Go-Busters took a lot of me to finish it, but finally "sigh".
So, let's go.
- Go-Busters. I see this show gets a lot of praise lately and while I'm glad for people who enjoyed it, sorry this series blew its second chance with me. I can't believe it's actually WORSE than I remember (and I can't say I was a big fan back in 2012). So dull, so lifeless, so insufferably boring. I admire its ambitions, world-building, all these techincal details are cool and both Enter and Jin were extremely entartaing (to say they held show together is an understatement, they ARE the show. Thought of Go-Busters without them practically horrifies me), but not a lot of Sentai shows can get straight up unwatchable for me. Go-Busters is one of them. There is dull and there is Go-Busters dull.
- Kyoryuger. While, Kyoryuger is worse series than Go-Busters by far, I have to be honest. It's not nearly as hard to watch as Go-Busters. Obnoxious, unpleasant, frustrating - yes, but not as boring. Still it's really really bad. Like Go-Busters, it's another show that seems to get worse as time goes. I think it would have been a bad show even without the worst Red of all time (with this obnoxious style, unfunny jokes, that shitty visual filter, Sakamoto legs and all), but Daigo really murders it. Also, are there any Sentai villians as bad as Deboss?
- Toqger. Really enjoyed this one. It feels like a mid-00s series stuck in a different time. Good standalone episodes, likeable cast, Akira might be one of the best sixth ranger, great OST (which really REALLY helps to build hype even for the lamest robot designs you ever see, Project R truly outdid themselves that year) villians and their antics are really enjoyable and Zed is a pretty cool main villian. It has downsides like annoying supporting cast (all good guys, who's not a team member basically) and I'm really not a fond of obnoxious
Kappei Yamaguchi screeching. Still, their role is fairly limited in the episodes, so it's not like they dominate them or anything. I was suprised that under kiddy gloves, it had one of more melacnholic adventures in the series. Still not gonna lie, Kobayashi probably needed to try a bit harder with story here. It works for me though, mainly because of the cast. Overall, might be one of the most pleasant and coziest Sentai series out there.
- Nininger. Watched for the first time and it's... well, it's bad, but it's not THAT bad. It's not Go-Busters bad. Or Kyoryuger bad. Or Kyuranger bad. It's about Go-Onger bad, really. Just incredibly mediocre Sentai with a particuallry shitty last 10 epsiodes or so (they do suck a lot, like... why? Why did show even bother, if no one was going to try anyway?). Painfully average with bad actors, but I think with better writing for characters it could have been tolerable wacky version of Shinkenger even with non-existent plot and amount of bullshit it has. It had all ingredients for that. Also, Kyuemon was pretty alright.
- Zyuohger. I get why some people dislike this series, it's unambitious and kinda static, but I think it deserves a bit more recognition. Like Toqger it has that simplistic charm which makes it enjoyable to watch. Still it's not really on pair on Toqger. Show dragged. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes for about third of the entire series. Standalone episodes were all over the place, but I can't think of any horrible or unwatchable ones. Though there is a severe lack of really good ones as well. Still, cast is good... most of it anyway. Don't care for the Sela and Masao is too annoying (he and Ninningers would get along just fine). Yamato is definitely an underrated Red and i'm glad Super Battle is doing him justice right now. Show also has a really good run of the last 10 episodes or so, which I think really helps it to end on a high note, even though it wasn't really an intense series. It was okay, I guess.
- Kyuranger. Like with Nininger watched it for the first time basically, since I dropped it around 10 episode or so when it was coming out. Basically feels like a slightly more tolerable version of Kyoryuger. Dull rather than annoying. Was pretty bored by it, but at least suits look nice and characters are not, like, awful or anything. Most of them are just pointless and underdeveloped. Lucky is a bad Red, but unlike King there are ways to fix him and he's not nearly as obnoxious. It always felt to me that show was just running in circles and didn't know what to do. It's like it went out of the way to be anticlimactic and disappointing. Villians were bad. Not much else to say about it. I get the space opera idea behind show (and it's a great one), but I don't get why it had to play out so bizarre.
- Lupinranger vs Patranger. A lot of people dislike it apperently and think it wasn't enjoyable. It totally was for me. I was skeptical about Pat side of things at first (both actor and character-wise), but they blew all my fears right away. Some of best standalone episodes in recent years (rewatching all those previous shows just once again reinforced it). Villians were weak, but main characters more than made up for it. Both teams are among the best ones in Sentai with no weak links or bad characters (weeeell... Noel was a bit shaky at times. Still won't call him a bad one or anything). It was just a really good character-driven show, particulary with stuff like Kairi-Keichiro relationship. Story-wise... yeah, it's not great, but I don't think it ever really tried to be a story-driven series (and looking at Kyuranger, thank god for that). After rewatching Toqger I have to say that one was better, but LvP is just right behind it in my list.
I'd go with this:
Toq > LvP > Zyuoh > Ninnin > Go-B > Kyuran > Kyoryu
With only Toq and LvP being worth revisiting.
Kyuranger overall deserve to be higher than Go-B honestly, but I can't bring myself to rank Kyuranger higher than something with Enter and Jin.
Overall, a mixed era for me as well.
I think Sentai should just make its mind already towards what it wants to be. I'm fine with children-orientated shows as long as we get some good ones and not infantile gimmick-fest. Toy-centric are fine, if we get some decent toys (seriously for all my enjoyment of the series, Toqger and Patranger "weapons" are just pathetic). I doubt glorious days of 90s are coming back in any case, but I just hope that if Toei would change Sentai format, style or whatever, it won't make show dull and boring. One Go-Busters is enough. More than enough.