[Matrixbeast]

Finished Abaranger a bit ago. Stewed on it for a bit to collect my thoughts.

Abaranger was a series I wanted to see for some time now, as I always loved the idea of a Red ranger with a child, an evil sixth that stays evil for the majority of the series, and just seemed so weird. And it did deliver on all those, but it just felt so...Lacking.

One thing it had in spades was sheer insanity. So many episodes were just completely crazy and wacky that I couldn't comprehend what happened, and I loved that. The episode chosen for Lost and Found in Translation really did set the stage for what Abaranger was all about. Surreal, crazy, and sheer fun.

However, that's really about it when it comes to the series, which is unfortunate, because I wanted to like it more than I did.
We'll move to the second strongest factor, Ryoga and Mai. A red ranger with a child is certainly a unique take, and I'm definitely thankful that Mai stuck around as was a major factor. However, I felt that they handled the entire thing poorly. While I know "Red ranger makes promise, breaks it because Ranger duties" would become a repetitive story line, I just felt that the sheer lack of (Non MOTW induced) conflict really made their story shallow. Still, for what it's worth, it didn't feel like a complete waste, as we did get some nice episodes and moments between the two.
The other character that got focus was Asuka. And he was alright. I don't know, I just didn't gel with him, as I felt his storyline was just so bland. I guess after the likes of Jetman's Marie, his plot with Mahoro just felt like a watered down version. Them having a child is nice, though.

The other characters were basically just...There, which was a big issue. While it was nice to see AbareBlue open up to others more, ultimately, they just around. Mikoto's motivation to be evil, him becoming the main villain's lead, and finally the final twist revolving around him all felt weak simply due to his being evil solely "Because I'm bored." It was a let down, and his warming up to the others was painfully forced.

Honestly, Abaranger was a series I was looking forward to watching, and in the end, I found myself let down and bored. Something I had never done before was skip episodes or run them at 2x speed, but around the final stretch, I was doing that multiple times simply due to sheer disinterest in what was going on, and just wanted to watch plot relevant episodes at that point.

I don't have a handy list of Sentai in order of personal quality, but if I did assemble a new one, Abaranger would definitely in the bottom half.