Just because you do not like this season does not mean you should recommend this season to absolutely no one. AS you said there are many people who thoroughly enjoy this season (including me) so why avoid it at all cost? Admittedly is this season perfect? No, but there are many points in it's favour.
1. Of course a lot of this season is fan-service. Boukenger had tons of it too if you hadn't noticed. With many little shout-outs, homages, the history of Super Sentai, Vs Super Sentai, they simply wanted to go beyond here. If they didn't it would seem like they weren't even trying here, hence why they are calling the next Sentai, Go-Busters, a new generation because there is no way to top Gokaiger. A few concepts are a little fanfic-ish (if that makes sense) such as the Legend War but these are things that everybody has dreamed about as kids and simply made into reality. At heart it is a true Sentai.
2. The characters are not really cliche but YMMV. They are a nice change of pace for a Sentai team and all and play off each other well. They have varied and enjoyable personalities with their own quirks so there will be at least one character to like. I'd go through each one individually but that would take a while. They are also well developed but done with subtlety in a few cases. For example, Ahim has been showing slowly that she is more dangerous than she appears, culminating in ep. 41 where she shows her true dangerous side. Or as the team as a whole they have been slowly developing into a more traditional Sentai team instead of light anti-heroes, like how their goal now is to take down the Zangyack in contrast to simply the greatest treasure in the universe in the beginning. If you were going to complain about characters I would suggest the villains since they were really uninteresting up until maybe episode 37 where they showed a lot more personality and motivation.
3. This might not deserve its own point but I'll him defend anyway, Gai is not an overpowered, author self-insert mary sue. Gold mode is a super mode exclusively to him but other than that he's nothing special. Sure in the beginning he had over-exposure and a little more over glorified than other 6th rangers but he is much more downplayed now. Hell, he doesn't even use gold mode that much anymore. Gai is mostly the bumblebee since he acts like a kid most of the time, making him some the kids can relate to. Whether this makes him annoying is dependent on the view. I find it charming, but I understand if he gets on a person's nerves.
Despite all of that on top, I'm not saying that your opinion is wrong. I get that not everybody will enjoy this season. I'm just saying that you shouldn't just bash something and leave. As you said there are many people enjoy this season, you should at least explain a few good things and then say your own opinion with a good explanation, especially as the only review so far.
- 2.5 When I say villains, I am simply speaking about the Zangyack. They are the ones who are arguably the closest to conquering Earth and required 34 teams to take them during the war, but are for most of this season a joke. That is to blame on the son of the emperor and commander, Warz Gill, but he is the type of villain who is usually killed off by episode 15 but stayed for too long and never really reached threatening status until episode 37. The true great villain of this season is Basco. Cunning, manipulative, powerful and just a plain asshole to the crew. Any time he appears the situation is always more dire, and their battles with him are some of the best fights this season. You never fully know his plan or motivation, just that it is nothing good and is only in it for himself. Basco is a villain you can really love and completely despise at the same time
Wow, this may be late but thank you for addressing the issues I brought up. I appreciate it.
"But there was no need to. There's a difference between subtle homages and "OF COURSE IT'S AN ANNIVERSARY SO WE'RE GOING ALL OUT". Gokaiger does wrong what was done right in Boukenger."
Yes there are the big blatant homages but the series is full a variety of subtle ones. Check any super sentai forum to check all of them.
EDIT: Ah screw it, we could spend days debating over this but I'll just agree to disagree.
Not everyone likes Boukenger or wants to see a Sentai with "its own story", which is the usual reason that people give for thinking that Boukenger is better. You complain about Gokaiger being "cliché" and "like fanfiction" without ever expanding on those points, while your main argument seems to be "Gokaiger is bad because it's not Boukenger, the show that I prefer." That's not really a reasoned criticism of the show. And then you say "it falls flat on its face", which means what? It did not fail to sell toys. It did not fail to please many fans. If you can objectively point out things the show did badly, all well and good. But mindless bashing just makes everyone involved look bad.
You want to know why Gokaiger went all out for the anniversary? Probably because Kamen Rider Decade had great ratings and toy sales in Japan. Maybe that style of show isn't for everyone, but for Toei it seemed like a smart marketing decision.
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Glorified Fanfiction (or, You Can't Please Everyone)
I don't think Gokaiger is as awesome as most people claim it is. To me it’s just glorified fanfiction. Everything about it just screams "fanfic turned official": most of it is done for fanservice, nearly every new character is poorly-developed and cliche (except Ahim who is pretty decent), and Gai just seems like an overpowered, exaggerated author self-insert. If they wanted to make an anniversary series so much why didn't they do what they did with Gaoranger and Boukenger, instead of splattering "OMG IT'S THE 35TH SENTAI" all over the series? That's something I don't get.
UPDATE: Errr, sorry about being so negative. Okay, there are good things about the season (like I said before, Ahim is a decent character, and it's good to see Sentai alumni returning) but overall it just falls flat on its face.
Of course a lot of this season is fan-service. Boukenger had tons of it too if you hadn't noticed. With many little shout-outs, homages, the history of Super Sentai, Vs Super Sentai, they simply wanted to go beyond here.
But there was no need to. There's a difference between subtle homages and "OF COURSE IT'S AN ANNIVERSARY SO WE'RE GOING ALL OUT". Gokaiger does wrong what was done right in Boukenger.