Super Sentai, Power Rangers, And Unmorphed Abilities

 

I decided to take the challenge of watching more of Himitsu Sentai Goranger and Dengekitai JAKQ. I remember criticizing Power Rangers for the civilian superpowers until I started seeing older series. Series like Choshinsei Flashman and JAKQ actually featured civilian powers. It's not exactly a staple. Some of them are left unexplained in earlier seasons. Later shows started to flesh things out aside from explaining why the villains are evil. Such a concept may have been copied from other American pop culture influences like cyborgs and superhumans. Super Sentai and Power Rangers both copy from pop culture and modify them for their target audiences. 

Goranger introduced no such concept in 1975. The late Shotaro Ishinomori developed a team composed of five superheroes. A Questor magazine back in the 2000s mentioned that Goranger was an interesting experiment. If a solo hero can be a hit then why not try five? The concept was successful that Goranger ran for two freaking years! 84 episodes! Is anybody still willing to watch everything from start to end just like that? 

JAKQ tested the grounds of Ranger Civilian Superpowers. The JAKQ team was made up of humans who were turned into cyborgs. JAKQ also had the most absurd morphing method -- something I'm glad was NEVER repeated in newer Super Sentai. They had to enter those capsules to wear their powerful spandex. Yup, the 1970s were pretty weird! I even wonder what weird Hollywood movie the staff at Toei watched back then? The JAKQ members had certain abilities out-of-suit like seeing through objects or super hearing. JAKQ was the second and last Super Sentai that Ishinomori would handle. Ishinomori working with the earlier Kamen Rider series had cyborg protagonists. Some were turned into cyborgs against their will (by the enemy they turned against) or volunteered to become cyborgs. JAKQ had the characters volunteer to become cyborgs.

The concept was yet to be fully explored. However, Dai Sentai Goggle V has Futoshi Kijima with super hearing (and it's not even explained. Chodenshi Bioman had Shiro Gou talking to animals as a result of the Bio Particles. The concept seemed abandoned in Dengeki Sentai Changeman. None of the Changemen had civilian superpowers.

Flashman reintroduced the concept that each ranger would have civilian superpowers. The rangers got their superpowers after growing up on Planet Flash -- a planet in the farthest colors of the galaxy. In short, they grew up in a lost galaxy. They gained civilian superpowers out of suits and donned the Flash suits when their other powers couldn't do the job. The downside though was that they suffer from the Anti-Flash effect -- something that happens to people who grew up in Planet Flash. I guess people who enter their lost galaxy are doomed to be lost huh?

It meant that every time a Super Sentai team had members with civilian abilities -- there was some kind of explanation. Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger, and Shuriken Sentai Ninninger explained that ninjutsu abilities were learned out of suit. Seijuu Sentai Gingaman had the rangers master the elements before they became rangers. Strangely, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy omitted that plot. Samurai Sentai Shinkenger explained the rangers mastered Mojikara usage before they became rangers. Mahou Sentai Magiranger was definitely due to the theme of the show. Gosei Sentai Goseiger was because every member wasn't human but a Gosei Angel. The same kind of explanation goes with Ucchu Sentai Kyuranger, Kishinryu Sentai Ryusoulger, and Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger. Gai Ikari's powers in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger aren't that well-explained. Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters explained it through the Special Vaccine Program from 13 years ago. 

The other cases is that there unique ones. Some people who had civilian superpowers got mixed into a team of mostly normal people. Marika "Jasmine" Reimon in Tokosou Sentai Dekanger has ESP but it's not explained how she got it. Himitsu Sentai Gaoranger has Kakeru Shishi and Shirogane with limited ESP -- something carried over to their Power Rangers Wild Force counterparts. Power Rangers Time Force gave Trip some special ability due to his being an alien. Mirai Sentai Timeranger simply gave Sion the ability to stay awake with the trade-off of mandatory hibernation. 

The Power Rangers side also copied from American superhero lore -- just like Super Sentai. The copying of ideas here and there isn't anything new. Some Power Rangers seasons explained that DNA alternation was done -- such as was the case of Power Rangers Dino Thunder (the source material Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger had civilian superpowers for the rangers), Power Rangers SPD, and Power Rangers Operation Overdrive. SPD blatantly tried to use Marvel influence to explain how the rangers got their civilian superpowers. Power Rangers Beast Morphers also had a similar inspiration. It's not too strange if you knew Toei and Marvel once had a history together. No matter how much I'd say Saban did Spider-Man better -- no one should still neglect the time Toei made that cheesy Spider-Man adaptation!

In my case, I feel these civilian superpowers can be good IF written right. Most of them tend to be a strange gimmick. There's a hype bandwagon to ride. That may explain the popular culture references that are not too well-hidden.