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Rangers vs Sentai: Who Did it Better?
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Showing 26 items
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Rating:
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37
7.3
8
Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger (1992)
Season One
Better Heroes?
The Zyuranger cast are just bland. Yes, even Burai (Green), don't throw stones at me. However, Boi (Yellow) does shine a bit during his focus episodes. And while Mei (Pink) is just the token girl most of the time, she just turns bad ass during her focus episodes. Early Kim just didn't stand a chance against her.
Chris Hansen would be all over Bandora if she was around these days, so I have to go with Rita.
802
5.9
6.5
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993)
MMPR Season One only
Better Supporting Cast?
Zyuranger didn't really have a supporting cast. MMPR had Zordon, Alpha, Ernie, Bulk, Skull, Angela, Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Appleby in the first season alone.
Neither have too much of a story, but as I said above, Zyuranger makes me paranoid that Chris Hansen will show up out of nowhere. Yes, MMPR had the occasional kid of the week. But one, they were usually closer in age; and two, they already had some sort of relationship with the heroes.
MMPR Season Three only
Better Heroes?
This is tough because by season three the MMPR crew were seasoned, while the Kakurangers are brand new. However, both seasons had heavy focus on a female character rather than the guy in red, which gives them both major points. And I love both Kimberly/Katherine and Tsuruhime with all my heart so I can't pick one over the other.
While MMPR's new villains, Rito and Master Vile were not all that impressive (although Rito was still amusing), season three was probably Rita and Zedd's best year productively. They took out the Thunder zords, took out the Pink Ranger, stole Ninjor, and destroyed the power coins.
However, Kakuranger had ninja kitties so they win by default.
jenndubya's rating:
27
8.4
7.7
Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (1994)
Season Three
Better Supporting Cast?
Kakuranger's only support cast was the narrator and Sandayuu, who had an episode showing him to be extremely sexist. Meanwhile, MMPR introduced Lieutenant Stone to the Bulk & Skull subplots, which really added to their character growth.
MMPR's main story plots were a 10+ episode arc to swap Pink Rangers and another 10+ episode arc to set up the next season. And while the Pink Ranger arc is one of the best stories Power Rangers has EVER done (I will fight you on that), Kakuranger has the advantage in that none of their payoffs had to wait until the following season.
jenndubya's rating:
17
7.6
7.5
Chouriki Sentai Ohranger (1995)
Better Heroes?
The Zeo Rangers will forever hold a special place in my heart and I will love them until the end of time. However, the Ohrangers are like my children - I feel so proud when they do good and I just want to hug their problems away when they're dealing with trouble. I just can't be mad at them. Even when Yuuji basically stole a dog I wasn't angry with him like I would be if someone from another team did it.
The only detriment to either team is that fact that I never completely warmed up to Tanya like the other Zeo Rangers.
Better Villains?
I love Archerina and Gasket. They are such amazing villains, despite not appearing until late in the season. Maltihua though, was just kind of there, and I don't care for Bulldont at all. And while both Louie Kaboom and Bomber the Great were just kind of stand-in villains, Bomber the Great actually made you hate him so much that his reign could not end soon enough.
I also cannot leave out Hysterrier who, early on in Ohranger was a major bad ass, but also had a nice development to her character throughout the series.
There was also the image of King Mondo in Zordon's tube which haunted me as a child, and will continue to haunt me for years to come.
jenndubya's rating:
43
8.2
8.1
Mirai Sentai Timeranger (2000)
Better Heroes?
Wes and Eric are probably the closest to their Japanese counterparts, but are just handled better in America. Yuri (Pink) and Ayase (Blue) were handled best in Japan (and Ayase just had more to do). Green and Yellow are probably the most different once you get inside their heads, and I like the way both shows handled them equally.
