Sentai Journey

Rangers: A | Favorite: Gai, Ryo and Kaori were excellent too
Villains: A | All main four Vyram leaders were excellent
Music: A | Kageyama OP! Loved the mecha finishing strike theme that always kicked in. Whole OST was outstanding.
Style: A | Awesome bird motif suits/color schemes, maybe Keita Amemiya (director) had a hand in some monster/Vyram designs. Awesome practical effects and creativity. Whole vibe was incredible.

Rather mature/serious with barely any kids in sight. Episode 1 wastes absolutely no time setting the stage and drama, was immediately hooked. Overlaying plot arcs between the characters on both sides. Love triangle within the rangers. The main villains are constantly involved and getting their own hands dirty, cooperative as a unit but competitive in who can destroy the Rangers and the rule the Vyram, Radiquet and Maria were amazing. Even some comical episodes were amusing though like the ramen cup monster, or vending machine, or a classic hot springs episode. Coming straight off MMPR through RPM going back to 1991, was pure bliss. Jetman did everything right and was incredible, with top tier atmosphere that takes you to another world. Dark yet heroic and adventurous in all the best ways. Loved it.

Rangers: A | Favorite: Tsuruhime, whole crew was fun, Nekomaura cat bus, Ninjaman, hilarious Narrator (amazing recap episode)
Villains: B | Young Noble Junior was great, then Daimou, Flower Ninja Girls
Music: A | Good OST with an incredible OP/ED, Takayuki Miyauchi and Kageyama insert songs!
Style: A | Loved the ninja suits, heavy use of swords/ninjutsu, better mecha than others. Great set of Yokai villains, some villains, face stealer, big boobs monsters, ep47 manga "Today is Friday in California", etc...

I knew Kakuranger was a little quirky going in and gets joked on, but could also see that many don't even actually watch it for themselves. It surprised me in awesome ways. I don't need all Sentai to be grimdark, so this one being goofier and over the top worked well for 1994 humor and vibes. It's highly charming with a lot of fun and great characters. And then when things hit the fan and get serious, it does it better than some other shows. Even had the balls to kill off some characters quicker than others. The Hidden Scrolls arc in the middle was fantastic. The mecha action is great again like Zyuranger. But Kakuranger even being the goofier season in ways, is far more consistent in its tone and storytelling, with none of those "annoying kids" an episode issue.  I thoroughly enjoyed the heck out of this one with no real major gripes at all, it was maximum fun factor. Underrated.

Rangers: A | Matoi is one of the best Reds and the supporting cast is amazing
Villains: A | The entire array of main Psyma Family villains was awesome
Music: A | One of my favorite OP's, insert tracks like FASTEST & GREATEST, 10/10 BGM!!
Style: A | Some of the best mecha in the series. Top tier ranger suits/weapons and the Psyma demons are excellent

GoGoFive is straight up one of the best. It's the second one with a family team like Fiveman and as I had heard, does it even better. A strong group of writers on this one with Megaranger lead writer Junki Takegami returning. Contrast to the last few 90's shows leading up to this one (aside from Mega knowing when to get dark at times), the stakes feel consistently higher with all of GGF and I appreciated that. It tonally reminded me of Jetman the most in ways, or what Ohranger could have been. A few laid back episodes and comical relief along the way, including the awesome father of the Tatsumi family, he was hands down one of my favorite lead supporting characters. Mint and recurring Kyoko were great too. It nails a perfect balance in seriousness and fun like Megaranger. The mecha elements have to be some of the best I'll probably ever see in all of super sentai. And the deluge of awesome music in all these shows, this is some of my favorite BGM of them all. So uplifting, epic, and catchy. I'm a big fan of the Psyma Family and their loyalty with some twisting infighting along the way. The pacing and action is consistently great for the first half, then when Grand Witch Grandiene comes in, things get even more epic. Easily one of the most evil lead villains of them all, with some of the coolest designs, makes me think of the Alien Queen! The final stretch was fantastic with a great ending. This whole series felt like everything top tier that the sentai genre can offer and did it excellently.

