Cho Sei Shin Series

[Sage Shinigami]

Okay, on a whim I've decided to check out a Cho Sei Shin series. Unlike Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, none of these (except Gransazer), are on Wiki, so I don't know any info about them. Plus even if I did, I know someone on this board has seen all three and can offer an opinion on them, something Wiki can't do. So, two questions:

A.) Do the series follow up on each other (which means I have to start at Gransazer or I'll be totally lost)?

and

B.) If the series don't follow, which do you recommend I check out first?

 

[I_Legend]

Okay, on a whim I've decided to check out a Cho Sei Shin series. Unlike Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, none of these (except Gransazer), are on Wiki, so I don't know any info about them. Plus even if I did, I know someone on this board has seen all three and can offer an opinion on them, something Wiki can't do. So, two questions:

A.) Do the series follow up on each other (which means I have to start at Gransazer or I'll be totally lost)?

and

B.) If the series don't follow, which do you recommend I check out first?

A.) I don't think so ... but perhaps there's a relation between Gransazer and Justirisers

B.) I'd vote for Justirisers

 

[ShadowRider]

The series' don't follow each other, but they may share the same universe (a couple characters from Gransazer did appear in Justiriser).

I've only seen Justiriser and I'm following Sazer X. They don't start off as the greatest thing, but they get better as they progress. Justiriser ended up as one of my favorite Toku series. I did catch the first episode of Gransazer and it was enough to keep my interest so I'm looking into seeing the whole series.

Ultimately from my experience I might recommend starting with Justiriser. But it might be better just to start off with the first series.

 

[kyo28]

Indeed, they seem to share the same universe, but the appearances of some Gransazer actors in Justirisers can be summed up as cameos at the most.

I would recommend you watch all three series in order: Gransazer, Justirisers, Sazer-X, because IMHO, the chouseishin series keep getting better every year, and each series has it's own flair, it's own premise (meaning they are not copies of each other with just minor changes). Give it a try!

EDIT: actually, there's tons of info on the Chouseishin series on Wikipedia, but you need to check the Japanese version:
超星神グランセイザー
幻星神ジャスティライザー
超星艦隊セイザーX

 

[Forever Knight]

You can't go wrong with Gransazer & Justiriser.

People complain and bitch about Gransazer having too many Heroes but It didn't really bother me. It was something new to me and it was a bit of a breath of fresh air when some episodes focused on different heroes from different tribes and not just same people over and over again for the 50 episode run, with the exception of "Red Ranger" Tenma of course. :laugh:

Pretty damn awesome Score the series had aswell. Gotta love the Epic music.

 

[Kyusaku]

I wouldn't exactly say all the Gransazer appearances are cameos, there is the ep with Sazer Tawlon when he helps Shouta, that was more than a cameo. The cameos of the Gransazer characters are pretty cool actually, but you don't need to get very far in Gransazers to recognize them all. By the first 5 eps or so of Gransazers you should see all the people who will cameo. One mumbles on their breath about being a hero or something. And the guy who was Sazer Tawlon makes a reference to Tenma(Sazer Tarious). Sazer X has made a connection to Justirisers but only in a movie.

The Chouseishin series feature some great and intense action chreography. The fights are usually very smooth and fast-paced. And unlike Kamen Rider, you don't have to wait til the end of the ep for the fight. Sometimes a fight can take up half an episode. All 3 series have an overall plot progressing through the series, there is some comedy mixed in, Sazer X more than the others. Usually the comedy doesn't derail the story or the mood because of how the characters are written they usually make it acceptable. The writing for all 3 series is enjoyable, it really makes you root for the hero and make you comment on the villian saying "Ooooh so evil!"

I feel TOHO really stays true to the roots of tokusatsu with their Chouseishin series franchise. Unlike TOEI where sentai is too much flash-in-the-pan with their CG and wirework, while Kamen Rider has turned into a crappy drama. If you really like what tokusatsu is really about, definitely consider these 3 series.

 

[DiscoInferno]

Usually the comedy doesn't derail the story or the mood because of how the characters are written they usually make it acceptable. The writing for all 3 series is enjoyable, it really makes you root for the hero and make you comment on the villian saying "Ooooh so evil!"

With reference to the first 12 (minus ep 11) episodes of Sazer X I'd have to disagree with this statement. The 'comedy' is actually pretty distracting (and crap imo) and it pervades almost every part of the show, including some action sequences (which is something Sentai thankfully avoids). I also wasn't impressed by any of the characters, except for Ad. If the show was about him, I probably would still be watching it but them making Takuto the 'red' (and then giving him an orange suit to demonstrate how unworthy he is) was a mistake imo. Maybe he gets better as the series wears on (let me know) but after ep 12, I didn't want to see any more of him. If the other characters (villains included) were better then I probably would've been able to overlook his faults but, with the single exception of Ad (and maybe that human villain who I didn't see much of), they were all immensely annoying. And the 'Tak-kun' stuff made me cringe.

