My Favorite Super Sentai Heroes

There are pretty much heroes of every type in Sentai. That is one of the things that draw me to these types of shows. I love seeing heroes give awesome speeches and giving villains a righteous butt-kicking. With so many heroes in the franchise there are a lot to choose from. Lets see if I can narrow it down to just my favorites from what I've seen so far. They're not going to be ranked since I love them all for different reasons.

Jan/GekiRed:

I'm gonna keep this section short because I already covered Jan in my Gekiranger review. I liked Jan's Tarzan vibe early on. The show made his reactions to civilization feel really natural. His rivalry with Rio was nice and intense. His plot-line with Suguu being made from the soul of his father was downright heart-breaking. I teared up when Jan had to kill him so he could rest in peace. I've seen some folks call him a chosen one and eh, that description doesn't really fit the character imo. He had a talent for martial arts but he still struggled and had to train throughout the entire show.

Burai/DragonRanger:

Yeah, this dude was definitely gonna make the list. He is easily the standout among the Zyurangers. His introduction is a classic story of misplaced anger. It shows just how anger and the thirst for vengeance can consume someone. I absolutely loved the lead-up to his death. His death shows that sometimes you just can't escape your fate. Even though they powers and skill, they're still human in the end. It also re-enforces what the show was sort of about: The children's lives are more important. Even knowing there was no possible way to escape his fate, he fought on to the end and died a true hero.

Ryouga/AbaRed:

Out of all the Reds I've seen so far, he is probably the one I'd say is the most heroic for me at the moment. He also happens to be my favorite Red in Sentai at the moment. I loved his family dynamic with Mai. Do not mess with kids or he will end you. Its honestly one of my weak-points when it comes to superheroes. There is no easier way to get me to like a character than having them get righteously angry when a kid is harmed. I love how he never gives up his faith in humanity and he hands out so many righteous butt-kickings over the course of the show. The show really likes to show how much he believes in people by constantly having AbareKiller push his buttons and test his faith. Even after seeing AbareKiller do despicable things, he still wanted to redeem him. The dude is a genuinely nice guy so I can't help but like him.

Gai Ikari/GokaiSilver:

Of course the Sentai fanboy was going to make this list. I absolutely loved the character's enthusiasm. His actor really sells the Sentai fan angle. He is pretty much a walking Sentai encyclopedia which is great because its the major thing Marvelous' crew was missing. His job is pretty much interpreting Navi's cryptic clues that lead to them to the veterans in each tribute episode. He gets to live his dream when he becomes a Gokaiger. His ability to merge ranger keys together demonstrates his understanding of Sentai rather well imo.

Umeko/DekaPink:

What can I say? I love her episodes so much. I couldn't get through most of her episodes without a big smile creeping across my face. She is mostly a comic-relief character and those make up a the bulk of my favorite episodes in Dekaranger. She has some serious moments and they can be fun as well. For her comedy episodes, I really like the episode where she went undercover as a princess. Weirdly, I'm one of the few people in fandom who prefer her over Jasmine when it comes to their characters. I like Jasmine as well, but Umeko is just more fun for me.

Sen/DekaGreen:

This dude is my favorite character in Dekaranger alongside Umeko. I love his creative approach to the cases. He usually manages to give some nice insight into the cases during a lot of episodes. He has a habit of spotting details that his teammates tend to overlook and comes up with creative ways to stop some of the Alienizers. His serious moments are great. The episode he shared with Umeko is one of my favorites out of the series. It shows that you should never harm someone he cares about. The villain is just toying with her emotions in that episode and it is so satisfying to see Sen beat him into the ground.

Asuka/AbareBlack:

This dude is not only my favorite character in Abaranger, he is probably my favorite character in all of Sentai. He just goes through so much over the course of Abaranger and it gets pretty intense as the show goes on. His story is actually pretty heart-wrenching and his dynamic with Mahoro/Jeanne is one of my favorite parts of the show. I'd honestly love to see Sentai do more stuff like that. You just want to see those two make it out of the show together. The show did a great job of getting me invested in Asuka's story and I loved every second of it. Its probably my favorite story in all of Sentai and it is easily the best romance I've seen in Sentai so far.

My Favorite Sentai Suits: Team Looks

Since I did a post for the individual suits, I'm going to do one for team looks now. How a suit looks by itself is important but equally important is how it looks next to the other members of its team. Due to this being based on visuals, I'll be including suits from series I haven't finished yet. I couldn't think of a good order for these so they will not be ranked. Note: these are not actually all of my favorite suits because this would be far too long if I were to list them all.

