The Best Sentai Show
By Jeffrey Couto

Over the last 25 years Japanese television has given the world some of the most entertaining and memorable TV shows ever produced, there is one genre however that tends to stand out due to its sheer visual power and dynamic presentation, I refer of course to the annual Super Sentai show that airs on Sunday mornings to the delight of millions of Japanese children.

There have been many of these shows produced over the last couple of decades ( 26 to be exact, not counting things like Ban Kid) and like anything else some were better than others, however there is one show that when looked at objectively tends to stand out from the others due to several factors, the show I refer to is the 1991-1992 classic Chojin Sentai Jetman.

My belief is that in order to have a good story you need to have solid character development, meaning that as the story progresses we should be able to see the characters grow, learn and change as they learn more about the world in which they live and the people they interact with. This is exactly what you get when you watch Jetman, a strong story backed by very solid character development. That is not to say that other sentai shows don't do this, but Jetman did it particularly well.

The main storyline in Jetman like in many other sentai shows features an Earth that is invaded by an alien empire (Vyram) and which must be defended by a group of five brave & colorful heroes, however this is were all similarities between this show and the others end. Once the main story is setup Jetman moves forward and introduces us to a very interesting mix of characters that at first don't have much in common but through the course of the series would grow to become a family.

These learning experiences that the characters go through (like Ryu losing his love AOI only to see her come back as the evil Maria or the continuous infighting between Gai and Ryu) are what make this show. The characters deal with real world emotions of love, hate, betrayal and sadness (things that we can all relate to) within the framework of the sentai world, which is not something we see a lot of in this genre. It is true that sometimes Jetman could be somewhat soap operaish, but for the most part it was well done.

Again this is not to say that other sentai shows have not done this (Time Ranger being a good example), but Jetman did it particularly well by focusing on the human side of the story as opposed to intricate plots devised to bring in the new robot of the week to help our friends at Bandai sell more toys and make their quarterly profit goals.

Jetman also benefited from having strong mechanical and costume designs (inspired by the classic animated show Gatchaman from Tatsunoko productions) featuring a bird inspired motiff. This made for very impressive visuals of our heroes flying around with their wings spread (something that we would see again in last year's Gaoranger) as they fough the many monsters that the Vyram empire sent to Earth.

To conclude I would like to ask all sentai fans who have not had the opportunity to see this wonderful entry in the long running series to go out and buy the first couple of episodes. This show really is a must see for any sentai fan, much like Dai Ranger, Bioman, or Time Ranger, it is one of those shows that must be seem in order to understand the potential that these shows hold for the future.

Jeffrey Couto