Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Super Sentai: The Underrated and The Overrated

Okay, so Sean made up his list on who's overrated, who's underrated. Me? I think I'll just wrap mine in one post. Remember, this is all just opinion, you may think VERY differently. And these are all just gathering from my experience. To note: This doesn't mean about things I hate or love... it's just... well, you know!

Without further ado... let's go with...

Overrated Female

1. Peggy Matsuyama

Okay, I've got to give her credit that she is the first female ranger EVER. But still, the amount of attention she got seems kind of overwhelming. She may be a starter, but her style has been perfected by many, and yet when it comes to 'favorite old skool Sentai ladies', she tops.

2. Mika Koizumi

One, she's from Bioman (which I think is a very highly rated, near overrated in Philippines and many other countries), two, she has some intense fighting scenes, thus hailed as Badass, three... she bites the dust quicker, in the most tear-jerking way possible. But when you have Jun being completely tossed aside in favor of Mika even when the latter was less-involved... Perhaps I'll have to agree with Sean on this one.

3. Sara (Tokimura)

Yes, I realize she suddenly got overly popular and the one thing that stands out in Flashman. But while she does have some unique trait, I'd say she's pretty normal like the rest of the female Sentais, no more or no less than Lou. Maybe her sudden attention shower she got near the end of Flashman (and even be the one to shut Lee Keflen up instead of Jin) got her points. Plus she parades around showing her legs or her chest (not any of her boobs, though) gives the big fanservice factor. She's a good character and smart too, but I just find more smart characters in her vein underrated...

4. Remi Hoshikawa

She tends to get the awesome fight scenes and such, but most people overrate her merely on the spot of her drunken fist episode. Me? Saw it, nothing special. That alone wouldn't be enough to cement my favoritism on Remi, I'd have to dig more than that. But apparently, if there's one thing people talk about her, it's her Drunken Fist episode (I like the skirt-flip episode better though... Now stop looking at me like that!). This makes me view her overrated, if only because people were too quick to judge her since the early episodes.

5. Ako Hayasaka
Okay, Sean calls her underrated, but I say for the underrated-ness... she's overrated. Why? Because she pretty much overshadows Kaori, who by herself is quite underrated. I'm not saying that Ako is a bland character, she got her moments, but even Kaori got her and she got less attention. Maybe because she hooks up with Ryuu and Ako only gets teases with the overly popular Gai? Who knows.

6. Tsuruhime

I will agree with Sean that she is the first female leader, and she gets quite the focus in Kakuranger. Still, like Peggy, she just... codifies. There was nothing else that stands out, Sasuke is shown to be more active and technically is the most powerful, yet he gets mostly overshadowed by Tsuruhime. I don't hate her, no. Still, I think the movement to make her the first female leader, even by technicality, just worked too good.

7. Yuuri
I'd say Yuuri is one of the more overrated rangers... and this is not after taking account to PR Time Force and Jen! Reason? She is the first female ranger to be a full blown Tsundere archetype, which is a pretty popular archetype in the media. I know she has her reasons to be like the one she is right now, but the Tsundere factor really ups her fandom. Add that with the successor of Tsuruhime in terms of female leaders, and there you have it.

8. Nanami Nono
Two words: Nao Nagasawa. I have nothing against her, I think she's portraying Nanami well (in the few Hurricaneger episodes I did), and Nanami is a pretty good character. But several people that I know that likes Nanami mostly credits to how hot she is, etc. This is why she is in that 'Commonly Acknowledged As Hot Sentai Ladies of the Decade'. She's great, an okay character... but the fandom seems a bit too big on her compared to the rest of the Hurricanegers and Gouraigers...

9. Jasmine/Marika Reimon
Okay let's get this straight that I still like Jasmine, she's still my top female Yellow warriors. But she constantly tops favorite-type polls, is generally overly loved so much she overshadows Umeko. Maybe it's because Dekaranger is the first subbed Sentai series? Can't blame her character to be rather interesting, and her actress (Ayumi Kinoshita) to be that hot. But for a favorite of mine, she sure got her stuffs from high overrating.

