Super Sentai Series I Personally Think Gets Too Much Credit

So okay I do love (or like) these series but this is just me hypothesizing on stuff. Now let's think about these series that might be very overrated:


Chodenshi Bioman was very popular among the Filipino audience when it was shown with its rather super cheesy, super duper inaccurate horrid dubbing XP. For one, a lot of Filipinos may have seen this as their first Super Sentai if they were born in the 80s to 90s. I do like this series but when I say I really like it that much, nah. What might be often overlooked was that Bioman had its own fair share of problems like the Beastnoid concept tends to get boring since as a kid, I really asked to why those guys never died no matter how many times they were hit! Overall, it's still an interesting season but there's more to Sentai than this.


Chojin Sentai Jetman is probably very overrated and I'm in that boat of people who give it too much credit. I still personally think that this is the best Super Sentai season ever. It had a lot of interesting stuff, a collection of 80s stuff and this was before Toshiki Inoue its head writer burned out beyond belief. Just my thoughts, yes Jetman is that good but I thought that there some minor inconsistencies we fail to overlook. For example, I thought that Gai Yuki had good character development but I felt like he needed a backstory of why he became a jerk, Juuza could have been given a little more extension than just a guest villain, Radiguet could actually get a backstory himself too... but still this is and has been my favorite Super Sentai season ever since. For me, this season was pretty much an experimental season like trying to introduce love triangles in between teams, presented the first James Dean type character in Gai Yuki, making one villain all way too evil in Radiguet while he simply regards to justify his evil actions and trying to link a lot of Soda's works into one huge good season. But what can be forgotten sometimes is that Gai Yuki really was written off in a pretty stupid way very untypical to Sentai heroes, or maybe it was purposely done as an experiment by Inoue to see how it can work. Read my reasons why I freaking love this series!


I don't know if Zyuranger should ever be in here. Maybe some Power Rangers fans are not entirely open minded to Super Sentai, maybe they only care about it starting from Zyuranger up to current but maybe they could care less about pre-Zyu Sentai because they weren't adapted into the monster hit that is Power Rangers. Maybe for some, it's all because of it being "much better" like Burai is better than Tommy who is also overrated. I don't know the degree of this though since you'll have to consider with Toei's blessing, Zyuranger got adapted into Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers so maybe that's why some PR fans who watch Super Sentai (in part or in whole) overrate it.


Gosei Sentai Dairanger could be pretty overrated for me. I mean this for me is the best of what the late Noboru Sugimura came out while leaving some intended fan speculations (like Shadam's real fate) or a lot of mysteries, this show is pretty flashy with all its kickass moves, cool mecha designs that I feel this show really is the best martial arts Sentai. Sure I love Maskman and Gekiranger but this is still my favorite. I might probably add excellent plot value is included with the awesomeness of the stories revolving around them like Ryou vs. Jin and Shadam, Daigo and Kujaku's love story and that of Gara and Kujaku and Kou's family issues which provided some twists and turns. Overall, this show is hyper addictive to watch aside from Jetman. Maybe kids also overrated this because of Kou because he's the first kid ranger ever!


Well let's just say I started liking Gougou Sentai Boukenger too much because of its unique adventure theme. I can't blame fans for liking it, I still think it's in my list of favorites BUT I have overlooked certain problems which were later pointed out by ThatChick. I would agree that Satoru is too much of a risk taker (NOT a good thing) and Natsuki is too much of a ditz (and yet you wonder why she's not dead in combat because the suits DO NOT make you invincible) though I can't count Sakura as "too perfect" (but still a Mary Sue nonetheless), I mean she's really a redo of Yuri in Timeranger in a way plus I'd hate to be near her when she's upset to the point Mako's bad cooking can be tolerable. Of course, I could tackle on it that while it has great acting but there's always some problems for some. Maybe the mecha made a lot of toy sales, children love the adventure theme, etc. but they can be pretty boring for the more mature fans! In fact, I overrated this show a lot but as of late, I do am starting to accept its flaws and accepting I was wrong in my unfair prejudice and extreme HATRED towards Power Rangers Operation Overdrive (which I would say should be credited for Ronnie is better than Natsuki, the Corona Aurora plot actually is a plot driver in itself, the whole sibling rivalry between Flurious and Moltor is also an interesting catch and I think had creativity despite being a bad season for me) just because it was written during the Kalish era which I would admit me accusing it of racism as well. I used to compare it to Jetman a lot but lately, I think a lot of them are pretty forced comparisons as well.


