After I've ranted what I currently dislike about newer Super Sentai and after showing why I still like the 80s-90s Sentai the best, however times change and change is a need. As Heraclitus says, "Change is the only thing that does not change." Now here's what we have observed with change per era or decade:
Late 70s-80s era:
This era was pretty much an experimental era but also had its loads of goodness from Hirohisa Soda who did from Goggle V up to Turboranger, Soda entered the 90s with his last work Fiveman. This was also the era of introducing certain colors like white (in JAKQ's Big One), the first female white ranger (Changeman), the first black ranger (Battle Fever J's Battle Kenya), the almost ignored orange ranger (Battle Cossack suit in Battle Fever J) while I'd love to focus on the mecha:
Introduction of the Super Sentai robot with Battle Fever J. The Super Robot franchise was pretty popular back then so why not add robots to Super Sentai? The robot in itself was pretty popular along with the flying fortress.
Then we had the introduction of the first transforming robot in Denziman and the first combining robot in Sun Vulcan. Why it was important to introduce these changes is because well as said, Sentai is primarily a kid's show.
In between mecha changes, the idea of having more than one female ranger was added. In Bioman, we have the first female yellow ranger in Mika who was replaced by Jun due to Yuki Yajima's unprofessional disappearance. Ever since then, we really start seeing Sentai teams with more than one female though it wasn't always the case. After Maskman, Liveman had only one female (but introduced the first female Blue Ranger) and Turboranger had only one female too.
Secondary robots were later introduced in Flashman and has become quite a trend. Eventually in Liveman, the idea of the primary and secondary robots combining was added. To be honest, I didn't easily take the idea of secondary robots either. I saw Maskman as a child and I didn't easily accept Galaxy Robo until later in the series. Secondary robots were carried over to the 90s and even to some 2000s Sentai series.
Liveman introduced the first animal-based mecha which were soon improved in future installments as well as the occasional female blue ranger that was used again in Jetman and Magiranger.
Turboranger introduced the idea of the base robot (the Turbo Builder) which also introduced the ultimate combination (a.k.a. the Ultrazord) and removed the fortress which was most likely no longer feasible or two, it was an experiment to see how it goes. Ever since then, the fortresses for transporting the mecha were removed but made a short comeback in Carranger and Abaranger. It was alsot he series to introduce teenagers instead of adults as rangers.
90s era:
I'd say the 90s was an era of change due to the new generation of kids. However it didn't mean some old school elements didn't make a short return for nostalgic reasons.
Self-operating robots were introduced in Jetman as an experiment for toy sales. It did pretty well and we really have
In Zyuranger, we have the first change that was the introduction of the full-time sixth ranger. In JAKQ, it introduced the additional warrior concept but it still only ended up to five. This in turn introduced the sixth ranger mecha at the same time. The only one without a real transforming sixth warrior were Kakuranger, Carranger and GogoV for this era while introducing some changes.
The extra hero concept was introduced in Kakuranger with Ninjaman This became the template for future installments like VRV Officer in Carranger, Smokey in Magiranger, Zuuban in Boukenger and Gosei Knight in Goseiger. Kakuranger also introduced the secondary combining robot at the same time.
Carranger had the lighter and softer theme. In fact, rumors say it saved the franchise from cancellation.
2000s era:
This was the era where I had the most mixed reception. It was from "It's over, I'm leaving this to kids." or "Hey I'm watching it! It looks interesting." Also this era was pretty focused on lighter and softer probably due to fans just got bored with too much seriousness or parents complaining.
Others notable are:
Gaoranger introduced the idea of multiple mecha which since then had almost become the standard of most series while some series tend to go back old school mecha in the late 90s. Gaoranger had interchangeable parts while Gekiranger introduced another form of multi-gattai of instead of replacing certain limbs of the robot with other mecha, they combined with the primary robot as some kind of armor. It's a whole lot of toys if you ask me! The other series of the 2000s era form last decade to now that have used this are Abaranger, Boukenger, Gekiranger, Go-onger, Shinkenger, Goseiger, Gokaiger and Kyoryuger.
Go-onger started crossing the line of up to six henshin heroes to making it up to seven that is instead of just one extra ranger to join the team of five as additional for the regular roster, we end up having two more. Kyoryuger again re-did the practice of going beyond the start with five, ends with six. I guess kids really love seeing extra rangers as well.
Overall, I really realized we need to accept these changes. I really am the type to be not so friendly to change but hey, change can be good too!
