Cegarth
-Really unique team dynamic where the whole team are jerks, which makes the build up to them becoming a proper team feel great and natural.
-All team members stand out and are constantly entertaining, the commander is also really fun.
-Extremely entertaining and likeable villains.
-Really entertaining and memorable monsters of the week.
-Cool and creative fights both in mecha and outside of mecha.
-Great final arc.
-Cool rivalries with the villains.
-Unique atmosphere mixing romance J-dramas with military kodomo shows and a dash of insanity.
-Some of the most memorable episodes in the entire franchise.
Everything the show did bad:
-The team tends to get their upgrades in really convoluted asspulls (but I found them entertaining so I didn't mind it as much). This makes the writing feel cheap at times.
-The Neo Jetman two-parter sucks for the most part despite the cool concept.
-Blue ranger Ako, yellow ranger Raita and Commander Aya get considerably less screen time than the other 3 members. But they still manage to be extremely likeable so it's not that big of a problem.
-The main antagonists being extremely powerful but not fully using their powers to compete with themselves is not a premise for everybody and can make the writing feel cheap. Personally the villains' charisma made them super likeable throughout and never minded this but felt like pointing it out.
-The ending is controversial and not for everybody, personally I didn't mind it.
-At times it feels like the white ranger Kaori doesn't get reprimanded enough for her actions, but this is mostly a nitpick.
Reasons for the show's strengths:
After having 9 shows in a row done mostly by the same staff Super Sentai was struggling to stay afloat and considerations for the franchise to be canceled were rising. Due to this chief producer Takeyuki Suzuki chose a young staff that didn't have much experience because he wanted this season to be fresh and also a team that understood that this could be the very last Sentai after promising the sponsors that the sales would go up this season. He got Keita Amemiya to direct who at the time had only directed a non-toku movie and few episodes of previous Sentai and Toshiki Inoue to write who was the son of veteran writer Masaru Igami but had only served as an episode writer for Sentai up to this point.
Despite the decision of choosing this staff was deemed controversial at the time, they made the most unique Sentai that had been made up to that point, one that's considered to be one of the best still today and it's also considered to be one of the most influential Tokusatsu of all time.
The production team tried a bunch of experimental tactics and didn't care much for the sponsors' suggestions since they thought this could be the last one and wanted to do unique stuff just in case.
The producer chose to have a female commander and introduced the concept of "Boy" mechas that served as helpers to the team.
The director came up with ideas for cool props to use in the earlier episodes and for more creative ways of doing the mecha battles.
The main writer came up with the idea for the show to adopt tropes from trendy dramas, which the producer supported him due to having previously worked on Toushou Daimos which also had romance tropes. He also wanted episodes where te team didn't transform and while Toei and the sponsors didn't allow them to realize this idea, the director supported Inoue and made it so that not every ranger had to transform every episode with the exclusion of Yellow Owl and for the cool Black Condor broken helmet scene. So this back and forth arguably gave even better results.
Other experiments by the staff was the villains not having a proper leader, the team calling themselves by their real names after transformation and the team not getting along for the first half of the show which lead to really interesting dynamics.
Reasons for the show's problems:
The main writer Toshiki Inoue didn't really for promoting toys so Jetman's upgrades would often either come out of nowhere or be obtained in a really conveluted manner. He also was really interested in the romance subplot of the show so Raita and Ako got slightly shafted. His writing is pretty insane so the story at times feels not that concise.
Overall:
Amazing show that redefined tokusatsu when it released. The writing is not the most concise but the show manages to be extremely entertaining from beginning to end (with the exception of the Neo-Jetman 2-parter). This was the show that got me into the Super Sentai franchise and highly recommend it to tokusatsu fans or people that are searching for a weirder romance drama.
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This review may contain spoilers
Mild spoilers ahead:
Everything the show did well:-The Teacher-student dynamics in this show are really fun.
-Easily one of the most unique tokusatsu ever made.
-Fantastic action that feels really different from other toku, pretty good CGI for the time too.
-Cases of the week feel really unique and experimental throuout the show.
-Really interesting monster dynamics. For the first half the fights consists in a duo monsters protecting a giant one. In the second half the fights revolve around fending off multiple monsters, at times swarms, simultaneously while they were also defended by the main viain duo.
-Really cool world-building throughout the show.
-All of the characters dynamics in the first half are great.
-The first half has a really comfy atmosphere around it.
-Really experimental way of directing, it might not be for everybody but makes the show stand out and ooze with style.
-Extremely cool fighting style where Riders fight with instruments.
Everything the show did bad:
-The second half introduces the single most hateable character in this franchise to date, Kyosuke Kiriya. He pretty much gives anti-character development to most of the cast and treats them like crap for pretty much no reason. Even though he seemingly gets character development and gets puts in his place a lot, he ultimately backpedals in the end and gets away with being a massive jerk. This just make the show's quality drop hard in the second half.
-The show has the worst final episode in the franchise so far.
