I feel that villains are a crucial part of all superhero stories, Super Sentai included. Whether it's justice triumphing over injustice, protecting one's home from a major threat, or merely a clash of differing ideals, the story's central conflict and the hero's purpose are defined in part by the story's villain. And sometimes, if a villain is particularly cool, their presence enhances the story scene to scene instead of only helping to shape the narrative. I've seen a lot of Super Sentai over the past three years, and naturally I've developed some opinions about their villains. Here are my basic criteria:
What makes a good Super Sentai villain?
- Threat. The more dangerous a villain seems, the cooler they are.
- Theme. The better role within the story a villain has, the cooler they are.
- Look. The better visual design a villain has, the cooler they are.
- Entertainment. The more fun watching a villain is, the cooler they are.
- Personality. The more witty and unique a villain is, the cooler they are.
Those are the five major factors, but this is mostly a personal list based on my preferences. I only thought about these categories in a major way to break ties or maybe elevate a villain into the top ten if I was unsure. #10 and #9 were super strong in a few categories and almost nonexistent in others, but those categories helped them make the list when I had a lot of trouble picking beyond the first 8. I also like it when villains have a lot of interesting interactions with other villains (especially when they sabotage one anther), and in general longevity is better than only appearing in a few episodes.
But I admit my list isn't very consistent. Some entries are individuals, some are specific pairs, and some are entire groups. Around half of the entries are main villains, and the others aren't their show's final boss. I didn't consider any monsters-of-the-week that only appear in a few episodes, but one of the below villains appears in only 5 episodes and isn't the main antagonist. Also, these are only from shows where I've seen at least 40+ episodes, which means 19 Super Sentai TV shows from 1991 to the present day. Only one entry per show as well. Really this is just a list of my favorite Sentai villains and the rules built around it are a bit arbitrary. So here's the list, preceded by a few honorable mentions:
Sollosi's Top Ten Favorite Super Sentai Villains
Honorable Mention
Flower Kunoichi Team
An example of a great idea with somewhat weak execution. These five homicidal ninja girls (who are actually Junior and Daimaou's five pet cats transformed) feature in several of the best Kakuranger episodes and often seem like powerful opponents, but they invariably chump out and are non-factors once the Kakuranger team reunites or solves whatever problem they're facing. The kunoichi-gumi would be in my top ten if they A) showed up a little more often; B) had distinct personalities or a dedicated subplot; and/or C) beat up on the Kakurangers a little more.
Honorable Mention
Space Shogun Don Armage
I almost put Don Armage in the top ten, because he's a dope villain for sure but I don't know enough about him to give him an official ranking. He's already conquered the entire known universe before the start of the series (points in his favor), and he's effective as a hooded shadow presence before the Kyurangers see his scary-as-hell true form around the show's midpoint. Kyuranger is currently at episode 42, and the heroes still don't know how Don Armage's immortality powers work. If the Shogun stays badass through his inevitable defeat, he'll earn a spot on my list. But for now, let's stop honorably mentioning things and talk about the best bad guys in Sentai history:
Number Ten
Absolute God N-Ma
N-Ma isn't the most interesting major villain in Magiranger (that's Wolzard) or most likeable (Titan gets my vote) or even the coolest one (probably Wyvern or Sleipnir). But the final boss of Magiranger might have the most terrifying appearance of any Sentai villain in history and is an absolutely credible threat, creating a pretty damn hopeless situation in Magiranger's final episodes (time travel, wanton destruction, and the murder of a few supporting characters are involved). I won't defend N-Ma as the most complex or resonant Sentai villain, but damn the all-powerful incarnation of hunger and evil nearly got the job done at the end.
Number Nine
Witch Bandora
Even though she's quite powerful and attempts to kidnap and sacrifice groups of Japanese children at various times, Bandora may be the least-dangerous-seeming character on this list. Bandora has a silly personality, sings songs about tormenting kids, and manages a menagerie of maloofs, yet I feel that she's one of the most entertaining villains in Sentai history. Machiko Soga's hammy performance has better villainous laughter, better condescending threats, and more joy than any other Sentai bad guy. And she adds some depth to the role when Bandora's full backstory comes to light! Maybe it's my Rita Repulsa nostalgia talking, but I feel that Bandora hangs with the all-time greats.
Number Eight
Juzo Fuwa
Juzo's tragic past is cool, his badass look (especially in human form) is ronin as hell, and the moments he creates with Shinken Red are among Shinkenger's best. Those staredowns and sword fights are samurai as FUCK. Juzo's obsession with Shinken Red and his interactions with the rest of the Gedoshu (him and Tayu sympathizing with each other, his and Dokoku's disagreements, him being used by Akumaro) make him the most layered character in Shinkenger other than Shinken Red himself. Great minor villain that regularly steals the spotlight from bigger bads.
Number Seven
Emperor of Darkness Z
The master of the Shadow Line doesn't even seem like he wants to be a villain at first. Z wields immense powers of darkness, but his fascination with lights and stars (stemming from, I shit you not, him witnessing children singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star") has him resisting his role as the catalyst for darkness consuming the entire world. Z memorably clashes with ToQ1 (the red ranger, who embodies Z's fascination with light and is literally named Right) several times before going full-evil and taking ToQger's plot into its final act. It's a cool interpretation of a Sentai main villain that plays into ToQger's light and darkness themes well, and Kengo Okuchi's performance is delightfully offbeat and weird.
