Ninnin Rewatch! 37 + 38

Episode 37 is another quintessentially Ninninger plot where the ridiculous/awesome (or perhaps, ridiculously awesome?) idea of the team going LARPing combines with solid character-building drama involving Nagi trying to figure out exactly what it means to be the Last Ninja. This is a great showcase of that attention to detail that elevates Ninninger so much. This episode is more videogamey than Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, with proper Dragon Quest looking text boxes and chiptune jingles all over the place, and stuff like Nagi and Kinji sitting in a wagon during battles because only 4 members of the party can fight at a time. It's great.

Episode 38 has some elements of another nostalgia trip, but mostly it's just a normal episode about Yakumo's ongoing quest to become a magic ninja (which is definitely a ridiculously awesome idea). The show delves a bit more thoroughly into his backstory in England than it has to this point, while also throwing in a lot Magiranger references, because Yakumo is trying to pass off the Ninningers as a Magic Sentai, called, what else, Magimagiger. Having actually seen the show they're referencing for once I can really appreciate the extent to which they recreate bits of Magiranger. It's cute. All around another fun episode, though it's hard to top 37.

I watched the first 2 discs to Ohranger. The first 8 episodes are still pretty solid while 9-12 go downhill, especially that terrible baby one.

Rewatching Akibaranger. Man, I love this show. Going back through it just makes me sad about those unreleased Figuarts they showed, though. :( (Malshiiiiiiiina!!!!!)

Ninnin Rewatch! 39 + 40

In episode 39 Kasumi's planning skills finally backfire on her for once. This was a much needed bit of development for her, since, up to this point, she's more been pulling everyone else along rather than getting her own character arc. I think it actually works to the show's advantage it took this long to happen, too, since it really does seem like a BIG deal, given her track record. As per Ninninger's commitment to having everyone be important, the rest of the team gets her to understand one loss isn't going to damage their faith in her, and they all work together to come up with a plan that actually works. It's a solid episode for Kasumi, but it's also another big sign of how much closer everyone's become since the start of the show. It's a subtle change, but it counts for a lot.

Episode 40 is the obligatory Christmas episode, in which the Ninningers have to fight Santa Claus. Sort of. The plot actually carries on from last week, with Kasumi being in something of a slump after her previous failure. Most of the team is pretending not to notice in an effort to spare her feelings, but of course Takaharu doesn't approve of that. This is another time where Takaharu's... straightforward approach to life helps the team out a lot, and what's great about any time this happens is how the show deliberately undercuts his contribution by having Takaharu himself not even realize how much sense he's making. He's never actually giving advice so much as explaining a gut feeling he has, and it's the others who pick up on the significance. This episode also gives a Christmas present directly to me, by having the Ninningers take down the MotW with all the Otomo-nin uncombined. After so many episodes of them going straight to Ha-Oh Shurikenjin or Gekiatsu Dai-Oh this makes me impossibly happy to see.

Akibaranger is so great. I wouldn't necessarily call it a good show, but it's made with so much heart it's hard not to love it.

Akibaranger is like a modern day Carranger. I wish there was more of it.

Ninnin Rewatch Diet Size! 41

We're getting into the final arc, and that means starting to wrap up things that have been running throughout the series. This particular episode serves mainly to call attention to how far the Ninningers have come, with Tsumuji pointing out that, having mastered Yoshitaka's teachings, and having started to find their own style, all that's really left is for them to move forward by themselves. Of course, that doesn't mean they're done learning lessons, with Shishioh, of all people, giving them some advice on what it means to be a proper adult. I've mentioned a million times at this point how I feel Ninninger has really solid character development, and the show hasn't done anything to contradict me so far. This episode by itself does a good job of putting the team's growth into perspective, but, more than that, watching nearly the entire series in a hair over a month has made it extremely clear just how different they are from where they started. It's a very gradual, natural sort of growth, and because of that, I think over the course of a whole year you might not even realize anything's changed. In a sense, I guess that's sort of realistic.

