Not Just a Masochist, but a True Consummate Sicko

Suit is all its primary colour, including skirt (e.g. Ryusoulger, Denjiman)

Suit body and skirt are primary colour, legs are secondary colour (black or white) (e.g. Gokaiger, Dairanger)

Suit body is primary colour, skirt and legs are secondary colour (e.g. Goseiger, Liveman)

Suit body and skirt are primary colour, legs on the non-skirted suits are also primary colour, but legs on this suit are a secondary colour--THIS IS THE HOT STUFF BABY LET ME EXPLAIN WHY

Okay so it's about "something hidden" or "something you're not supposed to see". If the skirt and legs are the same colour, it all registers as the same 'layer'. If you have a pink/blue/whatever skirt over black or white legs, that more suggests "clothing over body". However...

The non-skirted suits also have black legs, right? So clearly, that colour/layer is also "okay to see". Symbolically, that's black pants. (Of course, tokusatsu suits aren't only hot in imitating the human form. But we're talking about tight bodysuits in this post, not big sexy monsters, so follow me here.)

But if you've got a skirt over black/white legs, and the non-skirted suits have solid-colour legs...now that's a symbolically "lower" layer than the 'costume' shape.

So thank god for ninjas. See, in Hurricane the solid colour is the 'clothing', and the grey is 'beneath'; the shoulders of the sleeves emphasise this (contrasted with the Gouraigers' black pants, whereas even they have grey sleeves). In other words, that's a colour that has to be covered on certain body parts to be 'appropriate', like skin does. In Ninnin, solid colour is 'clothing' and black is 'beneath'--extra emphasised by the thigh-highs, which as I recently posted about, Jesus Fucking Hell.

Like, this is all an illusion. Obviously, the colour 'beneath' is just a bodysuit. ShiroNinger's black legs under there look exactly the same as, say, ShinkenRed's. And let's not forget, nice legs in a tight bodysuit are nice in and of themselves. But the concealment...the suggestion of something forbidden...the whole colour scheme lining up to reinforce this...(And well, Hurricane Blue does even have blue 'panties' under there...which again, if you took away the skirt would just make the blue a leotard-style shape like the Flashman etc. suits and not feel like underwear at all, but the fact that it's hidden and you get brief flashes...)

Interestingly, there's a third season that achieves this effect a different way--Jetman:

Now, all the suits here have secondary-colour legs--but uniquely in all of sentai, here the boys get a short-shorts/leotard/something shape, not too far off the girls in, say, Bioman. This means that at least for the lower body, white is an 'underlying' colour (or pink for White Swan, a common colour-scheme-swap for white rangers in a team with white as a secondary colour). So you do get the layered/"this colour has to be hidden above the thigh so it's intriguing" effect...sort of...the upper-body colour scheme confuses this and makes it hard to equate it to an outfit shape, as I also recently posted about. (And ofc, imitating an outfit is not the only objective of a sentai suit--the Jetman suits look great!)

Neutral: just not gendering the suits in their basic construction is perfectly respectable, creates uniformity which is better for some designs, and is arguably less sexist; although as established we're not so much analysing the social implications here so much as what makes me swoon. Skirtless teams were a regular option earlier than you might think, with Goranger, Dynaman and Fiveman (and Sun Vulcan, but that doesn't count). Though it would be hard to argue that for instance the Momoranger suit isn't still very feminine. Just like with skirts, there's different colour schemes for the pants/leggings style: most commonly they use the main suit's solid colour or black, but white is also occasionally used. Which I prefer is contextual and I think they usually pick well for the individual design, though how rare white is makes me fond of it. I don't think Dynaman would be many peoples' thought for "hot sentai suits", but in motion those leggings are really flattering.

