Super Sentai ran for 50 years. That is not a
failure. That is an achievement. But if it ran
for 50 years, what could it have done to survive
50 more? And now that Project Red is stepping
into that space, here's the question. Is it already
walking toward the same fate? Or can it do what
Sentai never did, and actually evolve? In my
last Heart and Soul, I said Super Sentai deserved
to die. By the end, I walked that back. Sentai
didn't deserve to die. It deserved to be saved.
It just reached a point where saving it didn't
feel possible anymore. The inertia was too strong.
So when I look at Project Red, I'm not celebrating
the end of Sentai. I'm hoping Joy finally decided
to take a chance so we can get transforming hero
stories that are good, not just familiar. So
what actually went wrong with Super Sentai? Why
did Sentai stall out while Rider and Ultra kept
climbing? Sentai got bigger and shallower at
the same time. We had huge casts, extra rangers
on extra rangers on extra rangers. It seemed
like every year there were more and more Power
Rangers, or rather, more Super Sentai characters
in the show. But the character writing didn't
grow with the cast. Red pretty much always got
the spotlight, and everybody else got crumbs.
If you do that long enough, the audience stops
caring. Sometimes it becomes background noise.
I also think Sentai locked itself inside its
own formula. New team, new robots, new Sixth
Ranger, or whatever, Extra Ranger, new toy wave
every year. Which is great for Bandai on paper,
but in practice, it bloated costs, fixed the
story shape, and made surprises almost impossible.
You might argue with me, MJ, how can you say
that? Kamen Rider does the same thing every year,
as does Ultraman. And while that's true, Ultraman
and Kamen Rider are both focused on a single
hero who has... three to four forms, you know,
three to nine forms or whatever, and there may
be some different types of accessory, weapons
or toys that go along with that, but that's for
one character. If you expand that out, you multiply
that by five or more for Super Sentai, you think
about all the auxiliary Zords they have, you
can see that the cost for everything is at least...
multiplied by four or five for Super Sentai over
the cost and the investment needed for Kamen
Rider and Ultraman. And I think it's just impossible
for them to keep up with that, to get a return
on that investment when the show isn't doing
as well, isn't selling as well as the other two
shows are. I went over the numbers last time.
I'm not going to go over them again. but it's
pretty dramatic if you look at them. It's no
wonder Super Sentai got shut down and they're
trying to do something else now. I also think
Sentai kept reinventing the surface, but never
reinvented the core of how it told its stories.
The suits changed, the mecha changed, the motifs
changed, but the underlying rhythm stayed almost
identical year after year. There's the, I don't
know, kind of attacks on Super Sentai that they
have. these tropey, you know, episodes. We have
the fake marriage episode. We have the why aren't
you married yet episode with a grandmother or
somebody coming in trying to get one of the members,
you know, married. We have the body switch episode
or body swap episode. We have all these different
things that are staples in Super Sentai. And
I don't think that's the problem necessarily.
I think it's that everything around those filler
type episodes is lacking. because it gets to
be predictable. And I know I just described tropes
of three different tropes that can happen year
after year and that are predictable, but it's
also as predictable as a mecha fight in a Super
Sentai or them transforming to fight. And I think
it's the execution of it that matters. But there
was just something fundamentally about the overall
arc of the story in a Super Sentai series that
felt kind of samey and I think wasn't delivering
enough variety and excitement. I think Ultraman
has been doing, at least modern Ultraman, new
generation stuff that I've seen, and Comrader
for the last good long while. Audiences feel
that repetition. They feel that staleness, and
it just turns them off. Like Shurikura said in
the interview, Super Sentai was just something
that people took for granted and that they knew
was always going to be on, and they didn't think
they had to watch it because, well, what's going
to happen? It's Sentai. If Suntai was crushed
by inertia, what could have broken it? I think
Suntai could have broken its own formula on purpose,
or rather than saying broken its own formula,
they could have designed their formula in such
a way that it served them, not hampered them.
And this is an idea that I just had off the top
of my head. Some years, let's say you have an
extra ranger one year, and the next year you
have no extra ranger. Then the year after that,
you have... a tragic extra ranger and then after
that you do some sort of team shake up if a defection
of one of the core members um to become the new
evil ranger um or something like that isn't doable
if a defection isn't possible because of the
standards you want for the kids or for uh the
excitement for the kids then you can do something
else you can have uh i don't know just some sort
of interesting change up for the team that i
think would make it more interesting and if you
had a long pattern like that, like a four year
pattern, people wouldn't really know it's a pattern
until like the fifth year, they would get suspicious.
