Seven Harsh Realities Of Being A Super Sentai Ranger

CBR.com has an article on the eight harsh realities of being a Power Ranger. These are pretty much carried over because there are also harsh realities with being a Sentai Ranger too. Yes, I prefer to use the term RANGER over WARRIOR even if I dislike Power Rangers. So, I decided to make my own version which can be easily observed.

Some Super Sentai teams didn't get trained before fighting the bad guys

I wonder what in the world is the logic with choosing novices who haven't learned to fight just yet? It may be, "Don't question logic and just enjoy the show." However, there's got to be a HEALTHY MIX of suspension of disbelief and logical parts. Sure, maybe it's best we ignore how Japan keeps getting rebuilt EVERY WEEK but we need to think about the vulnerability of people. A good example is how Goggle V chose five random civilians to fight Deathdark. Sure, they had their qualifications BUT seriously? Shouldn't they get training before fitting the more professional Deathdark?

Granted, my first Super Sentai exposure was Bioman. Just the mere fact that Peebo used the Bio Robo to pick the five members (which Mika was still part of this roster) is just baffling. I don't blame Mika for actually wanting to leave the team in the first episode. Mika just wanted to take pictures of Africa for her deceased brother but she ended up DYING as well due to off-screen events. I still feel picking up the Biomen (even with their Bio Particles) to fight Gear feels weird. Though, later the Biomen (which now has Jun) had training scenes so they could unleash the Super Electron attack against the upgraded Beastnoids.

Though, I still think about it that a couple of shows do fail to really train the heroes. I wonder how the Turborangers even have time to train when they have exams to study for? I feel the Megarangers also deserved to be questioned too. Others have been long trained before the series began. The Zyurangers are warrior tribes who trained before they were put in suspended animation. The Gingamen are from warrior tribes. The Shinkengers were trained before their duty began. Though, how often can we count the number of times that training does take place before the battle begins?

Strained relationships are too common

Bioman didn't explore strained relationships until episode 13. Jun had to hide the fact that she was a Bioman from her captain. Before that, Shiro still felt the trauma of Mika's death when Jun wanted to join the team. Shingo also had a strained relationship with a fan of his ever since he became a Bioman. Turboranger may get some flak but I still think it explored strained relationships that well. Misa the homeroom teacher has been miles better than Miss Appleby in Mighty Morphin'. Miss Appleby was hardly there. Misa appeared and she worries about the Turborangers without knowing that they are warriors. What do you expect when the Turborangers are bound to the threefold rule that Zordon summarized a few years later? They just can't tell ANYONE that they're Turborangers! 

Later, Megaranger also tried to do it and I felt did it better. Kenta was shown living in house and can't even tell his mother he's Megaranger. Keiichirou can't even tell his younger brother he's a Megaranger. These strained relationships are really there. Before that, maybe we can talk about how Ako in Jetman had a strained relationship with her best friend Kyoko. Ryu also had a strained relationship with his paternal grandmother. Gaoranger had Sae in a strained relationship with her father ever since she became a ranger. Ran had a strained relationship with her mother in Gekiranger. Chiaki had a strained relationship with his friends in Shinkenger. Takeru Shiba would later have a strained relationship with his vassals when the truth of his role as a decoy came out. The list can go on and on.

Youths are sacrificed for the greater good

I think some rangers should've been enjoying their youth BUT they're stuck with the daunting task of SAVING THE WORLD. Why in the world would Director Sugata get Akira a TEENAGER to be part of the Maskman team? Ako is only a high school student BUT she becomes a Jetman because the Birdonic Wave hits her. Kotoha and Chiaki are both only teenagers when they became Shinkengers. In Kotoha's case, her older sister was sickly so, like Ako, she had no choice but to become a ranger. In the case of Kou in Dairanger - I felt that his inclusion as a child ranger may be better written than Justin BUT what in the world are we thinking of letting a nine-year-old fight the Gorma?!

This is one harsh reality. I felt that Akira being a Maskman is harder than going to school. Ako had to worry about academics and BEATING THE VYRAM. Chiaki and Kotoha have to worry about BEATING THE GEDOUSHU and their academics. Turboranger even highlighted it some episodes that they missed homework and school because they had to FIGHT THE BOUMA TRIBES. Megaranger places teenagers in such a difficult position too. Somehow, I wonder why Dr. Kubota hasn't been arrested for using teenagers with attitude to fight a dangerous threat?

