Over Time subbed that Go-Busters special with the evil Beet Buster.
Also Gavan totally showed up for some reason.

Continued with the group watching of Zyuranger we have been doing and watched the DragonRanger intro. Absolutely love Burai he's badass so far, and I think it's a bit more interesting with him being his own side. Also love the conflict between him and Geki. Geki and Burai are my favorites so far. Episodes 17-22 were what we watched. Love Grifforzer and Lami too.

Watched the first 13 episodes of Goseiger.

It's OK, not great, not terrible, it just sort of is, but I do like Moune and Agri. But, man, is it merchandise driven. Don't get me wrong- EVERY Sentai is, but this especially. There is either a new headder/mecha/card every single episode, out of the 13 I've seen, only 5 didn't show off a brand new headder or mecha, not to mention those silly microphones they use in the ending and not in the show proper. I've heard the show picks up when Gosei Knight arrives, so I'm looking forward to that.

So is Zyuranger good, then? Been thinking about watching it for a long time, since it was the reason for my favourite franchise and MMPR is so very terrible....

Other than 4 out of 6 members of the team having little to no personality its alright. Unless like me you get sick of the "kid of the week" storytelling style very quickly.

I saw it with my partner and partly my brother and I thought it was OK, while my partner thought it was amazing (he's a big MMPR fan though, so that might've contributed) and my brother hated it. The characters are decent enough, although Geki and Burai are significantly more memorable then the other rangers while Witch Bandora is the real star of the show character-wise and Burai's villain arc is by far the highlight of the show story-wise. The show is also all about fantasy and legend, which is a big difference to MMPR's emphasis on Sci-Fi. It's got it's problems though; nearly every episode outside of Burai's first arc revolves around a child with a problem they help solve, which I didn't mind too much but my brother found so intolerable he stopped watching with us and the episodes range from excellent to sometimes boring. It's a very light-hearted and goofy show (ignoring Burai's arcs and the final few eps) and is extremely different from Jetman that preceded it, but I absolutely love Bandora though, although Rita Repulsa actually channels her character quite well. The mecha and costumes are also some of the best ever in my opinion too, but you get them in MMPR too.

tl/dr: I think its worth a try, especially considering what it began, although it is by no means perfect.

EDIT:
Heh, that's what I thought too. The other rangers are pretty darn generic and, like I said, my brother hated the "kid of the week" theme so much he stopped watching, so it's definitely a bit of a mixed opinion on wether its good or not.

TV Nihon subbed this thing literally months ago. It was pretty damn fun.

And I don't know that those things are real testaments of Zyurangers quality though. Those things are by-products of the era. Late Showa and early Heisei sentai tend to have very episodic and child friendly plots/episodes as well as generic extended casts. Some of them pull it off well though like Jetman, Zyuranger, and Dairanger. It's just how sentai was done at that time.

I don't know if I'd necessarily agree with that. Jetman didn't have constant kid of the week plotlines and Dairanger (albeit rather unbalanced) gave some sort of memorable coverage to all of its members.

When it comes to Zyuranger, I genuinely can't remember anything memorable about Boi, Goushi, Dan or Mei. Hell, I felt more for Dragon Ceasar in one episode than I did for any of them over the entire duration of the show.

Zyuranger just seems like the odd one out in between Jetman and Dairanger to me, which both had a really memorable team across the board, a darker tone and more emphasis on story and character development outside of just the to lead rangers. Zyuranger definitely isn't bad, but I think it was in between two fantastic series, which works against it.

You guys really haven't sold it to me, especially as I loved what I saw of Jetman (roughly the first half). Although I watched the first couple of episodes of Dairanger a while back and the episodes were so rushed and all over the place I couldn't tell what was going on half the time. It was a shame, because I really wanted to like it, as the suits are so cool.

ZyuRanger does have its faults because Goushi (who is my favorite of the main 5 nonetheless), Boi, and Dan don't really have any backstory or anything, but the show is by far in the top 10 best Sentai series of all time. The kid of the week plots do get annoying at times, especially because episodes 10-16 can be hit or miss for you, but the show's main stories and stuff are extremely well done and everything with Burai is amazing. Even the episodes after Burai's death are amazing.

