Abaranger; a detailed review. Part One: the main heroes

 With Kyoryuger coming soon in Japan, I'd like to write a detailed review of the previous dinosaur themed sentai, Bakuryuu sentai Abaranger, which is my favorite sentai series. I've not seen a lot of reviews about that series, and I feel that series is often overlooked by the fandom.
Storyline : 65 millions years ago, at the end of the dinosaur era, a meteorite fell on Earth, and, as a result, split Earth into two parallel universes :one part became our Earth " another Earth", with the other part becoming "Dino Earth", where the dinosaurs never went extinct, but evolved into an intelligent beast called "Bakuryuu", living with a specific species of humans, called "Ryujin". However, the Evorian, invaders coming from the meteorite, conquered Dino Earth, and then, decided to invade another Earth. A young warrior from Dino Earth went to another Earth to seek warriors with "Dino Guts", being able to team up with Bakuryuu and fight the Evorian. Three young people, a young father, a famous chiropractor, and a young girl knowing a lot about mechanics have been able to hear the voices of the Bakuryuu, and thanks to their Dino Guts, were able to become the new heroes to protect our Earth: the Abarangers

1) Our  Heroes

Ryouga Hakua/ Abared: he's a young man with a very cheerful and optimistic personality. He's an environmental protection investigator who has worked in US national parks, and as such, he has a big knowledge about nature and how to survive in it. As a very nice man, he wants to believe in others, and wants to like everyone. However, what sets Ryouga apart from most Red rangers (and most sentai rangers) is the fact that he has the responsibility of being the father figure of his young orphan niece, Mai. Being able to give Mai a better future is a big motivation of Ryouga's, and he does his best to be a good, father, despite being sometimes immature, and having to balance his father responsibilities and his job as an Abaranger. Despite being very cheerful, he can feel very bad if he feels he's not a good father for Mai, or if she is in danger. His very optimistic personality is often at odds with his partner Yukito's more cynical point of view, but he's so lovable that even Yukito can't help but being influenced by him, and his positive way of thinking. However, his cheerful nature has been later challenged by his confrontations with Mikoto Nakadai, who did everything to make him suffer by showing him the worst in human nature.
However, he's been able to keep his optimism, and faith in others,  which helped him to overcome adversity, but also to help other people do the same, as seen in his episode where he's trapped with other people in a Trinoid's dimension or the episode with the young boy who wants to win a race.
After the fight with the Evolian, he goes back in the US with Mai.

Some other photos of Ryouga.

Yukito Sanjou/ Abareblue: a rich charismatic  and talented chiropractor, who was born from a very wealthy family.  He earns a lot of money by demanding high fees for his talents, especially from rich patrons, and is so famous that even an famous American baseball player came to Japan to ask for his skills. He is pretty cynical, and has a cold exterior, but a lot of that personality stems from his sad childhood, where he was forces to have a strict education where money is the most important stuff. When he fell in love with a girl in high school, his father paid the girl's parents to move out and prevent that love to get in the way of the path he wanted his son to follow. He ran away from home and became a talented chiropractor. However, he couldn't let go of how he's been deeply affected by his life with his father, and, as a result,  Yukito became very cynical and pessimistic about human nature.  He especially has self loathing feelings, because of the way he felt he was tainted by his father's obsession with money. He has indeed shown that money is a part of his way of reasoning, like when he asks to be paid a huge sum of money to be an Abaranger, or his very expensive fees, or how he tried to use money to definitely cut his ties with his father. But Yukito has also shown that there were stuff that mattered to him much more than money, like his dandy lifestyle and, more importantly, his desire for justice and to help others, protect Another Earth and its people from the Evolian. Beneath his cold exterior, there is a very kind heart and a secret desire to believe in others, and despite being sometimes annoyed with Ryouga's behavior, he secretly is very fond of him because of that.
After the fight with the Evolian, he resumed his work as a chiropractor, with Emiri as his assistant, whom he eventually married.

