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.

Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger Review: Part 3 GenJyuken

Now we come to another group of enemies in the show who pretty much make up the final couple of arcs. The GenJyuken users are the final group of enemies in the show and their fighting styles are based around mythical creatures. Unlike GekiJyuken and RinJyuken, they aren't actually a school. Each of the generals represents one of the four big beasts in Chinese mythos that represent the four directions with Mele becoming the Phoenix once she gains the power of GenJyuken. Each of the GenJyuken generals have their own MOTW.

Long:

Long represents the dragon and he is my all time favorite Sentai villain. He terrifies me so much that just hearing his name sends a chill down my spine. He is always calm, cool, and collected, rarely letting his anger show through. However, above all else Long is patient. He is one of those villains where the main threat isn't just what he is doing right now, it is also what he could do later. This dude is directly responsible for Rio turning to RinJyuken. The theme of three is shows up here because he, Rio, and Mele are the only villains in the show to have a human form. His first appearance in the show is terrifying because the first thing he does is literally liquefy Rageku. His main reason for sending Rio down the path of darkness is to turn him into a god of destruction. He tried to do the same thing with Maku but Maku's defeat in the RinJyuken Rebellion kind of squashed that plan. The actor is fantastic and really sells the role with the way he moves. He also plays up the creep factor by constantly popping up out of nowhere and getting uncomfortably close to people's faces.

Sanyo:

Sanyo is a master of the basilisk-ken. With that being said, his overall appearance is a turtle so he basically represents the black tortoise and snake of the four beasts. He has a habit of running his mouth a lot and some of the stuff he says pretty much clues Mele into the idea that Long might not be on the up and up. He is pretty much immortal, which is something brought up near end of the series. He is actually a part of Long and when Long reabsorbs him, he gains that immortality.

Suugu:

Suugu is a master of the chimera-ken which is basically an amalgamation of different fighting styles so he has access to the techniques of RinJyuken users. His overall motif is a white tiger so out of the four beasts, he represents that one. He was basically created by Long using the geki soul of Jan's father, Dan, hence the white tiger look. Its a rather heart-wrenching story because once Dan's consciousness starts taking over, Jan is forced to kill him so his father can pass on. In a way it helps show how demented Long is even more since he used someone's very soul as a means to achieve is his own goals. When Dan was alive, Rio actually saw him as a rival or an obstacle to overcome. In a sense, Jan is taking his father's place in finishing off the rivalry. Plus Jan's father is played by Kenji Oba so that works out really well. Despite Dan himself being dead at the time, you get a nice feel for his power just from Rio's memories of him.

Music: The music for the show is nice. It really helps capture the kung fu movie feel of the show so much that it feels like I've heard the music in actual kung fu films. The opening song is great and it really helps you get pumped for the show. My favorite bit is probably the chinese violin at the start of the song. The singer puts a ton of energy into the song and its really contagious. The ending theme is awesome and as usual Ichiro Mizuki does really well. Its actually more addictive for me than the opening theme. I'm unfortunately not too big on the Super Gekiranger theme. Its not a bad song but it really doesn't do anything for me. I will say that it feels a bit uplifting and gives off a sense of growth. The music for the villains is great and it gives off a real sense of dread, fore-boding, and unease.

Final Thoughts: I absolutely love this series. It handles CGI in a way that feels appropriate. It mostly uses the CGI represent the Ki or energy flowing from them so it comes off as sort of a natural thing. The fight choreography is great, especially when you realize that a lot of the fighting styles in the show are based on actual martial arts. The show also has a lot of training montages which is always great to see and its really appropriate for a martial arts Sentai. It even shows Jan, Retsu, and Ran training to fire their cannon faster after they get it. Even when its not shown on screen, it is implied that the Gekirangers are always training to get better. Its that sense of progression that makes each victory feel earned instead of the problem simply being solved by a new weapon. The constant training is even applied to Rio and Mele as Rio especially wants to get stronger and stronger. This really helps keep the threat feeling strong. I've seen complaints regarding how Gou and Ken get sidelined for Jan, Retsu, and Ran. I honestly don't mind that because the Triangle is one of the core themes in Gekiranger. Plus Gou and Ken still get their own awesome moments so I think it evens out.