-The main villain duo despite starting interesting, the second half ruins them by having a really dumb plot-twist at the end and never explaining their goals. The latter leads to some really cheap writing and plot convinience.
-The titular Rider Hibiki feels a bit more rude in the second half.
-The 3 main apprentices get done really dirty in the second half, specially Akira.
-Tsutomu Tsumura gets written out due to the introduction of Kiriya, so the rivalry that was being set up with him and Asumu goes nowhere.
-The introduction of the Hibiki's final form is really dumb.
-The whole conflict plotline with Ibuki near the end feels really forced.
-The opening shows a bunch of riders who don't actually appear in the show.
-Despite the show having a really unique world by the end, the world-building starts pretty cheap. Most of its detailed are kept vague but then the show decides to info-dump them on episode 11 which feels pretty cheap. After that the world-building is much better for the most part.
-The show doesn't really feel like a Kamen Rider show, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but I feel it should be point out.
Reasons for the show's strengths:
The producer was dead-set at creating something unlike any tokusatsu that preceded it.
Reasons for the show's problems:
This show is the Kamen Rider show with the most problems in its productions so far.
First it wasn't even supposed to be a Kamen Rider show. While Kamen Rider Blade is universally beloved nowadays it had done worse than expected back when it aired. During the Showa era the franchise used to enter hiatuses all the time so Toei originally wanted to take a break from rider after Blade and revive another Ishinomori franchise, in this case, Henshin Ninja Arashi (although this decision was mostly made because the staff wanted to reboot Henshin Ninja Arashi and the fear that Kamen Rider was doing too much Rider VS Rider rather than Blade's ratings). Blade's Jack Form was inspired by said franchise and was seen as at test run to see if this idea would do well. However during pre-production, news about the next Chouseishin season started circulating (a Tokusatsu made by a rival company Toho) that it would have ninjas as a focus so they had to drop rebooting the Henshin Ninja Arashi. Ultimately the show became a new IP, known as Ongeki Rider Hibiki and the show would enter proper production under this title. However the show ultimately rebranded into a Kamen Rider show at the last minute since it was considered that it would produce more money this way and it feared releasing a new IP due to Chouseishin still being a new franchise so they felt they would overlap, that combined with rumors of rival toy company Takara launching a Tokusatsu and GARO coming out (although the latter didnt overlap due to being for an adult demographic). So the show ended up not feeling like Kamen Rider at all initially and starts becoming slightly closer to the franchise from the second quarter onward but it stills feels really different.
The show's producer, Shigenori Takatera went really overbudget with the show since he expected this to be the start of a new franchise. The show's toys sold really poorly so he was adviced to reduce the budget significantly, however he felt this wouldn't allow to achieve the main writer duo's vision so kept going. This ultimately led to him being removed from the show after episode 29 and alongside him left the writer duo, consequently he would be fired after the show ended.
Producer Shirakura was ultimately chosen to continue due to being available at the time as the other producers were occupied with other projects. He would ultimately choose Toshiki Inoue as the main writer due to his experience with weird shows since Hibiki was really experimental, also he was the only main writer out of the ones he had worked on the past to be available at the time.
It's unknown why they didn't use the original script done by the previous staff, but either way Inoue tends to be bad at writing characters that weren't initially conceived by him so he ultimately did a really poor job. Due to the sudden change, there were ton of scheduling issues with the script. Due to rewrites and and issues with meeting deadlines on the finale, the riders that were shown in the opening didn't actually appear in the final battle like they were initially planned.
Overall:
The show's definitely among the most unique tokusatsu out ther, but the second is just such a massive disappointment that I cannot recommended this show. I feel that for most people this show is an overall mediocre 4/10 show, it does enough cool stuff to keep it from being bad but that's it. Personally the cool concepts behind some episodes and the cool fights made me come out overall positive out of the show, but that won't be most people. If you think this show's concepts look really cool, then I recommend watching this show up till episode 29 which feels climatic enough after that it really isn't worth it to keep going unless you're really REALLY curious for what happens next. But it really pains me that the production staff saying this was the "Kamen Rider Amazon of the Heisei era" back at the press conference ended up being a bit TOO accurate and the show ended up changing course halfway through just like Amazon.
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-Cool premise where the rangers were abducted as babies and are trying to find their families now that they're on earth.
-The Tokimura family is continuously entertaining and likeable throughout the show's run.
-Meg is a pretty good robot helper.
-The episodes written by Toshiki Inoue are pretty good (which is weird since I usually don't like him as an episode writer), as these are the episodes were the team get more personality.
-Some cool world-building here and there.
-Really great final arc.
-The team being able to use their powers outside of their suits is interesting.
-The dynamic of them trying to get used to earth is pretty entertaining.
Everything the show did bad:
-Despite their interesting background, the team is just really generic and their personalities overlap way too much with the exception of the Inoue episodes.
-None of the villains are interesting with exception of the main antagonist who's just kind of allright.
