Super Sentai. It’s the series Power Rangers is based on…but also so much more. I did not give a shit about it until about eight years ago when I watched every one of its theme songs in a row for some reason.
It’s corny. It’s campy. It’s cool. It’s high-octane. And as of 2025, it spans fifty years.
So let’s count it down, from my least favorite to most coveted—complete with MP3s and supercompressed GIFs to give YOU a taste of the action.
Honorable Mentions (or a collective Rank #37)
Okay, full disclosure: there’s like ten recent-ish theme songs I haven’t ranked because I can never remember them. Instead of drilling them into my cranium, I decided to leave them out. If they’d been on this list, trust me, I would have had extremely little to say about them.
Going forward, readers, please assume that every opening after Boukenger has been excised. So like, no Go-Busters…Goseiger…Boonboomger… (Every name on here is real.)
There are definitely exceptions, but let’s leave those as surprises!
#36: Himitsu Sentai Gorenger
I am so, so sorry. Ranking the first series at the bottom feels like ranking my own granddad at the bottom. And not the one who disowned me, either. But when I ranked these theme songs, I didn’t rank based on historical value. I ranked by Marie Kondo rules. Does this theme song spark joy? I don’t think so.
It was the first one. It was prehistoric. Cinematography was just invented, and cameras were still made of rock. It was also the 70s, so they hadn’t figured out how to make all cameras not look like they’d come out of a dust storm.
Sonically, it is not much cooler. The mighty chanting in the background feels awkward to me, and not in a fun way. There is also a curious “hmm-MM?”-type synth noise, and it’s among my least favorite synth noises. There’s just no solid hook here, in my book. This song could use a unifying element, and for me, it just don’t got it.
#35: GoGo Sentai Boukenger
Gonna go, gonna go, gonna go, gonna go, gonna go, gonna go, gonna go, gonna go, gonna
There is an alternate universe where I rated this higher, but despite me just repeating the hook about eight times, I don’t think it’s funny enough to warrant that. I mean, nobody in my life is memeing on Boukenger to artificially inflate the rating in my heart. Every intro coming up is more fun for me. I guess this feels…basic?
At least the theme of the season is cute. Boukenger roughly means “Adventurangers” and seeing the paintings of adventurers transition into the five heroes is nice. Just not nice enough. What’s next?
IMPORTANT REVISION from several hours after I wrote this: I have it on good authority that they are not saying GONNA go, they’re saying READY go. They might even also be saying GO go go. But that’s even worse.
Also, thank you kgy121 for providing a cleaner audio file while I patched things up!
#34: Shuriken Sentai Ninninger
(disclaimer: some of these start with a spoken word segment, but they’re not that long……..I think)
The chorus just makes me recoil. They’re ninjas, they’re nin-ninjas, and they’re nin-Japan. They’re annoying us on purpose, I know they are, and they’re being really brash about it to hammer that home and inspire a sense of fun, but…no. I can’t do it. Super Sentai has other ninja seasons whose intros have their own sublime takes.
Look, you don’t have to literally say “ninja” this many times in your opening! We get it! Those other intros wouldn’t…oh, they all do that? Like a thousand times, incessantly? Okay, I take that back.
In the end, I should be laughing with this. I’m not even laughing at it.
#33: Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger
(additional disclaimer: lots of the newer intros also start with a twinkle. sorry, that’s just the logo)
It’s cool that the logo is a cat and it stretches and stuff. It’s also rather funny that the “singer” growls and screeches “gaooo…GYAAA!!!” so much. But can you imagine listening to this every single episode for about fifty episodes? I shudder to think.
The melody of the song is kind of smothered beneath all the “gyao” action. Meanwhile, the visuals are nothing to write home about, and to me, besides the logo, they are not particularly cooler or wackier than what we’ll see later. Next!
#32: Chouriki Sentai Ohranger
This is…fine.
Their masks are cool. Their funny-shaped robots, including a tossable tire man, are fun. But this tune and its hook are just not hitting it for me. And when a Super Sentai song from my cherished 80s and 90s is this low on my list, you gotta know that makes me feel low.
Hearing this, I get a sense of fatigue. Actually, this is a fairly standard Super Sentai theme song after a streak of atypical ones. So after, like, sambas and smooth koto funk, the hand of fate decided that thou shalt make some standard power rock, and thou weren’t into it. So we got this.