Gekiranger is one of those shows that I simply can't recommend enough, especially if you like martial arts movies. Even to this day, I'm noticing things about this show that I didn't catch before. For example, they pretty much foreshadow Long in the first episode because the shadow creature in Rio's dreams is dragon shaped with shining gold eyes. I'm actually rather curious if the writer for this show is a fan of martial arts films. The show seems to demonstrate a love for the genre given all the little nods and references. This is without a doubt my favorite Sentai series and will likely remain my favorite for a while.

Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger Review: Part 2 RinJyuken

Now that we've covered GekiJyuken, we get to the other school in the show. The RinJyuken school follows a survival of the fittest mentality. Your worth is determined solely by how strong you are. Due to that, there are a few power struggles within the group. It is a school dedicated to gaining strength usually by inducing fear and despair. The survival of the fittest mentality is shown really well in episode 3 because the Rinshi have to fight each other to the death in order to be promoted and gain their monster forms. There are a lot of Rinjyuken members so I'll mostly just cover the big name ones.

Rio:

Rio is the leader of the RinJyuden for most of the series. He trained with Miki and Gou under Sha Fu before pursuing the path of RinJyuken in order to become stronger. His desire for strength comes from having seen his family slaughtered in front of him by a monster as a child. In the beginning of the series, he sought to revive the Kenma in order to learn from them and become the RinJyuken King. Through the first two he learns to channel his hatred and jealousy, though the third Kenma proved to be more problematic for him. He pretty much forces himself to become stronger to overcome the third Kenma. When he becomes a Genjyuken user, he gains the power of the griffon.

Mele:

Mele is Rio's second in command and she loves him deeply. She is unquestioningly loyal during most of the series. When Braco tried to betray Rio, she took several blasts from the Gekirangers' cannon to develop a way to counter Braco's attacks. She killed Braco without hesitation. She is so loyal that she threw away an offer to make her live again because it would've required her to betray Rio. While she seeks to help him grow stronger she does fear for his safety. When she thought Kata's training was too dangerous, she revived Rageku in the hopes that Rageku would train him instead. When she becomes a Genjyuken user, she gains the power of the phoenix. I'll cover the significance of that when I cover Genjyuken in Part 3.

The Five Venoms:

This is my favorite scene of them.

These guys are some of my favorites. They're nice power-house villains and they make for a great first arc for the series. All five of them got involved in their introduction fight. It was a really tense moment and the heroes barely won. Their arc provides some great character moments for Jan, Retsu, and Ran early on in the series. With Braco, we get our first power struggle in the show. Though he works for Rio, Braco's loyalty isn't actually to him. He tries to stage his own takeover of the RinJyuden alongside a revived Kademu and Moriya near the end of the first arc. Needless to say, this does not go well for them. Their fighting styles are a reference to the classic kung fu film Five Deadly Venoms. It goes further than that as their introduction in episode 4 is a direct reference to the sequence in the film where the master talks about his most successful and dangerous students. The set designer for Gekiranger even recreated each Venom's chamber from the film. The end of their arc leads right into the Kenma arc.

The Kenma: Like the Kensei, they are former pupils of Brusa Li, the founder of Jyuken. They were the instigators of the RinJyu rebellion and founded the RinJyuken school. Sha Fu and the other Kensei trained with them for many years so it makes their betrayal cut all the more deeply. The theme of three continues with them so I like to call them the Triangle of Hatred, Jealousy, and Anger.  They teach Rio to grow stronger by channeling those dark emotions. They also represent the sky, sea, and land and their RinRinShi are also themed around that as well. I absolutely love their designs. Each of them has tons of detail on the suits and it captures the look of their animals really well.

