[Tokumonkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Maybe the "paint by numbers" aspect of it bothers me less because I haven't seen that much Sentai?

That's not unlikely, although I also suspect you're a little bit of... I'm not sure what's an appropriate term. "Gadfly" and "contrarian" are off; I suspect you enjoy finding the value in underappreciated works and the flaws in well-loved shows.

As to the former thought, the first Sentai I finished was Shinkenger. I felt it was terrific, but my friend who has a much deeper Sentai background found the show to be mostly shrugworthy. I've seen 10-ish more Sentai series since then, and I think I understand now.

I hadn't appreciated how much *cribbing* the show did from its predecessors. This in itself isn't a big deal (which Sentai hasn't done a body-switch episode?), but with the exception of Dayuu and Fuwa Juzo, the villains were pretty bland, and there wasn't much of an attempt to tell long-form stories. (The twist near the series finale came out of nowhere and for me, it didn't have much impact.)

I don't think Shinkenger was a bad series. It had a relatively strong cast whose characters were drawn reasonably well, the show oozed style, and it mostly wasn't burdened by toys *too* ridiculous. With that said, now that I've seen Gekiranger and Magiranger, I'm much less impressed with Shinkenger. In my head, I've downgraded it from "terrific" to "good." When I was watching Ninninger (and being mostly unimpressed by it), I nevertheless suspected I'd enjoy it more if I hadn't seen so many better Sentai series. I rank Ninninger not as an irredeemably bad show, but as the worst Sentai I've watched. I nevertheless watched the entire thing, and I enjoyed parts of it.

I haven't followed tokusatsu writers enough to know who I hope will be running Kyuranger. Riku Sanjou confuses me, having produced shows I loved and, um, did not love. I don't want Ninninger's writer anywhere near a show I watch again. (This may be unfair. Some of my problems with the show come down to a few weak cast members. Then again, a show with a red hero played by a poor actor probably shouldn't pursue the "fetishize the red hero" trope.)

Kyuranger's unprecedented cast size implies unprecedented potential, and I just don't want it written by someone content to produce a show that's mostly filler. Zyuohger's recent episodes (well, prior to the last two, which I haven't seen) has given me some cause for optimism after the last two Sentai disappointed me, and I really want our constellation Sentai to continue an upward trend.