Sentai Similitary: Fiveman And Zyuranger Got Framed

I may have already watched Kyukyu Sentai GoGoFive, and I've been gloating about how it's better than Chikyu Sentai Fiveman. However, Fiveman still deserves to be Vindicated by History in terms of plot and ideas. One similarity worth bringing up is how both the Fivemen and the Zyurangers were FRAMED. I pointed out the similarity back when I was 10 years old -- back when I still saw Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. So yeah, I wasn't surprised to learn Power Rangers was an American franchise and that it's a LICENSED adaptation. That's why I refuse to call Power Rangers bootleg despite my dislike for it. 

The Fiveman episode was actually brutal (while showing people CAN BE IDIOTS) 

Fiveman episode 42 started the clues pointing out Vulgyre's true nature. I had issues learning that Empress Meadow was nothing more than an illusion projected by Vulgyre. Watching Dengeki Sentai Changeman made me think it's Star King Bazoo "gone wrong". However, after a bit of a review, hints of Vulgyre's true nature were already getting shown. The fact that Meadow showed up from the dark aura surrounding Vulgyre is already a hint. Meadow showed her reddish, angry yaksha format. Chevalier vowed to destroy the Fivemen with his newest scheme. 

Chevalier's monster is called Hiruagehagin -- dubbed as Leech Butterfly in Tagalog. Chevalier's plan was to get the Ginga Sentai Gingaman (who were dubbed over as the Galaxy Men) to become the "new Fiveman". It's an episode focused on Remi Hoshikawa, and it's got some cool unmorphed fights too. What can be funny is that for a franchise that did unmorphed fights -- this episode may have taught the Fivemen not to rely too much on morphing. Remi was teaching martial arts to some children of the week -- only to be encountered by Chevalier in civilian form.

What makes it funny is how the Galaxy Men (I'll call them that to avoid confusing them with Seiju Sentai Gingaman) had SCARVES over their unmorphed forms. This reminds me of the DUMB LOGIC that Toku villains have. Why make the evil ones WAY TOO OBVIOUS? 

Anybody who's at least tried hearing about the Showa-era Kamen Rider series may have heard of the False Riders. It's like WTF is Shocker thinking of framing Ichigo and Nigo with an OBVIOUSLY FAKE Kamen Rider?! Kamen Rider BLACK RX may have been a flawed show (but hey, I ENJOY IT) had Crisis Empire having more of a brain than Shocker. Maribaron didn't use a yellow scarf. Yeah, Crisis Empire are STILL TYPICAL IDIOTIC VILLAINS but gotta give them credit! Chevalier may have been a Breakout Villain BUT he certainly wasn't thinking too straight! Why did Chevalier add scarves to to the evil Fivemen? Did Soda want to give tribute to Kamen Rider -- which was dormant for some time because Toei focused on Metal Hero before ending the franchise but not forgetting it? 

Either way, it was funny how the public were fooled by the fake Fivemen. A young girl knew the truth since the REAL Five Yellow would never act that way. It was a nice episode where the Fivemen did some unmorphed fights towards the end -- to show the IMPOSTERS. However, the Fivemen's civilian identities remained unknown to the population. The finale had a few discover that the Hoshikawas were actually the Fivemen. The idea wasn't used in GoGoFive for some reason. Instead, GoGoFive is pretty much government-sponsored -- making sense why the Tatsumis didn't hide their identities. 

Zyuranger would later attempt it towards the finale too

Interestingly, both Fiveman and Zyuranger did the frame-ups in critical points of the series. Fiveman episodes 42-43 had the heroes fighting the MOTWs while the plot (and Zone generals) are starting to sense something suspicious about Vulgyre. Zyuranger was already hitting towards the end of the show. Zyuranger had it on its 46th episode -- all before the Doomsday storyline would take place! The whole episode was probably a warning about the fickleness of fame and the deadliness of gossip. Bandora was being that MARITES in a deadly way. Lamie was also using her abilities with deception --something Dordora was also good at in Fiveman. One may also notice that Lamie and Doldora have similar aesthetics and rivaled pink rangers -- despite having two different actresses! Earlier, Doldora used deception to promote the Galaxy Men as "heroes" to overshadow the Fivemen. 