10. Luka Millfy

Yep, Gokaiger is just out for a few eps, and most people are all heels for Luka, and I think the recent episode 6 just ups her fans with her maid outfit. Well I don't blame her for something, that episode shows she's a rather interesting fellow and I want to know how her gold-digging style got to her. But still, I kinda think she pretty much overshadows Ahim... and I dunno why.

Now before I go to the next parts, there's some things I'd like to say... Especially in regards of two near-obvious things I missed...

"What about Mako/Kotoha? Or Sakura??"

My answer is... they're NEITHER overrated, nor underrated. Sean may say Mako's overrated, but I've seen the same amount of rabid Kotoha fanboys (who's in for her moe-blob tendencies), so I guess that balances it out. Sakura herself is also balanced with Natsuki fanboys, which I say do balance out.

Now with that outta the way, let's go with the boys.

Overrated Male

1. Banba Soukichi

He's not the red ranger (but instead took leadership), but he becomes so popular he's the series mascot. I can see why though, his introduction is a saving throw to JAKQ which was plummeting due to an overly dark theme, and while it doesn't completely save it from cancellation, it stretches the series further. Plus, it's Hiroshi Miyauchi playing him. His persona and character himself, from the look of it, is a combo of style and badassery which does help, but he's got that overration quite. Funny that he didn't steal the leadership from Akaranger in the Legends War...

2. Takeru

Takeru, as much as I like him, started one trend that would be symbolize overration: Red Ranger gets too much focuses. This is quite blatant in Maskman, that for the Iyal plotline to move on, they just need Takeru. He does balance it out with some occasional humors on himself (especially THAT time travel episode), but this was also quite the cause of the imbalance of attention given to many characters. Although this doesn't exclude...

3. Akira

Yes, Maskman is the first series in this post to have two overrated (same sex at that!) characters. And mind you, I like Akira as well, he's a funny guy. Still, why did I say he's overrated? Outside all the Maskmen aside of Takeru, he's the only guy to get the subplot unique to himself only (Unas). This, combined with the fact he's the youngest guy, makes him be talked about a lot, leading to a rather overration. Not as severe as Takeru, maybe, but still...

4. Yuusuke Amamiya
(Yes I'm using his younger self picture. Don't ask.)

I think most of the people looked at Yuusuke thanks to Gaoranger vs Super Sentai and think of him highly from there... but I am wondering how many people rate Yuusuke for what he is in Liveman? Yes, he doesn't get disproportionate attention like Takeru, he's just as normal as Jou and Megumi went, but I think somewhat people make him more special than he is. And strangely, this doesn't seem to affect the other alumnus appearing in Gaoranger vs Super Sentai (Miku, Gouki and Daimon). I do wonder this sometimes...

5. Gai Yuuki

Take Mika, flip her gender, make her last through the entire season (but still dead by the end of it) and you get Gai. But it was this kind of characterization that makes Gai really popular. He's a jackass, the least likely guy you'd expect to be a ranger, but he pulls through and becomes a force of good by the end, showing a great case of development. Though like the case of Tsuruhime, I'd say the process of showing that proves TOO effective...

6. Burai
Okay, here it is. The big one (pun not intended). Burai is often cited as "The reason why Zyuranger is not teh suck". I mean it does make sense because his episodes has less stuffs about the 'Child of the Week' syndrome, and Burai has an intriguing story on his own. But he and the Dragon Caesar are not as invincible as people claimed him to be (there's one episode when even Dragon Caesar fails to destroy a Dora Monster and had to resort to Mei, of all people, to destroy it). Ontop of that, his Power Rangers counterpart is Tommy Oliver, the most popular of all Power Rangers. So it's like people credit Burai great because of nostalgia with Tommy, not who Burai is for himself. Of course I may be wrong on that one, but still... you also gotta remember why Burai survived longer than he did: Fan outcry. Yes, he was planned to be killed shortly after his summoning of Dragon Caesar, but the fans liked him enough that he stuck. Even so, Burai is still one of the more overrated rangers.

