It's morphin' time: A Sentai for Regular Guys overview

I’m not an otaku, a television expert, or fluent in Japanese. I’m just a regular guy who likes Power Rangers.

My first exposure to Japan’s long-running, spandex wearin’ Super Sentai occurred in 1993 when the world was introduced to Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. My young self didn’t realize it at the time, but that team of “teenagers with attitude” was actually lifted straight out of a Japanese show called Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, the 16^th in the Super Sentai series.

At first I was amused in a Mystery Science Theater 3,000 kind of way. But with the introduction of the evil Green Ranger, crazy new robots, and a rockin’ soundtrack, the show blossomed into a great way to spend my afternoons.

And then I got old. Too old, I thought, to waste my time on a kid’s show. And so, a few months before a new Ranger team rocketed into space, I traded the teens in brightly colored spandex for the gritty antihero of HBO’s afterhours classic, Todd McFarlane's Spawn.

As time marched on, I completed college, got a job, moved out of my parent’s house, and got married. You know, all that cliché regular guy stuff.

But old fascination with Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers stayed with me, tucked away somewhere in my mind. One day, out of the blue, I wondered to myself about that show before Power Rangers – the one from Japan. I jumped on Google and did a little research. And a little more. And a little more after that.

By the end of the week, I was halfway done with Zyuranger and hungry for more.

Sentai for Regular Guys will chronicle my voyage through the 40-plus seasons of Super Sentai, recording my thoughts and experiences through the lens of a regular guy. My hope is that other regular people like me – the ones who grew up with Jason and the gang battling Rita Repulsa’s evil minions – can learn from my journey. I hope that my suggestions will save new Sentai fans from spending time on a series that isn’t for them, and to highlight the shows beyond just Zyuranger that an old MMPR fan might want to get into.

I want to give back to the Sentai community’s more seasoned fans as well. I’ve learned quite a bit in this last few months about video file formats, creating and encoding subtitles, and which Sentai series haven’t been subtitled yet. As I said, I don’t speak Japanese – but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. (See here for details.)

My first order of business is to review Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. But if you’d like to jump into the action now, it’s available to watch for free on the Shout! Factory website. 

In the meantime, as Zordon would say, may the power protect you. (Or something less lame. I don't know, I stopped watching after Turbo.)