Guilt-Ridden Gao Silver And Zyuoh The World

After seeing this week's Zyuohger, I wanted to write on this short entry. Misao Mondo has now officially joined the team but  I can't blame him for his total wreck. I mean, he did something horrible (in a way).

Zyuoh The World's guilt

If you remembered in this week's episode, Misao admitted that he accepted the offer by Deathgalien because he was a loner. In a way, it's a Faustian pact with them. Although he DID NOT take the life of the three Zyumen (names unknown) but it can't be denied that off-screen, Genis shows some off-screen cruelty and who knows what's next. The temporary and short-term nightmare fuel with the scene where he's being converted into a Zyuman was something. 

There's some throwback to that in Bioman with the Magne Warrior. Remember when Shota Yamamori was rejected by the Biomen because he had no Bio particles in his body? Shota ends up accepting an offer he can't reject to be given powers similar to the Biomen. In a way, Misao's actions sort of were like that where he accepted the offer. I'd still feel guilty if I were him. Sidenote, I wonder is the actor Naoki Kunishima a fan of Gaoranger himself? I'd like to believe that the whole Zyuohger cast must've been heavy Gaoranger fans during the time they were still.. children.

In this episode, Misao is guilty about receiving the powers but I guess what he saw weren't really his delusions. I guess the three Zyumen that were killed off-screen decided to show up to create a comical scene. I doubt it they were just his delusions. They urged Misao to save the others. He then saves the day. Next week would probably be more stunts from the actor. We've seen the Zyuohger do some out of suit fights so it's no surprise that Misao is there too. I'll just wait for next week to see how Misao will try to do some fight scenes in the midst of comedy.

Shirogane's guilt

While Gaoranger and Zyuohger are both "different beasts" in a sense, Gaoranger was trying to handle "horror comedy" with the Orgs, I'll admit the tones can be different. Gaoranger still had some serious tones compared to Zyuohger. While rewatching Shirogane's introductory episodes (and the two are well, separated by a millenia or so), I felt there's been more drama involved in Gaorange.r

Gaoranger's version had Shirogane take the greatest risk to win the Final Org Advent 1,000 years ago. The final Org Highess Hyakimaru (combination of three highnesses) was too powerful and Shirogane did the unthinkable. In some kind of Faustian pact, Shirogane gave his own being to the darkness of the Dark Wolf Mask thus becoming Rouki's host body. Shirogane slowly became more and more corrupted until the original Gaorangers had no choice but to seal him. While under Rouki's control, he ends up overpowering the Gaorangers even by stealing their Gao Animals and using it against them. I guess the producers didn't want to repeat that scene for Zyuohger perhaps for the sake of not copying too much from older Super Sentai.

Even after he was liberated, he still had the guilt within his body for unleashing Rouki. When Rouki gained bodily form, he wanted to take care of the problem himself. It took the other Gaorangers to convince him to let them fight alongside him. I just love how he got introduced into Gaoranger as the sixth ranger.

Differences in handling the two guilt-ridden heroes

I felt like Super Sentai was starting to get lighter and softer after Ohranger though it went back to being serious (in some way) with Gingaman, GoGoFive and Timeranger. Then Gaoranger was another step forward to becoming less serious and a few steps backward from darker and edgier. I guess the writers and producers still had no idea on how to regulate the seriousness so Gaoranger ended up having some rather serious moments. I mean, there's been 14 years after Gaoranger to try new methods of writing lighter and softer so I guess that's why Misao has some comical moments like Shirogane hardly has them.

Zyuohger feels quite most of the lighter and softer like most Super Sentai from Gaoranger up to present. I felt like that the whole Rouki arc in Zyuohger which inevitably introduced Shirogane as the sixth ranger in a more intense arc. Zyuohger on the other hand had producers more or less knowing how to be less serious and more fun. So even if Misao did get power from three dead Zyumen but there's comedy involved with the ghosts. Shirogane got no such comedy even if Gaoranger was meant to be lighter and softer for most of its run. Each one of them had their own approach though I feel like Shirogane's been more badass during his entry as a sixth ranger.

So in their own way, it's nice to see a tribute to something done back 1984 (Bioman) and 2001 (Gaoranger). So Gaoranger and Zyuohger may be both carrying the wild theme but both end up having a lot of differences. If they could bring a second red ranger with an eagle motif and that idea was so 1981, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't try to modify the idea from Gaoranger's Shirogane in a way that fits Zyuohger's super light and fun atmosphere. While I personally like Shirogane's plot better, I don't think having Misao's introduction as serious as that would have worked in Zyuohger. Zyuohger's somehow more fun-focused than Gaoranger which felt a little more serious.

Sidenote, I'd still give credit to Zyuohger for actually doing some things Gaoranger could have done. Like Gaoranger could have tried to feature a game on animals at the end of the credits. Plus, I think Yamato as a zoologist is a little bit more fitting than Kakeru as a veterinarian. Again, both Gaoranger and Zyuohger end up quite differently handled even if they both have wild animals in their motifs. One's fighting the supernatural while the other's fighting space aliens. Hmmm doesn't that remind you of how Turboranger and Carranger also have that scenario for two automobile themed seasons?