Mild spoilers ahead:
Everything the show did well:
>Likeable characters all around, especially from the villain faction Bridan.
>A lot of concepts and ideas that seem unrelated end up meshing surprisingly well thematically, which makes the setting feel creative.
>It's pretty consistently funny but also has several dark moments that are done really well.
>Consistently good action, especially for the mecha battles.
>Blue's character arc is pretty well done.
>The Universe Warriors are consistently really entertaining characters of the week whenever they're the focus of an episode.
>Both the Gozyugers and Bridan are among the most creative Sentai and villain factions in the franchise.
Everything the show did badly:
>The Red and Blue Rangers get significantly more focus than the rest of the cast, while everyone else gets shafted with a noticeable lack of focus episodes.
>Yellow's character arc is rushed.
>The monsters of the week feel extremely disconnected from the story and like an afterthought in the episodes, despite being funny for most episodes written by the show's head writers.
>The show doesn't use the Universe Warriors enough.
>The Calamity is underexplored.
>A lot of worldview ideas are only explored for a single episode and not dwelt upon.
>The mecha characters are underexplored, particularly TegaSword and the war he resolved at the start of the show starts.
>Bridan, the Calamity, and the Universe Tournament don't connect with each other in a satisfying manner.
>The arc of the first Universe Warrior is resolved off-screen.
^Black's actress had to get abruptly recast, resulting in a second recap episode and a lot of awkward editing, especially in the final episode, undermining multiple emotional moments.
>Red's actor, while not bad, is noticeably worse than the rest of the cast, which is made even more noticeable due to him getting more focus than anyone else, even by usual Red Ranger standards.
Reasons for the show's strengths:
The producer is a hardcore tokusatsu and mecha fan, so he put a lot of attention to detail into the way the mecha work in the show, resulting in more mecha suit variety when compared to other Reiwa Sentai, he's also pretty creative coming up with characters such as Kinjiro and Kuon. The head writer is really creative and has a lot of good ideas that mesh well for the most part, she's also a veteran surreal comedy novelist, so her writing is pretty funny most of the time. The secondary episode writers for the show are all exceptional industry veterans. Veteran action director and head director resulted in the show being consistently visually striking. The actor for the most recurring main villain in the show, FireCandle, is a hardcore Super Sentai fan and brings a lot of energy to his scenes.
Reasons for the show's problems:
Toei executives didn't tell the show's producer, Daigo Matsuura, that this would be the last Sentai season until halfway through production, despite being aware that this would be the last Sentai for years, thus the staff never made the show as if it was going to be a farewell to Sentai. While this could be justified as not putting pressure on Matsuura, this is also his first show ever, picking a newbie to make the franchise's 50th anniversary and last season, which makes it feel like they should have picked someone more experienced. The writer Matsuura wanted to head the show rejected the offer, he predicted this however, he met Akiko Inoue at a wrap-up party for movie production when he was a vice producer that she was invited to and enjoyed her novels after giving them a read. Since her only experience was as a novelist and episode writer for a single show, he decided to hire her as a co-writer for Gotchard despite only being a vice producer for that show to get her used to working on television so that he could hire her as a backup plan for the first show he would head. While the producer's quick thinking is commendable, Akiko's novels were known to focus way too much on the protagonist while side characters wouldn't get much to do, making her a bad fit for Sentai, which focuses on teamwork, on top of that, she had only seen 3 Sentai seasons before working on the show. When coming up with concepts for the show, despite having decided that the show would be about a tournament between Red Rangers, Matsuura also wanted to have monsters of the week like usual. All of this resulted in the show having a focus problem and her not knowing how to properly implement the monsters in Gozyuger into the story. On top of all that, Akiko wanted the show to feel like a late-night drama, so she wanted most episodes to end on cliffhangers, this resulted in the show's pacing being really awkward.
The writer/producer duo also decided to not plan things ahead of time despite coming up with a really dense setup, this was in order to emulate the way Matsuura's mentor Shirakura would work with the writer's father Toshiki to make the shows Kamen Rider 555 and Donbrothers, but because of the issues laid out previously, this way of doing things just didn't work, and they hadn't even considered what the final arc would be until after finishing production of episode 34.
