Sentai Rambling: It's Time For Your Slice Of Super Sentai Ham!!!!

Super Sentai can be known for serving generous portions of nice juicy ham.  To be hammy means, "Exaggerated and self-conscious theatrically."  I do admit how Super Sentai ends up with some ham in the performance.  Now for some of my favorite ham with all their grandiose performances which leads to a lot of comic reactions.


Raita in Jetman for me was really ham.  Oh yeah, think he's fat, he's a geek and you get what I mean right?  Combined with the actor Tomite Naruse's excellent acting skills, it really creates the best comic relief and badass in one show.  You might think of how the whole show was a serious season yet it doesn't mean there's no room for comedy.  He really knows how to deliver comedy at the very right moment!


I would say Zyuranger had lots and lots of ham with Bandora herself.  The late Soga Machiko is so much an excellent actress that she's able to deliver all that ham in juicy slices.  Bandora herself is a unique combination of nightmare fuel and hammy performances.  Just think, she's always cooking up utterly stupid schemes considering that Zyuranger had the kid of the week theme going on.  She hates children like in your average fairy tale book of witches who hate children.  Heck, she even wanted to turn children into apples and eat them or she just hatches more stupid schemes just to see children suffer.  I always thought Bandora had a lot of moments she was really funny like how she reacted every time she was defeated or her occasional migraine headaches.


Dairanger had slices of ham with Shouji himself.  Much of his comedic moments involve getting his face twisted in some way.  Best part?  It's him and his rivalry with the Three Gorma Stooges who are a group of superbly incompetent villains.


Kenichi Endo's performance as Junior was another.  The actor guest starred in Janperson episode eight as some crazy bio-engineer named Dr. Saionji whose scheme literally backfired on his face.  The character of Junior showed not only signs of cruelty and sadism but also moments of being hammy.  I mean, he has a sick sense of humor and there are times that I felt the villain himself was also played for laughs.  Heck, Rito Revolto in MMPR didn't deliver juicy ham as much as this guy who sadly, didn't last long for some reason.  I guess the actor had his reasons for leaving the set.  Meanwhile check this video of Kenichi Endo out.


My favorite Carranger, Kyousuke is also huge ham of a character.  I would really understand all the hammy moments that the character delivers because Carranger is a parody show.  The actor Yuji Kishi does a good job in delivering juicy pieces of ham.  In fact, I think he outdoes the Bowzock in terms of delivering freshly made juicy ham for the audience.  I even think that while he's badass, he's also the funniest character the show has to offer.


Megaranger has Kouichirou who I think is the show's ham.  Sure Kenta is funny but what if your ideal guy was the ham of the show?  He's handsome, he's intelligent, he works hard to achieve what he achieves... you know, almost everything you want in a guy but he's also the funniest character for me.  He's a perfectionist, he works hard but he can go out of line though he has good intentions, people don't see it.  Even one episode had him with an admirer, the episode where he pretended to date Chisato just to chase off her wacky grandmother... you could consider him to be very, very funny.  The writers really knew how to make an otherwise ideal prince charming (fortunately his success is due to hard work) is also the show's butt monkey.  Maybe some people will say Kenta but I think this guy is the biggest comic relief of all even if he's a respectable fellow, he seems to magnetize disaster a lot!


Gouki in Gingaman is the gentle giant of the show.  I guess this is one huge piece of juicy ham for everyone, nicely chilled cold cuts just the way you like it.  Much of Gouki's comedy revolves around the fact in spite of his huge physique, he's actually a pretty shy fellow who is in love with Suzuko Miyasawa.  In the process of wooing Suzuko, he even had to face a rival who was played by Yuji Kishi and well, he seems to be the biggest target for disaster.  I can't forget the classic part where he thought Suzuko was getting married when it was her sister.  I always felt like he's the ham of Gingaman.


