Gosei Sentai Dairanger Review

This was actually the second or third Sentai I tried to watch back when I was starting out. Sadly I was also in college at the time and class workloads picked up so I had to drop it for the time being. Eventually I just forgot about it. Thanks to Shout Factory's dvds, I was finally able to finish watching this show. Lets get right into it with a show that I've seen universal love for: Gosei Sentai Dairanger. How did it work out for me? Well, read on and find out. Note: I'm not going to cover the Dairanger suits in this review because I've already given my thoughts on them in another post.

Plot: Centuries ago, the Dai Tribe and Gorma Tribe went to war with each other. The war was devastating, leading to the destruction of both tribes. However, the Gorma have risen again. It is up to the Dairangers to defeat the Gorma this time around. Its a pretty simple set up but the show handles it well. Throughout the show it keeps bringing up the war between the Gorma and the Dai alongside this theme of balance. It doesn't just say the war happened and then ignore it to solely focus on the modern day. It makes the conflict feel more "real" for lack of a better term. Evil can never truly be vanquished so good must always rise up to fight it. Balance must be maintained or the world is doomed. A good example of this is when the god-like Dajinryu shows up and almost destroys the world because the Gorma are getting a bit too strong.

Characters: The Dairangers are a pretty fun team. They compliment each other pretty well even if two of them don't get much to do in the show.

• Ryo/Ryuranger: Ryo is an enjoyable Red and I liked a lot of his episodes. I don't have much else to say about the character. I think what makes Ryo memorable more than anything for me is the actor's performance. Dude brings a lot of charisma to the role. The Jin episodes and the episodes with his father are without a doubt his best episodes in the show. The episodes with his father interest me for a reason you might not expect but I'll talk about that in a bit.
• Daigo/Shishiranger: This dude is probably my favorite Dairanger. His episodes get pretty intense and he gets a nice love story with Kujaku. The dude values life in every form, doesn't matter if its human, an animal, or a plant. Outside of his episodes with Kujaku, the Key Jester episodes are my favorite eps for him.
• Shouji/Tenmaranger: Shouji is probably my second favorite member of the team. His episodes are fun and I particularly enjoy his episodes with the 3 Stooges. He'd always take them at their word since he knew what it was like to be considered a joke and worthless given his former life in a biker gang. He pretty much found an outlet when he took up boxing and that got him out of that life. Other than his episodes with the 3 Stooges, the episode where he and Ryo take down the Golden Leg Gorma is one of his best episodes.
• Kazu/Kirinranger: I like Kazu but I really wish he had more to do in the show. I rather like that he basically admits to Kameo in one episode that this suave, cool guy persona is just a front he puts on since he is actually from the country. He essentially ran away from home and came to the city. He gets a couple of episodes to himself but the only ones that really standout to me are the Tofu Hermit episode and the one where is looking for Daimugen's crystal. That doesn't actually make his other focus episodes bad. Its just not much compared Ryo, Shouji, Daigo, and Kou. Without a doubt he has the best choreographed fights in the show.
• Rin/Houhouranger: Rin is kind, caring, and a tough fighter. She can definitely hold her own without the rest of the team behind her. However, like Kazu, I think she needed more to do in the show. Thats mostly because once Kou shows up her stuff kind of gets tied up into his plot-line. My favorite episode for her is without a doubt the Lipstick Songstress episode.
• Kou/Kibaranger: Kou should actually really annoy me but I'm not really sure why he doesn't. Its probably because he is written really well and he stops the annoying stuff shortly after he becomes Kibaranger. I legitimately feel bad for the kid. I love the parallel between him and Akomaru. Akomaru is legitimately what Kou could've become if he had let the heartbreak of his mother leaving consume him. I legitimately cried when the stuff with his mother ended.

Without a doubt, one of my favorite parts of Dairanger is the stuff with Kujaku. I remember loving these episodes even back when I first the first half of this show. I actually enjoy those episodes more than the Jin episodes. Kujaku's grudge against Gara is just heartbreaking given where it spawned from. I'll talk more about that when I get to Gara and the other two of the Gorma Triumverite.

Something I found really interesting about the episodes with Ryo's father is the reveal that his dad is not only one of the original five warriors who fought the Gorma but that he defected to the Gorma during the war. The timing and the way its handled really interests me because its done over the course of just two episodes. It also happens very early in the show and it lead to me an interesting thought: If Dairanger had been made today, that reveal wouldn't have happened until the late 20's or early 30's and likely wouldn't have been resolved until near the final few episodes. Thats something I think modern Sentai relies on a little too much as they tend to drag out stuff like that a little too long for the sake of drama.

Villains:

I like the Gorma Triumvirate. They're nice and threatening powerhouse villains. Though its a little distracting hearing the Imperial March from Star Wars play whenever they show up.