Gingaman 31 and 32.
There's not really much to say here, really. They were okay episodes.
31 is about Yuuta and Hayate. They going shopping when they encounter a fortune teller/palm reader who basically takes the palms of the people who come to him and use them as oaths to take the burden of the Daitanic Monster's seal. Kind of a clever play. Also helped that his arbitrary number was only 31 or 22 or something, rather than 555 or 111, so he could pull it off rather easily.
Yuuta and Hayate are suckered in and they, along with many others, start turning to stone.
All throughout the episode, Yuuta was trying to emulate Hayate, like being as cool and calm as him, but failed. He soon learns how to be as calm as him, but at a key moment where Hayate loses his cool (Where he thinks Yuuta had been crushed). It was kind of touching to see him break down like that.
Also, skanky pirate tries to kill him before he turned to stone...Yeah.

32 was about a brother and sister who owned a motorcycle store. Bro and Ryouma make a friendship, sis gets kidnapped, bro gets pissy, and in the end, Ryouma gets a motorcycle.
And it's signature attack is Rider Break.
I guess all is fair since Kamen Rider was canceled at this point...
Also, the monster was related to one of Iries's other monsters, but I couldn't tell you who...Whatever.

Hyuuga appeared for a collective 3 minutes between these two episodes...I have no idea why he was so sparse...What, since we got the 3 new Star-Beasts, we have to cut him out so they can have time to shine instead of BullKnight? That's like, legit the only reason I can think of to have him not appear...

Gingaman, just one episode, though, 33
Holy hell, this kid. If I talked to my mom like that, she'd have slapped me into another universe. Jeez...
Iries sends her brother in to do some work, and holy crap, his arbitrary number was, like, 3333 or something. Sucks for him. Well, he almost got it. He also incapacitated the team sans Saya. Good job, guy, you almost didn't suck.
Anyway, annoying kid was trying to be cool for Saya, but she tells him the typical spiel and he stops being a brat and he helps save the day.

Also, I was right! They kept Hyuuga out of the past 2 episodes just because they needed a reason to prevent him from calling GouTaurus! While he's back to action here, they needed to have the kid in danger and make sure he's safe, so he runs off just as the monster grows giant so they could call in Giga Bitus and Giga Phoenix to help.

The ending where Saya and the kid fall out of the tree was pretty funny, too.

Oh yeah, the Daitanic monster is starting to rot and decay, and Zahab says he'll tell Iries to pick up the pace rather than letting Batbass have the job. So methinks her time is coming.

MOAR GINGERMAN
34
Wow oh wow, that was a pretty good one. Where to start?
So Zahab is sick of Iries, so he sends her out personally (Goading her with double the reward should she succeed), so she does just that. Creating a fountain sized pillar, she sends out a legion of lizards that drains people's blood and then proceeds to create a magic barrier to prevent the Gingamen from transforming. It's a pretty damn good plan, I gotta say. The lizards basically need to touch your skin and they instantly meld with you to start draining, too, so it's one and done. Shit, girl should've started with this...
However, she ain't even done. Next, she merges with the spirits of all her monsters to become even stronger, and gets the power to clone them. Pretty beastly.

After the Gingamen retreat and regroup, they decide that their best course of action is a final push, since there's so many blood draining lizards in the area, they won't have time to pause should one of them fall, so they have to keep moving. On their push, Iries showcases the monster cloning ability and sends 5 of her monsters, one by one, to stop them (Strangely, she never summons her dear old brother), and even creates an illusion of Yuuta to fuck with Ryouma's head.
Being the heroes, they do overcome this and manage to destroy the magic pillar, removing the lizards, eliminating the clones, and destroying the barrier that prevented them from transforming. Not even using Barba extract, she grows giant and they fight, and she loses (Though, not after kicking Radiant Armored GingaiOh and BullKnight's asses).

However, it was earlier revealed that Iries is technically immortal. Her soul is stored in a jewel that she can be revived from after death. HOWEVER, it was all a part of Barban's plan. Iries was always going to die. Either she'd revive the Daitanic and then be killed, or she'd die by the Gingaman and they'd use the jewel her soul was in to revive the Daitanic (And considering what happened, they're going with the latter plan).

