Tensou Sentai Goseiger

Tensou Sentai Goseiger Review

Have you ever watched a series or movie that you know you could improve? A series where you just know that if you were given the chance you could make it something hundreds of times better than the original?  Well that about sums up my over all thoughts on this week’s fair. With s group of heroes on a mission, multiple groups of villains on different missions, and twist that is actually pretty surprising, this is Tensou Sentai Goseiger. 

 

Goseiger is the story of a group of beings called angels that come from Gosei World, a place that is above our world. One day, five Goseigers in training get trapped on our world, the bridge connecting the worlds being destroyed. They have to step up, and become the heroes they were meant to be protecting the earth from a plethora of villains. What is interesting about the group is that right from the start they set up a very interesting dynamic between the characters. You see, the angels are split up into three different tribes. There is the Landick tribe, which the Black and Yellow rangers, Agri and Moune, are a part of. The there is the Seaick tribe, that the blue ranger Hyde is a part of. And finally there is the Skick  (pronounced Sky-ick) tribe that the red and pink rangers, Alata and Eli, are a part of. It is implied in the series that the tribes are very separated, that they usually interact with only others of the same type. Before the destruction of the Tower of Heaven, the bridge linking Gosei world and our world, each ranger only knew about and hung out with the other member of their tribe. Even Hyde had a second Seaick tribe member that was his partner, who died before the series began. So from the start we have three groups of people that are very different, having to work together in a drastic situation. I admit I really like this set up.

The team in all their glory!

The mechas this season are also very interesting. They are called headers, they are basically just a flying head that can be used for an attachment to the rangers side arms, and then as their mechas. They create a full animal form by copying an existing form of transportation for the body. What is interesting about the Headers is that they are interchangeable, with the combined mecha having slots for 14 different Headers. In the series, the Goseigers eventually find more Headers, three more for each tribe. This would make a total of 5 Headers for each tribe, including Hyde’s fallen partner. I believe this further implies that the tribes are separated in nature, each being able to make a full mecha out of the 5 Headers for each tribe. Another interesting Header is actually the 6^th ranger for this series, Gosei Knight. Gosei Knight is a Header that had been trapped in ice for over 10,000 years. He has the ability to become a human sized mechanoid, and then transform into his original Header form. He is obsessed with protecting the earth and keeping it clean, and is even ok with the death of humans if it means that the plant is protected. He gets better.

Also his card reader thing is awesome.

As I mentioned before this series has a bunch of different villains. Unlike Boukenger, where they had different villain groups all at the same time and even interacting with each other, Goseiger does it a bit different, having each villain appear separately in their own arc. We start with the bug aliens The Warstars, who come from the stars to conquer the earth. They are the ones who destroyed the Tower of Heaven and start this whole thing. After they are destroyed the ancient beings the Yuumajuu are released from their 10000 year old prison, being previously defeated by older Gosiegers. These monsters are based on more mythical creatures, like the Bigfoot or the Loc Ness Monster, and some classic movie monsters mixed in as well. They plan on polluting the earth to make it nice for them to live on, wanting the planet to rot away. This is where Gosei Knight is introduced also. But they are defeated to make way for the third villains, the mechanical Matrintis. They were once a part of a fallen, advanced civilization that sunk to the bottom of the sea, the only survivor being a robot with plans to enslave all of humanity. Going through these groups of villains is a single character, who keeps appearing in a new form with a new name. He is one of the only connecters between these sets of villains. He is called Buredoran for the most part until the end of the series, where it is revealed that he is the final villain, a fallen Angel, a former Goseiger. This twist could have been done better, the clues laid out throughout the series were few or obscure, and I feel that there should have been better foreshadowing, but the twist itself I felt was not a bad one, and made a good villain for the end of the series.

The only time these characters are on the same room. Pity really.

To be honest, Goseigers is not the best season of sentai. It is very childish at times. Part of this is due to the heroes being angels, and the childish nature is meant to convey how they are innocent and such. And for the most part they grow up throughout the series. Eli, who is arguably the most childish at the beginning of the series, becomes kind of a mother figure by the end, while still having a touch of her innocence. But the air of childishness never really leaves the series, mostly because it is so prevalent in the beginning. I feel like most of the problems with the series can be found right in the beginning, and kind of stain the series, coloring the series throughout its run. Right from the start I had ideas that I think would improve this series, things that I felt should have gone different then how they went in the series. 

