A Japanese superhero series that inspired the hugely popular Power Rangers TV and movie franchise from the 1990s is ending after 50 years, local media report.
Super Sentai will go off air as sales from merchandise and events have not been enough to cover production costs, reports say. Its broadcaster TV Asahi declined to comment on “future programming”, according to the Asahi newspaper.
The series premiered in 1975 and its formula – five teens who transform into colourful masked fighters to battle aliens – served as the blueprint for Power Rangers in the US and many other superhero shows that aired in Asia.
It also served as a launchpad for the careers of many Japanese actors.
Super Sentai was much more than a TV series. The show that aired weekly was essentially an advertisement for toys, clothes, costumes and collectibles.
For animation and toy fans outside Japan, it served as a gateway to the country’s colourful superhero and comic book culture.
Similar shows like Choudenshi Bioman and Hikari Sentai Maskman were dubbed in English and developed cult followings in the Philippines.
In the Super Sentai series, the superhero team, made up of three men and two women, is led by a fighter in a red suit – as in Power Rangers. The rest of team is colour-coded, green or black for the second-in-command, followed by blue, yellow and pink.
Every episode also followed the same sequence – starting with martial arts and swordfights and ending with a battle between their robot spaceship and a giant alien in the end. A large part of its appeal is the live-action animation, which in the 1980s and 1990s bordered on crude.
The original Power Rangers series aired on US TV from 1993 to 1996 and there have been multiple spin-offs. The episodes are now streamed on YouTube.
Producer Haim Saban, who adapted Power Rangers from the Japanese original, said in a 2017 interview with the LA Times that the concept was a tough sell at first.
“Every selling season, I would go out and offer it to the networks – and would get kicked out of the room… They told me how crazy I was,” he said.
News of Super Sentai’s demise drew sadness from fans and celebrities.
Popular actress Keiko Kitagawa re-posted a news article on the reported cancellation with the caption “despair”. Her post on X was viewed 15 million times.
Yasuhisa Furuhara, an actor who played one of the Super Sentai fighters, noted how the series ran for half a century. “I’m proud to be a part of history,” he said on X.
One fan on X said his parents had watched Super Sentai when they were children. And that he is watching the current series. “I’ll miss it… What a shame.”
“Super Sentai is coming to an end, so what should boys watch from now on?” another fan said.
