It’s more like Kamen Riders look a lot like Akaranger

Wait, emojis work on this forum?!?
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EDIT: Oh wow it does!
EDIT 2: Wait no it doesn't! What's going on?!?

Yes.

Do you guys think with how much both franchises are changing, that we'll get a Super Sentai equivalent to Kamen Rider Amazons?

The similarity would be due to the toys, and I will be extremely surprised if red and yellow don't end up being the arms of a 4-to-5-mecha combo. The arms will roughly match. You can see the fingers and thumbs in the black areas around their feet.

Akibaranger?

What’s your issue with Shirakura? The Sentai he’s produced, Jetman and Dairanger, are two of the all-time best. Those series also show that he’s pretty insistent on a strong emphasis on good villains, which should counteract Komura’s relative weakness on the villain front.

Even though I was initially disappointed by the Komura reveal, I’ve become pretty excited to see how Shirakura and Komura work together. I think Komura’s strong character work paired with Shirakura’s attention to the big picture could add up to something special. They have complementary skill sets, and their individual strengths could override their weaknesses.

Of course they’ll combine. It’s Sentai!

The word on the street is that ZenKaiser will get his own mech in Q2 that will serve as the base for the team’s first super gattai.

Rumor has it that Bandai is blaming Kiramager’s relatively weak toy sales on the lack of a huge, all-robot super gattai, so they’re insisting on major combo forms this year.

We should anticipate a huge emphasis on combining robots this year.

You’re the first person I’ve encountered who’s said this! Can you elaborate on why? I, personally, think they’re bottom-tier villains, but I love to hear why people disagree with me.

^^^ This times a million. The crowd that’s insistent on ZenKaiser being too Kamen Rider-y are completely ignoring the very obvious Akaranger homage. No one has convinced me that there’s anything Kamen Rider-inspired about his design. Any similarities are incidental to the fact that both Akaranger and Kamen Rider Ichigo were designed by the same guy and conform to his very singular design aesthetic.

He was responsible for the terrible second half of Hibiki and all terrible Super Hero Taisen movies (Hibiki's actor refuses to reprise his role and even Hiroshi Fujioka hated the way they portrayed his character in one of Super Hero Taisen movies)

He was also the head producer of Decade and Zi-O.

That's why I am wary of him.

Well, I suppose it's fair to preface it by saying:-
A) With the exception of Shinkenger, most of Abaranger and about ten episodes of Goranger; I've only actually seen Gokaiger onwards as far as Sentai is concerned
B) It's mostly Quval. Kuvar? Cubald? Quball? This guy's name is translated a million different ways

But, yeah, Quval's characterisation late-game is what got me the most. I adored how much it paralleled the Zyuohger's own would-be situation in the event of Ginis winning: he's a guy whose entire planet got destroyed and it drove him completely mad, wanting to kill Ginis by any means possible. There's just... I admit it was a while ago so it's hard for me to really go into, and I was a different person back in 2017; but something about the way Quval's story and actions late-game were presented was so tragic and compelling to me and was so strong that I wanted him at every point to join the Zyuohgers. There's a lot to be said, I think, for a villain who turns out to have the exact same goals and enemies as the protagonists but without any of the same temperament or morals that make our heroes heroes.
Also? His design fucking rocks. It's still outstanding to me among most Tokusatsu suits; it looks so much more real and the robotics in that helmet really sold me. Extremely memorable.

Aside from that? It was a great set-up and ensemble. I really liked how foreboding and grim and inevitable Ginis felt -- he wasn't active, he wasn't taking the field, but that's because he didn't care for conquering at all; everything was simply a game where if things didn't interest him he'd just incinerate the board and move on elsewhere. At the time especially it felt really fresh to me as a great explanation for the formula of "one monster at a time that only grows bigger later" - a formula that I'm a bit more fine and accepting of these days, but one whose justification here still made things more interesting. Beyond that I love Quval and Azald's constant bickering and competition with each other; and while Quval's late-game reveal was my favourite, I think both Ginis and Azald's have so much meaning behind them and kept things super interesting. Beyond that what they did with Zyuoh The World was more Kamen Rider than most modern Kamen Riders, and Bangray decided to show up halfway through the season to be a bunch of fun if you weren't into "the villains don't directly engage the heroes". I felt every decision made with them was very intentional and very fitting for who they were and what the series was. Just super memorable to me!

I really curious to Lupinranger Medal and Patranger Medal

Maybe both both medals have number 42.