While Ransik was an original creation, he does overlap slightly with Don, making Gluto completely useless in Time Force. Also, while Frax and Gien were both human-turned-robots, Frax just wanted revenge while Gien was kind of mentally retarded and started to go crazy after becoming a machine. And Lila and Nadira were basically the same character, but Nadira was actually willing to get her nails dirty (just not broken).
jenndubya's rating:
112
6.5
6.9
Power Rangers Time Force (2001)
Better Supporting Cast?
Ryuuya does seem to have the better story than Alex, but it's just tacked onto the end. Alex is more woven into the overall plot. And much like Wes and Eric, Mr. Collins is the same as his counterpart, but is also allowed to grow.
Timeranger's main story tends to split off into individual character stories, while Time Force pushes half of the main cast back so that Red's story is the main story. To the point where no one else is relevant at all unless they are tied to the Red Ranger, which ends up devaluing certain characters in the long run *coughthepinkrangercough*.
jenndubya's rating:
22
7.4
7.5
Better Heroes?
With the exception of Cole (Red) and Taylor (Yellow), the Wild Force team are more templates of a character than actual characters. On the other hand, the Gaorangers have great personalities and can stand on their own. Okay, Yellow is a bit underused, but when he is used, everything is gold. Although, Gao Blue needs to make up his mind on what his character actually is!
I really couldn't care less for the Gaoranger villains. Although, the first one wasn't bad. However, Wild Force went above and beyond with Master Org and his fantastic arc.
jenndubya's rating:
116
5.7
6.2
Power Rangers Wild Force (2002)
Better Supporting Cast?
This is more or less just the Shaman vs the Princess. And while I like Shayla, and prefer her solo fight over the one from Gaoranger, I just love Tetom and her trolling ways. Also, Fuutaro was far less annoying than Kite for that certain arc.
While they did shove people to the background, for the most part, Wild Force had a damn good main arc. However, the Zen-Aku and Kite mini-arcs were a bit too condensed compared to their Gaoranger countparts. It got to the point where Kite was just shoved down our throats to get all of Fuutaro's character development in.
jenndubya's rating:
22
8
7.9
Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger (2002)
Better Heroes?
With Hurricaneger, I love the entire cast as a whole; but with Ninja Storm I'm actually able to love everyone individually, as well.
All of the Hurricaneger villains are bland, while Ninja Storm gives them some sort of personality. Except Shimazu. I honestly can't remember anything of importance that he did in Ninja Storm.
jenndubya's rating:
108
6.6
6.3
Power Rangers Ninja Storm (2003)
Better Supporting Cast?
CGI beats puppet. Also, Oboro was just a boring character. I know she's supposed to be there to contrast Nanami's cutesy behavior, but she's just not that interesting. Also, Yousuke and Nanami's bosses were just kind of tacked on, whereas Kelly was still tacked on, but felt like a natural fit and appeared more often.
While there was no real story with the core three in either show (other than the school being attacked), Ikkou and Isshu had a great one centered around their father, along with Shurikenger revealing his boss.
jenndubya's rating:
29
8.5
8.1
Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (2004)
Better Heroes?
Honestly, the S.P.D. Rangers are extremely unlikeable with zero growth, while you can't not fall in love with the Dekarangers. Although, there are a couple individual S.P.D. Rangers that I prefer over their counterparts, Dekaranger just has this perfect balance within their team.
As much as I hate to admit it, at least S.P.D. had villains. As opposed to Agent Aburera just popping his head in every once in a while. (That's not to say Dekaranger's approach was bad, but it's not a fair fight when their villain is never around.)
jenndubya's rating:
101
6.3
6.5
Power Rangers S.P.D. (2005)
Better Supporting Cast?
Most of the support cast, for both shows, were also Rangers. The ones that were not are a guy in a rubber/furry suit (except Boom). Because of this, I'll have to give the nod to S.P.D. because of Greg Aronowitz's great costumes. Because, lets be honest, it's a little easier to look at them with a straight face.