The leotard look: Part of what gives the Bioman/Changeman/Flashman trilogy its unique feeling, but it's still wild to me they've never gone back to it (the closest would be those male Jetman suits). But I'm biased, of course; if you know me, you know that I love those shows and that I love a space leotard. I do genuinely think it's a very fun silhouette compared with the long-pants look; but from a sex appeal perspective, there's something really magical to how much you can suggest with the same material by just moving a few lines around. Change Mermaid is a perennial favourite of Japanese suitfuckers for a reason. This is mostly for Changeman and Flashman, where everything is very clean and sleek and sexy, whereas Bioman is a bit more clunky by comparison, they were still working that aesthetic out and were leaning into the gadgetry theme besides. But I've come around on them recently, and it must be said the Bioman suits are using the "colours representing upper and lower layers" effect I talked about before to emulate long socks and gloves (on all five rangers!) in a way the other two aren't.

(Stray thought, but if you put a helmet on Farah Cat she'd look like a pretty convincing evil Flashman)

Bare leg: oh Battle Fever, you strange show, you. Like a lot of people, I don't really think these suits are, uh, good, per se? The big eyes and plastic hairpieces are a little haunting. Miss America especially, well, she's definitely distinctive, having both the only full-on wig and the only bare legs (in close-ups at least) in the whole sentai series. But again, memorable doesn't necessarily mean good. Still, I actually do think it would be cool to go back and explore the partial suit look sometime; if not often. After all, the complete enclosure of the human form is part of the sentai suit appeal. (I actually think exposed skin stands out less on more layered designs--Riderman and Tackle look unusual next to other Riders, but not as unusual as Miss America in a pink ranger lineup, imo)

Accessories: This is mostly a post about the actual suit construction, but as an addendum I do wanna mention that very occasionally the girl suits will have earrings, and honestly, that's never worked for me, because uh, the helmets don't have ears. Momoranger's are kind of charming in a clunky way, like the Goranger suits in general, and the fact they're detachable bombs does help. The crystalline Maskman ones actually would look pretty good in another season, but that team in particular look so good entirely because of how sleek and no-nonsense their design is. Having these objects sticking out of the helmet breaks that up. Rare point against those designs for me.

Goranger: I'm glad these are skirtless. The solid block of colour with the little cape doesn't need a complication to the silhouette.

JAKQ: Despite a lot of similarity to Goranger in terms of visor, cape, etc., these designs are much busier so I think the skirt version actually looks better; it adds to the fanciness I love so much about them. Give 'em all one. A fancy dress won't kill ya, boys. The only one of these Gokaiger gives us a preview of is Big One, and actually I think it'd work if he was the only one without a skirt, since he has the smoother less detailed design.

Battle Fever: Man, what even is there to say? It's Battle Fever. I dunno, would they look better if they all had their legs out? Would Miss America look better with a secondary colour leggings and plastic hair or something? I dunno. They'd still have those helmets.

Denziman: Honestly, same as JAKQ, I think the high level of detail and decoration (with the scarves and all) makes the skirt work better, and it'd be ideal to have it as a uniform detail imo.

Sun Vulcan: Thanks to Gokaiger, we do actually know what these suits would look like with skirts, and while it's a great vision of @mo-ok 's Misa!Panther AU, I do think the sleeker look they have make them look better without.

Goggle V: Honestly, I'm not sure. While I appreciate a pink with pants and a big scarf, these have that weird white bib look on the top half of the suit, and might look more balanced with some kind of detail below.

Dynaman: No notes, the uniform look is great. Primary example of the white pants having the potential to be really flattering for the legs.

Bioman: The leotard shape is just more interesting than the pants shape, they should all have it. You know it, I know it.

Changeman: I was inclined to say 'same as Bioman', and I definitely wouldn't mind that, but I also think it would look good if all the solid colour suits including Phoenix had the full leggings shape (it does go well with the fancy belts and boots they've got going), with only Mermaid having the leotard outline to add to her alternative colour scheme.

Flashman: While on an individual level I again think the girl suits just look better, the simpler designs here make the solid colour vs white contrast more important and the team poses really rely on that for their composition, so I think this is a great example of making the mix work.

Maskman: The visual appeal of these suits is their clean solidity, so I think the skirts add an unnecessary element of complication and it'd look better if none of them had them.