Rangers: A | Tatsuya, Yuuri, and Domon are top tier
Villains: B | Gien going crazy was a highlight. Dolnero in it for the money!
Music: A | Some of the best BGM, great atmosphere
Style: A | Love these suits with the blacks. Cool weapons, great monsters

Some of the best character writing with one of the strongest ranger teams. Tatsuya and Yuuri (#1 Pink?) are amazing, her being my favorite female since Tsuruhime from Kakuranger. Domon puts some respect back on Yellow. Loved how retro a lot of the monster designs looked, like Metalder material. The meche seems more budget than before, but V-Rex is cool and all the fight choreography makes up for it. The BGM gives off some of the best atmosphere of them all, along with the excellent writing, this one knows when to get serious and does it very well. Everything levels up in the back half with Time Fire and the final stretch being one of the best and darkest. Heavy ending. Dolnero was pretty fun and had a good human actor stand in for those scenes. Lila was fine but Gien and his descent into madness was a highlight for the villains, maybe another recurring lieutenant or two could have been cool. But the ranger team and actors being so good deserve the most focus and development for this one. It was cool how more of this one takes place in the city/buildings for a different vibe in ways. Coolest jump sounds since Fiveman haha. Overall it doesn't cleanly beat out some of my other favorites but this is indeed one of the best entries in sentai.

Rangers: A | Favorites: Daigo (with Kujaku's appearances), Ryo, and Rin was good but wish she had more focus.
Villains: C | Gara probably the coolest, but rival Jin who wasn't even really a Gorma was the best. Akomaru won me over later on surprisingly, for a kid actor.
Music: A | Kamen Rider Black composer Eiji Kawamura, not as "epic" or bombastic as Jetman or Zyuranger's OST's, but the gritty/experimental vibe fit Dairangers dark atmosphere
Style: A | Where Dairanger really shines. The show is oozing with gritty atmosphere and awesome cinematography, haven't seen much in any medium quite like this. The ranger suits are all amazing, cool bowstaffs, and tons of good Chinese demons to fight. The Great Dragon God was honestly terrifying. I loved all the weird pitch black rooms with floating towers and stuff for the Gorma, or even Master Kaku, etc.

Dairanger will really leave a mark with its ultra gritty aesthetic and vibe, but for as serious as it generally is, there's some tonal whiplash with some episodes. And Kou freaked SUCKED. Thankfully Byakko the sword spoke for much of the Kiba Ranger and moments, but still. The Hellraiser looking Gorma trio are cool at a glance but lacked in personality, even Gorma XV himself wasn't much to take in. The ranger action was incredible and more visceral than the norm, with some crazy levels of violence I haven't seen much of again in others. Rangers having their own subplots building up throughout was done pretty well, but some of them get left in the dust. The final stretch is fantastic, with the last two episodes being rushed, but it's thrilling otherwise. Easy to see how Dairanger has some hardcore fans and I loved it overall, but it could have used a little editing to truly reach greater heights.

Rangers: A | One of the most likable all-rounder teams with a fun 6th. Koichiro was the coolest
Villains: B | Guirail and Nezirangers were a major highlight, the main three were like family but the infighting was fun
Music: B | Marmalade Boy composer, pretty weird but grew on me!
Style: A | Awesome suits, Mega mecha, space base

This was the weirdest one out the gate and a tough one to grade. It was slow for a few episodes, but grew on me tremendously. Consistently impressed by how unrepetitive it manages to be too with any MOTW formula, the pacing was great after the slower start. This is one of the most likable ranger groups all around and I could watch more of them if it kept going. Super Sentai does Power Rangers right with the high school backdrop and school characters. It was cool how different the villain side was compared to PR In Space, but I do think In Space beats it there. Them using Guirail more for a bigger role with Darkonda was awesome, and Ecliptor was a lot more likable than Yuganda. I enjoyed Shibolena though and Hinelar was fine. It's better to have differences from PR instead of deja vu. Though it was hilarious they both have the goofy grandma episode. Overall Megaranger was a blast, the episodic writing was really awesome here, and this ranger team was so good. It feels like it matches up with Kakuranger's tone in a way I like, lighthearted a lot of its run but knows when to get serious, especially with some of the great Gurail/Neziranger arcs. A cozy feel good sentai series that does everything very well. Amazing finale.

Rangers: A | Fun trio with the Gouraigers and Shurikenger leveling it all up
Villains: A | Frabeejo/Wendine were fun cuties and Sandaaru rocked
Music: B | Excellent variety
Style: A | Ninjas

Hurricaneger was pure joy to watch and one of the coziest seasons for me. I was shocked to see this one was so serialized with tons of cliffhangers/two parters and the autonomy the two Gouraingers had from the main group was a nice change up to the formula.  The first arc of them being mysterious antiheros. Awesome designs. Then the cool and hilarious Shurikenger being able to disguise himself was a fun way to get in so many cameos of old crew. Awesome moderate upgrades with all the weapons and moves, the mecha, etc, without the "toy sales" issue of Gaoranger. This one was so focused on the main characters on both sides and the Jakanja had a lot of great lead characters. Gozen with the rangers and the ambitious Sandaaru in the home stretch cemented that this one was above a normal 8. All topped off with an excellent tone from start to finish,  lots of goofy moments but knew when to get serious in plenty of spots. All in all this one did everything right and was one of the biggest and best surprises in a good way. I hated its PR counterpart Ninja Storm, so this was major redemption.

