After having watched both Gavan and Sharivan from start to end - I'm just thinking of Shaider less. I could probably say it's because the actors Kenji Ohba and Hiroshi Watari had more charisma than the newcomer, the late Hiroshi Tsubaraya. Then again, I thought of a lot of stuff that Gavan and Sharivan had that Shaider didn't have. Ironically, Shaider got that popular in the Philippines while it was the lowest of the Space Sheriff Trilogy. The Space Sheriff Trilogy was eventually succeeded with Juspion and Spielban (which Watari returned as a totally different character). So, how does Shaider fare for me?
Shaider is the continuation of Gavan and Sharivan. However, the ties were weakly linked. One can always argue that I've got myself excited for Exceedraft so why am I really biased towards Shaider? Sure, Shaider was part of my growing up then again so were Machineman and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers too. The opening of the series presents a new type of hero who differs from the other two. While Sharivan has his mission to re-establish Planet Iga and Gavan has his missing father - not for Shaider. Shaider himself just happens to get the codename of an ancient warrior who defeated the Fuuma's invasion. The other two organizations namely Makuu and Madou only arrived on Earth later. Fuuma had its ruler Kubilai corrupt humanity's hearts but was defeated by a warrior known as Shaider. Nope, no ties between Dai and the original Shaider, okay? Instead, the female assistant Annie is the one who gets the revenge motivation with the antagonist as her Planet Mount was destroyed by Fuuma. Annie is also more active than Mimi and Lily who were still acted by action females. It was because Tsubaraya, as I heard, wasn't exactly as trained as his predecessors even if he could still kick ass.
I have to admit that the villains in Gavan weren't so good. The only Gavan villain I cared more about was San Dorva who arrived midseason. Don Horror has the most disappointing defeat ever in Gavan. Sharivan would have more interesting villains and a midseason arrival that would shake things up. Shaider? Well, we're just stuck with a head on the wall, the leading field commander Hessler, and High Priest/ess Poe who has a severe identity crisis. Jun Yoshida as Poe though was somehow good to the point I wish he were Berg Katse in the failed Gatchaman movie. Shaider's villains for me were the least interesting in the trilogy. The Fuuma for me was but a toned-down version of Makuu. Also, one episode had Hessler's brother who could've been an interesting third wheel. Instead, Hessler's brother Himley was but a guest character killed off so soon. Why wasn't Himley given the same treatment as Raider in Sharivan?
Also, Shaider wasn't really tightly knit to its predecessors. It was possibly done so new viewers didn't have to watch its predecessors to understand the show. Sharivan's weakness (if ever) was how tightly knit it was to Gavan. Some episodes of Sharivan can only be understood if you saw Gavan first. Shaider didn't have such episodes where you needed to watch Sharivan to understand it. Shaider had a lot of moments where I wish either Gavan or Sharivan was there but I guess it was done on purpose. Later, it was revealed that Gavan and Sharivan were fighting off Fuuma forces. Sadly, we never see the trio together in the finale to defeat Fuuma. Was there a budget cut of sorts in 1984? Granted, Toei was working with Chodenshi Bioman so maybe that's why Shaider didn't get that budget. Maybe, it was also expensive to pay Ohba and Watari to have several episode appearances. Bioman was trying a lot of new stuff plus it had the controversial sudden departure of Yuki Yajima. Bioman was also a show that was very stunt-heavy (and Sumiko Tanaka's arrival to replace Yajima also made things better). So, I guess Shaider had a lower budget as a result of Toei prioritizing Bioman.
For me, Shaider is something that I haven't taken to heart as of late. Some childhood shows I had are usually not meant to be rewatched. I think Shaider is one of them that I couldn't really like that much. Shaider however still managed to preserve its legacy in some way. For whatever lapses it had - somehow it still has a special place for people. Just think that Dekaranger's Dekawing Robo is a tribute to Vavilos or how Shaider eventually had a sequel movie (with a new Shaider to replace Dai who was hinted to have died of unknown causes) decades later after it ended. Also, just because I dislike VR Troopers doesn't mean I'd automatically hold Shaider up much higher. It would just be like Kamen Rider Black RX - I could enjoy it but never as much.
