[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

I think this idea is quite reasonable. After Sun Vulcan, it became clear that the franchise wouldn't be abandoned, and the search began for ways to make it long-lasting, interesting, and relevant. And speaking specifically about character-focused stories (though not only), I can easily draw a rising line from Goggle V to Liveman.

For sure. They had to get a new writer anyway, since Uehara would move on to Uchuu Keiji, so then there were 2 concurrent franchises with different flavors. The scientific experiments of Goggle V and Dynaman proved the formula was a success and starting with Bioman, Sentai became marketed more dramatically the way we're familiar with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

I do have some pretty big gaps in what I have seen from the Showa era still, so I'm sure my opinions on the best shows from that period will shift a lot in the future. Like, I haven't seen Metalder (which seems VERY popular) and Goranger is actually the only Showa Sentai I have seen. Somehow my Sentai viewing just fell way behind Rider and Ultra, so I've been trying to get back to it this year.

If anyone is curious by the way, I'd probably say my top 5 Showa tokusatsu shows are:

1. Kaiketsu Zubat (I don't think this one is getting dethroned, perfection)
2. Return of Ultraman
3. Message from Space: Galactic Wars
4. Goranger
5. Kikaider

There are some high quality Showa Sentai for sure. For me, it's Rider I've fell behind on, SkyRider being the last non-airing show I watched in 2022. I've also been putting off Metalder, but that's mostly due to my general aversion to overly asymmetrical designs. Build is my 2nd favorite Heisei Rider though (totally need to rewatch that sometime), so it's entirely likely I will enjoy Metalder when I get to it. And I keep hearing great things about Zubat, even from Gozyuger, so I have to watch that at some point.