Shinkenger, Goseiger, Go-Busters and ToQger have epilogues, too. :)

Oh yeah, I did see the Shinkenger one and it was meh. The Kyoryuger one was also bad. Hurricanger's was okay but I haven't touched the Dekaranger one yet.

I also enjoyed it a lot. I'd go so far as to say it was my favorite so far. Though objectively, I'd say Toqger might have been a tad better.


Watched the Zyuohger summer movie a second time yesterday. It was really fun and had some very good looking action. Story isn't too special, but just enough for the length. I'd say it's something to look forward to.

Ninninger Returns: Well, considering my least favourite type of conflict is "The Plot Demands it" conflict, I really didn't like the fist half of this film. Especially when they just handed over all their morphers. Giving me Wild Force flashbacks again.

Once we're past that, though, it's a good film. Kyuemon's return and subsequent Shinji shipping is great, and the return of Ariake is probably better than the other bland generals that Ninninger had as villains. At least she had some character to use.

Anyway, this gets a 3/5. Enjoyable, and better than some Nininger offerings. And at least I wasn't the only one squicked out by Yakumo's sudden crush on Kasumi. I though he only liked lawnmowers.

Oh god I completely forgot about the Yakumo thing. Or maybe its because I've seen so much anime that weird cousin stuff just feels like second nature now :/ :lol

That's no0t convincing me to watch more anime Zeo :lol it really does come out of nowhere though

I'm nearly done with Dekaranger (I'm a third of the way into the 10 Years Later/After movie). This was a show that I felt was really driven by the characters. I don't much like the mech designs, but I found the series very very engaging, even/especially when they were out of their suits. (The suit designs are cool though.)

Still, I think I'm ready to start another series. At the moment, it's a toss-up between Go-Busters and Toqger.

I think I want to start (again) on the former more than the latter, but what's pushing me towards Toqger first is how it seems to be the more conventional show. I mean, I've seen the metatextual Gokaiger, the episodic Dekaranger, so I figured it's time to get the standard-formula sentai before heading into the one that tried something new (but is also mission-based, like Dekaranger).

I'd recommend ToQ. It's a fun watch with some good storylines, and GoBusters is quite different, so you might want to save it for later to appreciate just how different.

Thanks, AkibaSilver, not just for your response and recommendation but also for succinctly expressing what I wanted to say above. This is precisely what's nudging me towards Toqger. Bonus also goes for how its train motif is something my son and I love (though really, it's easy for the both of us to get into any series with brightly color-coded heroes!).

All talk of Go-Busters' unconventionality is overblown. The majority of the show is an homage to (and in some cases, a pastiche of) the militaristic Sentai shows of the 70s & 80s. Aside from a few unusual aesthetic choices and the gimmick that explains the giant monsters, it's a very standard entry. I'd go as far as to say that Go-Busters is, aside from Zyuohger, the most conventional Sentai of the last 8-to-10 years.

That said, Go-Busters and ToQger are both great shows, and you won't be disappointed with either (the head writer is the same for both, so they're pretty similar when it comes to structure, pacing, and character-driven storytelling). Just keep in mind that ToQger is a more juvenile, comedy-centric show than the franchise usually produces (at least until the very end of the season, when things get a bit darker). If that doesn't bother you (and it shouldn't), then it's impossible to make a bad choice.

Oh that is hard, but I'd say go with Go-Busters. Go-Busters might have the worst companions in the history of Sentai and the show can get down right boring (to the point that even the commander looks like he is bored out of his mind), but it brought a more serious tone back to Sentai and the actors who play Enter and Escape are good. Escape is really nothing more than fanservice, but Enter is down right badass. The new miniatures look really good and we get some interesting camera angles for the mech battles.

ToQ is just more over the top childish antics with an unlikable cast of brats and an annoying set of villains.

Earlier this week I watched a few episodes of Gingaman in the early and mid 30s. That show is... okay. It feels a lot like Zyuranger, what with its fantasy elements and involvement of children and its Viking-horned mecha, but I'm not sure which one I like more. Gingaman has better characters and filler episodes; Zyuranger has better suits and mechs. Both of them have really entertaining villain groups. Whatever. I'll probably finish Gingaman later this month.