Locke, how could you not follow DaiRanger? Then again, if you have trouble following something that simplistic, you definitely don't want to get later into the show when things start to get complex.

Jetman-KakuRanger are easily the best four years Sentai ever had in a row. Of course, CarRanger-TimeRanger are amazing series to, but some of them are not as strong as the previous four.

Because everything just kept...happening. No reasons, no explanations, no pace, it was like reading a comic before the days of continuity panelling.

That is a legit complaint for early Dairanger. The pacing is all over the place, especially with the incredibly rushed and then forgotten bit with Ryo's dad.

Early Dairanger was extremely rushed, but once they settled into their stories (about the time Kujaku was introduced, I think), it seriously improved.

There's nothing else for me to do today so i watched Super hero taisen.

What episode was that? I could watch 'til that point and see if it changes my mind.

Episode 9 I think?

As it is my day off, I'm gonna spend it watching the first nine episodes of Dairanger (or rather rewatching the first four or so episodes, then trying out the next five).

So DaiRanger 01. What was that really drawn out pushbike scene about? For an episode so rushed, it seemed happy to waste time on BMX stunts.

The villains in this show are ridiculous, but I can't quite workout who is more ridiculous. You have the Gorma who look somewhere between nazis, steampunk and fetishists, getting out of completely normal vehicles for ridiculous effect, but then you also have autotuned ugly Japanese children who can summon hentai tentacles to kill people.

The worst part of the episode, by far though, is how Ryou goes from one scene, where he has no idea what the fuck is going on and rightly so, to literally the next scene where he morphs and wields his powers in such nonchalant fashion you have to assume about five years have passed between the two scenes for him to have mastered something so completely. But nope, it looks like about ten minutes have passed.

And I just wanna like it so bad, because those suits man, they are so beautiful. And the fight scenes and mecha man, they are so fucking good. Even with hilariously dated special effects in places.

If only their unmorphed personalities (what five seconds of it we see) don't seem to match with their morphed ones, which makes no sense at all as these fights were made for these characters. But I had the same problem with Jetman at times, and I love that show.

Dairanger 02. That Gouma chick looks like Jennifer Lawrence.

RyuuSeiOh is so fucking awesome, it feels like the mecha really has gone backwards in the last ten or so years. Now the awesome is done, time to fight a purse! I love how Blue's début of his power was it failing to work, good God. Then Jason Vorhees appears.

Still, the fights are especially fun, and are helped to become even greater by the high level of camp that early 90s sentai seemed to embrace with such vigour. These guys are ridiculous, I like how all red can do is shoot flames, when other members of the team can control gravity, time and make trains appear out of thin air. If I can enjoy OO on a pure entertainment level, then I can love this.

Shouji's like the brute of the team, right? So why is he blue? His martial arts and power don't seem to fit to him at all, he seems to be all about balance and concentration, despite being really wild and savage. I think he'd work better as yellow who seems drunk as fuck, despite seeming the most grounded of the team out of suit.

Dairanger 03. The episode where Daigo became my new favourite Dairanger. It also taught kids how not to drive! And that when something goes wrong, you lie to your friends.

I guess Souji redeemed himself somewhat by fighting a puppet. At least until the show ruined it, why does super sentai bother poking fun at itself when everything about it is stupid anyway? What moving cars and evil puppets?! Ridiculous! Because we totally don't have super powers, can turn into spandex clad warriors with giant robots and we literally didn't just fight a basketball playing purse or anything... :rolleyes

Anyway, that boys sister was a fucking bitch, I wish Souji would just drop her off a building or something, I hate characters like her. "I'll be an arse for the whole episode, until I reveal my tragic backstory and now you have to give a shit about me, even though I was a dick for the whole episode. CARE FOR ME!". I did love how when Daigo jumped to save her, he clearly missed and they awkwardly jumped to a shot of him holding her.

So this episodes villain was some weird cross dressing paedophile who has a thing for keys? Okay...

Key Jester is an awesome monster!! In fact, most of DaiRanger's monsters are badass in the design department.

How is it forgotten? He sacrificed himself so they could form Dairen-Oh.

Because it just happens and then is never brought up again. For something as big a deal as that should of been its just a blip for the series as a whole.