7. Mikoto Nakadai

I know he's unique for being an evil ranger in get go, and he's overpowered. And he's a complete asshole. But these are the reasons why people rate him so highly, he's an unique design. And hey, when his Burstosaur is voiced by the most famous seiyuu amongst the cast (Hikaru Midorikawa), it's bound to have that. But even Mikoto himself isn't totally invincible, as he's also suspectible of mishaps like that time he got sucked into Voffa's (or Mikela's, forgot which one) book. So... yeah, he's not that completely invincible... even with the Dezumoroya part in him.

8. Takeru Shiba

I'd say this is not more the fault of Takeru's character himself, but on how big the Shinkenger-craze was. He hits many things on spot: badass, stoic, nice underneath, at first quite the loner... which caused a big outrage when Kaoru was introduced (and it wasn't until Kaoru firmly established that she's nice that the outrage died down). But he's also mildly hit with the previous Takeru's problem: Overloaded with attention by plot, but with character like that, I knew he'd just attract fans like that. However, I wouldn't blame it on the characterization, he's actually pretty cool, just that his fandom just... err...

Okay enough with the overration, let's move on to underration!

Underrated Female

1. Karen Mizuki

It's true that she was a junior compared to Peggy. But I think she's quite overwhelmed with Peggy's seniority and the fact that she's in the same team with Big One. I haven't watched JAKQ, to be honest, but for one who introduced a canonical romance to Super Sentai... she really didn't get enough credits.

2. Miki Momozono

In fact I'd say Goggle Five is completely underrated. If you look at the polls in the nearby blogs, you can always guarantee that Goggle Five and its characters always hit last place. But enough about that for now, I suppose while Miki herself is the one most known in Goggle Five, in the general picture, she remained so underrated because Goggle Five is either unknown, or suffers due to bad publication in Brazil. As I said myself, she's awesome, smart, revives the trend that female warriors can still WORK... And yes, I do enjoy focus episodes that features her. Just that she just seemed virtually uncared in general... *sigh* Okay I'll stop ranting.

3. Rei Tachibana

Rei is pretty much toe-to-toe with Miki in terms of underration. She's the first attempt to show that girls aren't that defenseless (she's a hard-ass Fencer!) and in the same time is pretty cute and great. However, one thing that I felt bugged out was that... Sayoko Hagiwara's voice seemed a bit too deep for Rei (which makes her role as Ley Nefel felt a bit more natural I think), but it's still overall an enjoyable performance, underrated too. And maybe because Dynaman comes before Bioman and didn't touch much about stories that Rei also falls on underration.

4. Sayaka Nagisa

If anyone think of a smart girl in an old school Sentai, they go for Sara. Me? I'd think of Sayaka instead. She's out and out described as the 'brain' and she does prove it well enough at times. Her voice might be a little high pitched, but I can live with that. Changeman itself is claimed to be the turning point of Sentai, but from the look of it, more people see the turning point to be at either Bioman or Maskman, so I think the problem is that Sayaka is in a Sentai series not really noticed in overall (it IS successful in Brazil I think. CMIIW).

5. Momoko

If anyone suffers from the overly abundant attention given to Takeru and Akira, that'd be Momoko. She does have focus episodes here and there, but not as much as Haruka, making her a little less characterized or having good enough background and all. I do realize she's popular amongst the people because... well, her actress' hot. But I just think they could've squeezed out more characterization on her... and this is why I said she's underrated, as in... the STORY underrates her.

