Why I Tend To Enjoy Post-Timeranger Super Sentai Less Than Pre-Gaoranger Ones

 

Well, I've really seen a lot of old school and new school Super Sentai. It would be good to ask how much of both have you seen before you can say the franchise gets better all the time. I'll confess that while I can enjoy newer Super Sentai - I tend not to like them as much as Timeranger and backward for most of them. Sure, I could still like Abaranger over Zyuranger and the former is from the post-Timerange era. However, this is affected not just by Super Sentai itself but also other shows such as the long-discontinued Metal Hero Series (though I believe it now lives on as Kamen Rider) which its concepts somehow still lived on after its discontinuation after Robotack ended. Metal Hero's other elements still lived on in shows like GoGoFive and Dekaranger. Then I realized that as much as I could still enjoy the latest Super Sentai - I don't really get the same level of satisfaction as most of the pre-Timeranger series and Timeranger itself. Timeranger will always be Yasuko Kobayashi's Magnum Opus which neither Gingaman, Shinkenger, Go-Busters, or ToQGer can truly take that place IMHO. What really caused it? Well, I would really talk about what caused me to get critical about most post-Timeranger series.

The significantly decreased levels of "mature" elements

One reason why I tend to prefer Super Sentai over Power Rangers is for the "mature" elements that can't get past the TV-Y7-FV radar. It's like how I felt that adding elements like illegal drugs and alcohol to Dekaranger also made it better than SPD for me. However, Dekaranger on its own is just not that violent or still has significantly decreased levels of "mature" elements. These elements like blood, illegal drugs, and alcohol were greatly reduced. Dekaranger may have a lot of cool concepts but shows like Winspector, Solbrain, Exceedraft, Janperson, GoGoFive, and Timeranger are way cooler. Dekaranger sure had interesting episodes but I felt that they just are no match for those shows I just mentioned earlier. The Rescue Police themed Metal Heroes had a scene using REAL BULLETS while Dekaranger tends to replace bullets with lasers like in the American cartoons. 

What was the cause behind the significant reduction of the "mature" elements? I think GoGoFive and Timeranger took them up to the max after the "toning down" that happened after Ohranger. Carranger was mostly comedy. Megaranger saved Super Sentai's ratings after two years of decrease. Gingaman wasn't all that serious either. GoGoFive and Timeranger featured more blood like the controversial masterpiece that's Dairanger. GoGoFive even had a scene where a ranger accidentally injures a child. Timeranger had some rather nightmarish episodes and bleeding. I guess younger audiences soon got estranged and toning down began with Gaoranger. 

I could talk about some of the instances where a decrease in "mature" elements went to a whole new level. A good example is how Hurricanger's violence is tame in contrast to Liveman. Liveman really went as far as to really cause a massacre of people in the first episode. There was real carnage. Hurricanger's massacre was just a CGI disappearance. I pretty much went WTF with how Hurricanger had its massacre. I felt that Liveman's character connection between heroes and villains has been more developed than Hurricanger. Liveman has very complex writing that Hurricanger didn't have that much of. I guess newer censorship standards would've not allowed Hurricanger to have a heavy bloody massacre scene. 

The quality of the action scenes isn't as good as most pre-Gaoranger shows

It's always part of Super Sentai tradition for members to fight out-of-suit in certain episodes whenever it's applicable, right? Some of them actually even go as far (but rarely) to beat the monster of the week up while out-of-suit. Most of the suitless fight scenes end up narrating the sad life of a Super Sentai villain footsoldier. Then, I think of how the quality of the out-of-suit fight scenes just started to lower down after Timeranger. Most of them felt like they were near TV-Y7-FV - even if it's scenes where rifles were carried out. For example, I still feel the episode in Boukenger where Sakura and Natsuki were using rifles is more funny than badass. I feel the lowering down of the quality in action scenes necessarily followed up after a decrease in "mature" elements.

I was thinking about how certain shows post-Timeranger were meant to have heavy action scenes. Instead, they were still held by what I'd call the new Japanese censorship laws and Toei's need to comply. Hurricanger was just a start and I didn't find the action scenes as great as Kakuranger. I may like Abaranger better but Zyuranger still has better action scenes. Dekaranger may be a police series but even the action scenes toned down. Gekiranger was a martial arts oriented series (and it gave tribute to the Hong Kong cinema) while its action scenes aren't as great as Maskman's or Dairanger's. I felt Go-Onger's action scenes just will NEVER beat Carranger's. Shinkenger may be a samurai series while it's not really as great as classic Super Sentai swordplay in the past. Boukenger has adventurers and Gokaiger has pirates with rather toned down action scenes. That's but a few instances where I think that they may be good action scenes but I just don't find them as great as many of the classic action scenes from Japan Action Enterprise. They're good but I'd love to say that it can still be better. 

How are these action scenes "watered down" for me? Having watched Maskman and Dairanger would help set the picture. Gekiranger learned different styles of fighting but I felt that the action scenes aren't as intense. For example, compare Ran's use of kung fu vs. Haruka's use of ninjutsu. Haruka's focus episodes in Maskman really took stunts to a whole new level. Ran's focus episodes have her kick butt but just limit her all the way. I felt that Gekiranger had the potential to be better but was watered down probably due to the increased standard of Japanese censorship laws. 

The merchandise overload with the mecha

Super Sentai is a toy commercial, right? I could enjoy newer Super Sentai all the while I still do feel multi-gattai doesn't appeal to me that much. Then again, you gotta sell a lot of toys, right? Multi-gattai can work well IF you do it right and Gaoranger proved it. Gaoranger managed to have good pacing in introducing new Gao Animals without drowning the viewers. Unfortunately, later series would really try to throw too many toys at once. Ohranger was a huge mess of a toy commercial that didn't give much development to its new mecha. Granted, Ohranger got struck by real-life disasters. Carranger did try to balance the merchandise. GoGoFive had three combining robots and one sentient robot ally. Timeranger did try to balance it again. After that, multiple combinations somehow became the most feasible answer.

I feel that a lot of series started to do the multi-gattai and it worked. The multiple combination formula actually can drive me dizzy (at times) with new mecha almost every week. Even the better Super Sentai series aren't spared from it. I felt that Shinkenger as good as it gets had that problem. Goseiger even got worse when it tried to throw in plenty of mecha at a high-speed velocity. I feel like that trying to sell more toys in as little time as possible can be a good reason why I don't like many of the mecha designs. I could still enjoy the plot while I feel the mecha designs are anything but good. I feel most mecha designs are usually getting worse than better due to that! 

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So, there I hope I can stress out my personal reasons. Then again, just because I wrote this post doesn't mean I can't enjoy the newer Super Sentai series. However, I'm still pursuing other newer stuff which in turn has caused me to also like Super Sentai less.