Sentai History

All the colors of the rainbow
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Blackcondorguy
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Sentai History

Post by Blackcondorguy »

I have been watching sentai for a long, long time now, I still really appreciate it and I wanted to see if my wasted hours of binge watching sentai series could turn useful to anyone else. Even if it is just to kill time at work.
So, the idea is to write about past sentai series, an overview of each one I've seen so far, with what I think is interesting about it and why I think it is relevant, or not, in sentai History. I'm entitled to my own opinion, and I'm aware you might not share it. I just want to say beforehand that while I'm bound to be subjective, I won't dismiss any opinion opposed to mine or give my opinion based only on subjective elements.
For example, if I say that series A (let's say Maskman) is better than series B (let's say Zyuranger), I'm not meaning that everyone should enjoy A over B or that my personal opinion on the matter prevails. I'm meaning that, in my opinion, A succeeds more at what it's trying to do as a series given it's context than B. It's my opinion, of course, but it's not arbitrary. So please, don't feel hurt if I give an opinion you don't share. I'll try my best to clearly separate my "emotional" opinion from my "educated" one.
Also, this thread is most likely to contain spoilers. I'll try to state as clearly as possible when there are spoilers in what I say, and to avoid spoilers when possible.

That's a long enough foreword, on with the thread!
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Blackcondorguy
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Re: Sentai History

Post by Blackcondorguy »

- A brief Sentai history -

I'm not going to list all the Sentai series since Goranger, that's pointless and you might find that easily on the internet. What I want to do is to simply explain how the genre evolved with years and why you can't judge a current series like you would judge an old one. Some flaws are inherent to the period of time when the series was produced, so you can't really hold it against it. For example, I would criticize a recent series for having poor characterization, but I hold that against an 80s series, when characterization was generally poor. So here is a brief introduction to Sentai history that might help put the different series in context :

- At first, sentai series were a mixture of science fiction-spy-action shows (think of the UK Avengers with colored heroes, costumed monsters and aimed more towards children), the twist being incorporating elements from Japanese period drama, relying heavily on stunt work and choreographed fight specific to Asian culture. One of the keys to tokusatsu success was the Japan Action Club (or JAC), action star Sonny Chiba's training school for martial artists and stunt performers. Those shows relied heavily on stunts, so JAC became a Tokusatsu resource of sorts, and talented or charismatic stunt performers were sure to feature on tokusatsu series. A perfect example of this is Oba Kenji, who starred in two distinct sentai series and had the lead role in Ûchû Keiji Gavan, after working as a stunt double for some time.
Goranger, created by Ishinomori Shotaro was very successful, so they followed it with another Ishinomori series which flopped. By the third series, they had to find something to keep the audience interested, and that's when they added the giant robot. Huge success that allowed the franchise to continue and landed it its Super Sentai moniker.
I haven't watch those series completely, so I can't say much more about them. Let's just say that, though the general concept is there, they do have a distinctive feel to them.

- With Denjiman, the Sentai series developped more towards what they are today in terms of design and story. While Goranger, JackQ and Battle Fever battled enemies who loved dressing in cheesy costumes, those were evil secret organizations. From now on, Our heroes would battle evil empires from outer space, old underground civilizations and such. The creative teams were trying to see just how far they could go in terms of design, mechas and ideas while sticking to simplistic narratives and characterization. The series were paradoxically more serious in tone yet more childish. What I mean by that is that the characters were really bland, heroes were good, villains were evil, humor was really lame and used awkwardly, sometimes to defuse dark situations. Characters had vaguely defined attributes (strong, funny, tomboy), but they mostly acted as the episode script needed them to, with an overemphasis on Red, who always had to be the hero. And yet, the series were trying to be scary for children, and they were in their own way. Of course, it's nothing like seeing, say Gremlins, or Temple Of Doom, but while children were certain that their heroes would kick the bad guy's ass in the hand, they often pissed themselves waiting for it to happen. People turned into monsters in explicit fashion, monsters turned people to jelly or foam, or just plainly killed them. People died on a regular basis. So, while all the campy aspects of 80s Sentai can make you laugh in retrospect, I can assure you this was not a complete pleasure cruise for children, yet they were hooked up by the action, suits, cool robots and, towards the end of the decade, more complex drama. By the beginning of the 90s, though, the genre drifted a little and, even if it had become more popular than Kamen Riders and Metal Heroes, they thought about ending the franchise after a season that feeled like they had a hard time renewing the concept (Fiveman).

