Maggs Reviews Super Sentai: No. 1 Sentai Gozyuger (ナンバーワン戦隊ゴジュウジャー )
SPOILER FREE REVIEW:
Gozyuger is the definition of “you had the ingredients, but the recipe needed another draft.”
There are genuinely great elements here. Kinjiro? Absolute highlight. Give that man more screen time immediately. Hoeru is a walking mood board. The villains are wildly charismatic (FIRE CANDLE! I hope his actor has all the opportunities open for him). Honestly at times they were more magnetic than the heroes (maybe except for Tega June tbh...) and that’s both a compliment and a problem.
The suits look great. The concepts are ambitious. The Universe War and Ring mythology sound huge on paper… but I felt the execution never fully dives into that scale. For something positioned as a major, potentially final era Sentai, it felt smaller than it should’ve. I wanted maybe higher stakes. I (desperately) wanted Showa love (but of course who tf cares about showa these days? :( ). Instead, it sometimes felt like we skimmed the surface and moved on.
The Sumino situation is genuinely awful and heartbreaking and it’s unfortunate that the production turbulence ended up being visible on screen. The green screen patchwork and scheduling limitations definitely hurt the immersion, even though none of that reflects on Kohaku Shida's talent (thanks to her for stepping up last minute). It’s just one of those behind-the-scenes tragedies that unfortunately affected the final product.
Action wise? Fine. Tegasword… exists. Nothing embarrassing, nothing mind-blowing. It’s all serviceable.
Overall, Gozyuger isn’t bad. It has strong moments, some very lovable pieces, and flashes of what could’ve been something incredible. But it never quite locks into that emotional, celebratory, “this is special” feeling I look for, especially in an anniversary-era Sentai.
Solid. Fun at times. Frustrating in others.