Super Sentai Ideas
Numbered below are some ideas for Super Sentai Series.
- Sakkaku Sentai Mahouranger (错覚戦隊まほおれんじゃ, Sakaku Sentai Mahōrenjā)
- Konchū Sentai Insectenger (昆虫戦隊 いんぜくてんじゃ, Konchū Sentai Inzekutenja)
Super Sentai
The Super Sentai Series (スーパー戦隊シリーズ, Sūpā Sentai Shirīzu) is the name given to the long running Japanese "superhero team" genre of shows produced by Toei and Bandai and aired by TV Asahi, that is used as the basis for Power Rangers. ("Super" refers to their use of mecha, and "sentai" is the Japanese word for "task force" or, literally, "fighting squadron" and was also a term used for Japanese squadrons in World War II.) The shows are of the '"tokusatsu" genre, featuring live action characters and colorful special effects, and are aimed mainly at families. This series is one of the most prominent tokusatsu productions in Japan, alongside the Ultra Series, the Kamen Rider Series, and the Metal Hero Series.
The first Sentai series, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, in April 1975, was created by the late Shotaro Ishinomori, creator of Kamen Rider and Cyborg 009 in 1975. He did not create any further Sentai series after his second, J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai, was not received well. These two series were originally both just called Sentai and were not a part of the Super Sentai series until 1994 when Toei decided to include them with the series that followed.
Following J.A.K.Q., Toei chose to work with Marvel Comics to produce the live action adaptation of Spider-Man (1978), which included the first giant robot in a Toei Superhero show. This concept was used in Toei and Marvel's project Battle Fever J (1979) and was deemed the first Super Sentai Series. The following production of Denshi Sentai Denziman was the first production solely by Toei and written by "Saburo Yatsude".
The term sentai is also occasionally used to describe shows with similar premises, such as Voltron, or even the magical girl team in Sailor Moon, as Naoko Takeuchi deliberately used Sentai ideas.
In 2003, Sailor Moon was retold in a fashion somewhat similar to Sentai shows in the form of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. While not officially Sentai, some fans of the genre have accepted it as such.
The first ever Sentai to be adapted into Power Rangers was Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger (1992), utilizing footage from all 50 episodes. (Saban tried to adapt the previous Sentai into a Power Rangers show, with Zyuranger to be adapted into a second season, but they unable to get the rights to the Jetman footage, so they used just Zyuranger instead.) When the series enters their anniversary, they use special logos to commemorate them. So far, only three of them is used to commemorate the series: The 25th anniversary logo is for Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger, the 30th for GoGo Sentai Boukenger, and the 35th for Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.
Series overview
In every Super Sentai series, the fight between good and evil is illustrated, with the good side winning most of the time. The basic premise of the series is that a group of five (in some cases fewer) people gain special powers (magical or technological), wear colored outfits, and use advanced weapons and martial arts skills to battle powerful beings from other planets and/or dimensions threatening to take over the Earth. In most of the episodes, after the team has beaten an army of evil creatures ("grunts") and the "monster of the week", they call for huge robotic vehicles/animals ("mechas") that can combine to form one giant robot to fight an enlarged version of the monster. Sentai series with the giant robot element are specifically known as Super Sentai. After each series ends or during the series, there are a number of TV and video specials feature a teaming up with previous Sentai.
The only known Super Sentai to team up with its sister show Kamen Rider is Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, but no longer, now thanks to a second franchise cross-over titled Kamen Rider x Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen.
Distribution
Although the series originated in Japan, they were imported and dubbed in other languages for broadcast in several other countries.
Europe
Choudenshi Bioman, Choushinsei Flashman, Hikari Sentai Maskman, Choujuu Sentai Liveman, Kousoku Sentai Turboranger, Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman, and Choujin Sentai Jetman, were broadcast in France in the 1980s and early 1990s, with Maskman and Liveman marketed as Bioman 2 and Bioman 3, respectively. Additionally, Liveman, Turboranger, and Jetman were broadcast in Spain and Portugal. Denshi Sentai Denziman and Dai Sentai Goggle V were both broadcast in Italy. In addition, some episodes of Bioman were released on VHS in Greece.
Brazil
In Brazil, the first Super Sentai series to air was Dengeki Sentai Changeman in 1988, on the now-defunct TV Manchete (in 1999, it was renamed as Rede TV!), and made a tremendous impact at the time, being considered a cult classic. Due to the success of Changeman, other series were imported, such as Choushinsei Flashman, Hikari Sentai Maskman and Dai Sentai Goggle V. In place of later series in the franchise, the yearly iterations of the Power Rangers were dubbed into Brazilian Portuguese due to a general lower interest in tokusatsu programming in Brazil, as well as financial and bureaucratic issues.
Southeast Asia
J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai and Himitsu Sentai Gorenger (retitled Star Rangers) were the first Sentai series to be shown in the Philippines. Just as in France and Brazil, it was Choudenshi Bioman (dubbed in English) and Hikari Sentai Maskman (the first Super Sentai series dubbed in Filipino by the IBC-13 network) that most fans are familiar with. They were broadcast in the Philippines in the 1980s, along with Kousoku Sentai Turboranger, Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman, Choujin Sentai Jetman and Dai Sentai Goggle V in the early 1990s. Various Sentai series such as Fiveman and Choushinsei Flashman were also broadcast in Malaysia sometime in the 1990s dubbed into English. Almost all Super Sentai shows were broadcast in Thailand since the 1980s; there, most new shows were exclusively broadcast on Channel 9 a year late from its Japanese debut in the late 1980s to early 1990s until Power Rangers replaced Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger in the mid 1990s. Since then, the series have appeared on various other channels.
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