Tokusatsu Best of 2012

[Switchblade]

Did this last year and had fun with it, so let's set this up again. This thread is for everyone to look back at the shows and movies of 2012 and discuss what stood out for them as being the most impressive for you.

A couple quick notes:

Personally, for 2012 series I'm counting anything that aired a new episode this year: Gokaiger, Fourze, Garo MaikaiSenki, Gobusters, Akibaranger, Wizard, Power Rangers Super Samurai, and anything else that I don't remember or know about.

For movies I'm counting anything that came out this year (all the Gokaiger films, Superhero Taisen, etc.) as well as anything that came out last year but wasn't available as a dvd/fansub until this year (Movie Wars Mega Max, OOO Wonderful, etc.). If you want to include stuff like Ultimatum or Gavan that hasn't been available for viewing outside of Japan yet, go ahead.


Best New Show of 2012

Best New-to-You Show of 2012 (aka, what older series did you watch for the first time and absolutely fall in love with?)

Best Rewatch of 2012 (for those who rewatched one or more shows they'd already seen before)

Best Movie of 2012

Best Movie of 2012 that's not Movie Wars MegaMax

Best Male Lead Character

Best Female Lead Character

Best Male Supporting Character

Best Female Supporting Character

Best Actor

Best Actress

And, to try and separate the last six from "zomg, ______ is soooo hot:"

Biggest Toku Crush of 2012

Best Villain

Best Returning Character (Gokaiger cameo, Rider movie appearance, cast of Garo, etc.)

Best Suit Actor

Best Writer

Best Director

Best Producer

Best Visual Designer

And some more miscellaneous categories:

Best Hero Suit Design

Best Monster Suit Design

Best Weapon

Best Vehicle/Mecha

Best Fight Scene

Best Dramatic Scene

Best Song

Best Piece of Merchandise

Biggest Surprise

And, because not everything in 2012 was sunshine, rainbows, and foodroids:

Single Worst Thing in 2012 Tokusatsu

So, let me know what you guys think, I'm curious to read the results. I have my own picks, of course, but I'll post them later to avoid cluttering this post.

 

[Fantasy Leader]

Best New Show of 2012: Akibaranger

Best Movie of 2012: Gokaiger vs Gavan

Best Male Lead Character: Gai Ikari (Gokai Silver)

Best Female Lead Character: Four-way tie between Luka (GokaiYellow), Ahim (GokaiPink), Aoyagi (AkibaBlue), and Yumeria (AkibaYellow)

Best Male Supporting Character: Three-way tie between Kengo, Shun, and JK

Best Female Supporting Character: Professor Hiroyo

Best Actor: Junya Ikeda

Best Actress: Tie between Kyoko Hinami and Karin Ogino

Best Villain: Basco

Best Returning Character (Gokaiger cameo, Rider movie appearance, cast of Garo, etc.): All Gokaiger cameos

Best Suit Actor: Yasuhiro Takeuchi

Best Writer: Tie between Naruhisa Arakawa and Junko Komura

Best Producer: Jun Hikasa (for Akibaranger :shrug: )

Best Hero Suit Design: The six Gokaigers

Best Weapon: Gokai Sabre and Gokai Gun

Best Vehicle/Mecha: Gokai Galleon

Best Fight Scene: Marvelous vs Basco

Best Dramatic Scene: The revelation of Yumeria's mother, and Gai Ikari destroying the Great Treasure.

Best Song: Super Sentai Hero Getter

Best Piece of Merchandise: Ranger Keys

Biggest Surprise: Reaching the goal of having a veteran return from ALL 34 Sentai, and Akibaranger turning out to be so good.

