The Evolution Of Super Sentai's Dance Dance Revolution

For some time now, Super Sentai's had the dancing cast during the end credits. Zyuohger is still doing it. But it's not entirely new either. Instead, it creates various gimmicks where some succeed and the others fail in a process of trial and error. It can take a kick back all the way back to when Super Sentai was at its "struggle stage" up to present to understand what went on, why it didn't immediately work and why it works now. 

Battle Fever J starts off as that super old school Super Sentai. It was the first series to have "Super" in it but later, Goranger was retroactively named as the first Super Sentai series during Ohranger. I can't really find the central theme of this rather super old school show. The show presented dancing as part of its themes where the heroes actually used dance steps in their fighting techniques. But the idea wasn't so well explored until later. I guess the dance steps done by the crew here were too hard for beginners to follow so the gimmick may have not immediately clicked. 

The Sun Vulcan team occasionally danced to the song of "Kagayake! Sun Vulcan!" where they taught the dance steps to kids. It showed a dance that was easy for children to follow. I may not like the show as much but the dance number was fun. I just felt that the dance number gimmick wasn't ready to be accepted just yet. 

The Maskmen had the Shotbomber Dance with them. During the movie's opening credits and Maskman episode 47, they danced to the beat of the Shot Bomber theme. Episode 47 slightly modified the lyrics with "Jet Cannon" taking place of "Shot Bomber". 

Jetman had a workout video led by Rika Kishida. 

Dairanger had a workout video. 

During the summer episodes of Megaranger, the Megarangers can be seen dancing at the end of the credits to the Summer Festival Dance. The song was called "Bomb Dancing". But after the summer episodes, the regular credits came back. This would really start another trend in the future. 

The Hurricangers danced during the end credits of the movie. But not in their ending series.

The Abaranger cast (from heroes to villains) danced at the end of the Abaranger movie. I wish they did the dance for the end credits than just the Barma Hei dancing. 

For Dekaranger, the whole show started the trend of dance at the end of the show. The trend doesn't go with every series but you still get to see it more often than not. Granted that Dekaranger is on the lighter and softer side of things, the gimmick would work. 

The Magirangers danced at the end of their show. Even if I don't like the series, I can't deny that I still loved their dance steps involved. 

The Gekirangers beat the Maskmen and Dairangers in the dance gimmick department. Their dance was featured in the end credits for the show's duration. Only Ken Hisatsu didn't do the dance while Gou danced with the gang. During the movie, both Miki and her daughter danced at the end of the credits. Sidenote, Bruce Lee was also a dancing champion. I felt the dance steps may have been pretty hard for children to follow. Sidenote, I think Gekiranger should have attempted to become a martial arts comedy instead given the trend of lighter and softer is now doing better!

Since it's a comedy show, Go-onger's dancing engines and rangers were appropriate for the show. Carranger could have tried to do the same gimmick but I guess nobody was that interested with the dance gimmick back then. 

The Shinkengers danced at the end of Shinkenger vs. Go-onger. They never danced at the end of their show. Come on, why didn't they dance at the end of the credits? Shinkenger was pretty much a fun show to start with! 

The Goseigers had a catchy jingle at the end of the episode. As much as I found the show to be so-so but there was that catchy jingle for the younger audiences. In my case, I really love its closing theme and the dance theme was pretty good.

Go-Busters featured dancing at the end of the credits. Sidenote, as much as I liked the show but I still want to criticize it from a marketing view. I felt like the show trying to go back to darker and edgier plus not having so much mecha like Gekiranger did wasn't a good decision. But the dance was still fun though. IMO, the dancing at the end of the credits wasn't helping the show out for a wider audience. 

Kyoryuger was pretty much "Let's throw Battle Fever J in with Abaranger.". The show tried to do dinosaurs a third time and had some ratings issues at the start. I guess the whole dance number with its colorful toys did wonders to gain attention for newer generation fans. Children were participating at the end of the credits in later episodes. In short, they revived the long buried concept from Battle Fever J though I don't think many would care about that fact... as long as there's fun dancing for this generation of younger Super Sentai audience! Also, the dance steps were somehow easier to follow with the Kyoryugers.

ToQGer had some occasional dances in the show. Both ToQGers and Shadow Line had the comedic approach going on so dance numbers aren't all that surprising to see. ToQGers dancing wasn't all too surprising either. They could have put dancing at the end of the credits but I guess its end credits were more appropriate than a dance number attached to it. 

Ninninger had a fun dance at the end of the credits. Although dancing wasn't really placed in their fighting techniques but I can't deny the end theme was a fun song to listen to. I may have had problems with the series' writing but marketing-wise with toys and the dance gimmick there's still cash flow coming in! Now only if they had also done the same gimmick with Kyoryuger since that theme is pretty catchy with easy to follow dance steps.

Zyuohger's doing a dance number at the end of the episode with a guessing game going on with it. I wonder why in the world wasn't this done during Gaoranger's time? Then again, I refuse to really do too many comparisons between Zyuohger and Gaoranger even if it may be a 15th anniversary tribute (2001-2016) to the series or not. Regardless, Zyuohger has the dance number at the end of the credits. Now for a silly request: will Toei let them dance some other time in-show if possible?