Also, as one of the bigger head turners, ZAHAB KNEW THE OLD DUDE AND IRIES FUCKED OVER BUDO! What the hell!? I can understand not punishing them for screwing him over, but what confuses me is that he basically played along with Budo being a traitor and that shit...Iries was single handedly responsible for letting the Gingamen get the Galactic Lights, and he didn't raise a finger...
Well, he was the one to kill the old dude, so I guess he was just waiting it out. Now Batbass is the field commander, Iries's jewel is shattered (Wait...Their plan relied on using the jewel her soul energy was stored in...I dunno what they're up to now), and the Gingamen have won the day again.

Also, Hyuuga seems to be dropping off. He was the only one hit by a lizard, after Iries kicked GingaiOh and BullKnight's asses, he was the only one that stayed down after Giga Phoenix and Rhinos came to the rescue, and he just doesn't seem to be able to keep up.

Gingaman: 35 and 36
AKA 2 episodes where nothing really happens.
Still though, they were charming. 35 opens with the Yatotos dropping the body of the old guy (Iries's uncle) off the boat. Damn. Poor dude, I still don't remember your name.

Anyway, Batbass finally gets his chance to start a 10 episode failure streak, with his first mission being to collect glass in order to build a machine to help the Daitanic revive (As, after giving it the shards of crystal that Iries's soul was in, it's heart started beating).
I don't see how making a complex machine out of glass for a planet eating monster would work, but whatever.
The real meat of the episode was Gouki finally working up the courage to tell Suzuko he likes her. Yay, I'm glad. However, he finds out he has competition with another teacher from a different school. They race to meet her first, break a vase, and both volunteer to shop with her to buy a new one. That's when shit goes south. Barban attacks, and Gouki, being the nice guy he is, has to leave Suzuko to help other people in danger. Other teacher swoops in to exclusively help her, though. However, watching Gouki fight, Suzuko gets inspired and rescues someone else being harassed by Yatotos, and ends up mildly injured, too.
Poor thing, though I'm always glad to see civilians fighting back~
Asshole teacher tells Gouki to leave her forever because he inspired to fight (And, in turn, get hurt), and he agrees (Just as he gets a call that Barban is back).

Suzuko decides she ain't a bitch and runs to the battlefield (Well, hobbles), and tells Gouki she ain't a bitch and don't need protection. She says she likes him and all is well.

Episode 36 has the father, Haruhiko, ending up super glued to Hayate, hand to hand, on accident. Mishaps ensure as Barban ends up leaving multiple bombs that, coincidentally, make whoever touches them stick to them...Strange mechanic.
Hijinks ensue, but Haruhiko proves his mettle and helps save the day, despite all the peril he puts themselves in (Though he basically wanted to do it all, anyway).

i just watch super sentai origion is white racer
i wish white racer in power rangers turbo

I don't think Power Rangers would ever get away with a panty shot that deliberate :lol

Gingatrain moves forth
37 and 38
I finally actually remembered the old man's name, Bookrates. It only took me 37 episodes.
Anyway, Barban decides to use the heart of a Starbeast and implant it into the Daitanic because sure. Since Goutaurus was still injured from it's last fight, they target him. There's a big tussle, but ultimately, Goutaurus was shrunken and captured by Bookrates, who can detonate it's container at any time and kill him. He uses this to blackmail Hyuuga into working for him.

Then, Barban tries to kidnap children to work inside of the Daitanic's blood vessels and clean out all the space dust. During this time, Bookrates has Hyuuga find a special grass that can remove one's Earth Power (And apparently remove their ability to enter the Galactic Forest). Apparently Bookrates told Hyuuga the way to defeat Zahab, so he followed along with the plan, drinking the grass tea and losing his Earth power. I'm quite curious for what's gonna happen next.

gingaman is better then pr lost galaxy

Ninnin Rewatch Diet Size! 42

Oh man, no wonder the last arc of Ninninger got to me to love it all over again, this was great. After last week's cliffhanger the team is in a really tight spot and has to really step their game up to win. It's a simple enough plot put like that but there's just so much going on to make it super enjoyable. Seeing the team at a distinct disadvantage and having to think up plans to outwit the bad guys instead of just punching them harder is always awesome, for one. What's also great is how everybody gets to a play a part in saving the day. And I mean everybody. Yoshitaka takes more baby steps in his arc. Shishio helps out. Even the oft forgotten support Otomo-nin get their own moment to shine. And Tsumuji is there, automatically qualifying this as one of the best Ninninger episodes by default (seriously, he's like the best character). Just a really solid episode I could rant about for a while, but I'll simply leave off by mentioning that at the end Takaharu gives everyone Christmas presents that you actually saw him buy at the start of episode 40. The show doesn't make a big deal of it, so I'm counting that as just another great bit of detail in Ninninger.

