[GoldenXtreme]

All done with Sun Vulcan! It was less dull than Denziman was, but it wasn't a show that I thought stood out in any way. It could be pretty funny or kind of dramatic at times, but by and large it was pretty close to a true neutral experience. One of the reasons I watched this one was because it ranked quite highly on the NHK Sentai poll from a couple of years ago, but in the end I think the reason it ended up that high was just due to the facts it was the first Sentai show with a combined robot and the first Sentai show with an animal motif, which probably blew the minds of some Showa era kiddos. Besides that, the thing the show is best known for is the fact it has no female rangers in it. Someone here had commented that it isn't as bad as it seems, and indeed Misa gets a decent amount of focus and the number of female villains is truly extensive, but I did find myself thinking that the team dynamic would have been more interesting if Misa was able to regularly fight, especially since the three rangers we DO have are simply not very interesting. So while I didn't think it was a critical issue with the show, it was an experiment I am glad only happened once. Character-wise, I think the biggest highlights for me were Sun Vulcan's chief, who was a great cool yet passionate leader figure, Queen Hedrian returning in an even more ridiculous form, and the late addition of Amazon Killer (who has the exact same actress as Amazoness from Toei Spider-Man. The staff clearly knew what they were doing.)

So yeah, perfectly okay Showa toku I suppose. The next time I explore 80s Sentai, I think I'll delve into Bioman since that show seems to get some praise for it's heavier focus on plot and characters than many of its contemporaries.