I like both, but Zyuranger is easily the better show to me. Both shows do have similar feels, but I feel there is a different dynamic with the villains, and both are great. Although, I think Soga's personality and acting make for a far better leader than a suit with a voice.

I keep putting off Gingaman, and I'm feeling bad for it. Dammit...

Right now Im watching Magiranger, Kamen Rider Blade, and Kamen Rider Kiva while waiting for Jyouhger, and the movie.

Might have to check this out soon. I haven't really attempted to watch Sentai since I fell off Zyuohger and Liveman earlier this year and then started getting more into Kamen Rider, but I've been looking for another show to have even a remotely similar feel as Zyuranger. Gingaman just may be what I was looking for.

Is Gingaman that good a series?

It's okay. Zyuranger isn't a particular favorite of mine, and I think Gingaman feels like Zyuranger with slightly better characters and dialog, but worse action and design.

Anyhow, I watched a bit of Go-Busters over the weekend - 4 episodes of it. I mostly like what it's going for, but I don't like the three main characters very much. Their shared motivation and circumstances are cool, and their powers/weaknesses are a fun concept, but I don't find any of them particularly likable. That's not a ringing endorsement. I watched more Rider than Sentai over this weekend, anyhow.

I would say it is in the top 15 greatest Sentai series of all time. Far better than anything that has come out after Timeranger sans Aba, Geki, and Gokai.

And that is with watching the series raw. I'm sure I'm going to like it a lot more once I finally see it subbed (waiting until I watch PRiS though since I'm trying to do Sentai/PR/Sentai/PR/etc).

Just gotta find gingaman in my file folder.

We finally caught up on Zyuohger today and except for the clip show episode, they were great. In fact, the wedding episode was truly fantastic. There was just no freaking need to have a mech battle in that episode at all. The fight between Kubari and the pirate dude was easily the best thing that has happened with any of the villains thus far. I hope this actually goes somewhere sooner rather than later. However, the highlight was by far the Gokaiger crossover. That was great and it was nice to see the cast back. However, is it just me or did Gai never change into a different ranger? Doc was pretty much the same while Ahim seems to have lost a lot of weight in the last five series. Guess she stopped eating those cakes while in space. :-D All around they were fun episodes with a bit of plot development, so let's hope the second half of this show can really get things moving.

Yeah, that's pretty much the chief problem with Go-Busters. The main three senshi are kinda duds. They get better as the show progresses, but the real draws of the series are BeetBuster, StagBuster, and Enter.

Im watching too much right now lol.

Agreed. The bored commander guy doesn't help matters either. I swear that actor slept through most of the show.

I'm not very far into Go-Busters. Like 11 or 12 episodes. But Enter is the best character by a large margin. Really really solid villain.

I've also just finished episode 4 of Go-Busters but I'm really liking it a great deal. I do agree that the main stars are a weak point, but I'm not sure it's characterization that's the problem. It may just be that they're not all that charismatic as actors.

Could be worse, could be Usada.

Yeah, Enter is the last truly great Sentai villain.

Just finished Abaranger. It had a really weak start imo but it definitely got better and grew on me. I generally don't have a problem with episodes that are reffered to as filler but in this series I do feel the over arcing plot focused were a step above the rest. (For the preceding series I felt the opposite). AbareKiller was a character that I did not think I would enjoy in the long haul. His debut was cool but he just seemed like a character with very little to him that would get tiring after a while. But he managed to prove me wrong and I really enjoyed his character and growth. Episode 48 is probably one of my favourite episodes in all of sentai. ALso that Ryoga guy was pretty cool. Might even say he's my favourite red.

Now I'm off to finish Dekaranger in my quest to watch all (subbed) sentai.

Dekaranger is pretty good and enjoyable, but it suffers from the same problem that the characters don't develop enough. So some of them only have their quirks to go on.

While fun to watch, it was also the most forgettable series for me :lol

I love Dekaranger, it's my gateway drug into super sentai.

Probably the coolest aspect of that show how being a Ranger can be an actual job and just about anyone can do it.

Not to mention Deka suffers from being all episodic with no plot.

