Gosei Sentai Dai Ranger
(1993-1994)?
Production: Toei Corporation?
Episodes: 50
By Gerald Conde

The Story
Five descendants of the Dai tribe, one of three ancient tribes of the power Daos Empire are chosen to fight against the Gorma who continue in the war between the Dai and Gorma tribes. The battle continued for five thousand years led by the Gorma Triumvirate. The Mythical Chi Beasts emerged to oppose the Gorma, whose powers had increased to a stage where they could become monsters. Five Dai Warriors increased their chi powers so they could control the Mythical Chi Beasts. The war ended with the disappearance of both tribes. In 1993, the Gorma Tribe re-emerged, led by the Gorma Triumvirate,  plotted to take over the world. Master Kaku, who seems to have a strange connection to the Gorma, assembled a team of five youths with high levels of chi to fight the Gorma Tribe as the Dairanger. The Gorma Triumvirate were now made of Shadam, Gara and Zaidosu and like all other Gorma, they were ruled over by the seemingly senile 15th Emperor. Shaddam aims to be the next Emperor.

Their leader Ryou soon found out a dark secret of his past, his father Chouryou who he thought to dead returned. He was the original leader of the Dairanger and betrayed his teammates for immortality as part of the Gorma. Once Chouryou found out the truth, he defended his son against his master the High Priest Saw and ended up dying. As he laid dying, the spirits of his four team members forgive him and gave the Dairangers the ability to combine their Beasts. Later, the Gorma including Shaddam's son Akomaru were after the Byakkoshinken, that Lin's great uncle Yufang placed in a stone. The Byakkoshinken could only be taken out by the chosen one. Once it was removed, the Kibaranger arrived and allied with the Dairanger. The Dairangers didn't know he was just a mere child and the Byakkoshinken, spoke for him to hide his identity. The child, Kou, was put in Lin's care. Kou was in great search for his mother who disappeared when he was little. Eventually the truth came about when Kou was kidnapped by the Gorma and Byakkoshinken was left alone to explain that Kou was half Gorma. His mother, who was helf captive by Akomaru, communicated to the Dairanger that she branded him with a tiger mark to sustain his Gorma side.

Along their journey, the Dairanger befriend a man by the name of Kameo. He was once a great ally to the Dairanger, the mighty Daimugen. He was reluctant to accept his destiny but eventually did to save Kazu. As the war heated on between the Dairangers and the Gorma, Daijinryuu arrived to stop both of them. Daijinryuu is a sentinel being who maintains the natural balance of the universe and doesn't care about either side. Daijinryuu eventually went after as the Gorma as they were mostly responsible for the war. The Dairangers later discovered out their mentor, Master Kaku was really one of the Gorma Tribe and next in line to be Emperor. With the appearance of Daijinryuu, he went to the Emperor to ask for a truce but was not successful in his attempt. Kaku had to make another attempt and made his pupils believe he had betrayed them so he could defeat Shadam and gain under control of the Gorma so he could call off the war. Unfortunately, Master Kaku was killed by Shadam in a duel for power. The Dairanger found strength from the friends they encountered during their journey in order to confront the Gorma Tribe. Master Kaku told his pupils, in spirit, that they shouldn't destroy the Gorma but defeat them. Eventually, the Lailai Jewels and the Earth Shaking Jewel realized they had to leave the Earth to end the madness. Fifty years later, the Gorma came back and so did the Dairanger's grandchildren as the new generation of Dairanger.

My Opinion
Considered one of the best Sentai series, alongside of Jetman and Timeranger, it is also one of the bloodiest. Most of the blood comes around with Ryuu and his rival Jin, an assassin who later becomes a Gorma. It was made in 1993, but it comes with a lot of great special effects. I miss the hand-drawn effects before computers. This series also has great stop-action effects and puppetry. Dairanger has a lot of characters in which you don't know if they are good or bad, what their true motives are until the end.

Kou, the Kibaranger, might throw people off being a child Ranger. Even though he can be annoying sometimes and a pervert, you can relate to him, with his loneliness and him missing his mother. He rides a skateboard, grabs Lin's boobs, peeks under skirts and initially abuses his powers. His archenemy is of course a child, who has his own problems with his father Shadam. But it then turns out Kou and Akomaru are actual twin brothers, so there is a lot of dynamics with that.

It is just really well written and with great characters and all the monsters of the week are very interesting, they actually vile and not your regular goofballs. For example, the cactus one is a pedophile who turns little girls into dolls, the saw guy is a sadistic bastard, and the camera guy falls in love with Lin and turns around. The series has plenty of plot twists and surprises that are actually innovative.

Final Word
If you're at all curious about Super Sentai, then see this series first or Jetman. It has a great involving story with awesome arcs. The story arcs develop through the whole series, for example one episode can deal with one arc and then the next with a completely different one and while one arc can end in a row of episodes, another arc doesn't end until near the end of the series.