordsman, like it makes a pretty big deal of it, yet in the fight scenes his swordsman nature is extremely downplayed, and usually it's Luka who is played up as the swordsman of the group. Not only does Joe usually pass her his sword, we've never once seen Joe combine the swords, or use that whip move like she has multiple times. Yet once the fighting is done, there is never mention of sword fighting from her lips but they can't shut up about Joe the swordsman.

I dunno, it just seems such a weird creative decision to me. I never quite understand how fight scenes made specifically for a single story, and set of characters, can still have an incredible disconnect from them. I can understand stuff not gelling one hundred percent in Power Rangers as they're adapting their new characters to footage made for something else, but what is the excuse in sentai?

Also dammit, we finally get an MMPR change and the Gokaiger's get absolutely creamed. They weren't losing this bad, even when they changed into Goggle V and fought with ribbons :lol Those Dynaman suits aren't all that great looking either.

Gokaiger 12. I'm really confused by the mecha rules, why'd the Shinkenger mecha use GaoLion? It looked terrible anyway.

A rare episode where Gokai Blue and Joe almost feel like they're meant to be the same character! I loved how as Joe is a dual wielder, he was given the Double Disc to split his swords. I wish that scene was longer because it was a great character moment, for a suit actor who so far has done a pretty poor job of portraying Joe. Sadly considering Luka is supposed to be an eagle eyed Robin Hood, her flashy swordswoman persona as Gokai Yellow is still completely unbelievable. And detracts a little from the achievements of Gokai Blue in the episode.

It seems almost ironic perhaps to complain about strong and well defined characterisation, but it's just frustrating that Gokaiger provides so much that I've always wanted from sentai yet undermines itself by not paying attention to the smaller details. Luckily they went crazy with the gimmick this episode, distracting us with some rapid changes. Oh yeah Liveman. You didn't distract me from the continuity errors with the cuts in Marvelous' jacket though!

It's a shame the flashbacks weren't longer, they were pretty epic but also felt rushed. It's amazing that this show can even feel rushed during two parters which perhaps makes sense of why other sentai don't bother to flesh their characters nearly as much. Although I don't ever remember Goseiger feeling this squashed and that had some pretty heavy character focus too.

You really need to IMO. People say it's a good intro level show, but to really appreciate the tributes you need to have some shows under your belt. Like Kai's cameo in episode 3 was really nice because if you've watched Magiranger you've seen him grow and with that episode you see the results after the series is complete(doubly so because Magiranger never had a proper versus movie...). And when you're used to "They return for the Vs. movie(and these days, V-Cinema), and you never really see them again", the cameos are really enjoyable.

Yeah I never ever expected it to be a decent entry level show, but although I've finished less than ten series, I've sampled at least half the franchise core TV shows to varying degrees of completion so I'm surprised that the cameos are still so alienating even then.

Aaah, that makes sense. Gou did just kinda wander in out of the blue.

I never really noticed this. I just figured since Joe as Gokai blue tends to fight a lot with a sword in one hand and the other hand behind his back, he's making it a challenge for him for himself.


I was good enough entry level for me. I may have not understood every reference but most of the cameos made me wanna check out the other shows to see what they were all about.

I dunno, Gokaiger was my first ever Sentai and I loved it just as much as I love it now, even with all the Sentai I've seen under my belt. I think it does well as both a "Hey, who's this character? I want to check out this series!" as much as a "Yes, I loved this character, its great to see him/her again!". Some do better as cameos, though, Princess Shinken Red is basically a camero while Hurricanger two-parter could've basically been released as Hurricanger VS Gokaiger The Movie. I sort of like that the tribute part of the season doesn't detract from the main cast and doesn't fall into complete fanwank territory, the cameos and returning Sentai complement the main cast rather then completely eclipse them. Then again, the Jetman episode is basically a big "Gai is amazing" tribute and is still one of if not my very favourite episode.

As for discrepancies in suit to out of suit I've actually thought Gokaiger was the best Sentai with putting their character through to their suits outside of Shinkenger. Joe does the same poses and posture in combat both in-suit and out of suit and I think his "hand behind back" stance really translates that he knows what he's doing. Comparatively, I believe later we're told Luka was taught by Joe and I think the fact that she uses gimmicks like the combined swords and whips is meant to show that she's less of a trained swordsman so much as a sword wielder that isn't adverse to other techniques to give her an edge, while Joe is purely swords, if that makes sense? It does in my head, not sure if I'm getting it out right though.

Gokaiger wasn't my first sentai, but I did watch it early in my indoctrination. It may have even been the first sentai I watched in its entirety without skipping large chunks in the middle.

That said, I think it's a good entry just because it's so strong as a show, independent of the references to past series.

And because it's so good, it's really the only Sentai show I can ever see myself rewatching. And that rewatch will benefit from my greater knowledge of the context of the brand.

