My Top 6 Sentai Black Warriors

Here be my Top 6 Sentai Black Warriors...

6. Ryuu Hoshikawa/Dyna Black (Kagaku Sentai Dynaman)

All right, this is mostly on the earlier thoughts, but even when we take Dynaman's theme of science, Ryuu's design screams of unique. A ninja mixed with scientist, and still a badass fighter. That's a combo you'll less likely to see, and he's still great because of it. His personality is quite comical for a ninja, but I've seen other comical ninjas that could get annoying (but I still like it), so I can still excuse Ryuu's comical side and sometimes loud voice. Well, it helps that he's played by Junichi Haruta... At any rate, even if Dynaman is currently 'In Progress', I'd say Ryuu already secured the #6 slot.

5. Black Lion Rio (Juken Sentai Gekiranger)

Right, he's never officially called a Black warrior, but he DOES turn good in the end (or so I heard. Yes, I've been spoiled a lot, but I still watch the series anyway!), thus marking his place. If I would have the list of 'sympathetic villain', I'd say Rio takes cake. While he's evil, he has soft spots here and there and this proves vital in redeeming him, changing him from villain and such, without losing his badassery points. I'll not say anything about his relationship with Mele here, except I'd say it's quite a well-done dynamic between the two. Overall, Rio is the example of 'villain, badass, sympathetic in a way', thus he earns the #5 spot. And hey, Jan once tried calling him 'GekiBlack'. So... yeah.

4. Kanpei Kuroda/Goggle Black (Dai Sentai Goggle V)

And we go back to our classic faves. I'd say that while he's not going anywhere near Saburou or Miki in terms of favorite Goggle V character, Kanpei is pretty awesome on his own. Yes, being played by Junichi Haruta helps, but his vast array of techniques is quite the sight to behold. And he's not even a ninja, but a university president of chess club and a janitor part-time (Almighty Janitor, anyone?). They're right when they say 'If Goggle V looked silly, Kanpei is the one who keeps the line between complete silly and awesome' (though I don't think Goggle V is silly AT ALL). A great second-in-command as well, Kanpei earns the #4 spot (and yeah, nostalgia plays a factor here).

3. Doggie Kruger/Deka Master (Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger)

Doggie is probably one of my favorite 'commander' type character. It's just a guy in a big blue bipedal wolf suit, but DANG he's that badass. Not stealing the spotlight despite his mass power also adds up points that he's also wise, but when he's gotten into battle, asses shall be bitten. Tetsu Inada voiced a lot of furry characters, and I'd say Doggie stands amongst the most badasses of them. So, yes, this dog earns #3 spot, and watch out, if he wants to bite, he bites... HARD.

2. Jiraiya/Ninja Black (Ninja Sentai Kakuranger)

I'd say that Jiraiya is an awesome character kinda overshadowed in terms of spotlight. Kakuranger is mostly more about Tsuruhime, with Sasuke thrown in for good measure. Not that I'm complaining, but Jiraiya tends to fall flat in spotlight. Though for what little spotlight he has, he's REALLY awesome at those. His arc with Gali is considered one of the most tense arcs: Master/foster father and student square off against each other in a deadly battle, and Jiraiya doesn't even transform. It's good ol' plain beatdown showcasing the awesome martial arts actions of the Kosugi family. And those are combined with high tension drama. Aside of that, Jiraiya speaks perfect English at times, which is a good addition to his character, being an American ninja, and even with that, he's not like many overconfident Americans, he's actually pretty humble. Those are his qualities that makes him #2 of the list.

1. Gai Yuuki/Black Condor (Choujin Sentai Jetman)

And now, here's one of my favorite characters in Super Sentai history. Gai is the epitome of character development (even more so than Hoji!), starting out an obnoxious jerk and the least likely candidate to be a Super Sentai warrior, but deep down, he hid a heart of gold which he hid well for about half the season, and eventually it prevailed over his jerkass side, turning him to a bad ass second-in-command and actually treats Ryuu as a real friend, not some 'annoying goody two shoes guy'. Yeah, it's a great bummer that he has to die, but hey, look at the bright side... He died an accomplished man, with no regrets and all. Of course I know many would wish him to be alive, but with his death scene so ambiguous (which I'll talk about later), you may wonder if he's just hiding (if you count the manga non-canon anyway!). Yes, he fights dirty with groin squeezes at times, but that adds variety in Sentai fights and I always find it fun. His rivalry with Grey is also something impressive to watch. At any rate, so many great qualities, Gai pretty much sweeps the #1 spot, even if he has to die for it.

And that concludes my Top 6 Sentai Black Warriors. I do hope you enjoy the read...

I'll see you later!

P.S: Once again, my special thanks for the actors (and voice actor): Toshihide Wakamatsu, Kane Kosugi, Hideaki Kusaka & Tetsu Inada, Junichi Haruta and Hirofumi Araki. Awesome job, guys!