I could put Samurai Sentai Shinkenger in the list. As much as I love this series for a lot of good stuff about it, this series could have its own issues or is probably superficially admired. I would say Kakuranger is still better than this series as this series tends to get from serious to rather to being really silly. In terms of being superficially admired and as much as I like Mako a lot (she's my favorite female in Shinkenger and my stupid reason for watching it) but it seems people just admire her for being gorgeous never mind her weaknesses (I wonder who wants to be tortured eating her monstrously yucky dishes with her feeding them but maybe Spike in PR Samurai would which makes me think he will fall for her.) which is over the border a stupid reason to even like the show. It had interesting concept but the middle part was more of a toy commercial like Daigoyou and Mougyudaioh were more gimmicky than plot material (that problem also happened in Boukenger with Daivoyager). Perhaps another flaw that fans tend to overlook is that the Gedoushu running dry is probably one dry gag and for me, it gets funny but there are times that it really gets corny. But I can't blame Shinkenger fans for liking the aesthetics, humor and the characters as they develop but still, as much as I love this series but nobody should appreciate it for silly reasons I have just mentioned.


Maybe Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger counts in? Well, I would say yes but that's my opinion. My reason has to be because this was freaking the most remembering the good times season! How do I say that? I mean, it links all 34 Super Sentai worlds into ONE BIG SERIES and I mean, in a good way rather good way. You have the Legend War concept, the Gokaigers using the powers of the previous Super Sentai and the guest starring in many of the episodes, even Toshihide Wakamatsu appeared as Gai Yuki's ghost! In here, there's lost of nostalgic back to the past value and polished what Boukenger failed to. I mean, really you get some unique personalities especially the Gokaigers who are aliens searching the galaxy for the Greatest Treasure in the Universe and how each one of them got linked together. In fact, I guess people are still too in love with this show's quality writing (though I'd say Naruhisa Arakawa's best Super Sentai job imo is Dekaranger in my own preference), high nostalgic value that makes you gush and maybe just everything about it. Maybe we can also all relate to Gai Ikari's fanboyism to Super Sentai.

Comments

  1. I'm surprised that for Shinkenger you didn't highlight the "stopping of the plot" flaw from 28-38. I'm willing to forgive that, but it IS a flaw. As for the thing about Mako being a Shinkenger fan magnet, it's not new. Maybe not so apparent in the earlier shows from the 80s and 90s, but I know of many who got into the whole Sentai thing without even knowing Power Rangers or even seeing any Sentai just because they caught a glimpse of Jasmine elsewhere and followed her into Dekaranger, and the rest we all can tell.

    Shinkenger had its flaws, but what captured me was the very human construction of the core team, and unlike Aristotelian theory, placed character over plot, which I could only previously get a feel of from Jetman. Re-attempted less obviously in Dekaranger, both Jetman and Dekaranger paved the way for me to love Shinkenger. (Deka and Shinken fall under different Sentai decades, the former pre-Boukenger, and the latter post-Boukenger). It's my favourite 4th decade Sentai, a d my favourite Sentai on the whole for its balance between lightness and dark feel, while tilting a LITTLE to the dark side, similar to Shinkenger.

    Based on my definition of a good Sentai series, Jetman, DekaRanger and Shinkenger come from the same family, and impress me (without feeling overrated). I respect, and to a large part agree with your thoughts, just sharing mine.

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    1. Thanks for dropping by!

      Speaking of Jasmine in Dekaranger and that glimpse of her, it's a bad reason to watch Dekaranger but yeah, I have a friend who obsessed over Ayumi Kinoshita to the point he fell into depression when she got married.

      For Shinkenger I think this is where Kobayashi has some weird humor especially the whole Takeru Shiba is adopted by Kaoru part. For Mako being eye candy, yeah I admit I'm guilty of drooling over her.

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  2. Those series are considered overrated because its very well written, period.

    We can always say Ultraseven is the best Ultra series, Tom Baker is the best Doctor, Black is the greatest Kamen Rider.

    Like it or not those series are the best and overrated is a jealous word to use.

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  3. I think Zyuranger could be both overrated and underrated. Overrated in that Powtards only say it's good because it gave us Power Rangers (It does deserve credit for that but it shouldn't be the only reason to like it.) It's also underrated for the same reason in my opinion because some of those same Powtards don't give it any more credit than simply it being PR's parent when there's other points to like about it.

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    1. Hi Power Sentai!

      Well yeah, I would agree with what you said. Powtards are just as annoying as Sentards. Both shows deserve each to their own credit.

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