-The plot twist behind Doctor Lie Köpflen is decent but not that interesting.
-The special effects for the on-ground fights in this show are really bad for the most part and end up making some of the franchise's worst. The mecha fights are also pretty boring.
Reasons for the show's strengths:
The staff tried its best to make an unique premise.
Reasons for the show's problems:
This was Hirohisa Soda 5th sci-fi Sentai show in a row without breaks, this was just when was getting out of ideas and the shows started overlapping a lot. The experiments for the show's action backfired.
Overall:
While the show's doesn't do anything offensively bad it doesn't do anything that particularly amazing besides the finale. It just ends up as a really average show with not much going for it. Despite not being bad I have hard time recommending this show when this franchise offers far better seasons.
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-Really unique and entertaining cast for the most part.
-Zolda/Kitaoka in particular is super entertaining.
-Some of the most emotional writing in the franchise.
-The mirror monsters feel menacing and Ouja even more, easily one of the most psychotic characters in the franchise and it is done really well.
-The dynamic between the riders feel really entertaining and pretty different from other shows in the franchise.
-The big twist in this show is really good.
-The power system in the show revolving in making contracts with monsters and making them eat others to become more powerful is entertaining.
-The contract beast dynamic and having to feed them in order to survive is interesting.
-The majority of the sidecast from the Ore Journal are fun.
-Pretty great monsters of the week for the most part.
-One of the most emotional and intense finales in the franchise.
-Interesting main antagonist.
Everything the show did bad:
-Despite the antagonist goal making sense and his backstory being really good. The show never explains how any of what he's doing remotely helps him reach said goal nor does it explain what the mirror monsters are. That is answered in the movie "Kamen Rider Ryuki: Episode Final", which is an alternate ending for the show story. Since the movie is an alternate ending that happened during the show's run before its actual ending it ends up having heavy spoilers if you watch the movie in accordance to its release. So you either see the show's big plot-twist but worse executed in the movie to have the full context of the story or finish the show without properly understanding the antagonist's intentions but not get spoiled. Personally I prefer the latter choice.
-The members of the Ore Journal get kidnapped so often it's ridiculous.
-Megumi Asano feels like an "episode of the week character" that kept appearing for some reason. She feels really out of place after her 2-part introduction and a lot of the stuff she does feels like it could have easily been done by other characters.
-Some slight pacing issues in the final arc.
-While the main girl Yui is likeable overall, her character isn't really anything to write home about.
-The show promotes having 13 riders yet only 10 actually appear on the show. The remaining 3 are left to specials and movies.
-I've seen a lot of people hating the main protagonist Shinji due to being an idiot idealist but I personally never found issue with this and really enjoyed him as a protagonist. I feel these problems are blown out of proportion but since so many people complain about him felt like pointing it out.
Reasons for the show's strengths:
Due to the death of the franchise original creator Shotaro Ishinomori back in 1998 it was originally planned out for Agito to be the last rider show. At the start of Ryuki's pre-production the show had started as a different IP officially, but internally the staff was following the "Crossfire" rule of Kamen Rider either way so due to the franchise getting momentum due to the massive success of Kuuga and Agito. This allowed the show to try very different aesthetics and have really different powers from previous seasons.
Due to the terrorist attack 9/11, the sponsors and Toei's higher-ups wanted a show where justice and evil could easily be determined, since I the previous season Agito both the hero side and villain side had good points behind the perspectives. However this show's producer decided to be cheeky about it and made a show where the Kamen Riders were the villains and argued that showing the kids true justice was beyond a person who transforms being good, so having a truly heroic protagonist duo fending off some legimetely psychopaths that use the power of Kamen Riders would make them easy to understand who as in each side despite using the same powers.
Despite numerous complaints from media, sponsors and parents, producer Shirakura was deadset making this show unique and allowed the main writer Yasuko Kobayashi to have freedom for the most part and only appeased to the complaints in the most superficial way possible or didn't at all in order to not harm the show's script.
Reasons for the show's problems:
Originally Ryuki's ending was going to be planned by voting via phone calls and release alternate endings on the DVD release, but the idea was scrapped due to fear that this would negatively affect the script and instead the concept was used in the 13 riders special. Secondary writer Toshiki Inoue didn't like the direction of the main protagonist Shinji of him being a pacifist and wanted him to kill at least one rider, however main writer Yasuko Kobayashi heavily opposed this idea. So producer Shirakura decided to revisit the multiple endings idea and gave Inoue an alternate ending movie to work on, as that way both writers would be free to achieve their visions. But in order to give an incentive to watch the movie the producer removed key plot-points of the show and inserted it into the movie + also 2 riders that had yet to be written from the 13 riders that were supposed to be in the show (the latter arguably was for the best since allowed for the show to have less bloat), although theoretically they wouldn't have appeared in the show either way, as according the Shirakura the whole '13 riders' concepts was more for world-building and he didn't plan to force them all to appear in the show.
