Thoughts on Gokaiger?
 

For starters, I'd like to point out the obvious, that from the get go... I am really not a fan of Super Sentai. As, I can barely do Power Rangers as is... and that is more of a Nostalgia crack than anything.

So, I decided. Like Decade, I would take the newb route, and watch something with an anniversary show that features "ALL DAH GUIZE!", thus Gokaiger. Just as I had done previously with Decade.

However, if the shoe still doesn't fit... chances are you arn't going to want to wear it, even if it comes under the guise of being awesome...and having pirates... FRIGGEN. PIRATES!

I still just couldn't get into Gokaiger. As there seemed to be almost no point to it, other then to fanwank...everywhere. As, aside from it being a anniversary show, all the show really -is- is fanwank. Which, for previous fans of Sentai... That is possibly a good thing? However, for someone just stepping onto the grass from the pavement... Eh?

Now, this isn't to say I don't have my own qualms with Power Rangers itself... but for some reason, I feel myself more emotionally involved in Power Rangers, then I do in Gokaiger... As, nothing really happens in the show, and it simply serves it's own purpose to fanwank and follow the formula... honestly I'm tired of the formula, it's why I have been enjoying Akibaranger so much, is that it is a tribute show... but it is aware of it, but it is okay with it, because it still tries to entertain the audience despite it being a tribute show.

There are however, elements I do enjoy about Gokaiger...

Luka, Pirates, Luka... Pirates... Ok, yeah... that is about it, and that is pretty much my point, is that the show does little to lure me in, other then "Yeah, it's got pirates...and a hot chick... but she is super hot...so yeah." which oddly enough worked for a bit, until the introduction of a certain someone...

A certain... Fankwank whore...

I'm talking about Gokai Silver. God, I hate the character sooooooooooooooo much. He is like... if someone just read up what Otaku meant, and then went about there buissness in writing him...

Now, I know. This is a kids show, why even get worked up about it? Well... I'm really not. It is just weird, that the toku-fans find this show to be like "Gods gift to man!!!!", where as... I really just didn't care for the lackluster story-lines, the seemingly underwhelming fighting, and the fact that despite thei rtagline they did not infact, "Make it showy."

So, if I had to rate the show? I'd give it a 6/10.

Rate the zord? 9/10 (It -is- a pretty awesome zord... until all the gimmicks come left and right...and then it is flail/fail-tastic.)

Villians? Mixed feelings, some of them genuinly are decent villians, IE: Vasco...
So, in sections

Prince of the Zangyck: 3/10

Insarn: 8/10

Barizorg: 3/10 (Way to not go anywhere cool with that Gokaiger...)

Vasco: 9/10

So, those are about my feelings of Gokaiger... and in loo of it. I hope that akibara surpasses it, and goes beyond the 16 or so episodes we where promised... because as I said, even though it is covered in fanwank... it is okay with it, and doesn't feel the need to "Delude" (Do ho ho) Itself anymore then it has to.

So yes, those are my thoughts on Gokaiger, what are yours?

My only thought is they should hold off a year before bringing it to America. Because, you know. Goseiger.

I didn't really mind Gai as much, I mean let's face it: if any one of us were thrown into his situation, we'd be more then a little ecstatic too.

I actually liked Decade and Gokaiger, but if I had to pick one, Gokaiger definitely wins. I didn't mind Decade, mind you but they really needed to spent time to make Tsukasa into something more then just he's the hero who can change into all the past heroes...something I thought Gokaiger did well.

Now, I do have issues with the show...the mecha battles just became sooo boring after awhile, felt as though they got lazy, using the same finishing attacks over and over.

I also hated the Zangyaku. Throughout the series, they kept hyping them up to be this, great evil threat to all life in the Universe, but they never did ANYTHING to show for it, nor did they ever do anything but sit around and let someone else take care of their problems. I would've liked to have seen the Zangyaku win more times then they actually did, then I could've bought that these guys are as ruthless as they kept saying they were.

Gai makes me rage... just compare him with Akiba Red... do it... NAO!

Akiba Red must make you burn with the fury of a thousand suns then:lol

Heh, Gai is my favourite of the bunch personally.. In terms of personality/character. Then it's Luka because...Luka =p

Gokaiger for me got dull just after the hurricanger eps... Mecha was boring, fights had less crazy/quick fire changes etc. It picked up a bit in the last 4 or 5 eps but as I've said before, as a whole it was no better or worse for me then Goseiger =D

>_> I actually like Akiba Red quite a bit. He seems more... human.

Gokaiger could've done better. The characters never felt like they advanced beyond their brief backstory snippets here and there. They felt like they were the same from beginning to end.
Gai never really got on my nerves, but I can see why he would get on others.

The story itself was weak. For a pirate series, it didn't have the sense of adventure I was hoping. They talked on and on about their treasure, but that never amounted to much anything aside from the moments in the finale. I think it could've been much more interesting if they didn't begin with all but like 11 of the Ranger Keys and we actually saw the search for them.

