So I am finally talking about a super sentai series. For probably the two people who don't know what sentai is, Super sentai has been a Japanese television series that began in 1975 with Himitsu sentai Goranger, that first series would sort of go on to launch one of Toei's two staple franchise. I say sort of because the series that followed Goranger, JAKQ didn't perform well and Toei shelved it for a few years before reviving it thanks to marvel and Spiderman and since then has a seen a new series every single year. In 2011, Super sentai would be celebrating it's 35th team being introduced. (Not 35th anniversary, that was in 2010, though Goranger lasted two years so it was technically still aired during the time that Goranger was airing) and Toei knew what they wanted to do for the occasion. Two years prior, Toei had celebrated 10 years of Heisei kamen rider with Kamen Rider Decade, which saw elements and concepts from the past 9 years cross over in one series and saw its main rider have the ability to use the powers and abilities of previous riders through his belt. So naturally, Toei wanted to do the same thing for sentai and how was the best way to do this, a pirate motif where the rangers are basically pirating the original powers. Yeah that is actually pretty nice joke, I like that.
SYNOPSIS
The earth is facing its greatest crisis yet, an alien empire known as the Zangyack have attacked the planet in order to add it to it's vast empire, to combat this threat, the previous 34 super sentai teams have joined forces to combat this intergalactic threat. But as it becomes clear that they are losing, in a last desperate attempt to save the earth, the teams combine their powers and are able to defeat the Zangyack, but at the expense of losing their powers.
Sometime later, the Zangyack's once again return to finish what they have started and without those warriors to fight them, all seems lost. But not really, as the Zangyack are arriving back at earth, another smaller group of space pirates have come to earth in search of the greatest treasure in the universe, they are also the 35th super sentai team, Kaizoku sentai Gokaiger. Not only that but they also have the ability to transform into the previous 34 teams through the ranger keys that they have acquired.
Captain Marvelous, the captain of the ship and former member of the red pirates who also were looking for the GTU is Gokai red. Joe Gibken, a former soldier for the Zangyack who rebelled after being order to kill children and was saved by Marvelous is Gokai blue and the second in Command. Luka Millfy, a thief who stole from the empire to try and buy a planet for orphans of Zangyack empire is Gokai yellow and the crew's lookout and action girl. Doc Dongier, is the ships mechanic and cook and Gokai green being the smart one of the group. Ahim de Famille, the princess of a destroyed planet who joined up with the team to inspire her people is gokai pink, and rounding out the team is the pet macot Navi who also was a part of the red pirates and serves the team hints on how to find the Greatest treasure in the Universe. Not long after arriving on the planet, the crew grows by one with the introduction of Gai Ikari, a sentai fanboy who nearly lost his life during the first invasion when he was trying to save a little girl, and during his hospital stay was granted the powers of Gokai silver by the spirits of the Dragonranger, Timefire, and Abarekiller.
While they have no intentions of saving the planet, their search does bring them in conflict of the Zangyack invading force made up of Warz Gill the son of the emperor and commander of the fleet, Insarn the technical officer and by extension the evil genius, Damaras a high ranking soldier within the Zangyack who serves as the second in command of the ship(though he may be the actually commander due to Gill's less then compatent plans.) and finally Barizorg a cybornetically modified soldier that serves as Warz Gill's bodyguard who reminds Joe a bit too much of a former friend. But it is not just the empire they have to concern themselves with, as Marvelous' former crew mate Basco ta Jolokia and his partner an alien ape by the name of Sally also have their eyes set on the GTU.
The overarching plot is fairly simple, taking a backseat to many tributes that the series has over its 50 episode run, these generally have Navi giving a hint to the next greater power needed for the treasure and going out to find the person who would help them find it. That's not to say that there are episodes that focus on the Gokaigers but they are fewer in between to the tribute episodes. Though this was not suppose to be this way, the original plan for the show was that major cameo's would be for major powers from the past four teams, and some of the more notable teams from the franchises past. But then the 2011 Tohoku earthquake happened, which saw a influx of past sentai actors appearing and giving more tribute episodes. Though if you were a big watcher of showa era sentai, unfortunately there really is not much representation from some smaller cameos.