Single Worst Thing in 2012 Tokusatsu: Tie between Power Rangers Super Samurai and Super Hero Taisen

 

[Kaido Pinoy 701]

Best New Show of 2012: Tokumei Sentai GoBusters

Best New-to-You Show of 2012 (aka, what older series did you watch for the first time and absolutely fall in love with?) - Gosei Sentai Dairanger

Best Rewatch of 2012 (for those who rewatched one or more shows they'd already seen before) - Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger

Best Movie of 2012 - Movie Wars MegaMax

Best Movie of 2012 that's not Movie Wars MegaMax - OOO Wonderful 21 Shogun Medals

Best Male Lead Character - Red Buster/Hiromu Sakurada

Best Female Lead Character - Gokai Pink/Ahim

Best Male Supporting Character - Kengo/Kamen Rider Fourze

Best Female Supporting Character - Miu/Kamen Rider Fourze

Best Actor -

Best Actress -

And, to try and separate the last six from "zomg, Gokai Pink is soooo hot:"

Biggest Toku Crush of 2011 - Gokai Pink/Ahim

Best Villain - Enter

Best Returning Character (Gokaiger cameo, Rider movie appearance, cast of Garo, etc.) - Masahiro Inoue/Kadoya Tsukasa as Kamen Rider Decade

Best Suit Actor - Takaiwa Seiji

Best Writer - Toshiki Inoue (when he did the Jetman Episode)

Best Director - Koichi Sakamoto

Best Producer -

Best Visual Designer

And some more miscellaneous categories:

Best Hero Suit Design - Red Buster

Best Monster Suit Design - Phoenix Phantom

Best Weapon - Ichigan Buster Special Buster

Best Vehicle/Mecha - Cheeda Nick

Best Fight Scene - OOO's combo change fight in Movie Wars Megamax

Best Dramatic Scene - Hiromu realizing he has to break his promice in episode 30

Best Song - Busters Ready Go!

Best Piece of Merchandise - Morphin Brace

Biggest Surprise - Kamen Rider Wizard

And, because not everything in 2012 was sunshine, rainbows, and foodroids:

Single Worst Thing in 2011 Tokusatsu: Goseiger? lol

 

[Switchblade]

Okay, so here are mine.

Best New Show of 2012: Garo Makai Senki. It was new Garo, of course it takes first place.

Best New-to-You Show of 2012: This is probably the hardest one for me since I've seen a lot of great older shows this year: Jetman, Dairanger, Dekaranger, Kamen Rider X, Hero Yoshihiko, etc. But in the end I have to go with Daimajin Kanon, which just won me over completely from start to finish.

Best Rewatch of 2012: Don't really have one. The only show I rewatched this year was Decade and I didn't finish it past the Hibiki arc.

Best Movie of 2012: MegaMax, no contest. It probably wasn't 100% perfect, but it's about as close to that as one could possibly get.

Best Movie of 2012 that's not Movie Wars MegaMax: 199 Heroes. Even with the drag factor of the Goseigers it was a really fun movie and it was great seeing some of the older actors hanging out together - the bits with Oume, Ryou, and Umeko were some of my favorite parts of the whole thing.

Best Male Lead Character: This is another tough one. I'm split between Captain Marvelous and Kouga. I think I'll go with Kouga on this one just because he finally manned up and kissed Kaoru this year and it was about goddamn time.

Best Female Lead Character: Misaki Kanon from Daimajin Kanon. She started off as soul-crushingly introverted and depressed, but watching her gradually recover her real self over the course of the show was just a joy to watch.

Best Male Supporting Character: Melub from The Hero Yoshihiko and the Demon King's Castle. Watching him unveil the week's new spell was a highlight of every episode, not to mention that bit when they're fighting the archer and he's narrating what they're all watching happen. Hilarious.

Best Female Supporting Character: Again, there was a new Garo series this year. Kaoru may not have had as much to do this time, but I still love the character and was really happy to have her back.

Best Actor: There are a lot of good arguments out there for Sota Fukushi as Gentaro and I can't argue. The sheer range of emotions he had to represent and how great he was at them, he definitely gets the nod here.

Best Actress: Karin Ogino from Akibaranger. Her character was effing crazy, but she still managed to pull it off believably and, when needed, put some real emotional depth into it.

Biggest Toku Crush of 2012: I think Yuko Takayama is really pretty, but this year I have to give it to Nao Nagasawa. I know that's not a new discovery for most people, but this year it finally clicked for me.

Best Villain: There weren't a lot of strong villains this year, but even in a better year I think Enter would stand out as being really awesome.