Kata is the Kenma of the Sky and gains his power through hatred. His RinRinShi are themed around birds. He is the first Kenma revived and pretty much teaches Rio to grow stronger through hatred. His training was very dangerous for Rio. Thats pretty much all he does in the grand scheme of things. With that being said, he does feel like a heavy-hitter when he fights the Gekirangers and its usually a really tense fight so he does actually justify is his presense in the show. Out of the Kenma, he probably has my favorite design.

Rageku is the Kenma of the Sea and gains her power through jealousy. Her RinRinShi are themed around sea creatures. She joined the RinJyuken Rebellion because Sha Fu spurned her love for him. She is actually the most sadistic of the Kenma. Her training was actually a lot more dangerous than Kata's. She actually trains Mele as well as Rio. Her death in the show probably the most brutal of the Kenmas. Long pretty much liquifies her and its a rather fitting end for her given her sadistic nature.

Maku is the Kenma of the Land and gains his power through anger. His RinRinShi are themed around mammals. Maku is very prideful and it was that pride that lead to the RinJyuken Rebellion. When Brusa Li named his successor, he chose Sha Fu but Sha Fu asked him to choose Maku instead. Being chosen based on someone else's word rather than his own power really wounded his pride. Kata and Rageku were terrified of him being revived and for good reason. He is the strongest Rinjyuken user and he took control of the RinJyuden from Rio and banished him after Rio revived him. This pretty much causes Rio of force himself to get stronger so he can take on Maku.

Suits:

Rio's suit is probably my favorite suit in the entire show. That includes the Gekiranger's suits as well. There is a massive amount of detail in this thing. The sculpting on the chest-plate is great and you can see each individual tooth in the lion's mouth. The black and gold color scheme works really. My favorite part is probably the mane of blades on the side of the helmet. I love the Rinjyuden emblem on the belt and the silver blends really well with the gold and black.

Mele's suit looks great and it has a lot of detail. The green and purple work really well with the yellow highlights. It highlights the chameleon look really well. The sculpting for the chameleon head on the chest-plate is nice and I particularly like the red chameleon tongue coming down from it. The suit overall has this really nice scale pattern to it. The Rinjyuden emblem looks great on the belt.

Jyuken Sentai Gekiranger Review: Part 1 GekiJyuken

I've talked a lot about my love of tokusatsu in the past but there is one aspect of myself I probably haven't really talked about much. That would be my love of Kung Fu films. Its where I first started developing an eye for fight scenes and learned the importance of movement in a fight. So why not cover a series that manages to brings together aspects of both fandoms? Its my all time favorite sentai and it manages to tell a classic martial arts story in the form of a Sentai. It really hits the sweet spot for me. Since I'm going-depth to celebrate the anniversary, my no spoiler policy is out the window. In other words: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! There is a lot of stuff to cover so for this part, I'll just talk about the GekiJyuken side of things in this part.

The story features the battle between the GekiJyuken and RinJyuken schools (I will go more in-depth in part two when I cover RinJyuken). GekiJyuken is dedicated to training in Jyuken for justice while RinJyuken is dedicated to using Jyuken to obtain strength and power usually by invoking fear and despair. Its a classic story but it translates pretty well to a Sentai. It also makes the fight feel really personal once we find out the origins of the RinJyuken school.

Throughout the show there is a theme of three that pops up quite a few times. The show refers to it as the Triangle. It shows up in more ways than one but for now, lets talk about how it shows up in regards to the characters. It is referenced a lot in regards to Jan, Retsu, and Ran so we might as well start by looking at them and the current Triangle of Heart, Body, and Technique. I'll cover the other times the theme shows up as they appear.