Late 70s-80s era:
This era was pretty much an experimental era but also had its loads of goodness from Hirohisa Soda who did from Goggle V up to Turboranger, Soda entered the 90s with his last work Fiveman. This was also the era of introducing certain colors like white (in JAKQ's Big One), the first female white ranger (Changeman), the first black ranger (Battle Fever J's Battle Kenya), the almost ignored orange ranger (Battle Cossack suit in Battle Fever J) while I'd love to focus on the mecha:
Introduction of the Super Sentai robot with Battle Fever J. The Super Robot franchise was pretty popular back then so why not add robots to Super Sentai? The robot in itself was pretty popular along with the flying fortress.
Then we had the introduction of the first transforming robot in Denziman and the first combining robot in Sun Vulcan. Why it was important to introduce these changes is because well as said, Sentai is primarily a kid's show.
In between mecha changes, the idea of having more than one female ranger was added. In Bioman, we have the first female yellow ranger in Mika who was replaced by Jun due to Yuki Yajima's unprofessional disappearance. Ever since then, we really start seeing Sentai teams with more than one female though it wasn't always the case. After Maskman, Liveman had only one female (but introduced the first female Blue Ranger) and Turboranger had only one female too.
Secondary robots were later introduced in Flashman and has become quite a trend. Eventually in Liveman, the idea of the primary and secondary robots combining was added. To be honest, I didn't easily take the idea of secondary robots either. I saw Maskman as a child and I didn't easily accept Galaxy Robo until later in the series. Secondary robots were carried over to the 90s and even to some 2000s Sentai series.
Liveman introduced the first animal-based mecha which were soon improved in future installments as well as the occasional female blue ranger that was used again in Jetman and Magiranger.
Turboranger introduced the idea of the base robot (the Turbo Builder) which also introduced the ultimate combination (a.k.a. the Ultrazord) and removed the fortress which was most likely no longer feasible or two, it was an experiment to see how it goes. Ever since then, the fortresses for transporting the mecha were removed but made a short comeback in Carranger and Abaranger. It was alsot he series to introduce teenagers instead of adults as rangers.
90s era:
I'd say the 90s was an era of change due to the new generation of kids. However it didn't mean some old school elements didn't make a short return for nostalgic reasons.
Self-operating robots were introduced in Jetman as an experiment for toy sales. It did pretty well and we really have
In Zyuranger, we have the first change that was the introduction of the full-time sixth ranger. In JAKQ, it introduced the additional warrior concept but it still only ended up to five. This in turn introduced the sixth ranger mecha at the same time. The only one without a real transforming sixth warrior were Kakuranger, Carranger and GogoV for this era while introducing some changes.
The extra hero concept was introduced in Kakuranger with Ninjaman This became the template for future installments like VRV Officer in Carranger, Smokey in Magiranger, Zuuban in Boukenger and Gosei Knight in Goseiger. Kakuranger also introduced the secondary combining robot at the same time.
Carranger had the lighter and softer theme. In fact, rumors say it saved the franchise from cancellation.
2000s era:
This was the era where I had the most mixed reception. It was from "It's over, I'm leaving this to kids." or "Hey I'm watching it! It looks interesting." Also this era was pretty focused on lighter and softer probably due to fans just got bored with too much seriousness or parents complaining.
Others notable are:
Gaoranger introduced the idea of multiple mecha which since then had almost become the standard of most series while some series tend to go back old school mecha in the late 90s. Gaoranger had interchangeable parts while Gekiranger introduced another form of multi-gattai of instead of replacing certain limbs of the robot with other mecha, they combined with the primary robot as some kind of armor. It's a whole lot of toys if you ask me! The other series of the 2000s era form last decade to now that have used this are Abaranger, Boukenger, Gekiranger, Go-onger, Shinkenger, Goseiger, Gokaiger and Kyoryuger.
Go-onger started crossing the line of up to six henshin heroes to making it up to seven that is instead of just one extra ranger to join the team of five as additional for the regular roster, we end up having two more. Kyoryuger again re-did the practice of going beyond the start with five, ends with six. I guess kids really love seeing extra rangers as well.
Overall, I really realized we need to accept these changes. I really am the type to be not so friendly to change but hey, change can be good too!
You also forget, starting with Abarerangers. The Liveman # is re-Introduced with the 3 primary colored characters and the 4th and 5th are slowly introduced with far off different costume designs.
ReplyDeleteDekaranger would have a increase of above 6 members with a total of 10 members!!!
Also correcting with Kakurangers, the more correct listing of Extra Hero is Bangai Hero, the 6th or 7th member that has no human identity and are heavy metal based. Also Kakuranger also introduce a second set of Robots!