Other photos of Yukito

Ranru Itsuki/ Abareyellow: a young woman who first wanted to be an idol singer, but after realizing in a painful way that she wasn't fit for that kind of career, gave up singing and decided to become a mechanic. Like Ryouga, she's a pretty cheerful person, and wants to protect everyone's dreams. Her desire to protect people 's dreams is shown in her encounters with a smart but insecure boy (who would leter become a Nobel Prize winning scientist), her idol singer friend, Ryunosuke's amateur paleontologist friend, and of course, her involvement in helping Asuka ans Mahoro be together again She has a pretty aggressive personality, and when something annoys her, she can easily get angry. She always tries to be useful among the team, notably by making useful gadgets to help the others in fighting the Evolian.
After the fight with the Evolian, she went to work in a racetrack, having a famous female F1 racer and former patient of Yukito as a mentor.

Other pictures of Ranru

 Asuka/ Abareblack: He's a Ryujin warrior, coming from Dino Earth. He's been confronted to the war and all the suffering associated with it all his childhood, being forced to live hidden from the Evolian, among his people trying to fight them, and witnessing his world being destroyed. However, he's also an artist who loves playing music, because it allowed him to find peace in his mind and cheer up the people he cared the most, especially his childhood friend and future wife Mahoro and her brother Mizuho. Because he's seen Dino Earth being destroyed by the Evolian, he wants to do anything to protect Another Earth from a similar fate, and he does his best to find and help the warriors in Another Earth in their fights against the Evolian. Asuka is a very strong warrior, but because he uses a lot of energy during the battles, he often needs a lot of rest afterwards. As the guardians of the Bakuryuus, and because he lost track of those that were under his responsibility when he came to Another Earth, he does everything to find them again and protect them from the Evolian.

 

Other pictures of Asuka


Abaranger weapons
The heroes change into the Abaranger by using the Dino Brace; Abareblack's brace is activated by using a key in his harmonica (the Dino Harp)
The Abaranger all have the Abalaser, which can be used either as a blade or as a gun.
Besides, each Abaranger has his own special weapon, themed after their dino partner : Ryouga has the Tyranno Rod, Yukito the Tricera Bunker and Ranru has her Ptera Daggers; when all weapons are combined together, they can be used to make a big weapon, the Dino Bomber.
Asuka's own weapon, his Dino Thruster, with which he can generate very powerful, four element themed attacks that can even be effective in fighting giant monsters; the Storm, Splash, Ground and Fire Inferno; combined with the DinoBomber, it gives it a powerup as the Super Dino Bomber
The Abarangers has a  Power up using the Abaremode, which has the diamond motifs in their suits transforming into sharp blades ; Abareyellow's Abaremode gives her wings.
The Abaranger also have each an Road Raptor, as a mode of transportation.

Besides, Ryouga/ Abared, when he uses the Styriser, a weapon that Asuka has made from a big rock, and  gather Dino Guts  from Yukito and Ranru in it, can become Abaremax, a very powerful warrior, who is able to take the enemy in another dimension, the Max Field, and fight it there.

The Soda era; the era that changed everything in sentai

Hirihisa Soda is probably the most important writer in the history of the sentai franchise.
Not only he's the main writer of nine seasons following each other (Goggle V through Fiveman), but, during that era, he introduced plenty of new elements that were gonna change the sentai franchise forever.
Hirohisa Soda has been a secondary writer for Super Sentai since Goranger.
However, when Shouzo Uehara left the sentai franchise to work on the Metal Hero franchise, Soda became the main writer.
Up to Sun Vulcan, Super sentai seasons were pretty episodic: the first part introduced the villains's plots, how the MOTW were attacking Japan and the consequences of their plot. Usually, there were guest characters that had an important role in the episodes, and were interacting wiht the heroes (in a lot of cases, at least one of those guest characters was a kid). The heroes were mostly fighting the MOTW, the mooks, and the lady fighters (like Salome in Battle Fever, or Amazon Killer and the Zero Girls in Sun Vulcan). . Each episode was pretty self contained, and there was no story arcs until the last few episodes of the season. Moreover, the villains were pretty one dimensional.