Watched discs 3 and 4 of Ohranger.

Ninnin Rewatch! 43 + 44

Episode 43 is one last nostalgia trip, in more ways than one, since it's a recap episode featuring Shurikenger. I like how the show keeps the continuity nice and tight by mentioning that he was sent by Jiraiya and that Ninja Red and Hurricane Red told him how the team were pretty rough around the edges. The Ninningers object to that last statement, pointing out it's been well over half a year since then, and the episode is naturally another showcase for how much they've all gone through. It's fun. The actual "watching old clips" part of the episode is relatively minor and just like the last one of these there's a really goofy/awesome climax. One last breather before the final few episodes of the show.

Episode 44 is awesome. Like, man, Ninninger knew how to make an great final stretch. This particular one is largely focused on Takaharu. Or more like it's focused around him. Yoshitaka pulls him aside at the start for a duel now that things are getting serious, leaving the rest of the team to fend for themselves. In his fight with Yoshitaka, Takaharu shows just how much sharper he's gotten over the course of the series, coming off downright mature, a word you wouldn't expect to associate with Takaharu based on the earlier parts of the show. It's kind of crazy how different he actually is at this point, with his big moment being to assert that the others don't need him around to be strong, and sure enough, the entire fight this episode is fought and won without Takaharu ever stepping in. Even when he IS the focus, Takaharu still manages to not be the focus.

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
EP 1.
This is, uh.. wow. What a great, monumentally silly, action packed debut. Opening with a Super Sentai Showdown featuring all previous spandexers kicking ass and taking names in that quarry they love to fight in. In the end, they all sacrifice themselves to crush an invasion by Space Empire Zangyack, scattering their Ranger essence to the stars...

From there "time passes" and we meet our protags - a crew of cute, young, stylish Japanese kids who just happen to also be bad-ass Space Pirates cruising the spaceways in their galactic pirate ship (I've always loved this concept). They're about to land on Earth ("the galaxy's greatest treasure!") when they are besieged by that damn Zangyack gang of aristocratic ding-dongs!

After handing them their bourgeois bo-ttocks with an assist by their mech GoZyu GokaiOh, the gang land on Earth where Zangyack redouble their efforts and we see the changer / morpher gimmick: Ranger Keys - little statuettes that house a key component giving the Gokaiger's the powers (and costumes) of Legendary Sentai.

I really enjoyed it. The action set at the episode's climax is fantastic - a lot of jaw dropping stunts and the gimmick is so crassly commercial (and apparently derived both from Kamen Rider Decade and in answer to the Tohoku Quake!), it's hard to hate. I mean - could they get any more subliminal?:
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...921/SWGrbf.png
Gotta Catch 'Em All!
The only downside was the wonky CGI during GokaiOh's space battle - it was terrible - they'd have been better served with more battleship action - which rocked.
The character's were cartoony as all get out but, at least in this debut, they weren't obnoxious (Onarxious?). Love the Pirate Sentai design, very cool.

Ooh, is this gonna be a thing from you from now on? Welcome to the novel-sized post club, I guess. :D

I'm just gonna use this opportunity to say some (more like a lot of) stuff about my experience with Gokaiger, because now I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. Hope that's cool.

You actually hit on a lot of thoughts I remember having watching Gokaiger's premiere WAY back in the distant past of 2011, when I just a greenhorn Toku fan getting into Kamen Rider through OOO and Ryuki. I was even using TV-Nihon's subs back then, to my great shame (I kid, I kid, they're alright). Naturally I'd heard of Super Sentai, and I was a decent fan of Power Rangers, but there was this new show about pirates or something and it looked pretty hype. Like, I feel like EVERYONE was talking about Gokaiger back when it aired. That first scene even made fluff headlines on mainstream-ish websites because it was so crazy. So, even though I wasn't particularly interested, I decided to check it out because why the heck not.

