[Kamen Rider Lucha]

I've just completed episode 30 of Kakuranger, and this show is blowing my mind.

Spoilers!

After a really fun beginning where I was more interested in the wacky, Beetlejuice-esque Yokai than I was any of the Kakurangers, I found myself questioning whether or not this show had much to offer beyond being a fun/funny diversion. While I was certainly enjoying the show, I wondered if there was going to be any kind of overarching plot -- or if the whole series was going to be the random, unconnected adventures of a group of vagabond ninjas who travel through Japan while living in their sentient food truck.

One episode after I registered my creeping dissatisfaction with that format, in waltzes Young Prince Junior and turns the whole show around. You guys, he is utterly fabulous. I've not seen a sentai villain so gloriously over the top since Underground Emperor Zeba in Maskman. He comes on the scene, and the main story of Kakuranger springs to life.

Then the Flower Kunoichi Gang (aka the Hanarangers) make their debut-- and this evil, all-female sentai team elevates the story from a series that's fun-with-potential to sublime pulp masterwork. The Hanarangers' first big focus episode, I want to say it's Ep. 20, involves the lady ninjas summoning a literal rocket, which they ride, while firing actual machine guns at an unarmed 10 year old. And with that episode, my love for Kakuranger was completely sealed.

But there was still something nagging at the back of my mind, something I didn't like. It was the lack of character development for our heroes. Up to this point, the villains were way cooler and more defined than the heroes. Which isn't a huge problem because the villains were cool enough to keep me loving the show.

And then what happens immediately after that? The Kakurangers are defeated by Young Prince Junior and forced to split up to find the Shinobi Scrolls. And so far there have been 5 episodes in a row jam-packed with nothing but awesome, hardcore, tragic characterization for every. single. one. of our characters. The best of these episodes is the two-parter where Jiraiya kills the man who raised him to be a ninja after discovering the man actually killed his father! WTF, sentai, how did I not know something this awesome could happen in one of your series!? My mind was utterly blown.

That brings us to today, and I'm on episode 30. Awesome shit is happening with Tsuruhime's dad. Can't wait how things progress!

TL;DR this show is the tits. I love it more than I've loved any sentai show at this point in its run.

I still have about 23 episodes left, and I already dread seeing this show end!!! People, since I'm loving it so much, please tell me what sentai series, in the vein of Kakuranger, I should maybe check out next.