Gai is basically entirely centered on who the episode is actually about. If it's not about him or Ryu, he's basically "A Sentai hero." He's entirely in line, he's cooperative, and he's your typical good guy.
Once it's one of his episodes, his abrasive and brash side comes out, and if it's about Ryo, his competitive and "Too cool" attitude makes a return.

Toshiki Inoue is pretty much the only writer who knew how to handle Gai. Almost every time a secondary writer penned an episode, Gai's character became suuuper flat and generic.

But that doesn't make sense. He shouldn't be fine for 5 episodes and then a nut job the next.

Anyway, I just finished Ohranger. Friday I have the three movies to watch and then I can start working on my review.

Ninnin Rewatch! 45 + 46

Oh man this final arc is SOOOOO good. I know I've said that a bunch already but dangit it's true. I've mentioned elsewhere before, but, especially when it comes to Toku, the absolute single greatest thing a show can do to get on my good side is have a great last stretch, or even just a great finale. I basically never drop a show after committing any more than a few episodes, so I love the feeling of being rewarded for my time that a good ending gives me. It makes any low points throughout feel totally worth having gone through. Ninninger gave that to me in spades. It's a well paced last couple of episodes that ramp up the tension, bring a whole bunch of thematic and character stuff to a great closure, and generally tie everything up in a nice bow. A bow with exciting action scenes and explosions.

I'm going a little different with the format here, since a lot of stuff is either A. redundant, or B. a spoiler, but as for what specifics I can give, 45 has a ton of great moments from Starninger, and the big final for real this time last step in the Ninningers' arc as a team, with them actively rejecting the entire existing concept of the Last Ninja in favor of finding their own path. It's super satisfying to see. 46 lets the whole family shine by getting Tsumuji and Yoshitaka in on the action in a big way, and you all know my stance on episodes featuring Tsumuji. Yoshitaka himself gets HIS big moment by giving a big speech showing his approval of the entire team, noting each of their unique strengths and saying he knows they'll become better ninja than he ever was. Again, since he's been so stingy about giving unironic praise throughout the show this is SO awesome to see. Can you tell I like these episodes?

It's probably just what Lucha said. No one knew how to properly write him but Inoue.

You would think these writers would communicate with each other though.

Some writers are better at writing certain types of characters than others.

But also, my feeling is that the other writers didn't fully understand what Inoue was going for/didn't have the skills to pull it off, just cause it's so different from other Sentai.

Meh, that sounds like laziness to me. Would it have been that hard to just watch the episodes Inuoe did in the beginning and go, "Okay, so Gai needs to be an asshole and not work well with the team, got it!"

Ginga 39 and 40
39 was about Saya putting on a tough face to deal with everything going down with Hyuuga. She meets a martial arts instructor (After twisting her ankle) that tells her that, basically, the more she tries to appear stronger, the weaker she actually gets. She's then forcefully grown giant by Barban (Whose plan this time is to make someone giant to massage the Daitanic). Gingat helps heal her ankle, and she saves the day. All is good.
Glad to see the kaiju form get some new screen time~

40 was a bit more substantial. Businera reveals that there's a comet coming with enough energy to revive the Daitanic, but it needs to be gathered at a certain time, and the gatherer needs to be giant sized to do it (And, as literally every episode is keen to let us know, using Barba Extract to grow giant substantially reduces their lifespan, and the comet's energy uses the giant as a lightning rod, too, so they basically won't survive, one way or the other). So Batbass sends in an expendable soldier.
The solider basically knows he'll die, so he tries to get in one final fight before doing so. After fighting Gingaman, he ends up thrown off a cliff alongside Hikaru. They strike a truce, as Hikaru's leg was injured, and he has poor eyesight in the dark (As they washed up in a cave). After escaping, Batbass comes along to fight, but they manage to run once again. When alone, they discuss a lot of things, and it's revealed that he was once a warrior who (Like Bull Black) lost everything. He eventually said "Fuck it" and joined Barban because he basically stopped caring about everything. Hikaru does his best to convince him to start over, but he denies it and they fight, Hikaru winning.

Rather than killing him, he tries to convince him to start fresh again, but Businera shoots him with a Barba Extract bullet (Like from last episode, which they used to grow Saya giant), and the energy absorption device has a controller built in, which Businera uses to force him to absorb the comet's energy (Despite GingaiOh and Giga Rhinos's attempts to stop him without killing him). In the end, he dies, the energy is transmitted to the Daitanic, and it starts to awaken.

Oh yeah, and Hyuuga gets a super axe that can cut through anything in one blow, but Bookrates is all like "Yeah, the axe is all good, but you still suck. Git gud."

Yes, for writers not accustomed to the dramatic style he was using, it would have been that hard.

Ninnin Rewatch Final! 47 + Overall Thoughts

I love this finale a lot. I guess that should be obvious at this point but I just feel like I should say it. If you wanna reach for criticisms I guess you could say the actual final battle is relatively underwhelming, but it's still totally serviceable and there's SO much more going on here than just that. Pretty much everything wraps up perfectly, and the show leaves on such a good note. All the epilogue stuff is great and, without spoiling anything, the whole Last Ninja plot wraps up exactly how it should've, and seeing where all the characters end up is similarly great. I honestly can't even talk about this episode without excessive gushing so I'm just going to stop here. There's a million great moments I could mention and this post is going to be long enough as it is.

--

So that's Ninninger, a show I watched, and then watched again not even a full year later. To be honest, at first I thought devoting 47 episodes worth of time to a show I'd already seen recently would be kind of a waste of time I could spend watching shows I hadn't seen in a while, or even once, but here at the end of it all I'm REALLY glad I gave Ninninger a second chance to impress me all over again. I said the show started boring me around the middle and frankly I barely even remember what I meant by that. Not a single episode of this show failed to entertain me this time around, and it never once felt like I was forcing myself to pound through it. I don't know if you guys enjoyed reading this but it was a darn fun experience writing it.

There's a lot going for Ninninger, but I think its single biggest strength is the characterization of its main cast. They were the focus of a lot of what I wrote and that's because there's ALWAYS something to talk about with them. Every member of the team has a fleshed out personality, a solid arc, and plays nicely off the others. Takaharu starts as an endearing goofball, gets a haircut, and becomes a way more mature endearing goofball. Yakumo is seemingly distant and cool, but can be almost childish at times, and gets notably less abrasive as time goes on. Nagi is an excitable kid who's always doing his best to help out, and becomes more confident in himself in the process. Fuuka's a klutzy but clever type who gets some idea what she wants to do with her life through her experiences as a ninja. Kasumi is so intelligent she's not used to having things go wrong for her at first. And Kinji is a gentleman cowboy who finds a family for himself with the team. They're all great. Better than those stupid one sentence summaries even let on. Clearly the writers thought they were all awesome too, because Ninninger's balance when it comes to character focus is impeccable. I feel like normally in Sentai there's always one character that draws the short straw or one who eats up screen time but that simply isn't the case here. Nobody ever feels out of focus and even episodes nominally about a single character tend to let others play important roles, as exemplified by Takaharu, who gets an episode that is distinctly, solely about him once in the entire series.

