Japanese newspaper The Sankei Shimbun and the Kyodo news agency are reporting that Super Sentai—the long-running tokusatsu franchise that paved the way for the ’90s Power Rangers boom in the west—may come to an end after 50 years.
Both reports (via Anime News Network) suggest that series owner Toei will end the series with the climax of the currently airing No. 1 Sentai Gozyuger, which began broadcast earlier this year, citing budgetary concerns, with profits from Super Sentai merchandise, as well as events such as movies and live show tours, failing to match the series’ production costs.
Gozyuger is the 49th series since the franchise began in 1975 with Himitsu Sentai Gorenger—Super Sentai has aired yearly almost entirely consecutively ever since, save for a single year, 1978, when Toei’s Spider-Man series took its place, part of a partnership with Marvel Comics that would see the publisher help fund several more Super Sentai series: Battle Fever J, Denshi Sentai Denjiman, and Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan. Gozyuger technically follows the 50th official Super Sentai team, as the 2018 series Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger featured two rival teams and is celebrating the franchise’s 50th anniversary.
Neither Toei nor TV Asahi, the network that currently airs Super Sentai, has publicly commented on the reports; however, rumors have circulated recently of a potential soft reboot and rebrand of the franchise, paving the way for a Super Sentai-esque series to take its place after Gozyuger. Although it’s not happened yet this year, it’s usually around November when the next Super Sentai series’ title emerges through trademark filings in Japan, which may reveal plans to move the series away from its current branding. Earlier this year, speaking to Daily Sports Online, series producer Shinichirô Shirakura suggested that a new series was in development.
“I think Gozyuger is a program that retells the history of Super Sentai, including redefining the warriors of the past,” a machine translation of Shirakura’s comments reads. “That’s why the 51st series can’t just be an extension of that. I believe the program itself has to move on to the next stage… and we’re currently in the midst of building it!”
Alongside Kamen Rider, which has been running similarly since 1971 (albeit with an extended hiatus between 1989 and 2000), Super Sentai has been a staple of Japanese children’s television and is seen as a potential stepping stone for young actors looking to begin their careers in film and TV. Beyond its own legacy in its home territory, of course, Super Sentai will forever be linked to the Power Rangers franchise in the west. The series, starting with 1992’s Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, provided suit, creature, and mecha designs for Power Rangers, as well as parts of its action footage, for decades.
That may change, with current Power Rangers owner Hasbro not having aired a series since 2023’s Power Rangers Cosmic Fury. A reboot of the franchise is currently in the works at Disney+, and just what potential relationship it may have with Super Sentai material remains to be seen. And inversely, should Super Sentai end with Gozyuger and begin with a new name or format, that could likewise open Toei up away from Power Rangers‘ global branding and begin to market the series more widely around the world, something it has struggled to do in comparison to Kamen Rider recently—which began offering U.S. simulcasts of its latest series, Kamen Rider Zeztz, for the first time in the series’ history this year.
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