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Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

Okay! Finished Tensou Sentai Goseiger!
I have a movie to watch, and I'll probably do so tonight, but it doesn't play much part in what I have to say anyway.

A few thoughts in no real order.

First, I don't see why it's picked on so often. While it's start certainly wasn't the best, it does pick up, pretty much once the Warstar bites the dust. GoseiKnight's introduction can give someone whiplash if they were unprepared for it (Like myself). It also has a serious padding problem.

Anyway, let's get reviewing!

Goseiger is an oft mocked Sentai. It's flaws are all present and clear as day from the start, with uninteresting villains, a serious problem with pacing and padding, and having characters have a hard time learning.

From the very beginning, it's clear their biggest flaw is it's villains. The Warstar, the Yuuma Tribe, the Machine Empire who's name I never learned (Mataroid was the name of the monsters, but I don't think that was the name of the Empire). They each bring nothing new in terms of characters, with Mons Drake and Robogog practically being the same character (Though Drake did experience some camaraderie). The Yuuma Tribe was a breath of fresh air from the Warstar, but they soon became tedious as well, their only interesting point being the trick they pull before dying themselves. The Warstar is the worst kind of villain archetype. Standing around a death fortress swearing they'll get the heroes next time. As for the Machine Empire...Yep. They were there too. Unlike the other two, they had barely any time to establish characters. So we got a heartless leader and a "Sympathetic" character in Metal Alice (Quotation marks because I only really felt for her briefly before her death). Because there were 3 sets of different villains, the flaw of escolation and growth is obvious. The enemies never really upped the ante. They were just replaced by another set. Because of this, of the 4 Climaxes, only 1 felt like there was weight behind it. The fights were great and the end bosses did put up one hell of a battle, but because they were only just introduced like 10-15 episodes earlier, it's hard to fell the tension the setting was trying to induce.

Another problem (Not necessarily a flaw, just something that bugged me) was it's padding. Random episodes where characters would supposedly learn something are spread all around the series. While these episodes are intended for character growth, very rarely does it actually occur. This does improve closer to the end, however.
Another problem with the padding was the powers. For stretches of episodes they'd get power after power. Doing this, it lessens the impact of when they actually get a big power, such as the Miracle Gosei Headers and their subsequent super mode, because it feels like I should expect to see some kind of Super Miracle Gosei weapon or something the very next episode.
[Nitpick: The Chou Henshin takes up too much damn time. For like, 20 episodes straight it feels like a solid 2 minutes is taken up by just them transforming, then summoning the gumball machines, then inserting the headers, then applying the armor. I know it's to be expected from Sentai, but it really starts to stand out...]

But it's not all bad! There was a lot that was good, too!
First off, while the characters had a problem actually growing, they were still pretty good as characters. With the exception of Eri (And possibly Hyde), they weren't walking archetypes. They had obvious personality traits, but they did enough to make me feel like they were more than just a checklist of things to include. Eri's bubbly personality never won me over, but that's me being a heartless bastard, and Hyde, while I liked him, was kind of obviously the no nonsense straightman all Sentai are apparently required to have. Still, they were enjoyable to watch and I didn't outright hate any of them (Though I did dread Eri episodes).
GoseiKnight is awesome. Yeah. Can't really deny that. Though he does his hardest to try to make sure no one likes him in the beginning. I enjoyed watching him and his relationship with Nozomu was quite touching (If out of left field).

Very rarely can a show make me completely hate a villain for all the right reasons. By the end of this series, I wanted Burajira dead. Earlier I said that the villains were a low point, but that's only if you don't include Burajira with them. The series does a relatively good job establishing him, and his continuing presence was always alluding to something more. It was pretty cool, and by series end, I couldn't wait to see the Goseigers off him.
Just a note: The best kind of villain is the one who thinks he's doing the right thing. I must agree with Den-O here.

On to designs. I do not like the Gosei suits. WAY too much white for my tastes. Their tribe symbol across their chest was nice, but it was too big, and their color occupied too little space. Their helmets were nice, with a neat variation on the animal mouth/visor thing. The super mode was a super mode. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. GoseiKnight's design was pretty cool, love red visors when the helmet isn't red too (*Glares at Buster Red*), and the gold mixed well with the silver.
The mecha were hit and miss a lot. Gosei Great was bland to me, Hyper Gosei Great was ugly, Gosei Ground was alright, Gosei Ground Great (Or whatever) was kinda cool, Datas Hyper was decent, the ultimate power was fine (Don't remember the name), but the face on the chest was just weird, and I hated everything Mystic Brother was involved with.

So yeah. Overall, Goseiger was alright. It's not a series for everyone, but I think if you can tough it through the Warstar, you'll find it to be pretty good.

Gekiranger
Goseiger
Gokaiger

Watch Go-Onger now.