The actress of the Black Ranger, Maya Imamori, got fired from her agency Seju due to underage drinking, it's believed that this is a front for a bigger controversy since underage drinking is a minor offense that wasn't even public, so they could have just waited until the projects Maya was working on had finished airing to fire her. The most common assumption as to what this controversy is an affair with the suit actor of the Red Ranger Asai, because the alleged controversy was brought up saying he'd leave shortly before Asai actually left the show; however, there's no proof for this, and there are multiple reasons why this doesn't make sense:
>the staff seemingly kept working with Maya after his departure without any issue or foresight of her leaving
>the episodes were filmed way in advance meaning that the actor had already left the show before this controversy was brought up
>the official reason for his departure was health problems which are true as he has been suffering from epilepsy since 2019 and he had been planning to retire for a while—originally intending for Gotchard to be his last show as a suit actor but ultimately deciding to work in Gozyuger as a favor to Matsuura who really wanted him to work on the show, but he made a public statement before the show started that this would be his last show
It's also important to note that the tabloid that reported the controversy, Bunshun, while they've revealed heinous crimes that actors have committed in the past like the case of Ren Ozawa in Gaim, most of the time they're grifters trying to stir up controversies in order to gain more money; an example of the latter is how for Kamen Rider Revice they stalked the actress Yui Asakura and similarly caused her agency to fire her despite her doing nothing wrong. This is a similar case where this is the franchise's 50th anniversary, so it means that if they manage to target someone they'll be able to gain more money. Regardless of all of this, it at least seems that Maya is guilty of at least something, but we don't know exactly what, and the contract she signed with Seju specified that if she's fired she should be removed from any project that hasn't aired or is airing. So due to contractual obligation, Toei had no choice but to remove her from the show against their wishes and not be allowed to rehire her, this was extremely tricky due to them only having 2 episodes left to film when she was fired, and due to the way toku production works they still had to film the last 2 episodes on the date they had already decided without a replacement, and they had to very hastily re-edit the episodes that were already done to remove her, resulting in a whole episode getting deleted then replaced with a recap instead and the character getting recast with the actress of the Donbrothers' Yellow Ranger, Kohaku Shida, who's Matsuura's friend, however, because all of her scenes were filmed after the show was done and not every actor was available to come back (a movie Blue's actor was working on had to get delayed in order for him to help shoot these new scenes), her scenes are very hastily put together and feel really awkward despite her being a more experienced actress than Maya and makes several moments of the show's late game awkward and almost off-putting. It also should be noted that both Seju's actors and staff have had controversies before and during Gozyuger, and that they've been noted to not train or teach their actors properly.
The actor of the first Universe Warrior to show up in the show, Haruhi Iuchi, was too occupied with other shows, so his schedule never opened up again for him to return, so his arc had to get resolved off-screen.
Because the staff originally worked on the show without knowing this would be the last Sentai, they decided to still make the finale feel like an ending for Gozyuger rather than the franchise as a whole; Matsuura stated that the true finale for Sentai to kickstart this hiatus is supposed to be the VS movie with Boonboomger instead.
Overall:
The show is continuously fun and nearly every character in the show is likable; the setting is ambitious and creative, and both the action and direction are solid. Yet despite all of this, it doesn't feel like any of the show's ideas were done satisfyingly. They're good ideas, but due to the show trying to do way too much, without planning, at a weird pace in order to continuously end with cliffhangers, all while shafting most of the cast in favor of the Red and Blue Rangers, they just end up feeling half-baked; couple that with the recast issues resulting in a lot of awkward editing for the show's final arc, and these problems get accentuated even further. Still, I found the show entertaining from beginning to end since most of the staff and cast clearly had passion, and most of their ideas are good despite being unfocused; I feel like most people can have fun with the show as long as they don't expect anything top-tier or judge the show on it rather than as the temporary end of a 50-year-long franchise, but it's really hard to disassociate the show because it's still the 50th anniversary.
