For My Love Of Human-Faced Super Sentai Villains VS. Suit Villains

Tokusatsu tends to have two types of villains played out by human actors - one group is the commonly-used suit villains then there are the human-faced villains. The villains had the use of Japanese actors while the suit villains had stuntmen voiced over by Japanese voice actors. Both of them have their charm since some villains are meant to be non-human so it's understandable. However, I always can never get over the love of the human-faced Super Sentai villains. The same can go for Kamen Rider or any Toku franchise for that matter I just love to have human-faced villains. Sure, I can still love the suit villains with their seiyus but I think there's the charm that human-faced villains can have that suit villains won't though I love seeing a combination of the two.

During the 70s to 80s - there was an abundance of human-faced villains.Take note that Goranger's Black Cross Fuehrer (who had a total of three actors playing the role of this Sosai X from Gatchaman "rip-off") was usually served by suit villain generals. JAKQ which followed a year after Goranger's two-year run had the late Masashi Ishibashi. Battle Fever J would have a suit villain for a leader (Satan Egos) while his two main minions are human-faced. The Vader clan of Denziman were all human villains. A lot of series after Denziman during the 80s had a more "well-balanced" combination of suit minions vs. human-faced villains. I felt that most of the human-faced villains delivered a higher sense of danger than suit actors voiced over by voice actors. However, the downside can come when you've got a not-so-good actress. By now, people should know how often I berate Mari Kouno (Dynaman's Chimera) and Kaya Hirasawa (GoGoFive's Denus) for being no better than Jennifer Yen (Lightspeed Rescue's Vypra). I still felt that Denus in GoGoFive actually lacked the charm to be terrifying while her mother Grandienne (a suit) was more terrifying. 

The 90s were quite a mix. Fiveman started with a decent amount of human-looking villains. Jetman had mostly human-looking villains except for Gure. Count Radiguet though was a combination of an actor (with the badass, late Daisuke Tachi who sadly died so soon) and a suit villain (when he occasionally unleashed his beast form). The year after, Zyuranger had mostly suit villains and Bandora was the only human-faced villain until Lamie finally came along. Dairanger had all human main villains and a lot of the monsters had human disguises. I bet Dairanger had such a HUGE budget that it'd be hard to actually mimic it! Kakuranger only had Kenichi Endo and when he was finally gone - it was back to all suit villains. Endo was really badass and funny as Prince Junior. Ohranger was all suit villains and sadly Keris was just meant to be a guest. Carranger had Zonette in the near-same situation as Bandora - she was surrounded by all mascots while she was the only human-looking villain. Megaranger had Dr. Hinelar and Shibolena as the only human-looking villains. Gingaman had Shelinda as the only human-looking villain - something Lost Galaxy did when they brought in Trakeena. GoGoFive had only Denus as the only human-looking sibling among the Saima - which is pretty much-screwed logic and don't ask! 

The 2000s did have that abundant increase in suit villains. Gaoranger had Tsuetsue as the only human-looking Org throughout the whole series. Hurricanger only had Wendinu and Furaibijo as the only human-looking villains. Abaranger had Lijewel, Mahoro, and Mikoto as the suit villains. Dekaranger? Well, some of the criminals of the week had human forms but it's a rare exception. Magiranger only had Nai and Mea. Boukenger did have Gaja and Shizuka but the rest were suit villains and one stop-motion figure (?) in Gekkou. Gekiranger did have Rio, Mele, and Long who exhibited such strong emotions even if the show is considerably not that serious. Go-Onger only had Kegalaisha as the human-looking villain. Shinkenger well, there was Juzo, but he usually fought in his suit villain form more. Dayu had her human form played by Korean actress Romi Park but it was only in flashback. 

The 2010s are another set that started to even decrease the trend of human-faced villains except for a few. Goseiger had no human-faced villain and all were suit villains. Gokaiger's only human-faced villain was Basco - yet Basco also revealed a monster transformation. Go-Busters though had Enter and Escape to be a breath of fresh air. Kyoryuger had Poissandra in a human form but it was hardly used. ToQGer did have the hammy Emperor Zetto which can be quite entertaining with how good the actor is and how loopy he could get by going against the norm. Ninninger again lacked human-faced villains and so did Zyuohger. A shame really that Joji Nakata was a voice in Zyuohger and Gaim but never appeared in the flesh. Kyuranger which was really a big leap for me was suit-villain heavy - a shame that Don Armage never had a human form! Lupinranger vs. Patranger didn't have a single human-looking Gangler. Ryusoulger also never had a single human-looking Druidon general either.

This also reminds me of how awkward it can get when Super Sentai gets localized as Power Rangers. One reason why I find it hard to rewatch Mighty Morphin' has been because of the awkwardness of bringing Machiko's face dubbed over as Rita Repulsa - all before an American actress got used or why Scorpina never interacted with the Rangers outside suit in the first season. It's not just the whole American suitless (and their own in-suit) fight scenes transition to Japanese suit fight scenes. Saban's Mashed Rider was notorious for being lazy as Japanese actors get transported such as General Tasmader or other Japanese actors from Black RX are suddenly brought into the fray. However the Power Rangers side ends up creating their own footage or even hire their own celebrities to play the American counterparts or their original villains. However, it was really still LOL-worthy why some of Tsuetsue's footage is used in Wild Force when Sin Wong is playing Toxica. Beast Morphers though had two human-faced villains played by American actors having their own super forms. Dino Charge also had Heckyl who resembles Enter from Go-Busters and their own suit villain in Sledge. Though I've backed off from Power Rangers not too long ago (and even when I wrote my now-deleted Old Shame) for preferential reasons. Just me stating the awkwardness when Japanese fight footage gets mixed into the American localization. 

The 2020s come and we don't know yet what the future holds for both kinds of villains. Right now, there's Yodonna for Kiramager but will the 45th Super Sentai season invest again in human-faced villains or not? Yes, Toei has registered Zenkaiger but I think I'd already lost interest with Super Sentai due to me getting the Korean wave fever. But as said, it seems to be a matter of implementation of both villains.