[Matrixbeast]

Watched the Abare 20th special.
It's odd that it plays it so none of the other reunions were canon, so they haven't been rangers in 20 years.
Despite this, this special was super tongue in cheek. Poking fun at stuff like how long inspirational speeches take or how social attitudes have changed in the 20 years since Abaranger's original airing. I would've very much expected them to reference their past crossovers, but eh.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

Watched the Abare 20th special.
It's odd that it plays it so none of the other reunions were canon, so they haven't been rangers in 20 years.
Despite this, this special was super tongue in cheek. Poking fun at stuff like how long inspirational speeches take or how social attitudes have changed in the 20 years since Abaranger's original airing. I would've very much expected them to reference their past crossovers, but eh.

Watched it earlier this week.

Logically, none of their crossovers can be canon, except for Donbrothers which was a prequel to this. Abaranger VS Hurricanger had Rije at a time when she should've been Rijewel instead and Dekaranger VS Abaranger had a cameo from Hurricane Red who Ryouga canonically shouldn't have recognized. Nevertheless, I appreciated how we still got a Dekaranger VS reference, with Abarengecko reviving Abare Killer instead of Dezu. Even in canon, Nakadai is still the strongest man in hell!

As far as Sentai anniversary movies go, this was the only one I thought captured the flavor of the show and had something worthwhile to talk about. A story about the problem with dreaded moral guardians/cancel culture and the way that perceptions can become twisted and misinterpreted to the detriment of people like Aoi who carried that trauma in to adulthood. While violence is an essential part of every Sentai, the "kindness of rampaging" is a major selling point of Abaranger's aesthetic, so it's interesting to see how such a philosophy can be judged harshly in the overly sensitive world of modern social media. I appreciate how Aoi isn't just a strawman either, like, that would be easy, but we actually see where her hatred comes from and confronting that is how she becomes a better person.

I especially love how Yukito reacts to this situation, since it's fresh off the "DocHara" accusations that made him retire from his job. In the interview, he's the only member of his team who isn't meekly trying to apologize for their behavior, as he believes that the Abarangers haven't done anything wrong. While Ryouga and Asuka are stuck on defense, Yukito goes for the offense instead, pointing out all the flaws in Aoi's argument and pretty much telling her she's the one who needs to change. His backstory about getting blamed for grade school bullying is something I can totally relate to, as a fellow guy with limited emotional expression. Thanks to his investigation, Aoi sees the benefit her childhood rampage had on her friend and decides to atone by using her power as an influencer to help the Abarangers defeat Abarengecko. Easily the MVP of this movie.

I hope Dekaranger 20th will maintain this quality.

[GoldenXtreme]

I read the Goranger manga recently. I haven't actually seen the show, but I figured it would be plenty interesting in its own right. I didn't realize before reading it that there were actually two different, short Goranger mangas. The first one is really madcap, with lots of awesome art and ridiculous robot dinosaurs and horses that shoot missiles, so I thought it was awesome even if it didn't really go anywhere. The second one is fairly standard and just didn't look nearly as impressive, weirdly enough, though was fun enough in it's own right. I think I should just sit down and read some of Ishinomori's other works at some point, because both Goranger and Kamen Rider were fascinating.

[Sh Ranger]

Well, guys, I did it. I finally finished Goranger, which at 84 episodes spanning 2 years, is the longest show in the history of Super Sentai! So, if I can do that, then Changeman should be easy by comparison, right? I mean, nothing can be longer than Goranger, right? (looks painfully at OG Kamen Rider....)

Despite lacking a lot of the tropes that would later become synonymous with the franchise, like giant battles and a Morphin' sequence, I thought Goranger was a pretty enjoyable show with a good amount of character focus, which I usually praise in Soda's works, but Uehara shows that he can do it occasionally as well, with 84 episodes giving a lot of opportunities for backstory and development. I especially liked Shinmei and Peggy. The roll calls are weirdly inconsistent though, since after Akaranger, who says their names next is anybody's guess.

It's been a while since I'd last watched a Showa Sentai, which was Denjiman, so here's my updated Showa Sentai Ranking:

1) Flashman
2) Bioman
3) Liveman
4) Goranger
5) Goggle V
6) Denjiman
7) Sun Vulcan

Only 5 more of those to go, but for now, I'm rewatching Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, a season that I actually remember very little about, in preparation for hopefully starting Gingaman later this year. I claimed before something like, "I fully intend to watch Gingaman by the end of 2022", but uh, looks like that didn't work out. Up next, it's Janperson!

[Sh Ranger]

I watched Adventure Heaven earlier in preparation for Boonboomger tomorrow.

Pretty appropriate that the show whose appeal is its CGI fantasy setting would have a summer movie with yet another CGI fantasy setting.

I like how it ties so deeply in to the plot of the show, something that's unusual for a Sentai summer movie. Rhyniol is a fitting last challenge for Gira, both physically and mentally, before his coronation. To determine if he's ready to take the throne. It's like I mentioned before, that the real journey for Gira was never becoming king, but rather what he would do after that. Rhyniol sees him as weak since he's unwilling to make sacrifices like the kings of Shugoddam before him, but Gira proves that there's strength in his defiance. I enjoy how that plays out here in the climactic fight scene, showing Gira's development up to this point and his determination to handle whatever danger comes next alongside his allies.