Dairanger 04. The scale and stakes have been raised, is the show finally getting serious and good? Eh... The rest of the episode was kinda fun, in a sort of drugged fuelled haze kind of way, especially when a puppet held up some fast food joint with a gun.

So wait, Ryou wasn't the only rookie, they all are? That makes the opening episode a bit more confusing then... These guys are some of the worst heroes ever, Daigo is the only one who feels like a proper heroic protagonist.

Another fun set of action scenes, though. I love the mech stuff here, and all the power weapons were awesome, even if they came from nowhere. Why they need them with their crazy superpowers is another story entirely... And I know it's just illusions, but I still think the general craziness of the way Daigo uses it makes it as stupid as it is epic.

Holy crap is Key Jester part of CP9? All Daigo needs to do is go gear second and he'll win!

Dairanger 05. The show continues to come closer to having a plot!

I love how there is no friendship or chemistry between this team, and none of them are very heroic either. The suits and fights may be cool as hell, but these guys are awful. Well except Daigo, who is awesome.

The villain is a musical lipstick? Okay. And wow she bled, don't think I've seen that before. I really like the footsolders of this season, though, they have a lot of personality and don't take no shit.

So the Master goes Super Saiyan, but it isn't enough! Not only is the mech stuff really enjoyable visually, but it's nice that they don't just get all their mechs in the first episode and there is an actual story behind their conception.

The fact that they are sentient helps a lot too, as I remember when the MMPR would start crying about their 'lost friends' when their mech dies, despite being these giant robots that came out of nowhere. I mean giant robots are cool, and I'd hate to lose mine too, but friend?

I also love how Japan hates women, so in response Lin goes into a forest and blows the place up with her magic powers. It seems like something from a really sexist sketch show.

Shouji's a hothead that runs right into battles, but is probably the least skilled of the team, which becomes a plot point in his story arc. His martial art-style's real-life motto is apparently something like "the best defense is a good offence." Kazu's (Yellow) fighting style is actually, I think, supposed to be a lot more sophisticated then the others martial arts-wise. While it is meant to mimic a drunken man, it's a technique that's only taught to certain monks irl, so I assume that's why the most level headed of the team uses it.

While people not savvy to martial arts like me don't really notice, I think some thought was put into their styles to match their personalities, which is pretty cool.

So Shouji's looks like it takes the most amount of focus and skill and Kazu's looks like it takes the least but in reality it is the other way round? That'd be pretty cool, if they actually explained or even hinted at that.

My major complaint with the fighting is how little Kazu and Shouji utilise their unique abilities. I mean, Kazu can control time and he only uses it about three times in the series and once is just to cheat in a baseball match! It's as jarring as when Disney Rangers stop using their super powers in morphed scenes, even in original footage... Daigo's illusions, Ryo's fire and Lin's tornadoes seem significantly less powerful, but they use them almost every single fight.

Plus they pile on so much shit. Not only do they have these God level abilities but they have their Daistaff thing, their laser guns, their swords, their power weapons, their Qi Beasts. I mean fucking hell guys.

Dairanger 06 - The episode where they forgot about Lipstick's scar, taking away her entire character motivations, just to add to all the other random shit that happens just because.

For a show with such well done action, it's amazing just how cheap this show can look at other times. You can practically make a drinking game out of all the goofs where strings or safety equipment are on full display and there never seemed to be any attempt to hide it.

So now the other mecha are revealed and I'm...underwhelmed. Star Lord or whatever his name is, is wicked, but these other four all look practically the same, don't have a rocking warrior mode and have like no articulation at all minus necks that make them look like pigeons.

Also lol at calling Lin 'beautiful', she looks like a man.

Dairanger 07 - It presented some really cool expansions on both the lore and general world of Dairanger, and also introduced us to a new and really awesome villain, so on that level it was really satisfying. What dragged it down, was how the Dairanger's don't function as a team at all, and none of them feel even slightly like heroes, except Daigo, who is the only member of the team so far that I genuinely like.

Between the extremely low budget special effects and unlikeable set of characters it makes it hard for me to care about the good things.

I don't see how that matters. Is Ryo supposed to be fawning over his dead father who pretty much abandoned him when he was a kid and he thought was dead then?

