Chikyu Sentai Fiveman X Tokkei Winspector = Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive?

It's already the month of March and for some countries (like the Philippines) -- it's Fire Prevention Month. With that in mind, I want to throw some super huge more throwbacks with 90s Toku. With that in mind, I think about GoGoFive which is the second sibling Super Sentai and the first rescue themed one. Now it's time to think of the Year 1990 and how two shows that year may have inspired the creation of one of my favorite Super Sentai series.

1990 was bit of a turning year. It was the rise of Metal Hero (which unfortunately declined in 1999 and died with Robotack's finale) to a whole new level. Fiveman may be the worst of Hirohisa Soda's seasons for many (and I still enjoy it though) -- it nearly ended Super Sentai! Chojin Sentai Jetman ended up renewing everyone's interest in the franchise. Winspector on the other hand became a major success that it spawned a direct sequel in Solbrain and Exceedraft which was loosely tied to Winspector. Why Exceedraft inserted Captain Masaki at the last minute for the nightmarish finale is still left in question.

Fiveman and Winspector both aired in the Year 1990. What was amazing was that Fiveman was in fact was fond of putting loads and loads of moral lessons of the week -- then again we know Soda loves doing that a lot. Winspector was also there too in many episodes. What should be amazing was that Winspector took place in the Year 1999 as far as the story is concerned. Hiroshi Miyauchi appeared as Captain Masaki also appeared as Chief Miura in Ohranger which scriptwise -- happened in the Year 1999! Then GoGoFive's script happens in the Year 1999 and the story takes place in the Year 1999 -- talk about the amazing coincidence! Heck, I even wished Miyauchi himself appeared as Kenji Inui in GoGoFive. Can you imagine if Miyauchi were playing as ally of the GoGoFive?

The era of Takeyuki Suzuki was over and it was the era of Jun Hikasa. I wonder what went into Hikasa's head. I could still remember Sentai Bandicoot's post on the nine creative eras of Super Sentai. I still can't get it out of my head when he mentioned it was crying to explore how "realistic" Super Sentai can be where it doesn't focus too much on hero vs. villain plots. GoGoFive can be seen as an attempt to revive it. I guess Hikasa wanted to fuse the ideas of Winspector and Fiveman. The GoGoFive members are all rescue workers in some way (and Daimon's the only one who's a police officer though) who become a rescue squad Super Sentai! Not satisfied with rescue Public Service Announcement -- he decided to create Fiveman 2.0 with the Tatsumi siblings.

The idea was carried out. GoGoFive's machines felt like giving equipment to the Rescue Police that would have probably finished all the missions in seconds. Give them Go Green piloting the 99Machine Green Hover and Exceedraft's first episode could have ended in less than half an hour. Give them Go Red piloting the 99Machine Red Ladder and the Rescue Police may need to upgrade all their equipment. The mecha didn't combine in the most conventional way like most mecha of this day and age. No electromagnetic locking. They had to combine their high tech equipment through a very old fashioned way with a lot of time constraints such as monsters destroying the city.

I admit it's hard for me to watch GoGoFive without thinking too much about Fiveman. I want to sing the Fiveman beginning and ending themes where I replace Fiveman or Faibuman with GoGoFive. I still think of how GoGoFive improves Fiveman (except for having Matoi's Drill Sergeant Nasty attitude which I think has been played for laughs) in many ways such as more lessons of the week -- such as when Go Yellow accidentally hurts a child, concerning Takuji meeting Professor Tatsumi or how Matsuri saves a burglar from falling down a bus. I still think about how I still think Grand Bitch Grandienne is Empress Meadow done right. All the while, I still think that Winspector up to Janperson make me like Rescue Ops Super Sentai a little less even when I can like all of them.

Not to mention, I ended up liking Winspector more than GoGoFive even when I find both shows enjoyable in their own ways. Maybe it's because Winspector is "more mature" focusing more on becoming a Tokusatsu version of Rescue 911, making heroes look more and more human and while GoGoFive does that -- but I don't find it as good IMHO. Maybe, it's because I tend to think its hero Ryoma Kagawa's calm badass approach is more welcome -- though we can't deny he freaking used the Giga Streamer out of suit in one really dangerous situation. I feel like I may even like Exceedraft better or maybe like Exceedraft's nightmarish finale better than GoGoFive's nightmarish finale. Hmmm... did the producers and writers have Exceedraft's finale in mind before they exaggerated it with Grandienne enveloping the whole Earth as negative energy itself?

So far, the series was a pretty nice throwback to Rescue Police and Fiveman. I may still enjoy Winspector up to Exceedraft better (based on my personal preferences) but I can't deny that GoGoFive is still another series I enjoy.