Let's review each Soda sentai series to see how many changes he has brought

Goggle Five was his first series; it was pretty following the trends shown previously; however, already, there were two commanders heavily involved in the action: Deathgiller and Mazurka, who were fighting the heroes in many episodes. Besides, the villain casr was more diverse, with an interesting hierarchy and different roles. Goggle V's tone was also much light hearted than the previous series, notably, with the kid main characters (Computer Boys and Girls)

Dynaman was pretty in the spirit of Goggle V . However, it brought a lot of new stuff storytelling wise. The villains were different: we had an empire with hierarchic ranks,  a royal family with intense relationships between the different members. Besides, for the first time, there was a long arc, which asted during the last 15 episodes of the series (the black knight arc) with plenty of twists, and a lone warrior in conflict with both sides. Last point: Dynapink was one of the most badass female rangers ever in sentai, and really confirmed the trend for strong heroines who were much more than just "the girl of the team"

Bioman was the next step. Even if it took many of its concepts from Denziman, it was a pretty revolutionary sentai. First, it was the first sentai with plenty of arcs during the whole series. First, there was the Yellow Four death and replacement towards episode 10; then, the Prince arc during around episode 19-20; that arc was gonna be very important, since the next arc, around episodes 25-26 and 28 was about Dr Man's real identity, directly linked to the real "Prince" character, and then the failed rebellion of the Big Three. Shortly after, we have the end of two beastnoids, the Magne Warrior arc, and the 15 last episodes had also plenty of arc, with Bio-Hunter Silva, Red One's dad and his connection to Dr Man and his son, and of course, the final fights. one more thing: Biman was the first series without human sized MOTW (the five beastnoids taking their place, but without being destroyed at the end of the episode) but it was also the only one.
Bioman was also the first series with two female heroines, and the first non Pink heroine; and what an heroine: she's the most important protagonist character after Red One, and she has a lot of focus, with plenty of action (and she's especially highlighted in the Magne Warrior arc (or I should say, both (but Jun had more screen time, so I'm gonna mostly talk about her). in Bioman, the female rangers weren't anymore the "girl of the team", but they had more diverse roles.

Changeman went ever further than Bioman in many aspects. The story arcs were more numerous, and, more importantly, there was an huge world building in Changeman. The enemies were alines, but there were a lot of details about their backgrounds, their motivations, and their interactions, which fueledplenty of story arcs. Changeman was also the first series with sympathetic villains, villains that were also victims, since they were blackmailed into attacking Earth to save their own planet; Changeman was the first series where some main villains changed sides, and survived at the end of the series. World building was also important in the supporting character cast, notably with a character like Nana, or Gator's family, who was the heroes's ally and had a lot of arcs. Moreover, benevolent aliens were also shown, to show that aliens were also the villains's victims.
It can also be noticed that the main characters had very distinct personalities, with plenty of focus, and strong rivalries with the villains.

Flashman continued the trend stated with Bioman and Changeman. But here, the new theme was the tragic backstory of the heroes, kidnapped by aliens when they were very little kids. As such, the conflict between the heroes and the villains is much more personal than in previous series, since they were directly victims of the villains. The heroes had to confront the ones responsibles of their kidnapping, the Alien Hunters led by Ser Kaura, and the rivalries were even more intense. the family theme was used in a more powerful way than ever in sentai, with the heroes yearning to find their family and real identity. The Tokimura family, who lost their kid, especially highlighted that theme, and their link to the Flashman was a very powerful one, since they were the family that they all wished to have (and for one of the protagonists, the family (s)he indeed had). Flashman was also the first series without an happy ending, since the heroes aren't able stay on Earth to look for their families (or, in one case, stay with them).
btw, Flashman was the first series with a second robot.

Maskman introduced even more new concepts: Maskman had a strong martial arts theme, with the "Aura Power" concepts. It introduced the concept of a star crossed long running romance between one of the heroes and a character linked to the villain organization. The villains were again an empire with strong hierarchic ranks, interactions and rivalries between the different villains, and a big world buiding about the Underground Tube, not unlike what Changeman did with the aliens. Maskman also introduced a third party, with hunter Kiros, who was a villain in conflict with the main villain group; even if Flashman already showed us the Alien hunters, in Maskman, Kiros was in conflict with the Tube since the beginning.
Maskman was the first series having each hero having his individual mecha

