Friday 14 October 2011

Series REVIEW: GoGo Sentai Boukenger


GoGo Sentai Boukenger was released between 2006-2007 and was the 30th anniversary series for the Super Sentai franchise. The Boukengers are part of the Search Guard Successor foundation, a worldwide organisation that hunts down powerful ancient relics known as Precious. There are many organisations (known as Negative Syndicate) who plot to use these Precious for evil, and it is the Boukengers job to put a stop to them and collect dangerous relics all over the Earth. The Boukengers are made up of Satoru Akashi (Bouken Red), Masumi Inou (Black), Souta Mogami (Blue), Natsuki Mamiya (Yellow) and Sakura Nishihori (Pink). They are later joined by Eiji Takaoka (Bouken Silver), a monk-like warrior who defends the world from demons known as the Ashu.

Before I begin this review, I should warn you that's going to be a recurring adjective all the way through it - and that's boring. I found pretty much everything about this show boring. Satoru is just the typical red leader type, which is some ways is refreshing as the previous 2 sentai series lacked this, and he does get some good character-centric episodes (particularly episode 27) doesn't really have that much depth outside "always seeking an adventure".The mystery of just who Natsuki is is quite prevalent for the early episodes of the show, then is forgotten about for ages until its brought back for a rather lackluster 2-part episode in which we find she shares a similar origin to Superman, but is destined to destroy modern civilisation. Exciting. The same goes for Masumi, who outgrows his rivalry with Satoru as the series progresses, only for it to return at the tail end of the series for a few episodes when he becomes the focus again (although the show does handle his return to the rivalry in a rather amusing fashion). Eiji is a very interesting character when he's first introduced, but once he becomes Bouken Silver he joins Souta and Sakura in the ranks of being bland and forgettable characters. Finally, Zuban, the show's "extra hero" (like Kakuranger's Ninjaman or Carranger's Signalman) isn't even a character - he's a plot device at best.

Unfortunately, Boukenger's vast array of villains aren't that interesting either. While admittedly Boukenger does change the status quo a little bit by having various groups of villains (a total of four) all working at the same time (meaning there are times when they are either working together or working AGAINST each other), all of the groups are pretty dull. Each of their back stories are minimal (Ryuuwon does receive a brief origin, but it's rather one dimensional) and none have any particular depth to them. Gajah, the series' main antagonist, looks very similar to the more human-esque villains you would seen in earlier Sentai shows, but looks very silly alongside the more modern-styled villain suits in the series. The worst offenders in the show are definitely Dark Shadow (a ninja organisation who sell Precious to the highest bidder), whose best character doesn't actually get good until he betrays the organisation (and is subsequently beaten shortly after) and are led by an blue owl. And, a blue owl - and the saddest part is said owl would have been the most interesting character in the series if he had received more than 10 seconds of back story. At a stretch, the Questers (the final antagonists to be introduced into the show - reanimated versions of Ashu demons Eiji defeated) are the best of the bunch, but then they are also the first to get defeated.

On the subject of final defeats, the villains that don't survive the series all receive some sort of glory in their final battle, but each at the same time they all tend to feel anticlimactic. The final episode of the show lacks the exciting element of a final battle that shows that came before (and after) it had, and its main redeeming feature is its "half a year later" epilogue (although admittedly I'm a sucker for epilogues such as this), which does answer a question that had been bugging me the entire series. I won't spoil it, but all I'll say is it's not even guessable until the penultimate episode.

But it's not all bad, episode 25 is by far the stand out episode of the show - handling the "monster of the week doesn't want to fight" plot line in a way I've not seen any other show do, making it all the more heartwarming (and for once, has a relatively happy ending for all involved). The mecha are very good in the series too, even if the main mecha gets shunted off a little too quickly for my liking. DaiBouken has a very interesting design, a lot bulkier and more detailed than previous mecha, a long with some interesting (but fitting) weapon choices - a pickaxe and shovel that combine into a sword. What I particularly like about DaiBouken though is that when additional GoGo vehicles arrive on the scene that can combine with it, the robot is capable of storing the swapped out limbs in its hollow legs, meaning all the pieces remain on the robot at all time (something the current series mecha GokaiOh fails badly at). Super and Ultimate Daibouken aren't quite as good design-wise if you ask me (and as I said earlier come into the show far too quickly), but are still fairly decent and Ultimate doesn't look too cluttered for something that's made up of 10 separate vehicles. I don't think Bouken Silver's SirenBuilder is a bad mecha, but I'm not a huge fan of it either so I don't really have a lot to say about it. However the main team's second giant robot, DaiVoyager is a beast of a robot! I don't really understand why an organisation like SGS would need a giant battleship of that calibre, but I can roll with it...and besides, its ship mode is a great homage to the battleship mecha of the early Sentai shows.

Finally I'm going to take a moment to talk about Boukenger's entry into the VS series of movies, as because it is an anniversary show its a "Vs Super Sentai" movie rather than vs the previous show (which in this case would have been Mahou Sentai Magiranger). The film features the first appearance of AkaRed, an embodiment of the spirits of the 30 red Super Sentai warriors, and also returning characters (both heroes and villains) from earlier shows. While the film gets off to an excellent start, I can't help feel it trails off toward the end and is lacking in some aspects. The most disappointing thing about the movie is that in reality its only really the last 6 years of Super Sentai on show (the returning characters are all from Gaoranger, Hurricanger, Abaranger, Dekaranger and Magiranger) and so doesn't really feel like a THIRTY year celebration.