Hikari Sentai Maskman:

These are probably my favorite Pre-Zyu sentai team suits. They're rather nice and simple looking. They're also very sleek, stream-lined and easy to identify at first glance. The white portions of the suits makes all five colors pop really well. I particularly like the white streaks on the boots. The big 5 logo on the chest looks great. Sentai has used white gloves for a lot of teams but they really work well here. Its probably because of the colored guards on the back of the hands. I absolutely love the different designs on the helmets. Another detail I really like is that Yellow Mask and Pink Mask's helmets have earrings on them.

Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger:

Nice and simple yet hard to forget. They have a very classic look to them. The white portions really complement all each member's color. The helmets have a lot of nice detail to them. I especially like the trunk pattern and tusks on Goshi's helmet. I love the belts for the Zyurangers. Something about the henshin device being their belt buckles really clicks with me. Out of all six, Burai's suit is probably my favorite. The gold works really well with the green and the gold Dino Buckler completes the look.

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger:

These are probably my favorite of the most recent sentai suits. I love the pirate hat sculpting on the helmets. It works really well with the jackets. The black spandex complement the colors for all six really. The gold stripes and belts work really well with all six colors. These suits really sell the pirate motif at first glance. My favorite suit out of these six is probably GokaiSilver's. I love the anchor design on the top of the helmet and the colored visor looks great alongside the silver suit.

Gosei Sentai Dairanger:

The gold portions of the helmets look great and have some really nice detail to them. The white portions of the main five's suits work really well with the gold trim and complements their colors rather well. I love the way the Dairanger emblem looks. Kibaranger's suit looks great. The black and gold chest-plate complements the white really well. I also like how the gold bands are outlined in black. I especially love the gold belts on all six suits.

Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger:

These suits look great together. The white spike patterns on Ryouga, Yukito, and Ranru's suits complement their colors rather well. The gold spike patterns on Asuka's suit complement the black really well. The black spikes complement Mikoto's white suit really well and I particularly like the gold trim on the chest-plate. It looks just different enough from the other 4 to stick out while looking just similar enough to feel like it belongs with them.

Choushinsei Flashman:

Seeing these suits in Gokaiger was what made me originally want to watch Flashman. These suits have a very nice space-age and hi-tech feel to them while managing to look simple. The black on the sides of the suits really help complement the each of their colors and I particularly like the darker shade of green for Green Flash. The helmets pretty much scream "This is alien tech!". Like the stripes on the sides of the suit, the black outlines on the top of the helmets help complement the colors as does the white. A detail that I really love is that the visors are actually retractable. The design of the emblems are nicely done.

Mirai Sentai Timeranger:

I absolutely love the colored visors and its something I'd like to see done more. The black on the helmets really help the visors pop. The white on the suits complements each color nicely. The sculpted mouth pieces really suit them well. I like how the braces don't vanish when they're transformed and are actually worked into the arm-piece of the suits. The silver arm-pieces and belt buckle look great with the black on them. I love the design of the belts.

Choudenshi Bioman:

Like the Flashman suits, the Bioman suits manage to look simple yet hi-tech at the same time. The white really complements each color. I like the Bioman emblem, its nice and simple. It being integrated into the belt works rather well. The emblem looks great with the black on the belt. The helmets look really hi-tech thanks to the domes on the head with visible circuits. The circuit board pattern across the chest helps sell the look as well. The sculpted mouth-pieces on the helmets really mesh well with the rest of the suits.

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger:

These suits look great together and they just might have my favorite overall look. The silver highlights on the main five's helmets work really well. I think the main five having one black arm is a nice look. I like how each Dekaranger's number is plastered on their chests. Despite the differences from the main six, DekaMaster and DekaSwan's suits compliment the over-all look of the group very well. They also look like a natural evolution of the main six's suits. Those two also happen to be my favorite suits out the Dekaranger suits. I especially love the more armor-like look they have. DekaBreak's suit is probably the best in terms of overall color combination. The blue, gold and white complement each other very well.

So yeah, those are just some of my favorite suits. There are more that I absolutely love but I didn't want the list to run too long. These are simply the first suits that came to mind when I decided to do this list. In all honesty, there really aren't that many suits in Sentai that I don't like.

My Updated Sentai Rankings

Well I've seen a lot more Sentai since my last ranking list. I've got some new ones to add and I've re-thought the rankings for some of them. Since my last list I've finished a couple more series, seen 11 eps of Bioman, 10 eps of Maskman, 2 eps of GoGoV, 5 eps of Flashman, 7 eps of Timeranger, 9 eps of Megaranger, and 2 eps of Zyuohger. I've also seen a couple eps of Denjiman and an episode of Battle Fever J (unsubbed of course). Ninninger won't be anywhere in this post since I never bothered watching after the first episode. So lets take a look at what has been added and what has been changed.

