SUPER SENTAI: Himitsu Sentai Gorenger The Classic Manga Collection

The best way to start is to expand on this book’s description of the TV series this manga adapted. Himitsu Sentai Gorenger the TV show is roughly what you’d expect from a show that “laid the groundwork” for Power Rangers. Five young adults, in color-coded suits, fight monsters played by people in rubber suits to save the world. There’s no Megazord (mecha in Japan) but they use a cool looking plane that could hold its own alongside a Megazord. If you enjoy Power Rangers even a little bit and don’t mind reading subtitles or watching a Japanese show without them or a dub, you’d probably enjoy Gorenger (and the other Super Sentai series). Unfortunately, the Gorenger TV series has not been licensed in the US so it’s not well known outside Super Sentai’s fandom. That’s why this edition of the Gorenger manga is a pretty big deal for us fans, hoping it’ll spread the word at how fun a show it is.This book actually consists of two separate manga adaptations written and drawn by Shotaro Ishinomori, a well-known manga creator who created Gorenger for TV in the first place. Both are decent adaptations, although they change parts of the TV series. This include making the heroes teenagers (I had to stop myself from adding “with attitude”; Power Rangers fans should be laughing right now) and changing how the team gets their suits/powers. The characters are interesting although there’s not much development for them. Most of the focus goes to either Tsuyoshi Kaijo or Akira Shinmei (Akarenger and Aorenger; for those new to Gorenger, Red and Blue) with Daita Ooiwa and Kenji Asuka (Kirenger and Midorenger; Yellow and Green) getting some comedic moments but Peggy Matsuyama (Momorenger; Pink) getting the short end. To be fair, the TV series doesn’t make great dives into character motivations/psyches. It’s just that, at 84 episodes, the TV series can rotate who the starring hero is, something the manga probably could’ve done if it lasted longer than the five stories told here.All that aside, the stories within are action packed and fun to read. The stories simple adventure stories with a butt-kicking climax you’d expect from a beta version of Power Rangers. That said, the first and longest story in this book has some deep moments. Without spoiling anything, both Tsuyoshi and Akira face some heartbreak and betrayal from loved ones/acquaintances and one of them is dealing with that fallout by the story’s end. It’s a deeper cut than anything I’ve seen in the series (however, I only made it halfway through as of this writing without subs) and I wish this version ran longer to see what else could’ve happened. It skips over how the team is formed but it still showcases each character for little bit (again, with Peggy not getting as much as her teammates). That said, the stories comprising the run of the other manga adaptation are also good and are a good indicator of what to expect from the TV show.As with any comic/manga, the art needs to be judged alongside the story. Thankfully, at least to me, Shotaro Ishinomori’s art delivers. It’s cartoonier than your average Batman or Spider-Man comic but it fits the story Ishinomori is telling and allows for emotions no Super Sentai or Power Ranger helmet could do on TV, akin to Spider-Man and his mask. It’s cartoony but can be impactful and action-packed when needed. If you’ve read a lot of manga, you’ll probably guess that this is black & white, which is kinda funny considering Power Rangers’ reputation for multi-colored heroes (that fits Super Sentai just as well). Shotaro Ishinomori compensated by varying the characters’ sizes (especially Daita and Kenji’s) and designing them well enough that you don’t need colors to tell them apart (something I think is true of all Super Sentai and Power Rangers but much more subtle and not as easy to see as Gorenger).With all that about the manga itself, how is Seven Seas’ US release? Solid work. The art is reproduced well and the translations fit into the artwork, never distracting from it. They include a translation notes section (something several manga seem to have) that makes sense of some weird phrases and puns. I give it points for explaining about how the heroes’ designations fit with the color they’re supposed to be (if you get confused by who’s “AKArenger”, don’t worry; it’s a little confusing for fans new to Super Sentai as well :) ).One strength of Seven Seas’ release is ironically the fact it DOESN’T include every Gorenger manga. No, I haven’t gone daffy. Let me explain; I bought a three volume Japanese release of Gorenger manga a few years ago and fell in love with the ones reprinted here, despite not reading Japanese (although reading this translation is more enjoyable). The OTHER Gorenger manga in the Japanese release, on the other hand (which I’ll dub as NOrenger for later clarification) is, at best, a far departure from what the TV series was. The heroes in NOrenger are young children who are fan of the Gorenger TV show. They’d dress up as the Gorengers and try to emulate them, only to cause hijinks in the process. It’s imperative to note that there are MANY instances of naked women, ranging from an old woman who’s the villain of NOrenger, an adult woman who gets naked for seemingly no reason (I can’t read Japanese), to the little girl representing Momorenger herself. What’s more, several incidents are caused by the perverted kid representing Midorenger. I know there’s cultural differences to consider but... well, it’s just uncomfortable reading this in what’s essentially a comic about kids and, more importantly, it’s NOTHING like the TV show or manga reproduced in this volume. I applaud Seven Seas for NOT including NOrenger as I’m sure it would not have reflected well on Gorenger (or them; I’m sure when they were reviewing NOrenger for inclusion, they just went “Nope” and concentrated on the manga accurate to the show).Overall, the US release of the Himitsu Sentai Gorenger manga is a great introduction to Super Sentai in general and Gorenger in particular. The manga is a simple action adventure yarn with fun characters and great action, perfect for fans of either Super Sentai, Power Rangers, or other similar Japanese TV shows like Ultraman or Kamen Rider. Seven Seas did a great job translating and bringing it to the US, which makes me feel easy as they’ll be publishing a collection in December of 2021. While it’d be nice if the TV series got an official US release, this manga is still a fun read with all the elements that kept Super Sentai and Power Rangers running to this day.

