When Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things As Sentai Rangers

I was watching Avatar Sentai Donbrothers and got into this statement. The very words of Taro himself (and granted, this is penned by none other than TOSHIKI INOUE) may make people remember Chojin Sentai Jetman - the very series that overshadowed its successor Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger as it saved Super Sentai franchise from cancellation. Maybe, one reason why Zyuranger wasn't as popular was that the heroes were extraordinary characters, raised as ancient warriors, in contrast to what a lot of Super Sentai series do. It's all about how, at times, ordinary people end up doing extraordinary things.

I think the series can highlight a bit how Haruka Kito, like Zoey Reeves in Power Rangers Beast Moprhers, are menial workers who wear yellow spandex. Most of the Donbrothers are ordinary people such as Tyuyoshi who's an office worker whose wife probably doesn't know he's a ranger, Tsubasa is a guy who's wrongly framed, and Shinichi is a detective. Nothing seems to stand out about them which is probably why Taro doesn't easily work with them. It's a stark contrast to Jetman!Ryu being able to work through with Jetman!Gai (who's a bum and probably a runaway soldier), Raita who's a farmer, Kaori who's an heiress with a boring life, and Ako (who I crushed over for some weird reason) who's a high school student.

Some Super Sentai series had complete primary teams who were trained BEFORE the series began. Some lived ordinary lives as a cover for their extraordinary activities. A good example is how some series had a military theme. For example, Himitsu Sentai Goranger displayed Super Sentai as a military unit (though it wasn't acknowledged as such until 1995 with Choriki Sentai Ohranger). The heroes were all hardened before the battle began. The first episode of Goranger had the heroes already trained to fight and were the survivors of the Black Cross Army's brutal massacre. Battle Fever J and Dengeki Sentai Changeman were military-inspired. Later, the concept was taken beyond the military. Later, Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger dared to remove that limit by making the rangers as ancient warriors brought to the modern-day and mentored by a senile old man named Barza. Zyuranger introduced the concept of lineages, which went into Seijuu Sentai Gingaman and Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. 

Super Sentai dared to also show how ordinary people can do extraordinary things in some seasons

One needs to think of the cliche, "Just living an ordinary life until one day I got chosen to fight evil." This was already before Zordon decided to recruit a team of teenagers with attitude in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. That trope hit hard with Kosoku Sentai Turboranger and Denji Sentai Megaranger. Personally, I felt Megaranger was more or less the most "realistic" of the three with how it dealt with teenagers. The out-of-suit fight scenes of the other two series tend to overpower them outside their suits. Turboranger doesn't seem like it knew what it was doing with teenagers with attitude either. Though, most of the other teams were grown-ups.

Hirohisa Soda's not afraid to experiment with his writing. Maybe, one needed to watch more of his series to see how random things can be. For example, Dai Sentai Goggle V could just randomly pick five civilians to become the rangers. Right now, after watching Kamen Rider Build, I'd dare say that Misora Isurugi is more developed than Miki Momozono who was suddenly chosen to become the pink ranger. Kagaku Sentai Dynaman almost felt like Michael Bay and Toei Ltd. were talent-scouting to find the right people to defeat Jashinka. Then again, the cast of Dynaman has had their skills such as martial arts, ninjutsu, water sports, one's a cowboy, and a fencing champion. Not too ordinary. Chodenshi Bioman had the scene where Mika Koizumi simply wanted to pursue her private career as a photographer. Sadly, off-screen disputes caused Yuki Yajima to leave and the concept was forcibly dropped. Soda was probably not too afraid to take it to a stretch when Turboranger had Seelon recruit teenagers with attitude instead of the usual team of grown-ups. Though, some shows had a teenager lumped into a team of adults. 