Before I get to the actual rankings there are still series that I haven't finished but have seen at least half of. I'm mentioning them again because there has been a change in regards to one of them.

Choujuu Sentai Liveman:

Yeah, I need to get back to this at some point. I've been shown clips of some really good stuff that happens near the end. Its just gonna be a while until I get back to this one. I still absolutely love the suits, especially the helmets. Pretty much nothing has changed regarding my thoughts on this show. Its still really good and every character in the show feels natural. Megumi is hands down my favorite character on the team.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger:

Sword fights just make me happy and the swordplay in this show is still fantastic. I still love the suits and the helmets. The opening and ending themes still have a nice punch to them. My favorite suit is probably Genta's since I like the way the gold and blue look together. I also like Genta's reverse grip sword style. Chiaki is probably my favorite character in the show from what I've seen so far. The rest of my thoughts are pretty much the same as last time.

Gosei Sentai Dairanger:

This one has been removed from my watch-list since last time. Why? Well because I plan on getting the DVDs at some point so I can just finish it at my own pace. These suits are still gorgeous. I can't tell you how much I love these things. The fight choreography still holds up really well to me. My favorite fighting style in the show belongs to Kazu. Drunken fist is one of the coolest styles in my opinion. My favorite character however is probably Daigo. I absolutely love what I've seen of his sub-plot with Kujaku so far. The opening theme is definitely one of my favorites.

Now, with that out of the way, lets move on to the actual rankings. Just remember, if a show you liked gets ranked low on here, its because its not my kind of show.

9. Ressha Sentai ToQger:

Just want to start by saying that I have not actually finished watching ToQger. I gave up about halfway through. So why is it being ranked? Its being ranked simply because I have no plans to continue with the series any time soon. The show never really gave me anything to get invested in. The plot is slow and the build up of what I did see is problematic. Even when things happened, it felt like nothing happened or it was treated like it didn't matter. I dropped the series on a cliffhanger which is something I almost never do. Normally characters would be enough to keep me invested in a slow series but even at the halfway point, I couldn't get a feel for the characters. The action was forgettable and I can only remember a single move. Its a kendama attack that Hikari and Kagura did in an early episode of the show. If other people like this show, more power to them but its just not for me.

8. Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger:

My tune has changed slightly toward Kyoryuger since last time. I still think its meh overall and its still not something I'd rewatch. I sort of get why people like Daigo now but I still think the show praises him a little too much. I still have some issues with the pacing of the show but I think its best pacing happens during the final arc. The show could've done a bit more with Cyan and Grey than having them pop in and out every now just then. I think their entire purpose in the show should've been them trying to find someone to inherit their powers. Sort of a passing the torch situation that wasn't put in at the last minute. The Zyudenchi kinda slowed down the action a little too much for my taste.

7. Tokumei Sentai Gobusters:

I seem to run into more and more fans of this show these days. I still love the leather look of the suits and the colored visors. I enjoy the first opening theme and my thoughts on the second opening theme has changed. I think the second theme is ok though it tends to get lodged in my head too easily. The action I don't remember being that spectacular and I do remember some of it looking kind of stiff. I did like the early mecha fights where the fight was happening in a mecha and on the ground at the same time. My opinion of Hiromu has softened up a bit though I still don't care much for him. I liked Enter a lot more during the first half than the second half. He had this sort of quirky flare to him with the disguises and my personal favorite was the panda suit. I actually like how streamlined and the arsenal is. With all that being said, this still isn't a show I have any interest in rewatching.

6. Mahou Sentai Magiranger:

I think the show handled the family aspect decently. The show has some of the more gorgeous suits in Sentai imo and I like their civilian uniforms. The opening still gets me pumped and it still has my favorite ending theme in all of Sentai. I still love that the source of their magic is their own courage which is a nice avenue for character development imo. The show does play it kind of safe but I enjoyed it. I love the mecha in the show and I like the idea of them becoming their individual mecha. It had some decently heart-warming moments. This show still has my favorite mecha control system in the franchise so far.

5. Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger:

I've seen the fandom divided over this one. I understand people's complaints about the show but I enjoyed it. The main five are under-developed but that doesn't bother me much. They're simply doing what heroes do even if they take the backseat to the kids. I can't really imagine the team without any of them simply because their personalities balance each other out. What sells the show for me though is Burai and Bandora. Bandora is surprisingly creepy and her plans have this hidden edge to them. There is quite a bit of nightmare fuel with some of the Dora monsters. She actually might just be one of my all time favorite Sentai villains. The mecha action and designs are great. The show manages to do so much with just seven mecha.

4. Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger:

Yeah this one kind of dropped, but not because I've rethought my stance on it. I still love the cast and all the enthusiasm. Gai is still probably my favorite character but its a bit closer call for all them now. Its still probably my favorite anniversary season. It is very accessible to people who are just getting into Sentai. It makes you want to see what you missed out on while not leaving you lost and wondering what you missed from previous series. I think it finds a good balance when it comes to pleasing both old and new fans. Depsite not knowing most of the veterans showing up, I was still hyped for each tribute episode. I love GokaiOh and how its variations don't over-shadow the basic design.

3. Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger:

I absolutely loved this show. I love the cast and they have some really good chemistry. This is definitely one of the most tense and touching Sentai seasons I've seen. I mean man, this show is so awesome. I loved pretty much everything about it. Jeanne and Asuka is my favorite love story/rivalry in Sentai so far. It also makes for some gripping and heart-wrenching moments. Ryouga is definitely one of my favorite Reds in Sentai. I love his optimism regarding human nature a lot as well as the family dynamic he has with Mai. There isn't a character in this show that I don't like. The fights got pretty brutal at certain points in the show. I like how the Bakuryu aren't just treated like mecha, they're characters in their own right. I particularly love the interactions between Ryouga and Tyranno. I absolutely love the suit designs. This show definitely has some of my favorite villains, those being Jeanne and AbareKiller.

2. Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger:

Yeah this one definitely should've been higher on the last list. The main reason I pushed it up to here this time is pretty much thanks to the 10 Years After movie. It reminded me of just how much I enjoyed the series. I spent the entire run-time of the movie with a big smile on my face. That movie captured Dekaranger perfectly and it felt just like an episode of the show. I still love the cast a lot. Everyone got their respective moments of awesome. Its a great example of a cop show and I love the Alienizers as a villain group. Abrella is definitely one of my favorite villains in the franchise and I still remember most of the Alienizers. After watching some Bioman, I can definitely say that Dekaranger took some inspiration from Bioman in regards to the Alienizers having their own mecha. This is definitely one of the most memorable shows I've seen in general. The mecha action is great and I absolutely love the mecha designs. DekaBase Robo is probably my favorite mecha in the show.

1. ???

What is my number one? Well you'll find out in a few months. Thats right, I'm devoting a rewatch and a full review to this one. Its probably going to be the most in-depth review I've ever written. I hope you're all looking forward to it.

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger Review

Originally, I was a little concerned about the show after hearing it wasn't plot-based but once I started the series, that concern was quickly thrown out the window. That was thanks in no small part to how the writer handles the episodic format. Without further adieu, its time to see how Dekaranger worked out for me. In other words: Its Judgement Time!

Story: The show follows the exploits of Earth's branch of a galactic police force known as the Dekarangers. It isn't done like a usual Sentai series as it has a more episodic nature like an actual cop show and lacks an over-arcing plot. The episodic nature of the show actually works in its favor and it makes everything memorable like the Alienizers but I'll get to them later. It gives plenty of room for great moments for all of the Dekarangers.

Characters: The cast for this show is just fun. They have some nice chemistry and I like the way they play off of each other, particularly in the episodes Jasmine and Umeko share.