CHARACTERS
Marvelous as the leader is what you would expect, confident, charismatic, strong, intelligent and always ready for adventure. Marvelous also is the one with the most history with the search for greatest treasure in the universe as he was originally part of the red pirates lead by the spirit of the previous 34 red rangers in Akared. Which also ties in with his relationship with Basco as his former friend was the one to betray them and cause the possible death of him. Despite his rather uncaring attitude towards what is going on only caring about the treasure, we are shown that he cares about his teammates and he is willing to do the right thing when it comes down to it. The actor himself also just brings it all together, and so I don' sound like a broken record, everyone of the main actors does a fantastic job and has some pretty good chemistry with one another that makes you believe that they are a ragtag group of space pirates. With Marvelous's bringing to life the confident leader of group spectacularly. Lasty while it is not much, he is one of two rangers to get something of an over arching story in the form of his conflict with Basco being something that happens over the course of the series that comes to its conclusion near the end. Its not a major one, I wouldn't say that Marvelous is far too different a person from beginning to end, but it does serve as something to keep you coming back
Joe himself is a good second in command with his stoic, calm, compared to the more energetic and open Marvelous. Alongside Marvelous, he is the only other ranger to get a story that is not immediately resolved, this mostly revolves around Barizorg, who is revealed early into the season to be a former friend of his who was turned into a robotic slave. With the intial part having him trying to find some means of returning his friend's own free will to him but having to come to realize that the man that Barizorg was beforehand, no longer exists. It stills is not a major part of Gokaiger only popping up in two episodes before the final episode of Barizorg, but it does give us more sides to Joe's character other than what we see from him initially, giving him some decent depth compared to the rest of the crew.
Of all the characters in the main cast, Luka was the one character I had the most fun with, in the way she was no-nonsense, the who most embodied the greed and ruthlessness in pursuit of treasure of a pirate, and had some pretty funny moments. Really the only thing that kind of keeps her back is her real lack of a major story for her self, and this applies to the rest, everyone gets a backstory episode that explores how they came to be a part of the team and what they bring. But despite that I did enjoy what she brought to the show.
Don is probably the most interesting of the crew, he very much is not the bravest or best fighter, opting for a rather, unique fighting style that is probably some of the most interesting parts of the fight scenes. But don't let his rather fraidy cat and butt monkey kind of treatment fool you, he is the group's smart guy and mechanic, tasked with keeping the ship in working order and does help to create a new weapon for the crew when they came across a monster who's defenses are superior to their main weaponry. He also in my opinion gets the MVP award for the season in my opinion during his last major focus episode, or in this case episodes since it was a two parter. Being the only able bodied member of the team as the rest of his team has vanished and Marvelous is set to be executed, and despite how scared he is about the situation, knowing full well he is outnumbered to the superior forces, he still goes to help his captain despite the odds and pulls off a fine rescue and fight. Yeah, sure he admits he didn't think far beyond, Rescue Marvelous, but considering how much he tried to avoid major fighting and is the pacifist, it goes to show he does have the spirit of a hero within him.
Our resident ranger in pink Ahim may initially seem like she brings not very much to the team outside of being a ranger, but her time throughout the series shows that she is quite capable as a ranger and is very important to the team. As we are shown in her backstory episode that if not for her, the team would likely of fallen apart before the series had began, and episodes like "Tell me the way" shows despite her royal upbringing and being one of the good people on the team, shows that she is willing to swindle her friends to help someone out after hearing his story.
I was initially concerned about Gai as a character, being a sentai fanboy I was thinking oh god, this was going to be shunpei again for me (Wizard came out after gokaiger, but I watched that former first) and I was pleasantly surprised, he does get a bit annoying during some of his major fangasms, but unlike Shunpei, it is more tone down and he is actually helpful to the group, with his knowledge of sentai helping them in working out the clues they are given to find the next greater power, he also can be funny at times which also helps.