Overall:
Fantastic show from beginning to end that leaves you feeling a bunch of different emotions by the end. The biggest issue is the show feeling incomplete due to not explaining the antagonist's plan so one should watch this show's summer movie to understand it but I personally recommend to watch said film after finishing the show or at least after episode 47 due to the nature of its plot reveals despite this show's producer wanting you to watch episodes 28 and 29. Highly recommend this series to tokusatsu fans or people that like action dror even people that enjoy normal j-dramas if they like the first 3 episodes of the show.
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-The team members have likeable personalities overall.
-The main villains being a monarchy where the generals are in-fighting for control is unique and pretty entertaining.
-Maskman fighting styles are really unique with their combination of emphasizing martial arts, more varied weapons and their occasional use of power-construct abilities.
-Whenever the show has budget, the monsters of the week have the gimmick of being divided in two, the body and the mask. This creates an interesting and very different dynamic to fights both inside and outside of mechas.
-Great acting overall.
-Cool soundtrack.
-The stakes feel more personal for the red ranger Takeru due to revolving around saving his girlfriend.
-Cool world-building for the most part.
-The Light Squadron is really cool and manage to be really useful for the most part.
Everything the show did bad:
-The show is too red-centric. The majority of the first quarter focuses too much on the red ranger Takeru. Most of the villains rivalries also revolve around him. What's worst is that despite of this we don't get a proper look at his backstory until really late in the show. We don't even know what's the pink ranger Momoko's deal until episode 15. As good as the rest of the team are, they just are way too heavily shafted throughout the whole show.
-The show has too many villains simultaneously which makes it really hard to care for them. It also feels like the show doesn't get to properly use its ideas for the villains because of it.
-It felt like the Unas arc could have been longer.
-It felt like commander Sugata's backstory could have been explored more.
-The plot twist behind the Main Antagonist is pretty dumb and barely changes the status quo.
-When the show doesn't have enough budget (which is the majority of the show) the monsters of the week tend to be really generic and forgettable nor do they use the mask gimmick which feels out of place since the show doesn't explain why. And even when the gimmickless monsters are actually interesting, their mecha fights sucks since they barely retain anything of what made them interesting once the become giant.
-The main antagonist Zeba, Anagmas and Okelampa are really boring villains.
-The show's finale feels needlessly depressing and honestly kinda sucks.
Reasons for the show's strengths:
The staff wanting to slightly move away from science fiction definetly gave the show more originality and allowed to try new things.
Reasons for the show's problems:
This was the 6th show that main writer Hirohisa Soda had done in a row without breaks. By this point there was starting to be a lot of overlap, specially considering the nature of these type of shows and how Toei during this period was more comfortable to listening to sponsors. The next show Liveman was able to try more original things due to being the franchise anniversary but after that the franchise would go back to being too samey. But even when this show tried doing original stuff, it tried to do too much at the same time making it so that it couldn't properly develop their good ideas and leaving them feeling half-baked.
Overall:
It's not a bad show overall and definitely has ton of interesting concepts. But it's just so heavily flawed to be considered a great a show. I feel that even if you really like the concepts it will only bring it up to a 7. It's a pretty good show but I only really recommend it if you're really into Sentai or if the setting sounds really interesting to you.
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This review may contain spoilers
Mild spoilers ahead:
Everything the show did well:-Really entertaining cast all around.
-One of the most interesting main antagonists in the franchise.
-The main trio of riders all feel like they're the main protagonists respectively. Shifting perspectives between the three helps keep the show interesting from beginning to end + explore different philosophies as to what would happen if humanity was given superpowers.
-Each Rider has a really distinct fighting style + looks very visually distinct of each other while feeling that they are from the same show.
-One of the most unique stories in the franchise
-Lots of cool stunts.
-The majority of the non-transformable characters feel really useful, especially the main girl Mana and Ozawa.
-The show's mysteries are legitimately intriguing.
-The concept behind the Akatsuki passangers are legimetely interesting.
-This show's villains 'The Lords' feel really menacing.
Everything the show did bad:
-It feels like the only purpose of Taichi (the kid that lives with the main cast) is to stall the answers to the mysteries by being a brat, which feels like cheap writing.
-The mini-arc focused on Aki Sakaki (15-21, 25). She might be the biggest harlot/slut in the franchise. She just comes off as generally unlikeable, the show expects to believe she's in love with Ryo which is almost impossible to believe considering her actions. Her arc introduces the only seemingly dropped plot-point in the show, as it seemed like it was setting up an explanation as to why Taichi doesn't have a mom which is never explained by the end. It just feels like to whole reason she existed was to be a cheap way to create conflict between Shoichi and Ryo.
