Just got done watching it subbed. Yeah, it was fine? It was an episode of a show alright.

The Zyuoh Buster is such a stupid looking weapon.

That was pretty cool. Zyuland and the forest fight were a really nice change of pace. However, I have a feeling we won't be seeing Zyuland again until the finale, and most of the battles from here on out will be in a city setting.

Also, Zyuohking looks way better in action, and the mix of CGI and practical was nearly perfect. I also actually really enjoyed seeing the humanoid animal costumes, although LOL at the infamous horse masks being used for some of the background ones.

Really looking forward to seeing more of this.

I also didn't like that. At least it's handled better than Kyoryuger though (where the different forms were basically just Gabutyra with different arms).



Also, I have to ask.....Kaixabird?

The bird character is voiced by the same actor who played Kamen Rider Kaixa in Faiz.

i love 5 heroes danceing

That was okay, I guess. The pacing felt way too fast, but if they didn't want to draw out the set-up then I can see the value in it. I'm not sure what else there is to say. Still not feeling the Minecraft Zords, although I think the lion one is adorably awful.

I may come back for episode two next week, I may not. We'll see.

That makes sense. I've only ever seen the original Kamen Rider.

I think they do it nowadays because 1. kids have shorter attention spans and 2. the quicker they introduce things in the show, the faster they can start selling the toys.

It's more old school gaming than Minecraft imo. And yes, the lion is my favorite because of how goodbad it looks.

This episode was great and so were all the characters. The cubes just need to be toned down.

I think the only time the whole cube thing really bothered me was during that mech fight. Just watching them sit in the cockpit and spinning this cube around was a little bothersome to me.

I wish we could return to the days where mechs weren't introduced until episode 2 (or later), but based on the last handful of years, I think those times have passed. It must be a Bandai mandate to shove all the toys in our faces, first thing every year.

Man, to have a pilot that doesn't feature the mecha would be nice again. Would give a little more time to letting us know a little more about our heroes.

The later part of the episode didn't bother me as much (aside from the bit where everyone knew how to use the morphers in spite of never having seen one before, but that's not a unique problem to Zyuohger). The part that felt really off to me was the first five minutes, which rushed through introducing the Red, having him get transported, and seeing him adapt to and interact with the Zyumans before the credits even rolled.

There's also the fact that I get a huge Sid and Marty Kroft vibe from the whole animal people world part. In particular, I just kept comparing the start of the episode to the fantastically terrible intro to Lidsville:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btpd8zg5VWA

But who cares about heroes when Bandai has plastic garbage it needs to shill! :lol

Goseiger was the last series to not feature any mechs in the first episode, and that was officially seven years ago. Of the last 11 series, only 2 (Gekiranger and Goseiger) have held off the reveal of the mechs until episode two.

I sincerely wonder if we'll ever have another pilot that doesn't rush us into the mechs in episode one.

Well, I mean, if it weren't for the need to introduce the mechs at the end of episode one, there wouldn't have been a need to rush the first five minutes. We would have been a lot more time available to set up Zyuland in the beginning.

Modern sentai has so much toy crap to show off in episode one that it's basically impossible to tell an engaging story populated with well-realized characters in the first installment. That Zyuohger comes close to having both is pretty much a miracle, IMO. :lol

Goseiger was 2010, six years ago. Seven years ago was Shinkenger.

So that weird old man Yamato runs up to in the deer costume is named Mario....Yeah okay subtle.

:rolleyes

Including Zyuohger, there have been seven first episodes.

I'm all for accuracy, but like... did you really not get what I meant?

Well I thought you had a typo, I didn't really think of it being the 7th first episode.

My favorite beginning set-up is still Zyuranger. Episode one introduced the team, episode two introduced the first mech. Episodes three and four have the team journey to get their weapons. Episodes 5 and 6 introduce the combined mech, DaiZyuJin. It didn't play all of its cards right away, but still had interesting things going on. In fact, I wish more Sentai had episodes where they journey to find their weapons.

I really with Zyuohger could have spread the first episode's plot across two episodes - there was more than enough content.

It certainly did have enough content that it wouldn't be spread thin (Man, I wanted WAY more of the Zyu world. We certainly did not get enough time there).
But I'm most afraid of it playing all it's cards in one episode will lead to a very bland set of episodes until the plot kicks in.
Sentai's tendency for over the top character interaction might end up killing things quickly for me, since, if the past few series are any indicator, their humor really sucks...
Really, I can only hope the 6th ranger plot starts up quickly, since they certainly didn't shoehorn that little plot thread in subtly.

