[Fish Sandwich]

~Fish's Zenkai Tour!~

Episode 19 – Chouriki Sentai Ohranger



(I know it looks like more people than ever are missing, but trust me: this is all we need.)

Ohranger was a bit of a turning point for Super Sentai. A lot of them are, in their own ways, of course, but this particular show represents a few particularly notable shifts for the franchise. It was the big 20th anniversary series... and only a couple years after Dairanger was the 15th too, as this marks the point where Toei simplified the way they categorized everything so that Goranger and JAKQ were officially part of the same big family as everyone else, with no further distinction. As such, the overall concept for Ohranger was to go back to the roots, with professional heroes working for a cool organization that stands against an intimidating evil.

The staff for the series consisted of a lot of veteran talent as well, such as long-time producer Takeyuki Suzuki, and a team of five writers (Noboru Sugimura, Toshiki Inoue, Hirohisa Soda, Shouzou Uehara, and Susumu Takaku) who ALL had been a main writer for at least one show each (although Takaku shares the credit for Battle Fever J with Uehara). It's worth noting that those last three had also been writing for Sentai as far back as Goranger itself, with Uehara coming back to Sentai for the first time since Sun Vulcan. The turn in this turning point comes in that this would also be the final Sentai for many of these people, including Sugimura, who would make this his last outing as main writer after a brief but memorable run, and Suzuki, who ended a very long and important run as producer here.

Clearly they were aiming to make Ohranger something of an event, but while the series did end up being extraordinarily successful financially, moving historically large amounts of merchandise (to this day, few Sentai even come close), the show's critical legacy is often dominated by the subject of how its tone underwent a notable shift away from its serious roots as a reaction to rather grim real life events going on in Japan at the time. The result is that Ohranger tends to be considered the black sheep of the Sugimura era, often being perceived as an underwhelming Sentai that lacks meaningful direction.

I can't speak to how fair that perception is or is not, since I haven't watched the show in full, but this is another one I've already seen the first episode of beforehand, so I can at least offer that much. Although, even more than with Bioman, I couldn't tell you why or even when exactly I watched it? I only know that I did, that it didn't go any further than that, and that ever since, I have remembered one thing in particular from this premiere very well.

Let me tell you all about a man named Gorou Hoshino.

Gorou is just about the baddest dude ever? He's so cool, he only takes his sunglasses off when he's getting ready to fly his awesome super jet plane. He's so rad, his plane launches him out onto the battlefield already on a motorcycle. He's so tough, once he transforms into Oh Red, he handles the entire fight scene without the rest of the team joining him. He's so metal, his suit actor was literally working on the Metal Hero Series prior to Ohranger.

I said Ohranger was trying to take things back to the roots, and they arguably overcompensated a bit with making a Red who is unmistakably the team's reliable and heroic leader. What Dairanger and Kakuranger were doing by trying to make everyone truly equal was pretty commendable, and it's not hard to make the case it's an ideal format for a franchise with the core appeal of having a group of similar but different heroes. Ohranger, I mean, man, they just walk it in *completely* the opposite direction at the outset. Not only is Gorou the only one who gets introduced by himself in the opening, he's the only proper Ohranger you see see at all in Ohranger's premiere. His face is literally a star. If you're judging by the same logic that would consider those previous few shows' format an objective upgrade, Ohranger's first episode might even be an outright failure as a Sentai premiere?

The thing is though – he's SO cool you guys! So what if this episode doesn't at all convince me there's value in these people being a team? Did you not catch the part where Gorou has a jet plane that spits out motorcycles? The raw cool factor of Oh Red totally overpowers any complaints I could have. Maybe it says something that I never watched more than one episode of Ohranger, but if it does, it should also say something that I've so vividly remembered how absurdly awesome Gorou is for so long. If anything, what I did forget was that, despite everything else I'm saying, the episode does effectively demonstrate the other four as being fairly capable and cool even before getting their powers. It's just... Gorou! You can't compete with that guy!

He's the epitome of everything Ohranger was going for in the portrayal of serious, stalwart heroes refusing to yield to a serious, overwhelming threat, and the episode does a great job of communicating that. There's no doubt, hesitation, or real heartache to be found here. Much like in the premieres of old, Gorou knows what needs to be done, and he's ready and willing to do it. In that sense, it's exactly the more modern version of the earlier Sentai concepts they were shooting for, and I can't help but love it for that. I mean, they even called the bad guys "Baranoia", which is one of my favorite villain group names in all of Sentai, by the way. Of course measured stoicism is going to be their greatest weakness, and that makes a guy like Gorou their biggest threat.

Even if I were to one day watch Ohranger and end up agreeing with the consensus, I'll probably always have a real soft spot for this one little episode and its one big star player. Say what you will about the show as a whole, but this is definitely a premiere that left a lasting impression on me.