Unless they're a point of contention with children that's kinda irrelevant thought.

Well, after three or four false starts with trying to get going on the current Sentai, I've finally gotten over the "hump", and I'm now actually liking and following Ninninger. It's pretty good. I think the character development is lacking a little, but I'm only on episode 14, so I'm sure it will fill out soon enough. Definitely not as bad as I had thought that it really was, it's growing on me.

not anymore

the show is kinda dry at the moment
too much fillers

I've been one of this board's staunchest defenders of Ninninger, and I've definitely enjoyed most of the show's run. There are a few episodes that I absolutely detest, but for the most part I've liked/loved the show. Mind you, I'll never rank Ninninger in my top 5 sentai series (or possibly even in my top 10), but nevertheless, it's a fun and amiable show, packed with likable characters, interesting one-off stories, and GREAT design work.

That said...

Things have very recently stalled out for me. IMO, the show has COMPLETELY wasted the last three episodes (39-41), which is disconcerting. The action/plot should be ramping up right now, but so far the writers have been treading water. If this show has the standard 47-49 episode run, they now have 6-8 episodes to close it out in a satisfying way.

I believe in this show. I really do. 6-8 episodes is enough time to do something really cool with the finale. But if they whiff it? Ninninger becomes an exercise in wasted potential and will be hard to recommend.

I actually really like that. Besides, it's not like Sentai is the most nuanced show out there. I can forgive a bit of overacting.

There was an episode where they used some sort of translator to talk to them. Is this really worth giving it "points off" though? Also, Dragonmaru is just a combiner piece, not an individual mecha like Bison King or Dragon Caesar.

Kyuuemon is, has always been, and will always be a male.

(For the record, the parts of your post I deleted I either agree with or have no way to argue against it)

I saw a tweet or something from somebody working on the series, saying they might skip ToQger because trains aren't popular or widespread in America, and that the suits look too "preschooler" esque and kids today probably wouldn't like them. Who knows though.

Interesting, I thought that the show has picked up a bit since Mangetsu showed up. I haven't seen 41 yet so I can't comment on that though. However, I am getting worried too. There's at most 10 episodes left, and still (seemingly) a lot of ground to cover

BTW, I crammed episodes 23-36 into one sitting a few week's back and here is what I said about it:

So today I finally watched episodes 23-36 of Ninninger. As a whole, it's still pretty generic and bland, but in pieces, there were some truly great moments. First off, I did enjoy the bit with the boys trying it scare Kasumi in the abandoned school, but then they ruined it by having the fight take place in a brightly lit gym which made no sense. The battle would have been far more atmospheric if they had actually kept it in the darkness like the rest of the school had. The four episodes with the western Youkai were a joke. They were no different than the normal Monsters of the Week, but they were also pretty pathetic. What was worse though is they break up the arc with a freaking clip show episode. WTF?! I did actually enjoy the ninja school stuff with Kyuemon, but it seemed to go by too quick. Nevertheless episode 32 is down right awesome and probably the best episode of the series. The fight between Kyuemon and grandpa was badass. The new mechs though are kind of lackluster, but it made me laugh since they are all based on Chinese mythology (especially after coming off of Dairanger). The second worst episode I watched was another Youkai being in love with Yakamo. Didn't we just have that plot point like 12 episodes ago? WTF where they thinking? Thankfully the two parter with Kinji going Wolf Man was cool considering how lackluster the original fight with him was.

I actually really liked the one where the Bee fell in love with Yakumo, and the one with Frankenstein is probably my favorite episode of the series so far. I'm not gonna lie though, it's because it took place in a theme park.

The whole thing with the "3 Great Western Yokai" was a total joke. I was expecting something more akin to Gekiranger and how whenever a notable group of monsters was introduced, they'd stick around for a bit and actually gain development as villains before being dispatched. Franken and Dracula were goofy one-offs who could have done so much more. Plus if they kept the Werewolf around longer, it could have made for a better relationship between him and Kinji, with the latter struggling with taking bitter revenge over a more righteous path. It's not like that hasn't been tried in Sentai before.

Speaking of Kinji another issue I have with his whole character arc is that he gets two episodes dedicated to the whole "turning yokai" issue and it ends with him getting a power-up...that then proceeds to be used more by everyone else other than him. And when he DOES use it, he gets whooped. What's the point then?

Another toy to sell?

Seriously though, that bothers me too. Every other episode "Hey ____, try this!" and he tosses them his sword.

Another toy to sell?

Seriously though, that bothers me too. Every other episode is "Hey ____, try this!" and he tosses them his sword. It's almost like he doesn't actually like it.

When I really think about it, most of my dissatisfaction stems from Kibaoni Mangetsu being the lamest Sentai villain in quite a while. A petulant, spoiled child that looks and acts way older than he is and who shows up in the last ten episodes claiming that he's the rightful heir to the dark empire? Never seen that one before, Sentai. :rolleyes

But see, the whole reason characters like Tranza from Jetman and Kaiser Buldont from Ohranger work is because we saw them being the least respected villain of their group for like, 40 episodes before they became actual, credible threats. We followed those characters for the better part of a year and had already grown to love/hate them. We had time understand their perspectives and motivations, and we derived joy from seeing them turn the tables on the villains who disrespected them all season.

Meanwhile, Mangetsu springs out of nowhere fully-formed, with no previous mention and/or satisfactory build-up, and we're supposed to care? Yeah, no. There's simply not enough time to attach to a new villain this late in the game, especially one so half-assedly conceived, and especially especially when you know he's gonna be ousted real soon by Kibaoni Gengetsu and/or Kyuuemon, when one of them is revealed as the show's Chief Big Bad.