While it appears that here in the US, there won't be a release of the much older Sentai seasons pre-dating Jetman, at least not anytime soon as it would seem. However, with this manga, we can see an official look into the early days of Sentai and what inspired Power Rangers. While the art style is cartoonish, and the stories are simple, it is still a fun and decently quick read through that all ages can enjoy.However, if someone is not a Sentai fan, or Power Rangers fan, it might still be an interesting read. While it would be hard to feel an emotional, or nostalgic connection to the manga, to see where the phenomenon began is still a treat to see. So I would still recommend reading this manga, and then reading the BOOM Studios Power Rangers comic line, as they have great stories and aren't just for little kids.Overall, while like I said earlier the plot is pretty simple, the historical value of this manga is highly important, and is a fun read through. Definitely worth the look.

Shotaro Ishinomori’s “Super Sentai: Himitsu Sentai Gorenger” retells the events of “Himitsu Sentai Gorenger,” a series that originally aired between April 1975–March 1977 in Japan. “Battle Fever J” originated the term “Super Sentai” in 1979, which was retroactively applied to this franchise, effectively making it the first Super Sentai franchise.Unlike some of the later Super Sentai stories, “Himitsu Sentai Gorenger” has more elements of a spy story. It follows members of the Earth Guard League, or “EAGLE,” who work to combat the Black Cross Army, a group that works to steal government secrets for sale to the highest bidder and sow chaos à la SPECTRE in the James Bond franchise. The Gorengers are five teenagers who wear suits with advanced robotics that grant them enhanced abilities to fight the Black Cross Army on behalf of EAGLE. Their ages differentiate the manga from the television series, in which the characters were older, with some appearing to be in their late 20s. Further, Ishinomori’s manga changes the Tsyyoshi Kaijō’s origin so that his father grants Kaijō the Akarenger (Red Gorenger) suit before agents of Black Cross Army murder him. This helps to inform Kaijō’s motive as he seeks to avenge his father’s death. Later, Akira Shinmei, the Aorenger, mustface a traitor and the possibility of his own death. Ishinomori’s story has great character moments and a real sense of the stakes his characters face in fighting the Black Cross Army. Further, his art is stunning, with lavish splash pages.This edition collects both the original manga and the serialized version that appeared in “Weekly Shōnen Sunday” magazine. They have slightly different introductions for the characters and EAGLE, but EAGLE and the Gorengers missions vary from there as they battle the Black Cross Army. Haim Saban later got the idea to adapt elements of the Super Sentai franchises when he made “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.” Though this particular series has not been adapted in the west, this book will interest “Power Rangers” fans looking to see where it all began.

