Kaizoku Sentai Gokaigers, the 35th anniversary series in the Super Sentai franchise has been one memorable show. A lot of fans would agree that this is one of the best series so far however I slightly disagree. But what I am aiming is looking back how Gokaigers struck a beat to kids of all ages.
As expected, there were a lot of cameos from past super sentai actors and even crossed over to other Tokusatsu series (i.e. Uchuu Keiji Gavan). Speaking of which, I commend Toei for milking Mr. Ohba Keiji's fame amongst all super sentai actors. He did not only reprise his role not once but thrice including the Gavan vs Gokaigers the movie where he played the titular space sheriff role. This creates a possibility that the Metal Hero genre can be revived as how Kamen Rider was in the year 2000 after a few years of rider kick drought. In fact, Gokaigers are more than what Decade achieved, bridging more than 1 world and 35 years of history.
I've mentioned on my blog on episode 1-2 impression of Gokaiger, that the main come on to the series was summarized in one word - nostalgia. As a kid from the 80s-90s, I've watched past super sentai shows adapted in my native language that made an slight impact in my creativity and in some way, character. I was definitely ecstatic just to see the likes of Red One, RyuRanger,Jet Black (a huge surprise because he was dead the last time).
What I felt glad about Gokaigers is that the plot was simple and independent unlike Kamen Rider Decade which I was confused from the irrelevant and distorted timelines. Pirate's aim, get all Super Sentai Powers, get the greatest treasure in the universe - very straightforward. I would also commend on the character build up as the episodes were not only focused on past heroes but also how each member grows more to be hero than a pirate.
If there is one character we should applaud with is Basco. Basco's personality is unpredictable. First he is the main villain, then a unforseen ally then back to pure evil once again. This portrayal can have his independent story all together. The conflict between him and the Captain is one of the most memorable rivalries ever created in the franchise. I can't seem to remember all but I think this is one rivalry that can be built into a whole new series.
Gokaiger's transformation to other past rangers was at first easy to spot on, but through the course of the series and a couple of movies that came with it, we were all surprised that the Red Ranger Powers can be dawned on the female pirates and yellow and pink powers can be used by male pirates. With this, Toei is sending a message that ranger colors should not be stereotyped, every color is neutral - men can wear PINK! And the combinations are endless, all of the Gokaigers can do 1 uniform color theme or 5 different combinations. The transformations are not only canned on color tone alone but themes as well, we can have lion or tiger themed combinations or water/sea creature combinations.
I couldn't remember how many cameos where there in total, maybe more than 51 if we haphazardly were to count one cameo per episode. What blew us away that there was more than one past team member representing in some episodes and in the movies. At least that all teams are well accounted for. In addition, almost every tribute episode played the instrumental version of that theme song like in Jetman during the final fight scene but I believe that it is only episode 50 that we didn't hear Zyuranger's theme when Goushi/Mammoth Ranger was there.
Ranger Keys created the obsession when the show was on-going. Just like color combinations for Gokaiger's transformation, Ikari Gai/Gokaisilver taught us that by using your imagination, you can fuse two Ranger Keys together to create a new key - i.e. GokaiChristmas. Who would have thought that there would be even a AbarePink Ranger Key?
As a whole, I love Gokaigers and I still have an inkling to Ichimichi Mao/Luka Milfy aka GokaiYellow - who doesn't? The gokaichanges were creative, the story was clear and concise and even bridges some of the story plots left out be previous super sentai series such as TimeYellow's son which he left in year 2000 and why is Ninjaman not part of the Super Sentai War. The series also gave us an insight to what happened to past rangers after their term was over, some of them continued on to be part of the police task force, hawkers, teachers and so on and so forth.
If there was one thing I would like to nitpick is each of the super sentai's greatest powers. Some are clear like Goryugin's tribute to 3 warriors' robots. The Gokai Galleon Buster is a tribute to all super sentai teams who had a final weapon like Maskman's Shot Bomber and Bioman's big ass arrow. But the rest is a blur, what should be a form of a super sentai team's ultimate power? For example, in the episode "Why? We're Highschool Students - what was MegaRanger's greatest power again? I didn't quite catch that. Episode 3 gave courage. From what I learned and read, the writer's aim was to provide a concrete and tangible greatest power from each super sentai and try to deviate from just love and friendship theme.
I thought it would be unclear when the last 5 ultimate powers were retrieved from Basco, but these were used on the last battle against Ackdos Gill via the Gokai-Oh.
To be honest, I like how the writers made this series more entertaining with humor and action rolled into one offering. But if you try to watch the series all over what Gokaigers contributed again summarizes into one word - nostalgia. Needless to say, at least this series was the most entertaining anniversary team than Boukenger or previous ones. I bet Gokaigers have let a bond to kids from 1 to 92. And now I formally say adieu to Kaizoku Sentai Gokaigers and see you in the future. Arigato pirates, it has been a blast.
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