- Jetman was a turning point in Sentai history. Not only was it a huge step forward in terms of drama, but it was also a huge success that assured the franchise a long stay on the air. After that, the 90s series tried to emphasize on characterization, going as far as referring to character names in costume (which had never been done before), stories were more and more complex and while they introduced more and more mechas, writers tried to blend them into the story as best they could, taking their time with the main robot sometimes showing up only around episode 10. The concept evolved with the adding of a 6th ranger, but they tried different things, even doing a parody series of sorts (Carranger). The period ended with Timeranger, which might have been the best show at the time (and arguably, the best sentai series ever).

- With the 25th series, Gaoranger, they tried to change the tone even more. By the end of the 90s, actors were more recruited for their good looks than for their action or acting skills, but that went even further after Gaoranger. The change of tone that went gradually through the 90s was now complete, with a lighter atmosphere, people don't die anymore, or only when it's essential to the story, monsters are no longer scary, the child characters that were all over the 80s show disappeared almost completely through the 90s. On the other hand, overall plots can be way darker and "adult", series in general are better written, as are characters, and the narrative is better handled. To put it simply, someone who discovered Sentai with a recent series would have no trouble watching Gaoranger or any series afterwards. Sadly, mechas have become the main commercial feature of the show. Not only the robots must be shown in every single episode, so you would most likely never again see a main robot introduced around episode 10 (even though Go-Busters was not far from that, but Go-Busters is way out there, keep it in mind), but it also has to have it's add-ons introduced throughout the series. Gaoranger introduced it with Gaoanimals, vaguely important in the plot, which became alternate arms or legs for the robot. Ever since, almost every series has its own, mostly fitted in with minimal plot support, and most shows have their story hindering gadget galore.
It seems that recently, they're having a hard time offering something really different. They want to do it this year with the 9 rangers thing, and I hope they succeed because, though they had great shows and one that was really something else (again, Go-Busters), it seems that Sentai hasn't evolved that much in the past 17 years.
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Blackcondorguy
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Re: Sentai History

Post by Blackcondorguy »

- Chôdenshi Bioman -
The first series I will review is Chôdenshi Bioman (1984), and it's not completely random.

First, I did not watch a complete series before that. I watched 2/3 of Denjiman and Dynaman, a lot of JackQ and Sunvulcan and some episodes of all the other shows, so I do know what previous series have to offer, but I won't review series I haven't watched entirely.
Second, I think it represents an era when sentai series were taking huge steps in term of quality, so it's a good place to start.
Third, I'm writing this in March and it's international women month. Since Bioman is the first series to feature two female leads
Spoiler
(three, actually)
, it just fits.
Also, I'm French and Bioman was the fist sentai series ever broadcast in France, so it's incidentally the first series I ever watched. But that's not really important.
All this not-so-interesting stuff being said, let's take a look at Chôdenshi Bioman.


After their high technology planet, planet Bio, was destroyed by a war over Bio-Particles, Peebo and Bio Robo depart for Earth. They land in medieval Japan, Muromachi period to be precise, and shower with Bio-Particles the first five human beings they come across, then go into hibernation. 500 years later, Earth is targeted by Doctor Man's New Empire Gear, an army of Androids intent on ruling the world. Peebo and Bio Robo gather descendants of the five to form Chôdenshi Bioman, your Spandex-wearing rainbow colored heroes.

Is Bioman a good series and more importantly, why?
The thing is, like most series from the era, it is undeniably good but not it might not be such a pleasant watch. Hence the why.

If you compare it to Sentai standards at the time, Chôdenshi Bioman is great. It was trying a lot of things in terms of concept and story, and thus is creatively very interesting. Izubuchi Yutaka who was in charge of designs did a great job with costumes, monsters and mechas, maybe nostalgia has its part in that but I still think that the Bio Robo design is one of the best ever. Chôdenshi Bioman's singularity is that it is very mecha oriented, which gives it a different feel from other Sentai. There are no monsters of the week, Bioman always fight the same goons, but there is an original giant robot for them to fight in every episode. So the show is still formulaic, but with it's own twist.
The plot is thin, and spread throughout the series with key episodes popping up once in a while, but it's there and it's not that shallow if you think about it. It does raise questions about new technologies, humanity and machines, even though it stays children-oriented all along and doesn't go too deep in those directions.