Best Returning Character: Rei from Garo. In a big change from the first series he got to headline a lot of episodes in Makai Senki, pretty much elevating him to co-lead status. Several of those were among Makai Senki's most memorable episodes, too.

I don't know a lot about the production stuff, but:

Best Writer: Naruhisa Arakawa, favorite toku writer ever.

Best Director: Keita Amemiya

Best Producer: I don't remember his name, but the guy behind W, Fourze, and Mega Max - the one who handles all the Foundation X stories.

Best Visual Designer: Keita Amemiya

Best Hero Suit Design: Kamen Rider Wizard. Love that costume.

Best Monster Suit Design: Again, there was a Garo series this year.

Best Weapon: Going with the Gokai Saber/Gokai Pistol combo again.

Best Vehicle/Mecha: Go-Buster Ace, that thing is still really awesome.

Best Fight Scene: The entire order of the Makai Knights vs. Ganon and her demon minions. Holy crapballs, that was epic - even with the lame generic Knight CGI suits.

Best Dramatic Scene: The end of the training camp flashback in Makai Senki (I'm not 100% sure if that aired in 2011 or 2012, but I'm still picking it). I will not even begin to spoil it, but daaaaaamn.

Best Song: Sing Your Heart Out, the fantastic opening theme to Daimajin Kanon.

Best Piece of Merchandise: I didn't get much this year due to funding problems, but I'd probably go with the SIC Kiwami Tamashii Side Basshar anyway.

Biggest Surprise: Another Gokaiger movie? With Kamen Riders!? And Decade is back!?!? That sounds so awesome!! There's no way they can mess that up!

Single Worst Thing in 2012 Tokusatsu: Oh.

 

[Painted_Outlaw]

For the "Best New-to-You Show of 2012" category... if we started it in 2012 but, are prolly not gonna finish it before 2013, would it still count?

 

[Savior Den-o]

Best New Show of 2012 Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger
It's so awesome that it's unoffical!

Best New-to-You Show of 2012 GARO
I'm still hating myself for not picking this up when I had multiple chances to.

Best Movie of 2012 Tied with Movie Wars MEGAMAX and Gokaiger VS Gavan
Great usage of returning heroes.

Best Male Lead Character Nobuo Akagi
Proving that, even fans of the show can be greatest heroes

Best Female Lead Character Ahim de Famille
A Princess character that's not useless for once

Best Male Supporting Character Tied with Chuta Ohsugi/Mr. Suspenders and JK
I don't care if they were comic reliefs, they actually helped out in the plot of Fourze in some ways.

Best Female Supporting Character Hiroyo Hakase
She was better than any other female Mentor type characters I've seen in

Best Villain Basco/Enter
Those sly bastards are one heck of villains I must say

Best Returning Character Yuuki Gai
What else do I need to say?

Best Hero Suit Design Kamen Rider Wizard/Meteor
Although I hate the term, the Wizard suit has a ton of swag. Meteor has an amazing motif, and the colors blend in well...unlike it's upgrade.:redface2:

Best Monster Suit Design Inazuman (ULTIMATUM Vers.)
I know technically it's a hero suit but, it's also a monster so whatever. I think the design for the revamp looked actually pretty cool. Can't wait to see it in action fully.

Best Weapon Barizun Sword/Meteor Galaxy
Barizun because of that voice, Meteor Galaxy cause I love Meteor.

Best Vehicle/Mecha Kanzen GokaiOh
A Pirate Robot, with a huge Rocket Fist, and a Drill, on WHEELS Can't get any awesomer than that.

Best Fight Scene The Gokaiger Final Battle/Fourze and Meteor VS Sagittarius and Leo Zodiarts
Both battles had an awesome amount of action, and a great amount of usage of every power and weapons they had available to them at the time.

Best Dramatic Scene The Fall of the Space Pirates(also called The Fate of the Super Sentai)
Although it was actually the whole penultimate episode before the finale, the whole tone of the episode gave off this curious feeling of whether of not the Gokaiger will sacrifice the Super Sentai to destroy all evil in the universe. Even though we already knew what they were going to choose, it still gave a bewildering feeling to us, the audience.