-The 5-parter finale of the show is kind of bad. It introduces a new side character for each of the main trio, introducing 3 new characters in the last 5 episodes of the show makes it almost impossible to care for them. During these 5 episodes the Agito side is the only good perspective, as it's the only that actually closes a remaining plot-point/mystery and manages to make you care for Kana Okamura. The Gills side is just more suffering for him which felt unnecessary by this point. The G3 side was the worst of the 3, the new character from that perspective, Naozumi Shirakawa sucks even if he's played by the fantastic actor Yutaka Hirose, this 5-parter also ruins Hojo's and Omuro's characters. On top of that, the main antagonist final plan is unnecessarily conveluted and feels out of character when compared to his past actions.
-The titular rider Agito has one of the most boring powersets that a protagonist has had in this franchise.
-If you've watched Kuuga, do NOT expect the cops in this show to be anything similar.
Reasons for the show's strengths:
Producer Shirakura knows how to make the most use of Toshiki Inoue's writing style, they compliment each other extremely well. Shirakura wanted to allow Inoue creative freedom for the most part, so he allowed Inoue to not properly make a sequel to Kuuga. While this might be disappointing to some, this allowed the show to be an original story that allows Kuuga's great ending go untouched and ultimately allowed future entries in the franchise to be completely standalone like Super Sentai which allowed for the franchise to be really experimental and create some of the most unique and best Tokusatsu.
Reasons for the show's problems:
The show got extended for 5 more episodes, however Toshiki Inoue had already written the finale, this resulted in the script of episode 46 to be slightly reworked to not close all the plot-points but ultimately being the best fight in the show and feeling more like a final fight than the actual final one. Inoue had to impromptuly write theseast 5 episodes which resulted in them not having the same polish that the rest of the show did.
Inoue is also a really weird writer and likes telenovela-like plotlines which resulted in the Aki Sakaki plotline.
Overall:
The show is definitely weirder than most Rider shows which might not make it for everybody. But this season has the best mystery that I've seen in this franchise, plus the protagonist trio is really great and the shift between their perspectives help make the show feel fresh. This is also among the franchise's most unique. The biggest issue is the 5-part finale, and even then the actual ending of the show is good so it's not that big of a deal outside the character assassinations of Hojo and Omuro. Also don't go into the show excepting it to be like Kuuga because of the designs as it's very different. Overall I would definitely recommend this show if you're into mystery or want to see a really weird tokusatsu but not recommend it if you're really into continuity between other seasons.
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-Kotaro is a really likeable protagonist.
-This show is the closest thing to a Kamen Rider show actually retaining the atmosphere/tone of the first arc of the 1971 show for the entire season.
-Shadow Moon is a great villain.
-One of the best final arcs in the franchise.
-Consistently great action and direction.
-The show does a great job at making Gorgom feel like menacing villains with its cases of the week.
-Great villains and characters of the week for the most part.
Everything the show did bad:
-Other than Shadow Moon the main villains are pretty generic most part. The High Priests aren't really interesting until the final arc. Bilgenia is slightly more interesting than them but he isn't that remarkable of a rival.
-The show's sidecast: Katsumi and Kyoko, take too much of backseat throughout most of the show and mostly serve to take care of the characters of the week rather than actually developing as characters. This alongside the villain problem really drag the show down prior the final arc.
Reasons for the show's strengths:
Despite the show changing producers during its pre-production, the rest of the show's production went really smoothly for the most part. The show trying to be a soft reboot that returns to form but also tries thing a really different way, and having learned from the other time they tried to reboot the franchise with Skyrider, resulted in a show with a darker tone a really unique aesthetics. The staff went all out on the show's first episode taking a whole month to film, which really set the show's atmosphere and how it would be from that point onward.
Reasons for the show's problems:
Due to the staff wanting to keep Kotaro's identity secret + having the characters of the week be the main focus of the episodes in order to show how much a menace Gorgom was resulted in the sidecast getting shafted. Also main writer Shozo Uehara not writing that many episodes resulted in the villains not being as interesting.
Overall:
I feel most people would give this show an 8 due to the show's atmosphere and action being amazing. But the issue with everyone in the cast not being that interesting besides the protagonist Kotaro until the final arc made me lower it down. Still this is a great show and has one of the best final arcs in the franchise so I recommend this show of you're a Tokusatsu fan.
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-Likeable cast for both heroes and villains.
-Dyna Black in particular is a really likeable character and also has an extremely cool fighting style.
-The direction in this show feels like the natural evolution of the directing style of the original Kamen Rider show. Looks consistently great from beginning to end.
-The show is pretty funny consistently.
-The overly ridiculous premise mixed with the usual Showa darkness makes for a pretty fun experience.
-Fun monsters of the week.
-Prince Megiddo's arc is really great.
-The cast interactions with the science center are entertaining.
-A sizeable amount of out of suit action, more than an usual toku show.
-First Sentai show to use wire action and it was used really well.
Everything the show did bad:
-With the exception of the black ranger Ryu, the other 4 rangers while likeable feel pretty generic.
-Dark Knight's fighting style kinda sucks.
-While Emperor Aton manages to do a lot of cool stuff in the final arc, he's still mostly a 'sit in the chair doing nothing' type villain, and prior to said final arc he didn't have much personality.