Who are we kidding here? S.P.D. had no story other than "wah, wah, wah. I wanna be Red Ranger" from Sky. Whereas Dekaranger actually did stuff with their characters instead of hit the reset button all the time.
jenndubya's rating:
32
7.5
7.5
Mahou Sentai Magiranger (2005)
Better Heroes?
To be honest, both teams are actually quite good. It's just that Magiranger has two members that completely ruin it for it's season. Houka (Pink) is Annoying with a capital A, while Hikaru (MagiShine) is a grade-A jerkass. Although, he does evolve into just a regular jerk by the end. It also seems like Urara (Blue) doesn't even exist half the time. At least Madison had a slightly bigger presence in Mystic Force... if not by much. But I also love Maddie so effing much that she's number one in my heart.
Both shows have entirely rubber suit villain factions, but Vancuria's ability to transform into Nai & Mare gives the edge to Magiranger. If only because I wouldn't really consider Leelee from Mystic Force an actual villain.
jenndubya's rating:
101
5.6
6.6
Power Rangers Mystic Force (2006)
Better Supporting Cast?
Power Rangers had a much larger support cast. Magiranger's mostly consisted of Kai's crush, Mandora Boy, Rin and Smoky. And even then, only two were regular cast members. Mystic Force had Jenji, Clare, Phineas, Toby and Leelee all appearing in just about every episode since their debut. All five even played a significant role in at least one episode.
While the story more-or-less stayed the same in both shows, and kept a family theme, Magiranger was a team of siblings. (Whereas Mystic Force only had two sisters.) Therefore you have a different dynamic and way to treat things. And yes, there are things that an entire team of siblings can do to stand out. However, I really think that having an entire five person team be siblings can really hurt the show, too. Mystic Force wasn't as in your face with family, but it was still there in different ways, which helped out a great deal.
jenndubya's rating:
25
8
7.7
GoGo Sentai Boukenger (2006)
Better Heroes?
I know I'm in the minority on this by I love the chemistry of the Overdrive team. They also come off as realistic. We were never told about any "super BFF" pairings, but we can see the strong bonds between them come across through the actors. The Boukengers on the other hand... not so much. The three veterans are just boring (although, Pink does have some nice episodes), while Black and Yellow's bond is the heart of this season; and how can you not like Eiji (Silver) and his vegetables?
It's also nice that Overdrive gave Sentinel Knight an actual character over Zubaan being a live action Pokemon creature.
The Ashu/Fearcats and ninja factions are both about equal to me, but with the other two that couldn't be future from the truth. While Flurious may have just sat on his throne all day, Gaja makes him look like a mastermind by comparison. And on the other side of the coin, Moltor isn't bad, but Ryuuwon is just leagues more interesting.
jenndubya's rating:
62
5
5.3
Better Supporting Cast?
Mr. Voice and Morio are pretty much a by-the-books mentor/boss and techie duo, while Operation Overdrive puts a little spin on the characters. Andrew Hartford is the boss, but he's more suited in the techie role. Whereas Spencer, the lovable butler, is the one actually doing all of the mentoring.
However, there is a twist at the very end (which I will NOT spoil!) that does give Boukenger a slight boost, but it's also at the very end.
Boukenger has no overall story. Instead it follows each character on their own journey in a very episodic feel. On the other hand, Overdrive had an entire quest, and no treasure was ever truly random. Both are fine ways of doing things, but an episodic series does not really work for a treasure hunting show. Overdrive may have had some problems, but at least it felt like treasure hunting.
jenndubya's rating:
28
8.1
7.8
Jลซken Sentai Gekiranger (2007)
Better Heroes?
This is really a tough call. Red and Yellow are both pretty much negative images of their countparts, while Blue is mostly the same, save for a few personality quirks. Geki Violet and Geki Chopper/Rhino Ranger are pretty much useless to the overall story, but at least Chopper and Rhino are interesting. Violet just doesn't really matter, unlike his counterpart (Wolf Ranger), who couldn't be more of the opposite.