Rangers: B | Remi was amazing, along with Fumiya, and Gaku was solid. Arthur was fun
Villains: B | Doldora and Billion were great (wish Billion was the captain), I liked Empress Medou too
Music: A | The Zyuranger composer but better here, awesome sounds too (jumping), Kageyama insert, etc!
Style: A | Just a stellar aesthetic across the board, suits, mecha, villain designs, etc

This is the first I've seen with the family team dynamic and I enjoyed that a lot. Remi/Ryo Narushima must have been easy to work with and loved this, because she was kicking ass a ton even outside the suit. And then Fumiya was top tier as well (apparently these two got married!) Gaku was a solid red with some great episodes focused around him. Kazumi and Ken were fine. The first set of episodes blew me away, the production and choreography was outstanding, amazing setup for the villains and story, etc. I was loving it all, but it does slip up a tad in the 20-30's, strange comical episodes felt out of place for something that seemed rather super serious initially, so I can see how some writing ups and downs were had. The Topsy-Turvy ep was hilarious though. I thought Chevaliar sucked, would have been cooler to see Billion rise up the ranks as the lead villain instead. Overall the Zone were cool though. This felt like Ohranger done better in my watch order, it had an extra dose of sci-fi than the norm and when it was good, it was excellent. Had a great time with this one. So if some of the 80's ones it pulled from are even better, or GoGoFive later on with the family team again, then I assume I'll really love those. Don't skip Fiveman though.

Rangers: C | Favorite: Burai by far
Villains: B | Bandora and her gang were pretty amusing
Music: B
Style: A | Still some of the best suits ever. Great weapons/final attacks, some great mecha and big battles. The light fantasy (Dragon Quest inspired) overlay was amusing but could have been cooler. Dragon Quaser and its theme, some of the best in the series to me.

Not as bad as I had heard going in, but it certainly has issues and inconsistent pacing. The "kid of the week" thing was the biggest annoyance and felt like they take up even half the actual acting time, thus the forgettable rangers outside of the Burai/Green awesome serious arcs and episodes. Bandora and her goons pick up the slack with a lot of personality and above average action with cool locations, the putties, and the really good mecha content. Some major highs and lows but I'm glad I watched it and had a good time overall.

Rangers: C | Favorite: Kyosuke
Villains: C | Beauty Zonette and Ritchihiker were awesome.
Music: C
Style: C | All the ranger stuff and focus on cars/engines was solid. But the villains were so incoherent with no real theme, lot of lame designs and goofy stuff

Carranger is a goofy one I can see being a love it or hate it kind of series. But I'm fairly neutral on it. Signalman was a major highlight to me and it was great he was featured a lot, then  VRV Master was decent. The Bowzock bar hangout was such a fun vibe throughout for the villains. The leaders were decent, with Zonette and her romance with Kyosuke being a fun arc. There's no tonal whiplash throughout, but something about the show and even the music seemed so random and all over the place. Goofy stuff. No real issues overall though, decent watch.

Rangers: C | Needed more BullBlack
Villains: C | Space Pirates Balban were fine, but like the rangers, not sure they'll be that memorable. Spectral Empress Iliess was my favorite of the lead villains.
Music: B | Carranger composer, better music here
Style: B | I don't care for these ranger suits much, but all the mecha here is great and the monster designs are awesome

A slightly better Zyuranger in ways to me. This one was really easy to binge with great pacing, the ~4 main generals making for big arcs here was pretty cool. I just don't think these characters good or villain wise will leave much of a mark. Gouki and the teacher Suzuko were a fun recurrence. The hilarious tomatoes episode. Saya was weak and as the only female ranger, that's a bummer. At least Shelinda was cute and fun. Mouk was cool, like a sentai Zordon. And the kid that was with the rangers a lot wasn't bad. Great final stretch, aside from not caring about the Bucrates stuff at all and the last two epsiodes were a mess. The pouncing and way the rangers run always bugged me, hah (in LG too). But I had fun with all the monsters and villain side here for the most part. Overall I have several nitpicks, but it was an easy watch and fun stuff,  I can see how some really like this one if some aspects resonate with them more.

