Movies - Super Sentai

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	Movies - Super Sentai

Sentai (Japanese: 戦隊), the Japanese word for task force (literally fighting squadron - Sentai was also a term used for Japanese squadrons in WWII), is most commonly used for classifying the "superhero team" genre of shows produced by Toei Company Ltd. and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi. The shows are of the tokusatsu genre, featuring live action characters and colorful special effects, and are aimed mainly at families. This series is one of the most prominent tokusatsu productions in Japan, alongside the Ultra Series, the Kamen Rider, and the Metal Heroes series.

Series overview

In every Sentai show, the fight between good and evil is illustrated, with the good side winning most of the time. The basic premise of the series is that a group of (usually) five people gain special powers (magical or technological), wear colored outfits, and use advanced weapons and martial arts skills to battle powerful beings from other planets and/or dimensions threatening to take over the Earth. In most of the episodes, after the team has beaten an army of evil creatures ("grunts") and the "monster of the week", they call for huge robotic vehicles/animals ("mechas") that can combine to form one giant robot to fight an enlarged version of the monster. Sentai series with the giant robot element are specifically known as Super Sentai. Each Sentai is set in a different fictional universe, with the exception of teamups.

The first Sentai series, Himitsu Sentai Goranger
, was created by the late Shotaro Ishinomori, creator of Kamen Rider and Cyborg 009 in 1975. He did not create any further sentai series after his second, JAKQ Dengekitai, was poorly received.

The third Sentai series, Battle Fever J (1979), is the first Super Sentai show (on account of it being the first to have a giant robot that the heroes ride - the past two shows only had vehicles).

The term sentai is also occasionally used to describe shows with similar premises, such as Voltron, or even the magical girl team in Sailor Moon. However, this definition was never official for these types of shows. Recently (in 2003/2004), Sailor Moon has been retold in a fashion somewhat similar to Sentai shows in the form of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. While not officially Sentai, some fans of the genre have accepted it as such.

Distribution

Although the series' originated in Japan, they were imported and dubbed in several other countries. Bioman
& Maskman
were very popular in the Philippines in the 1980's, and multiple Sentai shows aired in Hawaii, due in large part to the previous success of Kamen Rider V3
and Kikaida
there. Additionally, Cho Denshi Bioman
& Kousoku Sentai Turboranger
were aired on Spain. Himitsu Sentai Goranger was also aired briefly in Sacramento and San Francisco, California. Kagaku Sentai Dynaman was dubbed and aired as a parody on the USA Network television show Night Flight in 1987. In 1993, Haim Saban produced the first installment of the Power Rangers series' by dubbing the action sequences from 1992's Kyoryuu Sentai ZyuRanger and filming new footage with American actors for the story sequences. This trend has continued, with each successive Sentai show contributing the action sequences to the Power Rangers'' series the following year.

The series

Tributes/Parodies

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Super Sentai ]

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Movies - Super Sentai

Series overview

Distribution

The series

Tributes/Parodies

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