Would you rank the Magiranger villains above Gekiranger's Rio?

I haven't watched Gekiranger so I can't say for sure yet. Based on what I do know, however, they're different flavors of villains. Rio and Mele are more personal villains, with sympathetic personalities. They're definitely anti-heroes and very easy to connect with. We like them because their character development is top notch, we can relate with their desires even if we do not agree with them.

Magiranger villains, on the other hand, like Dr Kain said, are very Lovecraftian. You won't find many personable villains among the Infershia ranks because they are frightening and dangerous on a more epic scale. They are intriguing as a group rather than individually. That's not to say that they're not interesting as individuals, far from it, it's just that Magiranger's focus is on presenting a chaotic, overwhelming force.

In fact, I'd say the whole of Magiranger focuses on the group aspect. Take any individual Ranger, even Kai (Red) or Tsubasa (Yellow) and give them their own show, they wouldn't be able to hold it up as well as someone like Marvelous (Gokaired) or Takeru (ShinkenRed) can. However, put them together and as the Ozu family they really work well. I guess it's only fitting considering Magiranger's "family" theme and Super Sentai's "teamwork" focus as a whole.

Oh, interesting.
What makes the villain dynamic as a whole more interesting than the individuals themselves?

Hmm I would say that that's because the show focuses on the making the individual villains more incomprehensible, more cosmic. Being so epic in scope, it is only natural that they seem very inhuman, thus not as relatable (in a good way). When we first meet the villains, they seem so overwhelmingly powerful that is seems that the Magirangers are up against gods. When they achieve victory, it makes it so much more epic and satisfying.

No, definitely not. Rio and Mele are some of the best developed villians and I put them in second place for Sentai villians (the Saima Clan from GoGoV is #1). Still, they are definitely in the top 10.

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Once you see the Infershia Gods, you will understand. They show up in episode 34 I believe, and outside of one ridiculous story arc (but the ending makes up for it), they really feel like they are a threat.

Plus, Memmy is a fallen angel, which really brings some coplexity to his character.

END SPOILERS

END SPOILERS

SAFE ZONE

The biggest problem with MagiRanger is that when it is bad, it is really bad. But when it does shine, it has some really great moments. Sadly though, it is one of those shows that is hard to rewatch a second time, because once you lose the hype of the show, it is painful to sit through (kind of like 555).

I probably will. I want to finish up Dekaranger first and GUIS has started updating Jetman again and I want to catch up on that, too. I'm wary, but not willing to give it up so soon (unless that plant thing becomes as annoying as it looks it will).

Although comparing it to 555 is not a good way to encourage me. I cannot stand 555.

Everyone makes Faiz sound like such a bait and switch series ("The designs are so amazing, but the soap opera plot lines makes it so painful to watch.") that I'm actually afraid to watch it :lol

As for Magiranger, give me an example of how bad it can get (Noting that I'm well aware and used to those completely random, seemingly out of place episodes Sentai and KR do sometimes).

555 is not a bad show by any means, it's just that the last 8 episodes to the show were a total trainwreck. Character's personalities just randomly change and other characters appear out of the blue with no rhyme or reason, we are just supposed to believe they have been there the entire time.

As for a bad episode of MagiRanger, there is an episode where this skeleton monster is putting marks of death on people. This really ultra hyper dude that talks like he is on helium turns out to be one of them, but the episode makes you think him and Houka (pink) are lovers and they have this wedding and everything is just down so retarded that it makes it hard to sit through the episode even on the first viewing. In fact, most of the really bad episodes usually deal with either pink or green (green is the oldest brother but acts the most immature).

Rio and Mele are a different calibre of villain to most Super Sentai. To me, Gekiranger felt just as much about them as it did the heroes, and their growth as characters reflected that. Most of the time, while the villains do get development, they're still just there for a goal of conquest or something. Rio was much more than just that and that's why he's so awesome.

As for Magiranger, I love it. It's my favourite Sentai series after Gokaiger for a reason. It boasts some of the best monster designs in the franchise's history, has really strong ensemble casts in both the hero and villain department (and tbh, I think a lot of them work fine as individuals too - particularly Kai) and three acts that all build upon each other nicely (unlike the three that fall completely flat in Gaoranger). As for the slapstick, yes it has it - but I don't feel that it's exactly out of place. The series is pretty clear its going to lean to that side of things from the get-go, and it doesn't ever ruin the overall storytelling.

Finished up Sun Vulcan today - I'm sorry to say it's my least favourite Super Sentai series I've watched in its entirety. The team were far too dull and I missed the larger team dynamic. The introduction of Amazon Killer initially seemed like it was going to shake things up a bit for the better, but the plots just got progressively sillier and I simply lost interest.

It's a shame really, because once Inazuma Ginga was introduced the show started to get really good - the problem was he was introduced in episode 45 and by then nothing could really save it for me.