On the other side of the moral spectrum we have the villains, and it's amazing the difference a little perspective makes. Coming off of ToQger's incredibly strong group of bad guys I found myself underwhelmed, but coming off of Zyuohger's group of slackers I feel I wasn't appreciating them nearly enough. Kyuuemon especially is a really solid main villain with a fleshed out backstory and arc, whose actions throughout the series are always interesting to watch, whether's he's trying to play the other villains to his own ends, or interacting with the Ninningers directly.

In general I'm convinced at this point Ninninger was a really solid show all around. Solid pacing. Solid action. Solid comedy. Solid drama. Solid villains. Solid protagonists. I just spent over a month raving about it and yet, paragraph upon paragraph later, I feel like I could easily keep going. But, at least for the time being, I'll simply give my one sentence review of the show:

If this is what a BAD Super Sentai looks like, the good ones must be some transcendent s***.

*Looks at Gekiranger*
*Looks at Kakuranger*
Yes, yes they are.

Also, holy shit, Gingaman 41. I only came to this thread because I thought I hadn't recapped 40 (Despite doing that...This morning...). I really want to just gush over this episode, but there's so much more, and it was a cliffhanger! Here I come, 42!

>EDIT<
Alrighty, Gingaman 41 and 42 proper!

So shit goes down right away as the Daitanic finally awakens! It doesn't waste any time as it starts on the attack! So, naturally, they call everyone in. Except Giga Bitus. Because giant shark mech carrier with missile launchers for hands? Who needs him?
So the 3 mechs fight the Daitanic, but they get their asses royally stomped. Like, it's not even fair. So Bookrates decides that they'll have to destroy the Daitanic (Since it'd just destroy the Earth and move on if they don't, so he won't have his revenge), so he allows Goutaurus to be free to join the fight.
...Not that it actually happens. Zahab shows up himself to stop them, managing to defeat Hyuuga. Ryouma sees and joins in, and he ends up stabbed (He ending up drastically weakened due to touching the golden axe that, for some reason, harms those with Earth Powers...I still don't see why it's so special...)

So, shit, that was one hell of an episode.
I LOVED the climatic feeling of this episode. Despite there being 9 more episodes, they really made this feel like the final battle. Thank god I'm not watching this on a weekly basis, because that cliffhanger. While I know Ryouma wouldn't have died, I'd still be on the edge of my seat.

Anyway, 42.
Zahab is about to strike the final blow, but Hyuuga swoops in with the last minute save. He's ready to fight to save Ryouma, but Bookrates teleports himself, Ryouma, and Hyuuga away because Zahab shrugged off every blow. At the same time, the Daitanic is overheating for some reason, so they have to leave the Gingamen and Star Beasts alive to cool down before everyone inside the castle overheated. Well, lucky them.

So shit has gone south quite quickly. Hyuuga is forced to leave a still injured Ryouma because Bookrates is still a bad guy, but he leaves a hint for Mokk to find him. Yuuta goes out to help him while Mokk delivers medicine to the others (Quick! Get Hayate a tomato!)

In the meantime, the castle is separated from the Daitanic and it goes on a rampage, only for the 5 main Star beasts to stop it (Since they can't transform into their Silver Star Beast modes if all 5 aren't there...Didn't know that). Too bad they don't have a giant shark carrier that is completely uninjured who could've also helped...Can't really complain too much, since we get to see some more of their nice kaiju forms in action, so I'm down.
Anyway, they get their asses kicked as GouTaurus is released (On a timer) and BullTaurus makes his appearance again, helping the fight. Ryouma, healed through Yuuta's help and force of will, also shows up and they form GingaiOh. Also, Giga Rhinos and Phoenix show up again, too. The 4 fight and end up killing the Daitanic monster.
...Huh.
That ended up being remarkably easy. Oh, and GouTaurus's timer ends and he's teleported back to Bookrates, so Black Knight is still on his leash.
However, it ends with Zahab and crew laughing at the Daitanic being destroyed, so I'm super curious for what's to come~

These 2 episodes were really great. Zahab once again tries to kill the Black Knight's younger brother, which kind of brings the parallel full circle (Though Black Knight is actually able to stop him this time). The sense of power the Daitanic initially displays is awe inspiring, and Bookrates putting aside his goals (Killing Zahab and taking Barban for himself) just to stop the Daitanic was a pretty strong decision (Since, ultimately, Zahab, the Daitanic, and Barban would've all been destroyed).
They were really good episodes, though!

=EDIT 2=
Perfect placement for a clip show...
43 is a bit of a disappointment.
Well, it did technically further the plot. I totally forgot Yuuta's dad was making that picture book. Phew, I'm so glad they resolved that plot thread.
Though, did Yuuta's dad ever see any of the generals or Zahab?
Well, if anything, the English opening is pretty interesting (If it does hit me out of left field...I'm legit curious over how many of the episodes used the English theme that I happened to skip over...Shit :lol)

I watched Oh vs Kaku today. This was my first time ever seeing it subbed, but I do need to say that the subs were pretty crappy. Whoever subbed it (I think it was Gaosoul) not only got the names of the characters spelled wrong, but they forgot to sub quite a bit of the dialog from the youkai.

The movie itself is entertaining even if it has some poorly placed transitions in it. I mean, the rangers are fighting in a gravel pit but then are suddenly in a forest with a waterfall. Then they are fighting the youkai in their mechs, but then are suddenly back in their base and just transfer to a wild west area. WTF? Oh, and the movie thrives on fanservice and "I need an adult" levels of creepiness.

Despite the negatives, it is an entertaining adventure although they really missed their mark by not having Jaraiya as being part of the wild west scene. It's still one of my favorite VS movies even though it is no longer at the top of the list.

There's a wild west scene involving Kakuranger and they didn't involve Jiraiya, who literally debuted in a cowboy outfit?
Damn, that's actually pretty disappointing :lol

It really is. Only Sasuke and Tsurihime wear cowboy outfits and shoot pistols.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...923/9Xbhzn.jpg

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS
EP01

The 36th entry into the Super Sentai series, Tokumei Senti Go-Busters goes old school while tossing a lot of other Sentai conventions out the window. The show is weird in that it seems so different from regular Sentai, compounded by using such American Power-isms as "It's Morphin' Time", "Morphers" and "Megazords", but is more of a throwback to Showa style - faux serious, team starts as a trio and a family dynamic.