It also doesn't help that every one of Mangetsu's plots has ALREADY BEEN DONE ON THIS VERY SHOW, and done better by Kyuuemon... a character I DO really care about!

Ugh. I'm frustrated, can you tell? :lol

Maybe so, but between actually confronting Kinji and Kyuuemon and almost killing Fuuka Mangetsu actually seems to be getting stuff done, as opposed to the complete incompetence of the rest of team Kibaoni (which I consider Kyuuemon as seperate from at this point). Don't get me wrong though, I recognize that they could be doing more, but what he's done so far hasn't really been bad in my opinion. He also seems to me like he'll end up being a catalyst for something more, rather than an actual villain we should have any sort of feeling for.

Now, once they get to like episode 45 and nothing has happened, then I'll start being disappointed.

So I was wondering...most of the complaints about this show is that there doesn't really seem to be a big overarching plot...but Dekaranger had that same issue, yet I see tons of praise for that series. I haven't seen Dekaranger, is it really that much better than Ninninger?

Dekaranger stems from them being a police force (And detectives), so it does make some sense. However, there isn't tons of praise for it. There are just as many detractors of Dekaranger for that exact problem.

Dekaranger is definitely better than Ninninger, but it does have its fair share of issues. In fact, Dekaranger is one of those shows where I think the Power Rangers adaptation might have been better.

I enjoyed Dekaranger a ton, but I don't think it is better than Ninninger, just different. It's an apples and oranges situation. But everyone has their own cup of tea when it comes to sentai.

Huh. I remember tons of praise surrounding it when I was getting into Sentai, even being listed as one of the best seasons, though I haven't seen nearly as much praise (or criticisms, really) lately.

Dekaranger's biggest failing is that it's really forgettable. With so few overarching stories, a lot of it tends to just disappear as soon as you see it. While it does have it's memorable moments (Doggy's first transformation is awesome, DekaBreak's story is nice), most of it is just...Not memorable.

But during my time here, I don't see much praise for it, and on a lot of people's "Best/Worst" Sentai lists, often times you'll see it placed in the mid level.

There are a few members here who will stand by it as one of the best, but outside of Sun Vulcan, there's practically a fanboy for EVERY Sentai on this board :p

....you're killing me. I'm going to watch that show and love it to pieces, just you wait.

Go for it. Try it. Tell me how much you enjoyed it.
All while dying inside because of how hard it was to lie like that~

I think it's more because of what people expected. With Dekaranger's police them, it was pretty obvious for them to go with an episodic way of storytelling, but with Ninninger, many people expected it to be Shinkenger2 aka story-driven and somewhat darker.
The thing is, you could of course have done this very well with Ninninger as it does have a very similar base to Shinkenger. But they ultimately decided to go focus on the "Ninja in-training" part of the plot with them learning and experiencing new stuff every episode. I guess that's because the main writer only did filler episodes so far and might have had some trouble with a very thick plot- Shinkenger's main writer was a Sentai veteran who had been around since the 90's and is generally pretty good at crafting stories and characters, on the other hand.

Ninninger might not be a very good season, but it's okay for a young author's first project as a main writer. Dekaranger was written by another veteran author, Naruhisa Arakawa (who also wrote the official parody, Akibaranger), so of course it generally feels much more fleshed out and thought-through than Ninninger.

I'm sorry, but even I think that's impossible and I don't even consider Sun Vulcan as my least favorite show. You might enjoy the second half to some extent but the first half is just... urgh. x,DDD

Don't do it dude....it's not worth it.

I enjoy what I've seen of Sun Vulcan. Enjoy.

As I've made this post, I still love NinNinGer.

The problem is Ninninger HAS an overarching plot, a very big one in fact. But it hasn't progressed it nearly enough for it to remain relevant or interesting.

Yes. But then what DON'T you love? :p

Gaim and ToQGer's endings that's about it lol.

Exactly.

I was really enjoying Ninninger until the last 5 or so episodes. Up to that point, the focus on character building was enough for me because the show's own structure implied that BIG THINGS were eventually gonna happen with the overarching plot.

And then the big ramp up to the finale began and... It was just bad. We got a bunch of episodes based on games that repeated plots done better earlier in the series, but this time with a one dimensional, ultimately incosequential villain who was introduced just to die in the lamest way possible.

Even if the last four episodes knock my socks off, it's not gonna be able to justify the frustration it's recently caused.

So, I guess, to answer Epsilon's question...

Dekaranger never implied that it would be a show with an overarching plot. Meanwhile, Ninninger did imply an overarching plot -- but failed to deliver an effective or interesting one... And was way too content just spinning its wheels while going nowhere meaningful.

Don't forget that the show has Ban, one of the loudest, most obnoxious red rangers ever. That man doesn't even know what the meaning of an inside voice is.

As for ranking, yeah, I'd probably have Deka late teens on my list, but that is also because I have not watched about 9 Sentai series, my list is only ranked out of about 30 series, so it could be higher on the list, but it could be lower.

For me, the memorable moments of Deka include Doggie's first transformation as Deka Master, DekaBaseRobo's transformation, the Three Hell Siblings, and the first use of SWAT mode. Other than that, I can't say too many praises about the show. That doesn't make it a bad show, just forgettable. I would like to revisit it one day though, but I'm holding out for quality subs over those TV rips Nihon used.

Fixed that...:D

I do agree, the show hasn't really been going anywhere, even with the cameos, where exciting, haven't moved the plot forward at all. By this time we should be on the edge of our seats waiting for something huge to happen, but of course we all know how it's going to end....but at least make it interesting!

Well played! :lol