Not to mention Deka suffers from being all episodic with no plot.

That's actually my biggest problem with it :lol
I know it's more solid that "Random jackasses stumble into great power" in terms of becoming a ranger, but when people like Ban are chosen from a list of applicants, it's hard to like the idea that he was intentionally added :lol

That was kind of the second problem. It feels like a cop action show, which is nice, but the plot heavier moments are basically just Tetsu's moments.

So, with the revelation that Beet and Stag Buster are 6ths/Additional Rangers (Whichever you want to call it), it leads me to ask: How do they pick which rangers are core team members, and which are additional.

JAKQ's Big One is a core member, despite being a late addition (And hitting all the key points of a 6th ranger)
AbareBlack is also a core member despite transforming later on, however, he is generally exempt because he's present from episode 1 and I think he regains the ability to morph by episode 6 or 7 (And including him would have to bring up the Kakuranger and Jetman's delayed team forming, too, so I'll be fair).

But then there's the 3 man teams.
Liveman's Black Bison and Green Sai, Gekiranger's GekiViolet and Chopper, and the Gouraigers in Hurricanger. The first two set those rangers up as main rangers despite joining later on in the series (Though the Gouraigers do seem to have more of a divide in Hurricanger, and it's just Gokaiger that treats them as part of the core team).

So why are Beet and Stag Buster considered 6th/Additional members, when they should fall under the same category as Liveman and Gekiranger? I mean, at least the Go-On Wings and the Gouraigers had the decency to have their own team name to make it clear there was some kind of divide :p
(But for real, I'm rather confused)

Well Matrix...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5ivIKhR8wrE

So I finished Goseiger last night, and I enjoyed it way more than I expected to, I wouldn't think twice about considering it one of my favorite Sentai.

The characters were all fairly likable and they had some gems of episodes and meshed really well for me(Alata, Hyde and Eri being some of my favorite Red, Blue and Pink rangers), the show looked great visually in all aspects(with some really impressive suit acting all around), and the arcs method the show used was really cool too.

That is neat, but it's not the coolest aspect of the show. The coolest aspect of Dekaranger is, of course, Umeko.

I actually like that about Dekaranger. It's just a fun weekly action show made up of episodic done-in-ones and the occasional two-parter. It doesn't try to take a single story and stretch it across 48 episodes with a bunch of filler crammed in. I like a good overarching narrative as much as anyone, but I think episodic shows have their place, too.

I actually don't like Umeko either. I found her rather annoying, being written as a dummy just for the sake of it, and the bath sequences were stupid.

Umeko goes into my books as being one of the worst pink rangers ever just like I feel Ban is one of the worst red rangers.

I'm cool with it being episodic if its like a 13 episode show,but when it is nearly 50 episodes I need a plot and a central villain. I wouldn't have even cared if that villain showed up at like episode 40, just that there was a kingpin over seeing Aburera. I think the main problem is that the final battle didn't have any payoff because Aburera couldn't fight for ****. Well that and I'm not a fan of cop shows for that very reason, no big story arc.

On the other hand, I do appreciate Dekaranger more than I did when it first came out, but this is one of those few times where I think the Power Rangers version was a better show.

i watch zyuohger 's ep 30 on youtube - zyuohgers and aliens chase after zyuoh whale

Glad you enjoyed it so much! That's pretty much what I like about the show too :)

Gotta love Umeko and her rubberducks.

I think Dekaranger being episodic feels so weird because of the time it was released. If you look at the shows that were broadcast in the same decade as Dekaranger, such as Magi or Aba, you can already see a trend for Sentai to be more plot-driven than many shows in the 90s or especially the 80s. Which doesn't mean they have no plot, but the story is told more loosely than what later shows like Shinkenger, Go-Busters or Toqger did (which all happen to be written by the same author, lol).
I think if you like Deka or not really depends on what kind of shows you prefer. If you like plot-heavy shows, then maybe Deka can be a bit boring, but if you just want to enjoy the show "casually" as in always experience something new with each episode or you just have to take long-breaks between eps, Deka is probably made for your viewing habits.

Under the weather most of the weekend so I rewatched a big chunk of Go-Busters. It may not be the most popular Sentai ever, but I love the heck out of that show. I lament all the Figuarts we never got from the series (and ToQger, while I'm crying).