Matrixbeast Vs Gaoranger
 

Was initially planning on watching Flashman, but eh. The upcoming SMP has me interested in Gaoranger, so we're rolling with that :lol

Alrighty! So I just started Hyuakujuu Sentai Gaoranger!

This is gonna sting, but honestly, based on the first episode, my opinion could be summed up as:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1T6Ts3V9ZY

This was probably one of the worst first episodes I've seen in Super Sentai. So, let's begin!
The series kicks off with the first 4 rangers fighting an Org before it teams up with a second Org, apparently something that's never happened before. They get beaten, and in the ensuing chaos, an elephant at a nearby carnival ends up getting frightened. The police decide to kill it before a bystander steps in the way and calms it down, saving it's life.

This convinces some magical woman that he's the one to be the fifth Gaoranger, and he's recruited by force, with the other 4 literally grabbing him, sucker punching him, then abducting him to the Animarium, where he meets 4 of the 5 Power Animals. Despite being surrounded by 4 kaijus, a giant lion appearing on cliffside is apparently more interesting than the other 4.

He runs to meet it, trying and failing to climb the cliff, but the lion saves him, signifying he's been chosen by the jewel that is formed in his hand.
In the meantime, the other Gaorangers and magic woman are watching via viewing globe (Or pond, I guess), as she declares he's going to be the leader. Despite being the newest member with no combat training, due to arbitrary circumstance. Aside from a brief moment of "WTF WHY!?" they all roll with it and the newest member is whisked away to their hideout.

Then an Orgs attack again, a fight happens, and he proves to be the most competent lead by virtue of because. The day is saved, and wow was I completely underwhelmed.

The decision to include narration helps to move the pace along, but it also kills flow since there's no time devoted to much anything. Shit just happens. No one is introduced beyond Red, who is a vet who can apparently understand animals or something? I honestly had little clue what was going on, which is a problem because the show straight up explained everything that was happening.

I do desperately hope the show improves quickly, because my god, this first episode was tough.

Personallly the only good thing about the show was the mechas.

I'm not surprised Gaoranger's sales were so good, since the Mecha were pretty damn nice, gotta say :lol

Honestly, I do kind of wish they did make all 100 power animals.

I will be that one girl in class who folds her arms and huffs, and leaves you to spend the rest of the day trying to work out how you could possibly have excited her ire. :p

Haha, seriously, I hope you find some enjoyment with the show, if only because I have a vested interest as it is one of my favourites. Clearly more weighted towards the toy advert scale, I remember, despite this, being struck by both the existential terror of the Orugu—they've always been here, for as long as we have notions of culture and value, there will always be Orugu—and the gentleness of Kakeru's nature in the unfolding of these opening episodes.

I don't know if Gaoranger will develop into a show that you enjoy as you watch it, but I hope it does, if only because I care for these characters so much and even though I won't be too heartbroken if you don't like them, I am quietly hoping you do. (>_>)

I don't know if you've gotten to Ep. 2 yet, but I remember seeing a review of that one once years ago which detailed some of the things that Org does, and I still think that it's one of the most sadistic monsters in all of Sentai!

I actually thought episode 1 of Gaoranger was pretty cool, at least in an average sort of way, and the show as a whole, although obviously wasn't like one of the huge all-time greats for most people, was surprisingly good for me (and also I do personally prefer it to Wild Force, sorry if you like that but it is just basically the teamups and the Merrick stuff for me)! I did think that three-year stretch from Gao-Aba could seem a bit flat at times though in comparison to say Time/Deka.

The last 00s Sentai I finished and I enjoyed it. Give or take a Dairanger villain, a missing parents subplot and a cool flying motorcycle, it's pretty similar to its adaption Wild Force, but I think it can stand on its own as well. My favorite member of the team is Shirogane who is 1999 years younger than his PR counterpart. I think it's worth watching the show for his introduction arc. I like Sae and Soutarou as well. As an anniversary season, I like how it references Showa Sentai with the rangers calling each other by color, although Gaoranger really takes that to the extreme. And the reference to one of my favorite Sentai ships in Episode 3!

Story aside from an anniversary show standpoint I say it was good. The power animals were nice merch-wise for sure.

I'm not surprised Gaoranger holds a special place in a lot of people's hearts. Much like how I'm flabbergasted that there are people out there who don't like Gekiranger. Just is how it is, I guess :lol

I've heard that Wild Force and Gaoranger are incredibly similar, which I don't know is a good or bad thing, since I'm kind of indifferent on Wild Force, too. Hopefully the show really picks up steam, though.

