Sei Juushi Bismarck

This show brings back a lotta memories, but to be honest this time around I didn't find it as entertaining. I've come to realize that Saber Rider is the boys' equivalent to Sailor Moon. But while at least Sailor Moon makes some kind of sense, Saber Rider does not.

~ANIMATION
The animation/art is pretty standard for TV shows from the 80's, so don't expect to be "WOW'ed" by any flashy imagery, also there are a lot of reused/recycled scenes. Then you have those episodes that have art that look totally different from the rest of the series...[per Wikipedia, these are made up episodes done by American animators], ... it's totally trippy looking. Also watching Ramrod do the same transformation for 50+ episodes is kind of lame, he keeps saying "Ramrod challenge phase 1" which implies there are other challenge phases....but we never get to see those, WTF?

~SOUND
The theme song is catchy but super cheesy and they used it for both the OP and the ED. It's not really worth listening to unless it was a part of your childhood.
The voice actors are a mixed bag, some are good and some are just OK while others are kinda terrible! Fireball has the best voice, it conveyed the right level of emotions and it was age appropriate, same thing for Saber Rider. Colt's voice was OK but it was kind of stereotypical and had a little bit too much "twang". However, April's constantly hoarse voice sounds like should be Marge Simpson's younger sister. Someone needs to hurry up and toss the poor girl a Luden's cough drop. And then there's Jesse Blue, like, I love this dude...but the voice! WTF is up with that voice?

~STORY
Due to the butchery of American editing the story is pretty cheesy, like for example sending the outriders "back to the Vapor Zone" when CLEARLY it's a euphemism for being killed or when some other character dies they edit or script it to appear like they never died they only "went away" or fainted. Sometimes it's kinda hard to watch for example, episode 41 - The Amazing Lazardo, is definitely about some kind of religious cult, just LOOKING at it visually and you can gather that's what the story is SUPPOSED to be about. However it has been scripted to be about some magic show with some kind of dastardly magician...as if that even makes sense. There are a couple of other episodes that are equally as painful to watch.
The only thing that got me thru this series was the fact that I could not take it seriously. I'm sure they originally wanted to present the show as something serious when they released it stateside but you can't take it seriously...not when Earth is supposed to be "Planet Yuma" and alcoholic beverages are nothing but "cactus juice"...AS IF!!! This show is pure camp and that's the only way this show could be watched...basically like an anime version of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

~CHARACTER
I don't care what anyone wants to tell me; anime characters generally look more like Anglo-Westerners than Asians, and shows like these only seem to reinforce my theory. Without researching the history of the show, I'm pretty sure no one would have guessed who's supposed to be the "Asian" on the team. It's not like I think the Japanese suffer from some kind of self hate or anything, I just think there's a deliberate "Anglicization" behind most character designs...and that probably had to do with being able to market the anime to the US and Europe. Even so it's interesting to see the supposedly "Asian" Fireball take a backseat from being the leader [as in the original anime work] to the blonder, more statuesque and much more Anglo, Saber Rider, probably so the show could be marketed through the US and Europe.
Anyway, racial politics and subliminal hegemony aside, the key characters of the series are an alright bunch...but again they're not to be taken any more seriously than you would the Power Rangers crew.

~VERDICT
The story for this show really doesn't go anywhere, it's basically 52 barely related adventure episodes...but without the consequence of death from all the violence, then it's a little too squeaky clean for my current tastes. I'd say this show is only worth watching if you remember it from the 80's or are interested in [bad] anime shows from that era