Liveman introduced even more new concepts. It was the first series with a blue female ranger, and the first series with animal-themed mechas, and the first having two robots being able to combine into a bigger robot.
But , more importantly, Liveman had an unique main story. For the first time, it can be noticed that the heroes and the villains were from a common background, as university students,  and were former friends. As a result, the conflict is even more personal and painful,  with a real sadness, because they were seeing people they knew becoming their enemies and were forced to fight against them. The theme of revenge was very prominent, since the heroes lost a lot of people they cared for (and for two of the heroes, siblings), because of their former friends's betrayal. However, the desire for revenge is mixed with a desire to save their former friends, and the consequences of choices that are made is an important theme. A lot of episodes deal with th heroes's  desire to see their former friends realize their mistake, and stop being evil and look for redemption (it worked in one case, since one of their enemies becomes their friend again). More than ever, rivaliries between villains were highlighted. Another huge theme of the series is the theme of knowledge and intelligence and how science should  never overshadow ethics and morality.The ending is definitely bittersweet, and there is a feeling of an huge waste of lives.
Liveman was also the frst series to introduce midway through the series regular additional heroes among the core team (Big One in JAKQ is a special case, since he's more of a commander replacement)

Turboranger even introduced more new concepts. It was the first series with a strong fantasy feeling, with fairies, demons, fantasy creatures. Moreover, it introduced the concept of high school heroes, and their school life was shown a lot. Once again, the heroes had enemies being with them in high school (the Nagare Boma, Yamimaru and Kirika) who pretty much were the link between the high school setting and the demon villains. In my opinion, Kirika is the character that used the most effectively the concept of "sympathetic villainess"; at the beginning, we see her as a pretty sympathetic character, who's forced to discover her real background. As a result, she becomes a villainess because she felt it was what she had to do. But it's obvious that she's not really evil, and when she comes in terms with her origins, she doesn't feel the need to do evil stuff and fight, and comes back being what she really was: a nice girl.

Fiveman was the last series penned by Soda. At the time, Soda was reusing concepts of his previous series, and it's obvious that, after eight seasons, he was burnt out.
However, Fiveman did introduce some new concepts. It was the first sibling sentai team, a concept that is gonna be used in some following series, and once again the theme of family was important. Moreover, the a lot of wackiness seen in the daily life of Zone (the villain group) is a precursor of future 90' villains groups, like the Bandora gang or the Yokai of Kakuranger.

To conclude, in nine series, Soda brought a lot of new concepts in sentai, handling plenty of different themes, more than ever fleshing heroes and villains, and telling in each season a detailed story.
All those series have changed forever the sentai franchise, and influenced a lot future series.

Timeranger: a very atypical plot

I've been rewatching Timeranger, and I think that, among sentai series, that one has a very different focus than all the others.
Almost all Super Sentai series are about defeating the main villain group to protect Earth and bring back peace on earth (and the Universe).
However, in Timeranger, even if, at first glance, it is about defeating the Londarz to protect Earth, after watching the finale, you realize that the real plot concerning the heroes isn't about protecting earth, but rather, be able to choose their own destiny.
When you look at the heroes, you see how much the theme of destiny is important for them:
-Tatsuya/ TimeRed: he feels like he can't escape his fate of being his father's successor in the Asami group; despite that, he tries to find a different way to live, a way that's his own way (the Tomorrow Research) and not what his family decides for him; a lot of episodes deal with that theme, and how it influences his relationship with his dad. Timeranger is a lot about how Tatsuya is gonna find his way, and choose his fate.
- Ayase/Timeblue: he's got a disease, which forced him to give up his racing career and he's only got one or two years to live: despite that, he decides to choose to live the way he wants; even if his life isn't gonna be very long, he's gonna choose the way to live the time he's got.
Naoto/ Timefire: it's interesting to see how he wants to climb the social ladder, despite his poor upbringing, that made him suffer; by becoming Timefire and  the City Guardians leader, he wants to change his social fate, by being close to powerful people and get power that way
Shion and Yuuri have both had an event early in their lives that had an huge impact on their destiny (Shion losing his planet, and being raised in a lab on Earth; Yuuri losing her family to Dolnero, and, as a result, becoming a cop to follow her father's footsteps and bring her family's murderers to justice), and have to live with it and find their way
- and then we have Domon, who falls in love with Honomi-san and has to make choices about how to deal with that, despite being from a different era from them.
Let's review Timeranger's villains, and look how they're different from the standard sentai villain group:
-Dolnero: despite beign a cruel and ruthless gangster, he's just that, a gangster who wants to gain money, but not destroying or taking over the world: his role in the big plots during the series is pretty limited, and he doesn't condone Gien's destruction, but when Gien goes to far, he tries to stop him. Moreover, he doesn't really care about what is gonna happen to the Londarz prisoners he's released. Lila is merely his moll, and nothing else
Despite being the apparent Big Bad, Dolnero doesn't have the evilness of sentai Big Bads
-Gien : he fits more the role of Big Bad and he's the one making the most destructive plans: and he's the final villain who id defeated; however, he has a very tragic backstory, and it's arguable if he's really responsible of all the horrors he's been doing. Moreover, the final plot shows clearly that he seems to be very important in the making of history, and that's why, after Dolnero incapacitated him, he's been released by
- Captain Ryuuya: as the one being pulling the strings of the plot, and the one who was the mastermind of all that happened in the show, he seems to be a real Big Bad. And why has he done all that stuff? to save his life. However, it's forgetting the important fact that he wanted to save his life without otherwise changing history and also protecting the 30th century, which means that, had he done nothing, events would have been pretty as destructive as they have been with him pulling the strings; perhaps even worse, since apparently, had he done nothing, Yuuri, Domon, Ayase and Shion would have died. One could say that Ryuuya is responsible for Naoto's death; but Naoto has been choosing his fate of his own free will.