Shaider is the continuation of Gavan and Sharivan. However, the ties were weakly linked. One can always argue that I've got myself excited for Exceedraft so why am I really biased towards Shaider? Sure, Shaider was part of my growing up then again so were Machineman and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers too. The opening of the series presents a new type of hero who differs from the other two. While Sharivan has his mission to re-establish Planet Iga and Gavan has his missing father - not for Shaider. Shaider himself just happens to get the codename of an ancient warrior who defeated the Fuuma's invasion. The other two organizations namely Makuu and Madou only arrived on Earth later. Fuuma had its ruler Kubilai corrupt humanity's hearts but was defeated by a warrior known as Shaider. Nope, no ties between Dai and the original Shaider, okay? Instead, the female assistant Annie is the one who gets the revenge motivation with the antagonist as her Planet Mount was destroyed by Fuuma. Annie is also more active than Mimi and Lily who were still acted by action females. It was because Tsubaraya, as I heard, wasn't exactly as trained as his predecessors even if he could still kick ass.
I have to admit that the villains in Gavan weren't so good. The only Gavan villain I cared more about was San Dorva who arrived midseason. Don Horror has the most disappointing defeat ever in Gavan. Sharivan would have more interesting villains and a midseason arrival that would shake things up. Shaider? Well, we're just stuck with a head on the wall, the leading field commander Hessler, and High Priest/ess Poe who has a severe identity crisis. Jun Yoshida as Poe though was somehow good to the point I wish he were Berg Katse in the failed Gatchaman movie. Shaider's villains for me were the least interesting in the trilogy. The Fuuma for me was but a toned-down version of Makuu. Also, one episode had Hessler's brother who could've been an interesting third wheel. Instead, Hessler's brother Himley was but a guest character killed off so soon. Why wasn't Himley given the same treatment as Raider in Sharivan?
Also, Shaider wasn't really tightly knit to its predecessors. It was possibly done so new viewers didn't have to watch its predecessors to understand the show. Sharivan's weakness (if ever) was how tightly knit it was to Gavan. Some episodes of Sharivan can only be understood if you saw Gavan first. Shaider didn't have such episodes where you needed to watch Sharivan to understand it. Shaider had a lot of moments where I wish either Gavan or Sharivan was there but I guess it was done on purpose. Later, it was revealed that Gavan and Sharivan were fighting off Fuuma forces. Sadly, we never see the trio together in the finale to defeat Fuuma. Was there a budget cut of sorts in 1984? Granted, Toei was working with Chodenshi Bioman so maybe that's why Shaider didn't get that budget. Maybe, it was also expensive to pay Ohba and Watari to have several episode appearances. Bioman was trying a lot of new stuff plus it had the controversial sudden departure of Yuki Yajima. Bioman was also a show that was very stunt-heavy (and Sumiko Tanaka's arrival to replace Yajima also made things better). So, I guess Shaider had a lower budget as a result of Toei prioritizing Bioman.
For me, Shaider is something that I haven't taken to heart as of late. Some childhood shows I had are usually not meant to be rewatched. I think Shaider is one of them that I couldn't really like that much. Shaider however still managed to preserve its legacy in some way. For whatever lapses it had - somehow it still has a special place for people. Just think that Dekaranger's Dekawing Robo is a tribute to Vavilos or how Shaider eventually had a sequel movie (with a new Shaider to replace Dai who was hinted to have died of unknown causes) decades later after it ended. Also, just because I dislike VR Troopers doesn't mean I'd automatically hold Shaider up much higher. It would just be like Kamen Rider Black RX - I could enjoy it but never as much.
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