The mech was meh. I found the base GokaiGalleon+Gokai machines to be extremely uninteresting, well the other machines, that is. They had no purpose other than to Russian doll out the Galleon and combine (I don't think we even got a token solo/uncombined fight with them). The additions did make things more interesting, but I only really liked Hurricane Gokai-Oh and Shinken Gokai-Oh.
Gai's mech...Meh. GoZyu just felt like too much of a mish-mash to find enjoyable (That may just be my inner TF fan speaking, though).

The cameos were awesome, but being relatively new to Sentai, I didn't know very many.

The villains were pitiful. Walz Gils whining felt very tired and boring, and he didn't get interesting until the end where he felt some camaraderie with Barizog. Barizog himself had a very interesting backstory that I felt could've gone somewhere. But they dropped the "It's irreversible now" line and he just blended into the wallpaper because, after that, there was literally no further his character could go. However, seeing him speak to Joe in a condescending manner during their final fight(s) was pretty awesome. Insarn and the other one (Who's name leaves me right now) were pretty meh. Kinda just...There. Ackdos and co really should've come in a lot earlier.

Also, the finale was too rushed. The Zangyack flagship took out the ENTIRE Zangyack armada? Yeah, bullshit.

Uh, no, I think the finale was perfect.

My only complaint is how lackluster the emperor was. Walz Gil was just a spoiled little brat who was inexperienced to handle defiance. The emperror was lackluster and did nothing and it showed he was not that powerful based on the rangers cock blocking him during their entire battle. That was awesome.

I wished they had gone with the rumor that a villian would turn into past generals though, because I wanted to see Ley Wanda, Shadam, Grifforzer, Gashu Skull, Zylpheeza, and Dr Kempu in the show.

I agree. Ackdo Gils felt like a case of too little, too late.

Please, explain how.

Because the rangers destroyed the fleet, destroyed the emperor, released all of the powers, and then went on a new adventure. The ending was satisfying and complete.

Would you really wanted to see the rangers hijack each ship to destroy each ship? That would get boring.

That would make it DBZ. And none of us want that. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Wrapping things up isn't ending perfectly. That just means they had a checklist of things to finish and they got to them.

They destroyed the fleet with so little effort it was embarrassing.

We saw so little of Ackdos that we never got a sense of how strong he was. Yes, he could hold his own against the Rangers during the one fight we ever saw him in, but because we never saw him handle a conflict earlier (And his own son wasn't much of a challenge), the final fight carried no weight. Maybe if Ackdos had taken action earlier and trounced the rangers in a fight like Basco did (Or had they made Walz a threat, to make his father's entrance all the more threatening), the victory would feel like something worth getting pumped about.

They released the powers of the Ranger Keys. This leads to my biggest problem with the series. They began with all but like 10 of them. If we saw their adventure and search for the actual keys, their release would hold some weight. But because they didn't, they giving up the Ranger Keys didn't have any emotion at all.

The ending was complete, but only because they didn't do anything throughout the series.

Did I want to see them go through every ship and destroy them one by one? No. But that doesn't mean the ending wasn't pitiful.

How would you then have had them destroy the fleet?

That is because Ackdos is an emperor, not a fighter. It carried no weight because the rangers were not going to let him even have the chance to use his powers. I mean seriously. How many times do you want to see the rangers lose against the main villian and then have them get that final energy to defeat him? We know they are going to beat him, so why beat around the bush?

Were you expecting them to keep the keys? They gathered the keys, got what they needed, and then gave them back. What more do you want? It's like you were setting yourself up to be disappointed no matter how it ended. Would you rather it had been like Goseiger where there was no final fight at all, they just had to stop drills from reaching the core?

If you think they did nothing throughout the series, you need to either rewatch the series, or watch DekaRanger and Shinkenger. Nothing happened at all during those series. In fact, the villians had even less development in Shinkenger than Gokaiger. Barizorg had more development than the entire Shinkenger villian cast.

Don't get me wrong. I loved Gokaiger. It was a great series and I would gladly rewatch it.
But it's ending was on par with Double's in terms of terribleness and it doesn't quite deserve all the praise it gets.

An interesting point. I am watching Boukenger and am up to like episode 18 of Gokaiger, and I have to say that Boukenger definitely has the "sense of adventure" you refer to, while Gokaiger does not. A lot of the time (so far) on Gokaiger they seem to be waiting for something to happen, while on Boukenger they are actively pursuing new Precious and other objects.

I like Gokaiger, but I am not in love with it. The meka aspect is very weak, and the story seems to lack forward momentum. But I am typically entertained by it, so I can't criticize it too much.

Well, keep in mind that overall Gokaiger is more of an anniversary series than a pirate series. While Bourkenger was also an anniversary series, it did not incorporate tribute episodes from past sentai series like Gokaiger did. The occurrences of those tribute episodes obviously hindered its ability to tell a cohesive story because they have to have a new encounter with a sentai alumni almost every other episode, and while they tried to tie them with their search for the Greatest Treasure, ultimately it feels great at times and also jarring in others. I think Gokaiger started off great, but got slowed and even weaked in the middle, before Ohranger's tribute put it back on track for a great finish to end the series.