#31: Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman
Okay, if your theme song doesn’t have a deep solemn note or a soaring crescendo on the team name, I don’t know what to tell you. You might have gotten every other question right, but you still failed the exam, and there’s no do-overs.
But Fiveman doesn’t even get the rest right. Do you know I didn’t even register that this singer is chanting “woah woah woah woah MY brotha! woah woah woah woah MY sista!” for AGES? Keep in mind I watched that compilation of every opening I mentioned like five or six times through, and that’s not counting targeted repeats for this article. You better believe I spent those five or six times laughing it up at all my favorite cheesy moments. I never laughed at Fiveman, I can assure you. And I take no pride in that.
But please note how weird their uniforms and themes are. A musical note printed right on the helmet over the visor, looking like a sticker I’d slap on my grade-school computer? Man, that’s sad. More like Fiveloser.
#30: Battle Fever J
Sigh. Another 70s theme song down, and we’re still not to the intros I like yet. There’s only so many. Isn’t there a single one that assuages my terminal illness for which the only cure is more 70s?
Well, not this time. And it’s a shame, because Battle Fever J, I love ya (except for the racism, you could do with a lot less of that). Look at their suits. So 70s. So primitive. Miss America is a standout, with her leotard and her WIG OF HAIR. I can’t stress that enough. They once put hair on a Power Ranger. I also remember the first episode having interestingly stylish cinematography and color choices.
But do I see that style in the theme song? Not especially. I don’t even exclusively see Miss America. I gotta see Battle Panther Tarzan-swinging. Musically, we have a children’s choir. While it’s somewhat hilarious that they would do that, and it does definitely have a melody to it, that’s not really keeping me engaged. Also, I believe the synth sounds went from perplexing to generic. So much for ol’ J.
#29: Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger
I would have just left this off the list if not for the roll call. If I heard that singer crying “Eagle! Shark! Lion! Elephant! Tiger!” in the club? Yeah, I’d start gettin’ down. What of it?
The concept of this season is also funny and charming. Those rangers aren’t just humans with animal powers…they’re animals in disguise as humans…who were already anthropomorphic or something…and then they change into humans…who then change into animal-powered humans (AKA rangers). I don’t know if it makes any sense, but for me, it doesn’t have to. Lion! Elephant!
#28: J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai
Oh, come on, 70s. You can do better than this.
I LOVE the idea of loving J.A.K.Q. and most if not all of its elements (unless one is racism). I LOVE it. This is the closest to classic James Bond Super Sentai has ever come or will ever get—because unlike the later Go-Busters, this one still has that antique crust. Four adult-ass adults are charging around the big grimy city stopping evil. They might even stop some villains who don’t wear costumes…
And their team identity? Amazing. They’re king, queen, jack, and ace cards. In part of the intro, hands spread playing cards across a table. That’s great. I mean, they muck it up with the introduction of a member named Big One (I don’t know what “the one card” is if not an ace, so why wasn’t he called…uh…Big…..Joke? (xD)), but hey, good enough.
Except the song itself slides in one ear and out the other. There’s a section where they do some chanting along the lines of “komets—komets—kommaHEY!” and I don’t know what to make of that. Is it rustic? Is it traditional? Is it…uh…racist? This is so 70s I couldn’t tell you.
#27: Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive
It’s trying, bless its heart. It even feels kind of classic, but, like…classic in the boring way. A classic that only your dad is watching. A classic that you are permitted to watch in a youth group.
I would like to like it, but it just inspires no joy in me. Does it inspire me to save the Earth? Save a life? Well, sure—again, bless its heart. But…man, I’m sorry, I can’t get over their suit designs. They’ve got shields and squares for faces. It makes them feel like Starmen from Earthbound and not in an exciting or galactic way. Just in an interchangeable army-men way, not helped by the way they salute.
So bland and sad are these visors that the clip I’ve inserted for this section starts with the main characters not suiting up, but getting together in their orange lifesaving-day-job fatigues and doing a collective little Backstreet Boys strut.
I don’t love this, but at least I can offer it a salute. Go on, team. Save the Earth. Save their lives.
#26: Engine Sentai Go-onger
Aww, how cute. There are little tiny animal cars racing down the little tiny model street. The song also makes itself immediately easy to sing and clap along to. Some of the other visual touches are cute and a little humorious, and those visuals, the ranger titles, etc. etc. etc, all fit the racing theme.
