[Fish Sandwich]

Yo, as someone with a longstanding belief that Ninninger is a criminally underrated Sentai season, I stand in solidarity with your take on its PR counterpart.

I also did enjoy Ninja Steel for what it was, although I didn't end up watching like any of the second season, which has also happened with a few other recent shows.

My biggest thought about it has always been that I actually think it does, by far, the best job truly recapturing the spirit, tone, and style of the original Mighty Morphin' era, and would've been much more appreciated if it hadn't come after half a decade of shows that made people so sick of that as an idea. But like, Samurai was also trying to be a carbon copy of Shinkenger, Mega Force was wildly overstuffed and all-around incompetent, and Dino Charge also had aspirations of being original, leaving Ninja Steel as a series that got to really nail the back-to-basics concept.

There's a sort of beauty to its simplicity, and that makes it a tragic series in a way, because I think fans are, understandably, after something that proves Power Rangers can still be a bit more complex and innovative. Ninja Steel could be straight out of the early 90's, and whether that's praise or condemnation will depend greatly on your own tastes.

Which makes this another cool occasion to see someone giving the series a more positive look. While their juvenile humor isn't always great, Victor and Monty are actually my favorite character concepts for the comic relief of this era for exactly what you were getting at, which is how weirdly fresh it is to see a jock and a nerd teaming up to be obnoxious jerks, and that scene at the end of this episode legitimately is pretty great. It shows a respect for the viewer's intelligence Power Rangers isn't always great about by letting the scene hang on that moment where just the two of them singing to each conveys the emotions for a bit before resorting to the usual blunt dialogue explaining what's going on, and that was something that I sincerely appreciated. Power Rangers could use so many more scenes like that one.

Also, I think Ninja Steel had more masked heroes on bikes than most Kamen Rider shows do nowadays, so that's something I have to give it credit for, too.