This episode was written by Naruhisa Arakawa. It's possible that Arakawa saw the potential of the plot. After all, Doldora and Lamie are both experts at disguise and deception. One might be reminded of Meadow in Fiveman when Dai Satan first showed up midseason and later returned for the finale. The Zyurangers have one fatal flaw (if ever) -- it's the fact that they don't play the Threefold Rule but only the other two rules. The Zyurangers only escalate a fight when Bandora forces them to. The Zyurangers only use their powers in an emergency situation. But poor senile Barza FAILED to tell them NOT to let anyone know they're the Zyurangers! This episode had Bandora coming up with a REALLY EVIL PLAN that she should've thought of in 1992! Like WUT?!

This episode had the Zyurangers becoming exiles as a result. I was wondering what was in the minds of the people behind Zyurangers not to give them the rule of secret identity? Was it because they wanted a new approach? If so, it still played out well. Mei getting slapped by a civilian might be considered TOO OFFENSIVE for TV-Y7-FV. Fortunately, a wise old woman was able to discern through the gossip. The Fake Zyurangers were later unmasked by the Zyurangers (who morphed first). It turns out that the other four were Golems while the Fake Tyrano Ranger was Dora Mirage. For some reason, Zyuranger foregoes having a Megazord battle in some episodes. That explained my complaint why Mighty Morphin' didn't enlarge all the monsters! Chojin Sentai Jetman also had other episodes in-betweeen without a Megazord battle. Presumably, it's because of time constraints. Maybe Megazord battles were either filmed or planned to be filmed -- but never made it in the final cut because of time constraints!

The Mighty Morphin' did what might be a badly needed rewrite. It was interesting that Twin Man (Dora Mirage's counterpart) may have gone to school with the other four Putty Patrollers. So why didn't Rita Repulsa just destroy the school?! We know how Saturday Morning Cartoon villains aren't known for their common sense! Super Sentai villains may be more brutal (back then) BUT they're probably not any smarter than Saturday Morning Cartoon villains. It was interesitng that the evil clones had sunglasses to hide their glowing red eyes. Well, I don't blame the principal for being fooled. All the extra American footage was probably done because they had to work around their own version. 

Comparing the episodes

What I thought overall was that Zyuranger may have balanced things out. There was no single ranger who was the focus character. Fiveman had Remi as the ranger of the week -- teaching her older siblings some lessons. It was interesting Bandora laid her RARELY THOUGHT OF GOOD PLAN, but why do it before the show ends? It's a typical trait for Super Sentai villains not to take things too seriously until they'e in the danger of being broke. Chevalier only thought of his plan to frame the Fivemen when "Meadow" started showing her angrier image. There are times I felt Chevalier's plans are nearly as dumb as Garoa's -- except he personally oversees most of them! 

I thought Chevalier stealing the powers of the Fivemen was a good plot. Theoretically, Chevalier stealing the Fiveman's powers was a good idea. Having the Fivemen go around like Shocker Riders while leaving the Fivemen weak can be good. However, the Fivemen are still protected by their secret identity MO. It was probably a commentary that Chevalier was responsible for Fiveman's improved ratings. The next episode though, was pretty much BLAH. Sure, Fiveman 43 started to feature Vulgyre's suspicious nature more. However, the plot of living televisions was just like, "WUT?" It's an episode that could've been done MUCH EARLIER!

Zyuranger was actually improving in some areas. Having the Fake Zyurangers LOOK LIKE THE REAL DEAL WORKED! No scarves at all to be a dead giveaway! Having the Fake Zyurangers attack the city looking like the real deal -- is far more convincing than the Galaxy Men having scarves or the False Rider having a yellow scarf. The footage used worked into Mighty Morphin' perfectly -- that the American footage reporter would be understandably fooled. It's strange logic TBH that the Fake Fivemen had a dead giveaway with the scarves but the public STILL BELIEVED THE LIE. The Fake Zyurangers looking so real -- was actually THAT CONVINCING! I'd actually be fooled more with the Fake Zyurangers than the Fake Fivemen!

Both episodes had their own merits and demerits. Both of them show an idea that could be improved. Sadly, I'm going to miss the villains framing up the heroes like this. I wish GoGoFive did a similar approach with creating an eil GoGoFive team for at least one episode. So yeah, anybody misses frame up plots?