Liveman: Most of my thoughts on these suits are just the helmets being cool, I dunno. I do think Dolphin is the least dorky looking body-wise, so maybe the unique skirt colour scheme is working for her there.

Turboranger: I was going to say this is the start of the regular unnecessary skirt trend, but looking again I actually think they should all have them--because the little accent line on the hem provides some nice symmetry to the lined chest pattern. It just looks more complete that way (compare Yellow below).

Fiveman: Perfectly okay as uniform as they are! I guess!

Jetman: A unique one because the boys have those little booty shorts. I think it'd actually be stronger if they all looked like that, get that strongman-inspired Classic Superhero vibe going, but I would be reluctant to lose an instance of the hottest skirt/legs colour scheme (see part 1 above).

Zyuranger: Definitely an unnecessary skirt. There's already enough white on the suits the white hem-line feels like a bit much.

Dairanger: They should all have the skirt, 100%. The way it fits with the jacket and belt to just look like a longer tunic/minidress is so cool and makes the whole design feel more complete. Plus, the split style is pretty unique--on my first post @spandexual made a very good point that more skirts like Akibaranger's, versus the usual bodycon style, would mean you can do a lot more action without them riding up--and this is a great example of that! When the team pose involves a big sweeping kick it's important, I guess.

Kakuranger: I had literally typed up "the solid uniformity is the point, no notes" because in a lot of shots it's so hard to see White's skirt you forget it's there. Get that thing out of there.

Ohranger: While often skirts add to the sense of 'decoration', especially with the gold hem here, I actually think this one breaks up the bold solid colour area of the legs too much and they'd look better if none of them had one.

Carranger: I honestly don't have a preference, but Yellow shouldn't have had a skirt. If power rangers can accidentally do it half the time...

I just think She Wears The Pants, y'know

Megaranger: Look better without skirts

Gingaman: Look better without skirts (and again Pink's barely exists anyway)

GoGoV: I can't put my finger on why Pink's skirt looks better here than the previous couple seasons but I do like it more. They'd still look more uniform without it, though

Timeranger: Look better without skirts

Gaoranger: With all the crawling around they do, could probably look more natural to lose the skirt...I guess the slight difference does sort of complement the inverted white/pink colour scheme...? Eh, nah, looking at it again it looks super unnecessary. Removing it would also leave very little pink, so you'd probably either want to remove the rest too, or add another for balance, maybe around the belt or something.

Hurricanger: As established, Blue is a strong candidate for hottest single sentai suit; but I can't deny the solid colour leggings on Red and Yellow look really nice. So I guess a mix is good? If I was designing this season from the ground up it'd probably be a mixed-gender main trio with pants and then a mysterious extra ranger shows up with the skirt version to mark her apart.

HOWEVER I have to lodge a COMPLAINT like don't get me wrong this is HOT but the colours are INCORRECT

Skirt!KuwagaRaiger should have GREY legs that is the 'BODY-COLOUR' we have BEEN OVER THIS black is the PANTS COLOUR you have CLEARLY ESTABLISHED THIS this is interfering with my ability to delusionally fantasise about a tokusatsu suit flashing me!! Alas I can only award this Gokai change a 9/10

Abaranger: The skirt feels unnecessary on the main team, but from Gokai I actually think the AbareKiller suit looks good with one? Maybe we'd forgive that insane criminal for his various deeds if he was cuter. Well. Maybe not.

Dekaranger: Another correct decision to make them identical, it's what these need

Magiranger: I didn't mention them in the first post but this is the other team with the ideal "the leggings colour fully conveys something Beneath" colour scheme that really works for me. So those look great. But so does the solid colour! Very vibrant, and it lets the black/gold lines run all the way down! Both versions combo so well with the capes! I guess a mix works well. Give at least one of those magic boys a cute lil skirt though, c'mon.