-Aside from Megiddo and Zenobia, the other villains are kind of generic.
-The premise isn't that unique.
Reasons for the show's strengths:
Despite the show's runtime being shortened half-way through and the team being changed from a baseball-themed into a science/dynamite-themed team fairly late into pre-production, the show's team did a fantastic job and didn't really let any of this issues affect them significantly. Producer Takeyuki Suzuki attempting to make the show more anime-esque due to his experience working in the medium worked in the show's favor.
Dynablack's actor Junichi Haruta being an ex-suit actor allowed for way more out of suit fights than usual and for said character do to of cool stuff.
This was Hirohisa Soda's second Sentai show, so they hasn't started to overlap yet.
Reasons for the show's problems:
At the time Toei listened to sponsors more than they do now so that made their shows feel troppier than they do now. But honestly Toei was great at doing ton of fun stuff despite this, Amazon, Skyrider and Black RX are the only shows that were really affected that come to mind. But I assume this is the likeliest factor for the show not being that unique.
Overall:
While it doesn't have a story that original, the show has ton of polish for the time and its monsters brong ton of life to the show. If you don't mind the show going on a pretty safe direction, this is a great time.
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-Amazing use of props + great set variety.
-Juspion and Anri interactions are really entertaining in the first half.
-Consistently amazing action from start to finish, weather it's inside of mecha or not.
-Mad Gallant is a really entertaining rival.
-Decent story.
-Aside from the tree episode, ton of entertaining cases of the week in the first half that made the show's world feel alive.
-Boomerang's mini-arc is really fun.
Everything the show did bad:
-The giant sentient tree episode.
-The characters and tone change drastically in the second half for the worse. After Juspion gets a haircut he goes from a flawed hero inspired by Han Solo to a generic Showa hero. This would have been fine if he got a proper character arc but this change in personality felt unnatural. Juspion modifies Anri against her will to make her a generic Showa main girl yet he never gets reprimanded for it nor does she ever go back to her original personality.
-The cool heroic companion Boomerang from the first half only comes back to lose in the second half barely accomplishing anything.
-The second half introduces the Nambara family. While their story is good, they aren't compelling characters and lot of episodes are two siblings causing trouble by jumping the gun. Which results in various episodes in this half feel draggy and repetitive.
There really isn't enough info on the show production that I could find to know what resulted in the final product. All I know is that there was a schedule change half-way trough due to the show not being popular in Japan at the time. So I have to assume that the show had a really talented staff but due to not being popular they tried to make the show more generic after the schedule change to improve its popularity resulting in the second half being way worse than the amazing first half. But this is just speculation.
Overall:
The show is enjoyable overall but most if its great moments happen in its first half. Once the second half starts, the show loses most of its identity and what made it original and just becomes really generic with nothing going for it besides its cool action. It's a heavily flawed show and hard to recommend unless you're really into showa tokusatsu or if you love the action enough to watch it all the way through.
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This review may contain spoilers
Mild spoilers ahead:
Everything the show did well:-Extremely likeable characters from the most part, one of the most unique teams in the franchise.
-Every member in the team has a really distinct personality that makes them really stand out. And that includes the main Nouto trio.
-Consistently really funny.
-Not a single boring episode, every episode manages to have something interesting and be pretty funny.
-The dynamic between the team and their rival sentai Nouto is done really well.
-Momoi and Jiro's fighting style is consistently really well done.
-Most of the characters/monsters of the week are really memorable.
-Most of the show's emotional moments are really well executed.
-Great soundtrack.
-The show has ton of style, it visually stands out from any Sentai.
-Most of the mecha fights are really great, the change in background makes it so that the show can do really cool stuff aestheticly.
-Great finale for the most part.
-Despite being kinda messy, they show has pretty great and interesting world-building.
-Having a a mix between a J-Drama and absurdist comedy approach to the main characters makes the cast stand out.
-Better acting than your usual Sentai.
-First arc feels really unique due having the yellow ranger Haruka be the protagonist.
Everything the show did bad:
-Most of the fights don't look that great. During the first arc only Momoi knows how to fight which affects the choreography of early episodes. The pink ranger Kijino and the black ranger Tsubasa just pretty much never look great on screen or when they fight. They manage to make some pretty fun scenes with this but for the most part they barely actually fight on the show and when they do it doesn't look good. Some fights in the show go by very fast.
-Dispite having quite a few serious moments and the premise being 'kinda' dark, the show just doesn't take itself seriously at all and some of the answers to this show's biggest mysteries can be extremely goofy. Personally I didn't mind this due to how entertaining the show was but I understand why it would be a complaint.
-Murasame could be just reduced to a non-sentient weapon and have his character arc removed from the show and it would barely affect the show, he's easily this show's most wasted character and you can tell the writer didn't particularly care for him.
-The show not having a proper main antagonist makes the finale slightly less endearing.
