Is the Super Sentai universe in one continuity?

[SamuraiEchidna]

Gokaiger distracts us from this through spectacle and fanservice, but the implied universe just can't stand up to scrutiny.

Beyond that, Super Sentai is not Power Rangers, it is not one long continuous storyline; it is a franchise encompassing multiple self-contained stories which use the same basic formula. This is good because it allows Super Sentai to be flexible and do new and different things every year without worrying about what came before, and it allows a new audience to enter the franchise regularly without having to catch up on potentially decades of continuity.

You are right about it not holding up to scrutiny. That's why it's not a united universe, at least not in a in cold, hard fact kind of way. Any unity between the various shows is implied, loose, unofficial, and exists only for the fun team ups. The fact that team ups even exist is the reason why there is an implied united universe, but no proof otherwise. It's just done for fun and for the fans. You could practically define the whole purpose of Gokaiger's existence as "just for fun", besides the fact that it was Super Sentai's 35th anniversary.

And you're right, for all intensive purposes, it shouldn't be a united universe. And it shouldn't be for all the reasons you just mentioned, reasons I and others have all ready mentioned. It's better to be flexible and do something new, to explore new avenues of creativity that might bring in even more ratings and popularity than before. If there were decades of continuity to catch up on, kids and many other demographics wouldn't even want to give it a chance. That's why, roughly starting with Lost Galaxy and everything afterwards, each Power Rangers series started becoming more stand alone, following Super Sentai's example.

 

[ParaParaJMo]

on one hand, ohranger takes place in 1999, and the following series, carranger, does show it takes place in 1997, and yet they came somehow have a team up. also, timeranger goes to the year 2000, a year after which ohranger is supposed to take place lol. i remember jetman being 199X at first, but later on, it is shown that in the time traveling episode, it is 1991, etc.

 

[Toku Prime]

Personally I prefer to take each series of a toku as it's own entity and judge it as a whole, rather than just a part of a wider franchise. With Sentai that's actually quite easy. I think each series (except Sun Vulcan, Gokaiger, and in a weird way, Akibaranger) is conceived and set up without any regard to the previous entries. For the most part sentai are quite self-contained and as such the "rules" of it's universe and backstories often clash.

The Vs Series entries often reference the ending of the featured past sentai, often showing what they've done afterwards, while remaining vague as to where in the current sentai's run it is meant to be placed. The exact details seem to depend on how the person in charge at the time feels about continuity - Ishinomori had the Goranger and JAKQ crossover reference Kikaider and some of the early Riders, though whether that means he wanted all his creations to be in their own shared world or whether he was just sneakily promoting his other shows is debateable. On the other hand those two shows weren't even considered canon for years, so I doubt the makers of Liveman thought it had to fit in with Kikaider.

 

[NeonZ]

I don't see why this is so hard for some to understand or accept here. The Vs movies and crossover features, in the case of Gokaiger, can reference anything else in the franchise, but the standard tv shows themselves are always written to be completely standalone and unrelated to previous series.

I mean, like I've said before, just look at Go-Busters. Do you really think that the Enetron based setting, with the "Neo Western Calendar/New AD" thing from the intro was done with any thought at all placed on the existence of past shows? It's obviously wasn't. That's why they just randomly appear in crossover movies with business as usual in spite of that not working well with their premise.

For comparison to a similar situation, the Pretty Cure fanbase seems to accept very easily that the shows aren't all in a single continuity, and that every series is its own universe aside from the direct sequels, in spite of the DX crossover movies constantly referencing past events and even each other. I don't see what's the point in making yourself believe in something that just isn't true.

 

[KingWilly]

Yeah. Each Sentai series (with that one or two exception in the Showa era) is obviously intended to be standalone. Shinkenger's world was one in which only the Shinkenger existed, Goseiger's was one in which only they existed, Gokaiger was one in which they all happen to have existed, and Go-Busters is one in which only the Go-Busters exist.

I like that, not having to worry about other shows.

 

[Toku Prime]

Yeah. Each Sentai series (with that one or two exception in the Showa era) is obviously intended to be standalone. Shinkenger's world was one in which only the Shinkenger existed, Goseiger's was one in which only they existed, Gokaiger was one in which they all happen to have existed, and Go-Busters is one in which only the Go-Busters exist.

I like that, not having to worry about other shows.

It's something I quite like about most Sentai too. You can just watch the TV episodes, and still get the whole story. The crossovers aren't a part of the main storyline. Even that Sentai's annual film was usually a stand alone event. Only since Go-Onger have they made any reference to the events and/or power-ups depicted in the film later in the series (probably about the time that the film came out on DVD) and even then it's quite minor. You don't miss out if you haven't seen a movie. Which is handy for little kids who maybe live in the countryside and can't easily get to the cinema, or who just don't have enough allowance money for tickets. And handy for us English speaking fans who have to wait a while for the film to come out on DVD and get fansubbed.

Compare that to, for example, Kamen Rider Double. If you didn't watch the crossover film with Decade, you have no idea why they suddenly dropped the storyline about Shotaro not wanting to tell Akiko what happened to her dad. You wouldn't get to see the first time they used Fang either (and therefore why they are so scared of it's power). Of course, if you did watch the film then you had better have seen the Decade TV show before that, or you won't have a clue what's going on for two thirds of the film. If you missed out on seeing The Gaia Memories of Fate, you have no idea why Fuuto Tower is suddenly a smoking ruin in the last few episodes. Sadly, you can't just watch the show and feel like you've been told the entire story. It's the same with Den-O, Decade, OOO and Fourze.

 

[Painted_Outlaw]

Only since Go-Onger have they made any reference to the events and/or power-ups depicted in the film later in the series (probably about the time that the film came out on DVD) and even then it's quite minor.

Iirc, Magiranger did it too with that white horse mech that they used in the movie appearing during the show.

 

[Hobo ODST]

Boukenger also used it's movie mech formation, DaiTanken, in a couple of episodes of the show.

 

[punk_911]

Not all the Super Sentai series takes place in one universe at such. Because every series takes place in a different universe, in other cases, Denziman and Sun Vulcan takes place in a continuity of Denziman, Gokaiger takes place in a world were every Super Sentai characters exists, and Go-Busters takes place in the New Common Era calendar.

 

[Lynxara]

Why? People like myself would love it.

Why? Because not everyone is a person like yourself.