The debut episode begins with an impressive disaster scene as a gaggle of "Varglass Megazords" appear and wreak havoc in Tokyo, converging on some strange super structure which then blows the whole place up via a spectacular, orange Ever-Expanding Akira Bubble™*. This then jump cuts to a motorcycle trying to rouse Go-Busters' Red Buster, Hiromu in NEO AD 2012 - I dunno what that means. You think that maybe he was having a bad dream but... he's just stunned into an impossible state by a the image of a chicken in the morning paper (morning paper... how old is this show, again)? Not really sure.

Anyway, he's gonna be late for work as a Go-Buster! The motorcycle morphs into a Winspector type robot and bitches and whines as Hiromu gets his shit together. After a few establishing shots of cranes on a skyscraper, we meet up with the other two Go-Busters, Yellow Buster (the "tall for her age" eight year old candy muncher, Yoko) and Blue Buster (Ryuuji), as they're on the job and we are introduced to G-Buster's central gimmick: espionage.

The duo spy away while perched on the crane's hook, as we're informed they're on a special mission to investigate an "Enetron" leak by the Energy Management Center, the Go-Buster's governing body. Some goons are in an office building accessing this stuff illegally! NO! Clearly, the Go-Busters need to go bust them - and quick because there's been almost an entire minute with no action. The pair literally swing into action (via that patently cheesy Toei CGI), smash through the window and, while the goons start shooting, the pair whip off their sunglasses (1) and slo-mo into action while their "Morphers" bust to life, announcing "It's Morphin' Time!" and "Let's Morphin'!" and outfitting our heroes into stylish leather get-ups - not very Sentai; these non-spandex costumes won't ever tear during strenuous stuntwork, really cutting down on any slash-fic that one may want to write.

After trading a few blows with the goons, there's crap-a-doo edit and our goons reveal themselves to actually be friggin' MOOKS! Meanwhile, Red accepts being a Go-Buster (???) and he and his robo-cycle finally leave his amazing house (Go-Busters pays pretty well, it seems) which prompts an informal opening credit sequence where we learn that Enetron is a source of cheap-o, presumably renewable, energy and the Varglass want it - simple! Yellow and Blue hop around beating the mooks using their lame-ass-therefore-cool camera guns (spy-stoof!), EMC prepare the team's mechs and Red rides his Buddyloid, popping a wheelie to let you know shit's urgent. Heeeey, maybe the slash-fic'ers do have something to work with here...

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...921/dXzLQf.png

Say Cheese!

The Bustahs corner the lead baddie, "Enter" on the roof (he's got the cool anime hair and circuit sunglasses - clearly the lead badster), where he lays a lite whup-ass on our heroes while spittin' Française and makes his escape - magnifiqué!

The brass at EMC headquarters kvetch over Enter's threat of a big show while Himomu continues to ride his Buddyloid. Enter, meanwhile, reports back via VR with some digital Anti-Zordon who thinks he's the Messiah. This scene is total Cyberflop 90's Hackers / Lawnmower Man crap - love it. Given his orders, Enter goes to a scrapyard and gives a steamshovel a case of the rubber suits, setting up a fight between it and the Busterz! At some interdimensional robot factory, the mooks launch a Megazord - whose arrival time is kept via a suspenseful timer at the bottom right corner of the screen. Of course, this is a bit of irony as Sentai usually has some giant attack at the end of the show. It does add some urgency to the pre-hoedown, so that's cool.

It is now that we finally learn that these Busters have special powers and weaknesses and that's why they're fighting Vaglass. Each also has an animal themed Buddyloid robot - Ryuji has Gorisaki Banana, a whiny gorilla with a steering wheel for a face, Yoko has Usada Lettuce, a rabbit with a bad attitude and Hiromu has Cheeda Nick, a great cat (a cheetah, those it has no cheetah pattern) who basically keeps him on track.

Yellow and Blue engage the Shovelroid, whipping off their sunglasses (2) before morphin' into action. Red has finally reached his destination - a hospital - where he lets his injured sister know he's decided to join the Go-Busters. She's not so keen on this but, we know how it's gonna turn out so, moving on - TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

The Megazord land in the heart of the city and starts smashin' the joint up, bent on getting the Enetron and allowing Messiah into our dimension! Luckily, Red Buster is going to save the day - he shows up, blasting away at the Shovelroid as he flies by on Cheeda Nick, blowing half it's face off - and he hasn't even Morphin' Time'd yet! After this impressive display, he tells the weaker Busters that, obviously, he'll take on the Megazord - they can clean up the, now crippled and probably EZ-2-Kill, Shovelroid. Wotta guy!

And now my favorite element: the absurdly gigantic sports car / Cat Megazord, the CB-01 picks up Red Buster who then morphs the car into it's mech form and lays a beatdown on the Varglasshole Megazord! In the midst of the battle an occupied building is blown in half (I can only assume plenty of civvies met their crispy end here), necessitating Hiromu stop it from collapsing! Of course, after righting the building (watlolsrly), he charges the Varg Vikerzord, whose missles blow up countless other buildings, but they're small so... maybe they're not sponsors?

Anyway, inspired by Red Buster's Mega-Pluck™, Blue and Yellow finally simultaneously end the Shovelroid with the camera-blasters - YAY! Hiromu gets serious on the notion of fighting and winning and then everybody dances!

Pretty good, as much as it's different (no roll call for one, at least in this EP), it still retains Sentai's inherent silliness, though maybe not as "in your face" as other series. The effects are generally well executed, used to great effect where they count, while discounted elsewhere (like the window assault). I like the Buddyloid concept, though they didn't really do anything, apart from Cheeda Nick. The Busters themselves are fairly grounded compared to other series, while their human supporting cast just kinda... sat around. Too much of that.

As you can see, a lot happened though it didn't much feel like it. The slightly more grounded feel sacrifices much of Sentai's lunacy, which I'm not sure works.

Overall, a good, but not great, debut.


*(for the millionth time - what does watching {and occasionally living through} endless city flattening events do to Tokyo kiddies perceptions of mortality, I wonder?)

I echo these sentiments exactly. Go-Busters is a Showa-era throwback that ditches a lot of Sentai's trademark zaniness in favor of Kamen Rider-style pseudo-scientific "realism."

Some of it works, and some of it doesn't. There are a few excellent moments and episodes, but overall the show never rises above "good, but not great." Which is not to say I don't like it. I do. It's just super inconsistent.

Ultimately, the show's biggest failing is that liked Hiromu, Yoko, and Ryuji are duds. There are other characters that make up for their lack of charisma -- Jin, Beet J Stag, Enter, and Kuroki -- but it always sucks when the heroes are a show's weak link.

*Looks at Go-Busters*

Oh right :p

Oh boy, the irony of this is not lost on me, considering I was just whining about the Gokaigers (by the way, thinking about it some more, I think I just forgot how much I actually DID like them), but I could not POSSIBLY disagree more with that statement. I loved the basic team so much that when Jin showed up I was actually kind of annoyed they were shaking up the dynamic. Obviously I warmed up to him quick but it's a rare occasion when I consider the main group strong enough they don't need any extra members to bounce off of.

