Some Flaws I Believe Exist in Super Sentai Writing

Before you even dare flame out Power Rangers for mistakes, here are some flaws that I believe exist in Super Sentai writing and many of them fly off to Power Rangers too:

Lack of character development can happen. Some characters get underdeveloped while others are overdeveloped.

I think the problem of too much red ranger focus also happens at times, even in a good series. Well he's the main character after all.

Villains with ambiguous fates. For example, Lila in Timeranger is missing with her fate unknown. They could have at least killed her or give her a change of heart like Nadira. Then again in real life, some villains can go into hiding somewhere and died uncaught.

Sometimes a final battle can be bland. Liveman though it's a popular series had that problem. Oh well, no series is perfect. I thought of it that Bias should have died a more emotional death and that no monster of the week should have existed.

Sometimes a show can be too dark. I personally think that should be avoided. A dark series can be good though.

As of late, Super Sentai has the flaw of underdeveloped plots for the equipment and the mecha. I felt like that Goseiger is having this problem. This is also called the power-up rush for me.

Sometimes there is an inconsistency of humor and seriousness that can happen. Okay Go-onger is a good series but its imperfections IMO are the scenes where it can get too serious. The finale wasn't funny at all for a funny series. IMO this is just unavoidable.

Crazy plot twists that don't fit right. Well Shinkenger is most famous for a 17-year old adopting a 20-year old, which I thought was crazy.

Oh yeah how could I forget the extra ranger development isn't very good most of the time (thanks Susurro) and seems to be more for toys than anything. I felt like Burai/Dragonranger was too cool to die thus causing Zyuranger to get a bad rating from MMPR fans. Okay I like Zyuranger better but killing off Burai was bad, very bad. And here's also other extra rangers. The only sixth rangers that got really good development were Kou/Kibaranger (he was pretty interesting even if he was a child ranger), Tetsu Aira/Deka Break (who is treated more as an official member of the Dekarangers), Eiji Takaoka/Bouken Silver, Go-on Wings Hiruto and Mio Suto, and Genta Umemori/Shinken Gold (even if he's way crazier than Gem and Gemma combined). However they are treated more as allies than a full-time member. Writers should think of ways to fix this.

Comments

  1. I thought Kotoha had plenty of development. As well as the rest of the Shinkenger cast.

    Red Ranger focus is just personal preference. I kinda understand with Shinkenger. But for other shows like Maskman, I would disagree.

    I don't think it's really important that we know what Lila is up to.

    Liveman's finale was not hurriedly written. And just because Liveman's finale wasn't epic, doesn't mean it was bland or unenjoyable. In fact, it was still rather well written and tied everything up very well.

    Yeah, I agree with the Mystic Brothers thing.

    I disagree with calling Kaoru adopting Takeru as a flaw in writing. In fact, I thought that was one of the more creative things to have happened in Super Sentai. Yes it's crazy, but it's also fun and quite creative. I think it's a plot twist that fits perfectly. I wouldn't say this plot twist is a famous example for bad plot twists, since it seems more like you just don't like this plot twist.

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  2. There are some characters that lack development, but I don't think Kotoha is one of them. I think she's one of the most well developed Shinkenger characters and "Kawaiiko" characters in Sentai. However, I do think most of the Goseigers as well as Ran/GekiYellow is underdeveloped, especially being the team captain.

    As for too much Red Ranger focus, I haven't really seen it as that much of a problem in Sentai. IMO it's more of a problem in Power Rangers, especially Mystic Force and Operation Overdrive.

    As for what happened with Lila, I think it is implied that she escaped somehow. Personally, I don't really care because I didn't really like Lila anyways.

    As for final battles, with Go-Onger the last 1/4th of the series gradually became darker and more serious, starting with Sousuke's "Disney Death." The thing is, even with a comedy series, considering it is Sentai you would expect a big final battle. I like Go-Onger's final battle, but imo Boukenger's final battle was very anti-climatic. I'd rather see Gaja either sealed or destroyed, not just simply go back to sleep.

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  3. @Fantasy Leader- I thought Liveman should have at least had a powerful battle of emotions on Dr. Bias. I mean, that monster of the week in the last episode for me wasn't very much of a plot development, compared to if they were fighting Dr. Bias and eventually getting tied up in a string of emotions.

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  4. @ Sean

    I thought Megumi talking to Bias was enough. And the part where Kemp caused Bias to age was very well written. True, they could've fought him. But I think this was a good way to end it as well. And the Monster of the Week was just meant to be one more thing for them to fight. And I thought that was good. They could've always had no battle at all.

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  5. I'm kinda disappointed that Chiaki's dream of overcoming Takeru wasn't fulfilled, or Mako's dream of becoming a wife. At least if it's not Takeru's she going to end up with, just have some random guy was chosen to be his husband.

    I never thought Ran/GekiYellow was the captain of the Gekirangers not until now. She was more of a support to Jan. The way the writer wrote about Ran, was not similar as Yuri/Time Pink's role.

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  6. Kaoru is 17 years old. It's stated that her father had died 17 years before. Takeru is probably around 22-23

    A couple of things I'd personally have added to the list:

    - Sixth Ranger Syndrome: Where the Sixth Ranger is sidelined or badly developed. The worst example is Gekiranger, where GekiViolet and GekiChopper might as well not have existed. There's also Shinkenger (Genta frequently missing from battles and important scenes with the team) and Megaranger (Silver could not transform for more than a couple of minutes at a time.) The Sixth Ranger is never fully part of the team - at the very least he will have a different uniform, different Ranger designation (e.g. Tetsu is DekaBreak while the others are Red, Blue etc.) and/or live separately from the others.