The next part of the story is maybe not the development you'd expect from a story like this, but the show didn't actually hook me that much. I mean, I enjoyed it, and I kept up with with it, but at a pretty slow pace. It's a similar deal to how I feel about Zyuohger right now. It's really dang good, but it didn't click with me very deeply. I've always felt I don't appreciate OOO as much as I should given it was my first Rider show, and Gokaiger is like that times a hundred.

Having had years to think about it and the context of other Sentai shows I've seen, I think my big problem is I honestly don't the like the cast too much. Don't get me wrong, Captain Marvelous is a legend and all, and none of them are really bad characters, but their basic archetypes weren't very interesting to me and frankly they weren't the most fleshed out bunch beyond that. Seeing their guest appearance on Zyuohger is what really put it into perspective for me. They show up, and proceed to do exactly the same song and dance as like half the episodes in their own show. They act kind of like jerks. Turns out they're pretty cool. The end. Those two beats repeat A LOT in Gokaiger and it maybe would've been nice if they became a bit more communicative after a while. It borders on Inoue-esque at points. Would it really hurt Marvelous to drop the cool guy act for five seconds and just admit he's a total softie deep down?

I don't know, there's so much going for Gokaiger I feel bad picking on it at all, but something about the team themselves just never quite gelled with me.

Probably not like yours - more random stuff as Sentai never holds my interest for long but I DO like episodes and concepts. I dunno, maybe Jetman or Liveman.

My key (Badumtish) problem with Gokaiger is interaction. The Gokaigers just...Don't really play off each other. Aside from Luka getting mildly annoyed at Don and Gai, she's just sitting in the cool kids corner with Joe. Ahim hangs out with Don, and Marvelous is sitting around with a cocky smirk.
Gai's fanboying helps keep things a lot more interesting because he gives characters like Joe and Marvelous something to bounce off of, and even makes Don sometimes play the straight man.

The characters feel a little cliche, Marvelous and Joe are too damn stoic for their own good, Ahim is too soft spoken for her own good, and it basically leaves Luka and Don to carry all the personality, and she spends more time interacting with Joe than the actual interesting characters.
And Gai.

Come on, join the fun. The Sentai thread gets pretty damn lonely when someone isn't watching a series and posting a recap as they do so.
I've had to tripe/quad post a couple times, so trust me, I know :lol
We could always use more fresh takes!

Hey, you can't a beat a little variety every now and then.

Also part of my problem with them, though I didn't actually know how to phrase it until you said it for me just now. I hypothetically dig the team within a team structure of everyone's relationships (it's one of the many things I love about Ninninger), but it sort of backfires when their personalities aren't that strong to begin with.

Also all this. You know I don't even like Luka that much? She honestly seemed like Diet Marvelous most of the time. I don't dislike anybody outright, and I have my fond memories of everyone, but it has more to do with the plots they were in than their actual personalities. Best example: I can't tell you a thing about Joe (level-headed?), but I really enjoyed the subplot with Barizorg, especially the way it ended.

Gai honestly should've been around from day one, given how important his role as a foil is. Pull a Kamen Rider Gatack and just have him be some dumb kid who hangs out around the team before actually getting his powers or something, I don't know.

No seriously. I get super self-conscious posting like three times in a row, and for that matter, I'm on my way out in a bit, so poor Matrixbeast is going to be all alone again. :p

I used to feel bad about posting so many times in a row, but eh. Considering this thread is basically dead half of the year, I don't mind anymore :p

Hey, it's not our fault we're excited to see more episodes. If we tried to stick to common forum courtesy and wait until someone else posts something we'd both still be at like episode 5 of our respective shows. :lol

I watched discs 5 and 6 of Ohranger today. I have to say, this show is a lot more enjoyable this time around outside of a few instances or episodes.

Alright. I'll do Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters!

*Cheers raucously*

[bias]Well if you're going to watch a Sentai it doesn't get much better than that. Retool or no, every episode of that show is completely amazing.[/bias]

Except for two of them. The worst part is I even liked that Gavan movie...