Hiromu, Ryuji, and Yoko are all refreshingly down to earth characters who feel like real people because they have their flaws and stupid quirks. They're a lot more nuanced than your usual Sentai team and have slightly more subtle character growth as a result, but that's just another thing that makes them cool.

The other big thing making them work is their relationships with the Buddyroids and how they sort of reflect one another. Especially Hiromu, whose initial abrasive attitude contrasts really nicely with Nick's considerate personality. Honestly, the Buddyroids in general are basically the show's secret weapon. They took what could've been lame gimmicky sidekicks and made them main characters in their own right.

Off the bat, I just didn't like Go-Busters. Long before it become the ultimate divisive series, I just didn't end up enjoying what I saw as it aired. I stopped long before Jin came in.

Anyway, Ginga 44.
They're celebrating the start of the new year, and Gouki is feeling a little down because his optimism and idealism might be weighing him down as a warrior. Before it can be addressed, Yuuta's dad shows up with Ms. Suzuko to join in celebrating. Before Gouki can go ultra awkward, we have the rival teacher who also has a crush on Suzuko show up (With Gouki acting adorably defensive to keep him from interacting with Suzuko). He and Gouki walk Suzuko to a bus and after she leaves, he decides to become Gouki's apprentice (With the idea that it's an apprentice's duty to surpass the master), trying to spark a rivalry. I'd say hijinks ensue, but it's really just one scenario.

In the meantime, we learn why Barban was unfazed by the Daitanic's death. Turns out the ash left behind sank into the Earth and it created a new, stronger monster, and their plan is to extract it and make it grow (Since it's still just a baby).
Yadda yadda, Gouki gets trapped beneath a huge chunk of concrete since not only was he trying to save everyone else, but also a teddy bear. He does, rival teacher learns why Suzuko chose him, and Gouki leaves to save the other Gingamen. His shoulder is fucked up because of all the effort he put into saving a bear, so rival teacher helps shoulder the burden of the beast cannon and they end up saving the day.

Was good.

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...92/217/c03.gif

I should probably mention I deemed Go-Busters unexciting enough to stop watching after 2 or 3 episodes back when it aired. I liked it, but after Gokaiger I was starting to think Sentai maybe just wasn't my thing.

I very specifically remember going to grab a new episode of Kamen Rider Wizard from Over-Time and seeing the picture on the post for one of the very last episodes showing Enter's pseudo Red Buster getup, which got me curious enough to give it a bigger chance. I'm SO glad I did, though I understand why it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

:lol It stands to reason that we have different tastes.

Here's where me may diverge: I don't watch Sentai for grounded, down-to-Earth characters. I want my Sentai heroes to be larger than life, and when they're not, I just find them dull.

The core three Go-Busters never left an impression on me, but it's not like I have active contempt for them. It's not even that I don't like them -- Hiromu is pretty alright toward the end of the show -- it's more that none of them felt particularly unique. I just feel like, even series that I like a lot less than Go-Busters, like Magiranger and Ninninger, have more idiosyncratic hero casts.

The Buddyroids are another aspect of the show where I'm like... "these guys are fine, I guess?"

I will say, it feels pretty strange to be on the critical end of a Go-Busters conversation. I've spent so much time in the past defending the show from legit haters! Though not one of my favorites overall, it's still a really good show. The episodes in the middle where they defeat Messiah, thus sacrificing all of their family members for the greater good and the finale arc where Enter becomes Dark Buster after making Hiromu into a horcrux--err, I mean "Messiah backup" :lol are legit some of the best stretches of Super Sentai I've seen. The Metaloid/Megazord delay concept is truly fresh and original. And the villains are excellent! It's just that the show has so many interminably boring stretches, and a dullsville cast of lead heroes (IMO), that I can't say it's fantastic as a whole.

Sure enough, I actually tend to gravitate towards more "bland" casts like that.

Go-Busters is such a wonderfully unique show I barely even think about it in context of the larger series but yeah, I can see how the team would come off boring. Their lack of charisma sort of IS their charisma to me but, especially if you're expecting something different in the first place, it could easily make them seem uninteresting.

It probably helped me a lot that, not really being a big Sentai fan going in, I welcomed the change of pace. I think Kyoryuger is actually kind of the show that got me into Sentai for the first time, and it was my third series. :lol

While I'm happy to cause argum, er, discussion, I think I'm going to keep doing one off, first EP reviews until I find one that really clicks. It's probably Jetman, but I want to try them all. I'd do Ninninger, but it's a bit soon for the thread.

I don't want to seem like a jerk, but it really does seem like you're intentionally being a contrarian.
This isn't some kind of blow to you or your tastes, but just a general observation.

Well it certainly does look that way sometimes, huh? :p

I swear I don't go out of my way to have unpopular opinions, it just sort of happens a lot. Such is life, I guess.

Besides, it's not like I'm from the mirror universe or something. I still like tons of stuff people like and believe it or not sometimes I even dislike things other people dislike. I just calls 'em like I sees 'em is all.

If we all agreed, we'd only have henshin and vin13ish's random questions to spur on conversation. While I definitely think you're a contrarian, I think it's a good thing.

I watched Carranger vs Ohranger today. Just like with OvsK, this was my first time seeing this subbed. However, it's been a while since I watched this movie, so it felt brand new for the most part. I think it was 2005 the last time I watched it. It's all right. The Carranger bits are hilarious as they should be, but the seriousness of the Ohranger cast rarely meshed well with it. There were a few solid scenes, especially when Miura asks Dappu for permission to train the rangers and the initial encounter between the two teams, but overall, the movie just felt lacking and it did not need to be 45 minutes long. Still better than most of the team ups have been over the last several years that aren't named Gokaiger, but not great overall.

Gingaman 45 and 46.
I'mma be honest, these two were really underwhelming. Like, seriously. For being in the end game, these two episodes really didn't need to be here. Barban is now on a quest to grow the Earth Monster giant. So now Batbass's mission is to send out monsters to it's current location, dig into the ground, and inject it with the growth extract.
It's literally the same formula as every other episode.

"It's Sentai, though. You should be used to it"
I'm fine with it for most of the series, but when there's less than 5 episodes left, that's when things should be shaken up, antes raised, and episodes should be tying together a lot more as we reach the finale. Not just go back to the same old formula for a few more episodes...

Whatever.

45: Flower fairy comes to give a plant that can help. She can't speak very loud so Saya couldn't understand her. Plant turns out to be an ancient flower that wards away evil, but Barban destroyed them 3000 years ago. The new flowers were destroyed, but Saya gets a crystal that she uses to keep the Earth monster from growing. Done.
46: Hayate reminisces on his would be wife. Shellinda gets pissy so she goes down for revenge. He writes her off, so she creates a clone of Hayate's wife to attack her (From some good luck charm Hayate has that he happened to drop). Clone is beaten, Shellinda is written off again (She vows that their next encounter will be their last...Fucking hell, THIS should've been their final encounter), and the Earth monster is prevented from growing again.