Jan Kandou/GekiRed:

Jan represents the Body of the Gekiranger Triangle. His preferred fighting style is Tiger-ken. Jan was raised by animals in the jungle. The show makes his reactions to civilization feel really natural. Due to his position in the Triangle, he is a lot more durable than Ran or Retsu. When the team gets their cannon, it is up to him to buy time while Ran and Retsu charge it. He can be somewhat impatient as shown in the cannon's introduction episode but he learns to be patient. I've occasionally seen the phrase "chosen one" be thrown around in reference to Jan because of a lot stuff revolving around him in the show. I don't think thats an accurate take on Jan. Yeah, he had a lot of talent and learned quickly but he still had to work and train just to reach Retsu and Ran's level in the first arc. Throughout the entire show he and the other Gekirangers are constantly getting stronger. Thats something I'll talk more about later since I like how the show handles its power escalation. He gets a rather heart-wrenching moment with Suugu near the end which I'll cover in the GenJyuken section. Even though at its core, the story does essentially revolve around him and Rio, the other Gekirangers get some nice moments to themselves. During the Kageki arc, he faces off against Gorie Yen in a coin stacking competition to test his "heart".

Ran Uzaki/GekiYellow:

Ran represents the Heart of the Gekiranger Triangle. Her preferred fighting style is Cheetah-ken. She is the team's leader and is the one responsible for coordinating their training. They also refer to her as "Captain". In a sense she is the glue that holds the team together. Her being the leader and heart of the team makes sense given her designation in the triangle. She is extremely dedicated to training in order to make sure she is not only fast but accurate. It is a point made very clear when she faced off against Kademu of the Five Venoms. She can be a little uptight at times but through learning how to use the Geki Hammer from Elehung, she learns to cut loose and relax a little more. During the Kageki arc, she faces off against Michelle Peng in a skate-boarding competition to refine her technique.

Retsu Fukami/GekiBlue:

Retsu reprsents the Technique of the Gekiranger Triangle. His preferred fighting style is Jaguar-ken. The dude has a lot of talent. For him, winning in and of itself is not enough. Instead of just fighting to win, its the challenge of constantly trying to improve himself that drives him. That actually sums up his place in the Triangle rather well. He is even skilled enough to fight while drunk. He is Gou's younger brother and he pretty much took up Jyuken in honor of his brother when Gou disappeared and was thought to be dead. We get some wonderful interactions between him and Gou after Gou joins the team. Its a nice family dynamic that I always like to see in tv shows in general. He trains in the bat-ken with Bat Li to further refine his techniques and he learns to enter a trance. His position in the triangle and dedication to beauty puts him at a disadvantage during the Kageki arc since he has to fight Pyon Piao in an endurance match for his trial as he sort of lacks stamina.

Gou Fukami/GekiViolet:

Gou is Retsu's brother and studied Jyuken alongside Miki and Rio. He sort of feels guilty for not being able to stop Rio from defecting. Due to that, he sort of feels like its his job to put a stop to Rio and sort of sees himself as Rio's rival. He however eventually realizes he isn't simply strong enough to defeat Rio so it leaves it to Jan to handle. I've seen a few people complain about that but Jan and Gou are written well enough that I don't mind it. It feels natural because Gou himself is the one to come to that conclusion. It makes a lot of sense considering him trying to stop Rio in the past led to him using an extremely dangerous technique that backfired and caused him to go missing. When he came back, he was also kinda irritated that Retsu took up Jyuken as well because he felt fighting was too dangerous for his younger brother. Naturally Gou comes to terms with Retsu's decision. He starts out as one of those lone wolf characters but his reason makes a lot of sense. He wanted to work alone because he didn't want to risk throwing off the balance of Jan, Ran, and Retsu's triangle and didn't want to interfere with their ability to work together. His wolf-ken is actually an off-shoot of normal wolf-ken that he created himself.

Ken Hisatsu/GekiChopper:

He is pretty much a love-able goofball. I like the dude but out of everyone else on the team, he kinda gets lost in the shuffle character-wise given when he is introduced. He gets introduced while the Kenma arc is wrapping up and Long starts showing up around that time as well. Even under those circumstances, he still gets his time to shine and I can't really imagine the team without him. His best moments are easily the lead-up to the end of the Kenma arc. I particularly like his introduction into the show. The first time he meets Jan, they get into an argument over a pastry and the situation snowballs into him trying to run Jan over with a garbage truck. He is a master of Rhino-ken which is the same style that the founder of Jyuken used.