Personally I like their super mode, it is serviceable.

The first change is that I would make Alata the one who is alone, that he was the one who didn’t have a partner and not Hyde. Nothing against Hyde, but they rarely use his back-story, bringing it up maybe 4 times in the whole series. I would make Eli a part of the Seaick tribe, which I think can be a good fit is done correctly. Hyde is the only Seaick member we get to see, so we have to base the entire tribe off of what we see from him and some comments that the others make. But because we get to see so little, we can use this to change the Seaick tribe from how they are initially seen. Through Hyde we can guess that the Seaicks are analytical, calm and level headed, and the ones least likely to fly off the handle. This is supposed to be mimicking the calm sea, like when Hyde is actually angry he is like the sea during a storm. If we add Eli to this, we get another facet of water, the more bubbly, fun, and alive part that can be attributed to the element. It also helps that Hyde’s and Eli’s weapons are basically the same, both having gun type weapons. So Hyde and Eli can be two sides of the same coin. This makes Alata the lone Skick member. This actually helps Alata’s overall character arc throughout the series. Alata is the one who brings together these four and makes them a team. Alata becomes their leader, though never stating that he is the leader. If Alata is alone then it makes his job that much harder, instead of having to convince three people, with Eli already being his friend, he has to convince four people, all of who naturally don’t trust him. The next thing I would change is I would increase the amount of prejudging that goes on when the group first meet. The Landick tribe is considered stupid because the use force right away, the Seaick tribe is considered cold and calculating, and the Skick tribe is considered flighty and even prone to lying for fun. I would increase this by only a bit, making them all look down on Alata for being a Skick tribe, and even make it that they consider the Skick tribe to be weaker than the rest. This creates even more of a wall for Alata to get over in order to complete his character arc. This would also give more weight to the times he acts alone. You see, Alata witnessed firsthand the destruction of the Tower of Heaven, and even fought the one who destroyed it and lost, giving him a scar on his arm. But what if he wasn’t alone, but had his partner. And his partner died. This would create a fantastic dilemma for Alata. Every time this villain would appear, Alata would have to choose, between going after the one who killed his friend and getting revenge, or staying calm and leading this group of people who barely trust him. Personally I feel this would make a better story, especially if you include the twist that Buredoran was a Gosei angel before turning evil. While never said outright, it is alluded to the fact that Buredoran  was of the Skick tribe, and in order to defeat the Yuumajuu he killed and sotle the powers of his companions, one person form the Seaick tribe and one person from the Landick tribe. He was hated for this act, even though it saved the earth, and it drove him to become the villain he was. What if that is the starting point for all the hate against the Skick tribe. And the reveal that he is Skick would shake the belief that Alata was the group’s leader, all that trust shaken. Personally I find that this would make a much better story. 

Seriously, he has 4 different forms in the series, more in the movies.

While Goseigers could have been so much better than it is, I found it to still be a pretty good series. It has problems, the villains overall felt underwhelming and I would have preferred if they overlapped more. I found the rangers to just be ok, overall. I personally found Alata to be a very good character, growing from a nosey person who likes to help everyone into a seasoned veteran who, while being darkened by his adventure, still had a shine of the kind person he was. Personally I really like Agri. I considered him the emotional center of the team, as he was the one who was usually most effected by any news, was the first to jump into a fight, was the first to blame himself for anything that went wrong, and always the one smiled when things went right. I really liked Agri. Moune did nothing for me, I found her annoying most of the time, but not bad. The same for Eli, but I thought her character arc was done well; it was subtle in a way. Hyde I felt they should have done more with, he was the smart one and the calm one and that was usually it. The death of his partner should have been used more. Gosei Knight started off as a more annoying Captain Planet, but he mellowed out and actually became pretty likable, though I feel they could have done more with him. 

As much as I complain these guys grow on you.

Tensou Sentai Goseiger is not a perfect series. It is at times annoying, childish, and face palm inducing stupid, but there is enough there for me that I found this series to be pretty fun. Alata’s character arc is done perfectly, and the final villain makes for an interesting turn. At the end of the day I would recommend this series. Also you have to watch the cross over movies that the Goseigers participate in. Both of them are excellent, though to be honest the other team in both of movies help make it better. For the next review well I promised that I would watch a certain magical girl series, so this might take a bit. So until next time, have fun watching.