How I Thought of Sentai's Later Added Rangers

Here are the extra rangers meant to add up the team members to five:

Soukichi Banba/Big One- In a team of four rangers, he became the fifth and their leader. He reappeared in Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai even if JAKQ had NO giant robot yet.

Junichi Aikawa/Green Rhino and Tetsuya Yano/Black Bison- They were extra rangers that came in together to create the Liveman team from three rangers to five rangers. The two were motivated by their desire for revenge only to discover that their real reason to fight was justice.

The Gouraiger siblings Ikkou Kasumi and Isshu Kasumi functioned as two additional members. They were the first maroon and navy blue rangers. With a twist, these two started off as enemies and became friends in contrast to their Liveman equivalents. Shishou apparently had a relationship with Nanami.

Asuka of Dino Earth/Abare Black- He's the fourth member of the Abarangers and from Dino Earth. I find his love story with Mahoro to be an interesting theme. He later appeared in Boukenger vs. Super Sentai.

Mikoto Nakadai/Abare Killer- I see him as a more wicked version of Burai from Zyuranger. He was introduced as a villain, became a hero and DIED.

Gou Fukami/Geki Violet- The first violet ranger in history and brother to the blue ranger Retsu. Being a wolf, I felt like his story as a werewolf was inspired by Shirogane's.

Ken Hisatsu/Geki Chopper- He's the first ranger to ever not shave his facial hair.


While there were extra heroes but most of the did was simply add the number to five in the case of JAKQ and later Liveman, these ones went beyond five heroes. By the way, please don't complain X-1 Mask isn't here, I'm talking of the officially added ones. They are:

Burai/Dragon Ranger was the first. His the only Zyuranger I found more interesting than the others. So he's acted by Shiro Izumi who was previously Change Pegasus in Changeman. I like the way he went from darkness to light in six SO SO EPIC episodes I would dub as "Green with Evil". Sadly he had to die. :-( I like him better than Kou!

Kou/Kiba Ranger- The child actor Hisashi Sakai played as Kibaranger. Before that, he played the younger Burai. He was a pervert. Fortunately though, he survived through the end. I wonder if he was supposed to become a means to attract a younger audience. Some viewed him as a gimmick character. Power Rangers fans later called him as "Justin disgracing Tommy". Fortunately the actor didn't return in Carranger for the role of Blue Racer.

Riki/King Ranger- He is another quite young ranger but I assume he must be a teenager during this time. He's the first sixth ranger to be controlling the most powerful mecha and also the first to be the one from another time mixed with modern rangers. He also appeared in the non-canon Ohranger vs. Kakuranger movie (which I believe was a test film only).

Yuusuke Hayakawa- The first silver ranger but looks more of a white ranger to me. Hmmm... did Toei get the idea from the non-canon Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers The Movie which a child mentions of becoming the silver ranger?

Hyuga/Bull Black- I wonder if he counts. I felt like he's a tribute to Burai as he also died a tragic death and is the elder brother of the red ranger Ryouma. Lost Galaxy kept his counterpart Magna Defender alive though.

Naoto/Time Fire- He was really cool and a determined hero. I hated the fact he had to be a non-leader red ranger type rather than giving him another color. I also hated the fact that he was killed by a zenitto which was LAME for me. However such incidents do happen in real life. His Time Force counterpart Alex managed to survive though.

Shirogane/Gao Silver- He seems to combine the attributes of Burai with Riki/King Ranger. He was at first appearing as someone who had become the host body for Loki the wolf-demon and later joined the rangers. He was quite a loner but a pretty cool character. He had a fan-shipping with Sae Taiga too. In the Hurricanger vs. Gaoranger movie, sadly he left without saying a word.

Hurricanger- In the strangest of events, we have an addition of two in a team of three, then he becomes the sixth member. He got stuck in his costume form so I think he can only eat when he transforms into a human form, while never having a real human form revealed for some reason. What was Toei's reason for this? Did they run out of money for an additional actor? This was also done in Power Rangers SPD with its own version of Deka Break which was heavily disliked by some Power Rangers-Super Sentai fans.

Tetsu Aira/Deka Break- He's probably the first adult ranger to be less serious while it's funny how he and the more serious Hoji Tomasu can get along together. I think he's more arrogant than Hoji Tomasu in some way. Also, he's the first sixth ranger to dress up as a woman. His involvement in Boukenger vs. Super Sentai shows how bad-ass he can be.