Even if the Timeranger, for most of the series, were fighting criminals to protect Japan from them, the big scale fight was pretty beyond them, and when you look at the final episode, there's no way to know if the Blue, Pink, Green and Yellow's decision was the best for the world; but it was their choice, and that's what was important. More than defeating the villains, I feel that the real aim of the Timeranger was the possibility to be able to choose their destiny.

sentai ladies and their animal/ magical creature motif

In Super sentai, a lot of series have animal motifs, with mechas or suits themed with an animal or a magical creature. I felt it would be interesting to notice that the ladies in the teams follows some trends about their creature theme:
Usually, the girls have lighter and/or less impressive animals than the guys
1) In a bunch of sentai series, the girl member (or one of the girls) of the team have the flying (bird or bird-like animal) within the team
- in dinosaurs themed series, the girls have the Pteranodon (Pteraranger in Zyuranger, and Abareyellow)
- in series when the Red member has the dragon, the pink one have the Phoenix (Changephoenix, Houou ranger in Dairanger, Goseipink)
- in Kakuranger, Tsuruhime has the crane as her animal theme

2) In others, the girls have the cutest animals or creature within the different themes: examples: Gingapink has the cat, Magipink has the fairy, Yellow Buster has the rabbit, and in a extent, Shinkenpink has the turtle and Shinkenyellow the monkey (which are cuter than the guys's lion, dragon and bear); other comment in Jetman, while the guys are all bird of prey themed, the girls have the swallow and the swan who look less dangerous; and in Gekiranger, Gekiyellow's second secondary animal mecha is a penguin (and the female mentor is penguin themed)

3) In some series, the girls will have the marine mammal or marine mammal like creature (especially series with blue water themed female ranger) examples: Blue Dolphin (Liveman), Hurricaneblue (both dolphin themed); Changemermaid and Magiblue (Mermaid themed)

4) However, some series have the girls have a badass and impressive animal motif: while big felines are usually for the guys (notably the lion), since Gaoranger, a lot of girls are themed after the badass tiger (Gaowhite, Go-on Silver (she has Jetras as her partner) and Goseiyellow (examples of guys being tiger themed include Kibaranger, Gekired, and in a way, Tigerranger (who is smilodon themed)); and Gekiyellow is themed after the cheetah (okay, the cheetah is less impressive than the guys's tiger and jaguar, but still): and Go-on yellow has a bear theme (bear being mostly a guy animal (ex: Ninjayellow, Shinkengreen); lastly, Kyoryupin has the triceratops, that was the blue warrior dinosaur previously

Last comments:
- even if those animals are usually for girls, it doesn't mean guys can't be themed after them: Ohred, Magired are phoenix themed, Abarekiller is pterosaur themed, Red Buster is cheetah themed (and see above about the bear and the tiger)
- the impressive elephant is usually a girl linked secondary animal (Gaoyellow, Gekiyellow)
- in Abaranger, which has mechas that can be male or female, the impressive ankylosaur is female
- Ohranger is an interesting case, where the guys have animal mechas , but the girls have puppet like mechas (Dogu and Moai); in tune with the ancient civilisation theme of the series ( since Blue's lion is sphinx like (Egypt) and Green's taurus is linked to greek ancient civilization)

Gai Yuki: being both Jetman's blessing and Jetman's curse?

