Kyoryuu Sentai Zyuranger TV Series Review

Kyoryuu Sentai Zyuranger is the 16th entry of the Super Sentai franchise that lasted for 50 episodes. Western fans best remembered this show as the first series to be adapted into Power Rangers called Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

Five warriors are awakened in the present day after 170 million years in suspended animation to fight the evil Witch Bandora who is to turn Earth into a barren wasteland. With the help of their partner Guardian Beasts and their wise mentor Sage Barza, they save the Earth week after week. Later in the series, we meet Dragon Ranger Burai, Geki's older brother who made things a bit complicated. In addition, one of Bandora's aims is to destroy the last two dinosaur eggs that are about to hatch in the near future.

Zyuranger started a bit slow as the kid of the week drags the series, the series started to pick up its pace around the time they are done with DaiZyuJin's introduction as they started to focus more on the Zyurangers more and try to integrate it with the kid of the week. The biggest turning point of the series is the Dragon Ranger arc, it's the first time Super Sentai had a recurring sixth hero and they did a really good job in introducing him. This is when the series started to become more engaging every episode. Each of the character stereotypes that I have established the first time I watched the first episode is slowly getting destroyed in front of my eyes. Until now, I can't believe that Mei is one badass Pink hero.

There are three elements that tied Zyuranger as a TV series, namely the dinosaur eggs, Geki and Burai's relationship and Bandora. First are the dinosaur eggs, at first I thought that these eggs were just there just for them to have a filler arc involving dinosaurs and for us to learn more about DaiZyuJin's personality. But as the series progressed, the eggs turned out to be a major plot device in the series that I can't believe that the fate of the world lies on these eggs. Thinking about it, they foreshadowed the importance of the eggs in one episode and I fail to notice it until now.

Geki and Burai's relationship is something that made Zyuranger really memorable, Geki is not aware about his brother's existence at first until Burai made his appearance and fight them! Though it started a bit rocky, it ended up quite well after Burai realized his mistakes and that he only has hours to live. This is when the story now rides on how many hours Burai has left to live, which is being foreshadowed that someday, Burai will die and even though we wanted him to last a lot longer, his fate is sealed till the end. This is when we saw more on Geki's personality as a younger brother who will do everything for the sake of his older brother. The family drama is so intense that it gives me chills every time they will have a scene, which shows us that Burai's life is like a candle.

Finally, Bandora, all I can say is, she is one engaging villain as she gives quite an impression every time you see her on screen. She can be over the top, sometimes a bit ridiculous but if she is serious, she is indeed serious. The final arcs of the series gave us a better look behind the witch that she is a tragic character as she sold her soul to the devil just to have revenge on the dinosaurs that killed her son. It is because of her love as a mother that turned her into a witch and that's really tragic. It didn't help that her deal with the devil comes with the price as her son is now the demon's son and that she can't hug him till the last episode happened. Even though she went with that kind of crap, at the end, she had her happy ending inside the urn, which is a bit ironic.

The Zyuranger suits and mechas are really fantastic; the symmetrical design of the overall suit is one of the reasons why I like it. As for the mecha, each individual Guardian Beasts stand out on its own and the combinations are really fantastic. DaiZyuJin, GouRyuJin and Ultimate DaiZyuJin are really great mecha designs. As for the Sovereign DaiZyuJin, I find it a bit lazy because like I said in one review, it's just the Dragon Caesar being worn as a jacket and that's it.

Zyuranger is the first series that expanded the idea of sentient mecha, in this case, we have talking dinosaur mecha! To those who are not aware, years ago, Choudenshi Bioman started the idea of having sentient mecha but never expanded much to it. In the case of Zyuranger, each Guardian Beasts has their own personality and that once they are combined, they will have a distinct personality from the rest. To those who are reading my reviews for weeks now, you notice how much I hate DaiZyuJin as a character and like him as a mecha. You also see that there is one point that I pity Dragon Caesar after Burai's death. In short, these machines, much to my surprise, became endearing characters that you root for.

If there is one thing that disappointed me in the series are the earlier episodes of the series, the Zyurangers are not engaging heroes since I find them too generic but as the series progressed, each Zyuranger started to stand on its own, to be more specific, Geki, Goushi and Mei started to really stand out from the rest. Though Dan and Boi have their own moments, those moments didn't make much impact to me in my opinion less the episode were Boi is a ninja for one day. As for Burai, his presence alone and him having a kickass introduction story arc made him stand above the Zyurangers.

The only problem I have with Burai is that he feels a bit left out with the Zyurangers, he only appears if Dragon Caesar is needed, we barely have episodes were he interacted with the Zyurangers and it kinda sucks considering that he is the first sixth recurring hero in Super Sentai. I mean, it will be interesting if he had an episode were he teams up with Goushi or Mei. Guess they are still in the experimental stage on how they will handle the sixth hero properly.

Another problem I have with the series are some of the kid guests, they range from annoying to stupid in the earlier episodes, it gets better when the series progressed as they were able to integrate the kids well with the story. I still remember like it was yesterday on story arc involving the Legendary Weapons and we have a kid who hates his mom and cries that she lost her mom in the Land of Despair. The kid is so annoying that it sometimes ruined the tension being built on the quest for the Legendary Weapons.

Overall, Kyoryuu Sentai Zyuranger as what Lynxara have noted is quite a revolutionary series since for years, most Sentai teams are strictly science-based teams, though Turboranger tried it with high school kids and fairies, but their arsenal are basically, cars and the like. Zyuranger is the first series that tried to have fantasy themes and it worked for the kids but hated by some hardcore Sentai fans during that time who thinks that Sentai is strictly about the science and the like. But without Zyuranger, we will not have TV shows like Dairanger, Gingaman and Abaranger. Heck, without Zyuranger, producers might be stuck with the same type of Sentai every year since it paved the way in revolutionizing the franchise in terms of themes!

To put it simply, Zyuranger as a whole is a fantastic series and you might say, it is one of my personal favorites. Coming from the kid who grew up watching Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, I am quite blown away that the show were Power Rangers got its footage has a lot more depth and that the show is more than just that show used as stock footage for that 90's wonder. Zyuranger stands on its own that it is hard to compare it to MMPR in terms of quality of storytelling and in terms of writing. It is one of the reasons why I don't do comparisons between Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and Zyuranger, they are two complete different animals and it is like comparing a dog with a wolf!

If you grew up watching Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, I highly recommend that you watch Zyuranger. If you are a bit xenophobic about watching Japanese Power Rangers, you are missing a lot in your life. Thank you Kyoryuu Sentai Zyuranger for the new memories! Long live the dinosaurs, till we meet again, Kyoryuu Sentai Zyuranger!