Hyuuga news: He still sucks with the axe.

I really need to get through Victory Gundam some I can watch PRiS so I can get to Gingaman. You are making me really want to watch that show already.

Gingaman is pretty solid, though the middle of each general's arcs tend to stagnate (Including apparent fan favorite Budo's).

Yeah, I've watched the show several times before as I own the Region 2 DVDs, I've just never seen it subbed. As for the arcs being stagnate in the middle, that's just the nature of this show having to be 50 episodes. Except for a few selected shows this is just the norm. It's one of the reasons why I don't really think any show of this nature needs to be this long, but if they weren't, they wouldn't be able to fully utilize their toy sales.

Back to Gingaman, I wish they hadn't changed the theme music to Battobas when he finally showed up though. In the second episode he had this kick ass industrial sounding theme and then when it is finally his turn his music is rock music.

I didn't even know his music changed. Huh.
Anyway, I figured you've seen it unsubbed, but I couldn't be certain.

As for the show being 50 episodes, I'm not sure how to feel about it. While the episodes do kind of become a bore when one of the 4 generals enter their "Today, I'll do X to awaken the Daitanic" mode, if their individual arcs were shorter, they'd also feel a lot more expendable rather than an important foe.
I think the general villains should have participated in their own plans more often, because otherwise, they've only really been interesting during their final moments. At least with Budo, we got to see the scheming against him and his downfall.

Anyway, Gingaman 47 and 48.

47 sees Businera putting his own plan into motion (Well, he doesn't get much say in it. Zahab basically twisted his arm into it). It goes remarkably smooth, featuring a nice bluff involving 2 remotes, one of which attracts the Earth Monster, the other calls in a drilling bomb. Guess which one the Gingamen get. Hikaru escapes, chasing down the captured, then freed, Businera, while the others take the remote to a quarry to lure out the Earth monster and destroy him.
Destroy him with what? With their newly upgraded cannons, of course! Courtesy of Mokk! However, much like last time, it basically causes him to pass out, leaving them unable to communicate.
The Gingamen get blown up, Hikaru gets captured and hung over a vat of the growth extract, and everything looks like it's going downhill, but then the Gingamen reveal that they survived the explosion (How? Literally never explained). Businera gets tossed into the vat and mutated into a monster, and after getting hit by the upgraded cannons, Batbass shoots him with Barba Extract because pirates need to betray each other or some shit.

In a moment that I like, Giga Bitus comes down and attacks Businera! Like, he doesn't sit in the desert waiting to be called on, he swoops in and attacks...For all of one scene. Then Giga Rhinos and Phoenix (Who also have a grudge against him) jump in and the shark carrier is just gone (Goddammit). Still, it was fun to see those 3 jump into action without provocation~

48 starts with Mokk still recovering from the last episode. However, things go south quite quickly as the Earth Monster is poisoning the planet so badly that Earth Power is becoming toxic to it's users (Which also prevents transformation). In the meantime, Barban finds Bookrates and Hyuuga, so they set a bomb outside the cave they've been training in, causing a cave in that traps Bookrates inside, and blows Hyuuga in a lake (Which allows Mokk to find him). Ryouma says don't ask for help, but Mokk does anyway (Which Hyuuga turns down because of course).
Out of options, Mokk does what he can and absorbs the poison into himself, which cleanses the Earth and allows the Gingamen to transform and use their powers again.
All the while, Batbass gets into a fight with Hyuuga, which ends with Hyuuga basically running to save Bookrates (Stating he needed to ask him something important)

Once the Gingamen beat the monster (Using the Ginga Great Cross Slash, a finisher they haven't used since the Sanbash arc), they rush back to find that Mokk, who was already weakened from enhancing their cannons last episode, has died and is now a single seed.
It's not the only death today, either, as Bookrates manages to dig himself out of the cave in, wanting to find the Black Knight, only to encounter Shellinda, who swiftly impales him.

While I'm glad these two episodes did feature some pretty damn big events, I'm also a little disappointed that the main plot of the episodes was still "Monster go down and inject syrup to grow other monster." I'm not really complaining too much, though, since shit did go down this time.

Gingaman 49 and 50, the last 2 episodes (Sans Megaranger vs Gingaman, which I'll get to later).

So, before a final summary, let's recap, because I know everyone loves me spoiling 15 year old shows! :D
49: Bookrates is revealed to have survived, though not by much. Gripping onto life, he reveals how to beat Zahab, by destroying the life of his planet (Which he has implanted into himself, by Bookrates 3000 years ago). He doesn't give Hyuuga much time to dwell on it, though, giving him GouTaurus and revealing he has a bomb for when they're found (And, to make sure Hyuuga doesn't stall or anything, it's already lit).
In the meantime, the GingaRed decide to head to Howling Mountain (The place where their braces came from), because apparently there's a secret mechanism that can attract the Earth Monster (Which was last used to attract the Daitanic) while the others move to intercept Batbass, who is out of troops beyond Yatotos and is just kind of destroying the ground.

Things finally start coming to a close from this point on. The monster is attracted to the sound, so Batbass and the other Gingamen dash to that point. Ryouma (Who is on the verge of falling off a mountain due to the sound being so great it's blowing him away) is saved by Hyuuga, who is finally able to properly discuss things and join his friends once more.
Also, on the Gingamen's way to the mountain, GingaGreen encounters Shellinda for one final fight. It's a bit of a let down, to be honest. While it was only built up over the course of about 8 episodes, just the fact that it lasted all of a minute thirty seconds, with about 5 sword swings between the two of them, only for Shellinda to land one final blow on Hayate before falling and dying, I can't say I was particularly impressed (Yes, I know in real life sword fights would generally be resolved in about 3 or 4 blows, but this isn't real life).
The Earth Beast emerges from the ground, and in a surprising turn, eats Batbass (While holding the growth extract). Before letting the extract gain effect, the Gingamen channel their Earth Power together and allows Ryouma to use a super powered fire attack to burn the creature to ash (As destroying it would simply have it imitate the Daitanic, causing it's remains to infect the Earth and create a new monster).
Well, turns out it sucks for them, as the Monster grows giant, and Zahab sets off on his castle (Which can fly, apparently), to merge with it.

Pretty solid set up to the final episode, if I say so myself. The villain's two final generals are dead, leaving the big bad alone, but his main goal has finally been accomplished, so victory is still in his grasp.

