New to Super Sentai - where should I start?
 

I used to love Power Rangers as a kid. I was super into Dino Thunder, Mystic Force, and Space Patrol Delta. I've only recently discovered that Power Rangers is based on the Japanese Super Sentai series. I haven't watched any Power Rangers series since I was 10, and I've never seen any superhero henshin tokusatsu series. What's a good starting point for the Japanese Super Sentai series? I just want a series with a compelling story, nice practical effects and well-done fight choreography.

Are you in the US? If so, go with one of the series that has been released on DVD officially. Zyu, Dai, Kaku, or Oh. I highly suggest Dai first as it is the best of the entire franchise.

Otherwise, I'd say start with Gokaiger and see if any of the teams showcased in that series gain your interest.

Dino Thunder, Mystic Force, and Space Patrol Delta are all Abaranger, Magiranger and Dekaranger respectively. My first (and only) Sentai was the recently finished Zyuohger. Though I don't know how many Sentai have compelling stories as from what I hear Sentai is more episodic. The ones Dr. Kain listed are actually OFFICIALLY subbed and available on DVD too by Shout Factory meaning if you get those you won't have to look for a specific group of fan subbers

I pretty much echo all of this!

The 90s was the best era for Super Sentai, IMO. If you can get a hold of Shout's DVDs of Dairanger (highly serialized, dramatic, best-of-franchise fight choreography, awesome designs) or Kakuranger (more lighthearted, less serialized/more episodic, great villains, still very well designed), and you don't mind dated special effects (akin to old kung fu movies), I think those are great entry points. If you try Dairanger and/or Kakuranger and like them, then check out Jetman -- it's my #1 favorite Sentai by a huge margin, but I wouldn't recommend it as an entry point, as it's pretty different from most other Sentai shows.

If you want something newer, go with Zyuohger (semi-serialized, great characters, good balance of light and dark). It's a very solid Sentai series that will feel especially fresh to someone coming to the franchise for the first time. Because it was made last year, it represents the state of the art, as far as effects go. It would be a great first show.

Another great entry point is Gokaiger (good balance between serialization and episodic stories, AWESOME characters, superb action, tons of cameos from past shows). I've known about, and watched select episodes of, Super Sentai since I was a young child, but Gokaiger was the first series I watched from beginning to end. I love it a ton -- it's the show I give most credit for solidifying my obsession with this franchise.

Another great show is Gekiranger (granted, I'm only halfway through this, but based on its reputation I only expect to get more into it), but it's a similar case as Jetman -- not very representative of what the show usually offers.

You're gonna get a lot of wild recommendations, but if you follow these guidelines I think you'll find something you like. :)

What's Gokaiger even about? From what I understand it has pretty much nothing to do with Super Megaforce. I only know that the costumes are super awesome, and there's a pirate motif.

The Gokaigers are pirates who search for treasures and come across the past teams iirc. Super Megaforce exclusively used them as a power up, the fanbase was livid :p

Yeah, what little I saw of Super Megaforce really failed to impress me, but I also haven't watched Power Rangers since Mystic Force.

Gokaiger is as far from Super Megaforce as you could possibly imagine, adaptation-wise.

As far as the premise goes, it's about a team of aloof, self-serving, morally ambiguous alien pirates with super powers that come to Earth in search of the Universe's Greatest Treasure. The twist is: they have access to the powers of every past Sentai team, allowing them to transform into those heroes' costumes and use all of their powers and attacks. As the series progresses, they meet a handful of past Sentai teams and have to impress them to earn each team's Great Power. As they gain more and more Great Powers, they come to love Earth, and humanity, and grow out of their initial aloofness to become genuine heroes.

Dude, that sounds awesome! it sounds way more interesting than the standard "earth gets invaded again and now they have old power rangers powers for some reason" thing Super Megaforce has. Why didn't they do that for SMF? Could they not get some of the old actors or something?

AFAIK, it's cause they had to make Megaforce a two-season show based on their contract with Nickelodeon. Plus, Saban -- especially after the Power Rangers license reverted back to them from Disney -- just has a shitty track record when it comes to respecting the Japanese source material.

I know that a bunch of old actors did show up in SMF, but I do recall hearing that there were some budgetary issues.

Though, saying I'm not really a Power Rangers guy is the understatement of the year, so I could be wrong about all of this. Except for the part about Saban being bad at adaptation. That part I know is true. :lol

UPDATE: I'm about five minutes into Gokaiger and I'm loving it. The Legendary War sequence left me with a big dumb smile on my face. So far, I find it far superior to the clips I've seen of SMF.
Edit: Not sure how I feel about the CG Megazord/Mecha, though.

Awesome! The first episode is great.

And don't worry -- the CG mechs disappear more-or-less completely by episode 4.

With older stuff, I suggest to check Dairanger or Zyuranger if you grew up with MMPR. The official DVD's can be bought on Amazon or check your retail store like Fye or Barnes & Noble. With the newer shows, Gokaiger, Shinkenger and Dekaranger are not bad.