Go-Busters could have been a great show. Toei then decided to do nothing with the premise and the final product ended up being nothing more than a borefest. The actors clearly were bored out of their minds (hell, the commander looked like he was sleeping between takes) and the episodes just weren't all that interesting. The rangers themselves rarely ever left the base when a monster wasn't attacking, the Buddyroids were very annoying (especially Usada), and the monster fights just got so redundant.

I love that they brought in new miniatures and tried to do some new camera work with them, the ranger suits were cool looking, and it was nice to see an actual male actor main villain again (Rio being the last one), I just wish Toei had not played the show safe.

Wow, I don't agree with any of these Gokaiger criticisms! Like, I'm stunned that they're being levied at all. It's like we watched different shows. :lol

The characters and their interactions are easily the best part of Gokaiger. You've got Marvelous's cooler-than-thou roguishness, Luka's badass take-no-shit attitude, Ahim's gentle toughness, Joe's tortured stoicism, and Doc's wack-a-doo impishness. I can't think of a Sentai series with more varied, distinct characters. And the team's stubborn resistance to accept that they're an actual Sentai (they see themselves as pirates through-and-through, and certainly not heroes!) defines the show's rebellious charm -- and sets up a satisfying, team-wide character arc. In general, they may not be the most inventive characters ever, but there's never been a Sentai show with a cast like them, and that makes the show feel really fresh.

MarsHottentot, I think it's possible you'll really like the show based on your reaction to the first ep. I've watched 17 full Sentai series at this point, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Gokaiger is one of, if not the most, accessible and consistently engaging seasons that exists. It's the only one I've seen without a chunk of episodes that grind the pace to a screeching halt. The variety of stories allowed by interweaving all the different teams into the show's structure makes it so things never go stale. The team-swap gimmick does the same thing for action sequences -- they fight using the gimmicks and styles of the past teams, so you're never left with that oatmeal-ish, "all this action looks the same" feeling so many 50-ish episode toku shows eventually engender.

Except that was the complete opposite of what they did, and part of why the show failed financially. :confused:

Nah, the show was still in a safe zone. The rangers never felt like they were ever in any real danger. Nor were the Buddyroids. It was as formulaic as you can get. Taking a risk would have had them do something like Dai, Kaku, Car, or Geki did where they broke the formula. In three of those series the situations felt like the rangers could actually die. Dai also featured an episode where they fought without transforming. Kakuranger gave us an episode with just the red ranger as the team had split up for a quest. Geki had villains that were developed just as much, if not more, than the heroes. And then there is Car, which pretty much mocked all of the rules of Toku.

Well geez, no wonder you found it boring if the Buddyroids were annoying to you. As far as I'm concerned they're one of the best elements of the show.

Well it's more like a gut feeling than some big complaint I have. I DID like everyone, but every Sentai I've seen since has a more enjoyable cast in my eyes.

Go-Busters did one better and had an episode where one of the Rangers DID die.

In general those complaints are pretty valid but I think complaining about the "stakes" of Go-Busters being low is kind of ignoring all the actual atypical elements. And all the other things that make it work so well.

All of this, x1,000,000. I love Gokaiger, for a lot of these reasons. It had great incidental music, too. Of course, I love Go-Busters, too, so there you are.

What? Beat for beat, it's Jetman's character structure. The only difference is that Luka is a hell of a lot more relevant than Ako, and Gai is in Marvelous's place, while Ryu is in Joe's.
I'm not saying it's bad, since it works. I'm just saying that the Gokaigers don't really work as well.

I hadn't thought about it that way (probably because I watched Gokaiger years before I watched Jetman and never made the connection), but you're right. Considering Jetman is my hands-down favorite Sentai, I can't help but see the similarities as a positive thing. That group structure works very well for me.

Even though Jetman is my favorite series in the franchise by a country mile, I can't say that the Jetman hero cast is better than the Gokaiger cast across the board. Gai from Jetman is awesome, but so is Marvelous from Gokaiger. Ryu is admittedly way better than Joe, but Jetman's Kaori, Ako, and Raita aren't even half as as compelling as Gokaiger's Ahim, Luka, and Doc.