While it might not be heavy on fan service like Gokaiger I agree that it does cause it was the first sentai show of the 21st century and it was an anniversary show with some cool new gimmicks. That said, the VS Super Sentai crossover's dream team alumni team's colors were exactly identical to Zenkaiger's. As for Wild Force, there were a few tweaks here and there to differentiate from the source material but most of the setup was similar. Key difference right off the bat was that Wild Force Red was pretty much Geki Red before Geki Red. :lolol

On to episode 2! I could take screen caps, but I'm too lazy!

So, this episode is a bit better, but not by much. There's still very little flow to the events.

So, a Wire Org wreaks havoc by crushing things with wires, and Red has the brilliant idea of trying to reach out to it's heart. His stupidity is met with an asswhooping, and he gains the resolve to fight without hesitation.
...Not that he ever had any hesitation in the first episode, but plot thread resolved, I guess?

Whatever. So, in the meantime, Red tries to gain proper introductions, but Yellow opts for the "We're warriors" approach and everyone just calls each other by their color. I guess since Yellow was the first on there, that rule is just followed because no one wants to challenge it?

Anyway, they come across the monster, and after Yellow gets it through to Red's skull that their enemies are monsters and not just misunderstood people, they battle.

This isn't something I touched on in the first episode, but the fight scenes are a mix of interesting and pretty rough. I like that they aim for a more feral approach to it, but because this is still a live action product, it falls flat a chunk of the time. The rangers running on all fours is stilted, and when they perform their dragging move, it looks even more awkward now that they're using 3 limbs (I'm sure there's a wire, but it's certainly not doing any favors).
Still, there are some occasions where the fighting is done well. The blue ranger actually making use of the water is nice (Rather than magically firing water cannons or something), and some of the clawing action is done well. So credit where it's due.

Anyway, monster is beaten, then is grown. Here we see GaoLion beaten in one blow and the formation of GaoKing. Great design, but that's common knowledge. He no sells everything the Org does and finishes him off with the Animal Heart finisher. Day is saved.

We then see the 2 Duke Orgs in their lair as they watch another one horn awaken.

In all, a better episode than the first, but it's not exactly by a large margin. The reliance on a narrator to explain what's happening really irks me, and this episode featured the most egregious amount of filler with having each individual GaoPhone transformation and their already long ass role call.

Next episode seems to have an interesting premise that will hopefully provide any level of characterization to our cast, so fingers crossed.

EPISODE 3: YELLOW VANISHES

Not much really happened in this episode. Red starts off by printing out instructions on how to be Gaorangers, which surprisingly everyone except Yellow seems to play ball with.

I mean, I guess if you're a nobody with no experience who was arbitrarily put in charge, that does demand respect? Whatevs.
Yellow thinks the whole thing is pointless, especially rule 2: No going off alone. So he goes off alone, and ends up running into Camera Org, whose photos cause you to vanish.

They bring Yellow to base, and Red vows to get his body back...By going off alone. After a brief scuffle, Red steals the Org's film reel and restores everyone's bodies, including Yellow. The Dukes arrive to help with a new reel, but Yellow arrives on scene and breaks the lens.

The rangers are briefly on the back foot until Red pulls a new weapon out his ass and saves them. Monster grows, and GaoKing defeats it (With a rather odd choice to showcase GaoKing knocking a film reel out of the Org's hand and we watch it get sent flying into an office building).

Yellow points out Red broke his own rule, and everyone has a little chuckle.
Episode end.

Once again, I am left severely underwhelmed and uninterested. Like, they're trying to establish Yellow as the one being out of line, but Red demanding respect by virtue of the animal that picked him is still a completely asinine reason, compared to Yellow's full year of fighting (Including 6 months of fighting alone).

Jeez, thank goodness I have the full series, since I doubt I'd make it past the episode 5 mark watching on a weekly basis.

Gaoranger continues it's unimpressive streak with episode 4.
Black and Blue have a mild falling out while investigating a temple at night, and we learn that the reason why Black is babied by Blue is because he needs the support. However, we also see that Black supports Blue just as much, always having his back. Never give up indeed.

In the meantime, the temple they were investigating was giving off earthquakes, presumed to be by an Org, but revealed to be because of a magic rock and scroll. Shuten tries to take them, but they burst into flames in his hand and the rangers recover them.

...Wait, was that all that really happened?

Lmao I'm on a Gaoranger binge too. Just finished episode 25.

Have to admit, the first 13 episodes or so it was pretty bland, especially coming after Timeranger which was fantastic. But Gaoranger does get better once they enter the second arc, and the cast themselves do get better as the episodes go by.

Well, that's at least some glimmer of hope that the show improves. I can deal with standard Super Sentai fare, but at the very least make the characters fun while doing so :lol

One thing I'll tell you, you're going to LOVE GaoSilver. Especially if ypu have watched Wild Force because there are differences between the two.