My Final Thoughts On Zenkaiger And Early Thoughts For Its Direct Sequel Donbrothers

 Zenkaiger is yet another attempt at Super Sentai to rewrite the formula in more than one way. One can think of how JAKQ started with four members and ended up with five later in the series. Battle Fever J was the first series to use "Super Sentai" and have a giant robot. Sun Vulcan only had three members and replaced its red ranger midseason. Ohranger eventually added Goranger and JAKQ into the Super Sentai series retroactively. Though, most Super Sentai seasons tend to operate independently from each other except for a few like how Denziman is a direct sequel of Sun Vulcan. Meanwhile, some Toku series by Toei Ltd. had some direct connections to each other like the Showa era Kamen Rider series (though Kamen Rider Black was meant to be a reboot until its failed sequel Black RX) and how the Space Sheriff Trilogy connected to each other directly, how Solbrain and Exceedraft had Winspector as its starting point, and how B-Fighter Kabuto is a direct sequel (though takes years apart in the script) from B-Fighter. Zenkaiger and the recent Donbrothers have that treatment of being direct sequels.

Episode 42 of Donbrothers almost has a similar feel to a later episode in Gavan. Retsu Ichijouji would later meet his successor Den Iga who took the codename Sharivan. Den Iga would later take the position of Retsu as Earth's current space sheriff while Retsu has a new position. The Solbrain team took over the Winspector team when the latter went to Paris. Later, Solbrain disbanded and Exceedraft was created. Though, Exceedraft was supposed to be its own continuity but was re-added into the first two series for some reason. The appearance of Don Momotaro himself in a later episode is really no different. Later, Kaito would become an important ally behind the scenes like what happened to Retsu during the run of Sharivan, and even stepped back further in Shaider.

Zenkaiger really had some Metal Hero themes going on. Bokkowaus the leader of Kikaitopia seems to be a throwback to many of the wall villains in the Metal Hero franchise. Having only one arm seems to be a throwback to the illusion form of Gaohm in B-Fighter. Spoilers: Gaohm was just an embryonic entity that was trying to achieve immorality while using decoys. Bokkowaus later achieved a mobile form to battle the Zenkaigers to the finish. I must confess that the final battle isn't as interesting. Though, Stacey's redemption was to be expected as the show dropped hints.

The final episode felt rather weird. Bokkowaus was defeated an episode prior. It almost felt like throwing back to Kamen Rider Kuuga. Even the ending of Lupinranger vs. Patranger was rather unconventional. The disappearance of the Lupinrangers, the unconventional defeat of the main antagonist Dogriano Yabun, and how both teams can never truly unite. The final episode has Kaito defying the god of fate himself. I almost feel like this unknown god is probably a throwback to Beerus. Beerus was manipulating events in the name of keeping order in the cosmos. Kaito defeats this unknown god in a game and everything is restored to normal as a result. Though, Kaito dons another power in the next show - similar to how Ryoma becomes Knight Fire in Solbrain.

How Donbrothers fares as a direct sequel for me but it's too early to tell

The story of Momotaro was something that got introduced to me as a child. I remembered watching ABC-5 and they featured Gakken's stop-motion 1970s (?) puppet theater. One of the episodes was about Momotaro's quest to crush the devils. There was this cheesy English dub which was probably done by Telesuccess Productions too. Correct me if I'm wrong, okay? The story had a boy in a peach, the peach was opened, and this boy would crush the devils. The boy was accompanied by a pheasant, a dog, and a monkey in his journey to stop the attacks. Though it seems that Haruka Kito has no counterpart in the story. 

The heroes are pretty much an unorthodox group (again) even if they're all human. Actually, I wouldn't mind if Don Momotaro had non-human companions (again). In fact, that's what I was expecting since Zenkaiger dared to do it. I'm not too fond of Zenkaiger but I do love how the show somehow had a brave direction not to become too typical. I actually wanted a humanoid monkey, a humanoid dog, and a humanoid pheasant to be the rangers. Instead, we have human characters who take on non-humanoid forms and some are played by obvious CGI. Is Toei now using motion capture? Will motion capture be used by the stuntmen sooner or later? 

The story starts with Taro Momoi whose birth is still a mystery. All that's known is that he got adopted in a peach-shaped capsule. In this case, the peach capsule is obviously meant to be cartoony. Later, he abandons his adoptive family to become a deliveryman. A bit of deviation from Momotaro who runs away to fight the devils. The swordsman thing here is because the folktale has Momotaro as a swordsman.

The show introduces the character of Haruka Kito - a high school student. The actress Kohaku Shida was born in 2004 making her 19 years younger than me. I'm feeling old already too. Her role is as a Manga artist and high school student. She wears some bizarre lens that allows her to see the demons. I think I'm actually glad most Super Sentai girls now don't look as good as they used to. It helps me concentrate more since Haruka's not really all that hot and she's THAT YOUNG. I still want to think that Jacqueline Scislowski's more appealing to me maybe because she's already in her 20s. 