Man, we'd been wondering whether or not Racles was truly dead all this time and turns out Rhyniol actually told Gira, who I guess kept this secret to himself for 2 years for some reason. Of course, Suzume had known even earlier than that, but Racles had sworn her to secrecy after all, to protect his plan.

Dugded's post-credits cameo makes sense when you consider how he can use Minongan as a portable respawn point. He could've killed himself to get in and then revived after killing Rhyniol (even though he's already dead), similar to how the monarchs' SICs got in and out.

[GoldenXtreme]

So, I've seen 24 episodes of Shinkenger and while it's okay I've found it extremely bland so far.

However, I've seen other people on this very forum watch Shinkenger and start off unimpressed, but a lot of them seem to have come around by the end! It seems like this is a show that has most of it's positive reputation from what I can only assume is a fantastic final arc, but I'm not sure even that will be able to sell me on the show if I'm still not into it at the halfway point. I think what's really dragging the show down for me is that the characters and episodic plots are fine, but don't feel very inspired? The lord and vassals angle is pretty unique, but many of the stories are Sentai standbys and the characters are charming but not grabbing me.

Kinda curious about when people think this show picks up. Or maybe you don't think the show picks up at all and think Shinkenger is wildly overrated! Regardless, I'd love to know.

[GuardianAngel87]

I always considered Shinkenger to be a vastly overrated, and while the show itself does have some highlights here and there, it’s ultimately not all that special, sadly. I have also been meaning to rewatch this series at some point albeit under much better English subtitles than the ones I was unfortunately stuck with at the time though.

Speaking of rewatching certain seasons of Super Sentai, it’s quite a long time but I am finally back to revisiting Timeranger via my copy of the DVD series set as released by Shout Factory.

[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Kinda curious about when people think this show picks up. Or maybe you don't think the show picks up at all and think Shinkenger is wildly overrated! Regardless, I'd love to know.

I think Shinkenger has a decent first handful of episodes, then it becomes very bland for the majority of the run. But the last 12-ish episodes are among the best Sentai ever made. In fact, if you wanted to, you could just skip to the back 15, and you wouldn't miss much.

[GoldenXtreme]

I finished Shinkenger. I'm unimpressed.

There's definitely a few highlights. The choreography and suits are very striking in this show and even going into the show aware of the whole "there is a female Red Ranger" spoiler, I was still unable to see through Takeru's true identity as a decoy until the last minute. Genta was fun and the Renegade Corrupt were interesting. But... to the very it didn't really manage to impress me. Ultimately I the show was too meandering and the cast just couldn't hold it up.

I think the Shinkengers are generally *fine* are characters, but also did not have very moments that struck me as innovative or even particularly well implemented. Takeru has imposter syndrome and an accompanying sense of guilt, but he isn't really analyzed until very late in the show and the conflict is very quickly resolved without any sort of lingering impact. Ryunosuke is inflexible but talented. Chiaki lacks proper training and aspires to get stronger. Kotoha doesn't have high faith in herself. Mako is sisterly but serious. Genta wants to make Sushi and help Takeru. Most of the cast feels some conflict about balancing their normal lives with being a samurai. But I feel like the show was never able to elevate the characters beyond their initial concepts, make me re-evaluate them as more and more layers are revealed. Some of this I think is because the episodic plots are also not all that great, a lot of stuff that just feels like they were ripping pages out of the Sentai playbook. The antagonists were also lacking overall. The more conflicted and tormented Renegades were better, mostly consumed with their own self-satisfaction, but Dokuku is just a nothing burger who spends most of the show drunk in spite of being the final villain. I was hoping the climax would impress me, but I thought it was more of the same. Not too much else to say, I don't think the show actually gave me too much to talk about. D tier, really needed more substance.

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

I think the Shinkengers are generally *fine* are characters, but also did not have very moments that struck me as innovative or even particularly well implemented. Takeru has imposter syndrome and an accompanying sense of guilt, but he isn't really analyzed until very late in the show and the conflict is very quickly resolved without any sort of lingering impact. Ryunosuke is inflexible but talented. Chiaki lacks proper training and aspires to get stronger. Kotoha doesn't have high faith in herself. Mako is sisterly but serious. Genta wants to make Sushi and help Takeru. Most of the cast feels some conflict about balancing their normal lives with being a samurai. But I feel like the show was never able to elevate the characters beyond their initial concepts, make me re-evaluate them as more and more layers are revealed.

Yeah, this is one of the recurring problems I have with Shinkenger. While the characters are generally sympathetic on the surface (except Genta, who I find annoying), the development is either limited or occurs late. Even when Takeru reveals his reason for acting cold to his vassals, it's still a little grating that nobody had really called him out much on his previous behavior, other than Chiaki. I wanted to see a little more resistance. Shiba Kaoru is cool though and I did enjoy the final arc and how everything concluded. Unfortunately, I think Kobayashi and Utsunomiya are a bad match, based on the two shows they've collaborated on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Dokuku is just a nothing burger who spends most of the show drunk in spite of being the final villain.

He's not drunk, he's just had too much medicine.