• Ban/DekaRed: He is a decent character. I like his drive and sense of justice. During his scenes he can be overly energetic but he has a nice heart even acknowledging later in the series that he is the one keeping the team from being too by-the-book. Though my main complaint is that sometimes his screams can be a bit disorienting. My favorite episode for Ban is the episode where he was running around the city looking for explosives. The episode shows that Ban isn't actually a fool and I especially love the look on everyone's face when he figures out where the Alienizer is.
• Hoji/DekaBlue: He prides himself on his skill and professionalism as well as taking his job really seriously. It was fun seeing him react to Ban's overly energetic personality and antics all the while watching him grow to accept Ban. He has some of the more serious episodes in the show and they make for great drama. My personal favorite episodes of his are Hard-boiled License and the episode where he sneaks into an illegal fighting circuit.
• Sen/DekaGreen: Sen is a fun character. His focus episodes were some of the most interesting ones due to the way he analyzes the cases. He is usually able to spot things that his teammates overlook while coming up with interesting ways to stop the Alienizers. My favorite moments for Sen are the episode with the plant Alienizer that used water to cut things and the episode with the ghost Alienizer. They really highlight his inventiveness and ability to analyze things.
• Jasmine/DekaYellow: Jasmine is a fun character somewhat serious character who is usually calm. Like Hoji, she gets some of the more serious episodes but she can also be funny as well. I like her back-story of how she came to terms with her powers. Her powers as an ESPer were interesting and the show molded them to fit the cop show motif. It is a nice take on what is similar to mind reading but works on objects as well as living beings. My favorite episodes for her are a tie between the episode with that goofy duck Alienizer and her episode with detective Chou.
• Umeko/DekaPink: Her episodes are some of my favorites due to her being a more comedic character. I couldn't get through a lot of her comedic scenes without a big smile creeping across my face. Her serious moments were fun as well. If I was to pick a favorite character, it would be a tie between her and Sen. For comedy, my favorite is the episode where she went undercover as a princess. For seriousness, it is a tie between the episode Requiem World, an episode she shares with Jasmine, and the episode she almost got married which she shared with Sen.
• Testsu/DekaBreak: Tetsu was just kind of there for me. He didn't get as many focus episodes as the others. Overall the character is just meh for me. Being a sucker for martial arts, I did like how his combat style was geared toward bare-handed fighting. I also really like how his henshin device doubles as his weapon. The DekaBright episode provided a nice explanation for why Tetsu didn't believe in fighting with emotion in his premier.
• Kruger/DekaMaster: The mentor and an awesome swordsman. What I like about him the most is that shortly after his first transformation he tells the Dekarangers that he will not fight alongside them in every fight since they would become too dependent on his strength. That is the mark of a great mentor when he basically tells them that they have to grow stronger for the coming battles while still helping when they absolutely need him. My favorite episodes of his are his premier and the episode Mortal Campaign.
• Swan/DekaSwan: She also serves as the team's mentor alongside Kruger. I like how part of her role is to repair and maintain the mechas. It was a nice touch and it is something I would like to see done more in Sentai. She has this almost motherly air around her when she speaks with the others and it really shows in how much the others respect her. She is someone the others can turn to if they need advice. My favorite Swan moment was the episode she transformed. I like the speech she gave Hiemel about how the machines that they build should be used to help people, not built for personal glory. Even though she only fought once, it had this air of awesomeness to it.

Villains: The way the Alienizers are handled is very interesting and rather creative. Since this is written like a cop show, they are entirely one-off characters with Agent Abrella being the exception. Despite them being one-offs however, the writer goes to great lengths to make them memorable. Whether it is their motives, their powers, or their designs, you will more remember them more often than not. The show features some very creative plans from the Alienizers such as turning humans into spaceship fuel, turning them into dolls for a collection, and even the old stand-by simply attempting to blow up the planet just to name a few. The diverse designs and abilities really help show how vast the universe is in Dekaranger. If I were to pick my favorite of the one-off Alienizers, it would be the Hell Siblings. They were nice power-house villains and I liked how Succubus' first response to fighting Jasmine was "Hey she could be useful to us so I'll force her to join".

Agent Abrella is just a cool and interesting villain. He doesn't really have any interest in taking over the world, he is just a weapons dealer for the various Alienizers and is simply in it for the money. For the right price he supplies the Alienizers with foot soldiers, new gear, and even mecha. His goal is to make the galaxy a haven for crime so he can grow his business even more. The entire reason he hates the Dekarangers is because they are getting in the way of his business and costing him money. He is also a really strategic villain who prefers to hide in the shadows as opposed to fighting the Dekarangers directly. He has an incredibly calm demeanor when he speaks, even when you can obviously tell he is mad. The guy does an entire season's worth of planning just for a three episode direct assault on DekaBase. I like his design a lot and I find it cool that it includes a tie.

Mecha:

I like the mecha designs in Dekaranger. Don't let their looks fool you, while they may look bulky they are actually very movable, especially in Dekaranger Robo's case. DekaBase Robo is one of those big mecha that actually looks and feels like it has some weight to it which is sadly something that the two most current giant mech, Great Gobuster and Gigant Kyoryuzin lacked. Every time DekaBase Robo takes a step you see the ground explode beneath its feet and sparks flying around. It is a heavy mecha that wasn't overused like Great Gobuster or Gigant Kyoryuzin. I like that DekaBike Robo has both a vehicle mode and robot mode. Plus its design is nice to look at. Super Dekaranger Robo looks nice though it looks slightly bulky. However, if I were to pick a favorite of the Dekaranger mecha, it would be DekaWing Robo. Its got a really nice design and a gun mode for its finisher.