6. Haruna Morikawa

Well of course she's not bashed here and there, but for a heroine, she seemed to be cited less interesting than Kirika. But then again, same thing could be said to all Turborangers, they weren't cited that much unique and the unique things come from Yamimaru and Kirika (and even Riki is cited 'unique' just because his battle prowess rather than his character). I think Haruna had a lot of potential, she's a nice girl, great for acting, and her other characteristics could've been expanded further, such as her relations with Riki, or her love with animals or her technically pacifistic stance (which caused trouble ONLY AT THE END).

7. Kazumi Hoshikawa
Kazumi mostly got underrated because of the reasons I stated for Remi. When you get past Remi's action scenes and drunken fist, Kazumi isn't that bad, she actually balances out as being the brainy girl... and coming up with good plans as well, such as that episode when Gaku died. I don't have big opinions on her, but she really looked overshadowed by Remi and her action scenes.

8. Kaori Rokumeikan

Likewise on Kazumi above, Kaori is pretty much overshadowed by Ako. I dunno, but most of the time, Kaori also gets some awesome moments, like when she actually uses her rich status to snap Ako out of a berserker rage. It's also quite interesting seeing her being the subject of the love triangle between her, Ryuu and Gai, and Ryuu's pinning on Rie which ticked her off. It's quite dramatic and I say it also gives out the tension and entertainment in watching Jetman. Yes, Ako is the lovable sporty girl, but Kaori is also the lovable rich girl, I'd say.

9. Mei
(I had to change the picture, because the previous one is so moe it's killing me)

I've heard some people bashing Zyuranger characters to be bland and liked only for MMPR nostalgia. I don't think so. Each Zyurangers got their own things, and for this one, I'd say Mei really held her own. Maybe that overly high pitched voice turned you off, but not me, it makes her the sweeter. Aside of the lot of Zyuranger hater and Dairanger fanboys, which tends to claim Lin better than Mei (insert number here) times (I don't think so personally), I just say that Mei's underration comes from the fact that she's on the same team with Burai, and while she has a lot of plot ideas given to her, it wasn't used much, in favor of Burai. So call me in the minority here, but I'd say Mei is not overrated, and I like her better than Lin (Don't get me wrong, I like Lin too, but Mei just ranks higher.)

10. Saya

I think I remember Fantasy Leader saying that Saya is very comparable to Liveman's Megumi. But I think she just... gets less attention. As much as Gingaman appearing in Gaoranger vs Super Sentai, it is kind of an underrated one, it's not talked much. Maybe it's because PR Lost Galaxy overshadows it? I only watched Gingaman a little, and even haven't gotten to Saya's focus ep, but I get the feel that she'd be interesting... but she tends to get some forgettable treatments over here. Dunno why...

11. Ran Uzaki
She's a good female characters actually, but I think the reason why she's underrated was because while she's picked as a leader, the show didn't use that thing much and instead focuses more on Jan. Or Rio. Or Mele, who's often considered the better 'babe' of Gekiranger. Hey, you know I like Mele too, but Ran isn't that bad actually. Overshadowed is more like it.

12. Kaoru Shiba
Okay as I said in the Takeru entry, Kaoru got a lot of flaks when she debuts and even worse, she just quickly becomes inactive once her arc is done. There's so much potential for Kaoru, but not really used well. She just... interacts mostly with Takeru or the annoying retainer Tanba. And as said, she was often thought as a spoiled brat when she's actually a nice girl. It is a unique concept to have a female red ranger, just too bad that her entrance had to be mirred with rabid Takeru fanboys decrying her.

13. Eri

Haven't gotten far on Goseiger, and... yeah, I think reception over here for Goseiger is pretty bad... Still for the little I see of it, Eri seemed refreshing and great. She's cute, ditzy, but not over when compared with Alata. I wouldn't judge Goseiger as bland as many people here does, but overall I think Eri got a lot of potential. The reason why I think she's underrated was... well as I constantly said, Goseiger is often slapped with 'Bland Sentai' label thus Eri might be in danger of being slapped with such label too.