I don’t have a lot to say about it, to be honest, but I don’t not enjoy it. One thing’s for sure: your nieces and nephews in preschool are boppin’ to this.
#25: Avataro Sentai Donbrothers
This used to be way lower on the list. Originally, I was against putting it higher because 1. I have to only like old things, at all costs, and 2. it wasn’t the theme song charming me so much as the concept of Donbrothers.
You see, this is a wacky season that debuted three years before this writing with a theme of Japanese myth and folklore. The red ranger’s suit has a topknot, the black ranger is a Sonic the Hedgehog-shaped cat man, and the pink ranger has abnormally long, skinny legs. (Clearly the creators at Toei can only put the latter two onscreen using the power of 90s-quality mocap.)
But then I realized…I’m not ranking these based on the joy sparked by the theme songs fully detached from the show. It’s based on the joy sparked for any reason. And Donbrothers provides much fuel to spark joy.
Also, the tune is not bad. It’s kinda funky. It comes with a dance because it really wants people to meme with it as well as at it, which I don’t think is an ignoble goal. I like how four of the dancing teammates are on a screen while the red ranger is not and he walks away—I dunno why the opening felt the need to do that kind of a music-video moment, or how it relates to anything, but it’s…interesting. As interesting as two abnormally long, skinny legs.
The biggest question I asked myself, though, is whether, if Donbrothers is on, I’d get crunky at the club. And the answer is yes, way more than Zyuohger.
#24: Mahou Sentai Magiranger
This is really up here because my sibling has been memeing on it since the first. Apparently they had been introduced to Magiranger earlier than me or something, and not in a good way, because they treated it with INSTANT disgust for its dated CG broom-flying action and its high-pitched nasally singer.
Now my sibling keeps chanting the chorus. Green Ground. Pink Storm. Blue Splash. Yellow Thunder. Re-ddo fi-YAAA…
I dunno. You had to be there. Anyway, the song itself is really not bad. It’s only a little annoying, and hey, a little annoyingness is how number-one pop songs are made. Besides, it is slathered in general good vibes but not ear-piercingly so, not so much cheering “okay alright” as incidentally stating it.
Wait, they got a cherry blossom-themed pink ranger with wind powers?! And they got a green named Green Ground?! Okay, this just got two times more epic.
#23: Denji Sentai Megaranger
I hate to do this to a series I think I’d love with a theme song I distinctly enjoy. Number 23 just feels too low! But…no, this intro is not sparking more joy for me than the next one, and the sensitive high-schooler Megarangers are gonna have to deal with it.
This opening has some killer visuals. With that dim room with glowing-white slats, I vote it Most Likely to Play Before the Movie Cool as Ice. We also get odd interludes straight out of Digimon/Shin Megami Tensei/Death Crimson. And we get the rangers SURFING THE WEB LITERALLY! I think I’m supposed to love this, but instead I merely like and respect it.
Similarly, the hook is respectable, but not big doings. “Mega, mega, mega”—can’t they do any better than that? At least Ohranger had “¡Ole!” and that was adorable. This hook is, y’know, fine. It’s versatile, I’ll give it that. Really it’s a solid song, though. The competition on this list is getting fiercer.
#22: Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger
…Never mind, no it’s not.
I just think it looks funny when CG robot dinosaurs go runnin’ down the streets of metropolis at 4x speed. Sometimes that’s all you need—as long as the bad or off-kilter qualities of the music aren’t enough to keep you from facing the truth. “Abare-abare-abare” is about as crummy a chorus as “gao…GYAAAOOO,” and some may say it’s less funny because it’s more orderly, but you know what? I like that. Go on, T-Rex. Keep struttin’.
It’s worth noting that this is the first series we’ve looked at with three main rangers instead of five (at least to start with). I generally love it when that rare thing happens. That’s the power of a power trio. This little detail endears me to the classic-feeling team of T-Rex, Pteranodon and Triceratops just a little bit more, which, in the end, probably edged out Megaranger.
#21: Kagaku Sentai Dynaman
Henceforth, every theme song is going to have at least one UNFORGETTABLE moment. “Mega mega mega” is a little forgettable for me, but “die die die die Dynaman” is certainly more hilarious. Then you have another hook when the singer goes “bakuhatsu!” and the little clicky swords or whatever clank together. And “moerO hinotamA!” Come on, how can you beat that?