Hikaru/Magishine- I wonder if he counts thinking that Magiranger like Fiveman and Gogo V are sibling teams. He became the boyfriend and eventually the husband of Urara. In the Magiranger vs. Dekaranger movie, he and Tetsu became cross-dressers. He joins his in-laws for the final battle against N-Ma. He was later reunited with Tetsu in Boukenger vs. Super Sentai.

Eiji Takaoka/Bouken Silver- He's the first sixth ranger to be a hanyo- product of a demon and a human. For me, he has the most interesting back story in the list because he first fights the Ashu and ends up joining with other rangers who crossed swords with the Ashu who later became known as the Questers. I loved how he got involved in finding the rangers he needed to save the others namely Asuka/Abare Black, Tetsu/Deka Break, Nanami/Hurricane Blue and Tsubaza Ozu/Magiyellow in a very hilarious way in the Boukenger vs. Super Sentai crossover.

For Go-onger, sixth and seventh came in together. They were the siblings Hiruto and Mio. Unlike the Go-ongers, these two were serious characters to balance the show's goofiness. They were dead serious that they didn't fit in at first and later were able to adjust to the team. Mio is actually first regular the seventh ranger.

Genta Umemori/Shinken Gold- The only non-samurai member of the Shinkengers and underrated by some as he's not frequently shown with them in group pictures. He's an idiotic type character probably due to the fact his IQ is way higher than the rest, even more hyperactive than Gem and Gemma combined.

Kaoru Shiba, 18th head of the clan/Female Shinken Red- I think she counts as an additional ranger. She's added very MUCH later in Shinkenger, some fans like myself consider her the seventh ranger of the team, even if she's the true leader who later did the unthinkable of adopting Takeru as her son, rather than just allow him to lead as Shinken Red for the last battle and remain as the head of Shiba clan with Takeru as her protector instead. :-P Fans tend to ship her with either Genta Umemori or with Ryunosuke Ikenami.


See also:

Extra Ranger Prototypes
Heroic Allies in Super Sentai
My Picks for the Most Bad-Ass Sentai Rangers

Comments

  1. Uh what? Big One is 'Soukichi Banba'. Banban is DekaRed.

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  2. I don't think Genta is underrated at all. He did win on Henshin Grid's poll for favorite "6th ranger." For "extra rangers" my favorites are Burai, Shuricanger, Ikkou, Doggie, Eiji, Gou, Miu, and Hiroto.

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  3. I highly doubt that Hiroto and Miu are twins, since Hidenori Tokuyama is seven years older than Yumi Sugimoto.

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  4. Just thought you'd wanna know, Kuwaga Raiger's name is Isshu not Shishou.

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  5. Burai's introduction arc was actually six episodes long. ;)

    As for Kou, no he was not a means to attract a younger audience. During the early 90s, the head writer, Noboru Sugimura had a fondness for children. Thus, he wanted to try experimenting on children in toku. Thus, Kou and Riki were created (though Riki is a young teenager). I suppose yes, he is a gimmick, but thankfully, Noboru Sugimura did a good job and worked Kou's age into the story. Since Kou turning 10-years-old was a big deal. As for what typical Power Ranger fans think, I think they really need to let go of their feelings on Justin and Tommy and just view Kou for what he is for once. :P

    Not sure if you noticed sean, but at the start of Gingaman, Hyuuga is wearing the same clothes as Geki from Zyuranger. Coincidence? :D

    Aww. No Rio and Mele? Oh well. xD

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  6. @Fantasy Leader- Thanks for clearing my muddled mind up. I'm even thinking of putting you as an author of this blog but I wonder if Kingdom Rider will join in.

    @Hallwings- Thanks for revealing that info.

    Hee hee.

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  7. @BlackDragonRanger- Thanks for helping up clarify my muddy mind.

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  8. @ Mr. Smith - I don't think Genta is underrated by fans (although some people hate any kind of "wacky" character) but he certainly was in the show. They left him out of the most important team bonding moment in episode 47, sent him off on different missions from the others, and he was frequently absent from battles. Horrible case of Sixth Ranger Syndrome

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  9. @ susurro

    I don't think they left Genta out of too much. In episode 47 he had his own issues to deal with, such as coming to terms to fight with Kaoru. Also, he didn't need to be in the "bonding moment" because he was already childhood friends with Takeru. As far as Genta being sent on different missions and being away from battles, well when you're needed for other things, like creating new mechas, I can understand why. He also wasn't absent from that many battles.

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  10. I don't remember seeing Tetsu/DekaBreak in Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai. Do you mean Boukenger vs. Super Sentai? Because I heard he appeared in that one.

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