Zi-O is not best Kamen Rider series but I think Zi-O as anniversray season is good in my opinion. Hmm...I prefer Zi-O than Decade because Zi-O have more a returning characters and Zi-O story is more interesting than Decade.

At least Zi-O have have happy ending in series..:D

Honestly the way people make Shirakura out with specifically the SHT, Decade and Zi-O stuff (Can't say anything on Hibiki cause I haven't watched it) make it sound like it's all terrible and irredeemable.

When that's like not true at all? I get opinions are subjective but like, no matter how bad a SHT is, there's something to enjoy in it, even if its small, hell in Kamen Rider Taisen there was just so many nice small scenes involving stuff like Tsukasa, Takumi etc. The plot beats weren't the best but it still had great character moments.

Even Decade and Zi-O have their own great moments that really stand on their own as really great things.

I mean, I get your point. But... "Of course they'll have five Asian people who transform into multi-colored spandex suits, it's Sentai!"

Oh wait, no. Not this time.

Okay so you’re just gonna ignore the rest of my post that elaborates on this. Got it. :lol

One of the strongest aspects of LuPat was the character interactions, so at least that's a bit of a boost. It's funny that Shirakura is attached to Sentai, since I normally associate him with Rider. Does that mean the previous 44 Sentai are in different worlds :lol

I just think it’s funny that because he did Decade and Zi-O, which are divisive, everyone ignores that he produced Agito, Ryuki, 555, Blade, Kabuto, Den-O, Amazons, Jetman, Zyuranger, Dairanger, Kyuranger (as an advisor), PGSM, Changerion, and Kikaider Reboot... which are all beloved to varying degrees.

Nah, I ignored the rest of the post because it wasn't directed at me. I only responded and read what you quoted to me.

And again, I do get your point here. It's not like I'm disagreeing, just being cautious about it, is all.

The rest I agree with as well as the overall thrust of your post, but... 'beloved' is quite a thing to say about Amazons and Changerion!

Well, I did elaborate with the rumors about Zenakaiser’s Q2 mech (which is supposedly based on the Varidorin from Gorenger) and the word from Bandai, as relayed by Shirakura himself at the TIFF Sentai Masterclass, that they blame Kiramager’s lackluster sales on a lack of super gattais.

I get the caution, it’s healthy, and I’m not disagreeing either. I’m just trying to allay your concerns.

I still to this day don't get all the hate SHT gets.

The original is a real good toku movie with a strong core cast. Even SHTZ is better than I remembered it and I really didn't like SHTZ at first. Kamen Rider Taisen? Another real good toku movie. Taisen GP? Good elements, but THAT is where things started to decline. Cause then you get to Chou Super Hero Taisen and that film just isn't good. The only memorable thing about it is the fact that it semi-canonized Amazons and even then their scene was kinda laughable.

That’s all very fair! I think the elements you noted about Quval didn’t hit quite as hard for me because I’ve seen Sentai do the sympathetic villain much better in earlier seasons. But since you don’t have that background, I can totally see why Quval resonated more with you than it did with me.

That said, I thought Ginis was frustratingly inactive and detached from beginning to end. I thought that detachment was intriguing at first but it became apparent as the show went on that detachment was all he had to offer.

Lol... has fandom turned on Amazons while I wasn’t looking?

I think Changerion is pretty well regarded by most who’ve watched it, no?

Right? I looked at his list and was like "uhhhh...what's everybody's problem?"

I mean yeah, it does similar to Akaranger's design. It's just that it's unusual for a super sentai suit design to be so colorful and have a lot of little details. Usually a super sentai suit is pretty plain with some printed patterns and belts. It's reminds me of Kamen Rider because of the little details it has.

Isn't Zenkaiger also an anniversary season? I don't see why people wouldn't think of Zi-O and Decade. Zi-O wasn't too bad but it's underwhelming for an anniversary season. Decade is just all over the place.

The point is that you shouldn't only base an opinion off of only two series when there are other series under their belt.

But again, the point is that they were both major anniversary series. Zenkaiger is an anniversary series, and the first Sentai season Shirakura will be producing in over 25 years. He was clearly brought back based on his experience with anniversary shows.

I'm honestly baffled there are people in here who can defend Super Hero Taisen with a straight face. That is hands down one of the most insanely stupid tokusatsu films I have ever watched, only outdone by Kamen Rider The First and The Next (which he also produced). It is literally 90 minutes of good characters acting evil and fighting each other for no reason with some of the weakest fight choreography I can recall.