14. Ahim de Famille

And with the above stuff and I've said it earlier, I'm seeing more Luka fans that Ahim fans. I think she's pretty unique. True, her character is typical for Sentai characters, wanting to help people, good hearted, etc... but this is so atypical for Gokaigers, who were more of anti heroes who only look out for themselves. Plus she's cute. Maybe there are more who saw Ahim more of being the typical 'Pink' or 'Girly', but I think it's her charm. Won't blame on the Luka fandom, though.

Underrated Male

1. Kanpei Kuroda

Like above, Goggle Five seemed like super unknown, but for what it lacks in story development, it makes up for fight scenes and stunts... and the one to provide that is usually Kanpei. I liked how many times he tricked the enemies and having skills that provide that (such as the Black Shadow), it makes the fight much more innovative. There's a reason why Goggle Five is considered not too goofy, and that reason is him mainly (and I've got more reasons to call it NOT goofy). But like usual, he's nearly unknown because his series weren't really that known, or suffers bad publication.

2. Ryuu Hoshikawa

Take Kanpei (and his actor too), give him more humorous personality, ninja skills and you pretty much got Ryuu. Aand just like Rei, he wasn't that much mentioned because he's from an older series that hadn't really gotten the attention. For what he is and considering the show he's in, Ryuu is pretty awesome and one of the biggest factors why Dynaman can be entertaining. But... again, publication problems get in the way.

3. Ryuu Tendou
Another Ryuu! And yeah, as before, Ryuu gets to be underrated because he's not Gai, he's a clean-cut hero who drinks milk. But hey, for what he is, he still got his Hero thing well done and not really that boring since he got other things plaguing him (such as Rie), it makes him more interesting. Of course Gai kinda upstages him in the general things, but by himself, Ryuu is awesome. Because he also drinks milk. You know who else drinks milk?

...

...




Okay, enough of that guy's jokes, let's move on.

4. Gou Fukami
Gou may be a bit popular amongst the crowd, but like usual the Gekiranger fandom seem to go to Rio and Mele. And the plot wasn't even kind to him. Hyped to be Rio's rival, is a lone wolf etcetera... then Rio continuously own him, only for Jan to beat him. Then Long appears, he's also second fiddle for the main trio. Gou has got quite the potential but for some reason he just seem kinda underused by the show...

5. Ryuunosuke Ikenami

Okay bear with me. Ryuunosuke is a pretty popular blue warrior, but remember, his hyperactive attitude could get on the nerves on many people, especially in the early episodes (strangely this doesn't affect Genta much). Not only that, he suffers the most in terms of pairing, they got Mako to Takeru, and Kotoha to Chiaki. He's actually a pretty competent ranger despite being saddled for comic relief a lot, and he's a unique case about when the hero is super serious, the rival is a hyperactive happy hammy dude. Still his hyperactiveness tends to draw people away... for reasons unknown.

And that'd be all for the Overrated and Underrated characters from Super Sentai. Hope you had a good reading! Credits to Doug Walker/Nostalgia Critic for the awesome Chuck Norris joke (in particular the Sidekicks review).

7 comments:

  1. Wow, quite a long list. Anyways, I'll comment on some of the ones that caught my attention.

    I'm about 32 episodes through in Jetman and I don't think Ako is overrated or get more attention than Kaori. Kaori IMO gets the most attention of any Jetman character other than Gai. She's right in the middle of the big love triangle that involves all of the Jetman males.

    Nanami, I do agree to an extent. She does overshadow the Goraijers whom are both excellent characters. Shurikenger is also guilty of this as well. But the other two Hurricangers, Kouta and Yousuke are kinda bland, so I think they're deservedly overshadowed.

    Luka I definitely agree. Mostly because Gokaiger is new and everyone jumps on the new series bandwagon, and also because she is the hottie. Personally, I think the same can be said for all of the Gokaigers except Ahim because of how early it is in the series. Kinda like how almost all the Gokaiger characters received the most votes for "best X Senshi of the 2000's" in the Henshin Grid poll, even though we're only 6 episodes into the season.