The show features a lot of mecha with most of the Alienizers actually having giant robots of their own with some nice designs. It was a great idea to not just have the Alienizers grow into giant versions of themselves. The mecha fights in the show are great and it looks like a lot of effort went into them. As I said earlier, despite some of them looking really bulky, they can actually move rather well. The mecha fights feature a nice mix of practical effects and CGI. Overall the mecha action is nicely choreographed and exciting.

Music: Dekaranger has a lot of fun and addictive songs. The opening theme really gives the show a sense of power and energy. The ending theme is soothing, sort of mellow, and has a nice jazzy feel to it. Both of those are songs I could not bring myself to skip to save time while watching it. Girls In Trouble is a nicely addictive up-beat song featuring vocals by both Jasmine and Umeko's actresses and it is appropriately used during the girl power episodes or whenever they share a development episode. Dekaranger Action and SWAT On are awesome and they have some nice power and energy to them. The character theme songs are nice as well. If I had to pick a favorite piece of music from the show, it would be a tie between Girls In Trouble and Dekaranger Action.

Suit Designs: 

The Dekaranger suits are nice to look at. The black on the left side of the main five's suits blends well with their color scheme. It helps their numbers stand out really well. The black and silver bands on the hands and feet help add the to look of the white gloves and the belt of the suits look really nice in silver. The lights on the side of the helmets were an interesting choice and they help sell the police look along with the badges on each suit. The belt buckles for all of the suits even hold handcuffs. If I had to pick my favorite suit in terms of color combination, it would be Tetsu's suit. The white, blue, and gold blend really well together.

However, if I were to pick my favorite suits in terms of overall look, I'd have to pick Kruger's and Swan's suits since they have a slightly more armor-like look to them especially their chest-plates and they have unique helmets. For Kruger, the black spandex complements the light blue armor rather well and having his number outlined in red looks really nice. His belt looks nice in red and it works well with the buckle being silver. The raised ears on his helmet look great and so do the studded gloves on his hands. For Swan, the orange and white looks great with the orange part of the chest-plate being outlined in black. Her helmet has a nice feather pattern on the side and the visor has this almost wing-like look to it to help sell her swan motif.

The design for the main five's SWAT mode looks great. It adds on some extra armor around the legs and arms while giving them a chest-plate. It also features their respective number in their color as well as a place for the SP License. One of the lights gets pushed out to make a mic for communication between the main five. It looks very simple and doesn't over-shadow the original suit design which is a very good thing.

Final Thoughts: It was a great show and I had a lot of fun. While it doesn't have a plot per say, the way it handles its episodic formula worked out well. It is a well done cop-show that balances its comedic and serious moments nicely to create a very unique experience. I also love how the gun-play is used in this show. It never breaks up the pace of a fight. DekaRed even uses his guns like melee weapons in close-up fights.

A nice touch for the show is that they have to ask permission to use lethal force and kill the Alienizers like actual cops do. It was actually easier for me to keep track of what episode I was on than it is for me to keep track during a lot of plot-centric series. All I had to do was remember what the last Alienizer they fought was so that made marathon-ing it really easy. Overall I really enjoyed the show and I'd honestly recommend it to any sentai fan or even cop show fans in general. At the time of this review, Dekaranger holds my number 3 spot for Sentai.

My current Super Sentai rankings

Since I did a Rider list, I'm going to hammer out my Sentai list now. At the time of this post I have finished Gekiranger, Magiranger, Gokaiger, Gobusters, Dekaranger, and Kyoryuger. I have seen 3/5 of Liveman, 10 episodes of Jetman, half of Dairanger, half of Shinkenger, 3 episodes of Hurricanger, 1 episode of Zyuranger, 2 episodes of Go-onger, and 1 episode of Goseiger. Jetman, Zyuranger, Hurricanger, Go-onger, and Goseiger will not be ranked on this list as I haven't seen at least half of those particular series. I've seen 6 or 7 of ToQger but it will not be on the list since I'm behind and it is too early to discuss it. Like the rider list, only the series I have finished will actually be numbered. I will likely do an updated list at some point once I finish more Sentai.

