This reminds me of a topic made at a Sonic the Hedgehog forum I go to. Years back, they were saying that only characters like Shadow the Hedgehog were interesting. But eventually, true fans came around saying that they liked the Sonic franchise for Sonic. He may not have much of a back story, but he doesn't need it. He's just awesome out loud, and real fans will be dedicated to him before they are dedicated to secondary characters that might not always appear in the games.
The same is kind of true here. Are the stories of the additional rangers interesting? Yes. Do they overshadow the story of the actual heroes? Sometimes. Depends, really. Are they BETTER than the actual heroes or stars of the show? I am gonna say no. Each show focuses mostly on the core team for the most part. The story of additional team mates should only serve to supplement the show, not overshadow anything. I always end up loving the core members the most, but I'll still cheer for the extras just as much.
And if you ask me, I like the way Japan handles extra rangers/team mates better than the Power Rangers adaptions. I know I don't watch the adaptions too much, so I'm not in a position to judge or accurately compare, but I still like the variety. We've got brain-washed rangers, evil-embracing rangers, rangers who prefer to work alone, rangers afraid to embrace a new life style as a ranger, rangers who are allies from the get-go, rangers who earn their right to become part of the team, rangers who are inducted into the team from the start, rangers who die a better person, rangers who live to make things better, etc. It really is a great mix, if you ask me.
And again, I feel that Super Sentai, for the most part, has done a good job of making sure that the story of extra team mates supplements the story rather than overshadow it. They do this by spending more focus time on the original, core members of the team, and (although it can be pretty cheap at times) sometimes downgrade the abilities of the extra characters to where they are less powerful than their shining moments so they don't always steal the show. In AbaRanger, the story of AbareKiller was interesting, but everyone in AbaRanger was interesting, and I could tell you about them all just off memory. They spent their time in a curry shop. Ryuga was a father. Sanjou was a massage expert. Ranru was an athletic nerd. Same thing with GekiRanger. Rio and Mele's stories were awesome, but at the same time, I could tell you everything about the others just off the top of my head. Jan was like a childish tarzan turned Ranger. Restu loves polishing his techniques and is an artist. Ran is a tough fighter with an honest heart and a very traditional mother. Gou was a wanderer because of a werewolf curse. Ken was the lovable, easy-going traveler who could kick a lot of ass. At the same time, there will be times where the additional rangers provide as little as the main cast. In Boukenger, save for a few highlights, I felt like I still didn't know that much about the team members after the show was over. BoukenSilver had an interesting story, but after he finally embracing becoming a Boukenger, I think most of that backstory was easily shrugged off. So, really, Eiji became as interesting as the rest of the cast.
Still, I like what Toei does with Super Sentai, and I have no changes to recommend other than to try and keep making stories that not only flush out character development more, but also keep us interested at every turn and make us WANT to see more. Not like it matters since this still a "kids's show", but still. Would be nice. I said before that I wasn't in a position to compare, but I've heard a lot of recent Power Ranger shows tend to turn into "The Red Ranger Show" by focus only on the red ranger, what with the Battlizer and what not. I've seen a little of this before, actually. I tend to think Super Sentai actually relies on the teamwork aspect better than Power Rangers. Even if it's only the red ranger who ends up getting the upgrade or evolution form or whatever, the show never makes me feel like it is becoming "The Red Ranger Show". Maybe it's because they don't make it a habit of making the red ranger the sole proprietor of these extra forms in each show, or maybe they really are that good at balancing things out for everyone. Perhaps there is a difference in translation between Super Sentai and Power Rangers. Even so, it would be weird to say that Power Rangers is only about teamwork
sometimes and more about epic battles against evil, especially when teamwork is one of the major buzzwords they use to promote the show. But again, I'm not in a position to judge fairly, so I won't go into it. Maybe I'll just leave that to Linkara.