50 starts off with a mech fight against the Earth Monster, and everyone getting their asses kicked. Strangely, the Daitanic actually did more damage to the Star Beasts than this thing did, but it's still certainly a force. Guess it's because it's still a baby. Anyway, Zahab's castle merges with it so he gains control and starts wrecking the Star Beasts. However, the Gingamen gain a quick advantage when BullKnight aims for the castle, knocking Zahab out of it (Though BullKnight quickly gets his ass blasted apart for his troubles), and using this advantage, the other Gingamen once again channel their Earth Power into Ryouma, to channel his fire Earth Power into GingaiOh, which is further amplified by Giga Phoenix and Rhinos, using it to finally burn the Earth Monster into ash, killing it.
(Also, as a brief aside, they finally use the Galcon Bowgun while in the Radiant Armored GingaiOh. It didn't work, but still...)

Back on the ground, the Gingamen start their fight against Zahab, but he's basically unstoppable, plowing through them, even destroying the Knight Axe, though not before finding the location of Zahab's planet's life force (As Hyuuga realized that Zahab had moved his planet's life force from his right side to his torso's center). After getting badly injured, Ryouma takes Hyuuga away to help him recover, and after a long talk, Ryouma tells Hyuuga that he still has Earth Power, since he fights to protect the planet. The brothers return (Right in the nick of time, as Zahab was about to kill Yuuta, his father, and Bokk), and they both use the Mane of Fire, confirming that Hyuuga really does still have his Earth Power. They regroup with the others, morph, and finally take out Zahab, ending Barban once and for all.

In the distance, they can see a light coming from where the Galactic Forest would be, to find that it truly has returned. The credits play as they meet up with the elder, Hayate's wife, and all the villagers. They plant Mokk's seed and sprinkle fairy dust on it to bring him back to life, Gouki has a stroll through the forest with Suzuku, Yuuta's father has all the Star Beasts pose for an image (Hey, Giga Bitus...I'm pretty damn sure you would've helped out an hour ago...), and Yuuta starts worrying he won't see Ryouma again (Who quells his fears by telling him he'll always be around).

Was a fun finale, though I can't help but be a little underwhelmed by the climax. The Earth Monster was built up as being stronger than the Daitanic (Who had over 40 fucking episodes worth of build up), but in the end, he did no more damage (The Daitanic ripping pieces off of the Star Beasts as well as blowing GingaiOh apart really outweighed the Earth Beast just kind of chomping on Giga Rhinos's head, shooting BullTaurus apart, then kind of dying). While during the Zahab fight, you could really tell the suit was too intrusive to do anything really dynamic. He just kind of thew insults at the rangers while sometimes swinging his sword or firing his cannon. I'm not lying when I say that 4 of his 5 generals (Sans Shellinda) had a lot more interesting ends than him. I also would've liked to see his torso blown open to reveal the life of his planet when they finally destroyed it, but we couldn't even get that. He really felt too much like a statue for his final showdown...

I'll probably post my thoughts on Gingaman as a whole in a different post (Because this is getting pretty damn long as is, especially for a post no one will read) so this one can be reserved for just the finale.
(And, like I said, I'll get to Megaranger vs Gingaman soon. Won't be too long, as I watched Megaranger last year (Or in 2014) anyway)

I watched episodes 10-13 of Dynaman today and this is where the show just decides to cut its running time down to 18 minutes. Not sure why it did it, but it has definitely helped the pacing of the episodes. However, you can clearly tell episodes 10-12 were intended to be 24 minutes long as there are scenes where everything is sped up and a few scene changes that seem abrupt. The Hypnotoad episode was pretty awesome though. Hopefully the show will maintain the momentum of that episode.

GINGAMAN COMPLETE
I don't even know what to say about it, really. It kind of falls into the realm of ultimately average. It's not bad, but it doesn't commit to the really great things. Kind of a shame.

Let's start with the plot, which is probably the worst thing about the show.
Barban is awakened and their seals released. However, they encounter a hitch because their vessel and big gun, the Daitanic Monster, is still sealed and dormant. This awakening is also met with another hitch, the newly appointed Gingamen, a group of 5 warriors who defend the Earth. After losing their home, the Galactic Forest, and the intended Ginga Red, Hyuuga, the Gingamen are forced to take shelter with a father and his son, who let them live at a stable that they...Work at (I kind of forget the father's relationship to the stables, since I know he doesn't own them). There, they plant a sacred tree that grows into Mokk, which is both their mentor and their base of operations.
From there on, Barban dispatches monsters to find methods of reviving the Daitanic.
Plot over.
There really isn't much to the series in this regard, which is it's biggest problem. While the individual episodes were alright on their own, the lack of a solid plot to tie everything together really brought things down, especially during the middle of each villain's arcs. Things were really just going through the motions there.

The characters are some pretty nice high points, though.
Ryouma is a great Red. He's energetic, but he's not an idiot. He has a lot of heart, but he's a warrior first, so he's not fighting for the rush of it like some other fireballs (Ironic, given that he's one of the few characters with actual pyromancy). Only chosen as Ginga Red because Hyuuga gave him the Star Beast Sword after falling into a chasm, I like that he doesn't let it get him too down. Fighting to not disappoint his brother's final wish, for the planet, for his fallen home, and for his friends, he's a pretty strong character. Charismatic and likable, he's kind of what Daigo/KyoryuRed should've been. No visible or easily exploited faults, but he still feels down to Earth. Able to push forward when everyone else is beaten, but still clearly needs the support of his team to keep going. I like him~
Hayate is a pretty solid character all around, though certainly the most bland of the bunch. I guess it's kind of inevitable when you're the straight man. Often a foil to Gouki's more dim moments, Hayate's childish nature, or Ryouma when he elects to join in slacking off, he's kind of a conglomerate of most traits appointed to the straight man. Quiet and brooding, check, silly fears/weaknesses, check, unable to connect with others on an emotional basis, check. Still though, he's a pretty nice character. He never exudes an air of superiority, and it never really feels like "Why is this character not the leader?" which keeps him in a nice balance. He's a team player that bounces off the others well, both in comedic timing as well as on the battlefield. He's just a little bland.
Gouki, the muscle and nice guy...Yup. All around handyman, strongest member of the team, and sometimes a little dim (Especially around his love interest), it's easy to like him. Unfortunately, he's kind of just a fly on the wall unless Suzuko is involved, being the most quiet (Even more so than Hayate), most reserved, and just relaxed otherwise. There's nothing wrong with that, it's actually kind of cute that his crush changes him, but not in a drastic way. I like it. He has a big heart, is always the optimist and idealist, which probably helps the team a lot more than he gives himself credit for.
Saya, the only woman, is around, too. Unfortunately, she's kind of burdened with all female Sentai stereotypes. She's cute and calm, and always doing her best to help others smile, but she's also a tomboy who isn't afraid to get rough or fight, but she's also bubbly and energetic, wanting to enjoy life. She also plays the big sister role to Hayate.
"Matrix, you know that most people can be like that, right? She's actually more realistic because she's not defined by one or two traits."
Yes, I know, but with only 50 episodes, and only about 8 of which are specifically dedicated to her, she can sometimes come across as being spread too thin. However, ultimately, she's a nice character. I also like the ambiguous crush on Hyuuga.
Hikaru is basically the kid. Brash, loud, annoying, and quick to a fight. Probably the most stereotypically Sentai character on the team. He's angry and willing to break away from the team to prove himself, but he clearly cares for his comrades and will do anything to save them. He isn't really anything special. He often butts heads with everyone, sans Ryouma, surprisingly. Guess Ryouma is too chill to get angry at him. Dunno. He's a good kid, but his character just isn't anything new and, unfortunately, they didn't do anything special with him to change things up.
Hyuuga, their "Extra Hero," the original GingaRed, and eventual Black Knight, and Ryouma's older brother is kind of your stereotypical 6th, but in a weird way. Being introduced after the first Black Knight, they clearly didn't want to market his toys anymore. So shortly after his introduction, he's swept under the rug. Participating in fewer fights, finding reasons to not grow giant, and generally staying out of focus when he is around (Unless it's one of his episodes, of course). However, I did enjoy that they gave him a semi-legit arc for why he had to basically be cut from the show for about 10 episodes around the end.
He's a fine character, though. Going to extremes to defeat Barban, but never going too far over the edge like his predecessor. He's dedicated to protecting the Earth, not to kill his enemies.
Bull Black, the first Black Knight. Original keeper of the Galactic Lights, he was badly wounded (Presumed dead) by Barban after tricking them about their whereabouts. He only returns after Hyuuga falls into the crevice. Saving his life, he then uses Hyuuga basically as a host body to return to full strength. Pissed off, filled with vengeance, and not afraid of any casualties that may occur as long as Barban is destroyed. Losing his planet and younger brother to Zahab himself, he vows an ageless grudge. Being their 6th replacement, he often showcased power above the Gingamen, able to take down foes the other 5 had trouble with. However, he makes it painfully clear he is not a Gingaman, and that their goals only barely overlap, going so far as to, at one point, try to destroy the Earth to kill Barban. In the end, though, he makes the ultimate sacrifice when the spirit of his younger brother, Krantz, finally talks sense into him.