Okay, so we had this happen the first year. And
then this, the second, this, the third, this
is the fourth. Okay, now I'm seeing the fifth
year, it's kind of repeating what that last year
was, then the next year, year six in the cycle,
they would see, okay, now we're getting a repetition
of it. So it's like an ABCD, ABCD pattern. And
they would pick up on that, but really not until
that last D had been locked in, would they be
able to identify and say, ah, yes, I know what's
going to happen in the next season. It's going
to be an A season, season nine. And this is probably
what's going to happen. There's not going to
be a extra ranger or whatever, you know, the
pattern is utilizing. But that would take somebody
who's a dedicated fan. And then they can say,
you know what, maybe I'll categorize these in
a different way. I'll say it's not the Yo -Kai
Power Rangers or the Yo -Kai Super Sentai versus
the, you know, battle robot. super sentai i'm
thinking about i'm thinking about oh this one
had a redeemable extra ranger and this one had
irredeemable extra rangers or and well even that
maybe and you categorize them like that and there's
some ways to look at them and compare them and
think about them as opposed to just there's an
extra ranger that shows up he is grumpy and there's
issues with him joining the team and then eventually
he joins the team everything's great his powers
you know mimic theirs in this way but it's different
with this little twist added to it and whatever
and it's just uh It's something we can do without.
And I think had they chosen to willingly embrace
that, they could have used the same toolbox and
put everything in new combinations, and it would
have had a fresh energy without really abandoning
tradition, which I think Super Sentai, like there's
an idea of tradition that's important to them
in the making of it. And, you know, Kamen Rider
reboots yearly, and so does Ultraman. and its
seasons are half as long as the Ultraman and
Kamen Rider series. I'm sorry. Yeah, Kamen Rider
and Super Sentai series. So I don't think the
annual reboot is really the problem. So I'm trying
to figure out what's wrong. I think the problem
is that it's not the reset, but the arcs don't
often go deep enough within that year. They don't
give themselves the time to go deep enough with
these characters in the... I would say ample
time that we have with them. So they absolutely
had characters with real dramatic potential.
Like look at Jewel Bird from Jewelger. He has
got a Jewel Condor, whatever you want to call
him. He has a great setup, great energy. He's
a mentor figure with guilt. He is mystery and
he's got a compelling bond with Yamato and it's
really interesting. He's really intriguing. He's
not like the other Jumin in the cast, but it
just kind of falls flat and they never really
developed things with him. He felt like a character
whose story could have hit hard, but the structure
didn't give him the space he needed to reach
the arc his introduction promised. That pattern
shows up across multiple seasons. The potential
was there, the follow -through wasn't always.
And for him, I heard at the time that there were
scheduling conflicts or whatever with him, but
I don't know, that's kind of not my problem.
You could always do it, not with this face actor,
and set things up while the guy in the suit,
and then get the face actor to come in and film
a couple key scenes, I would think. Moving on
from there, I think another problem is that Ultraman,
Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai are all stories
of transforming heroes. One grows big, one is
a loner, sort of, and has the power of evil fueling
him. And then one is this team -based show. And
those are the basics. They transform and they
fight monsters. And then they have each little
spin to them. They're on each individual spin
to them. Combinator has its own lane of personal
drama, thematic storytelling, and telling stories
about identity. Ultraman has this very science
fiction focus. You get a lot of conceptual weirdness.
There's often interaction between our world and
another world with this cosmic angle to it. And
it's like a premium product. It's like this interesting,
tight, 25 -ish episode season. that tells like
a really solid story with a good cast and crew.
And like, they really work hard to make those
effects sell the show as well. But it's like,
it's working on an effects level and it's working
on this like sci -fi level, but it's junior sci
-fi or whatever, which is fine. But like those
things make it unique and those bring a distinct
flavor to it. And it's interesting to see what
they do in different years and how they explore
it in the different iterations of it. And I don't
know that Sentai ever really had a strong thing
of its own other than, the colorful team show
for kids. The other franchises, which are also
for kids, feel like they evolved their creative
identities. And Sentai didn't fail because its
concept was outdated. It failed because it never
sharpened what made it special in a modern media
landscape, I think. So all of that being said,
the issues that Sentai had, what do we do about
Project Red? Or what's going to happen with it?