>Likeable characters all around, especially from the villain faction Bridan.
>A lot of concepts and ideas that seem unrelated end up meshing surprisingly well thematically, which makes the setting feel creative.
>It's pretty consistently funny but also has several dark moments that are done really well.
>Consistently good action, especially for the mecha battles.
>Blue's character arc is pretty well done.
>The Universe Warriors are consistently really entertaining characters of the week whenever they're the focus of an episode.
>Both the Gozyugers and Bridan are among the most creative Sentai and villain factions in the franchise.
Everything the show did badly:
>The Red and Blue Rangers get significantly more focus than the rest of the cast, while everyone else gets shafted with a noticeable lack of focus episodes.
>Yellow's character arc is rushed.
>The monsters of the week feel extremely disconnected from the story and like an afterthought in the episodes, despite being funny for most episodes written by the show's head writers.
>The show doesn't use the Universe Warriors enough.
>The Calamity is underexplored.
>A lot of worldview ideas are only explored for a single episode and not dwelt upon.
>The mecha characters are underexplored, particularly TegaSword and the war he resolved at the start of the show starts.
>Bridan, the Calamity, and the Universe Tournament don't connect with each other in a satisfying manner.
>The arc of the first Universe Warrior is resolved off-screen.
^Black's actress had to get abruptly recast, resulting in a second recap episode and a lot of awkward editing, especially in the final episode, undermining multiple emotional moments.
>Red's actor, while not bad, is noticeably worse than the rest of the cast, which is made even more noticeable due to him getting more focus than anyone else, even by usual Red Ranger standards.
Reasons for the show's strengths:
The producer is a hardcore tokusatsu and mecha fan, so he put a lot of attention to detail into the way the mecha work in the show, resulting in more mecha suit variety when compared to other Reiwa Sentai, he's also pretty creative coming up with characters such as Kinjiro and Kuon. The head writer is really creative and has a lot of good ideas that mesh well for the most part, she's also a veteran surreal comedy novelist, so her writing is pretty funny most of the time. The secondary episode writers for the show are all exceptional industry veterans. Veteran action director and head director resulted in the show being consistently visually striking. The actor for the most recurring main villain in the show, FireCandle, is a hardcore Super Sentai fan and brings a lot of energy to his scenes.
Reasons for the show's problems:
Toei executives didn't tell the show's producer, Daigo Matsuura, that this would be the last Sentai season until halfway through production, despite being aware that this would be the last Sentai for years, thus the staff never made the show as if it was going to be a farewell to Sentai. While this could be justified as not putting pressure on Matsuura, this is also his first show ever, picking a newbie to make the franchise's 50th anniversary and last season, which makes it feel like they should have picked someone more experienced. The writer Matsuura wanted to head the show rejected the offer, he predicted this however, he met Akiko Inoue at a wrap-up party for movie production when he was a vice producer that she was invited to and enjoyed her novels after giving them a read. Since her only experience was as a novelist and episode writer for a single show, he decided to hire her as a co-writer for Gotchard despite only being a vice producer for that show to get her used to working on television so that he could hire her as a backup plan for the first show he would head. While the producer's quick thinking is commendable, Akiko's novels were known to focus way too much on the protagonist while side characters wouldn't get much to do, making her a bad fit for Sentai, which focuses on teamwork, on top of that, she had only seen 3 Sentai seasons before working on the show. When coming up with concepts for the show, despite having decided that the show would be about a tournament between Red Rangers, Matsuura also wanted to have monsters of the week like usual. All of this resulted in the show having a focus problem and her not knowing how to properly implement the monsters in Gozyuger into the story. On top of all that, Akiko wanted the show to feel like a late-night drama, so she wanted most episodes to end on cliffhangers, this resulted in the show's pacing being really awkward.
The writer/producer duo also decided to not plan things ahead of time despite coming up with a really dense setup, this was in order to emulate the way Matsuura's mentor Shirakura would work with the writer's father Toshiki to make the shows Kamen Rider 555 and Donbrothers, but because of the issues laid out previously, this way of doing things just didn't work, and they hadn't even considered what the final arc would be until after finishing production of episode 34.