Right now, the main reason why I want to come back is to see how Tusk's declaration of not being in debt to anyone will pay off.
No Zyu world anymore, they immediately get their human disguises so my intrigue in how the world reacts around them is gone, and yeah.

They did too much way too quickly.

Yeah, the fact that the zyurangers had to earn their weapons definietly makes it feel more special.

It's strange, I really didn't care for the animal suits in the previews, but after seeing the first episode I want to see them more. However, the previews showed them bowling and doing other activities in animal form, so I'm confident we'll see them again. As for Zyuland, I could see them going back towards the end to save that world as well as the human world, but it's more likely that they'll finally return in the last episode after finally defeating the enemy.

I don't have my doubts we'll see see the Zyuland before series end. I'm just saying that the amount of possibilities they could explore (Such as having to work to save both earths from the Deathgalians) are just dashed once the portal was closed.

I do hope their animal form appearances are frequent, at the very least.

And in Jetman the year before you did'nt see the heroes combine the planes into the giant mech until ep. 4~5. Characters came first: some of them didn't want to be a Jetman, Ryu has to cope with the loss of his fiancee, then Gai showed up to be hard to manage, and the female commander in charge Odagiri had to deal with all of it and the pressure of the upper brass.

But at the time of these shows the time slot and target demographic were different than those of our modern Sentai.

I just finished watching it. I pretty much agree with a lot of people's opinions. I liked it but it was really rushed. I do wish they spread it out more like with Zyuranger and Jetman (as detailed in the posts above) so it feels like a journey and we're actually getting development on the characters. At least with some of the previous series (I'll use Shinkenger to Ninninger) either the red ranger, everyone except red, or everyone knew how to transform (and in some cases, use their weapons/abilities and their mechs) because they learned/were taught how to before the series. Zyuohger's was out of the blue and suddenly became experts at fighting, using abilities/weapons, and summoning/controlling their mechs.

Also, IMO the transformation/mech announcements are really cringe-worthy. I know it's suppose to fit with the whole jungle/animal theme but every time I heard it, I cringed a lot.

I do hope it gets better but it hasn't left a great first impression on me...

Well, it is less annoying than this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cVlTeIATBs

Also way less annoying than this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeABcIYLYO8

Dairanger did something like this as well. I can't remember if it was the whole team or not, but I remember at least one or two of them joining the team and immediately knowing how to morph and fight.

I'll never, ever get this criticism. Like, have you ever watched a toku show?

The heroes just know how to do all the stuff, pretty much always. It's a trope of the genre.

Is it good, or ideal? No, but it's part of what makes toku unique. And I kinda thought we all learned to accept this 20 years ago when Power Rangers debuted and a bunch of high school kids suddenly became world class super hero martial artists.

I understand enjoying a slower pace in team-building and introducing weapons and skills, but... come on. Like Lucha said, this has been done in Toku shows and even in American superhero comics and shows for decades.

Yeah, it's probably motivated by merchandise to have a near-complete arsenal and some mecha in the first episode, but I won't lament it. I thought that Zyuohger had a surprisingly strong first episode and I'm cautiously optimistic about the series going forward. Will be following it week to week.

I actually think it's great that toku doesn't try to run us through boring, repetitive "and this is how you transform, and this is how you fight, and this is what your weapon is called, and this is your special attack name," expository crap every single year/iteration.

It's like -- they're a sentai team, they know how to do all that crap automatically, let's get to the stuff that matters (i.e. action, character, plot).

I feel it would play to how the series was set up.
With how fast this episode moved, we had a normal zoologist find a portal to another dimension, encounter animal-people (Again), confirm the existence of aliens, and gain super powers.
But since they made sure we got immediately to the action, his reaction ultimately basically boiled down to "Neat."

What if he fumbled with the cube to show he didn't entirely understand it? Perhaps it could've made his first transformation a lucky accident. What if he didn't know how to summon the cube animal? That probably could've been a funny scene.
Instead, "All the crap was cut" to get to mindless action that we'll see for 49 straight episodes anyway.
I think we could've done well to stretch things out a bit.