Boukenger: The skirt is super unnecessary, breaks up the leg-lines

Gekiranger: Yellow's skirt is such a minimal detail it barely makes a difference, but I like both versions a lot; without, they have that sleek singularity, but with they look more like a martial arts/gym uniform. Whichever you go with, all three main rangers should have the same version, for the uniformity of the Triangle!!

Speaking of the belt/gi theming stuff, GekiChopper absolutely looks better with the dress/tunic shape for that reason, thanks again Gokai.

Go-Onger: Honestly, both look fine, but I think it'd look more balanced with one or two more skirts thrown in there. And we know at least one of those boys would be down.

Shinkenger: The skirt version looks so much better, really completes the robe (hakama? is that the wrong one?) look these are going for. Give 'em all one. (I am also now imagining something like the super-modes for this season but that extends a skirt into a more full-length dress...not the most practical but you could spin around doing sword stuff...get some Precure power-up energy in here)

Goseiger: I think it would look better with no skirts? But again it's kinda nice to see the rare colour scheme they have here.

Gokaiger: The mix is important here because you get to see new versions of past suits. However if we shed our Earthling gender preconceptions we would understand that actually the skirt rangers should be Marv/Joe/Ahim and the pants rangers should be Luka/Doc(/Gai).

Go-Busters: Lose that skirt it's clashing with the tactical leather suit look!!!

Kyoryuger: Probably an unnecessary suit case.

ToQger: Another case of suits so similar the skirt is unnecessary and we could lose 'em.

Ninninger: As established the thigh-highs make me crazy, give everyone the absolute territory look ok thanks

(No comment on the magical girl forms, I just thought this was a funny image that happened to involve MidoNinger)

Zyuohger: Unnecessary skirts

Kyuranger: The bulkier, more details suits kinda make the skirts feel odd, especially when we're talking 2 in 9 of a core team...but looking individually, I actually think it'd look neat if Pink had one and Green didn't, so it was just a unique detail of Pink's suit since these suits are big on those.

LuPat: Honestly, the skirts aren't doing anything for any of these. Maybe one team could all have them and the other team all have solid pants? Or hell, just give Noel a big swishy one to flip around with.

Ryusoulger: Another skirt so unnecessary I forgot it was there

Kiramager: Proooobably unneccessary, but the little splits they've started putting in are neat

Zenkaiger: I don't know, does ZenkaiMagine have a "skirt"? She's got some kind of mechanical tabard thing??? These are more robot suits than traditional sentai suits to begin with. I don't think Flint needed one either of the times she got a suit tho

Donbrothers: I did get an impulse to say OniSister's skirt is unnecessary, but these suits are deliberately trying not to be too uniform, and they all have elements wildly differentiating them from each other. So it kind of works as part of that. Plus of course Haruka is the normalest girl in the world.

King-Ohger: Correct decision to have no skirts, extra correct decision to have capes, love a cape. Can we get some scarves back next time?

Boonboomger: I'm glad we've got another solid colour up top, white legs combo like Dynaman, I really like how the leggings silhouette looks. It's really embarrassing to say it kinda does it for me when they have those big goofy tire faces (and when the show is called "Boonboomger") but Mira does go from "my best friend in the whole world" out of suit to "kinda wifey tbh" in suit.

Bonus: the High School Heroes suits work best as they are, with the complexity already added by the jacket-like elements; and the Akibaranger suits...are sure something else. First of all they have Battle Fever style sculpted hair and the kind of armoured look that wouldn't enter the main series until King-Ohger; really kind of their own consideration. However they also extremely go for the 'concealment' colour scheme, combining a skirt and sort of gesturing at a swimwear/underwear shape, and frankly I have to wonder what Red would look like with at least the latter, it remains a fun pattern. Plus, as mentioned above, these break from the usual style and have looser skirts, which is both an interesting visual difference and easier to work with in action.

Anyway, thanks for putting up with me for every possible word I could think of to say about this topic! I'm done now. Really. Unless somebody replies with something I think is interesting. Or I think of something else. Maybe you'll never be free of my reign of terror. (It's fine, there's other kinds of suits to be normal about, I've got range)