Lastly, in terms of team mascots, Navi is perfectly fine, her voice is perfectly fine and she does get some fine characterization especially near the end with how he helps the team with fighting the threats.
VILLAINS
Unfortunately, while the main cast of heroes are really good and memorable, the villains are less so. There not the bad by any means, I still liked them, but their are issues. Warz Gill is fairly uninteresting, he is arrogant, narcissistic, hotheaded, and temperamental and kind of whiny. Whenever things do not go his way (which is literally every time) he starts throwing a temper tantrum that the group of pirates who shouldn't be causing to much problems are causing problems, as if it is unbelievable considering how often it ends up happening. That is pretty much his entire character, he gets an idea, has an action commander go do it, when it ends up failing, he starts getting all emotional and starts blaming everyone besides himself. They try to give him some more depth near the end of his run as the main villain as being smarter then he appears and having issues with how he is treated, but he is not around much afterwards to expand on it.
Damaras does show himself as being more experienced, being the only one to openly question the prince's certain action, but clearly can't do much as he is merely the second in command. Like the prince, his issue is that he rarely does anything until his final major episode where he is killed off, but throughout the show, he does show to be a lot smarter and is not blinded by arrogance that Gills often suffers from.
Insarn does not really get much, being the scientist of the group and showing loyalty to the cause, though she does get an early funny point where she ends up falling in love with a ranger and tries to get together with him, but for the most part, she is their to enlarge the enemy of the week with the laser cannon. Though I did like the Carranger tribute episode where she sends an action commander that had a crush on her to capture the returning character because she wants him as a lover, it was actually pretty funny.
Barizorg is probably the most interesting due to his history with Joe before his cyborg enhancements, but like the rest of the villains, he has the issue of never really doing much and spending it mostly on the ship until...you guessed it, his final episodes.
Despite this initally weak villain set up, it is almost saved by the arrival of one man, Basco is without a doubt the best villain the series has going for it. Unlike the Empire, Basco does have some connection to the team as he is also searching for the treasure that they also are, is capable of using the 6th and extra ranger keys through a trumpet, and unlike the rest of the villains is consistently active in trying to get the greater powers needed and is shown to have be collecting them. But arguably the best point is his conniving and sneaky nature, as shown in his first episode, after the rangers take down some of the ranger keys he has on hand, he soon sics more on the battered and tired rangers worn down from the previous fight and even when he loses all of the 6th ranger keys, he is shown to still have the extra ones. Add on to that, his relationship with his only crew member Sally, which while it may seem he does care for her when he blocks an attack, proves to be a bait and switch as his back stabbing nature has him blow her up in his plan to get the greatest treasure in the universe. It also helps that the actor is clearly having a good time with the character and is just enjoying being such an evil jerk.
Oh yeah, there is also the emperor of the empire Ackdos Gill, it is very much the same problem, doesn't do much in the short time he is their though I will give him credit with his final scheme of putting all of his forces to stop the gokaigers, and how he did care for his son was interesting as a characterization goes, the fact he also was a threat without a giant robot does help him as it does take going through every single sentai suit, powered up forms and being blasted point blank with the bazooka to actually go down.
AESTHETICS and MUSIC
The main suits the gokaigers have a pretty good looking, they are fairly simple being a colored jacket over a black undersuit, the gold accents do give the suits this nice touch and the pirate hats actually look really good. I also like how with silver it looks like he is wearing sunglasses with a bandana with how he is the new recruit to the crew. Considering how the team would be changing things up with the different powers with the gimmick. The mecha...okay, I like Gokaioh I think it looks great, it fits the theme of pirate and it is not blocky or has anything unaesthetically pleasing. It's the four mechs that are not the galleon that are the problem, yeah, they also look fine but these exist for one purpose, to be combined into the combination mech, I can remember at least two instances where the individual mech's are used, once near the beginning and once near the end, so everytime they combined I was just thinking why wasn't it just the gokai galleon that was the whole zord, yeah I know from a buisness point of view, that means less toy's to sell, but it always felt it was just there for that. the additonal forms that it gets also look good, when they do combine with Gokaioh and are not something it rides or is an attack, often swapping out the pirate theme to look closer to the series they got it from like a ninja or shogun. Gozyujin also looks nice, incorporating the anchor theme that Gokai silver has for itself and referencing the three powers that make him up.