Dekaranger also has ham itself.  I would disagree with Shogo's opinion on Ryuji Sainei.  I think he does a superb job in playing Ban and delivering the ham Dekaranger has to offer.  What do I like about this guy?  He really knows how to bring the fireball of Ban to life.  Every episode that focuses on Ban really shows huge pieces of juicy ham though Hoji is my favorite Dekaranger.


Gekiranger was a serious show but liker Dairanger and Jetman, you had room for juicy ham.  If you want ham, look no further than Jan Kandou.  He was raised in the jungles not by natives but by TIGERS?!  Hmmm... what's in the mind of the writers.  He always has his funny reactions like "wakiwakiwaki".  Although he's in more serious stories than funny ones, still you can't deny he has lots of tasty ham to offer.


Considering Go-onger is a comedy series, I can't deny Yasuhisa Furuhara really delivers ham so well in his role as Sosuke Esumi.  Oh, I remembered Shogo thinks he should have been Ban which would also been good.  I always thought Sosuke was a really funny character for me.  But I think he's not as good as Yuji Kishi in delivering juicy ham.


Shinkenger is a lighter and softer series and not with just one but two pieces of juicy ham.  I couldn't help but think of how Shinkenger might be the best show for ham right?  Unlike Gingaman or Timeranger, the series is a very light-themed one.  Ryunosuke starts off with hammy performances, considering he is a kabuki actor.  The actor Hiroki Aiba really knows how to pull it off.  Later, we get hammy sixth member Genta (acted by Keisuke Sohma) who for me, really delivers the ham with his hyper attitude.  I'm probably among a few people to like Genta though he's my least favorite in the show.  I wouldn't want any of them to end up with Kaoru or you might as well say farewell to the Shiba house.  Plus the fact that Shinkenger and Go-onger both ended up in an out-of-continuity Super Sentai movie really had three times the ham in one what if crossover.  In terms of ham, I think Ryunosuke has the juicier one.


Warz Gill in Gokaiger is well, pretty hammy.  I just wish that he had a human appearance like most earlier villains during the Soda era and two, that he was acted by any comedian.  In terms of ham, this guy really delivers ham.  He's stupid, he's incompetent and the voice actor Hirofumi Nojima manages to make the character do ham a lot.  But he's not as big as ham as...


Gai Ikari... yeah you know why (pun intended) I added him in the list.  I thought actor Junya Ikeda knows how to carry out the hammy performance of a Super Sentai fan who becomes a Super Sentai warrior.  I always found most of his reactions to be funny.  I even have the bad habit of comparing him to Genta.  Much of him for me is a huge piece of ham.  He really fits well for a comedic character one way or another.


Now it's time to go to the unofficial Sentai itself, Akibaranger and you know who I'm talking about.  That's right... it's Nobuo Akagi!  If anybody really serves all that ham and I mean, the best ham, I think it's Nobuo Akagi!  So he might represent a lot of Super Sentai fans who are adults or two, just taking fandom to some direction that I might consider as... awkward.  I always thought in terms of comedy, the actor Masato Wada really knows how to do comedy.  He really has his pride as a Super Sentai fan and the fact he knows Super Sentai the best.  Still, even if Akibaranger can never be an official Super Sentai, I think he deserves to be top ham!


Emperor Zed in ToQGer.  I always felt like this guy practically is the ham of ToQGer.  My only problem was... that he was plot inconsistent.  I mean, a silly main villain is fine as long as it's done properly.  I always thought he should have been obsessed with destroying anything that shines even if Yasuko Kobayashi felt like he should be an idiotic ruler of darkness.  Still I have to admit he is really a huge piece of ham.


Takaharu Igasaki also delivers hammy performances in Ninninger.  However I don't think he's that good with delivering ham as most of the people in my list.  Times come I usually end up thinking he's just downright annoying because he's too stupid.  Shunsuke Nishikawa is just terrible and really needs some acting lessons.

Missed any ham or feel you disagree with anything?  Let me know!

Comments