So out of all the Sentai shows that I've seen, here's how they rank up;

Gokaiger (predictable and cliché I know, but tough :p)
Magiranger
Dekaranger
Liveman
Gekiranger
Shinkenger
Dairanger
Go-onger
Gaoranger
Goseiger
Boukenger
Sun Vulcan

Gonna start watching Kamen Rider properly until the next show is completely finished.

For me, it'd have to be:
Gekiranger
Gokaiger

Because those are the only two series I've finished :lol
I've began plenty of series (GoBuster, Magiranger, Boukenger, Goseiger, Go-Onger, Sun Vulcan, and Shinkenger), but none of them held my interest for beyond 20 or so episodes (If even that, with Shinkenger being the only one to exceed 10 episodes).

Currently watching Go-onger. Not the best Sentai show I've watched, but one or two really good episodes keep me watching, and the team has heart. I'm reaching the introduction of Gold and Silver, so I can't wait to continue.

I'd advise keeping up with Shinkenger, it does get better after loads of filler. If anything the last 10 episodes make the series for me. I understand the boredom in the beginning, though, as Doukoku does nothing significant at all initially.

Magiranger is also worth watching, as the story arcs get better over time for me. The final arc was very much worth watching.

Funnily enough Gekiranger for me is a series I lost interest with after about 4-5 episodes. Would you recommend I give it another chance? I find the Rangers themselves rather bland, and Jan is really annoying.

Jan is super annoying.
But GekiRanger is a great Sentai. The plot starts up when the 5 Deadly Venoms die off (Like, episode 12 or something) and never stops from there. I particularly loved it because the plot follows both the heroes and the villains, and doesn't just cut to the villains to show them plotting and then bitching when their plot fails. You follow Rio's story just as much as you follow Jan and the other Gekirangers' (Though Ran does kinda get left out...).

For Shinkenger, yeah. Once the feeling of "Wow, these designs are cool!" wore off, I got tired of it quickly. I'll try to give it another chance.
MagiRanger...Eh. I'll see.

Go-Oner is one of the shows I love to death for the absurdity of the Mecha and the awesome suit designs. Its not the strongest sentai but I do still love it.

I still haven't been able to push my was through Shinkenger though. I made it to episode 26 and just can't bring myself to care anymore. It just gets so boring in the middle. When my least favorite character is the Red on the team, I get worried.

Go-Onger gets much better with the introduction of gold and silver. It never really grows into an amazing show but I still found it to be a particularly memorable watch. Like Den-O says the absurdity of it is what makes it so enjoyable.

You definitely should give Gekiranger another chance though ComicGuy, the 3-piece team aren't great but Rio and Mele more than make up for them. And then Gou is an utter badass.

There you go, Tama. Fixed it for you :thumb:

You wish :lol

Love how you focus on the change, and not the fact I accidently called you Sentai Tamashii xD

I find that the main weakness of Shinkenger is that everything rests on Takeru. He holds and breaks the entire team. Because of that, all other Rangers are absolutely secondary in comparison, which can be a good or bad thing. He is literally the definition of a starring Red. So you love or hate the show based on him.

I must say, he gets some good character development towards the last 10 episodes, again, but I understand that it might not be worth waiting that long.

It is sometimes a shame that the rest of the Shinkengers, while having excellent character development on their own rights, are less memorable as a result of this secondary status. Other shows like Gokaiger focus on their Reds too, but not to the extent that the rest of the team falls to the sidelines. It's really like Timeranger, which focuses on a Red, Pink and Fire, which I attribute to Yasuko Kobayashi's writing style.

Well, Gokaiger's shortcoming, character-wise, was just lack of growth.
The Gokaigers got backstory and personalities, and that was it. Don got something later on with the faked article and junk, but the others just had character quirks to lean back on (For a perfect example of failed character arcs, look at the entire Joe/Cid/Barizog thing. Joe learns Barizog is Cid, learns transformation is irreversible (In the same episode, I believe), climatic fight 20 episodes later. That was pretty much it :\).

But yeah. Gokaiger did have a problem with putting too much emphasis on Captain Marvelous. All the Gokaigers were pretty much just Marvelous's yes-men (Seriously, did anyone, at any point in the series, ever disagree with Marvelous's decisions? I think Joe did...Once.)

The thing with Gokaiger though is it had the anniversary flare about it. If it had just been the same show without the other Sentai powers and previous characters, it would have been bland like Boukenger. Gokaiger is one of the shows that relied on a gimmick and that is what made the show great, because it was well written to utilize that gimmick 100%. Add Basco to the mix and you had what was the best show since GekiRanger, and one of the best shows of the 2000s, if not the best because of its gimmick. Sure, the villians were not even close to being developed as much as Rio and Mele were in Geki, but Basco was like the show's version of AbareKiller, who went out with a bang rather than on a whimper. Not to mention what a glorious fight both he and Marvelous had at the end.