If you're calling Basco's end the end of the series, I'll agree.
I don't see how the canon ending is anywhere near "Great" on the non-existent scale for endings.

I know the ending is decidedly mixed for some fans out there, and the Emperor was more like a glorified punching bag than a real threat in the finale. But I like the fact that Gokaiger rejected the Greatest Treasure to resolve the issue their way, and the way they went off on the Emperor with those Gokai Changes was simply spectacular. For a series that is ultimately about paying tribute to past sentai series, I think it ended appropriately and with alot of fireworks. I can still watch ep. 51 and be entertained by it even after watching it several times, because as far as Super Sentai goes, it couldn't get better than that visually.

Okay, elaborate on what is more clever? You are saying they should have done something more clever but then fail to come up with what you would have had them done.

We're back to the whole Green Lantern movie race track argument. People say that was stupid and could think of something better, but when asked, just say, "well I could do better."

So having a female red ranger manes something happened? Actually, you are right, that was big in Shinkenger. So big that it was the only thing that happened in Shinkenger. I really wish Shinkenger was better, but unlike Gokaiger, Shinkenger did not live up to its self. Gokaiger was about the search for the grand powers from the start and that is what we got. Shinkenger just did the routine just to do the routine until the last 6 episodes of the show.

And yes, you are right, Gokaiger was fanwank, which was the point of the show. That is why it was made for its anniversary and that is what they said it would be from the get go. If you expected different, then that is your fault.

I cannot comment on Double's ending since I have not watched the show yet, but look back at the last several series' endings. Maybe Double's ending being considered great has to do with how lackluster several of the past series' endings were. Honestly, if the Japanese do not know how to write something, it is a truly good ending. When it comes to Japanese endings, you have to lower the standards based on what has been brought out before.

Take The Dark Knight for example. It is the greatest comic book movie ever made. It is one of the greatest movies ever made. However, there is no way Dark Knight Rises is going to live up to it, so you have to lower your expectations of it. It is going to be an incredible movie, this year's best movie (or nothing lower than 2nd best), but it is NOT going to be TDK.

Yep. All that up there.

I understand what you are saying, Red; in fact, I agree with you! The anniversary stuff is initially nothing but mark out fuel for any super sentai fan. But it does start to drag down the story to the point where, like you say, they have to encounter a new super sentai team member every other episode or so. And so it just gets bogged down.

To me, that is squandered potential; the idea of the pirate-themed super sentai is an amazing one, ripe with directions you can take it. But so far in my viewings that potential is not being used. My opinion may change when I start it back up (at this point I want to finish Boukenger first).

I still enjoy the show. But my initial enthusiasm has cooled a bit.

Hopefully the Gokaiger's pirate aspects can be examined in the future divorced from the Ranger Keys and the anniversary aspect, perhaps in crossover movies or appearances in future series.

Alright, I'm sorry man, I don't mean to get OT here, but The Dark Knight is nowhere near the "greatest comic book movie ever made," let alone "one of the greatest movies ever made."

That having been said, I will agree with you that The Dark Knight Rises will not be as good as TDK. Take that as you will.

All right, what comic movie do you think is the best comic based movie ever?

And yes, it IS one of the greatest movies ever made. It is full of characters and conversations that make you think, top notch acting, amazing action sequences, an incredible score that gets your blood pumping, makes you think about society, all while finally doing Batman and Joker correctly on the big screen. It goes up there with movies like Lord of the Rings, Clockwork Orange, Shawshank Redemption, Inception, and The Maltese Falcon.

There's a lot of opinion being thrown around as fact in this thread.

You do realize that this is a message board, right? ;) :lol

I am glad you enjoy the film. I do not share your opnion regarding it. I find it to be overblown and self-important, with atrocious dialogue, several "leaps of logic" style holes, and a lot of recycled elements from other, better stories. But this is not a thread about Batman, it's a thread about Gokaiger.

And regarding Gokaiger, yes, it's an anniversary series. But there are ways to do an anniversary series which are not so over the top and beating you over the head with the fanboy stuff that you lose the story and forward momentum. The meka in general are sacrificed at the altar of selling as many add on toys as possible, and even in the early parts of the series the meka aspect suffers because of it. Gokaioh is a cool meka, but we rarely get to see him, and his component elements are (save the Gokai Galleon) a waste. I would have rather seen Gokai Galleon itself turn into Gokaioh ala Megaranger rather than have 4 extra random vehicles.

Again. Gokaiger is still a good series. So far I have mostly enjoyed it. Hell, I even like Wals Gil! (He cracks me up, what can I say?) But it stops dead in its tracks too often. And for an action show, that's a big hurdle in my opinion.

True dat :lol

I can not agree with this enough.

Yeah, turning Gokai Galleon into GokaiOh would've defeated the purpose of its design, because GokaiOh is all about the auxillary from the sentai tributes, and while I don't like the design I can understand why they made it in the first place.

Uh, where do you see any facts? The only fact I see is that it was stated by Toei that Gokaiger would be all about the anniversary stuff.