    Burai I do agree some of it is that he's Tommy's counterpart. However, even if Tommy never existed Burai would still be the most popular character in Zyuranger. To be honest, I think it's more the fault of the writers. Despite getting little screen time even after he joins the show, most of Zyuranger's story revolves around Burai, and they did little to develop the rest of the cast.

    Takeru, I definitely agree about his fandom, and also agree Kaoru is underrated, mostly again thanks to the Takeru fandom.

    Ran, you mentioned the problems with her leadership role not being used to its potential and being overshadowed by Mele. There's one more problem to the mix. She only had 5 character focus episodes during the entire Gekiranger series. I think Ran definitely suffered from a lack of attention and was heavily underused.

    BTW, did you mean Retsu or Gou? That looks like Gou in the picture but you kept saying Retsu.

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  2. Whoa thanks for the correction! I got the wrong bro typed. All right lemme fix.

    Also I'll comment that while the show did overrate Kaori, the fandom was in another camp. And I will admit that as much as she gets in the main love triangle, she did manage to be good on her own, something that was often overlooked by some of the more rabid fandom, or those butthurt with how she gets all of Ryuu and Gai's attention. And I do not suppose we saw a Kaori fanboy who doesn't like Ako very much?

    And yeah, I do agree about Burai's popularity. I could see that they seemed to prepare for stuffs about Mei's tribe, it's definitely there, with the lots of lores about Risha tribe and nearly none of the Knight (Sharma, Etof, and Daim) tribes', but once Burai enters the fray and proved to be overly popular, it's mostly designed for him, Geki and Yamato tribe. And again, doesn't mean I hate Burai, tho...

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  3. Wow this was a long post. xD

    Sara: Sorry ChrisX, but I can't agree with you here. I think Sara is one of the most multi-dimensional characters ever in Super Sentai, and that she is deserving of all the credit she gets.

    Ako and Kaori: I'm gonna have to disagree with both you and Sean on this. Neither Kaori or Ako are overrated or underrated. xD

    Yuuri: Okay, so she's really popular.... I don't see why simple popularity means she's overrated. I think she deserves the credit she gets.

    Luka: I disagree about Luka being overrated. She's a new character and fans are hyping up over the new wonderful cast. Let the Gokaigers enjoy their spotlight while they still can. Cause in a few years, they might be shoved aside for newer seasons. And who cares if she wins popularity polls? Fans are just excited that's all.

    Takeru and Akira: I've never seen fans overrate them before. Yes, they get a bit more development than the other three. But I don't call that overrating them. And I greatly disagree that Takeru steals the show. In fact, I greatly disagree that there's any red that steals the show at all. Only Power Rangers does that imo. I noticed that for Momoko, you said the "story underrates her." I'm kinda confused about what you've been referring to in terms of underrate and overrate for the Maskman. xD

    Mikoto: Again, I think he's perfectly deserving of the credit he gets.

    Miki: Yes, Goggle-V is underrated. But Miki???? She's one of the most popular pink warriors of all time! Sorry ChrisX, but Miki is far from underrated. xD

    Sayaka: Probably underrated in places where Changeman never aired. But in places where Changeman did air, I wouldn't say she's underrated.

    Ryu Tendo: Really? He seems very popular from what I've seen.

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  4. @Fantasy Leader: That's... what you kinda get for trying to combine what would be four posts in Sean's blog. You also need to understand that these are only opinions and I am quite entitled for it. Most of them are the type of people whose fanbase got real bad. I rarely visit the Henshin Justice forums and my basing are mostly from the blogging community, fan comments over there and polls... Now as of replies...

    No comments about Sara, but I guess to each to their own. There'll be a lot of popular character I will attack so, yeah. It's kinda expected.

    Somewhere I heard that most people agreed that the more known babe of Jetman is Ako. I tend to disagree on this. Kaori and Ako are REALLY equal, that's why I'm putting them in those places.