Number Six
Basco ta Jolokia
Basco doesn't look or sound like a dangerous villain at first, with his goofy, foppish mannerisms and monkey-with-cymbals sidekick. But he's also the greatest enemy that Gokai Red's ever known (he used to be Captain Marvelous's crewmate on the Red Pirates, but betrayed them and left Red for dead) and wipes out the entire Gokaiger team at least twice before meeting his end. Basco's magic trumpet (?) is a neat gimmick and his badass transformed version is dope. Basco appears in around 10 episodes of Gokaiger, but all of them have major story implications and he's far more memorable than any of the Zangyack. If anything, he should've overthrown the Zangyack emperor and become the series' final boss. Alas.
Number Five
Jaden Sentai Neziranger
I love me a good evil ranger character, and the Nezirangers are five excellent ones. After the Nezirangers first make contact with the Megarangers, our heroes become scared to transform for fear of getting killed before they can finish the process (the Nezirangers can move at near-instant speeds, detect the Megarangers' communication frequencies, and recognize their individual voices). The Nezirangers also have distinct personalities and individual plot arcs; a few of them die earlier than the others. The Nezirangers aren't in a lot of episodes (fewer than 10) but they dominate the storyline of Megaranger when they're around and are by far the best villains of late 90s Sentai.
Number Four
Enter and Escape
The Big Bad facing the Go-Busters for most of the show is Messiah, an evil computer-virus-turned-artificial-intelligence bent on consuming the entire world and converting it into data. Since Messiah is trapped in a digital subdimension and requires enormous energy resources to spread, the evil AI uses two avatars, Enter and Escape, to execute its evil plans. Enter's charisma, scheming personality, and random use of French are stylish as fuck, and Escape's sexy look and obsession with finding a worthy opponent are great villain qualities to have. Later in the series, when both avatars start feeling more ambitious and more human, they become even more fun to watch. I haven't finished Go-Busters yet (I'm at episode 44 out of 50) but I like Escape and Enter so much that sometimes I root for the bad guys to win.
Number Three
AbareKiller
Mikoto Nakadai is brilliant, successful, and good at everything he does, to the point where nothing excites him anymore. That is, until he locates the evil Bakuryu TopGaler ("Bakuryu" are the special alien dinosaurs that are the Abarangers' sentient mecha pals), dons the powerful, unstable AbareKiller armor, and fucks shit up for MORE THAN TWENTY EPISODES before joining the team to help save Earth from alien invaders. That's a bigger role than a typical second-act bad guy. Seriously though, AbareKiller has a cool look, is a total badass in every fight (even though his weapon is a feather quill), and even takes over the main villains' operation for kicks. And it's all to alleviate his boredom!
Number Two
Rio and Mele
Rio and Mele are key elements of Gekiranger, in part because Rio is the yang to Geki Red's yin, but also because they embody Gekiranger's gimmick of martial arts training. First by reviving ancient evil RinJuken masters and later by accepting mythical powers from a dragon trickster god (who I almost included in this list), Rio and Mele gain power at the same rate as the Gekirangers, culminating in an epic conclusion to Rio and Red's rivalry that I shouldn't spoil. Mele's defining characteristic is her devotion to Rio, but her character goes some surprising directions, even shaping the Gekirangers' final conflict. And if all that doesn't make Rio and Mele great Sentai villains, their dope action scenes (especially Rio fighting in his black lion armor) and great acting performances push them right near the top. I enjoyed watching these two so much.
Number One
The Vyram
Four unique opponents. Major internal drama, including romance and sabotage. Evil plots that made me worry if they were a little too scary for kids in 1991. The Vyram get a surprising amount of character development , with each of them having dedicated episodes. The lamest Vyram, Tran, has one of the most wild character turns of any Sentai villain; the de facto leader of the Vyram, Radiguet, is one of the cruelest characters in tokusatsu history (too many acts of savagery to mention here); the scientist Maria has the tightest connection to the Jetman team among the Vyram, as Red Hawk's brainwashed former fiancee; and Grey, the stoic warrior robot (I think?) who somehow enjoys classical music, wine, and cigars, is probably my favorite of the four. Jetman has one of the best stories in Super Sentai in large part because the Vyram are the best villains in Super Sentai. Goddamn. What a quartet.
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I'm busy with all manner of things right now, so no Sentai, Rider, or game reviews are forthcoming. I'm planning my 2018 gaming goals post right now, and will post it after Christmas. Not sure if any other blogging will happen in 2017.
I'm also chugging along with Super Sentai watching, and will definitely have 20 full series watched by early February. I'm at 15 currently, and I'm in the episode 42-48 range for Kakuranger, Megaranger, Go-Busters, and Kyuranger. I have around 20 episodes watched of one other series, but I have plenty of time to finish these before February 4th. After Kyuranger ends, I'm updating my top ten to a top twenty. That is all. Have a nice December!
This was a cool read, def inspired this ultraman fan to watch some sentai!
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