In my opinion, the best thing the 1990s did for Super Sentai was introduce the 6th hero for real. We had hints of the 6th Hero going back to 1984′s Choudenshi Bioman when Shota Yamamori became the Magne Warrior for a VERY brief time (two episodes).
And then again in 1987 When X1 Mask briefly aided the team in Hikari Sentai Maskman.
But it wouldn’t be until 1992 when we finally got a real 6th Hero who would stick around (ok he didn’t make it to the end but Death will do that to a guy) in the form of Dragon Ranger in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger.
It is almost impossible to overstate how important the arrival of Burai was to the franchise. A sixth hero added a new character to shake up the status quo, to change existing team dynamics and to add a shot of fresh, new plots to a show to kick things up and renew interest. It didn’t hurt that Burai had a cool plotline and a fantastic mecha of his own.
With the success of adding a sixth man, the formula for Super Sentai as we know it today was set. Every year we have at least one new hero joining a team and while some come and go, some stay and become valued members.
Heck, a good 6th man can even save a flagging show. In my opinion, the things that kept me watching 2015′s Shuriken Sentai NinNinger (other than Pink who was AMAZING) was the introduction of the Cowboy Ninja from America, StarNinger!
And even now, we get the amazingly over the top and flamboyant Zox Goldtsuika a.k.a. TwoKaiser in this year’s show. I was enjoying Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger but his introduction (right after the introduction of the amazing new villain Stacey) really cemented it as a must watch each week for me.
And while not EVERY 6th Hero is fantastic (looking at you SignalMan and NinjaMan) I would say that their addition was the best thing to come out of the Sentai in the 1990s!