Boukenger winding up being so bland is always jarring. It has such a unique premise with the 3 groups of villains and the whole treasure protecting aspect. It just loses a lot because in between the 2 episode arcs or plot heavy episodes the filler is the most fillery filler of an any filler ever. The in between episodes are just, so, bland.

Don't get me wrong I love Boukenger. It's at least in my top ten Sentais maybe my top 5. The mecha designs are beautiful, the Ultimate Daibouken is just perfection, the costume designs are very unique and the bad guys are (mostly) interesting. But the slow parts can be really really hard to power your way through. The stuff unrelated to Natsukis' past, Eiji, or The Questers is just boring as hell.

Ehh. I like Gokaiger, but I just don't think it was very good.
They never evolved how they initially fought (Don's wild shooting, Luka's swords on wires, etc), making all their fights wanting me to see the other rangers fight, not them.
They utilized the gimmick, yeah, but it removed tension doing so. Opponent fighting from a distance? DekaRanger and spam bullets. Close combat? DaiRanger. No weapons? Let's go, GekiRanger.
For making fights fun to watch, they did their job spectacularly. For making the characters actually characters and not just talking set pieces, not so much...

Also, sans Basco (Who was freaking amazing), the villains were a joke. The only time any of them were interesting was when Barizog broke the "Yes boss" thing and actually taunted Joe during their fight.

Go-Busters episodes 17-18
Megaranger episodes 28-30

So I'm up to the point that Gold and Silver have been introduced in Go-onger, and WOW! I have never been so impressed by the introduction of sixth rangers. The Go-on Wings really steal the show each time they're on, with great weaponry, gimmicks, and beautifully choreographed fights. There was this moment when Gold strikes the enemy, crouches, allowing Silver to cartwheel over him. Silver then strikes, drops in a perfect split, allowing Gold to do a flying kick over her. That was quick, yet so beautiful to watch.

Besides all the flashiness, their arrogant personalities clash perfectly with the goofy Go-ongers. By serving as foils to the Go-ongers, the Go-on Wings allow both sides' personalities to shine through. It also allowed possibly the most amazing exchange of lines in the show thus far:


(After desperately trying to reach the Go-on Wings' high standards and failing)
GUNPEI: This isn't a joke! All of you guys...! This is why the Wings mock us as amateurs!

SOSUKE: Gunpei. I think you've got the wrong idea. We're neither pros nor amateurs. You and I are Go-ongers.


It works better in the context of the show, but that last line was practically chilling for me.

Hiroto and Miu are brilliant. Definitely two of my favourite "sixth" rangers.

I've moved onto Dekaranger after finishing Dairanger Which I enjoyed a lot and with how dekaranger is progressing I think I'm going to enjoy this series aswell.

I need to get back to Dekaranger. I was really loving the show but I stopped watching it when GUIS started cranking out Jetman so fast. Once I get caught up on Jetman I'll start getting back to Umeko and friends.

Right now I'm watching Timeranger and Gekiranger along with Go-Busters. I tend to watch series in chronological order so next I'll watch Gaoranger and Go-onger. You know watching Gekiranger you can't help but notice how hot Mele is but I think they gave the female fans some fanservice here too with Rio. I mean between those two they're probably the best looking villains in the history of Super Sentai!

After finishing Akibaranger, I've been keeping track with Megaranger. Later this month, I'll go back to watching Dairanger and Gekiranger, and I'll re-visit Dekaranger, as I'll be doing a lot of volunteer work on TV-Nihon's Wiki page.

So far i have finished AkibaRanger , Gokaiger & Shinkenger. I've sampled DekaRanger , Jetman , Goseiger & Go-Busters

I am so wrapped up in Kamen Rider shows that i have a priority list of Toku shows with Go-busters being the highest once i finish Kamen Rider Den-O

Outside of those listed , does anybody have any suggestions?

If you're into Den-O, you'll probably get a kick outta Go-Onger. Dairanger is pretty great too.

Add Magiranger to these and you're pretty much good to go!

I haven't seen Magiranger so I couldn't recommend it. :P

Thanks guys for the suggestions. I will give them a go

That list could use some Geki.

I was curious about it. Everybody on this board seems to have a hard on for Rio & Mele , and i am completely clueless as to why

Watch it to find out!

Well, first off, they are by far the most developed Sentai villians in years, and maybe even the best developed ever. Secondly, Mele is one of the hottest Sentai chicks ever, and definitely the best since Rijewel in Aba and Shelinda in Ginga. Finally, when you watch Rio beseated in his throne of the Five Deadly Venoms, you will see how badass he is.

Now I feel bad for momentarily forgetting about Geki :(