Pick a series that looks cool to you and try it. Pretty much every series stands on it's own. If you pick a season that you've watched as Power Rangers, there will be some deja vu as they do share some footage. If you don't want that, then pick something that you haven't seen if PR.

If you want official English releases...

DVDs by Shout Factory:
Zyuranger (MMPR Season 1)
Dairanger (MMPR Season 2)
Kakuranger (MMPR Season 3)
Ohranger (Zeo)
Carranger (Turbo) (Will be released later this year)

Streaming legally on http://www.shoutfactorytv.com/:
Zyuranger
Dairanger

Otherwise, you will need fan subs. There are fan subs for a lot of series, but completion and quality may vary. I do know that all series from Abaranger to current have complete fan subs. All but 1 series from the 90's are complete (official releases are catching up with that to) and I think only 2 series after the 90's are incomplete. Pre-Power Rangers series are mostly incomplete, but there are a few complete ones. There's a lot choose from. If there's a series that stands out to you, just ask if it's subbed and by who.

Another option is just watch whatever's current. Kyuranger just aired it's 3rd episode. While I won't recommend Kyuranger, watching the newest show is a good way to jump in. This allows you to jump right into discussions without worry of spoilers, being dated, or other such things.

If you're still want a recommendation, then here's one from me.

Pirate Sentai Gokaiger:
The 35th Sentai and what I like to call a sampler series. It's about a band of space pirates that are looking for the Ultimate Treasure on Earth. They have the powers of every previous Sentai, but know nothing about them. The main focus of the show is this pirate crew learning about the Super Sentai to unlock that Ultimate Treasure. It's the most connected show with cameos and/or guest stars from every single Super Sentai series. It's a great jumping on point as it gives you a taste of many different Senati while never being to hindered by it's past. The fight choreography is some of the best as every ranger has a fighting style that they combine with whatever past ranger they transform into. However, if you are looking for mecha fights, this is not the show for that.
Do not compare this to Super Megaforce. Super Megaforce is garbage.
Gokaiger has been fan subbed by Over-Time.

I think that covers it. Please take my original advice, if something looks or sounds cool to you, try it. Give it a few episodes, if you don't like that show, try another until you find something you like.

EDIT: I see you're trying Gokaiger. Awesome. Enjoy.

You can never go wrong with Gekiranger~

UPDATE NUMBER TWO!

I just finished the first episode of Gokaiger and I love it. Even putting aside the fact that it's a HUGE Sentai fanwank, it's a well paced, fun henshin series. Other than the weird and jarring CGI, I think the series is off to a great start. I think Captain Marvellous is one of the best Red Rangers.

Gokaiger is great if you want some older series I would recommend Jetman, Maskman, Changeman and Flashman.

As someone whose first Sentai was also Gokaiger, I'm glad you're enjoying it. You're in for a fun ride. :thumb:

I also agree greatly with this statement. Wonderful fights and story, if that's what you're looking for.

Not that you need more suggestions piled on you, but I highly recommend Go-Busters myself. It isn't universally loved like Gekiranger or Gokaiger, but I thought the plot was interesting and the action is great. The mecha stuff in particular is some of the best in the franchise IMO.

The problem is Change and Flash haven't been fansubbed fully. In fact, I was hoping GUIS would break that curse, but nope, they seem to have poofed with the other fansubbers of those two.

I don't know that I'd start with Gokaiger. It was my first Sentai, and I kinda enjoyed it, but halfway through, I put it on pause and switched to another show because it just wasn't working for me. I eventually finished it, but was underwhelmed.

After seeing a number of other series, I came back to Gokaiger, and once I had context for past Sentai series, I was sort of gobsmacked by how good it is.

If I were choosing a show for the first time, I'd probably go with Gekiranger. I utterly loved Kyoryuger, but your mileage may vary on that.

See, I don't agree. Is Gekiranger awesome? Certainly. As I get closer to finishing it, it creeps higher and higher in my estimation. Provided there are no major derailments in the last 20 episodes, it will easily break into my Top 5 (maybe even Top 3?).

But it's pretty far from typical Sentai. I think if you're gonna recommend a series to a newbie, it should be one that embodies the spirit of the franchise, rather than an outlier that -- however excellent it may be -- doesn't quite represent what the other 40 series have to offer. It's the same reason I don't recommend Jetman as a starter series despite it being, hands down, my favorite.

Best of the 80s: Flashman, Liveman
Best of the 90s: Jetman, Zyuranger, Dairanger, Carranger, Megaranger, Timeranger
Best of the 2000s: Hurricanger, Dekaranger, Magiranger, Gekiranger, Go-onger, Shinkenger
Best of the 2010s: Gokaiger, Go-busters, Kyoryuger, ToQger, Zyuohger, Kyuranger

Isn't saying "best of X decade" kinda meaningless when you're listing the majority of them? :lol

Fixed it! ;)

:lolol

I don't find it to be anywhere near the outlier that, say, Go-Busters is. It's a standard Sentai series, just a very strong one with a smaller team. (Also, I suspect you'll be pleased with the remainder of the series since you've enjoyed what you've watched so far.)