Thinking again about Jetman, I feel that Gai (Black Condor) has brought a lot to Jetman, but, paradoxally, is somewhat responsible of some of Jetman's flaws.
There's no doubt that Gai is a memorable character; he's an anti-hero, rebellious, and he is very reluctant to fight as a Jetman; and the season shows him having a lot of character development, and his transformation from a selfish jerk to a real and true hero; moreover, he has a great rival in Grey. he's one of the main reasons Jetman remains remembered so much, even more than 20 years after it aired (and his final fate made him even more memorable).
However, unfortunately, I feel that the way Jetman focused on Gai has been done to the detriment of the others heroes, who are pretty sidelined. That's especially true for Ako and Raita, who seem to be almost forgotten, with only a few focus episodes, which aren't the best of the series. Kaori has great development at the beginning, when we see that rich sheltered girl become a brave fighter; unfortunately, past episode 20, the main question about Kaori isn't "how is she going to make a contribution to the team " but rather "who's gonna be her boyfriend", and her focus episodes suffer from that issue.
Then, there's Ryu. Ryu, being the Red hero, has of course a lot of focus; but in a sense, he suffers because he seems to basically become mostly Gai's foil. Another problem with Ryu is that I don't think he's a very good leader; sometimes, I feel that he doesn't really realize what 's happening with his teammates, how to handle Gai; besides, it would have been great character development to show him admit, especially to Gai, that his will to fight was more linked to his personal drama than abstract concepts of justice. Of course, it can be argued that Ryu having leadership problems makes him an interesting character. And of course, there is the Ryu/ Rie-Maria storyline; about that; let's just say that Abaranger has handled a similar plot MUCH MUCH better.
To sum, up, I feel that Jetman realizes too much that Gai is gonna be THE MOST MEMORABLE character of the show, and the other heroes suffer from it.

similarities between Jetman and Abaranger; Inoue vs Arakawa

 Hi
As my first post on this blog, I wanted to post again an analysis about Jetman and Abaranger, how they are similar and why they are also different:
Jetman and Abaranger have a lot of similarities:
- The same colors for the rangers : red, blue, yellow, black and white (OK Abarekiller is mostly a villain, and there are two girls in jetman, but still)
- among the team: a professional warrior (red hawk and abareblack) and the rest are randomly selected civilians
- among the team: a character with a jerk attitude who clashes with the red ranger, but beneath a heart of gold (Gai Yuuki and Yukito Sanjou)
- among the team: someone with a rich upbringing and who in fact him(her)self very rich (Kaori Rokumeikan and Yukito Sanjou)
- a high school girl protagonist (Ako Hayasaka (Jetman) and Emiri Imanaka (abaranger) (even if the latter isn't a ranger))
- a story line where one of the heroes is romantically involved with the female villain, who is his brainwashed girlfriend (or wife) (Ryu and Rei/Maria, Asuka and Mahoro/Jannu)
- About the aformentioned girlfriend : a Japanese name for the good self (Rie and Mahoro) and a Western name for the evil self (Maria and Jannu (Jeanne))
- In both cases, before being brainwashed, the girlfriend was fighting alongside the hero
- in both cases, the hero discovers that her enemy has his girlfriend appearance about episode 6-7 and realizes that she is indeed his girlfriend in episode 31-32
- in both cases, the girlfriend stabs the main villain without killing him in a very late episode (Rie stabs Radiguet in episode 49, Mahoro stabs Dezumozorya in episode 48) and realizes her crimes about the same time (Rie and Mahoro in both episodes 49)
- A child villain who underwent a rapid growth about episode 36-37 , and who changes his (or her) name by making it longer (Tran -> Tranza and Rije -> Rijewel)
- Importance of classical music ( the piano playing of Maria in Jetman and the classical music themed giganoïds created by Voffa in abaranger)
- music sensitivity among the characters (Grey and Ryu in Jetman ; Asuka, the Bakuryus and Mahoro in Abaranger)
- a sympathetic monster of the week who survived and found a job among the humans (Dryer Jigen in jetman; Yatsudenwani in abaranger)
- the antagonists are characters from another dimension
- And both had their dead rangers returning in Gokaiger
- about individual episodes:
one episode with a character who has a leg paralysis that she must overcome
one episode about greed
in one episode some of the protagonists must deal with a character of the day who want to commit suicide ( episode 12 of Jetman and episode 9 of abaranger)
wacky episodes about episode 10 ( the ramen episode in jetman, the bear-mushroom in abaranger) episode 26 (the prehistoric episode of jetman, the cartoon episode of abaranger) and episode 45-46 (the tomato king episode in jetman, the rumba monkey episode in abaranger)
- and just for fun : since now scientists believe that birds are just a subgroup of dinosaurs: both series are dinosaurs themed.