Shirakura is also very transparent that he likes to play favorites (look at how much love he gives Kamen Rider Amazon compared to almost every other Showa Rider). So I wouldn't be surprised if this show winds up favoring certain past Sentai tributes over others. Maybe even ones he had in making.

Hopefully Komura (and inevitably Arakawa as a secondary writer) will be able to pull out a good show from whatever his ridiculous demands may be this time.

Well, look on the bright side with people who don't like Shirakura, at least he won't be producing Rider's 50th anniversary show...maybe.

zyuohger is still one of my favorite sentai series of all time, with some of my favorite, and thematically solid, villains (even if naria got shafted badly, and even then i understand why). lupat mainly suffered from severe and obvious rewrites due to the toyline not doing well (a lot of foreshadowing with the butler man doesn't pay off, patranger obviously were going to have a larger role but ended up being put aside because lupinranger were more popular) but it was still overall an enjoyable season, far from the worst sentai's produced.

so i don't reaaaalllly get why people are so worried? i know kiramager is really good and will be hard to top but... idk i'm sure the series will be fine overall, sentai usually pulls through in its anniversary seasons

edit: i was just gonna leave this but i love zyuohger too much to not elaborate

So, Zyuohger's theme is the connections we make with each other and the positive interactions those leave, mostly shown by how these two different worlds interact and how a lot of episodes involve minor characters. Well, the villains represent negative connections, poisoned and severed connections.

Almost all of the villains hate each other. Azald hates Cuval, Naria hates both of them but is completely loyal to Genis, who hates everything, and Cuval hates Genis. And of course, the only positive connection in all this is Naria and Genis... who kills her without a second thought.

Genis himself is LITERALLY thousands of beings connected, and he hates it. Genis perpetuates a cycle of hate and distrust through the death games, distancing himself from both his minions and the actual worlds he destroys simply so he can make himself feel better about a situation he chooses to hate. The only person Genis has any connection to is himself, through a mix of egotism and self-loathing.

The entire set up is genuinely more thematically solid than Sentai usually gets, especially with its villains (maaaybe Liveman's villains beat it out? i haven't watched all of liveman though). I do really think that Genis is like, top 5 Sentai villains. Of course, there is a GENUINE chance that I'm looking too deep into this because Dogranio was Genis-lite without any of the thematic writing choices, even without considering rewrites.

Guess we'll have to see how the villains of Zenkaiger play out.

They're numbered 42 and 43.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DfJpYg2XUAAT_Mn.jpg

They’ll probably share a gear and number. Maybe special GP versions later?

It makes more sense for them to have separate Gears with their corresponding numbers, considering they're part of the 45 legendary Sentai that Zenkaizer is supposed to represent.

Well the concept image shows a Lupinranger Gear with the number 42 and a Kiramager Gear with the number 44. Make of that what you will.

Yeah, I'm checking out the concepts now. I guess the staff thought giving the Patrangers' stuff to the Lupinrangers wasn't harsh enough so now they want to pretend they don't exist. :(

Lupinranger was clearly the more favored team of VS, but something tells me we'll get two gears that say 42 with Patrenger on the other and that'll probably end up being a plot point.

Regrettably, yeah. If Patranger gets a Gear that shares the number with Lupinranger, that would mean the Gears are numbered by season rather than by Sentai.

Damn, the show hasn't even started yet and the anniversary specifics are already annoying me like Gokaiger did.

I kinda prefer it like this though, and I always figured trying to treat the Lupinrangers and Patrangers as the 42nd and 43rd respectively would lead to exactly this kind of weirdness down the line. From the beginning, both teams should have been treated as the collective 42nd Sentai, if you ask me.

That would defeat the whole point of having a season where two Sentai fight each other. It's literally in the title. Lumping them together is like counting V3 and Riderman as a single Rider or counting twins as the same person.

Technically, Hurricanger and Gouraiger are separate Sentai. The Neziregia is a Sentai. Dekaranger A-Squad and the ancient Ryusoulgers and Shinkengers are Sentai. The Flowery Kunoichi Gang is arguably a Sentai. I’m sure there are others.

Toei has always counted series, not Sentai teams, because what counts as an individual Sentai team isn’t exactly clear or agreed upon. Better to just count the category we’re 100% sure of.

The way I see it, them fighting each other as who will be the dominant and 'true' 42nd sentai when the meta-truth is that they all count as real Sentai that year, just adds to the uniqueness of the gimmick.