Carranger: A Tribute to Hirohisa Soda's Era of Sentai?

While watching Carranger, I cannot help but notice how Hirohisa Soda was not only writing some episodes but also, the whole series throws back to not just Turboranger but some things from Soda's era. I previously wrote about Megaranger as a throwback to Hirohisa Soda's era, Carranger did also do it in some ways too.


Like Turboranger, Carranger has the whole mixing of Turboranger's concept of automobiles and magic. In this series, the Carranger gets their magic from Car Magic which is brought by the Hazardian, Dappu who uses the Car Magic to battle an incoming evil. Doesn't that remind you how Turboranger uses cars and magic in their battle but it wasn't so explored back then? Although you have to realize that Carranger uses alien technology like the mecha in Bioman, Changeman and Flashman though I have pretty much missed other series right?


Carranger for me had at least two characters that reminded me of Soda's era. The first would be my favorite ranger, Kyousuke Jinnai who like Riki Honoo tends to be the "law of chromatic superiority" as they are badass red rangers.. that is while Riki battled Ragorn one on one, Kyousuke defeated a Bowzock gang member out of suit. The other would be the fiercely independent Natsumi Kinohara who like Mika Koizumi, wears red a lot, she tends to act on her own and she feels like she is a season long Mika (considering Mika didn't last long no thanks to Yuki Yajima's sudden disappearance) herself especially how she tends to oppose Kyousuke at times. Good thing that the actress Yuta Motohashi didn't have any problems like Yuki Yajima did.


The Zokurangers were a short-lived evil Sentai. Their leader was immediately defeated in that episode but, you can't deny how Soda's era had the Beastnoids, the Alien Hunters and the Gingamen (not the Sentai but the evil comedic Sentai in Fiveman) right?


Midseason, we have the Victory Trailer which brought the components of the VRV Robo into battle. Turboranger got rid of the transportation mecha, Carranger brought it back momentarily which was also later done in Gingaman (with the existence of Ginga Bitus which also arrived midseason). The Victory Trailer also stood upright in robot mode but didn't participate much in battle, except to give its cannons to the VRV Robo to perform the Victory Twister. In the finale, it flew back into space with VRV Master and Dappu like how the Shuttlebase and Bio Dragon left the Earth in the finale.


Again back in the 80s, you ave the red ranger falling for the enemy. Doesn't that remind you of Takeru's relationship with Ial in Maskman? Sorry for the forced comparison but... it's similar in that way except here, it's a comedy. If you want a few similarities between Red Racer/Zonette to Red Mask/Ial, you might notice that later, Zonette still has Kyousuke in her heart even if they supposedly broke up.


The appearance of Biker Lord Exhaus as the main villain behind everything might remind some of Vulgyre in Fiveman (though Fiveman's was rushed) or the way he rules over Baribarin is like how Vulgyre (under Meadow persona) ruled over Zone or how Bazoo ruled over the Gozma Starship. In the finale, like Ragorn in Turboranger, he absorbs all the evil energy around to return to the battle and even defeated the mecha. What was also later discovered is that while Vulgyre was weak to the Sidon flowers, Bazoo was weak to the Memory Doll, Ragorn was weak to fairy magic... well Exhaus was really weak to expired imo youkan.