That's actually my biggest problem with it :lol
I know it's more solid that "Random jackasses stumble into great power" in terms of becoming a ranger, but when people like Ban are chosen from a list of applicants, it's hard to like the idea that he was intentionally added :lol

That was kind of the second problem. It feels like a cop action show, which is nice, but the plot heavier moments are basically just Tetsu's moments.

So, with the revelation that Beet and Stag Buster are 6ths/Additional Rangers (Whichever you want to call it), it leads me to ask: How do they pick which rangers are core team members, and which are additional.

JAKQ's Big One is a core member, despite being a late addition (And hitting all the key points of a 6th ranger)
AbareBlack is also a core member despite transforming later on, however, he is generally exempt because he's present from episode 1 and I think he regains the ability to morph by episode 6 or 7 (And including him would have to bring up the Kakuranger and Jetman's delayed team forming, too, so I'll be fair).

But then there's the 3 man teams.
Liveman's Black Bison and Green Sai, Gekiranger's GekiViolet and Chopper, and the Gouraigers in Hurricanger. The first two set those rangers up as main rangers despite joining later on in the series (Though the Gouraigers do seem to have more of a divide in Hurricanger, and it's just Gokaiger that treats them as part of the core team).

So why are Beet and Stag Buster considered 6th/Additional members, when they should fall under the same category as Liveman and Gekiranger? I mean, at least the Go-On Wings and the Gouraigers had the decency to have their own team name to make it clear there was some kind of divide :p
(But for real, I'm rather confused)

Well Matrix...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5ivIKhR8wrE

So I finished Goseiger last night, and I enjoyed it way more than I expected to, I wouldn't think twice about considering it one of my favorite Sentai.

The characters were all fairly likable and they had some gems of episodes and meshed really well for me(Alata, Hyde and Eri being some of my favorite Red, Blue and Pink rangers), the show looked great visually in all aspects(with some really impressive suit acting all around), and the arcs method the show used was really cool too.

That is neat, but it's not the coolest aspect of the show. The coolest aspect of Dekaranger is, of course, Umeko.

I actually like that about Dekaranger. It's just a fun weekly action show made up of episodic done-in-ones and the occasional two-parter. It doesn't try to take a single story and stretch it across 48 episodes with a bunch of filler crammed in. I like a good overarching narrative as much as anyone, but I think episodic shows have their place, too.

I actually don't like Umeko either. I found her rather annoying, being written as a dummy just for the sake of it, and the bath sequences were stupid.

Umeko goes into my books as being one of the worst pink rangers ever just like I feel Ban is one of the worst red rangers.

I'm cool with it being episodic if its like a 13 episode show,but when it is nearly 50 episodes I need a plot and a central villain. I wouldn't have even cared if that villain showed up at like episode 40, just that there was a kingpin over seeing Aburera. I think the main problem is that the final battle didn't have any payoff because Aburera couldn't fight for ****. Well that and I'm not a fan of cop shows for that very reason, no big story arc.

On the other hand, I do appreciate Dekaranger more than I did when it first came out, but this is one of those few times where I think the Power Rangers version was a better show.

i watch zyuohger 's ep 30 on youtube - zyuohgers and aliens chase after zyuoh whale

Glad you enjoyed it so much! That's pretty much what I like about the show too :)

Gotta love Umeko and her rubberducks.

I think Dekaranger being episodic feels so weird because of the time it was released. If you look at the shows that were broadcast in the same decade as Dekaranger, such as Magi or Aba, you can already see a trend for Sentai to be more plot-driven than many shows in the 90s or especially the 80s. Which doesn't mean they have no plot, but the story is told more loosely than what later shows like Shinkenger, Go-Busters or Toqger did (which all happen to be written by the same author, lol).
I think if you like Deka or not really depends on what kind of shows you prefer. If you like plot-heavy shows, then maybe Deka can be a bit boring, but if you just want to enjoy the show "casually" as in always experience something new with each episode or you just have to take long-breaks between eps, Deka is probably made for your viewing habits.

Under the weather most of the weekend so I rewatched a big chunk of Go-Busters. It may not be the most popular Sentai ever, but I love the heck out of that show. I lament all the Figuarts we never got from the series (and ToQger, while I'm crying).