Day-offs become VERY NON-EXISTENT for the heroes

Sure, we had some summer episodes in Carranger and Megaranger where the rangers went to a resort or so. Jetman even had them go to Nagano in episode 36 (and  the bath scene was somewhat funny) had the Jetmen in relaxation mode. Chief Aya wanted to give them all a break but guess what happens next? Tran decides to ruin their vacation time by PERSONALLY LAUNCHING AN ATTACK. The first half has Tran trying to prove himself. The second episode had Tran as Tranza showing he's not to be messed with. The villains would always attack and take advantage of the heroes in relaxation mode to try and score a win.

The Megaranger summer episodes showed that the villains never took a vacation either. Episodes such as Gurail's desire to poison the waters or turn humans into corals are nightmare fuel induced. The Carranger episodes where Zelmonda attacks the resort (though with a very stupid plan) really had the Carrangers' vacation ruined. It's really worse than being asked to write a reaction paper of the head of government giving an address. So much for me complaining how over-the-holiday short assignments "ruined" the holidays. 

So why is the role calls always getting done?

I guess it never gets old (or not) that the rangers always have to do a final role call before wrapping up the episode. What's with that, REALLY? It became so easy for me to memorize the role call of Bioman in the bad English dub because of that. It was so easy to memorize the morphing sequence of Mighty Morphin' because of that. Like what's the point? Worse, the narrator of Dekaranger just doesn't know when to shut up. That's why I joked that the Mayor of Powerpuff Girls must be the narrator of the Space Sheriffs and Dekaranger.

It's always a life-or-death situation

Just rewatching Bioman in the Japanese (with English subtitles) makes me think about the dialogue in the first episode. Harsher in Hindsight was that Mika was told, "Do you want to die young?" Guess what happened a few episodes later. It's obvious that Mika DIED TOO SOON. Mika made a sacrifice to save the others (though we only saw her in-suit and voiced by Mayumi Tanaka) to save the others from the Bio Killer Gun. That episode made me cry as a child. Why Yuki left JAC is something that still puzzles me. I even wonder what she's doing now. Unlike Power Rangers, Super Sentai REALLY dared to kill some of the heroes for some reason. Gai Yuki later died from a stab wound while he recovered a woman's purse. Still, we know it's life and death.

I think another thing worth noting is BURAI. I guess Mighty Morphin' just can't write off Tommy as dead. Instead, Tommy simply lost his powers like Ryo Asuka/X-1 Mask (the first prototype sixth ranger) did in Maskman. Ryo Asuka simply lost his powers and left to teach martial arts to the others. However, Burai was revealed to have been given temporary life since the Zyurangers would need Zyusoken and Dragon Caesar. Later, we see Burai die and Geki was so devastated. It becomes quite insensitive though that Geki tries to tell Dragon Caesar to get over Burai's death quickly. Still, I felt Burai's short-lived career is more glorious than what Tommy became for years to come.  

Okay, we can all move forward from the darker seasons to the lighter seasons. We can't deny that talk about losing one's life or nearing death is there. The rangers tend to be reminded they're not invincible. Heck, Gaku Hoshikawa and Gaku Washio both tried dying once and resurrecting. Though, Gaku Washio died with his other fellow Gaorangers at the hands of an upgraded Org Highness Ura and were resurrected together. 

Having to CONSISTENTLY hide your identity in some seasons

I think this is one of the hardest things. It's a good thing IF the Super Sentai is very open to the identity of their rangers like in GoGoFive. I guess GoGoFive wanted to emulate the spirit of Winspector, Solbrain, and Exceedraft in that regard. However, some seasons really kept that RULE OF THUMB about secret identities. Bioman had Shiro tell his teammates that their being rangers is a secret. Dynaman had Dr. Yumeno tell them that their being warriors must be kept a secret. 

Turboranger really played it through. Misa even asked them if there was ANYTHING that they can't discuss with her. Eventually, Misa discovers the Turborangers' true identities and tells them to make it out in the final battle. Still, I can't help but feel sorry for Misa and the Turborangers because Dr. Dazai made the threefold rule before Zordon ever did. I guess Dr. Dazai didn't want t tell Misa that they were Turborangers to PROTECT HER. The rule was apparently done ot keep their loved ones safe. That's why Spiderman never told anyone except a few he was actually Peter Parker, right?

The Megarangers managed to even take it to a whole new level. The Megarangers kept their identities as secret as possible so that not even the Nezire knew who they are. It's quite a different level from what we usually saw when only the villains knew the real identities of the rangers. The Megarangers' loved ones would be in danger IF their identities were discovered. Dr. Hinelar later showed how cruel he could get when the Megarangers' identities were uncovered. Dr. Hinelar's final assault played itself to the finale. Fortunately, the Megarangers' schoolmates all cheered them on not to give up.