No. 1 Sentai Gozyuger And The GREEED

It's no secret that I've lost my fervor for No. 1 Sentai Gozyuger despite its innovative thinking. I was looking forward to what it could do -- such as how the Tega Sword concept, the Battle Royale theme, etc. could work out in Super Sentai. However, late last month, it was the news that Super Sentai would any any time soon. Other reports say Super Sentai might be rebranded as Universe Heroes or Universe Heroes would be a totally different franchise. In my case, I'm actually OPEN to see what Universe Heroes could do after Gozyuger ends. Now, I'd like to address one problem -- THE GREED! 

Let's do a bit of a history lesson. Super Sentai anniversaries are usually celebrated by ENTRY NUMBER. What's also interesting to see is how Super Sentai seems to honor Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' anniversary every decade since 1993. That means there are some festival seasons and some "basic palate cleanser seasons" like last year's Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger -- a return to basics. Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger was too much of a feat that it was a GOOD MOVE to focus on working around simpler themes. I wasn't even ready for another festival. I was just expecting another "standard season". A review class will always be beneficial.

It's been a bit of an exhange of innovating around a party concept vs. a slower steady pace of innovation.We can take a look at these cycles:

• Hyajakuu Sentai Gaoranger was pretty much a festival. The following year was succeeded by Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger which the Zords were almost "back to basics", while there were some gimmicks called the Kakuri Balls.
• Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger was the first dinosaur Super Sentai in 11 years. However, it wasn't a huge festival.
• Gougou Sentai Boukenger was another festival. It was followed up by Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger which still used the multi-gattai process but Zords were much less fancy.
• Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger no doubt cast a huge shadow. In fact, it's that HARD to get let go of it. It was wisely followed up by Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters -- which was more conservative in its approach. I view Go-Busters as a mandatory palate cleanser.
• Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger showed up in 2013 -- that means 20 years of Mighty Morphin'. I tend to have issues with theme repetitions. Thankfully, Kyoryuger can still be an enjoyable mess. It's prety much like I was able to watch through B-Fighter Kabuto or Kamen Rider BLACK RX -- which are still miles better than their American localizations!
  
• After Kyoryuger, several seasons had a "diet approach", even the 40th entry Douboutsu Sentai Zyuohger. Toei was wise to have worked through a diet approach from 2014 starting with Ressha Sentai ToQGer, followed up by Shuriken Sentai Ninninger, all before Zyuohger.
• Ucchu Sentai Kyuranger became kind of a wild experiment, presumably as a "celebration reboot" that Super Sentai went beyond 40 YEARS. However, it would cast a huge shadow that probably resulted in low toy sales for Kaito Sentai Lupinranger vs. Keisatsu Sentai Patranger. It led to what I call a premature fourth dinosaur Super Sentai when Kishinryu Sentai Ryusoulger went back to dinosaurs.
• I thought about how it was justifiable for Kikou Sentai Zenkaiger had an interesting concept, as it was a very unusual Super Sentai. However, yeah, Junko Komura just sucks with anniversaries IMHO and she was also Zyuohger's writer. 
• The Toshiki Inoue bailout was with Avatar Sentai Donbrothers. I found it way better writing-wise than what happened last year. This one introduced the gimmick where the rangers BECAME the Zords themselves. Seriously, I want to see more of that! 
• King-Ohger came into the picture with a huge festival. As mentioned earlier, Boonboomger was  a palate cleanser. However, it seems King-Ohger created a two year shadow! 

What happened was a premature celebration. Gozyuger was a feast and people are probably not yet ready to party. Boonboomger is what I might call the dietary program requiring fans to run the treadmall at bakuage speed. Toei choosing to have an anniversary TOO SOON should be a real problem. People were probably NOT READY YET for another feast -- which should've been in 2026!

I believe the consequences are as follows according to CNA Lifestyle:

According to news reports, citing sources close to production, the reason Super Sentai is ending is that "revenues from events, merchandise and film adaptations did not cover production costs".

As of writing, the producers of the Super Sentai series have neither confirmed nor denied the reports, with a spokesperson from TV Asahi – the network that airs Super Sentai – saying that it "will not comment on future programming plans".

It's probable that Bandai wanted a huge toy sale all too soon. What was probably ignored was the ECONOMIES OF SCALE. It's possible that they ignored that low toy sales for THIS YEAR could've been caused by LAST YEAR. It was said that toy sales for Mirai Sentai Timeranger were lower than that of Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive. Come on, GoGoFive had way cooler Zords than Timeranger! I even think that Kyuranger toy surplus caused the toy sales slowdown for Lupinranger vs. Patranger toys. Toys that are so shiny and cool tend to overshadow newer toys that aren't as shiny and cool! My inner child makes me think that if I were to buy Megazords -- I could care less about it being new and care more about it BEING COOL.

Bandai may have failed to see that Super Sentai fans weren't ready for a sudden explosion. But that's what happened! Boonbommger brought in the toys (such as how Tega Sword combined with the other Zords) and brought in a super expensive production. This year could've been devoted to another palate cleanser after Boonboomger's treadmill season. Instead, Bandai may have foolishly decided, "We couldn't wait for 2026 so let's celebrate an anniversary on Goranger's anniversary instead.

This may also be the reason why Maya Imamori got into underaged drinking. Maya's talent agency Seju REMOVED HER ASAP. It looks like Toei and Bandai couldn't do anything at all due to contractual agreements. It's probabe that Maya went drinking due to heavy amounts of stress. Maya may have probably not gone drinking if it wasn't for a premature pressure -- given that Gozyuger still ENTRY 49. Like WTF had just happened!

As for the results, I'm not too surprised. It's like spending for a really huge event when people aren't ready for it. Perhaps, people don't have that much money or mood for it. IMHO, this year's move was a bad one. If Universe Heroes is truly NOT going to be Super Sentai rebranded but a new show -- one might want to learn from the Gozyuger fiasco!