[Sh Ranger]

1974

Back when Kamen Rider was Toei's only major Tokusatsu franchise, this was the year of X and Amazon, which were both shorter than average seasons. While X gave us a big crossover with all 5 Riders, Amazon was mostly a standalone story whose protagonist wasn't a doctor or scholar, but an illiterate savage instead. Quite a contrast, huh. For me, Amazon was my first Showa Rider, after his appearance in Decade caught my interest.

1984

Super Sentai and Metal Heroes exist now, although Goranger and JAKQ are deemed as separate shows. While I have no opinions on Shaider as I have yet to watch that show, I can say that Bioman was pretty revolutionary for Sentai, giving us a pair of female Rangers, futuristic-looking suits, an evil mecha and more focus on drama, which is perfect for Soda's deep character-driven writing style. It's basically the standard for modern Sentai. We also get ZX, the first ninja-themed Rider, which was sadly wasted on a special that was mostly a documentary.

1994

Power Rangers joins the ranks, a franchise that many of us probably grew up with. MMPR is in its second season, using "Zyu2" footage filmed in Japan exclusively for this show with elements of Dairanger and the legendary Tommy Oliver becomes the White Ranger and new leader of the team. The last Showa Rider J appears (even though it's Heisei now), with Mochizuki Yuta becoming the only actor to portray a Red Ranger and Primary Rider. I especially love Kakuranger for its authentic ninja action, Japanese folklore and comedic characters.

2004

Dino Thunder introduces me to PR and eventually the Tokusatsu genre as a whole! Sentai and Rider are now airing on TV Asahi's Sunday morning Super Hero Time block. We get Dekaranger, which is so popular and cool that they made a 10th anniversary movie, 2 crossovers with Space Squad and even an upcoming 20th anniversary movie. We get Blade, the last of Heisei that I finished and enjoyed, although it's a shame that we haven't seen the writer Imai Shoji since. Pretty strong year with these 3 shows airing simultaneously!

2014

A conflicting year for many and one that I may have the most controversial opinions on. Gaim is generally regarded favorably, but until Revice, it was my least favorite Rider show, as I thought it was too dark and edgy. Super Mega Force is regarded as trash, often for reasons that I think are unfair and petty, although I admit it could've been better. And ToQGer, well.... Most people on this forum have probably already heard how much I loathe that. Fortunately, Indonesia gave me Satria Garuda Bima-X, a 50 episode-long sequel season to their Ishimori Pro-affiliated Satria Series and honestly, that saved the year for me. I enjoyed Drive as well, but only 11 episodes actually aired that year.

2024

Hopefully we can look forward to Gotchard, Boonboomger and the next Rider being great shows that we can look back on proudly in the next 10 years. Maybe PR, if Hasbro ever take that off the shelf.