In many ways, GoGo Sentai Boukenger feels like a back to basics tribute to Super Sentai, combining the formula that had gone down so well in Japan for 30 years and sprucing it up a little with some of the more modern flair the franchise had picked up over the years. It's by no means an awful series, but one that's likely to divide opinion more than others. Some will enjoy it - but I found it really boring and the worst out of the seven Sentai series I've watched thus far. In short, not the best 30th anniversary celebration the franchise could have had if you ask me.

12 comments:

Lucas said...

Yeah, i decided to drop Boukenger. I feel like it's not going anywhere, it's not building up to anything, there's no recurring plot line, it's just treasure of the week.

Anonymous said...

Not sure if you know this, but every villain, grunt and monster of the week in Boukenger is based off a previous mecha from the Super Sentai series (for example, Ruuwon is based of Daizyujin).

Stephen Cassat said...

Compare to Operation Overdrive. Boukenger is much better than we tend to give credit for. What's say you Alex?

Alex said...

I’d agree Boukenger is the better series, but honestly I think they’re both pretty unremarkable. I just don’t think the multi-villain faction format works.

Yujiro said...

That's a you problem, l enjoyed it quite well.

Yujiro said...

And dekaranger is just criminal of the week, with no plot line either, but people still dickride it as some masterpiece.

shaddoe said...

I had the pleasure of watching Boukenger a few months back and i actually really enjoyed it. I thought it was fun, the characters were likeable and the inter dynamics i felt were explored rather well. In some cases more should have been explored i think. The different villain factions i found rather enjoyable as it added an unpredictability factor to things as the show progressed, therefore it never fell into the trap of being overly formulaic. I loved how the mechs were always being develooed as a natural escalation of the conflict. Although i wasnt a fan of the sudden revelation made near the end of the series about the true identity of Mr. Voice. Largely cuz it brings up more questions than answers. But thats a minor thing as everything else about the series was great.

shaddoe said...

I do agree that the anniversary team up special had a great idea to start with but it did kind of wander off into right after after fight with explosion after explosion.

Stephen Cassat said...

I know this show tends to be labeled as boring, and I'm not arguing that it is. It may not have been remarkable in terms of a celebration season, but at least it tried something new. Multiple villains factions, adventures all over Japan. It is simple and enjoyable.

E.RIO©® said...

Just finished watching Boukengers and i agree on 2 things, the episodic nature and Masumi once reaching mid way. The episodic nature in order to feel great it must have great chemistry involved between the cast & Destination, and after witnessinh it well pretty much it's standart Sentai fare in in eyes and nothing that new, but they did try to be entertaining in a few ways that i'd never expect (like that one eps where Natsuki broke the tradition of not facing human sized mooks on a mech). As for Masumi since i actually liked how he started to goof off as a member of SGS (in a good way) it it kinda rubbed me off when he's suddenly return to his more dickish manners in the last couple of episodes (tho his actions in the finale was realy amusing to say the least)

So tho i personally still enjoyed Boukenger as it is (thus this reminds me why i never liked Operation Overdrive even back as a kid, it tried way to hard to be serious yet had the lacking execution instead of just "Adventure for your own treasure" as simple as that) i get that it's not for everyone and in an overall slope it's nothing that formula breaking compared to what's come before (best Family Sentai imo) and after (one of the biggest formula breaking formula in modern Sentai) it

Big Boy said...

I hope you give this show another shot sometime, because after watching Dekaranger and Zyuohger before this, it's like night and day how better it accomplishes balancing being episodic while having developed inter-team conflicts and individual character backgrounds (especially compared to Dekaranger--the characters were fun and had their moments, but I'd hesitate to call any of them particularly compelling or in-depth in their characterization)

Hell, it's kind of refreshing having the Red take so much of a backseat.

Sandra grace said...

Here's my review after i finished watching it very recently.. Actually tbh this is so much better than operation overdrive! Like in the orginal sentai version we can see akashi was given equal screentime as the other ranger's.. whereas in the pr version, mack was literally an android and they focused too much on him unable for us to catch up on the other rangers. I did watch the pr version first and i wasn't really interested as much as the japanese orginal. Natsuki, souta,masumi and shizuka were my favourite characters from the show. Damn i haven't fell in love with a villain imao. Shizuka is like annoying and cool and pretty too! I love how they give a character development for shizuka and I was shipping her with souta since the first time they met. Also i love when she always likes to imitate him😂 and now to natsuki and masumi.. masumi literally saved natsuki and was so concerned about her everytime omg , he was more like a mother to her. And I still think he did like her though.. his character development was great! And then finally akashi and Sakura which i would say had the least obvious chemistry.. like akashi didn't even realise till the end..
Okay now about the storyline.. i love how they give screentime to each character to understand them more like especially the souta's one(i guess I'm talking about him a lot cause he for me is the best visual of the super sentai I've watched 😂) next natsuki's one was sad when the villain basically created an illusion like she's having a sister and etc when in reality she doesn't.. also eiji's one was more interesting.. akashi's one was scary because they made an illusion of his dead friend.. finally I think the pink is the only one who didn't get any illusion .
With that said, i would Totally recommend to this series to everyone.