-The show's main mentor is named exactly the same as Zenkaiger's protagonist, is played by the same actor and has mostly the same powers yet the show never properly explains who he is which might feel like a cop-out answer for some, personally I didn't mind it.
-The show can be pretty messy at times trying to balance focusing on the Zyuto, Nouto, the other Nouto, Jiro, Murasame, the team's inner conflict and the whole 'They Live' situation with the anoni.
-Black Onitaijin Murasame pretty much never looks well on screen.
-The pink ranger Kijino gets anti-character development in the final arc.
-The deal with Naoki Shiina can feel pretty disconnected from the overall plot.
-Some upgrades feel like the come out of nowhere.
-Jin, while an overall likeable character, spends most of the show prison without being able to do anything.
Reasons for the show strenghts:
Producer Shirakura is the best person at getting the most out of Toshiki Inoue's writing.
Reasons for the show flaws:
Shirakura wanted the team to have distinct silhouettes so he opted for CGI rangers. Toshiki Inoue's writing is insane for better or for worse. He really doesn't care much about shilling toys so some upgrades are asspulls and he didn't bother writing a proper character arc for Murasame.
Overall:
The show doesn't have a concise story and one could argue that the answer to a lot of the show's mysteries are copouts. However, the solid cast both in writing and acting, the show having ton of cool concepts mostly done well, the really good comedy and the really entertaining monsters of the week just makes this show an overall great time and arguably one of Sentai's best just because of how well executed all of these are. If you're searching for a deep plot or expect the show to answer all of its mysteries then this show will probably not be for you, but otherwise this show is a high recommend.
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-The main trio have the best team balance I've seen in Sentai so far, it never feels like one overshadows the other and all 3 feel like protagonists.
-Colon gives great support to the team and is a really likeable character.
-Has a great trio of rivals, the team desiring revenge because of the rivals killing their friends make the stakes in the show feel more personal.
-The villains introduced later are also really likeable and don't disrupt the rivalry between the two trios. Only Butchy and Guildos are initially kinda bad since they come out of nowhere, but by the end they're also really likeable and their sudden appearance is explained.
-The team has an unique fighting style with the way they implement sports into how they fight plus the show having slightly more budget.
-The majority of the monsters of the week manage to be entertaining.
-Really great final arc.
-The plot twist of the main antagonist's true objective is great.
Everything the show did bad:
-The black and green rangers come out of nowhere. Their very existence feels like an asspull considering the plot of one of the earlier episodes and they're introduced so late that they barely manage to be proper characters. Green at least get a few episodes but Black could be removed from the show and the story wouldn't change. They ultimately make the second half of the show feel kinda draggy.
-The majority of the mecha fights feel boring due to being short and the monsters hardly ever retaining their powers once they go giant.
-Too many characters of the week die to take the show seriously. Like they visit graves of dead characters at the end of the episodes too often, definitely more often than any other tokusatsu I've seen. I ultimately would laugh whenever they visited a grave by the second quarter.
-Despite the good choreography, the flow of fights is kinda repetitive. This one is kinda hard to explain but essentially in almost every episode the Liveman lose the same way in the first half. It's one of those thing that one has to watch to understand, just take my word that it isn't like other showa Sentai but still it isn't that big of an issue.
-Personally didn't like Yusuke during the first half of the show. It felt like he was too much of a jerk, which wouldn't be an issue of the rest of the team properly called him out on it. They would acknowledge it but not properly reprimand him. This stops being an issue when Green and Black get introduced weirdly enough but this might be a personal issue.
Reasons for the show strenghts:
Due to Goranger and JAKQ not being acknowledged as super sentai shows, this show served as Sentai's 10th anniversary which resulted in the show getting slightly more budget than usual Sentai seasons and being able to try more unique ideas. Yusuke and Megumi being played by idols resulted in a more different approach in characters compared to other showa shows.
Reasons for the show flaws:
This was main writer Hirohisa Soda's 7th Sentai show in a row. By this point he was struggling at writing interesting premises behind the fights.
Overall:
The show is overall pretty great and I feel it would be an 8 for most people since my problems with the red ranger feel more of a personal thing. The main trio all feel like main protagonists and the rivalry gimmick is really well done. It isn't a super unique show but it's still unique enough. Definitely recommend if you're into tragic heroes.
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-Extremely likeable team and sidecast.
-Besides the main antagonist and kinda Yodonna, the villains in this show are consistently really great.
-The monsters of the week are really entertaining.
-Cool stylish fights on ground and decent mecha fights.
-The team tends to find pretty creative solutions to most problems.
-It feels like the show got the most use out of the team's powers.
-The rivalry between Juuru and Garza is well done.
-Great soundtrack that sounds pretty different from other tokus.
-The dynamic of the team having to balance being heroes and their professional life is really well done.
-Show gets the core of what Sentai is right, where the biggest obstacles should be resolved by learning how to be proper team.
-The progression of the team relationship feels natural.
