Other Japanese Tokusatsu Series Series By Toei Celebrating Their Major Anniversary This 2017!

Aside from the 30th anniversary of Maskman, Metalder and Kamen Rider Black there are also other series that will be celebrating their major anniversaries. These are the other shows that are celebrating their anniversary but not their 30th anniversary.

40th anniversary


Dengekitai JAKQ's 40th birthday

The shortest lived Super Sentai series. I don't know if I want to try checking this 35 episode series considering I feel a generation gap with shows older than Goggle V. But what's the harm if I tried? I would like to give it a peek and see if something this old can still click with me.

35th anniversary


Dai Sentai Goggle V

This year should also be the celebration of Hirohisa Soda's debut as a Super Sentai writer. Some younger Super Sentai fans today may feel Soda's overrated but they don't see what contributions he's brought to the franchise. I've seen some episodes of Goggle V and it's the start of something new for Super Sentai. If it wasn't for Soda I don't think Super Sentai would have moved forward. Goggle V may be considered a stepping stone to newer styles of Super Sentai writing. In short it's been 35 years of Soda and last 2012 was 30 years of Soda.


Ucchu Keiji Gavan

Gavan is the first Metal Hero show and strangely, this year is the 35th anniversary and he had a crossover with the Gokaigers which is the 35th season. Now that's quite a mouthful. Pretty much this show's success opened the gateway of the Metal Hero franchise!

25th anniversary


Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger

Zyuranger would probably be looked as the opening of the post-Jetman era but also the first series to be localized as Power Rangers in the United States by next year. After watching Abaranger, I don't think Zyuranger is all that great. I may prefer it over Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers anytime but I can still agree that too much kid of the week is a weakness. I can still rewatch it but I still think Abaranger is better than this series.


Tokosou Exceedraft

The last of the Rescue Police series. From what I heard, Exceedraft was supposedly a standalone series from Solbrain. Like its predecessors Winspector and Solbrain, there wasn't a central villain though the greatest villain the series would appear later in the series as their final enemy. Why the series would later tighten the loose ties to Solbrain were actually established late in the series. Good thing that Sailor Otaku will be handling it anytime soon!

20th anniversary


Denji Sentai Megaranger

1997 was pretty much a mixed year. After Ohranger and Carranger had low ratings but had good toy sales (4.5% to 4.8% rating is not a good thing), Megaranger brought the ratings to 6.5%. Meanwhile, it was the year that Kabutack was going to be the second to the last Metal Hero series. Metal Hero already started to suffer decline with B-Fighter Kabuto and maybe 1995 can also be considered a loser year. Super Sentai's ratings managed to get back higher and Megaranger "saved" Super Sentai but Metal Hero's new formula wasn't really working.


B-Robo Kabutack

I haven't seen this series yet but from what I know, it's the second to the last Metal Hero series. Unlike Kamen Rider, Metal Hero never made any real comeback and it's almost 20 years already. Next year's Robotack would be the final Metal Hero series.

15th anniversary


Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger

Hurricanger Ten Years Later was shown in 2012. It was 2002 when Hurricanger came out and it's already 2015. After watching this series I felt like, "WTF why did I even watch Ninja Storm?". Junichi Miyashita wasn't at his best here but he certainly gave me something enjoyable. It's been 15 years since this series had appeared. Too bad my mom didn't give birth to Nao Nagasawa.


Kamen Rider Ryuki

Yet another series that had me mixed. Potentially, Kamen Rider Ryuki could have been a brilliant series but there was the Writer vs. Executives war. Both Yasuko Kobayashi and Toshiki Inoue had a lot of good ideas but executive meddling comes in. I always feel like that Ryuki was pretty much an experiment for the Battle Royale type of series. On the other hand, it's just one huge disappointment in the end because you know why. Stupid executives pressed the reset button throwing away everything I loved (and hated) about the series before it was pressed! While Kobayashi and Inoue don't write the best endings but I don't think any of them wanted that stupid ending! Good thing Kamen Rider Gaim fixed the whole mess several years later.

10th anniversary


Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger

It's been ten years since Gekiranger and last year was Boukenger. I didn't warm up to this series immediately until I saw more of it. It may not be as good as Dairanger but I can't dismiss how it was a nice mixture of old school and new school. Even after 10 years I still consider it as the greatest post-Timeranger Super Sentai in terms of plot and action. I haven't seen Jungle Fury and I don't intend to so I'd rather talk about how great Gekiranger is based on its own merits.


Kamen Rider Den-O

I personally think this show can be quite a mess with the whole time travel plots. The show has some weird sense of humor which Takeru Sato manages to pull off. It was interesting to have the concepts of the Imagin or some barren future but the show tends to beat around the bush. But I'll consider giving it a rewatch anytime soon to fully understand it.

5th anniversary


Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters

It's been five years and I wish I never hid in the closet about my liking of the series. The same might be true for me and Kamen Rider Faiz. Sure it wasn't a popular series and Yasuko Kobayashi was showing signs of burning out. It was also the time when producer Naomi Takebe showed she was either hit or miss. I personally feel that Takebe's not so good or really bad when it comes to Super Sentai but I like her as Kamen Rider producer. I personally like the series but I can't bring myself to like it more than other series like Maskman, Liveman, Jetman, Dairanger or any other serious Super Sentai seasons before it. Too bad Kobayashi didn't make a cameo compared to what Inoue did in Faiz.


Kamen Rider Fourze

Who says kiddie can't be a good thing? Kamen Rider OOO was pretty kiddie but I enjoyed it. The series has been pretty much improving the concepts left behind by Kamen Rider Super-1 last 1980 before another long hiatus for the Showa era of Kamen Rider. It's the first true Space Kamen Rider and I'd watch it over Kamen Rider Super-1. As much as Go-Busters was pretty dark and edgy but there's some Fourze to help lighten up the mood. Now I'm really in for a Fourze rewatch due to all the comic humor it has.