Other characters include Yuuta, the young boy who befriends the Gingamen. He wants to be like them, even going so far as to start sword training, but at the end of the day, he's still just a kid in grade school. He has a big heart and a shocking amount of courage.
Yuuta's father, Haruhiko, who is a bumbling artist and writer who is a good man, offering the Gingamen a place to live in exchange for their work. Kindhearted, he eventually writes the Gingamen's story into a children's picture book, which is pretty nice.
Ms. Suzuko, one of Yuuta's teachers whom Gouki gets an insane crush on. She seems obvious to Gouki's feelings at some times, and blissfully unaware at others (Though, those moments might just be her teasing him for not being able to just spill it), she's pretty good. I like that she chose Gouki, though I wish their relationship had more resolution. Oh well.
Mokk, their mentor and base of operations at the same time, a mystic tree that is connected to all other trees on the planet, thus being able to locate most anything as long as it's nearby plant life. He's pretty standard as far as mentor characters go. However, he's able to forge connections with his team rather easily despite being a talking tree.
Bokk, a wood sprite that kind of hangs out with the Gingamen and Mokk who uses his name as a pun a lot. Not much to say...He was a character...At least he wasn't too annoying?

Onto the bad guys, Space Pirates Barban (Which, by the by, it's super crazy to hear "Uchuu Kaizoku" and have it refer to the villains...Damn you, Gokaiger :lol)
First we have Captain Zahab, big bad of the series. Also, kind of uninteresting. Only leaving the ship, what, 4 times in the whole series, his lack of interaction with the heroes means that their final encounter doesn't hold as much weight as it should. Personally responsible for starting Bull Black's grudge and otherwise...Just kind of around, really. As a pirate, he isn't against backstabbing his own crew. Also, due to his suit's design, he's very inhibited, so his fighting is also leaves a lot to be desired. Not a fan.
Next, Shellinda, a scantily clad swordswoman who steers the ship. She doesn't do much of anything, either, to be honest. She bitches at the generals not accomplishing their goals and just stands around looking angry. She holds a grudge against Ginga Green, however, she's not on his level, losing most of the time, and sometimes being disregarded as he has other matters to attend.
On to Bookrates (Which the wiki spells as "Bucrates" which makes more sense considering his design is a barrel crate. However, considering his name is pronounced "Boo-kura-tes," the pun is still lost). Uncle to one of the generals, Iries, and the smart guy in the villain lair (Until his job is taken by Businera), he just kind of waddles about insulting everyone with Shellinda. He wasn't anything special, and only really grew to be interesting after his betrayal and him vowing revenge against Zahab (And forcing Hyuuga to help).

On to the generals. Each general got about 10 episodes to them, give or take.
Sanbash, voiced by everyone's famous shouter, Nobuyuki Hiyama, was the first General to get a shot. His main mission was to find any kind of fuel source to awaken the Daitanic (Along with general plans to randomly wake him up, like noise pollution). Brash and loud, he was a perfect start. The one to do the deed initially to Black Knight Bull Black, he ultimately died due to general incompetence, but he certainly went out with a bang.
Next is Budo, the samurai. Very respectful, he kind of nails the samurai vibe perfectly, right down to his theme (Though, considering it's an effing Japanese show, I shouldn't be surprised). His mission was the find the Galactic Lights specifically to awaken the Daitanic Monster. Ultimately, he's betrayed by one of his fellow generals, forcing him to turn traitor to Barban to clean his name. I really like the dude, a villain who honors his fallen soldiers, speaks calmly and respectfully, and just generally a very classy dude, even when he loses his temper.
After is the one to betray Budo, Iries. Themed around mysticism, she specifically wants a reward for her work. Quite a bit of a schemer, she most certainly has bigger goals in life, but for now, she's content swimming in a pile of gold. Unfortunately, she fails just as often as her allies, even more so, actually, as she doesn't even have a main trend. She's just going after possible ways to revive the Daitanic (Though her plans tended to involve attacking people).
And finally, Batbass and his right hand man, Businera. Their plans initially involved finding ways to help awaken the Daitanic after it's heart starts beating once more, and once they do, to enlarge the Earth Monster after the Daitanic's should be obvious fate. He was kind of uninteresting, to be entirely honest. While his army had a lot of charisma, he himself wasn't anything special. I do like that he was more proactive, willing to aid his soldiers, but he didn't do it nearly as often as I would've liked. Businera, after introducing the Giga beasts, just basically became another smart dude until forced out in the field for no real reason.
It was around the Iries and Batbass arcs where the show really started to weaken, but that doesn't save Budo or Sanbash, either. The middle of their respective arcs were complete borefests as well. Not even Bull Black's assholishness could save Budo from stagnating. However, the changing generals did help the show from stagnating too much. As after about 4 episodes of tedium, the handoff will occur, often with a really cool climax following into a pretty strong introduction for another.