6. Tokumei Sentai Gobusters:

I don't know why but this show never really clicked for me. Its not that I think its bad, I was just bored with it for the most part. I was never left with the feeling that I had to watch it week after week. It got to the point where I would put off watching it for a few weeks and let the episodes pile up and then I'd blow through them with a marathon. I ended up doing that three separate times for this series. The ground fights were awesome though but that was about it. I liked Enter more at the beginning of the series because he would usually show up in some sort of disguise and that helped add some flair to the character. My favorite disguise is the panda suit from the amusement park episode. My favorite character in this show is Gorisaki. The mecha fights were ok for the most part though Great Gobuster's fights were just lazy and mostly involved it taking a few punches then poking the enemy with a spear to win. I wish they had elaborated more on the downside of their abilities though because Ryuji's weakpoint seemed like it could actually be fatal to him due to him over-heating faster and faster as the series progressed. By far the most infuriating episode in this show was episode 36 aka the Buddyroid Strike. That episode made absolutely no sense and had no reason to take place when it did. I really enjoyed its opening (well except for the 2nd one) and ending theme. The suits are some of my favorites because the leather creates a nice combination with the colored visors.

5. Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger:

This show is just meh and it never really wow-ed me. I don't like it but I certainly don't hate it either. I ended up doing separate marathons for it ever since episode 10 came out. My main gripe with the show is Daigo. Its a Daigo-centric show yet it honestly didn't feel like Daigo was important to the overall plot until the final arc. He also gets played off as perfect and can quite literally do no wrong. The show essentially tries to tell me that I should like the guy but all it did was make me dislike him more. My favorite character in the show is Ian as he at the very least can function with Daigo gone. While his rivalry with Aigalion wasn't touched on much, its climax was decent enough. I wasn't able to get invested in anyone else. Rameirez and Tessai's entire character arc should have been about finding successors and Sanjou should have replaced them sooner instead of doing it right at the end since he wanted to bring in Shinya and Yuuko. I don't usually mind the collectible gimmicks but the batteries tend to break the flow of fight scenes and slow them down too much for my taste. Other than that, the fight scenes were alright. I actually like the suits, especially the visors since they give the illusion of a wide-open dinosaur mouth. Though I don't understand why KyoryuSilver's helmet has fangs on it since a Brachiosaur is a herbivore. I also enjoy the theme song. The overall plot is slow and a lot of it feels like filler. I think Sanjou really needs a break from writing since he wrote this entire show by himself. He might be burned out.

4. Mahou Sentai Magiranger:

This was a fun and enjoyable show. Just about every episode is character development for the main five Magirangers with a bit of MagiShine's development thrown in and in my opinion the show does a decent job of fleshing out the siblings. My favorite of the siblings is Makito. For some reason I usually tend to gravitate toward the older brother type of character. I liked Wolzard/Blagel's plot-line and how honorable he was. His concept of honor still shined through N Ma's dark magic. I felt the focus on the theme of family was done well enough and its concept of magic coming from courage was great. It was a lot more interesting to me than Wizard's. It is a perfect catalyst for character development to me as I consider magic to be more of an inner strength that grows with the person using it. The best use of this would have to be in the lead-up to them acquiring the Legend powers. That arc had some great character growth for each of the siblings and showed why each of them were worthy to obtain that power. It also has the most detailed world out of all the Sentai I've seen so far. It had a nice mix of practical effects and CGI. As I said in my "top mecha control system list", I really like the way the main five control their mecha like a chess board and it is my favorite control method I've seen thus far in Sentai. Normally, I will skip through the opening and ending songs after the first few episodes to save some time but for some strange reason I just couldn't bring myself to skip through Magiranger's opening and ending themes. Its ending theme is also my favorite Sentai ending theme.

3. Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger:

It is a really fun show. It is more episodic in nature like a traditional cop show and lacks a traditional main villain for the most part. Not having a traditional main villain actually works well for the show as does its episodic nature. The only consistent villain is Agent Abrera who basically acts as a weapons dealer. He doesn't exactly want to takeover the world and his entire grudge against the Dekarangers is because they are getting in the way of his business. I think not having the Alienizers grow into giants for the most part and instead using their own giant robots during the mecha fights was a great idea. The enemy robots have some really nice designs as well. The mecha fights are nicely choreographed even though they have to use CGI to pull off some movements. The Alienizers have some great variety in terms of design, powers, and even motives for why they're doing what they do. My favorite of the main six is actually a tie between Umeko because she gets the best comedic scenes in the show and Sen because of his creative approach to the cases. All of the heroes get some great character moments. A nice touch is that they have to get permission to use lethal force like actual cops. Its opening song is great and really helps you get pumped up while its ending theme is soothing and has a great jazz feel to it.

2. Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger:

I really enjoyed Gokaiger. The cast was a lot of fun, they had some great chemistry, and I enjoyed seeing Gai nerd out during the show. Out of the crew my favorite character is a toss up between Don for his funny and creative fighting ability (which is something I was really disappointed that they changed about him in Gobusters vs Gokaiger) and Gai for his enthusiasm and fanboy-ness. Junya Ikeda did really well with the role of Gai and you could tell that he had a lot of fun with it. Marvelous' rivalry with Basco was awesome and he is one of my favorite villains in Sentai. I really like how the mecha Grand Powers were applied to Gokai-Oh. Their designs were brilliant to me because the mecha Grand Powers never over-shadowed the Gokai-Oh's original design (with Kanzen Gokai-Oh being an obvious exception) and you could always tell it was the Gokai-Oh even from far away no matter what got added to it. It was a lot of fun to see actors return even if I didn't have any experience with a lot of the seasons and couldn't tell you some of the returning character's names outside of their team and color. It never felt like I was missing something while watching this show. Even without any nostalgic connection to most of the actors, it still felt like an anniversary caliber season while still keeping consistent quality with the other Sentai I had seen at the time.

1. Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger:

I'm a sucker for martial arts related stuff so this series was right up my alley. From the music to the characters this show hits the sweet spot for me. The fight scenes are excellent, nicely choreographed, and have a great flow to them. The various martial arts styles used in the show make each fight scene fun and have some nice variety. I really enjoyed the rivalry between Rio and Jan. The show has really memorable villains including my all-time favorite Sentai villain: Long. Long is just a joy a to watch on screen and the actor really knows how to creep you out. Long is also one of the few destruction obsessed villains I like because he plans everything out and does it all out of boredom. My favorite character in this show is Mele because she was arguably the most pivotal character in Rio's development. Mele is that type of honorable character that I can respect a lot. It is also really awesome how the show goes so far to explain the origin of GekiJyuKen and RinJyuKen. I like the 7 Kensei and how two of them are references to real life marital artists. GekiTouja's design is one of my favorite mecha designs in the franchise and I like how its operated via motion control. It is one of the more agile mecha in my opinion. As for the suits, they do a nice job of representing each character's animal with my personal favorite suit in the show being Rio's lion armor.

Series I haven't finished yet: Since I haven't finished them yet, these are just my thoughts on them at the moment so they have no official spot in my rankings yet.

Chojuu Sentai Liveman:

This series is awesome! I really like this series because the villains have such a deep relationship with the heroes. They were friends, students, colleagues, and in the case of Megumi and Mazenda even roommates so the fight is very personal for the Livemen. I love how the show starts out with the first 3 Livemen just fighting for revenge against Volt and how they learn that revenge shouldn't be their only reason for fighting, they should fight to protect people. Though I do like that the revenge motivation isn't dropped entirely and its the entire reason Bison and Sai join the team. The villains are really great especially Kemp and Mazenda. Mazenda was the star of a really heart-breaking two episode arc in the first half of the show (that arc is my favorite at the moment). Ashura has also become one of my favorites. One of my favorite episodes in Liveman is the episode with Megumi's father. I love the way their actors played off each other. As for the suits, they have some nice detail on the helmets especially Yellow Lion's and I really like the colored glass in the belts. They are a nice aesthetic touch.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger:

This was my first Sentai series but I still haven't actually finished it. I got about half way into Shinkenger but had to stop because at the time youtube was going through a toku purge and I forgot to pick it up again once I found new sources. The Shinkenger suits are among my favorite designs in the franchise. I absolutely love the sword-play used in the show because I'm a sucker for a good sword fight. Ryunosuke's dramatic reactions kind of annoyed me at first but he quickly won me me over with his sense of loyalty. I like the rivalry between Juzo and Takeru. I'm going to have to set aside some time this year to finish Shinkenger though I'll most likely have to start from scratch since I'm having some trouble remembering exactly what was going on when I left off.

Gosei Sentai Dairanger:

Another martial arts sentai and I'm about halfway through this series. I really like the suits and the mecha designs with Won Tiger being my favorite mecha design. The fight scenes are amazing and really well done, even the wire-works look completely natural in the show. Out of the Dairangers, Kou is my favorite even if I occasionally want to smack the kid for being a bit pervy. I really like the romantic sub-plot with Daigo and Kujaku along with Kujaku's story of revenge as well as how the battle against the Gorma has been going on for centuries. It really helps give weight to the struggle. I think I left off with the premier of Won Tiger or something close to that. Like Shinkenger, I'm going to have to set some time aside to finish this show.

That is my sentai list. If a show you liked got ranked really low on the list, it just means that it wasn't my kind of show or I couldn't get into it.