I think Soda's concept managed to get into Gekisou Sentai Carranger. I wonder what even launched the rumor that it "saved" Super Sentai when it was two years of low ratings in reality? Carranger took it so far when Dappu does a bit of a Peebo. Only this time, Dappu doesn't have much of a reason as to why he dragged FIVE UNREMARKABLE CIVILIANS into fighting the Bowzock. Seelon had the fairy energies in the Turborangers to justify her recruitment. Peebo had the Bio Particles to justify why he'd use a Megazord to pick up five civilians out of their ordinary lives. Carranger just felt weird with how it did its recruitment of rangers. Was it because they worked at the Pegasus Garage? Japan seems to have bigger, better car companies out there. It just feels weird to me how Carranger may be the reason why Turboranger gets less appreciated. I still feel that the Bowzock Trio's evil for evil's sake was more entertaining than what the Bouma Generals could come up with. Just watching Kaiju No Kami's reviews on both shows seem to reflect how positively the show gets taken by a good amount of Western viewers. Maybe, that's why the rumor ended up happening. 

Jetman managed to have Inoue explore yet another type of writing. What if one hero (Jetman!Ryu) had to gather four ordinary people into the conflict? Kaori was a typical rich girl, Raita was a farmer in some far location in Japan, Jetman!Gai was pretty much that bad boy who never expected his calling, and Ako is just your spunky high school student passing through life. The concept had one Skyforce defense soldier having to work with people with formal training. Though, I assume Jetman!Gai was probably a runaway soldier as he didn't have his background explored--a step back to when background stories started to get introduced even more. I still feel Masumi in Gougou Sentai Boukenger was actually more developed in some way. The concept would flip itself as many times as possible.

Yasuko Kobayashi would have Mirai Sentai Timeranger do a flip. Okay, one can argue that Wataru is no ordinary rich guy as he's the son of the Asami Group. However, by superhero standards, he wasn't even trained like the other Timerangers. It makes sense that Yuuri is technically the leader AND can beat him easily. In the case of Shinkenger, we have both Shinkenger!Takeru, Kotoha, and Genta. Shinkenger!Takeru wasn't from the noble lineage but was raised up as a shadow warrior to protect the true head, Kaoru. Takeru is from a lower-class group but had enough power to become a warrior. Kotoha had an older sister whom she replaced as the yellow ranger. Genta was just a sushi seller but managed to become a Shinkenger. Though, Kobayashi has placed in charge a team of five ordinary people (who turned out to be children stuck in adult bodies) in Ressha Sentai ToQGer. I find how the plot twist was approved by the higher-ups. The ToQGers were ordinary children saving the world from an extraordinary threat!

I think Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger had its approach with the sixth ranger too. Normally, we expect the sixth ranger to be that badass newbie. Instead, like Genta, Gokaiger!Gai ended up as an ordinary civilian who had a fatal accident and was somehow brought back to life (which probably stirred the rumors that he will die but thankfully didn't leave us so soon like Jetman!Gai). Unlike the other Gokaigers, he wasn't hardened in battle. Though, his extraordinary knowledge of Super Sentai did help through in the actual series and in non-canon films. Oh yeah, I guess people know by how much I HATE Super Hero Taisen's first entry. I could understand myself writing such a mess since I'm not a professional writer. Toei Ltd. had a huge crew and why the mess happened is BEYOND ME.

Closing words

What truly became amazing is the character development that came along with it. These ordinary people called to do it for some reason. Sure, Goggle V didn't explore it that much but it was the beginning. Turboranger may be considered to be a weaker series (and I still feel Carranger and Megaranger as to why) but the characters develop as the series progresses. Megaranger had the most development for teenagers with attitude in their adventures together. Even the parody Carranger managed to build the characters from their ordinary lives to actually saving the world. There are really so many examples in many seasons of how character development is built. I can't keep naming all the seasons or I'll end up exhausting myself. 

I guess that truly makes a show stand out is creating characters one can relate to. The character flaws are there as part of development. It will always end up as part of writing because humanity is flawed. The good side, as Taro says, is that people is people learning from their errors. Besides, even seasons with military themes and rangers trained to fight still display them as they are - ordinary people doing extraordinary things!