Gara's grudge against Kujaku is actually a lot deeper and more heartbreaking than I thought it would be. They used to be friends until Gara's face was scarred while projecting Kujaku. The scarring itself isn't what caused Gara to hate Kujaku as she admits that she would've been proud to have that scar as a memory of the time she protected her friend. She hates Kujaku because she thought Kujaku abandoned her while Kujaku was really just looking for away to get rid of Gara's scar. Its two friends turning into mortal enemies over a tragic misunderstanding. Normally that would annoy me but Dairanger handled it extremely well. Its heartbreaking when you consider that one misunderstanding lead to Gara joining the Gorma. Gara is probably my favorite out of them due to how personal her grudge with Kujaku was. She is played by Akiko Amamatsuri who played Mazenda in Liveman. Her performance is great and she really captures the anger, bitterness, and heartbreak that Gara needed to work. She will definitely be making my revised villains list whenever I redo that one.

I like Shadam's relationship with Akomaru. Its a nice case of father and son really despising each other and being at each other's throats. You really get the feeling that Shadam deserves every single bit of hatred that Akomaru has for him. Its a rather nice contrast to how Kou feels about his mother so seeing both relationships in the end works out really well. The big revelation about Akomaru's connection to Kou is just great. Shadam is just awesome overall and the dude is legitimately Long levels of manipulative and I love the reveal with him at the end of the series.

Zydos unfortunately doesn't really do much in the show compared to Gara and Shadam other than create Jin and fight the Dairangers. He is still a powerhouse so I suppose I can't fault the character too much for that. His actor just seems to love mugging for the camera. He always seems to make the weirdest face whenever the camera does a close-up on his face. It never failed to make me snicker.

Without a doubt the standout side-villain in the show is of course Jin Matoba. Yutaka Hirose always makes a great villain. It was always a joy to see Jin show up in the show and his episodes always kept me at the edge of my seat. When you get right down to it, Jin is a relatively simple villain: He just wants to prove that he is the best fighter there is. Zydos even gives him magic hoping to sway him to the Gorma's side but even then, Jin is way out of his league and kicks Zydos to the curb. Despite using his martial arts to outright kill his opponents, he still has this sense of honor as a fighter. He also has one of the best villain deaths I've seen in Sentai. I won't say what it is here because I'd rather people find out for themselves. I will say that it is without a doubt Jin's best episode in the show. At first I was afraid Jin was going to be overblown due to all the hype around him but I'm so glad he is as awesome as my friends were telling me. All in all, its a great performance by Hirose and its one I won't soon forget. He gave the character a nice air of malice yet also got the honorable nature across. It makes for a really intimidating villain. I'll probably be adding him to my favorite villains list the next time I update it. While watching Jin and Gara, a thought crossed my mind: Jin played Kemp in Liveman and Gara played Mazenda, if Gou's actor had showed up as a Gorma, we could've had mini-Volt reunion.

I normally wouldn't talk about individual MOTWs in detail but Key Jester is probably my favorite. He just hits that level of creepy that sends a chill down my spine. The actor does really well in the role imo. I particularly like that he gets around by roller-skating. This dude's plot is one of the creepiest plans I've seen in Sentai. He basically uses his keys to steal children's souls and put them into dolls so they can wreak havoc. He also played Dora Sphinx's human form in Zyuranger.

Speaking of actors I've seen before, Kubota's actor from Megaranger shows up as General Cactus. Its a bit weird seeing him play a character that likes to turn little girls into dolls after seeing a few episodes of Megaranger. Thats mostly why this Gorma stands out to me so I really don't have much else to say about him. There are probably other Sentai actors I've seen before who play Gorma but I can't think of anyone else.

Mecha: They're all pretty well designed and there is an amazing amount of detail on the models. My favorite of all the mecha is probably Won Tiger. I love how short and swift the mecha fights in this show are. They don't feel tacked on or dragged out. They're simply being used as the final blow against the Gorma.

Action: The action in this show is outstanding. You can really feel the amount of effort that the choreograpers and suit actors put into it. Kazu probably has the best fight scenes in the entire show for me. The movements he does are insane and his fights always flowed so well. This show probably has the most movement intensive fight scenes I've ever seen. It just shows how valuable suit actors are in toku. As someone with an eye for fight scenes, I just can't rave enough about how happy this show's fights made me. I don't normally mention the role-calls in these reviews but I absolutely love Dairanger's. It is the most intricate, precise, and movement intensive role-call I've ever seen, especially Kazu's. I'm still amazed that the actor himself can actually do that. They all look so simple but I've tried doing them now and then and they are much harder than they look. I can barely do Rin's without messing it up. I can't even attempt Kazu's without falling over.

Music: Outside the Imperial March playing when the Gorma Triumvirate hits the scene, the music for the villains is really effective. It managed to creep me out quite a bit. The shows opening and ending themes are great. The opening has a lot of power to it and I always found myself singing along. The ending theme is nicely addictive and happy sounding.

Final Thoughts: I like how the show continues to remind you just how long this war has been going. I love the twist at the end when we discover whats up with Shadam and the rest of the Gorma. It really helps sell the show's idea of balance. I'd mention it here but I don't want to spoil it since its an interesting bit of lore for Dairanger's world. Not sure where I'll put this whenever I re-do my Sentai rankings but I'd probably put it higher than Zyuranger.