Rangers: C+ | AbareBlue  world famous chiropractor
Villains: C | Apostle Jeanne was great
Music: C+
Style: C | Great suits and mecha when it's not ugly CGI

Started off strong, easy to binge, and ends well, but I didn't love this one based on my grading. Now compared to my other 7's these characters are better and I can see how it might resonate more with some people. The whole unit with the supporting cast (Emmy, old guy, Mai, dino base) was pretty charming. Yukito being a world famous chiropractor was a hilarious backstory, he was maybe the best. I wish the AbareKiller stuff hit better for me, it was just okay with him and his "games." Asuka was really dorky to me as the outsider veteran character, but then I liked the subplot with him and Jeanne a lot. I thought the kid Lije was amusing. I didn't mind the mecha talking much. But some serious nitpicks would be the ugly CGI being over the top here and whoever thought the ED should come in minutes before the actual ending, hopefully got slapped. Glad they never do that again. The Evolian were a bit of a mess. But there were some hilarious episodes and concepts, turning girls into old grannies, giving people bad haircuts, the baseball guy episode. Overall not a bad one but probably not one I'd want to rewatch or rank too highly.

Rangers: C | DynaBlack was cool
Villains: C | Chimera and Zenobia were fun
Music: C
Style: B | Sentai blueprint taking form, great suits, tech, monster designs, mecha

This was an easy season to appreciate, as you can really start to see the evolving sentai blueprint come into shape here. This definitely felt like Sentai/PR. DynaBlack was like a bootleg Bruce Lee in a good way and DynaPink was a good female. The first half is simplistic, then apparently the show moved to a later time slot and the writers got to experiment more. The back half improves a lot, especially on the villain side with the addition of antagonistic Zenobia and the mysterious cool Dark Knight. The MOTW units even get a soft reboot and new type, becoming mechanical beasts. There were some Metalder vibes throughout this one to me, plus Emperor Aton's voice actor Takeshi Watabe played God Neros, awesome villain voice. Early on the addition of Chimera was cool. Megido was fine, the Salamander People, Evilution Empire, were a solid villain faction, loved the evil humming ambience in their base. The special effects were great for 1983, with awesome fight choreography, and explosions out the wazoo. But the budget looks a bit chaotic and hilarious later on, maybe they were running out of money. The charm remained though. Overall a fun one to watch and binge after awhile, fascinating to see how things started to change here and from what I hear of Bioman and other later 80's installments, they sound amazing. Dynaman set the stage for the rest to flourish.

Rangers: D | I blame the show, not the actors. Shohei and Juri were decent
Villains: C
Music: A | I'm a huge fan of Seiji Yokoyama (Saint Seiya)
Style: B | The ancient technology background for the rangers feels like Raideen. I like the concept of the  Machine Empire Baranoia a lot and most of the monster designs are great, just not sure how much I liked their leaders character wise. The Empress, Princess Multiwa, and Kaiser Buldont were good though. Iffy on how much I like these ranger suits. Red Puncher mecha was very fun and the King Pyramid is awesome.

It's a mess like I've heard, due to so many anniversary writers on top of Subway Sarin Incident/Kobe Earthquake, the show went from grimdark to goofy in a rocky blink. These are some of the most undeveloped rangers because of this. Many episodes are just straight up boring and so much potential was lost here. King Ranger was cool (wish Kou was better like this), but it takes awhile to get to him. I really hated Bomber the Great and that was several episodes worth.  Finally some decent villain characters near the end, but still barely featured them. Good beginning and end, but it's a dull slog in between for the majority of the run and the music can't save the whole thing.

Rangers: C
Villains: D
Music: C
Style: C

Not as much "space" or sci-fi vibes that I was hoping for. And while a large array of rangers sounded cool on paper, it was overkill in the long run to me. 12! I liked some of the non-human characters and the ship/base was fun. Didn't completely keep me focused after awhile, but it's not bad. Better than any of the modern PR stuff I've glanced over. But it remains to be seen if I'll like modern Sentai.

Rangers: F
Villains: F
Music: C | A track or two reminded me of Godzilla Minus One, that was cool
Style: D

GaoBAD. Timeranger apparently bombed in terms of merchandise/toy sales and so Gaoranger goes the complete opposite direction in focus bringing on the most lifeless and uninteresting characters imaginable, with dozens and dozens of ugly early 2000's CGI mecha out the wazoo. Selling toys was the only agenda of this show. It's crazy that Megaranger and GoGoFive lead writer Junki Takegami helmed this one too, but clearly everything else was a complete disaster. Rouki was a cool anti-hero but couldn't carry the weight of the entire thing. The rangers don't even have names, it's just "Red", "White", etc. I can see how some may enjoy this one I guess, but for me this is bottom of the barrel one of the worst and most boring installments by far. Nothing redeeming about it.