#long-form narrative

[himitsusentaiblog]

Do you think that Patoranger will go back to a more Monster of the Week based format, or will it follow Kyuranger in being more focused on multi-episode story arcs?

I think with the success of the more multi-episode story arcs and longer narrative forms present in Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger (and to a much lesser extent Dobutsu Sentai Zyuohger) that mirrors the success the Kamen Rider franchise has had doing the same that the trend is to move more in that direction.

With the popularity of the Heisei Kamen Rider revival couples with the fact that for a lot of people that’s all they’ve ever seen of the franchise or at least where they got started, it’s often easy to forget that the Showa side was driven very much by the one and done villains.  Sure, there were major exceptions for dramatic storylines going back as far as the Shocker Rider story. However, for the most part the villains lasted one or maybe two episodes and were gone with the story barely advancing until major shakeups took place.  There wasn’t the sense of continuing narrative or that if you missed an episode you’d miss something vital.  It was a more relaxed kind of storytelling.

Now though, audiences have become more used to longer stories and greater continuity and character development.  Can you imagine a modern Rider series that was just a monster of the week with occasional two or three part episodes?  No, that wouldn’t fit.  I kind of see Super Sentai going the same way.  Get the viewers really involved in the story, get them hooked on a continuing plot and you are much, much more likely to have the same audience tune in week after week. It keeps eyes on the show and thus, gets more people emotionally involved so when they see the toys and merchandise on the shelves, that emotional attachment carries over.  It’s a brilliant strategy both for ratings and marketing.

Especially if you are marketing higher-end, plot specific and pricier products via your Premium Service that are basically repaints of cheaper products on the shelves.  You want to cosplay as Hebitsukai Metal, better get your Dark Seiza Blaster from Premium Bandai! 

Sure, it might seems a cynical marketing strategy but it also creates a more involving series.  Kyuranger has taken some time to really get going but there again, it reflects the way Kamen Rider changed into a long-form narrative and how now, the seasons seem to take a bit more time to really ramp up the story.

Thanks for the question.

[amindamazed]

your continuity makes me cry tag --- GOLDEN. frustating, but damn amusing

Thanks; it's one of my favorite tags because it usually means they did the thing I love most in a tv series. I actually try to use it for things I don't find frustrating. I created it because season one was chock full of beautiful continuity, both narrative and physical, and it made me swoon. Everything from Joan's red sweater and empty room to the weaving of the recovery narrative to the bees.

After the substitution of a 2-D cardboard-cutout of competent detective instead of actual character Joan Watson for most of s2, it was the absence of narrative continuity that killed s2 for me. Sledgehammer retcons do not count.

They also suffer some production continuity errors in terms of props bouncing from place to place within a scene (magical moving milk bottle during the "I adore conspiracy theorists" conversation for example), but that's not what I originally meant the tag to describe.