Best Song Shooting Star
It's kicka**, just like Meteor

Biggest Surprise The decline in ratings for Super Hero Time
Although it was pretty known already, I was actually surprised that Super Sentai and Kamen Rider weren't pulling in the high ratings that they should. Go-Busters, which I actually like so far, is apparently becoming one of the lowest rated Sentai in existence. That really surprised me because, I thought kids might like the change in tone, although not a huge change since the 'dark' tone is at par with Gokaiger's, and the BuddyRoids. Especially J! However, I guess they didn't since Toei themselves said Go-Buster was a failure in their eyes. And that really sucks, since the show had a ton of potential in my eyes.

Single Worst Thing in 2012 Tokusatsu None
I thought Toku 2012 was actually a good year, and I hope for the best for Toku 2013 :buttrock:

 

[Switchblade]

For the "Best New-to-You Show of 2012" category... if we started it in 2012 but, are prolly not gonna finish it before 2013, would it still count?

If it aired at all in 2012, it counts.

 

[Painted_Outlaw]

If it aired at all in 2012, it counts.

The category I mentioned is the "(aka, what older series did you watch for the first time and absolutely fall in love with?)" one though so, I just wasn't sure at first.

 

[Hobo ODST]

Best New Show of 2012: Akibaranger

Best New-to-You Show of 2012: Magiranger

Best Rewatch of 2012 (for those who rewatched one or more shows they'd already seen before): Kamen Rider Double

Best Movie of 2012: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger vs. Space Sheriff Gavan

Best Male Lead Character: Nobuo Akagi

Best Female Lead Character: Luka Millfy

Best Male Supporting Character: Kengo

Best Female Supporting Character: Miu

Best Actor: Sota Fukushi

Best Actress: Mao Ichimichi

Biggest Toku Crush of 2012: Mao Ichimichi

Best Villain: Enter

Best Returning Character (Gokaiger cameo, Rider movie appearance, cast of Garo, etc.): Gavan

Best Suit Actor: Hirofumi Fukuzawa

Best Writer: Naruhisa Arakawa

Best Hero Suit Design: Gokai Red

Best Monster Suit Design: Delu Knight

Best Weapon: Barizun Sword (Kamen Rider Fourze)

Best Vehicle/Mecha: Go-Buster Ace

Best Fight Scene: Gokai Red versus Gavan Bootleg

Best Dramatic Scene: The episode of Akiba with Yumeria's mom

Best Song: Samurai Strong Style

Best Piece of Merchandise: Ranger Keys

Single Worst Thing in 2012 Tokusatsu: Super Hero Taisen

 

[ClimaxHeroDen-O]

Best New Show of 2012: Kamen Rider Fourze

Best Movie of 2012: Movie War Mega Max

Best Male Lead Character: Gentaro Kisaragi

Best Female Lead Character: Yoko Usami

Best Male Supporting Character: Kengo Utahoshi/Ryusei Sakuta

Best Female Supporting Character: Yuki Jojima

Best Villain: Mitsuaki Gamo

Best Returning Character: Space Sheriff Gavan

And some more miscellaneous categories:

Best Hero Suit Design: Kamen Rider Fourze

Best Monster Suit Design: Leo Zodiart

Best Weapon: Barizun Sword

Best Vehicle/Mecha: tie between Power Dizer and Go-Buster Beet

Best Song: Cosmic Mind

Best Piece of Merchandise: Astro Switches

Biggest Surprise: how good both the year's rider and sentai shows were

Single Worst Thing in 2012 Tokusatsu: the undeserved (IMO) low ratings

this was the best year of toku for me since 2007, and the first time since then when I've enjoyed both the year's rider and sentai so much. I'm also kind of particular about year association in toku, so to me, Gokaiger was the 2011 Sentai while Wizard is the 2013 Rider(since more episodes will haved aired in 2013 than 2012 when the show ends). I don't care that I'm in something of a minority, because Fourze and Go-Busters are so good IMO that the haters might as well not exist