That is because they are learning to be a team. This feels far more natural than 5 guys who meet each other for the first time and then suddenly work together with ease by the end of the episode.

That is what I love about Jetman-KakuRanger. The teams have to learn to work together. Three of the four groups have to earn their mecha. Plus, the amount of out of suit action is freaking amazing!!

I'll take low budget effects over piss poor CGI any day in these shows.

BTW, they did not forget about Lipstick's scar.

No, but I expect something like Ryo's supposedly dead father who betrayed his people to be treated with a little more gravitas than a plot of the week.

I get that, but I just think they did it better in Jetman. Here everyone just seems really naive, trying to score points over one another and just doing things that heroes should never do.

I do find it funny though that everyone bitches about Disney's civilian power stuff, then bums this show.

Lipstick's scar vanishes in the second episode of her story.

Dairanger 08.

Minus Iron Face, who is awesome, I find the Gorma really hard to take seriously. I mean the main three look ridiculous enough, without the 'Archbishop' (what?) turning up and looking like Father Christmas and acting like ShinkenBrown. I also love how his monster form has nothing to do with him as he was presented as a character, at all and is included so little it ends up serving no purpose.

Man, I feel like I'm going from one extreme to another here, as I watch the Dairanger's spend the majority of every episode getting kicked around the floor. I know they are all rookies and are still forming friendships but just...wow. I think at this point of the series, I could do a better job. This is all especially true of Ryou, as he is meant to lead the team. His father betrayed the original Dairanger's, he's clearly the most rookie of the group, he constantly gets his ass kicked, he is ridiculously childish. Why is Daigo not red?

I also love how none of this makes sense, so Ryou's dad is 6000 years old? What the actual fuck. I thought it was mean on your kids to have them when you're over forty... Saying he went to Gorma is not an explanation! Although he's dead already so I guess who gives a fuck.

Man the mecha stuff in this show is so fucking good, I love how Unified Lord actually looks awesome, rather than just a mess and I love how his design is vaguely like Ryou's father as well. Its introductory battle was just so epic.

In terms of both action scenes, and story elements, this show really is years ahead of its time, it's just a shame all of the great elements never come together for a great whole. At least not yet.

So Master Kaku wasn't one of the original Dairanger's? I wonder what his deal is, then.

Yeah I have to admit, the Gorma generals are uh, a bit distracting. The first time I saw them I burst out laughing, came in here, and made a BDSM joke. So yeah, you're not alone. But as a whole, I love Dairanger. The characters are good, the music is great, Star Wars theme and all.

Oh Kaku? You'll find out later.

Two of them were introduced by getting out of this shitty 70s brown banger of a vehicle, which only made it even more ridiculous.

Uh... there is a difference. First, in this series, they are martial artists using Ki, so it makes sense to have powers.

Secondly, Disney used it for EVERY series they did, not just one or two. I was fine with the powers in DT, but then SPD, MF, OO, and JF had them.

What is wrong with having kids when you are over 40? I'd rather be 45 and have kids when I can afford them and have enjoyed half my life than have them at 20, struggling to support them, and have had no life at all.

Would you rather have even more pointless exposition? I am rather surprised they did not give us a long dragged out explanation because Japanese love to spend hours in narrated exposition to the point that sometimes, you want to just gag the narrator. We don't need to know the reasons why he joined Gorma, he did and that is all that matters.

Agreed.

Give it time.

I love the Gorma generals. They are one of the most unique designs out of all the generals throughout Sentai. Sure, they don't look as amazing as the Saima Clan generals or Rio and Mele, but I love their designs with the leather S&M type designs. You also have to remember, these shows were still coming off the 80s (and you know how Japan is slow on the up take when a new generation comes in), and leather was extremely popular in the 80s. Plus, (as much as I love the Saima clan) I prefer having actual actors for my villains than just costumes.

Pretty much all of them had explanations for their civilian powers, though. Minus maybe Dino Thunder, SPD and OO because they had them just because. They fit perfectly in Ninja Storm, Jungle Fury and Mystic Force given the topic of the seasons.

SPD dedicated part of it's story to explaining why everyone on B-Squad had civilian powers.

DT and OO had them just because, though.