Finally got around to watching the episode. I liked it. Not the greatest opening to a Sentai but I thought it was good. Of course now to see if the next few episodes can keep my interest going.

But like, what would any of that have really added? It certainly doesn't give you more insight into the characters or the world or the story.

I agree that the premiere needed more room to breathe, but I'd prefer that breathing room was filled with character interactions or story developments or exploration of the world... not jokes about how easy/hard it is to henshin or exposition about minutia. You know?

It would show the red ranger isn't completely aware of the current situation. It could show that there is more mystique than we're aware of.
Much like the mysterious character picking up the 6th cube, you don't need to dedicate 100% of a scene just to fully set the stage.
It's the little things that help a series keep me invested.

For example, if the next episode begins with Sela smacking Tusk over the head and forcing him to accept Yamato's offer, then it could be asked "What was the point of the final scene of this episode?" since it could be resolved so quickly.
The point was the add a little to Tusk's character (Note: I'm not saying it will be resolved like that, I'm just using it as a hypothetical)

Regardless of how minor things seem, it could always come back later on. If Yamato had shown inexperience and confusion over the scenario, in addition to greater shock to everything he witnessed, then we could see it come around through the series.
As it is now, he was mildly startled, then became a wet blanket and proceeded to outclass his allies who were supposed guardians.

Comedy can be used to teach us about a character, but random action will tell us nothing.

I'm with Matrix here. Watching the characters learn about the world they're in and their new powers is definitely a form of character development, and it also helps with the world building. I brought up Zyuranger earlier for a reason - watching the characters struggle to obtain their weapons and figure out how to combine into DaiZyuJin made me connect to those things a little bit more. This (and other more recent series) just glossed over those. I mean, it makes sense for, say, Gokaiger or Ninninger, since they already start off knowing how to use their powers. But if you're going to have a main character discover new worlds and awaken new powers, at least show them figuring out the power. Superman's entire story is about him trying to cope with his powers. People figuring out their powers makes for great development. But no, they'd rather rush through that so they can..what? Have an extra filler episode of the team fighting a random monster and saving some random person?

I still think that the main mech should at LEAST be saved until episode two. It showing up in the first episode felt rushed here, it felt rushed in Ninninger, and it felt rushed in ToQger. Even if it's like Kyoryuger, where one of the mech parts shows up in episode one but they don't combine until episode two.

Now, I'm not saying that it was a bad first episode, or that it'll lead to a bad series. I still have high hopes for this series and think it'll be a lot of fun based on the first episode. I just think it could have been much better if they delved deeper into what was going on.

There is still the hope for a director's cut for the blu-ray of the first few eps which they did for Kyoryuger. All is not completely lost for folks who expect a tad more.

What would something as minor as the changes people are suggesting add though? In the grand scheme, it's still a relatively fast paced episode and these changes don't impact the course of events in any way.

Personally, I think the fast pace of the episode was an intentional thing. Yamato is definitely supposed to be the POV character for the audience and things were rushed through simply because there's no way he could understand them yet. At least in so far as everything leading up to the action, which I will admit, did one of the most annoying things Sentai can do early on by having its cast know the ins and outs of their powers from the first moment.

For all the work that went into making Zyuland, we really didn't see a lot of it in this episode. I think this show would have been served better by a Gingaman style premiere - essentially a two parter that takes its time. Episode two of that show ended at almost the exact point episode one here ends, with the characters being taken in.

For the record I enjoyed episode 1 for not stretching things out. ;)
Still got a whole year so no rush.

In Dairanger it was just Red who went from new guy to instant combat expert, the 4 others were already a team under the management of the mentor. But one can argue he was special to start with because of his origins. The 6th ranger was also a special case, it was more or less the sentient dagger guiding the boy.
As Dairanger universe follows a Yin-Yang balance of things, in some ways it was okay one side suddenly get himself a new champion given all that was happening on the Gorma's side.

Yeah, the part that bothered me most was how everyone knew how to Super Sentai so fast. The Zyumens, I can understand. Maybe they teach this stuff in school for them. The human? Unless the Eagle Zyuman told him "Here's how to use the Rubix Cube of Power", he really should be fumbling with that thing until he transforms or summons Pinhead.

This. Just because something is common within the series doesn't mean it shouldn't at least make sense.

I could have sworn that at least one other one had just joined the team at the same time. It's been a while though, and I only saw a couple of episodes, so I'm probably remembering wrong.