Really about the only part of the Gokaiger's aesthetic I hate is Gokai silver's gold mode, or as I like to call it this really cheap looking anchor that transforms into armor and has the previous 6th rangers on it as probably the laziest looking power up I have ever seen. You know considering how many gold rangers that this series ends up having after this, they would have maybe given him an alternate version of his outfit that replaces the bandana with an actual hat.
The Zangyack design's also are good, they are varied due to the intergalactic nature, so some of them don't look as good as others, but there are more winners than losers in this series.
Musically, the soundtrack has some pretty solid tracks. The opening is energetic and gets one in the mood for the series while the ending theme is a look back on the 35 years worth of sentai, what is neat about this is that it is divided into 3 different versions that play on rotation.
FAVORITE/LEAST FAVORITE EPISODES
Favorite: Ep 27: An Unusual Gokai Change. An action commander that has the ability to change the personality in people causes Don and Luka to shift bodies as they have to exists as the other until they can stop him. Body swapping can be good concepts that see actor's having to play opposite of who they have swapped with, and both Luka and Don's actors do well to mimic the personality and body language of the other character and the episodes works of the two's chemistry really well and the chase with the two "mobsters" is really good.
Least Favorite: Ep 19: Armor of the 15 warriors. Don is feeling jealous of Gai as he starts taking over his jobs but finds he has to work with him when a new action commander causes everyone around them to feel extremely Lazy. The episode already loses some point for introducing the gold mode armor for Gokai silver, only three episodes after his debut. It also loses more points for being a jealous of the new guy because he is taking my stuff over story which causes issues between the two. Despite that, I do enjoy the idea of Gai using his creativity to just create new keys like how he combines both Go-on Silver and golds key for this mashup, if only the armor he thought of didn't look awful.
Favorite: Ep 13: Tell Me the Way. A would be kidnapper kidnaps Ahim in order to get a ransom, Unfortunately for him, he chose the wrong person and despite wanting to back out, Ahim intends to carry out the ransom for the man. One of the funnier episodes in my opinion, its one where poor communication and shows that the the sweet princess of the group is very willing to swindle her own team to give some stranger who tried to accost her.
Favorite: Ep 28, Wings are eternal, when the crew runs in with a action commander bounty hunter that Marvelous had a near death experience with, Marvelous' confidence begins to waver as a ghost of sentai's past comes to kick them into shape. One of the few time's that Marvelous feels extremely vulnerable, and the intial fight shows how dangerous this new foe is against the heroes in how he casually ignores finishers like they are nothing. Though the fact that he is defeated in one episode does sort of undermine this. But the highlight is Toshihide Wakamatsu returning to guest star as his iconic sentai role Gai Yuki which sees him not putting up with anything the current team is and just being awesome, it has gotten me interested in watching jetman even more when I get there.
There are a lot more episodes I like but to ensure this is not an hour read, lets finish things off.
CONCLUSION
Gokaiger is by no means the deepest series that sentai has ever done, the story is very simplistic in order to focus on the anniversery stuff. But in terms of pure enjoyment, Gokaiger is a series that is very high, the characters a fun and have a great dynamic, the action is good, showing just how far the series had come to that point, and while I didn't have any idea on the primary anniversary elements outside of returning cast members, feels like it is honoring what came before hand. It something I can reccomend to both new and old fans alike and when I have more sentai under my belt, maybe I will come back to this to see what I missed.
FINAL GRADE: A
Comments