Miki Masaki:

She runs SCRTC which is the company that funds the Gekirangers and provides them with their equipment. She also serves as a sort of secondary mentor to the team. She plays off of Sha Fu rather well and she helps Jan and the others interpret the nuggets of wisdom he provides. Its a rather nice dynamic that she and Sha Fu have. It feels sort of like the dynamic Kruger and Swan had in Dekaranger just without the romance sub-plot. She also has a daughter who Jan actually strikes up a rather nice friendship with and its kind of sweet seeing her and her daughter interact. She was a student of Sha fu at the same time Rio and Gou were. She is a master of Leopard-ken and she even gets to show off her fighting skills here and there despite not being a Gekiranger herself.

Sha Fu:

The mentor of the team and one of the Kensei. He is a big believer in the concept of the Triangle which is visually represented by him carrying a triangle with him. He is one of my favorite mentors in Sentai. He perfectly exemplifies the archetype of the old-wise kung fu master who speaks in philosophy. He and the other Kensei took a vow to not fight after the RinJyu Rebellion but he still manages to show his skills by blocking and dodging pretty much every attack Rio throws at him in episode 4. He was originally chosen to be Brusa Li's successor but he turned it down and suggested another pupil (Maku) be chosen instead. I'll go more in-depth into the ramifications of that once we get into the RinJyuken side of things. Oddly enough, he and Miki have the same mentor dynamic as Kruger and Swan from Dekaranger just without the romance subplot.

The Other Kensei: The Kensei are all pupils of the founder of Jyuken: Brusa Li. Originally Brusa Li had ten students, seven became the Kensei and the other three rebelled. Those three became the Kenma, RinJyuken's founders. There is also a Triangle among the Kensei which is introduced during the Kageki arc. Its the original Heart, Body, and Technique Triangle formed by Gorie Yen (Heart), Michelle Peng(Technique), and Pyon Piao (Body). Jan, Retsu, and Ran have to undergo Gorie, Michelle, and Pyon Piao's trials in order to gain access to Kageki. The Kageki arc is great because we get to see the Jan, Ran, and Retsu take on each of their weaknesses by facing off against the Kensei triangle. The Kensei's names are all references to martial arts film actors. I particularly love how the show keeps bringing these guys up even after their introduction. Even though they're technically side characters, they still feel like a major part of the show and they even have a major impact near the end.

Suits: This is going to work a little differently since its a three part review. I'll cover the Gekirangers' suits here and cover Rio and Mele's suits in the RinJyuken portion of the review.

I love these suits. They fit the martial arts and animal motifs rather well. The black highlights work well on all five suits The black and white portions of GekiViolet's suit work really well together and make the violet pop. The orange on GekiChopper's suit works really well with the black and both colors compliment the white rather well.

Jan, Retsu, and Ran get Super Gekiranger modes that are accessed through using the Super Geki Claw developed by SCRTC alongside channeling their Kageki. The torsos become white and the claw insignia turns into each of their colors. The spots and stripes on their suits turn into jets that allow for flight. The helmets also get these nice white highlights on them. I really love the color balance on these suits and the white complements them really well.

Mecha: There are quite a few mecha in this show. However, a lot of them are auxiliary GekiBeasts so I'll just cover the main mecha combinations to keep this from running on too long.

I love the Gekiranger mecha and GekiTouja's design is great. Its transformation sequence is rather simple but it works. Its oddly one of the more agile mecha I've seen in the franchise even if some of it aided by sort of questionable cgi. The basic GekiTouja looks great and balances red, blue, and yellow rather well. It can combine with the bat, elephant, and shark GekiBeasts as well. Gou can even summon GekiTiger and GekiJaguar to make his own version aptly named GekiTouja Wolf.

