Hyakuju Sentai Gaoranger
Where there is life, there is a roar of justice!
The 25th Super Sentai, Hyakuju Sentai Gaoranger is a very heavily merchandise driven series; Hyakuju in fact means "One Hundred Beasts", so the fact that only 24 or so Power Animals are actually used in the show could be considered a sign of restraint on the part of the toymakers. Another way the merchandising manifests is that for the most part the Gaorangers do not address each other by their civilian names, but by their colors, much the way a small child who's not paying all that much attention to the character bits would probably do so anyway.
Starting off on the strong points, Gaoranger may have a lot of mecha and mecha configurations, but it uses them well, with strongly composed mecha action scenes that are integrated into the story rather then being tagged on at the end. The mechs themselves are also well-constructed, both on an individual level and in all the various combinations they form. Plus, each mecha has its own unique function whether together or apart, meaning that there is no one most powerful combination, but rather the ones best suited to the enemy being fought at the time, which again helps the mecha battles remain interesting and exciting throughout the show's run. Finally, as noted above, the mecha are "Power Animals", and as that name would suggest, they are living breathing creatures, meaning that when they are injured they must nursed back to health and they are also able to take initiative whether in deploying themselves onto the battlefield or even suggesting what combinations be used.
The Shamen Tetom is one of the better mentors that I've seen in the franchise; she has an interesting and quirky personality owing to how she is 1062 years old and as such does not see anything wrong with, say, dropping down onto a fighter pilot's jet in the middle of his training exercises to recruit him to her cause. Also, every so often will help out the team in material ways beyond just offering advice and exposition, which is always nice. The Sixth Ranger, GaoSilver, is also well done; like Tetom he is also 1062 years old, but unlike her he is of the "lone wolf" archetype. However, this is with the twist that he is a loner due to both an inferiority complex, and just being socially awkward and unsure of himself around the rest of the team. The rest of the team, while nice and they do get good focus episodes on their lives from before they became Gaorangers, are not particularly interesting nor deep.
The villains are a mixed bag; there are ultimately four big bads one after another as the Gaorangers kill them off in turn, with the second being the most interesting of the bunch. The first is too straightforward, the third is too petty and goofy, and the fourth suffers from only being around for a few episodes. The main recurring villains throughout are Tsuetsue and Yabaiba, and while they start off threatening and dangerous, once the second arc starts they plummet into comic relief, hard...and they do a good job of that, their antics becoming some of the better parts of the show.
The story on the whole is well paced and plotted, but not particularly interesting outside of a few highlights. There's also a narrator who talks alot, and while at first he was kind of annoying at first, they eventually hit the right tone with him, so it works out in the end.
On the whole, Gaoranger is a middle-ground series for me; it does what it sets out to do and even has some interesting highlights, but the cast isn't fleshed out as well as I would have liked and the show itself is not all that ambitious.
The 25th Super Sentai, Hyakuju Sentai Gaoranger is a very heavily merchandise driven series; Hyakuju in fact means "One Hundred Beasts", so the fact that only 24 or so Power Animals are actually used in the show could be considered a sign of restraint on the part of the toymakers. Another way the merchandising manifests is that for the most part the Gaorangers do not address each other by their civilian names, but by their colors, much the way a small child who's not paying all that much attention to the character bits would probably do so anyway.
Starting off on the strong points, Gaoranger may have a lot of mecha and mecha configurations, but it uses them well, with strongly composed mecha action scenes that are integrated into the story rather then being tagged on at the end. The mechs themselves are also well-constructed, both on an individual level and in all the various combinations they form. Plus, each mecha has its own unique function whether together or apart, meaning that there is no one most powerful combination, but rather the ones best suited to the enemy being fought at the time, which again helps the mecha battles remain interesting and exciting throughout the show's run. Finally, as noted above, the mecha are "Power Animals", and as that name would suggest, they are living breathing creatures, meaning that when they are injured they must nursed back to health and they are also able to take initiative whether in deploying themselves onto the battlefield or even suggesting what combinations be used.
The Shamen Tetom is one of the better mentors that I've seen in the franchise; she has an interesting and quirky personality owing to how she is 1062 years old and as such does not see anything wrong with, say, dropping down onto a fighter pilot's jet in the middle of his training exercises to recruit him to her cause. Also, every so often will help out the team in material ways beyond just offering advice and exposition, which is always nice. The Sixth Ranger, GaoSilver, is also well done; like Tetom he is also 1062 years old, but unlike her he is of the "lone wolf" archetype. However, this is with the twist that he is a loner due to both an inferiority complex, and just being socially awkward and unsure of himself around the rest of the team. The rest of the team, while nice and they do get good focus episodes on their lives from before they became Gaorangers, are not particularly interesting nor deep.
The villains are a mixed bag; there are ultimately four big bads one after another as the Gaorangers kill them off in turn, with the second being the most interesting of the bunch. The first is too straightforward, the third is too petty and goofy, and the fourth suffers from only being around for a few episodes. The main recurring villains throughout are Tsuetsue and Yabaiba, and while they start off threatening and dangerous, once the second arc starts they plummet into comic relief, hard...and they do a good job of that, their antics becoming some of the better parts of the show.
The story on the whole is well paced and plotted, but not particularly interesting outside of a few highlights. There's also a narrator who talks alot, and while at first he was kind of annoying at first, they eventually hit the right tone with him, so it works out in the end.
On the whole, Gaoranger is a middle-ground series for me; it does what it sets out to do and even has some interesting highlights, but the cast isn't fleshed out as well as I would have liked and the show itself is not all that ambitious.