That said, they are also very different, and I feel that those differences really reflect the different writing styles of Inoue and Arakawa, even when they handle similar concepts
-Inoue loves drama, melodrama, and drama ending in a tragic way (and it shows in his Rider series, and in Cutie Honey); in Jetman he introduces plenty of episodes and arcs with tragic outcomes; the Radiguet amnesia, with the sick girl who's finally killed, the whole JetGaruda intro arc, with three characters introduced in one ep, and killed in the following one; and it can be seen in some fillers as well; comedy in Jetman is handled by different writers (notably Arakawa) ; and that affinity for tragedy is shown in Maria/Rie's death, and he couldn't resist having a hero killed after the end of the Vyram fight (the famous Gai Yuuki's death); likewise, he tries to have Jetman go beyond the sentai concept and sometimes, it tries to be a drama; in a sense, Inoues affinity for writing Rider series is linked to the fact he is able to write his drama stuff more easily, since he hasn't the constraints of the sentai formula, and can write more edgy stuff. Series penned by Inoue have a tendency to take themselves very seriously
- Arakawa, and the other hand wants sentai to be mostly fun, and not to take itself too seriously; Abaranger is light hearted ( the talking dinos, the heartwarming Dino restaurant, and the importance of comedy (it's telling that Carranger's main writer is a secondary writer of Aba; his job in Aba reminds me of Arakawa's job in Jetman; writing over the top comedy episodes); drama is important in Aba, and sometimes, its even darker than in Jetman; but unlike Inoue, Arakawa see drama as hardship the heroes have to overcome, but can overcome to earn their happy ending (hence, the happy ending for Asuka and Mahoro); Arakawa uses mostly drama for the main storylines, and highlights comedy and heartwarming moments in filler stories; it's interesting to notice that except Kuuga, Arakawa has not written a lot of Rider stuff, and mostly writes for sentai; that way of writing is also seen in his other sentai series (Dekaranger, Gokaiger and Akibaranger)

Kyoryuger: Actors Interviews

DecaEnd also provided interviews by the actors for Kyoryuger.  Thanks for him again for providing us with this.  I hope you enjoy.

Here is the link:
http://henshinjustice.com/2013/01/19/kyoryuger-cast-comments-on-the-tv-show/

Kyoryu Red, Daigo Kiryu – Ryo Ryusei:

The first time I portrayed Kyoryu Red was for this VS movie. Although I was only doing ADR. Even though it’s just a short scene, it really captures the personalities of the characters and as a team. A team that’s terrible at gathering, that’s kinda crazy. But I think that’s the charm with this show. I’m sure even I’ll be able to enjoy this show as it airs.

Riku Sanjo’s script is really funny. He has really created diverse cast and manages work with us really well. Red doesn’t even feel like he’s the leader, Riku has given every character a distinctive personality. So everyone shines in their own way. All the members have their own things to do, they have their own private lives to attend to.

In the start of the story, the characters don’t know each other and us, actors, don’t know each other either. It’s going to be very interesting to see how we will work together. The first few days of filming were kinda lonely, cause the other members weren’t in those scenes. But when the 5 of us gathered for filming, I knew we were in for a hell of a ride!

Director Sakamoto will be doing great things with this show. He’s really set on making a strong and cool team of heroes. I know that kids and their parents will enjoy this show. So please look forward to it!

