[Locke]

Gokaiger 32.

What I love about this show is the way it convincingly makes it feel like the show is a living breathing, organism. It's real, it doesn't disappear when you turn off the TV. What you find with a lot of toku - especially sentai - is characters are given a few default position traits which carry them from just on the fringe of none existence outside of their specific episodes and then they may add a little detail here and there, when they switch those characters to active and give them their own episode. However those are usually rare and don't go very far.

With the Gokaiger however, their character arcs were near enough finished at the beginning, this is like a sequel almost to something that never actually existed. That sorta sounds horrible when you put it like that, but it actually makes the characters feel so real. I always kinda hated the way sentai would introduce the heroes as blank slates who need to learn everything for the sake of the audience. Gokaiger proves that the heroes don't need to be pathetic and useless for them to be engaging, that you can be strong and powerful and still have conflict and stakes. The weakness of the villains in this show, are weaknesses because of badly written villains - sentai with shit villains, no way! - it has nothing to do with the fact that the Gokaiger start the series with competence and the power to kick ass.

Honestly Gokaiger has got a lot going for it, strong characters, an awesome gimmick, some great designs, great choreography and special effects so I'm just a little disappointed that the actual show isn't nearly as good as its parts. I think if it didn't try to cram so many pointless tributes into its run and focused more on its own story it would be a much better show, maybe even a near perfect show. As it stands though Gokaiger is fast becoming my favourite sentai.