In the 60s, some guy came up with the long-running Kamen Rider series, which Saban has spliced into Masked Rider. Then in the mid-70s, he (or someone else) thought, "hmm, how can I improve on one costumed superhero ? Ahh, five costumed superheroes. And thus, Sentai was born. At some point, giant machines (known as mechas) were introduced, most being capable of combining into an even larger robot. This became known as Super Sentai. Back in 1985, on his way around Japan, Haim Saban spotted the Sentai shows, and thought, "Hey, I could make some money out of this by modifying it for American audiences. Somebody else had already done it with Dynaman. But Saban didn't actually do anything with the idea until 1993. The Sentai at the time was Kyouryuu Sentai ZyuRanger. He filmed new, American, sequences for the new version and came up with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. But we're not on about Power Rangers anyway! It's the Japanese originals I'm talking about. And that's what there are many websites about. So, how different is THIS one, then ? Not much, actually. But I thought, "Why not try and compile this information in one area. The big problem is though, there are big gaps in my knowledge on the subject, though. All I know on the subject, for example, is what I have learnt from the websites I have visited. It is near impossible to get the tapes in Britain. At the very least, no-one I know sells Sentai around my area in any form, let alone sub-titled. It means that the only Sentai footage I have seen comes from Power Rangers. Although, thanks to Tokusatsu Access, I have now seen Carranger vs OHRanger.
The term 'Sentai' was used in WWII for Japanese task forces, therefore an approximate translation would be 'Task Force'. Another translation used by some people is 'Battle Team'. Basically it is used to describe a team who fights other forces (or something like that, anyway). Just make of it what you will !
Good question. Mechas are semi-intelligent machines used by teams from Super Sentai series. They are frequently shaped after familiar forms, such as the Star Beasts from DaiRanger being shaped like mythical creatures. Or the Hidden God Generals from KakuRanger, shaped like actual creatures. Most mechas are capable of combining forces to form a giant robot. Happy ?
Again, good question. Assuming we're not talking park rangers here, rangers are simply individual members of a sentai team, and as I believe, they are not always referred to as rangers. Take earlier series like Fiveman or Goggleman, or even the latest sentai, Gingaman, for example. Not one word in the title refers to rangers. But there are those series that do. Each ranger usually controls a mecha, at least in Super Sentai anyway. They also can call on individual weapons and are usually armed with standard blaster pistols, or, like the KakuRangers, swords, or both, like the OhRangers. They are also possessors of various super powers. As a side point, the term, 'ranger,' comes from the Japanese word, 'renjaa,' which translates as, 'team member.'
The latest Super Sentai series is, "Kyukyu Sentai Gogo V," which translates to, "Rescue Task Force Gogo V." The first video is due out very soon at the time of writing this (25th March) and I will endeavour to have episode summaries on my Gogo V page as soon as I have seen them.
If anyone else wants to know anything else about Sentai (or even wants to correct me on something), e-mail me and I will attempt an answer either on-line or by e-mail. If I do not already know the answer, then I will endeavour to find the answer. You might even want to find it yourself. I am in competition with no-one. I think all these web-sites are great anyway, and would not have been able to compile this site without them.