Kyoryu Black, Ian Yorkland – Syuusuke Saito:

At the end of the audition, I was really curious about the colors. Obviously, there would be a Red, but the other colors piqued my interest.

To my surprise, I was chosen as Black, the second in command of the team. Black has a cool image, and as they said he’s a “sexy guy” (laughs)

But as I read the script, I realized that he isn’t just some kind of cool, sexy playboy. There’s a lot of sides to this character. Playing Ian for a year will definitely be a challenge, I’m looking forward to learn many new things.

As I’m playing this character, I don’t want to see him as if he’s in a specific position. The way I see it, Kyoryuger is a team working together. Even if Red is supposed to be a leader, Ian will be there supporting him. Just like Red would be supporting Black, if he were to need help. Being apart of this show will definitely be fun.

This was the first time I had to do ADR. You’ll be able to see the team interact in this VS movie, it’s not much but it was a fun scene. As for the show itself, it will have plenty of action and I’ll do my best in the ADR room.

I hope everyone will be able to enjoy this show!

Kyoryu Blue, Nobuharu Udo – Yamato Kinjo:

I’m currently 29 years old, but I’m playing a 32 year old man. I never thought they would hire an old bearded man to be a hero on this show, so when I found out I got the role I was so surprised! (laughs) I’m really lucky that the staff decided to go for a character like this.

When I got the role, I had to attend action rehearsals and it’s actually very tiring. The actual filming of the action scenes are also really tough, but director Sakamoto always manages to motivate us by constantly being cheerful.

The filming is actually done very fast paced. Luckily, all our hard efforts pays off and can be seen in the show!

The members are simply wonderful people. For some reason, it doesn’t feel like there’s such a big age gap. Maybe because I’m like a child in my head, or maybe the rest of them are super mature. (laughs)

I think I’m a bit similar to my role. I’ve left the cool roles to the other 4… While I’m the lame old man. Nobuharu is actually a very kind and calm person. Despite being an old man, he fits right in with the team.

Kyoryu Green, Soji Rippukan – Akihisa Shiono:

I always watched the Super Sentai series as I grew up. I even said I would become a Sentai hero a lot of times when I was growing up. I can’t believe that it actually happened to me. Now that I’ve become one, I really want to leave an impression. I want to inspire the newer generation to aim for their dreams.

We’ve just started filming together and if I were to describe the members with one word it would be “lively“, but out the 5 members Soji doesn’t strike out as “lively” It’s kinda hard, because I always show up on the scene cheerful and lively. But as soon as the cameras are rolling, I become a different person. It’s still a good thing, because I’ll learn a lot through Kyoryuger.

Soji is an excellent swordsman, but I’ve never practised kendo or anything like that. I hurt myself a lot during sword rehearsals, I’ve even peeled of the skin on my thumb because of this.

Action scenes are really hard, I’m constantly doing my best to make it look as good as possible. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m very good at it. After I’ve transformed Kosuke Asai takes over in the suit. We work together a lot, so his suit acting will fit the character as well.

Please enjoy and watch the new show, Kyoryuger. It’s very funny!

Kyoryu Pink, Ami Yuzuki – Ayuri Konno:

As I’m doing this interview, I’m still 15. But when the movie premieres, I’ll be 16. I’m just an ordinary freshmen high school student. My character on the other hand is different. (laughs)

I’m the youngest person on the set, almost half as young as Mr. Kinjo! Everyone is really nice to me.

I do have an older brother, so as we were growing up I used to watch Super Sentai with him. I never thought I’d be in one though. I still watch them, so it’s so surreal. (laughs)

I’ll be playing Pink, a lovely young lady and cheerful kind of character. I really think she’ll be different from many other Pink Rangers. Despite being a rich daughter, Ami works at a family restaurant as a part timer. I’ve always wanted to play a character that’s a rich kid, and I’m able to use my own real experiences from my part time jobs. This is the perfect character for me. (laughs)

This is the first time I’ve done action scenes. When we were first told to do fighting poses, I was told that I look terrible. When I got home, I immediately started working on poses with my dad and as of recent I’ve been receiving some praise on my poses.

I’ll do my best to be a cool heroine, so I can reel in more female viewers! I don’t have a lot of experience yet, but I’m doing my absolute best! So please support our show!