Will it evolve or will it just echo the same
problems? with a different logo, with a different
veneer. Because if Red is simply Sentai in spirit,
it will inherit the same baggage that made Sentai
unsustainable. And that's why I don't think Sentai
could have just said, okay, we're going to, or
Toei couldn't have said, we're just going to
change Sentai again or make it different again,
which is what they were supposed to do after
Gokaiger, starting with GoBusters. But just,
they couldn't stick the landing on that. And
I think there's too much baggage with Super Sentai.
So they had to make this clean break. It would
be a tragedy, I think, if Project Red just failed
right away. Because it seems like they've got
strong pieces there. They've got Gavon, who has
a cool legacy. They're making him red in Gavon
Infinity specifically. He's a red hero, which
is great. Has this great pull from Power Rangers.
I'm sorry, from Super Sentai. And I don't know.
It's got energy. It's got potential. And I like
what we're seeing so far from it. But it just,
I don't know. I'm not necessarily nervous about
it, but I just want to think about it. If Super
Sentai failed and it couldn't have saved itself
at the end because of this inertia, then like...
How does Project Red avoid that same fate? I
have a couple ideas. I think if they keep the
cast focus, they make every suit and ally feel
intentional, and they give us clear arcs, not
just who wins fights, but who changes and what
that costs them, that'll be really great. I think
that'll do a lot to serve the show and to serve
its longevity. If Red Neil's character... and
has people hooked on that, the kids will want
the toys desperately and they'll buy them. So
will older collectors, which supposedly like
collectors, like teens and adults aren't a common
writer and Ultraman is enjoyed by like collectors.
So if you can do enough with Project Red, you
can pull in those customers as well while telling
a great story. So they're restarting the Metal
Heroes series with this, I would argue. We've
got, you know, Gavon Infinity. He's a red hero
now. So they're making that shift. And Gavon
is cool with the metallic armor. And he's pretty
slick with, like, there's just like a lot of
cool things about Gavon visually. And then they're
making that red. So they're pulling in, like
I said, the Sentai energy with the Gavon energy.
But that can't be all the show is. If red wants
longevity, it needs real risks. The kind that
make you sit up and say, okay, the show means
something. What are they doing? I can't believe
they're doing this. Either of those would be
good things. Instead of just, well, whatever,
it's Gavon Infinity. It's Red, Project Red, who
cares? I don't need to watch this week. And any
twists in it should be twists for that particular
season or series, and they shouldn't become part
of the overall formula of Project Red or Gavon
Infinity. I also think that from day one, they
should think global and think weird. I think
Ultraman is a good example of that. They've got
tighter seasons, they have a clear identity,
they have this premium tone, and they have this
willingness to experiment. Episodes like Fourth
Dementor Capriccio from Ultraman Zed, and...
I don't know. Oh, The Man in the White Mask from
Ark, and gosh, there was another one from Ark.
Oh, The Dream Bird, even. I don't remember any
really weird Blazar episodes, but I like Blazar
a lot. It's a short show. with a shorter runtime,
you know, 25 as opposed to like 50 or so episodes.
And they still take time to do these detours,
to do these weird episodes. And I think that's
part of what makes Ultraman stick so much. It
makes it so cool. And I think Project Red has
the same ability to do something like that. But
not exactly that. Or, you know, who knows? Maybe
they'll do weird stuff with Mako Space. But like,
they should be able to get this subbed and...
get an international release with it. They could
dub it and get an international release with
it. They can make it export ready. If they embrace
this strange side of records of extraordinary
dimensions, I think they could just make it like
a really unique show, a really interesting show
that people want to check out. And it can draw
a lot of people in from all over the place. I
think, you know, anime fans, fans of other Henshin
Hero shows. And I really think having this fresh
start and having weirdness that they can lean
into is going to be their strength. It's going
to give them a sharper identity, and people are
going to say, oh, this show's weird. I like it.
So, again, I'm trying to close out here. I don't
think Super Sentai failed because it lacked potential.
It failed because it stopped surprising the audience.
Project Red has the chance to surprise people.
If it stays lean, if it dares to evolve, and
if it chooses to be different instead of replacing
Sentai, taking its spot in truth and in spirit,
we're not going to see the death of another series.
We're not going to see the death of Sentai. We're
going to see the birth of something new and a
fresh new chapter that will hopefully delight
fans for 50 years or more, just like Super Sentai
did. For the most part. If you want more deep
dives like this, the Heart and Soul playlist
is pinned in the first comment. What do you think
Sentai could have done to save itself? And what
does Red absolutely need to get right? Let's
keep the conversation going in the comments.