Zenkaiger episode 1 review: a fun start despite heavy CGI

I gave the first episode of Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger a thumbs up. I can't believe I enjoyed it as much as I did. I had a good time, even with a lead character I found cringe and far more CGI than I'd like.

Zenkaiger, from 2021, was the 45th anniversary Super Sentai series. That's 45 Super Sentai shows going all the way back to 1975, which is a lot of content. Its first episode had come out only a few days before I wrote this. Many people might not know this about me, but I'm a huge fan of Super Sentai.

How Mighty Morphin Power Rangers led me to Super Sentai

I've been a fan of this kind of show since I was a kid. It started with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Back then I didn't realize the Japanese had been making shows like this since the 70s. Later, around 1999 to 2001, I found the internet and learned all about what Saban did with the source material. I became a fan of the Japanese shows from there.

To me, discovering Super Sentai is like finding anime after growing up on American cartoons. The topics and storylines are much more mature. It's still for kids, but it respects its audience more than Power Rangers did.

I watched Zenkaiger subtitled, thanks to TV Nihon, who have been subtitling these shows for 20 years. I was part of their group many years ago, back in the IRC days when it was called #tokusatsu.

What the name Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger means

The full title, Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger, translates to something like machine world squadron full throttle ranger. Zenkai is a word the Dragon Ball community uses a lot, mostly as zenkai boost. Zenkai actually translates to full throttle or full force.

If you watch Dragon Ball Z in Japanese, the closing song has the line zenkai power, which means full force power. Fans repurposed the word to mean something like a zenkai boost, but it simply means full throttle power.

Zenkaiger puts every Super Sentai show in a parallel world

I love the central gimmick. The other Sentai shows exist in parallel universes, a multiverse. At the time Zenkaiger premiered, that was the hot topic. Marvel was doing it, and DC was even doing it with the Flashpoint rumors. Sentai was doing it too.

We've always known the Sentai shows were loose canon, with team up shows and the like. Zenkaiger canonizes all of them as parallel worlds. The first episode starts with the idea of those other worlds being trapped. It's only the first episode, so we don't know where this is going. The episode features Himitsu Sentai Gorenger and then Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, the show that was adapted into Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Kaito Goshikida and the powers of 44 other Super Sentai teams

Without going into spoilers, the first episode reveals that the main character, Kaito Goshikida, had parents who were researchers studying parallel universes. They knew about the 44 other Super Sentai. Because of that, they developed weapons that tap into the powers of other Sentai characters, or were emulated from them.

It's like what Gokaiger did, but not exactly the same. In this show they don't transform into other Sentai the way the Gokaigers did. They emulate the powers instead, and the characters are tributes to other Sentai. If you're a fan of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and have never watched Sentai before, I'd recommend getting into it. At the time, around ten shows were free on Shout! Factory TV with an account.

Juran and a world of living robots

The world here isn't a regular world with just humans. There are living robotic organisms, metal people, artificial humans, and they live among humans. Some of them are good and some are bad, and that's where the antagonists come from. I'm happy about these very unique ideas, because Sentai can get played out. I'd been away from it for a while because it became the same thing over and over with not much creativity. This world is very different.

There's an invasion by evil metallic people. Kaito gets a gun that he cranks, which gives him his powers and weapons. He meets Juran, the first character he encounters, who is also a metallic person but not a bad one. This is an interesting concept that has never been done in Sentai before.

Juran's tribute to Zyuranger and the original Megazord

Instead of the heroes calling on mechs, the mech people do it themselves. Juran turns himself giant. When he's giant, he resembles Daizyujin, the original Megazord from Zyuranger, the one we all grew up with in Mighty Morphin. He then transforms from that into a Tyrannosaurus, with a tail and a cool finishing move I won't spoil.

This is all a tribute to Zyuranger. Toei knows that even though Zyuranger wasn't the first Super Sentai, it had a huge impact through Mighty Morphin, which is still getting new stories in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic books. To me it's a cool idea that they did that here with this character.

When it comes time to form the combined mech, the season's Megazord, so to speak, it'll be Juran and three other mech characters Kaito hasn't met yet coming together.

What I didn't like: Kaito and the scientist parents

There were things about Zenkaiger I didn't like. First, the main character is cringe when he isn't morphed. He pulls silly faces and comes across like a 12 year old boy. I'm not into him at all right now.

The idea of his parents being scientists has been done in so many anime that it's ridiculous. I like them doing it here, because it makes sense for an anniversary show, but it is a played out concept. I'll give them a break, because Super Sentai doesn't do it very often.

Too much CGI in Zenkaiger

What turned me off Sentai around 17 or 18 years ago was the overabundance of CGI. Back when they had puppets, guys in suits and practical effects, it looked cheesy, but it looked more real. When I came back to watch a Sentai team up movie, there was so much CGI it made my brain hurt.

It's not good CGI. It's not Disney, Star Wars or Marvel level, and Toei isn't spending millions on it. It looks really bad, and the fights stick out like they aren't really there. I hope they slow down with the CGI, because I can see myself getting tired of the show a few episodes in if it keeps up. Some people might be fine with it, but in my opinion it takes away from the show.

The Gorenger tributes and my Zenkaiger verdict

There are so many little tributes. If you're already a Super Sentai fan, you'll catch tons of them. When the main character transforms, he looks like a character out of Gorenger, the original 1975 team, with the gigantic helmet, and he meets the Gorenger.

I probably will keep watching, though I won't review every episode. I haven't been into Sentai in a long time, at least not the newer shows. This 45th anniversary series probably won't be quite like Gokaiger, but it's different, they're trying new things, and it might be just as good.

Whether it'll become a Power Rangers show, we don't know, because Hasbro was doing all kinds of unexpected things with the franchise. I hope it does, because it's a really cool, unique idea with a world different from the one we're used to.