[Byg42]

Note: Ha-Oh Shurikenjin and Ha-Oh Gekiatsu Dai-Oh share a poll spot because there's only a limited number of poll options
Shurikenjin






Ninninger's theme amongst its mechas is that they are a haphazard combination of various aesthetics simply because they are cool. Shurikenjin exemplifies this aesthetic the most. We got a humanoid robot, a western style dragon, a dump truck, a dog, and a train; all of which then combine together to form a robot piloting another robot. It's a complete aesthetic mishmash, a random grab bag of motifs seemingly pulled out from a hat, and to be honest, I kind of love it. Shurikenjin is just so bonkers in every possible way, from the shuriken hat, the mishmash of aesthetics, the robot piloting another robot design. Is it a mess? Yeah sure. Is it memorable? Absolutely.

Shurikenjin Drago/Paon/UFO/Surfer










After the last few series where the auxiliary combinations were simply arm swaps, it's nice to have combinations that are a bit more substantial, having new chest pieces and new heads. I’m still putting them in one section because I don’t think I have enough to say about each of them individually to put them in their own sections. Drago is probably my favourite of the bunch because it’s the most different, with the addition of the wings and tail as well as how it adopts a new fighting stance. Paon certainly conveys that it’s more powerful than the other combinations thanks to the wider chest piece along with those twin axes. UFO is neat because well, how often do you see UFO themed mechas in Sentai. Surfer is also neat for similar reasons, I mean it’s a robot on a surf board, though I find it weird that BisonKing never uses the Surfer combination even though the toy is able to do so.

BisonKing



BisonKing, I would say is about as solid as most other sixth ranger mechas. It evokes the cowboy theme very well thanks to the colour scheme and the design, and I especially like how the shuriken head is used as a cowboy hat. Not much else to say, it’s just a good all-around mecha.

King Shurikenjin

Aside from the platform feet, I really dig this combination. Compared to Cho Toq-Oh which didn’t really look all that different from Toq-Oh, King Shurikenjin changes up the silhouette and design far more, which makes it a bit more distinct from Shurikenjin. I also really like how it doubles up on the aesthetics, with the two pilots and two shuriken hats.

Lion Ha-Oh


Aside from the hands, or lack thereof, I like Lion Ha-Oh. It gives me vibes of Muteki Shogun, being this big towering walking fortress. It also has a really nice colour scheme, the mix of red with gold highlights help give it a very royal look. Also, Akaninger just sitting in the mouth of the lion as a cockpit is both dumb and amazing.

Ha-Oh Shurikenjin

I guess when your main mecha has the design of a robot within a robot, what better design for the final combination than a robot within a robot within another robot. This is just bonkers in the best way possible. Kinda wished that Bison King contributed more to the combination other than being guns but that’s a relatively minor complaint for something as amazing as this.

Gekiatsu Dai-Oh






Given that it’s the final standalone mecha, Gekiatsu Dai-Oh is really odd, both in comparison with the other Ninninger mechas and with other past final standalone mechas. Aside from the shuriken head, it doesn't feature the pilot gimmick that the other Ninninger mechas have, and it's also not a big and bulky like other past fourth standalone mechas. Then again, given that the whole theme behind Ninninger mechas is they're haphazard and have no connections with each other, I suppose Gekiatsu Dai-Oh in some roundabout way is on theme with the rest of Ninninger mechas. And I kind of like that despite being made of 6 components, the design and colour scheme is actually fairly spread out, with all the blue and flame details.

Ha-Oh Gekiatsu Dai-Oh

Something about Ha-Oh Gekiatsu Dai-Oh feels last minute, as if Lion Ha-Oh wasn't initially designed to do this combination. Mainly it's just due to how the Gekiatsu Dai-Oh shuriken head has to be removed for it to even fit inside Lion Ha-Oh. I wished there were more things to differentiate this from Ha-Oh Shurikenjin, aside from Gekiatsu Dai-Oh shuriken head becoming the chest and Hououmaru sitting on the top.

Shurikenjin Tridoron


Compared to the last few times we've had these sort of Sentai/Rider combination mechas, I'd say this is the best one so far. Mainly because it doesn’t look like a random one off thing that doesn’t match any of the other combinations, it looks like something that could be a standard addition to the Ninninger mecha lineup.

Ha-Oh Toq Dai-Oh

While a simple idea for a cross show combination, having Toq-Oh and Build DaiOh take the place of Shurikenjin and BisonKing in the Ha-Oh Shurikenjin formation, I think it’s one that overall still works. It's always neat to see mechas from two shows interact in ways like this.

Shurikenjin Dino



Really like this combination and I think it's one of the better movie retools. While Dino is mainly a retool of Paon, there are enough new parts and enough differences to how it combines with Shurikenjin which help make this combination look like something original, rather than a retool.