The two main villains of Jungle Fury (Dai Shi and Camille) are far more interesting than their Gekiranger counterparts. Although, it might have something to do with Rio's costume being far more S&M inspired, while Mele's only reason for even being was to latch onto Rio. However, once Gekiranger revealed Long, there was nothing JF could do to top him. The three Kenma/Overlords that appeared earlier, though, I could care less about either way.
jenndubya's rating:
63
6
6.4
Power Rangers Jungle Fury (2008)
Better Supporting Cast?
Regarding only the regular appearing characters, I'd go with Jungle Fury. Miki was just your basic retired hero, while Fran eventually played secret keeper to the heroes. And then there's Mao who could kill Shafu with one finger. (That's not a Chuck Norris joke. He actually poked someone and they flew across the room.) With the other six kenma/masters, it gets a little interesting. The first three masters in Jungle Fury could astral project themselves into Rangers, while the first two kenma were perverted and creepy, respectively. However, you can't help but love Sharkie. The second group of three has an awesome gorilla and average penguin (on both sides), but Geki's Pyon has a bit more character than JF's Lope.
Jungle Fury was a bit hindered in this department because of the writer's strike. However, they were still able to crank out two pretty decent arcs surrounding the first group of three masters. The villain's story was basically Dai Shi constantly bettering himself, only to realize he needs to be better than the new guy now. This had interjections of Camille becoming more and more untrusting of each new villain. On the other hand, Gekiranger's story was centered around two rival schools, and started rather slow. That was, until Long showed up and later revealed that he had manipulated everything in Rio and Jan's past because he was immortal and bored. It changed everything and became awesome in the process.
jenndubya's rating:
26
8.3
6.4
Engine Sentai Go-onger (2008)
Better Heroes?
This is hard because I grew to love both of these teams so much. So in the end, it's just all personal preference in how I like my heroes. Although, I love Go-on Black for subverting the typical bad ass, loner type by making him the silliest of the group... and then R.P.M. Black had to go and play that trope completely straight.
Shifter and Crunch were basically just those two guys until the final arc. Yogostein had far more focus than Shifter, and while I can't really remember anything Kitaneidas actually did, he's still a few steps ahead of Crunch, who called his own reflection ugly (along with Shifter). When it comes to the lone female, the opposite is in effect. It's Tenaya that is the interesting one, while Kegalesia was mostly gratuitous fanservice. (It isn't really shocking, once you realize the actress is an AV star.) Which leads us to R.P.M.'s Big Bad, Venjix. Mostly an original creation, but took the body of Go-ongers bigger two MOTW (okay, one was Yogostein's general and the other was real Big Bad) in an interesting twist. And there's also Kilobyte, who was elevated to General over Kireizky's three episodes in Go-onger.
jenndubya's rating:
68
6.7
6.4
Power Rangers R.P.M. (2009)
Better Supporting Cast?
Is there really a choice here? As much as I love Bomper, he doesn't really stand a chance against a bad ass, eighteen-year-old genius and the head of the military. Even if you included the engines in Go-onger, I think my answer would still remain the same.
I know most people would automatically think "apocalypse FTW" and that would be the end of it. And really, it is... for RPM. I'm not saying that I don't like RPM, because I do. It just borrows from so much else already out there. The overall plot from Go-onger wasn't actually vapid for such a lighthearted season either. We've got the last of the Gaiark race, a handful of sentient engines from Machine World, and a ragtag bunch of misfits from Human World that got caught up in everything. Because Go-onger is a comedy that threw us curve balls, and RPM wants to be a drama that blatantly uses comedy to keep the rating Y7, I really have a simple choice.
jenndubya's rating:
48
7.4
8.3
Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (2009)
Better Heroes?
Honestly, even though they are the same basic archetypes, I don't like the Japanese versions of those archetypes. Although, I do like Shinken Pink. The others just don't gel with me. Not to mention the fact that I really don't like when sentai pulls the "serious red" card; and Takeru is a shining example.
