Dance Party With Battle Fever J And Kyoryuger

Here's a bit of a Thursday throwback. As much as I tend to prefer most of the classic Super Sentai over the newer ones (while ironically choosing most new school Kamen Rider over old school Kamen Rider), it doesn't mean that I would just choose the classic Super Sentai all the time. It's like how I prefer Hurricanger over Kakuranger and Abaranger over Zyuranger. I decided to watch both Kyoryuger and Battle Fever J and I would really talk about some issues that I have with some super old shows. Take note I saw Kyoryuger first before Battle Fever J.


Battle Fever J was pretty much the start of the revival of Super Sentai. In fact, it's the first series to get the word "Super" into Super Sentai. Goranger may be the first Super Sentai series but it was only declared the first entry years later. The show itself was what I'd call pretty basic stuff. Sure you have badass mentor Kurama Tetsuzan's use of his katana or some really cool fight scenes but I thought of raising up a few weaknesses from the pre-Hirohisa Soda era.


Granted, Battle Fever J aired in 1979 so don't expect much from it since it's an earlier stage for Super Sentai. Battle Fever J features the Egos Cult but what disappointed me is the lack of backstory. Satan Egos felt like just a rehashed version of the Great Leader from the Kamen Rider series. Episode after episode and there's really no explanation of what kind of character Satan Egos is. We know nothing of how he even came to existence. All we know is that he's just there to be there. He's a menace that seeks to conform the world to his image but how he came to me isn't even explained. The series never has deeper background stories for Hedder and Salome either.

It's a good thing that Super Sentai started to give depth to later villains. Hirohisa Soda's era features a lot of new ways to modernize Super Sentai and many others followed in that path. There's always ups and downs but at least there's an effort to try something new and learn from mistakes.


So what do I think of Kyoryuger as a dance party? While I think that the dinosaur theme is overused, I don't even think it's a step higher than Abaranger but it actually gives a whole new meaning to what a dancing Super Sentai should be. Battle Fever J didn't really integrate the dancing into the way of fighting as much as this show. Kyoryuger integrates the dancing into the show since it's meant to be a dancing Super Sentai.


Integrating the dance into the henshin sequence makes a lot of sense for Kyoryuger because it's dance-themed. As much as I prefer Battle Fever J's opening theme to Kyoryuger's opening theme but I think the latter is a more welcome show for a rewatch even if I tend to bash the whole Daigo-centric nature of the show. Should I mention I actually prefer Kyoryuger's closing theme to Battle Fever J's rather slow closing song? Kyoryuger's dance sequence at the ending and inviting children to dance is something Battle Fever J never thought of. It doesn't seem odd to add musical sequels to Kyoryuger because it's already meant to be a dancing Super Sentai to start with. While I'd still prefer Abaranger over Kyoryuger but I'd still watch Kyoryuger over Battle Fever J. I like Battle Fever J's more violent fight scenes though but still writing and proper implementation of new ideas are far more important.


The villains in Kyoryuger aren't my type but I'll give them some credit where it's due. Kyoryuger's a musical dance number so the villains deserve to be part of the whole program. If you're going to have a musical then I think the villains should be included with a lot of huge ham. I think the villains aren't the best but they still contribute what they need to carry out during the whole musical dance number that's Kyoryuger. Adding the villains to do their performance into the dance-themed Super Sentai is a good way to go for the series.

Did the producers and writers have Battle Fever J's dance theme in mind during the production? I guess they thought that's missing in Battle Fever J, what if Battle Fever J is to be modernized in the year 2013 and they integrated it into Kyoryuger. I'm now bored with ninjas and dinosaurs but Kyoryuger gave a huge step forward for a Super Sentai dance troupe. You may have the ongoing trend of Super Sentai cast members dancing at the end of the series' credits. Last year's Zyuohger has a dance for the end credits, this year's Kyuranger has a dance at the end of the credits and the Ninningers dance at the end of the credits. You also have Abaranger, Dekaranger, Magiranger, Gekiranger, Go-onger and Go-Busters dancing before Kyoryuger danced during the end credits. It's Kyoryuger that makes a dancing Super Sentai a dancing Super Sentai. It reinvented and revived Battle Fever J's dance theme by miles.

Now only if we'll have a dinosaur themed Kamen Rider since that hasn't happened yet.