The Super Gekiranger mode gives them access to three new GekiBeasts: GekiGorilla, GekiPenguin, and GekiGazelle. These combine together to form GekiFire. GekiFire continues the red, blue, and yellow color scheme of GekiTouja but adds more black in there along with some white plus I'm a bit of a sucker for the fire design near the fists. Like GekiTouja, it can combine with GekiBat, GekiElephant, and GekiShark.

Unlike the other Gekirangers, Ken doesn't summon a GekiBeast to create his mecha. His mecha SaiDaiOh is basically formed from a giant rhino statue that holds the soul of Brusa Li. I love SaiDaiOh's design. It looks like a powerful warrior. The head looks great in red with gold spikes on both sides. The white compliments the blue perfectly and both work really well with the gold.

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.

My top 5 Sentai villains

Throughout the entirety of the franchise, there have been many villains. Here is a list of the ones that have had a lasting effect on me. Note: This is my current list based on what I've seen so far, it mostly features more recent villains, and it will probably change once I watch more of the old school sentai series.

5. Dr. Kemp (Liveman):

A former friend of the main 3 Livemen. Even though I haven't finished Liveman yet, he quickly became one of my favorite villains, even if some of his plans border more along the lines of just trolling people (like the maze episode) instead of causing actual havoc. I've only seen about half of Liveman at the time of this post and I'm expecting a great show from him in the second half (his place on the list is most likely to change).

4. Dr. Mazenda (Liveman):

A former friend of the main 3 Livemen and Blue Dolphin's former roommate. She turned herself into a powerful machine yet retained her human form. While she creeped me out at first, I began to warm up to her. She is the star of my favorite arc in Liveman so far. It was a really emotional one that almost made me cry when she symbolically killed her human-self. Like Kemp, I'm expecting an excellent show from her in the second half of Liveman and her spot is probably going to change once I finish the series.

3. Basco (Gokaiger):

A former friend of Marvelous. He betrayed Marvelous and AkaRed and sold them out to the Zangyack just so he could take the ranger keys and claim the greatest treasure of the universe for himself. Armed with a trumpet that could bring ranger keys to life. He was the one who found the missing sixth ranger keys. He was hands down the biggest threat that the Gokaigers faced. His rivalry with Marvelous was excellent and thrilling with lots of action packed fight scenes. Seeing him get under Marvelous' skin made it even better. Deceitful and scheming, he even used the most powerful army in the universe as pawns so he could steal 5 grand powers while the Gokaigers were distracted.

2. Wolzard (Magiranger):

For the purposes of this list, I'm going to talk about the purple Wolzard, since he was technically a villain at that time. The father of the main five Magirangers. Blagel was put under N Ma's curse and forced to be solely obedient to him. Despite that, his concept of honor still shined through N Ma's dark magic. The discovery of his identity was a heart-wrenching discovery for the Magirangers, especially for Kai, who wasn't sure whether he should save his father or kill him. His relationship to the Magiranger's led for some truly gripping moments. While he wasn't as ruthless as N Ma's other generals, he still showed that he was a force to be reckoned with. An awesomely powerful and honorable villain.

1. Long (Gekiranger):

Deliciously evil and creepy as heck. His actor really ate up the role. Long is a villain who wanted nothing more than to destroy the world. However, he was also very patient. Waiting centuries to find the right person to turn into a god of destruction. Even going so far as to slaughter Rio's family in front of him to send Rio down the path of destruction. His entire motivation for this plan was because he was bored. He is the type of destruction villain that I admire the most. Cold, emotionless, calculating, and above all, patient. Not only was he powerful but his very presence was extremely unsettling, even to his allies. Constantly popping out of nowhere (which always made Mele jump), getting way too close for comfort, and doing all that with this cold, emotionless stare just to ratchet up the creepy factor. He seems have found a great balance between scary and creepy. I have yet to see a villain who terrifies me more. All in all, he is just really fun to watch on screen.