[Sh Ranger]

Seijyu Sentai Gingaman Q3-4 & VS Megaranger: Heisei Era Complete!

I have finished my galactic quest. In case it wasn't clear before, Gingaman is a wonderful show!

May as well pick up with Hyuuga, since he returned exactly halfway through after Bull Black released him from his body. There's a cool scene with Ryouma where the viewer is led to expect Hyuuga to have to convince him to keep the Starbeast Sword (which is what happened in Lost Galaxy), but instead Ryouma decides on his own that he wants to continue believing in himself as Ginga Red, which is a great conclusion to his development arc from the first half. Hyuuga gives his blessing, while also being granted the power to become the new Black Knight, officially joining the Gingamen. He's a pretty chill dude who acts like a fool, but he'll use deceptive and shocking methods to defeat the enemy, like giving up his Earth and siding with Bookrates to target Zahab's weakpoint for most of the last quarter, which I think is the major difference between him and Ogawa's previous role as Sasuke.

I guess I should give Gouki another paragraph here, since I didn't have much to say about him last time. He won me over and I liked his love triangle with Suzuko-sensei and Shunsuke (portrayed by Kishi Yuji known for his role as Redracer). One of those episodes was giving me deja vu and I found out that it was adapted as an episode of.... Wild Force, with Danny. I recall Tzachor is a big fan of Kobayashi's works, so maybe he was disappointed that Chip didn't adapt it and decided to do it himself in a totally different show. My favorite Gouki scene is when he holds up debris to protect a teddy bear, which teaches Shunsuke the true meaning of heroism.

The constant chain of deceit and betrayal is an intriguing part of Balban. While it's a little sad for Bookrates that his niece's soul stone got crushed and used to finally revive Daitanix, I haven't forgotten that Iries was the one who got the honorable Budo branded a traitor, something that Zahab reveals he'd known all along. However, a later interaction between Hyuuga and Bookrates reveals that one of the Planet's Lives made by Daitanix came from Bookrates' and Iries' home planet and nothing more is said, leaving a dark implication about why those two joined Balban. Got to wonder how Budo ended up as a ronin before joining them, or what made Degius (the MOTW who befriended Hikaru) give up on heroism.

Wisdom Tree Moak gets important focus in the final arc where he attempts to reconnect Ryouma and Hyuuga and actually receives wisdom separately from them, as they tell him that they'll have faith in each other to fight Balban in their own way. I like it when a show treats the mentor as a person, not being above learning. Their resolve motivates Moak to help cleanse the Gingamen's Earth by absorbing the Earth Demon Beast's corruption in a heroic sacrifice, which ends in a tragic scene. Of course, trees reproduce asexually, so he's revived pretty easily in the finale. Other supporting characters Yuta, Haruhiko and Bokku all get their own heroic moments as well. It's a little shame that Yuta didn't get any episodes with Hikaru and Saya, since it would've been nice to see him learn something from all of the core 5.

The secret of Zahab's power is revealed to be a Planet's Life embedded in his body, which the Knight Axe was created to destroy. I guess this explains why somebody with Earth cannot wield it, since Earth is the power of life and creation, while the Knight Axe can only destroy. However, turns out that lost Earth can be restored as long as that person loves the planet, which makes a great callback to the first episode with Ryouma saying he believes in Hyuuga's Earth. Their combined fire-elemental Earths are strong enough to shatter Zahab's Planet's Life and after the Gingamen defeat him for good, they get the happy ending with Ginga Forest and its people reviving from the ocean. They return home, Hayate can now marry Miharu (there's also Saya/Hyuuga and Gouki/Suzuko-sensei to think about) and their new friends Yuta and Haruhiko are even welcome to come and go as they want.

Overall, I rank Seijyu Sentai Gingaman as my 12th favorite Heisei Sentai. While I cannot deny that it has some flaws early on, as I mentioned in my review of the first half, the story and characters are seriously worth watching for. It's a show that starts good and continues to improve, with a generous amount of focus for main and side characters and a strong commitment to the magical tribe theme, which I imagine was pretty fresh for its time. Would strongly recommend!

As promised, now I can finally present to you My Complete Heisei Sentai Ranking:

1) Go-Onger
2) Kakuranger
3) Gekiranger
4) Jetman
5) Goseiger
6) Boukenger
7) Zyuohger
8) Abaranger
9) Dekaranger
10) GoGo V
11) Gobusters
12) Gingaman
13) Turboranger
14) Ryusoulger
15) Gaoranger
16) Ohranger
17) Timeranger
18) Lupinranger VS Patranger
19) Zyuranger
20) Shinkenger
21) CarRanger
22) Fiveman
23) Kyuranger
24) Ninninjer
25) Megaranger
26) Hurricanger
27) Gokaiger
28) Magiranger
29) Dairanger
30) Kyoryuger

There's also Gingaman VS Megaranger, which conveniently takes place after the show, which I recall doesn't happen again until Kyuranger VS Space Squad.

The action starts with a new Demon Beast, Ghelmadix, invading the city. Giga Rhinos and Phoenix get blown up! The Gingamen are sad about this for maybe 5 seconds, before they immediately start wondering who this Mega Red guy who shows up. BTW, Hayakawa is not in this movie at all, in or out of suit, so Ginga Green stands out as the only unique color. It's not a bad movie, but I think you could mostly skip it without missing anything other than the central team-up. Cool to see Galaxy Mega once more though, since it's one of my favorites and I'm not a fan of Mega Voyager that replaced it in Megaranger's second half.

I want to resume watching Metal Heroes soon, but first I will watch JAKQ Dengekitai, as 35 episodes is an easy commitment.