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I've been watching a bunch of Goranger episodes, and from what I've seen, here are my thoughts:
-Goranger, being the first sentai, really brought the basics of the franchise, with the five colored hero, the final attack involving all heroes; and it took from Kamen Rider some elements = a standard evil group, with a hidden Big Bad, with MOTW (but more with object-themed than animal themed); the first episodes don't have a main general, then , we have successive generals (four in that case), coming, being commenders for a while, and then are defeated and replaced by another; the first episode is very intense, with lots of death and tragedy, and the heroes and supporting team are gathered; and then each episode tell a different story, and are pretty independant from each other.
- Characters= Heroes: they are pretty serious, with Aka being the standard leader, Ao the second in command, Ki the big guy and comic relief, Momo, the girl, but who's as badass as the boys (which was pretty great for such an old toku), and Mido, the youngest one (but he's pretty overshadowed by the others); however, in Goranger, the focus is much more on action than characters; who are mostly focused on fighting the enemies; the supporting team has the general/ cook, the lady helpers, a witty boy and a talking bird; they are nice supporting characters, but not exceptional
-Villains; they are pretty one dimensional, and there is a strange contrast between the destruction they cause (which is often serious, with lots of death), and their ridiculous appearance (when you see them, they look more funny than really threatening);
- Episodes: the series is pretty episodic; you can watch the episodes pretty in disorder, but it doesn't really matter, since the story is pretty static; except the general changes, the Kiranger switch or the armament changes, it's like there's not really any progression during the series; however, each episode has a pretty self contained story, with lots of action and twists, even if the episode's quality in unavoidably uneven; and it's amazing how seriousness can be mixed with insane silliness; and when the Goranger storm is replaced by the Goranger Hurricane, the silliness is up to eleven :laugh:
- Action; the action is amazing , with lots of great fights and stunts, with also great motorbike action; it's one of the best points of that series; however, the heroes's final attack using the ball feels pretty silly :laugh:

To sum up: as a first series, Goranger has a lot of great points, by bringing most of the basic elements of the franchise; the heroes are pretty nice, but since the series focuses more on action than characters, they lack character development; storyline wise, the series is pretty episodic; each episode is full of action, twists, but unfortunately, as a whole the storyline is pretty static, and not that interesting.
And when you look at early sentai (most sentai series, until Dynaman), it's interesting that they pretty share Goranger's quality and flaws: they have pretty nice self contained episodes, with lots of fun action and pretty likable and serious heroes (but with a comic relief hero); unfortunately, the main storyline is pretty static, the characters lack development, and the villains are pretty one dimensional.
However, kudos to Goranger for bringing a female henshin heroine, and a serious one, as competent as the male ones (Peggy is awesome, and every sentai heroine owes her :) )
Goranger was a groundbreaking series, and even if it has some serious flaws, it's still a pretty well done series.
Your thoughts?
 
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Mazin...Go!
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Mar 17, 2005
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I'd like to add that I think Goranger has flaws only when compared to later series. Don't forget that the one dimensional plots were pretty much standard for shows of the period.
 
The Extraordinary Fan(boy)
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I have never watched Goranger, but i do have watched older shows and i know what you mean about the pacing.

Truth is that it doesn´t bother me, perhaps i have grown used to it but i think that format can be used well, back in the day it worked because every episode was a self contained story unlike today were almos everything is part of an arc, you just tuned in once a week and had a blast wihtout worrying about continuity.

I guess my point is that this is a format that works, but it is not for everyone, Ultraman still uses it and not everyone likes it, it is good and entertaining if you just watch a couple of episodes at the time but if you do a marathon it burns you out.
 
K

Kamen Rider IXA

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Goranger had style and spirit. Lack of them is the main problem of nowdays Sentai.
 
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I love the finisher of Goranger Storm and Goranger Hurricane. They turn into what the monster is the least or most fond of. We need a finisher like that again. I know people are going to correct me on Goranger Storm, but it gained that ability before they got their new suit templates that had their finisher and individual weapons replaced. Just like it gained the ability to change color like the Super Five Ball and Kakuranger Ball.
 
Would like to change his avatar
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If you like the action now, you should like the action in the later episodes when the JAC takes over and the awesome Junji Yamaoka becomes action director. Kenji Ohba also takes over playing Aka Ranger in-suit and makes him a nut. :laugh:
 
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I've already watched some late episodes (I'm not watching Goranger in order);When does the JAC team take over? Starting with which episodes?
Btw, am I wrong or, of all sentai series, Sun Vulcan is the series sharing the most similarities with Goranger (heroes (military/spy themed ones, hiding under a restaurant with a yellow comic relief big curry eater, and talking animal mascot), supporting characters (a military commander, a young woman, and kids going into the restaurant), in a way, villains (cyborg villains),and final attack (Sun Vulcan Ball vs Gorenger Storm))?
 
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