    Tsundere is a popular archetype, and is on the boom around the new millenia (2000s). Yuuri is the most blatant Tsundere for the Sentai, so I'm putting it there because I fear that most of the fandom she got was just because of the Tsundere boom.

    Maybe Luka wouldn't be there if only... well, if she didn't completely overshadow Ahim. Mind you, I was nearly tempted to put Joe in the list, but changed my mind because he wasn't really overshadowing Marvelous or Don.

    As of Momoko, it's mostly because a certain syndrome that Ran later suffers. I think Mr. Smith said it perfectly.

    Miki... you see the poll at Henshin Grid? Come back and tell me how she ranked amongst the other choices. This is why I put her in, the underration of Goggle V is so severe it affects Miki as well. (Hell I would put the rest of the Goggles over here, but I guess it'd be totally unfair)

    Ryuu Tendou, as I said, even if he's quite popular, I kinda think he's overshadowed with Gai's popularity. Also, besides, I can't help to make a Chuck Norris joke with his milk stuff. Sorry.

    I know we'll have a lot of clashing opinions, but don't take it as an attack or flame war, it's human to have differing opinions. I'm personally interested to see you make a similar post, but if you don't have the time, can't force you. Have a nice day!

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  5. Henshin Grid isn't the only place with fans ChrisX. In fact, most of the people over there are people that grew up with Power Rangers. So technically, almost everyone pre-Zyuranger could be considered underrated.

    In Japan, Miki is very fondly remembered as one of the more popular pinks even to this day. If you're referring to Miki being unpopular in the States, I'll agree.

    And don't worry, I never take stuff like this as an attack or a flame war. xD

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  6. On the subject of Mako vs Kotoha, I think that Mako is more popular in the English-speaking fandom, but Kotoha's more popular in Japan (where her character type is more prevalent in the media, and is seen as something for girls to aspire to) So they balance each other out.

    I don't know how you can describe Ako as "overshadowing" Kaori. Perhaps in the English-speaking fanbase people prefer her, but Kaori got a lot more focus in the show, and the Ryuu/Gai/Kaori love triangle began to take precedence over what Ako and Raita were doing.

    I think it's too early to say that Luka or Ahim is overrated/underrated. They are getting, at the moment, roughly equal screen time. Most fans I've encountered want to see Ahim get together with Marvelous, and that wouldn't be the case if they dramatically preferred Luka. Marvelous himself might belong on the overrated list, simply because I'm already sick of hearing people go "omg he's so BOSS"

    For the guys: I think Ryuunosuke is less popular because people feel they can't take the character seriously. Even Genta is taken more seriously than Ryuunosuke, and Genta is much more "hyperactive." Takeru/Mako and Chiaki/Kotoha are NOT canon, so I wouldn't say that contributes (although in English-speaking fandom, almost everyone ships them, and usually Genta/Kaoru as well. So Ryuunosuke gets left out. I have even seen fics where he is written out of the action in one or two sentences so he won't get in the way of the romance. Again, I think that's because fans don't take him seriously)

    I notice you don't mention Jan as overrated, even though his show revolves around the Red Ranger (same as Maskman and Shinkenger) He takes a hit in fandom because people don't like "loud" Red Rangers

    Have to disagree on Akira being overrated. Most of the people I encounter can't name any Maskman characters other than Takeru (or perhaps Momoko, since Takeru/Momoko is popular in fandom). Other than that, I pretty much agree on the rest of the list. I like AbareKiller and Burai though - sob!

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  7. With regards to Sayoko Hagiwara's voice seeming a bit too deep for her Dynaman character Rei Tachibana, as well as Rei's being the 3rd most underrated Super Sentai heroine...well, in terms of actual depth of voice, I don't think Hagiwara had anything on her Dynaman co-star Mari Kouno (aka Princess Chimera), who, I believe, had an even deeper female voice, just like any villain/ess would normally have a deeper voice than any hero/ine (and somewhere, in tvtropes.org, lies the trope entitled "Evil Sounds Deep").

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