    - The show treats one member of the team as the butt of every joke and never lets anything good happen to them - ShinkenBlue, MegaPink, AbareBlack to some extent but at least he got a happy ending

    - The show is very sexist. Maybe not quite as bad as Kamen Rider, but still very sexist.

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  7. @Ling

    Ran was named captain by Master Shafu in episode 23, and it was repeated several times during the series. You also pointed out the issue I have with this. She never really looked like she was actually leading the team, except maybe 1 or 2 episodes, the most notable being when they were all stuck back in time during the Edo Era. For me, the way Yuri was written as the leader was handled so much better.

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  8. @ Ling - We also didn't see Genta achieve his dream of opening a restaurant (he moved to France to do it, but we never find out if he was successful. Probably not, if he reappears for the teamup) or Ryuunosuke become a star kabuki performer. The whole point of the show is that teamwork and being a samurai is more important than any of those things

    There was an episode of Gekiranger where Ran was appointed team leader, but she never behaved like it. In Goseiger this year Hyde is supposedly the leader but the show never really demonstrates that, he's more like backup for the Red

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  9. Burai is the only example that I can think of a 6th ranger that didn't get a lot of focus episodes. However, most of Zyuranger's story and key plot points still revolved around him and his death.

    Other than Burai, the 6th ranger most of the time gets more focus than any other ranger except the red ranger. Ken/GekiChopper I'll agree that he lacked focus but Gou/GekiViolet got appropriate focus imo. He got more focus than anyone else on the team besides Jan.

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  10. I don't think it's really necessary for Lila to get killed or have a change of heart. Lila was never all that important, other than being someone to keep Dorunero happy. What makes Nadira different is her relationship with Ransik. And well, there was no Ransik in Timeranger. So I don't think Lila's unknown whereabouts is bad writing.

    Sean, you should know that there's two extremes that should be avoided. There's "too dark" which you got. But being "too light" can also be bad. But too dark and too light can also be a good thing if done every once in a while to keep variety. So I think it's a little debatable.

    Actually, most people thought Burai's death made it all the more better for Zyuranger. And I thought BullBlack and Time Fire were very good sixth members. As long as the stories are well executed, I don't think it should matter too much if they're part of the team or not. But if the show happens to struggle with that, then that's a problem.

    But everyone should remember this. DO NOT mix up bad-writing with what "you think should've happened in a show." Stuff like wanting to see Mako marry Takeru is more of a fan desire and not bad writing.

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  11. @ Mr. Smith - It's not so much whether the Sixth Ranger gets any focus as to whether he's really treated as part of the team, which he usually isn't. The Sixth Ranger will always have a different uniform, probably live separately from the rest of the team, and won't get to use the power-ups. Shinkenger for example: Genta got plenty of "focus" but he could not use Super Mode, he did not live with the others, he was sent off on separate missions from the others and often missing from battles. He was left out of the very important scene in episode 47 where the whole team reaffirms their loyalty to Takeru. In Gekiranger, only the main three could defeat Long, so ultimately GekiViolet and GekiChopper had no purpose at all. Most early Sixth Rangers weren't even part of the team at all, they just randomly showed up when needed. That is what I object to

    I don't believe Shinkenger ever suggested that Mako would marry Takeru. Them posing as a bride and groom means nothing - Jetman had a similar episode and made it very clear that Ako and Gai would NOT be a couple. Mako probably would not want to marry a samurai and risk her children losing a parent (her or the father.) If her son were ShinkenRed he'd have to have a childhood pretty much like hers and she wouldn't want that either. Not having her hook up with Takeru isn't bad writing at all

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  12. We're getting a lot of discussion. Thanks to all who commented.

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  13. IMO, like most people, Lila didn't need to have a send off because she was just... There. She was a boring character that was just there for Donerro's pleasure. The too much Red Ranger focus is a Power Rangers problem, not a Sentai problem. For the most part, Sentai does a pretty good job with handling everyone equally. The only final battle that I thought was bland, in ALL my years of watching Sentai, is Go-onger and more than likely Goseiger will fit into the this equation as well. Liveman had a great final battle. It proved that you don't need a big outlandish battle to wrap up a storyline, even though that's what most Sentai fans want. For me, it was different but still very entertaining. I'm sorry but for me, I love dark shows and light shows but if you're going to do them, do them right. Stick to a certain thing unless you can perfectly balance the two, which Sentai has only been able to do a with only a few seasons, like Kakuranger and Megaranger. Dark shows like Timeranger, Dairanger, Jetman told their stories perfect and while they may have had some light moments, the shows were still dark. Telling Light stories is VERY hard to do. Sentai has only been successful once to me and that was with Carranger. Carranger was perfect. It had very humorous and exciting, while keeping the action. I loved their fighting styles during this show because while they were hardcore, they still had a high dosage of slap-stick humor. Go-onger tried to do the same and ultimately FAILED. It wasn't funny and it was a horrible story. Their fighting skills were very lazy and all of their antics seemed VERY forced, like they were trying TOO hard to be funny. In Shinkenger, the 17-year-old adopting a 20-year-old was the BEST part of the entire show IMO. Granted, Shinkenger is NOT one of my favorite Sentai, I was actually having a fan-gasm when Kaoru adopted Takeru. I actually started to watch Shinkenger again just because I saw a scan revealing a female Red Ranger. I think that whole plot twist was a WIN because it put the story in the right direction and wrapped it up. Lastly, the sixth ranger comment; I think the extra ranger is SUPPOSED to act like team support INSTEAD of an actual team member. EVERY extra ranger has always been the core team's back-up but was never an actual member. That's why they get the different style of uniform and their own stuff. If they were meant to be apart of the team, they'd be apart of the team. Power Rangers did a great job with that when they introduced Tommy as the White Ranger.

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  14. The amount of focus Takeru has in Maskman is rediculous.

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