The Space Pirates weren't much better either. I didn't think they were evil at all. They came off as really stupid and as those eleven eps rolled on, it became harder and harder to believe that those 3 could ever have been responsible for the devastation of Earth. If that's what the writers were going for then fair enough, they actually did a good job, but if they were supposed to be a credible threat...:redface2: Blaird starting to cry before receiving that power up and the captain failing to retrieve Whale-12 from Takuto's annoying little sister (btw, Juka > Takuto's sister) immediately spring to mind.

I dunno, maybe, like Magiranger, the show gets a lot more 'acceptable' once it has hit its stride, but I wouldn't happily recommend the early eps of Sazer X to anybody. The cosmo capsule concept was a pretty basic way of having the episodes link together too.

Sage, most of the posts I've seen about the franchise as a whole (e.g. here) suggest that the series has seen a gradual decline in quality, i.e. Gran > Justi > Sazer X. So your best bet may be to start at the beginning.

 

[Kyusaku]

The Space Pirates weren't much better either. I didn't think they were evil at all. They came off as really stupid and as those eleven eps rolled on, it became harder and harder to believe that those 3 could ever have been responsible for the devastation of Earth. If that's what the writers were going for then fair enough, they actually did a good job, but if they were supposed to be a credible threat...:redface2: Blaird starting to cry before receiving that power up and the captain failing to retrieve Whale-12 from Takuto's annoying little sister (btw, Juka > Takuto's sister) immediately spring to mind.

I dunno, maybe, like Magiranger, the show gets a lot more 'acceptable' once it has hit its stride, but I wouldn't happily recommend the early eps of Sazer X to anybody. The cosmo capsule concept was a pretty basic way of having the episodes link together too.

Sage, most of the posts I've seen about the franchise as a whole (e.g. here) suggest that the series has seen a gradual decline in quality, i.e. Gran > Justi > Sazer X. So your best bet may be to start at the beginning.

NeoDescal is a pretty great villian, Groza was good too. And my favorite villians in the franchise were in Justirisers. I think Justirisers was the highest point of the franchise at the moment personally.(Sazer X isn't over so I can't completely comment if it turns out just as good). Many of the people who have already posted responses in this thread will agree that Justirisers was the high point of the franchise so far. I admit my comment about the evil villians is what I thought of all the great villians in Justirisers. But all of Sazer X isn't over and there's still some more possible villians.

The fact that Sazer X is much more of a comedic tone is a twist from the previous 2 series, which I think is a great idea on TOHO's part. I hate how all these people want some super serious series like the crappy rider shows of today. Also it's not ultra silly either, there's great emotional conflicts with the characters as the series progresses. older toku never took itself too seriously. I find Sazer X amazingly entertaining, and is the only currently airing toku show that has me in my seat Saturday mornings dying to watch it. Every other show that's airing I dislike; Kabuto, Boukenger, WoO, Ryukendo(except for Mebius haven't watched it yet). You really need to stop taking toku so seriously.

 

[FreedomR8G6B1]

That episode of Justrisers where Mika/Sazer Mithras kicked Souta's ass...the kick itself mirrored episode 1 of Gransazer, where she did the same exact kick to Tenma, not to mention they were both knocked out the same way. :laugh:

 

[Aoi Kurenai]

I'd start with Sazer X, out of the three that's my favorite so far next to Riser. Sazer X is a bit more comedy heavy, but if you can like something like Magi, then you shouldn't have a problem with the comedy here. Some people liked the first series because it had drama that reminded them of Kamen Rider, so you might wanna start there if you like that sort of thing. At first I didn't really like Sazer X all that much, but after rewatching it I really started to like it. Out of everything that's on the air right now, this and Boukenger are the only things I like, I'd say the new Ultraman but I've only seen the three episodes out so far and it's too early to judge.

Overall it's a pretty neat franchise and a nice counter to sentai and rider. I don't mind the rider drama, but I just think it can be pulled off a LOT better than what Kabuto's doing. In Boukenger, I'm getting a show that's better than the past few years where I actually like the cast, so that adds to my enjoyment of the show. So far the only thing I don't like about Sazer X is whoever plays Remy, when she cried in 26, it seemed so forced.

And a random question, around when would we find out about the 4th series?