Now, for the unpleasant part. Though it tries hard to be something else, Bioman doesn't achieve much. The mecha part is burdened by the technical limitations of the time, making the fights flat and not that interesting. Since they play a huge part of the series, you end up wanting to skip most parts of an episode. And the fact that the heroes always face the 5 same enemies strenghten the formulaic aspects of the show.
Though the general plot IS interesting, it's not handled too well, again mostly due to the writing of the time. The good ideas are not developped as a modern viewer would like them to be, and the bad ideas are, well, just bad. Characterisation is almost non-existent, as characters act like the episode needs them to, and not as people with defined personalities. For example, Yellow Four refuses to join at first because she wants to focus on her career, she's convinced in episode 2 and will never again question her choice. Red One talks to animals, which is never explained nor used very much except when it can help him get out of a bad situation. We do have two female characters, and one of them is even a strong woman, but the other isn't and we never see both growing very much.
Plus, the show alternates between very serious atmospheres and plots, such as hypnotizing people then having them blow up factories in kamikaze bombing, and pointless silliness, such as turning footballs into giant plants with evil chemicals
Spoiler
(the episode ends with a football match of sorts instead of the usual fight)
. This is typical of earlier series, but nonetheless painful to watch, as are the pretty badly written comic reliefs, mostly Monster and Jûô.

For all it's flaws, Bioman nevertheless succeeds on two points. First, with some good episodes including a nice two-parter introducing the idea of a 6th member, even though it's more of a very slight suggestion than an actual idea. Second, more importantly, in raising the tension with the introduction of Silva. Sure, you might say that he's just a rehash of Dynaman's Dark Knight, but Silva the Bio-hunter manages to boost the series in it's last part. Though a bona fide bad guy, Silva is not evil in himself, since he's just programmed to destroy everything with Bio-particles. What is interesting if you think about it, is that even if he hails from planet Bio and represents the evil part of their civilization as opposed to Peebo and Bio Robo, they could have gone the easy way and make him part of the side that wanted to use Bio-particles as weapons of destruction when Peebo wanted to use them for good. Instead, he wants to eradicate Bio-particles completely because they lead to planet Bio's destruction, which is a motivation you could totally understand. Some people do think that we should get rid of anything nuclear, it's just the extreme of that. Of course, they never go as far as having him make his point and he ends up just shooting heroes and villains alike, but apart from being an enjoyable third party in the war between good and evil, Silva has a neat design and exhudes badassry, all in all he is a great addition to the series and makes it worth a watch if only you're friendly with 80s Sentai.
This is for the spoilerless part.

Now, some points that have to contain spoilers :
Spoiler
First, we discover through the series that Doctor Man is in fact a Human being, Dr Kageyama, driven mad by experimentations he made on himself to increase his intelligence. And this plot is even developped pretty well by the shows' standards. To my knowledge, this was the first time when the leader of an evil empire was shown as a regular man, and not bad to the bone. Before that, it was either evil aliens or evil ancient civilizations or evil cults bent on ruling the world. The fact that Kageyama was a loving father and husband driven mad by science (and if you watched other Sentai series subbed by TV Nihon, this should ring a bell) paved the way for having a better characterization of villains.
Then, you might already know that the original Yellow Four gets killed and is replaced around episode 10. This summarizes both sides of my opinion on the series.
On one hand, having a major character die is obviously huge for a kid show, and the episodes introducing Jun Yabuki, the replacement Yellow Four, are enjoyable. The weapon used to kill her, the Bio Killer Gun is used in later plots, and the fact that a part of the cast dies gives a sense of tragedy and danger to the series.
On the other hand, the death itself is not handed very well. Yellow Four is in costume for the whole episode, which led to speculations of the actress leaving the series on the spot and the writers coming off with that plot to cover it up (by the way, I've never seen confirmation nor denial of this legend, so if anyone has any info on this, I would gladly take it). Mostly, this makes this particular event, which should have been tragic and intense, slightly ridiculous. That, and the fact that they bury her, still in costume, in the same quarry where they have half Sentai fights. Moreover, once the replacement Yellow Four is fully integrated, they harldy mention the original ever again. Thus, we have a great plot idea that ends up in ridicule because of an awkward treatment, which is a good way to sum up most of the show.


All in all, Bioman is quite interesting and it really tried its best to be a great and original kid show, but is also flawed with the same limitations that a kid show had at the time. So, while it never assumes that the viewers are stupid, it's not heavy on characterization and defuses most of its serious parts with cheesy comic reliefs and awkwardness. And its formulaic aspects makes it painful to binge watch. This said, it's redemption lies in its intention : I could not underline how fantastic Izubuchi's original designs are (again, you really should check them out) and it's sad to see how bulky they look in the actual show. But I can't help but think that if they tried those designs, concepts and ideas in a current show, with current technology and modern characterization and storytelling, you could easily have one of the best Sentai series.

So if you put it in context, since all its flaws are due to the way they did things at the time, it is definitely a good show.
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