On the other hand, the American versions of these characters I can really get behind. (Even if their acting is "so bad, it's good.") The only exception being Green; which is mostly because of just running the scripts through a translator and not removing the fact that he's a "slacker" and is looked down upon in Japan, since he's treated like the "cool guy" in America.
Better Villains?
I like Dayu and Deker in PR. I like Dayuu in Shinkenger. I don't care for anyone else. And because I just don't even remember the pure rubber suit Shinkenger villains, I can't really give this a proper decision.
jenndubya's rating:
82
5.1
4.8
Power Rangers Samurai (2011)
Better Supporting Cast?
While I love Mentor-Ji and the fact that he really stepped up -- and brought a lot of the comedy -- in the second half of Samurai, I have to go with Shinkenger. Jii and the kuroko actually did stuff, and when Kaoru and Tanba showed up later, it was awesome. As apposed to Lauren's lackluster character in PR.
Better Story?
It's the same story! The only difference is that the twist at the end is now worthless because of changes made due to cultural differences. You could probably just watch the beginning and end of Shinkenger, stick the middle of Samurai in between them, and get the best of both worlds without really missing much.
jenndubya's rating:
26
7.8
6.9
Tensou Sentai Goseiger (2010)
NOT Super Megaforce
Better Heroes?
Most of the Megaforce Rangers are all flat characters with a "tell, don't show" mentality, while the Goseigers are all my adorable babies and I love them so much.
Better Villains?
jenndubya's rating:
52
5
6.1
NOT Super Megaforce
Better Supporting Cast?
Megaforce's only recurring characters outside of Ranger-related stuff are a teacher as visible as the Loch Ness Monster and stereotypical Indian store owner. Meanwhile, Goseiger has an absentminded professor and his son who were gracious enough to give our heroes a place to stay. Not that Ernie wasn't an amusing stereotype, but Mr. Burley is a huge knock against Megaforce because they never really did anything with him.
Also, while Master Head barely appeared in Goseiger, he is still leaps and bounds better than Megaforce's Gosei as a mentor.
Better Story?
Vs Gokaiger
Only Super Megaforce
Better Heroes?
Honestly, while one of Megaforce's biggest complaints are its flat characters, Gokaiger isn't that much better. NONE of the Rangers on either show have a personal growth arc. Gokaiger opting to thrown in as many guest stars as possible and Megaforce making the decision to shoot as little new footage as possible. You can argue this all you want, but they are all the same characters in the finale that they were in the first episode.
It took OVER FORTY EPISODES to get any sort of information at all on the Green and Pink Gokaigers outside of just "smart comic relief" and "princess." Megaforce only had 42 episodes total! If Gokaiger ended at that point we'd still be wishing for Don and Ahim backstory episodes.
Better Villains?
jenndubya's rating:
38
7.9
8.6
Better Supporting Cast?
As much as I said that Megaforce's support cast was crap against Goseiger, Gokaiger's support cast is basically just a robot bird. And by adding "Super" into Megaforce's name, they realized how irregular Mr. Burley was and took him out of the credits.
Also, Super Megaforce had Tensou is a stroller. Your argument is invalid.
Better Story?
jenndubya's rating:
A (biased) look at Power Rangers vs Super Sentai, and which show is preferred for each season.
Obviously a season will only be included once I have watched BOTH the American and Japanese versions (or enough to actually have an opinion on both).
Note: Because this is a biased list, and because they're two completely different shows that happen to use the same footage, I'd still recommend watching both and deciding for yourself if you have the time and interest.
Obviously a season will only be included once I have watched BOTH the American and Japanese versions (or enough to actually have an opinion on both).
Note: Because this is a biased list, and because they're two completely different shows that happen to use the same footage, I'd still recommend watching both and deciding for yourself if you have the time and interest.
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