Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger: Not Much A Masterpiece IMHO But An Important Step In Super Sentai's Innovation

 

The Super Sentai franchise underwent some turbulent times. Before Super Sentai - it was just "Sentai" with Himitsu Sentai Goranger and Dengekitai JAKQ. One series was so good it reached 84 episodes of overextension. The other was so bad it got rushed to only 35 episodes. I felt that JAKQ really can help me justify why I didn't like the Disney rushed Power Rangers seasons. Super Sentai nearly faced cancellation after the hiatus that happened after JAKQ which Battle Fever J became the standard bearer of a yearly Super Sentai. It was in the late 1980s when Kosoku Sentai Turboranger started to have its ratings decline (hence why the Nagare Bouma got introduced in hopes of fixing it) and the controversial Chikyu Sentai Fiveman meltdown. Fiveman was SO BAD for its time that it nearly killed the franchise. Winspector was doing good at that year though. Though, I still feel both series served as important lessons for making better series such as Gekisou Sentai Carranger (though ratings didn't normalize yet but had decent toy sales), Denji Sentai Megaranger (the real saver of the late 1990s), and Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive. Though, we can't dismiss one season namely Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger.

Chojin Sentai Jetman saved Super Sentai from cancellation. Yehey! However, I feel that it's time to revisit Zyuranger as a game-changing series. Okay, it's already known that I've been denying how much I dislike the Power Rangers franchise. Even now, I feel the Nickelodeon era is still not worth my leisure credits and the summer break is just OH SO UNNECESSARY. Now, I want to tackle on how Zyuranger (though as not as popular as it was Jetman and its successor Dairanger) should still be regarded as an important changer. No, I'm not going to bring about my guilty pleasure of being a fan of the badly-received Zyuranger NES game which I once thought was Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers!

A different style of heroes

I think one of the best things about Zyuranger is that the producers-writers tandem weren't afraid to experiment. I think the tandem of Takeyuki Suzuki and Shinichiro Shirakura did try something different. The heroes themselves are anything but your typical human heroes from the 1970s to 1980s. Military? Been there, done that! The heroes of the masterpiece Choshinsei Flashman are still earthlings even if they grew up in some lost galaxy. This series wasn't playing it "too safe" unlike its predecessors.

The Zyurangers are all warriors from ancient history brought to modern day. A prince, three knights, and a princess defending modern mankind from an ancient evil? The awkwardness of how these guys easily adjust episodes later is screw logic. The problem was somewhat fixed in Mirai Sentai Timeranger when the four other heroes were fed information about 2000 A.D. The Zyurangers seemed to easily adjust to human life suc as even getting jobs or mastering modern technology after millions of years of slumber. Barza is pretty much a senile old man too you know! I even think Peebo from Chodenshi Bioman may not even want to work with Barza either! 

The show has a lots of "trying new stuff" with the heroes. The heroes don't immediately work together either. Well, didn't Jetman have that? I think Zyuranger managed to take notes of its predecessor and do it a bit better. The introductory arc, slow as it is, did give us enough time to know the Zyurangers' personalities. I also love how the Legendary Weapons arc was done. The heroes had to go on foot and work as a team. Did it magically solve their lack of teamwork? It wasn't until the Daizyujin arc that they truly learned to work together.

The concept was later improvised in Seijuu Sentai Gingaman. The Gingamen were from tribes that had no idea how to adjust to Japan. The Gingamen, though, had the concept of succession that led from warriors from centuries ago passing their powers down to their successors and getting the powers from the Starbeasts. Zyuranger was the one that started the concept.

The regularization of the sixth hero concept

The predecessors tried to emightxperiment on the sixth hero concept. Bioman tried it with the Magne Warrior arc where Jaspion's lead actor Hikaru Kurosaki guest starred as Shota Yamamori. Hikari Sentai Maskman introduced the concept with the one-shot hero Ryo Asuka or X-1 Mask. X-1 Mask represented the prototype Maskman before the actual team came in. Ryo Asuka's arc was written by Toshiki Inoue - a prototype to Gai Yuki and to Burai. Though, Burai himself was the cold, stoic guy. Hmmm... I'll probably say that my favorite plot in this series is the "Green with Evil" arc which introduced Burai as a villain before becoming the regular sixth member. I'll probably always use him to state that Tommy's an overrated prick. It doesn't help Jason David Frank reminds me of Mr. Satan from Dragon Ball Z. However, Burai is also overrated too by the fandom who say, "He's the reason why Zyuranger doesn't suck!" 

I think Bullblack 1 from Seijuu Sentai Gingaman was better. However, we just can't discount Burai for finally giving us the sixth ranger and a LITERAL ONE. No, I don't want to count Banba or Big One from JAKQ as one. Burai really did everything from being a sixth ranger to having his OWN GUARDIAN BEAST (though he hardly entered the cockpit), to beating the rangers, and to joining them. It's really hard not to credit the guy entering. Not to mention, I'll forever think his evil laugh is truly menacing and chilling. Tommy just sounded like Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers franchise.

