Hyajakuu Sentai Gaoranger: An Anniversary Season That Felt Like It Was Meant To Reboot Super Sentai

 
2021 is a major anniversary year for several Toku series. Some may think of the beginning of the first Kamen Rider or the 20th anniversary of Kamen Rider Agito. Now, one series also gets its 20th anniversary this year and it's Hyajakuu Sentai Gaoranger. The series itself feels like a reboot series while it's an anniversary season. The reasons are these. The Year 2000 can mean a lot of things. For some people, 2000 AD is the beginning of a new millennium - something that was emphasized in Mirai Sentai Timeranger. 2000 AD was also the beginning of a new era for Kamen Rider while I felt it was going to be the end of another Super Sentai era. The Kamen Rider franchise was going to get rebooted with Kamen Rider Kuuga. Meanwhile, Timeranger felt it was dropping hints and there that it was going to be the end of one era of Super Sentai. Just think of how the finale went with them saying a new era has begun. The post-series TV special eventually recollected all the Super Sentai series from Himitsu Sentai Goranger up to Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive. GoGoFive did ride on the end of the world hype in the finale when Grandienne drowned the world into darkness. Timeranger was the start of the new millennium yet 2000 AD could also mean the end of the 20th century. Timeranger ended with the heroes returning home into their 31st century or the year 3001. That makes the entry of Gaoranger as the first 21st Century Heisei Era Super Sentai series. 

Gaoranger was where changes happened for better or for worse. Personally, I still find most of the post-Timeranger series to be much enjoyable even when I could still appreciate them. So, I pretty much always want to say, "BRING IT ON!" whenever somebody says that Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters, or Ressha Sentai ToQGer should be hailed as Yasuko Kobayashi's Magnum Opus. Gaoranger started to radically depart from the more mature side of GoGoFive and Timeranger in exchange for a more family-friendly series. 

How Gaoranger truly began the multi-gattai fad

Gaoranger in itself began to change the way mecha would be done. It carried the Pokemon craze and tried to ride on that hype. The result was that they started to introduce the Gao Animals which would introduce different types of gattai. The Gaorangers were responsible for getting the Gao Animals for different episodes. They also had to face off their recurring enemies Yabaiba and Tsuetsue who are obviously like James and Jessie from Pokemon. The show would have them in their quest to find more of these Gao Animals as they seek to defeat the Orgs. 

One reason why I didn't immediately ride the hype was due to the multi-gattai. I felt that too many new toys can mean the quality can go down. I was wrong and saw that the gimmick really worked wonders for later series. It was actually cool to see the mecha combine into different ways and think of hypothetical combinations that the show didn't have. The first time I saw them in action was through the Gaoranger footage used in Power Rangers Wild Force - way before I had the opportunity to watch Gaoranger. 

Pretty much, mecha designs were drastically reimagined. I guess it's because Timeranger had low toy sales. Timeranger was considered a show that the older audience loved but didn't easily click with the children. Gaoranger's formulation of not just toning things down but also introducing brand new toys really did wonders. The multi-gattai formula would be successful and be used in almost every Super Sentai series that came after it. 

A significant reduction of violence did work wonders too

I guess I keep forgetting that Super Sentai IS a toy commercial and that it's usually aimed at children. I guess censorship in Japan had gotten stricter resulting in Super Sentai toning down as well. Ironically, Agito of the same year still had that much nightmare fuel in contrast to Super Sentai. There were still intense moments but much of the violence from Timeranger is absent. One of the biggest examples is reduced bleeding. 

One scene from the Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai movie actually had Gaku Washio clash with the legendary Yuusuke Amamiya of Chojuu Sentai Liveman. Yuusuke says, "How can a frightened sword like that defeat enemies?" It was when the Gaorangers lost their courage. I felt like Super Sentai lost its courage with the toning down of the violence. Then again, who can't forget parental complaints from JAPAN itself. I felt the crossover movie was meant to address older fans that even if Super Sentai is now considerably less violent - the heroes still need their courage to defeat their foes. I felt Gaku Washio didn't have the badass of Gaku Hoshikawa of Chikyu Sentai Fiveman. Yet, Gaku proved himself worthy to polish the shoes of his predecessors by overcoming his fear. The rest proved themselves worthy to what I'd call their superior, tougher-than-nails predecessors in that crossover film.

Though there was still room for some cruelty. The Org Highesses still had some fangs. Who can forget when Org Highness Ura in his final form still managed to inflict damage? Toned down as it was but we can't deny Ura still was a dangerous foe. Org Highness Rasetsu proved himself (though he refers to himself as "we") proved he treated both Yabaiba and Tsuetsue like dirt or even willingly sacrificed Tsuetsue so he can get Tetomu to be his personal chef. However, much of these are pretty toned down such as Tsuetsue's first death was rather ridiculously bloodless. I felt that these toning down measures were just the start of figuring out the balance between child friendly and making the villains still threatening.

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Pretty much, it's really safe to say that Gaoranger indeed rebooted Super Sentai in a new direction. Timeranger was probably the last farewell note for the 20th century when it entered the 21st century. In Gaoranger's case - it was most likely done as a reboot to celebrate the 21st Heisei era Super Sentai.