I mean I've never seen Deka, but the fact that episode featured Kruger fighting and Deka investigating made it feel worthwhile having them in the show. Kai at least was used to draw character moments out of the Gokaiger but the other three were certainly meritless and pointless - and that comes from a guy who LIKES Shinkenger. The worst offender was definitely the Gao cameo. Not only did GaoRed not actually serve any real purpose but that episode completely blew my mind, in a bad way, as to the shows continuity. I'd say the GekiRanger was worse for being so utterly forgettable but at least GekiRed was in the show so little he didn't have a chance to confuse the continuity quite like GaoRed and his Power Lion did.

I get what you're saying about Luka, it makes a lot of sense, but I would have liked to have seen more refined swordplay from Joe to give what Luka is doing context. But the best swordfighting stuff from Joe has come out of suit, I always find Gokai Blue largely blurs into the scenery aside form that one episode were he used every sword at once. In terms of suit actors, he is easily my least favourite beside Ahim.

I actually like how understated Jan's cameo was, and this is coming from a guy whose favorite all time Super Sentai is Gekiranger. Just seeing him going about his daily life with Doc and Ahim joining in on the training season was enjoyable to me.

But it's also really really stupid. If he's still a master martial artist, why isn't he fighting? I know he doesn't have his Ranger powers, but are you really telling me his magical martial arts won't still do some damage? Oh look the world is being invaded by aliens time to teach a class derp.

Every tribute involves a past sentai grumbling "pirates" but the Gokaiger ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE DOING SOMETHING fucking damnit.

Liveman V2 02. Being a Liveman means you can only feel emotions for one minute of screen time!

After watching Gokaiger and Gobus back to back, it's nice to get a villain group like Volt. Yes they are camp as anything, but they're also brutal bastards (professor Hoshi's death, that shit just ain't nice!) who have achieved more in two episodes than I think the Metaroids or the Zangyack have achieved in way, way more. I mean so far the Metaroids especially have achieved absolutely nothing and that show is almost over.

Although dated as all hell, the fight scenes in this show are AWESOME. It's just so crazy ambitious, you watch a sentai made in 2009 and it looks exactly like a sentai made in 1999 and that is one of my biggest pet hates of the franchise. So when you watch something like Liveman, with actual ambition, with the actual balls to try something new, I just really dig it.

While the Gekirangers are probably one of the few teams that could actually be effective without their suits, a suicidal charge against Zangyack wouldn't be in their best interests due to how things turned out in their series.

It's up to the show to establish this, though. As someone who hasn't seen their series, they just come across as assholes to me sat around on their ass.

The 199 Heroes movie establishes it pretty well that the past teams hate sitting on the sidelines powerless to do anything. The only ones who actually try to get back in action though are the Goseigers(which you'll see soon because you're getting close to watching that) and the Hurricanegers who needed their powers back to deal a threat from their rogues gallery that showed up to help Zangyack. The others either choose to leave it up to the Gokaigers or test them.

What episode did that movie come in again?

God, I'm behind on ToQ...Oh well. I might as well start a new series.
I was thinking about Abaranger, but I'mma wait on that one since seeing that series finished would be a jaw dropper.
So I started up Dairanger again, which last time I tried watching, I dropped around episode 5-6.

Dairanger really isn't worth picking up.

Well, I wanted to watch 2 series simultaneously, and I decided to pick 2 series that I didn't like and didn't get very far into, those two being Dairanger and GoBuster.

I imagine one of them will warrant the same reaction I initially had and make the other worth watching to the end.

Gobus is definitely the better of the two, but far from a great series.

Speaking of Dairanger, I actually got around to watching 17-20 today. Not much to say but wow, what a bunch of assholes. There was no need to trick Kou like that.

Actually, Kou is the dominant reason why I want to watch Dai.
For GoBus, I feel I didn't give it much of a fair chance initially, dropping it after a whopping 3 episodes...

Between Episode 16 and 17. Its easy to remember because its between Basco's and Gokai Silver's introductions.

I better get on downloading this soon then, with the speed of my internet.

I definitely say Go-Busters is worth a watch. Granted I might be a tad biased because it's second only to Gekiranger in my book, but there is some really good stuff in the series.

Gokaiger 12.

There wasn't really a lot to this episode, other than some very small bits of information about Ahim. Sounds like she's got quite the tragic backstory, what a surprise. She sure is pretty though.

This episode wasn't a total write off though, I love how the Gokaiger are so damn strong, and episodes like this just focus on how badass they are. You get used to being on the left foot with sentai, and this makes a refreshing change.

That's one of the things I enjoyed about Gokaiger. You know how strong they are in combat, so when you seem them get their asses kicked you know shit just got real.

Nothing is more "shit got real" in this series, than simply seeing them stand in line with that piratey sounding music playing. Actually gives me chills. They are just awesome.

Go-Busters is so split down the middle I have no idea what to think. All I know is that I wasn't a fan when I first tried watching it during it's original airing.
So I'm trying it again alongside Dairanger. I know I dropped both of them early, but it's unlikely that I'll drop them both again...

Also, I was exploring the Power Rangers wiki. I didn't know the original Kiranger committed suicide. That's awful...