A new step in mecha design

A lookback at the predecessors would tell you some animal mecha designs are UGLY AS F***. I'm a fan of Choju Sentai Liveman but I find the mecha rather ugly IMHO. Liveman introduced the animal-based mecah but I felt they were all subpar especially the dolphin mecha. Thankfully, Ninpou Sentai Hurricanger fixed that! Zyuranger decided it was going to fix the mecha designs because we're doing dinosaurs though both the mammoth and the sabertooth tiger aren't dinosaurs. Weird huh? Yet, I'd say that the Sabertooth Tiger here is far more well-designed than Liveman's lion.

It would be interesting to see how the mecha here aren't mecha. Instead, they were sentient beings that formed into one being known as Daizyujin or Great Beast God. The guardian beasts were sentient and developed a bond with the heroes. The concept was carried on into some later Super Sentai series theat featured animal mecha. I feel the introduction of sentient mecha back then was just underdeveloped. Tetraboy from Jetman was just a self-operating AI. Here, these Guardian Beasts have their true sentience like they were living beings. 

It would also be interesting how the mecha is given more of a story. It's said that Dai Satan and Daizyujin were the opposing forces. Both sides of the conflict had their gods that they brought into the battle. Bandora has Dai Satan (though he's sadly undeveloped) and the Zyurangers have Daizyujin. Also, an interesting concept added is how that the Dinosaur Apocalypse will cause Daizyujin to be defeated and Dai Satan to finally win. It's a weird concept but I like how this weird concept was tried on!

The villains themselves are still interesting though not too much

I can't be too sure about the villains though they do have some late backstory. Bandora presents herself rather unique since most of her idiotic plans are targeted towards children. It's not really explained how she had an alliance with Dai Satan until later on. All that's known is that Bandora thinks humanity's sick and the best way to end it is to destroy the Earth's children. Bandora's plots seem to be an improvement from the zany antics of Professor K from Seiuun Machineman. Interestingly, the late Soga Machiko was the voice of Ballboy who accompanied Ken Takase (played by the late Osamu Sakuta). Unlike most Super Sentai shows before it - we're told why Bandora became the idiotic wicked witch that she was throughout the whole show.

I think some of the villains here have concepts taken from Turboranger on the surface. Granted, they were sealed for so long and they returned to harass the current era they were released on. IMHO, I think Griforther was based on Zimba and Lamie was based on Jarmin. Turboranger seemingly gave hints that Zimba indeed was in love with Jarmin or that Jarmin seems to do stuff to impress him. I felt that the battle couple was something even if Lamie just arrived in the middle of the series like Burai did. Lamie has her monster form which is truly terrifying. Buckback appears as a more stupid version of Zulten from Turboranger though he had a buddy in Bukback. Though, I can't stop comparing Priprican to Anagubas from Maskman as both villains were intelligent and knew a lot of stuff the others didn't.  

I still think there was a daring direction. The show retried the concept that Machiko as an evil queen who treated her followers right. Bandora may have punished her minions or threw tantrums but she cared for them like a family. Sure, Bandora may be more cruel than Rita Repulsa (towards children) but both of them valued their minions. It would be interesting how the show ended that the villains were resealed once more rather than defeated like standard Super Sentai villains. I guess it was all in the name of trying something new. Just think that a few years later - Carranger made us see the Bowzock Trio reform even after all the evil they did because they were too dumb to realize what they were doing. 

It was also the series that started the Mighty Morphin' hype

I must confess that my dislike for Power Rangers just got worse because of the "Go Go Power Rangers Hype". I still acknowledge that Toei Ltd. is the company behind the monster hit as much as their American partners such as Haim Saban (both had a history with Marvel), Disney (both had a history with Marvel), and Hasbro (which they provided animation for some time).

I still love to state how I dislike Power Rangers also for its licensed use of footage. I acknowledge Toei Ltd. gets money out of it. However, I feel using the Japanese fight footage and mixing it with the American action scenes gets weird. Think of how the Power Rangers cast do their out-of-suit scenes then presto - they are replaced by Japanese stuntmen! Then another weirdness is when the American stuntmen get replaced by the Japanese stuntmen where the costume quality goes inconsistent. It's pretty much different when Saban's crew made the Marvel-based cartoons' footage or the Super Mario Bros. Super Show footage  ALL BY THEMSELVES without using Japanese footage! 

Some of the cast of Zyuranger went to Morphicon. I still feel it's a historical moment in the history of marketing. I may still have my stance of disliking the franchise. However, I still acknowledge the franchise to be still part of Toei's and Bandai's legit intellectual properties. As said, I rightfully "blame" Zyuranger that the franchise I so dislike (but I don't hate Saban either) actually exists! Bwahahahahahaha!