Moving from the villains and onto the designs, I...Kinda like 'em. I'm not a fan of the Charlie Brown stripe against the Gingamen's suit. It just seems splashed on to break up the white with no rhyme or reason. I get that it's supposed to be teeth, but it just doesn't come across very well. Otherwise, the suits are fine. I love the Black Knight design. It really stands out and is quite striking. The cape looks great and the bulky look really screams "Knight" to me.
Concerning the mecha, they were all really hit or miss. GingaiOh is pretty decent, but it's overly boxy torso and Gingorilla's face just pointing forward, while creative, just don't do anything for me. It's just alright with me. BullKnight is also just decent, too. While not as boxy, it just seems too...Puffy. It's torso juts out too much and is far too rounded and it's head seems too small for it's own body. If it's proportions were fixed, I think it'd be pretty solid. I do love Giga Rhinos and Giga Phoenix, though. Being artificially morphed into machines, they work pretty well. While I'm not a big fan of the individual vehicles not having an animal aesthetic, and only their helmet conveying the animal in combined mode, that doesn't change that their combined mode is pretty damn good. Really love them. Giga Bitus...Not too in love with it, but it's the burden carriers must shoulder.
That said, I love the kaiju forms for the Star Beasts. They looks great, though they do have their annoying flaws (Gingat not having a functioning jaw, Gingaverick's movements being pretty poorly done (Since it has to be "Fast"), etc), but I still enjoy them nonetheless. Gingalcon is probably my favorite~

On the villain side of things, each General had a specific monster aesthetic. First is Sanbash's Gang, which is a biker-insect themed group. I dig 'em. They carried the look solidly and none of them really disappointed me (Well, sometimes...But never too much). Budo's Mob were samurai and ancient Japan themed. And I love it. It was really done nicely. Guess I'm just a sucker for a samurai aesthetic. Iries's Tribe were mysticism themed, meaning voodoo and undead. It was kind of eclectic, but in a good way. She did have a few that missed the mark (especially the ones that don't really have anything to do with anything, or the ones where you really have to connect the dots, like the Valkyrie), but in general, her's I also enjoyed. Finally, we have Batbass's Corps. I'mma be straight: I didn't really like it. That's not to say there weren't some really good ones, such as the missile themed monster, but military and weapon themed monsters really don't do anything for me. While Iries's are also kind of generic Sentai, the designs still popped for me.
The Yatotos, the henchmen, were effing weird, man. They fit the pirate theme, at the very least, but dude...I don't know.

Anyway, Gingaman. I don't really know how to rate it. It was a pretty enjoyable series that kept things shaken up with the villains power shifting. However, the constant "REVIVE DA DAITANIC" really made the plot a bit of a bore and forced me to rely on the individual episodes' merits to enjoy things. And it worked...Some of the time. When an episode didn't work, it just felt like a chore to get through, and made me want to watch the next episode even less, which made marathoning this show difficult (I often found myself only watching one a day). Each general had a point where their arc stagnated, which made things all the worse as they reached a routine. They enjoyed this routine so much that they were still doing their routine even by episode 48, 2 episodes from the finale. The Daitanic's awakening and destruction felt more like the end to the series, despite it happening about 8 episodes before the actual ending.
It was just kind of an okay, middle of the road kind of series that's still enjoyable, but I don't really feel like it's a show I should herald over it's quality.

Eh, 7/10. It's worth watching, but I don't think it's worth pushing to the top of the lists to watch. That's fair, right?

Wow, I'm impressed to see someone else write that much about a show for once. :lol

Never thought it'd be possible to make Ninninger's overarching plot seem positively engaging though...

That's really why it would make my honorable mention list, but wouldn't make my top 10. There are a lot of excellent things in the show, but the few negatives do hurt the overall product (oh the tomatoes). Without subs, if I were ranking the Sentai series I would probably put it at like 12 or 13 as I'll take it over every show that came after Abaranger minus Geki and Gokai. We'll see what happens when I watch it subbed though.

BTW, I've never seen Bucrates and Biznella spelled the way you just did in your post. Is that really how the subs spelled them? :eyebrow

My recent recaps have been hella long :p

And yeah. When you get right down to it, Gingaman's plot is really kind of one note stretched out way too long.

Yeah. Gingaman just doesn't have enough going for it to be top 10 material, personally. That said, it does certainly have enough to be considered passable and definitely watchable. While asshole 6th rangers aren't anything new, Bull Black really feels like he's skirting the line on being a villain, and feels like a true anti-hero, rather than just an abrasive good guy. Most every villain's introduction and climax are really, really good (I particularly loved Budo and Iries's final fights), and when the Daitanic awakens, it's crazy good.

It's just a shame about all the tedium and filler.

And yeah, the subs spell them "Bookrates" and "Businera."

I totally agree. Gingaman has been a slog for me to get through. I've been chipping away at the show for the last 5-6 months, and I only just watched episode 20 last night.

For perspective, I watched all of Maskman and Jetman-through-Megaranger in a little less than a year. That's eight whole series. But when I got to Gingaman, all of my momentum stopped. It was like I drove head-first into a Star Beast-shaped wall.

It's not like I dislike the show. In fact, I actually prefer it overall to Megaranger and Maskman, both of which I cruised through without any problem.

It's possible that Sentai-fatigue was responsible for my initial lack of interest, but after 6 months of intermittent watching, I'm really hankering for a good sentai show. The introduction of Bull Black has provided a bit more excitement, but I still have a distinct lack of enthusiasm to move forward.

It's also possible that the show's change in length, mid-Megaranger -- from 17 to 22min -- is partly to blame. Those shorter episodes made it really, really easy to binge a whole series. But on the other hand, I haven't had any trouble watching more modern series (Shinkenger-through-Zyuohger), which are all the same length.

Honestly, it just feels like there's a certain gonzo spark missing from Gingaman. I kinda felt the same way about Megaranger too. That sense of "oh, shit, what did I just watch???" that was so prevalent in the early-to-mid 90s series just isn't there anymore.

Part of me fears that this will be the case for all Sentai going forward. Like, I'm super worried that the series between Carranger and Shinkenger will all be duds. (Some reassurance that isn't the case would be awesome! :lol)

So I guess I'm at something of a crossroads. Do I keep trudging through Gingaman? Do I go back in time and watch something like Bioman in hopes that I can rediscover the weirdo energy of the 90s shows I love so much? Or do I hop around and watch something I think I'll probably like, like Gekiranger or Hurricanger?

All of your feedback would be highly appreciated!

Don't worry. Gekiranger is filled with energy and just greatness~
I also hear Abaranger can get pretty off the walls, too, but I haven't gotten to it, yet.

As for Gingaman, I would say that you're not losing much if you decide to save it for later. There are some moments where it just feels like you hit a brick wall with the show. While it is worth the watch, perhaps going back a little bit might be what helps reinvigorate that spark to watch it.