I am glad that finally I can have the official edition of this cool classic manga. It is very nostalgic to read about very first Super Sentai adventures.

Legendary work by a manga legend

Great translation of a classic manga — hope to see even more after the Kamen Rider release!

great classic manga by the Great Shotaro Ishinomari

So this is the manga adaption of the very first iteration of Super Sentai right from the golden pen of the man who created it. But Shotaro Ishinomori was an incredibly succesful mangaka as well as an innovator in Japanese TV, and it shows here.While the artwork is very much of it's time, it has a kinetic quality that leaps off the page. The composition of the action sequences are extremely well done. Even if the character models are very cartoony, in a very similar fashion to Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, for whom Ishinomori once worked as an assistant, there is a real sense of impact and movement. It also contains a few of visual gags reminiscent of Tezuka's work. The backgrounds are, by comparison, very detailed and atmospheric, and some of the splash pages are gorgeous. While the line work is often simple, it's always crisp and consistent, and you'll never be scratching your head at what you're actually looking at, which I find an all too common issue with some modern manga. Detail is great. Clarity is better.The stories tend to be very simple and easy to follow but are no less entertaining for it. You won't find a deep epic here, or characters to fall in love with, but you will find pulpy, action packed stories with a hint of espionage. You can see the seeds of the Super Sentai franchise (and ergo Power Rangers) taking root but, strangely, with a bit more logic than later incarnations. The rangers don't transform, so much as... you know... put on the suits to go on missions. We have a pseudo-scientific explanation of what the suits actually do. Something that is rarely explicitly explained in later series. You'll also notice that there are no mechs/zords. These didn't turn up until much later, but they do have a pretty sweet flying fortress. It's kind of like a cross between a SHIELD helicarrier and the Fantastic Four's Fantasti-car.It also seems that their blasters fire bullets rather than laser beams. This does mean that it's a bit more violent than one might be used to if they only watch Power Rangers, with a couple of visible bullet wounds shown and some characters actually dying. But at the same time it maintains a somewhat kiddy tone, which is really a result of cultural differences that seem to exist between what Japanese and Western media present as suitable for children. Don't get me wrong, this is in no way a gore fest. It's just a tad more blood and death than a western kid's franchise would usually present. I personally would have no issues letting a young child read it, but parents might want to take note in order to make an informed decision.It's also worth noting that the book contains two separate continuities. The first 203 pages following fairly close to early parts of TV show and the rest being 4 original stories, complete with a revamped origin, for a younger audience. What this means is that the early stories are a little more fleshed out (but by no means deep), and the later stories are a bit more straightforward and self contained, though oddly a bit more violent.I can see this not being for everyone. If you want something similar but deeper, and a bit darker, you may want to wait for the English Language release of Ishinomori's earlier work, Kamen Rider. As someone who already owns it (albiet in French), I can confirm it's pretty amazing.But I really enjoyed Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. If you're a Power Rangers fan you really should give this a go and see where it all began. If you're interested in historically significant manga or comics this is also an easy recommendation. Every manga aficionado should have some Shotaro Ishinomori in their collection. If you're looking for a light read, with some great old school comic artwork you really can't go wrong here. I really hope we see many more releases and re-releases of Ishinomori's work.