And while the teams are similar, putting the Gai-like Marvelous in the role of leader changes the dynamic of the team and shifts the tone of the series as a whole, so aside from group structure, the shows are very different. Marvelous's roguishness defines the Gokai team, who come across as more rag-tag and anti-authority than the Jetman team, who in turn are a respected part of their world's military industrial complex. Marvelous & the Gokaigers have a certain degree of contempt for the status quo, while Ryu & his Jetman team fight to uphold it. After all, criminal pirates and state-sponsored soldiers are very different beasts.

Ultimately, what makes the Gokaiger hero cast interesting is the same as what makes the Jetman cast interesting: they're all designed as super flawed characters who do a lot of growing over the course of their shows. Sentai teams aren't really known for character growth. Its typical heroes (especially in the more modern series) are presented as mostly-flawless paragons of justice from the get-go, and their shortcomings (when they exist) are almost always benign. Meanwhile, characters like Marvelous, Joe, and Luka (like Ryu, Gai, Kaori, and Ako) can be straight-up jerk wads. Their redemption arcs are fodder for effective drama, and their major flaws make them more relatable than your usual sentai heroes.

When it comes to hero casts, these are two of the most interesting in the franchise because they're more human and imperfect than most. (When it comes to villain casts, Jetman blows Gokaiger out of the water -- but that's an argument for a different day.) That's why I think Gokaiger is worth watching (even though something like Jetman is ultimately better).

Obviously, YMMV.

My problem is the characters' personal interactivity, which is why I didn't find it worked out so well.
In Jetman, Gai clashed against Ryu because Kaori was too nice to be upfront to Gai, and he was too cool to just have a conversation. There was no real sense of interpersonal drama to make good use of the charcter types in Gokaiger.
In Gokaiger, whenever Don had a problem, Ahim (And sometimes Gai) would help, while the other 3 literally did nothing until the fight scene. In Jetman, everyone was almost always involved in the others' lives (Sans Ako, whose high school episodes really made her a bit of an island...All 3 of them), so Gai would swoop in to help Raita in his personal woes and etc

My problem with the Gokaigers is that they don't have the same flow the Jetmen do. We watch the Jetmen learn to come together, while the Gokaigers already have a status quo from the get-go.
The characters themselves are fine. Marvelous being the smarmy bastard instead of the blue or black ranger is a big chance of pace and brings something new, but when you bring the five together, alone, I just don't feel the same magic as I do for other rangers.

I hear you, and I do agree that the Jetman cast's interactions are better. After all, Jetman is a very, very special series.

But that doesn't change the fact that the Gokaiger cast is still head-and-shoulders above most other sentai teams -- the writers/producers of which seem to favor generic heroes over complex ones. Even shows I think are better than Gokaiger, like Kakuranger and Dairanger, have less interesting heroes than Gokaiger overall. Criticizing the show based on its characters feels very odd to me, especially when so many other sentai shows have such objectively worse casts.

EDIT: I want to make it clear that I don't think Gokaiger is flawless. Its villain cast, aside from Basco, is very weak, and that's a huge problem for me. But I still think Gokaiger is a top-tier Sentai show, and I think it's strange to criticize it for what is, in my eyes, one of its greatest strengths.

Wait they aren't?! This is news to me, but every one of the Sentai shows I've seen has had some pretty solid character growth. Gokaiger's honestly didn't come across any better than any of the shows after it, at least.

Also, *cough*Go-Busters*cough* :p

No kidding. Gokaiger being awesome is a fact though.

Well I don't know, for one I wouldn't say the Gokaigers were particularly complex, but they are fairly unique, especially Marvelous for being the leader, which, as you pointed out, changes the overall feel of the whole team a lot.

I've only seen like 7 or 8 shows but pretty much all of them had at least as good characterization, and I think in all cases better interactions with each other.

Then again it's been 5 years and I might just be remembering them worse than they were.

To be perfectly honest, I forgot that even happened. :lol

I guess it's hard to say but yeah, the Buddyroids really ruined the show for me. If they didn't exist, I probably would not have hated it as much as I did. Although, granted, I do have more of an appreciation for it considering what has come after.

As for the Jetman discussion, I love the show, but I hate how erratic Gai is. Sometimes he is all over Kaori and doesn't want to be part of the team, but then he will be a perfect team player for like 10 episodes, only to revert back to not wanting to be part of the team and has a thing against Ryu even though they just worked perfectly together for the last several episodes.