Sean Akizuki's Super Sentai Blog

So far, this is the first Halloween Super Sentai episode. In the past, I remembered that Power Rangers had a few Halloween specials namely in Mighty Morphin Season 1, Mighty Morphin Season 2 and Power Rangers Zeo which I saw way back in the 90s. There was also Power Rangers Samurai, Power Rangers Megaforce and Power Rangers Dino Charge which I intend to skip. I don't find this episode to be that memorable either but it was fun in its own way.

There's a set of complete Hurricanger subs  and they're not those really bad quality Hong Kong subs. It's no secret that I had a lot of bad vibes and I mean super bad vibes with Ninninger. Ninninger's crossover with Kamen Rider Drive was pretty decent. Just that, Kamen Rider Drive kept me occupied and hooked while Ninninger made me drop it and watch it and eventually I dropped it. I don't even know if the fault is Kento Shimoyama's, Naomi Takebe's or is Super Sentai suffering from franchise fatigue considering that it's Toei's longest running Tokusatsu series .

It's really upsetting whenever I find out that I'm a fan of a less popular Super Sentai season. I'm a fan of Turboranger, Fiveman, Ohranger, Carranger and Go-Busters which all had lower than 5% ratings . I'm a fan of Kamen Rider Black RX which wasn't as popular as Kamen Rider Black. I'm also a fan of Kamen Rider Kiva which may be considered as Toshiki Inoue's era of burning out to the maximum. It's time to talk about how Zyuohger is now getting the worst ratings as of late. I don't even know what to think about this one but I hope it can recover.

It's sad to see a cool villain die. I know how it felt losing some really cruel adversaries get written off so soon like Prince Junior in Kakuranger and Gurail in Megaranger. I felt that Bangray should remain like Basco did but I guess the producer Takaaki Utsunomiya no longer wanted to do anything with him. 

If there are new school Super Sentai designs that have the retro look, one can take a look at Super Sentai designs that "went ahead of its time". It's amazing that there are times certain old school entries would outdo themselves in the time period they're in. Zyuranger's Guardian Beasts I could consider Zyuranger as the start of innovative designs that made mecha look better than usual. One can argue that there's some cool old school mecha but I think some of them were simply more or less consistent with the timeframe. But Zyuranger showed more badass looking mecha than what Battle Fever J up to Jetman had to offer. Sure, it's not the best series ever but I think the mecha designs in Zyuranger look better than the simpler looking mecha of Abaranger and Kyoryuger. Funny how Abaranger and Kyoryuger while being more "high-tech" has simpler designs. Again, some newer stuff today look simpler but perform better.

If one takes a look at Super Sentai mecha up to present, a lot of the designs may not easily click with newer fans. Some of the mecha back in the 70s to 80s tend to have absurd designs or mechanisms. Goggle Robo, Dyna Robo and Change Robo have cone heads. Dyna Robo's probably the weirdest mecha design in the 80s. Maskman's Galaxy Robo had tit guns which is that funny. Let's take a look at some post-Timeranger school mecha that had that retro feel. They may look like they were designed for the 70s to 80s but they are for the 21st Century. They end up having better colors and they're accompanied by better CGI effects not available during the past. Engine Sentai Go-onger While Carranger managed to produce better-looking vehicle mecha, Go-onger started a bit more of a retro-look. The mecha look like they would only be driven by children in contrast to the mature-looking cars of Turboranger and Carranger.

Bangray's back and nobody knows when he's going to show up next. Bangray wanted to get Cube Whale and the decoy plan doesn't work. What I like about Bangray is how genuinely threatening he is... from manipulating memories to actually finding out the obvious trick. He planned to bait out Cube Whale with his latest attacks.

Super Sentai usually creates likable characters for most of its run. But there are times Super Sentai has its flaws of creating characters that aren't likable. Some of them can be overly idiotic, whiny or just plain cold or super cold. I guess it's all part of trying to create some "badly needed conflict" with the show. This time, I'd talk about these two pink rangers who I noticed are indeed... head bitches in charge. These are namely Yuuri from Timeranger and Sakura from Boukenger. They may be eye candy but they're not as sweet as they look. Don't say I didn't warn you. Remember, spoilers ahead so read at your own risk!

This week's Zyuohger has both Leo and Amu fascinated by sumo wrestling. A new technique known as the Cat's Trick is practiced by two sumo wrestlers. With the Zyuohgers put in an incapacitated state where they can't stop doing sumo, it's up to Leo and Amu to save the day!

With Super Sentai currently airing its 40th season (and it's not as big as an anniversary as Gokaiger), I want to also talk about why toy sales may really matter for the franchise. For the past 39 seasons, with the current 40th season and we're getting a 41st season (which is said to be Ucchu Sentai Kyuranger), I want to look at the toy sales. New innovations for Super Sentai keep translating into toy sales and collectibles. The gimmicks can be seen with the use of transforming gadgets, individual weapons (for some series), adding various new mecha designs and more new characters for the series. All these because we've got to sell more toys .

After four episodes of epic action, we're back to typical Super Sentai episodes with villains launching their necessary to keep the show going half-brained schemes. In this episode, the monster of the week Omoteura flips everyone's darker side and amplifies it.