Like many people in the west my introduction to the world of Super Sentai was through the Power Rangers series, the American franchise that took footage from the various Super Sentai shows and edited into new footage to create their own show. As the quality of the American footage was pretty poor for the most part in those early seasons it was the brightly coloured heroes, the bold monsters, and the action that won me over and made me a lifelong fan.Over the years I discovered more about the franchise and learnt about Super Sentai, and have since gone on to become a fan of that too, watching through several of the series that became Power Rangers shows thanks to their recent DVD releases. However, trying to watch older Sentai can prove to be difficult at times, so when I saw that there was going to be a release of the manga collection of Gorenger I was very excited to see what this first ever series of Super Sentai would have in store.The book, rather than being a regular adaptation, or even stories that fit between the episodes, contains two completely different versions. Shotaro Ishinomori, the writer and artist on the book, created both series to run concurrently with the show as it aired, but aimed at two different audiences. The book has stories that were originally in the Weekly Shonen Sunday, and these follow the same story-line of the show, albeit with some slight differences. There is also monthly serial comics that were published in Shogaku Gonensei magazine. Whilst these two different types of stories do have slightly different tones, with the first ones having a more mature feel and a focus on the spy action whilst the latter ones feel more high adventure, they come together to make a pretty cohesive whole. As someone who has never seen Gorenger I feel like the book, with its different styles of story, give a pretty good insight into the different types of episodes, from the throwaway monster of the week to the more character driven ones that affect the plot more.The first story in the collection tells the origins of the Gorengers, and introduces readers to Tsuyoshi, a young martial artist whose father is secretly part of the global military organisation EAGLE (Earth Guard League). EAGLE fights against the sinister Black Cross Army, a terrorist spy group who use stolen information to dominate the world. Tsuyoshi is asked to test out a specialised suit by his father, a suit that's able to enhance his natural abilities and make him into an even better fighter. It's revealed that this suit is one of five, and that those who wear it will become the Gorengers, a special team to fight the Black Cross Army.At first Tsuyoshi is against becoming a part of this team, but when the Black Cross Army attacks his family home and kills his father he decides to join EAGLE and fight against the villains as Akarenger, the leader of the Gorengers.The second story jumps forward in time somewhat, and we rejoin Tsuyoshi after he's become a part of the team. It's here that we meet the other members of the Gorengers, and get a bit of a sense of the different types of people they are. This story sees the team going into combat with the Black Cross Army when they go in investigate a sighting of them in the remote ghost town of Sangai Village. This turns out to be a trap, and the team have to fight against the Black Cross Army forces, as well as Warrior Mask; the second of the five original Black Cross Masked Monsters. This story not only sees the Gorengers having to fight against overwhelming odds, but has a deeply personal cost when Akira, the blue Gorenger, has to confront his best friend who betrayed them to the Black Cross Army, something that has a tragic conclusion.After this story the book takes on a bit of a lighter tone and we get to see the Gorengers deal with a number of enemy threats, including a giant sea monster robot attacking the city, remote controlled flying pirate ships that kidnap a kid, a villain that uses mirrors to trap and trick the Gorengers, and a slightly different retelling of the first episode of Gorenger, that expands upon the one at the start of the book.Overall the book has a lot of silly fun in it, as you'd expect from a Super Sentai manga. It leans into the ridiculous parts of the show and does all out in doing over the top and funny things with both the heroes and villains. That being said, the stories in the first half of the book aren't afraid to include some dark moments too, and these come along and really shock you out of the silliness the rest of the book has, making them all the more affecting.One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was that it game you a brief introduction to things too, where readers not only get to know about how the book came into being, but who Shotaro Ishinomori was. I had no idea that he was so prolific a comics creator; to the point where he holds the Guinness World Record for most comics published by one author. It made me curious to learn more about him and his work, and that's something I'm grateful for.I hope that this isn't the last of these collections that we see, and that Seven Seas publishing will find some other Super Sentai Manga to bring to the west. I adored being able to learn about these old shows, to see these stories presented fresh and new, and the fact that it comes in a gorgeous hardcover volume just makes it even better. Even if you're not a huge Power Rangers or Super Sentai fan, this is a book worth checking out just for something different; and if you are a fan it'll look gorgeous on your shelf.

El dibujo y la historia tiene ésa esencia de un excelente Súper Sentai.

une belle découverte, pour tout amateur de sentai et surtout des écrits de Mr Shotaro Ishinomori

Conforme à l'annonce. Très bon état.