-- 𝑮𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒊 𝑺𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒊 𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 -- 1993, fresh off the heels of Dinosaur Sentai Zyuranger, The first outing of Noboru Sugimura in Super Sentai after his work in Kamen Rider and Metal Heroes was a success. Now, as we are aware from my Zyuranger review that I am not a big fan of Zyuranger and I think its biggest issues were characters being basically cardboards and too much central focus on a brother plot that really outlasted its needs. Dairanger shows Sugimura fixing that mistake by giving the entire cast centric episodes and sometimes two parters that flesh them out, sometime deconstruct, and even bring in some really genuinely amazing episodes filled to the brim of that amazing character drama that just tickles the fancy of the viewer who loves good character moments. Dairanger brings that special “umph” that really really nails exactly what you want in a Super Sentai and a tokusatsu show. Now, while the central cast is stronger there isn’t without the faults of a leech on the belly. For a good chunk of Dairanger, the sixth ranger Kibaranger is a kid who is 100% totally not likable for his early outings. His eps usually end up near the bottom for me in terms of the show’s rather consistently great run. Thankfully, he gets a turnaround near the show’s second half and is definitely way more likable. The show goes bigger, badder, and outright badass at times compared to Zyuranger that makes me wonder how big Zyuranger was of a warmup for Sugimura. Of course, Sugimura had been injecting Sentai into a lot of his shows from his earliest toku outings. Shows like Black for example feel very much like a sixth ranger being put into solo-ing the entire evil organization of a Sentai. Doesn’t help that you can see similar looking entities of the villains from Black in his Sentai outings either. Is Dairanger the best Sentai has to offer? To many, yes, and I think for the most part it is an easy top 5 Sentai ever. But I think Sugimura shows the best he ever gets all around in the following entry Kakuranger.
