Kyu Kyu Sentai Gogo V
By Dan Kunimoto

In life, there are many things we sincerely treasure, and I hope for many people one of those things is family. There are television series that stress the importance of kin and family, but to my knowledge many of those series are not placed under the "action" category. The Sentai series explores this frontier with series like Kyuukyuu Sentai Gogo Five, which packs emotion, comedy, satire and other elements of great series infused in the theme of family. It also emphasizes the struggles of rescue workers and their ideal mentality on taking on such a career.

Overview

In Gogo Five, we are hit with five rescue fighters who are also siblings, the Tatsumis, that give themselves the destiny to protect the world through rescue work and are given the destiny to be fighters of justice by their father that they accept. The father of the five siblings, a scientist, has gone into hiding for ten years, supposedly abandoning their family. The mother is thought to be dead by most but the five put their faith in her living even though eight years has passed since her disappearance. Their father has unexpectedly entered the five's lives when a small meteor-like object abruptly hits earth and the five seem unable to substantially make a difference to the conditions. They discover that their father has been hiding and building rescue equipment that the world has never seen. He planned on creating this equipment to prepare for an event that he had been anticipating called the Grand Cross, in which evil would make an appearance on earth and wreak havoc and chaos across the land. For this, he had created 5 rescue suits that each of his children would wear on rescue missions saving people throughout the city and also to fight a family of darkness and destruction named the Saima.

The family is immediately immersed in sibling and family tensions that last through out the series. Their mother's disappearance and words are functions to their faith in family and their never giving up spirit advocated by the eldest brother.

The leader of the five, Matoi is one of the most likable characters in all of Sentai. He is built of the greatest will and sense of responsibility and dedication to the people he protects. As Go Red, he leads the team with strictness and discipline that the others grow accustomed to, being the eldest sibling of the five. He is a rescue fire fighter. The brother who is one year younger is Nagare, who practically assumes the role of taking over his father's place being the scientist of the bunch. He is Go Blue and frequently by the side of the younger brothers when he believes that his older brother is out of line. His line of work involves chemical fire fighting. The middle brother's name is Shou and he is a rescue pilot that loves flying. He has many temptations and can sometime be easily aggravated. He fights alongside his family as Go Green. The youngest brother is Daimon, who is a police officer and somewhat of a martial artist. He is the wise guy of the group and maybe the most emotional. He always expresses himself by being the "kid" of the siblings. He takes on the role of Go Yellow. The female of the sibling group happens to be Matsuri, GoPink. She is the youngest and only female sibling, although some times she as looked to as an equal to Matoi because of being the eldest sister. She works as a medic. The five of them take to heart the words of their mother: "Have faith in the family." (rough translation) and fight to protect the future of the earth, which is peoples lives.

The theme of this series turns out to be a lot of things. Because they go against supernatural beings that use magic and divine intervention, the heroes' sciences clash with it, along with spirited determination. The greatest emphasis was put on the never giving up, fighting spirit of each individual for the future of the world. By the end, never loosing faith becomes a dominant theme also. This series makes living like a family exciting and comedic. It's hard to find genuinely funny Sentai, but with the help of Matoi, Gogofive is a smash. The sibling tensions sometimes prove to be very hilarious, making this series one of the funniest and interesting Sentai I have ever watched. It seems to be slightly underrated against the more serious Sentai but its definitely one of the top on my list.

My Opinion

I can sincerely say, that this was the most fun Sentai to watch because the things that are accomplished by these five do not directly have to do with neither skill nor proper timing nor the right equipment but more with spirit and vigor. It seems uninteresting because on the surface they are only glorified rescue workers that are all siblings. And you ask yourself, "What right do they have fighting against villains of darkness?" But in time the story proves to you that no matter what it is you have, determination and justice will always guide you to victory. Because of the many tensions that Kyuukyuu Sentai Gogofive protrudes, it makes it one of the most exciting and interesting Sentai series that you will ever watch.

Dan Kunimoto