The actress of the Black Ranger, Maya Imamori, got fired from her agency Seju due to underage drinking, it's believed that this is a front for a bigger controversy since underage drinking is a minor offense that wasn't even public, so they could have just waited until the projects Maya was working on had finished airing to fire her. The most common assumption as to what this controversy is an affair with the suit actor of the Red Ranger Asai, because the alleged controversy was brought up saying he'd leave shortly before Asai actually left the show; however, there's no proof for this, and there are multiple reasons why this doesn't make sense:
>the staff seemingly kept working with Maya after his departure without any issue or foresight of her leaving
>the episodes were filmed way in advance meaning that the actor had already left the show before this controversy was brought up
>the official reason for his departure was health problems which are true as he has been suffering from epilepsy since 2019 and he had been planning to retire for a while—originally intending for Gotchard to be his last show as a suit actor but ultimately deciding to work in Gozyuger as a favor to Matsuura who really wanted him to work on the show, but he made a public statement before the show started that this would be his last show
It's also important to note that the tabloid that reported the controversy, Bunshun, while they've revealed heinous crimes that actors have committed in the past like the case of Ren Ozawa in Gaim, most of the time they're grifters trying to stir up controversies in order to gain more money; an example of the latter is how for Kamen Rider Revice they stalked the actress Yui Asakura and similarly caused her agency to fire her despite her doing nothing wrong. This is a similar case where this is the franchise's 50th anniversary, so it means that if they manage to target someone they'll be able to gain more money. Regardless of all of this, it at least seems that Maya is guilty of at least something, but we don't know exactly what, and the contract she signed with Seju specified that if she's fired she should be removed from any project that hasn't aired or is airing. So due to contractual obligation, Toei had no choice but to remove her from the show against their wishes and not be allowed to rehire her, this was extremely tricky due to them only having 2 episodes left to film when she was fired, and due to the way toku production works they still had to film the last 2 episodes on the date they had already decided without a replacement, and they had to very hastily re-edit the episodes that were already done to remove her, resulting in a whole episode getting deleted then replaced with a recap instead and the character getting recast with the actress of the Donbrothers' Yellow Ranger, Kohaku Shida, who's Matsuura's friend, however, because all of her scenes were filmed after the show was done and not every actor was available to come back (a movie Blue's actor was working on had to get delayed in order for him to help shoot these new scenes), her scenes are very hastily put together and feel really awkward despite her being a more experienced actress than Maya and makes several moments of the show's late game awkward and almost off-putting. It also should be noted that both Seju's actors and staff have had controversies before and during Gozyuger, and that they've been noted to not train or teach their actors properly.
The actor of the first Universe Warrior to show up in the show, Haruhi Iuchi, was too occupied with other shows, so his schedule never opened up again for him to return, so his arc had to get resolved off-screen.
Because the staff originally worked on the show without knowing this would be the last Sentai, they decided to still make the finale feel like an ending for Gozyuger rather than the franchise as a whole; Matsuura stated that the true finale for Sentai to kickstart this hiatus is supposed to be the VS movie with Boonboomger instead.
Overall:
The show is continuously fun and nearly every character in the show is likable; the setting is ambitious and creative, and both the action and direction are solid. Yet despite all of this, it doesn't feel like any of the show's ideas were done satisfyingly. They're good ideas, but due to the show trying to do way too much, without planning, at a weird pace in order to continuously end with cliffhangers, all while shafting most of the cast in favor of the Red and Blue Rangers, they just end up feeling half-baked; couple that with the recast issues resulting in a lot of awkward editing for the show's final arc, and these problems get accentuated even further. Still, I found the show entertaining from beginning to end since most of the staff and cast clearly had passion, and most of their ideas are good despite being unfocused; I feel like most people can have fun with the show as long as they don't expect anything top-tier or judge the show on it rather than as the temporary end of a 50-year-long franchise, but it's really hard to disassociate the show because it's still the 50th anniversary.
Was this review helpful to you?