The first series I *finished* was Shinkenger, which I found very satisfying. I'm also glad it was the first I finished, since most other Sentai I've seen since have impressed me more.

I get where you're coming from, but Gekiranger was basically exactly what I needed. After failed excursions into Magi, Shinken, Bouken, and Go-On (Or Sun Vulcan...I'm kinda hazy on which I tried to watch before), Gekiranger was basically the shining beacon of hope to not give up on Sentai :lol

I think the non-traditional style to it is what made it so endearing, and stick out to me.

Though, I guess if I were to recommend a more traditional Super Sentai, I guess Gokaiger, Dairanger, and Zyuohger are solid picks.
Kakuranger is kind of weird and another one of my favorites, and I don't know if you all see it as normal for the franchise or not :lol

This implies there's such things as a bad 90's Sentai and I can not agree with that. :p

Also, Timeranger is not a 90's Sentai. It was in 2000. It is good though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk

Best Sentai of the 2010's: Literally all of them except Ninninger! Apparently. :lol

Although that post does illustrate nicely that pretty much every Sentai has its qualities and its fans. You can shill your Jetmans and your Gekirangers all day long, but ultimately, even a "bad" Sentai could turn out to be a favorite.

Well, every Sentai is someone's favorite.
I've heard people call Sun Vulcan good and, even more awe inspiring, memorable.

The Sentai that literally put me to sleep, someone else calls memorable :lol

Hell, I don't think Goseiger is as bad as most people say.

I think I would like Gekiranger if any of the fan subs were good. TV Nihon does their normal thing of under translating it while Hikari Senshi does the exact opposite by over translating it. There's no balanced translation for the show and these bad subs take me out of the show all the time. I have a hard time thinking of a quicker way for subs to ruin enjoyment.

Perhaps someone should fan-sub the fansubs?
After all, since we do know the approximate translations of what they're saying now, we can get someone who knows restraint to sub them proper :lol

Didn't the Hikari Senshi versions have two scripts specifically to address that potential complaint?

I wouldn't know because I used TV-N to watch Gekiranger. The TV-N Geki subs aren't very good, by the way. They took a show that's really wakiwaki, and through a series of constant mistakes, some minor and some dekadeka, made the whole thing a pretty ujyaujya experience. It's all pretty shioshio, if you ask me. :p

Those exists, their called Scrubs. Because you're cleaning up the subs. Gekiranger doesn't have any that I know of, but I know I've seen them for Agito and Blade. I know the Agito scrubs are very watchable.

Yes, but neither are all that good. It's better, but then it skews TV Nihon where there's a lot that should still be translated that's not. I think there's more to it (like bad grammar or something), but it's been years.

They do! It's the second subtitle track on every Hikari Senshi encode. Wildranger is reverted to Gekiranger, the titles of the various "halls" and "fists" are left untranslated. I like the "Wildranger" translated versions (which are just translations, cause, you know, they actually translate all of the Japanese words ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) better than the less translated one, which was pretty confusing.

That said, I don't really love either of them. Specifically, I dislike how Hikari Senshi translates Jan's onomatopoeia/ideophone-speak. I'm sure there was a better way to translate those into American-friendly onomatopoeias, possibly by using familiar comic book-style sound effects. The way they did it, Jan is very easy to understand -- which is confusing when his teammates try to figure what he meant because, as translated, it's very clear. We're meant to be a little confused by his way of speaking, and that just doesn't come through when he says stuff like "jumpy jump." In an instance like that, I would have preferred a translation like "boing boing" or something.

Second for Go-Busters, cannot recommend enough to any Sentai fan. Really spices up the formula.

Yeah, but as a start? Go-Busters isn't particularly good at giving you an idea of what Sentai's like as a whole...

Now, whether it's a good example of what Sentai SHOULD be... that's a matter of personal preference.

Also, I keep hearing it described as boring by it's detractors... Are we watching the same show here?

Oh man, that does sound a little rough. How saddy sad. :p

Please tell me that's not how they translated "shioshio"...

I really don't see why that matters. Just having a show to enjoy is the important thing here. It's not like Go-Busters is so different it's not instantly recognizable as Sentai. Besides, the OP already seems to be enjoying Gokaiger, so this could be a non-issue anyway.

Subjectivity can be a heck of a thing. :lol

*looking at timeranger*That was my bad.
As for the rest *shrugs* Just saiyan.:)

And if you were right, you'd be super saiyan :p

Decades are 01-10, so the 90s is Jetman (91) to Timeranger (2000). Thus, Timeranger is a 90s series. Plus, given that Soda left the franchise in 90, it makes sense to count them as 75-80, 81-90, 91-00, 01-10, 11-20, etc. Not to mention it also makes sense when you account for how Toei does their anniversaries.