So Chojin Sentai Jetman Not Gekisou Sentai Carranger Saved Super Sentai?

So I read from Tokusatsu News Network a couple of days ago that Jetman, not Carranger saved Super Sentai. I still remembered the shock I had when I realized this fact: Fiveman wasn't well-received and the show was problematic during its airing. I even think that as much as I want to see Fiveman all over again, I still think that GoGoFive is miles better as a family-based Super Sentai.

There was the Hirohisa Soda era where he served as the head writer for Goggle V, Dynaman, Bioman, Changeman, Flashman, Maskman, Liveman, Turboranger and Fiveman for nine consecutive seasons. He started to show signs of burning out during Turboranger and met his inevitable burnout during Fiveman. Fiveman nearly cancelled Super Sentai so I guess Jetman was meant to be a "finale" but instead, it opened up another era. Producer Takeyuki Suzuki soon worked with Toshiki Inoue for Chojin Sentai Jetman. The Soda era came to its closure with the great writer meeting his inevitable burnout.

I've heard much praise for the show from fans during its time. I guess the new approach by Toshiki Inoue (who has worked some episodes in Flashman, Maskman, Liveman, Turboranger and Fiveman) was assigned as the head writer for 29 episodes. Other contributors were Kenichi Araki and Naruhisa Arakawa. So Jetman was a "mixed bag" since I found that whole Dryer Jigen episode as a "misfit episode". I was thinking that episode may have worked in Zyuranger or Abaranger but not with Jetman. The show may have had a different approach that fans of Super Sentai were interested. So Jetman ended up from an intended "finale" to a "transitional era" or it may be a "finale" for the pre-Zyuranger era. Then maybe, we can all think of Zyuranger as a door to a new era. I'd call it the opening of the start of Power Rangers era or the Post-Zyuranger era.


How popular was Jetman? It merited itself to have a TV Encyclopedia AND a non-canon Manga sequel three years later. Both events didn't reconcile to each other since in the TV special, Ryu and Kaori had a son they named Gai. In the Manga, Ryu and Kaori had a daughter they named Aya. Inoue penned the whole TV Encyclopedia so officially, Radiguet never returned nor was Jeffry Kensaki ever Gai Yuki's official replacement.

I can't deny Jetman's popularity has fans call it the "Best Super Sentai ever". But is it? Not really. There's a lot of better series out there before it or after it. Sometimes, I think Maskman's love story was better written. I think Dairanger is probably more preferred to by Power Rangers fans than Jetman. Maybe some Power Rangers fans can respect Jetman but I feel like they prefer Dairanger which is another favorite of mine. But Dairanger didn't have a post-series TV special nor did it have a Manga sequel.

Just a bit of trivia: Carranger's ratings weren't much higher than Ohranger either. If any series had a much higher rating than Ohranger - it was Megaranger. Plus, Toei hasn't even confirmed that idea neither did any of the Carranger casts. As a fan of the series, I like it as I like it but if it were really true, why didn't Carranger get a post-TV series special or a non-canon Manga sequel? None. It's really a problem when fans create rumors like "Lost Galaxy is more popular in Japan." or "Mighty Morphin' is more popular in Japan." The same may have happened with how Carranger fans ended up creating the rumor that Carranger saved Super Sentai when it didn't. So what's the next rumor going to be?

After Jetman, a couple of other shows apparently had more or less the same treatment. Timeranger had a post TV-series clip featuring all 23 Super Sentai series (Goranger up to GoGoFive) before Gaoranger becomes the 25th anniversary but no non-canon Manga sequel for it. Shinkenger later had a post-series OVA instead of an encyclopedia but I felt like a hero encyclopedia could have been more welcome. But other less popular series like Goseiger, Kyoryuger, ToQGer and Ninninger also had post-series specials for some reason.