-The focus of the team feels pretty balanced. The red ranger Juuru definitely has a bit more focus than the rest and blue a bit less than the rest, but for the most part every member, including the extra sixth ranger, gets proper development and no member feels like it was super shafted.
-The show manages to be pretty funny while having proper stakes.
-Slightly better acting than usual sentai.
Everything the show did bad:
-The show is a 'safe' Sentai show if that make sense. It doesn't do anything THAT unique, but it does enough as to not feel generic.
-Main antagonist, while it has an interesting backstory, feels properly powerful/menacing and has a cool final fight, ends up feeling kind of boring overall and gets heavily overshadowed by Garza.
-Yodonna while overall likeable feels very one-note.
-The vehicle partners of the team besides Fire are just kind of all right and not all that interesting.
-The Gekiranger crossover two-parter special is just kind of allright.
-Red Ranger Juuru's catchphrase can be kind of annoying at first but it gets dialed down pretty quickly luckily.
Reasons for the show strenghts:
Due to Sentai having continuous lacking sales since Ninninger, old promoted producers that aren't actually supposed to be producing these shows decided to step in to help. This resulted in Tsukuda producing Kiramager and Shirakura producing Zenkaiger and Donbrothers. Tsukuda wanted to make a 'safe' Sentai show, however unlike the producer duo in Ryusoulger, Tsukuda has a proper understanding on how to make a show like this. Main writer Naruhisa Arakawa is excellent at writing likeable characters and progressing the characters' powers while also making a concise world-building.
Reasons for the show flaws:
Due to being safe it doesn't come up as a super unique show and keeps it from being a top-tier show. That said it's easily the best 'safe' Sentai show I've seen so far.
Overall:
Would highly recommend this show as someone's first Sentai, as it kinda gives a general idea of the vibes this shows tend to have while also just being a really solid show. It being safe definitely drags it down a bit, but just 'a bit', it's otherwise a really great time. Reminder that if you're going to watch this show to watch the episode 0 before starting. It isn't strictly necessary for the plot but it helps set up the show's setting.
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This review may contain spoilers
Mild spoilers ahead:
Everything the show did well:-Every character in the hero cast is likeable and useful.
-Villains are menacing and feel like a real threat.
-Consistently amazing action and stunts.
-Properly ups the stakes with each following arc.
-Solid world-building.
-Great balance between a light cop J-Drama, slice of life, tokusatsu action and horror from lovecraftian-like serial killers.
-One of the best final fights in the franchise.
-One of the best power systems in the franchise. Godai has all his powers from the beginning but doesn't know how to use them due to getting them with no context, having him to practice his powers and his friends to decipher glyphs explaining the lore and the powers of the arcle to properly know how to use them
-The world has a more 'real' feel than other rider shows.
-The cops manage to continously feel useful and keep up with Kuuga despite him being the only one with transformation powers.
-The cop partner relationship of Ichijou and Godai is really well done.
-Has good re-watch value due to the main villains having a different language.
-Better acting than most rider shows.
Everything the show did bad:
Honestly most of these are nitpicks.
-Due to wanting to make a lovecraftian villain that the viewer cannot properly understand, the main villain feels kind of plain as most of the destruction he causes happens off-screen and doesn't get a proper character. But despite this flaws he feels properly menacing.
-The shift from normal J-drama stuff to hardcore murder done by tribal monsters can be jarring at times. Especially in the Jean/Enokida episodes.
-The CGI feels really dated, but it is used sparingly and honestly CGI pretty much always looks bad on Toei's mainline toku with the exception of Hibiki, kinda King-Ohger and seemingly the upcoming rider show Gavv?
-The show being shot differently from any Toei toku which can feel alienating for toku fans but it's not really a bad thing just different.
-Having multiple scenes where you don't know what the characters are saying can be tiring for some viewers.
Reasons for the show strenghts:
Kamen Rider creator before passing on wanted to make this show unlike any that preceded it. Ishinomori production recommended producer Shigenori Takatera to do so as well. This along a bunch of other factors resulted in this unique setting. Takatera and director Ishida really wanted actor Joe Odagiri to be Kuuga, and went with a more J-drama approach to its direction since it was what he preferred. Producer Takatera ideas often clashed with Takeyuki Suzuki's ideas but they ultimately managed to have a good balance of both. There's more factors but it would be to many to list, but overall Kuuga had a way different approach to previous shows and slightly more budget than usual which lead to the show being as great as it was.
Reasons for the show flaws:
The main writer Arakawa wanted to keep the details of the main antagonist vague in order to make him creepier, he succeeded in making him menacing but makes him a more boring antagonist when compared to other villains in the franchise.
Overall:
While not my personal favorite, I feel that this is objectively the closest to a perfect rider show. It just doesn't have any big issues. I would recommend the show to pretty much any Toku fan or even a cop drama fan that has never watched tokusatsu, since it's pretty much a cop drama with superpowers. I could only see people not enjoying this show if they really despise a genki-type protagonist and the flow of a cop dramas.
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