I think the first male pink ranger (who's a family man) has a representation of being a pheasant. There are a few pink characters in Japan who are male such as Kirby. In this case, it seems that the first male pink ranger is there and the pheasant because the character in the folktale was a man. I think Tsuyoshi is filling in for his wife. Maybe, Tyuyoshis' wife was supposed to be the pink ranger but he lived that dream for his wife instead. I don't know why he's the pink ranger but that's what I think why he's the pink ranger. 

I can't give more details on the rest yet since we've just begun. Shinichi and Tsubasa are based on the monkey and the dog. Apparently, Tsubasa is pretty much a throwback to Gai Yuki since Toshiki Inoue is the main writer. I wonder if Shinichi is a throwback to Gouki from Gimgaman though? Gouki had a gorilla as a beast in Gingaman. I even wonder if Yasuko Kobayashi will ever become a secondary writer in this show? Though, I feel like Inoue and Kobayashi might unleash their fury against the executives if ever they get together again. I felt Inoue and Kobayashi already had that going on during Kamen Rider Decade. It also seems Kobayashi still has issues with how executives wanted Kamen Rider Ryuki to end when it's somehow obvious that everyone was supposed to die in the end. Renn was seen walking, dying, and it seemed that Ryuki's reset button wasn't the fault of the writers. Kobayashi and Inoue probably wanted to shock audiences but were somehow thrown into bodies of water - something they like to do to their characters.

The Noto Layer antagonist group seems to follow older Kamen Rider shows. Who could remember both Kamen Rider W and Kamen Rider Fourze? The monsters of the week (as of now) are derived from humans and the humans become these monsters. Remember how Kamen Rider W and Kamen Rider Fourze defeat the monster and the monster is restored to human form? That's pretty much unconventional though Super Sentai has got to experiment, right? I kinda wondered why the concept wasn't used in the older Heisei era series? Timeranger re-arrested the monsters of the week instead of killing them as criminals wanted dead or alive. 

Right now, it's too early to know what's their ultimate aim. Apparently, they play the deadly game of emotion like how the Dopants and the Zodiarts were in both W and Fourze. The monsters of the week are born out of those negative emotions. The recent episode featured a sushi maker who becomes a monster then gets reverted to a human. Somehow, I wonder why Toei Ltd. didn't introduce that concept way back in Shinkenger? That never crossed my mind though because Kamen Rider W was the first to do that with the monsters of the week. Right now, I felt like Shinkenger could've done that. Maybe, even Ninninger could've done that too. Now I want to ask why Toei Ltd. didn't decide to do that with Super Sentai until several years after W was concluded. 

I'm just reminded of my mixed feelings regarding Super Sentai and Power Rangers (again) thinking about both shows

It's no secret that I dislike Power Rangers for a couple of reasons while I like other adaptations (or localizations) based on Japanese Manga or Anime. I dislike Power Rangers not only because of the licensed use of Super Sentai fight footage (which feels choppy to go from their own fight scenes to Japanese footage a couple of minutes later), the overextension of Mighty Morphin', the whole Zordon era up to Space, the tendency to be direct sequels more often than not--Toei Ltd. also has done that a number of times with the Metal Hero series and the Kamen Rider series. Super Sentai isn't perfect either and there are a couple of shows I still berate until now. It's no secret that I dislike both Kyoryuger and Dino Charge. I still don't like both Ninninger and the much worse Ninja Steel. There is still other new stuff out there worth watching.

Back then, most Super Sentai series tend to operate in a self-contained story. The Hirohisa Soda era was pretty much like that. Dynaman was no direct sequel to Goggle V. We don't see Flashman vs. Changeman (though that could've been cool) or Flashman vs. Maskman within the show series. No instance where the Flashmen meet the Changemen like the Lost Galaxy Rangers met the Space Rnagers. Most of the stories tell you that they were self-contained like how Bioman narrated that the Bio Robo would only awaken if the Earth is in a danger it can't handle on its own. Changeman narrated that the Earth Force will only awaken if the Earth is in extreme danger. Later, we have the Noboru Sugimura era where Dairanger was no sequel to Zyuranger. Besides, dinosaur extinction may vary from Super Sentai to Super Sentai making it impossible to link to each other. The only solution ends up as "dimensions in danger" where Super Sentai takes place in a multiverse.Toei's Super Robot Anime made most of its shows self-contained like how Golion was independent from Voltes V and Voltes V was independent from Combattler V.

I was wondering will this direct sequel be a good thing or not? Could this be another desperate attempt to keep Super Sentai floating? Personally, I was even expecting Super Sentai to take a break after Gokaiger. However, Go-Busters apparently gave  Super Sentai a reboot treatment while Gokaiger felt like a huge finale that closed another era. I pretty much want to see Super Sentai become less reliant on nostalgia. That's also the reason why I really ended up not liking the Neo-Saban era - too much milking on Mighty Morphin' such as Lord Zedd making fanservice in Dino Fury. I'd really go bonkers if Black Cross Fuhrer made that kind of return in Ryusoulger. Right now, I wonder if Donbrothers will end up doing that. I mean, just think of how Saban and Toei Ltd. had been that close for years which I think they've probably influenced each other for better or for worse. XP

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What are your thoughts on Zenkaiger's end and the beginning of its direct sequel Donbrothers? Right now, just don't expect episode reviews anymore because I'm no longer that passionate about Super Sentai like I used to!