Well, as incredible as it is to say…it can indeed be beaten. Frankly I think the Dynaman opening is a shadow of what could have been. I always confuse it with…uh…with the theme song I’m putting at #7. Very specifically that one. I always assume it has a fourth epic hook from a theme song I much prefer!
Plus, the only visuals I ever remember are the part where the lady fences. And, yeah, I realize there’s fifty explosions in a row in that GIF above. That’s not enough, pretty much all of them have explosions. I don’t care if you stuff in a thousand. So for me, that aspect is not bad, but perhaps not amazing either.
Still, yeah, we’re movin’ and shakin’ to this one.
#20: Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger
Here it is: the one that started it all…in specific overseas territories. I just watched the first episode of Zyuranger about five hours before writing this, and holy crap, that was just a bunch of slop and nonsense. I now fully understand how even someone with a healthy love of the bizarre and fanciful could prefer the first season of Power Rangers over that, or at least over the first infodumping children-in-space-and-shrunken-for-some-reason episode. Hey, I just gotta have more character development.
Anyway, the theme song. For the intro of a season about scary dinosaurs, this is oddly heartwarming and nostalgic. Much more fittingly, it looks prehistoric. This filmstock looks beyond aged, and while I know part of that psychological effect is just Super Sentai feeling like the “old bootleg form” of the Americanized series I grew up around, another part really is the setup of the intro. An ancient storybook opening up. Puppets moving like Country Bears animatronics. And vocals that are…wistful? Again, why?
Why is it all THiS old? Why is THIS the primordial Power Rangers season? Why? Why?! Whyyyyy?!?!?!?!?!?
This theme song is the fish crawling out of the swamp.
#19: Seijuu Sentai Gingaman
And now for something extremely similar. To me, Gingaman is just Zyuranger but more musically amusing. I mean, the Angry Video Game Nerd didn’t sing it, so that’s a point against it,* but otherwise, this has plenty to offer.
First off, look at that GIF above. In a marvel of early-00s compositing, five rangers fall from the sky over a cliff and starry-sky backdrop before their Zords (or whatever the machines are called here). Then they are zoomed in to the camera, all at separate speeds, clearly all on separate layers, because their heads need to overlap each other. As a chestnut-shaped fairy drifts out and a star twinkles, all five turn their heads on cue and suddenly become uncanny drawings. I, uh…I dunno. Jokes lose strength in the telling.
Second, the chorus is “Ga, ga, gi-gi, Gingaman. Ga, ga, gi-gi, Gingaman. Seijuu Sentai…Gingamaaaaan.”
Third, once you read the following, you won’t be able to unsee it:
Charlie Brown rangers
(*wait…you mean about five minutes after I write this post, James “the Nerd” Rolfe got himself involved in some controversy as a maybe-maybe-not Schrödinger’s bigot?! You’re kidding me! Come on, I just want one internet-famous person to make charming references to! Just one who won’t go rogue! JUST ONE!)
#18: Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger
Above is a GIF of, um, “Doggy Kruger” reporting to the ranger police base that Dekaranger is in trouble. Um…I’m told that a robot dog named “Buddy Murphy” will be summoned to help them, by transforming into a gun. Man, I’m just glad Toei cleared the police season with the entire population of Los Angeles before producing it. You can tell because Buddy Murphy sounds like Eddie Murphy, and Eddie Murphy played the Beverly Hills Cop. That’s proof that the Dekarangers can’t be racist. It’s proof that they’re “honorary bruthas” (THIS WHOLE PARAGRAPH IS A JOKE) (I know very little about what happens in this season)
Uh, um, anyway, the theme song itself is pretty good. Like, this is just a solid song. I can’t argue with it. It’s a little dour, which makes it more intense. It fits the season theme. But aside from the existence of a Doggy Kruger in this otherwise pretty serious-looking season, it also has this amazing countdown, demonstrated in both a list and a GIF below:
- Emergency.
- Dekaranger.
- Action.
- Perfect.
- ……..Get on.
Thus Part 1 of this list ends with an intro I’ve seen in multiple Top 10s! What kind of twisted mind would rank something/s higher? Well, you’re about to find out—in approximately two weeks.
Thank you for reading, and Patrons, thank you for Patreonning!
While you wait for more Rangerdom, why not celebrate some other nonsense, like 4Kids theme songs? Or peek behind the curtain on cartoon production? Alternatively, dancing. Yeah, that’s where it’s at.