Kamen Rider Blade - I've noticed it's been receiving a lot of flak lately. I won't lie: I loved the melancholic and somewhat uncertain ending. Kenzaki has just done what I personally believe to be one of the most noble and selfless things I've seen in Toku despite no guarantee of Hajime ever going to permanently rein in his Joker side again. It's had missteps and it has made odd decisions, but it firmly remains one of my favourite Rider shows, and the last one to extensively make use of the bikes.
Kamen Rider Fourze - How can you like this?! It's too childish!! The concept of friendship is taken almost too literally!!! Ohsugi fucking sucks! I just want to strangle Yuki until her screaming head pops out!! This fucking Gentarou with his punkish Pompadour and his stupid, stupid looking Fourze suit!
...the whole list goes on in terms of all the exasperated vitriol Fourze got. And yet I enjoyed it far more than I enjoyed OOOs, and certainly more than I ever enjoyed the joyless Wizard. It has character, it has personality, it is memorable and warts and all, I'm fond of the show for having consistently given me something worth watching and to enjoy week in and week out. It isn't a show that passionate detractors will change their mind about, but I had a blast and I'm glad that this series exists.
Boukenger - It was the first Sentai series I properly sat down and watched all the way through, so I may chalk this down to that first exposure effect. Akashi seems widely disliked and I acknowledge that he's a bit of a dick when he rationalises everything as a "oh it's totally fine guys. I know we may be inches from death, but this is an adventure!", but he continues to remain one of my more favourite Reds. There's something enticing about having a new artifact per episode with a vaguely-explained myth behind it, though Overdrive had the right idea of trying to link these artifacts together as part of a much bigger puzzle. That would have encapsulated more effectively that this was an adventure with tangible progress being made. The Eiji arc with the Ashu/Questers remains one of the best sixth ranger arcs I've seen yet.
Go-onger - It's not that bad, once you get past the type of divisive and unremitting comedy it seeks to plant right into your face. I slogged through every episode and even I got to the end thinking that my time was still moderately well spent. There's plenty to complain about Go-onger, but there's still plenty to like about it, particularly everything to do with Hiramechimedes, the Gaiark Ministers' chemistry in general, and the hard-hitter moments with the the rusting of Sosuke. And umm, the musical number episodes are...kinda my guilty pleasure. >.>
Goseiger - The show makes up for the unbelievably dire first two arcs with Matrintis, and ultimately the Brajira arcs. It's where the best episodes are, from the aforementioned episode exploring the idea of who actually leads the team to GoseiKnight's own arc to...well everything related to Brajira. The fact that they've been able to create a villain as engaging and interesting to watch as him despite being just a number of rubber suits is rather extraordinary. Perhaps not as obvious, is the cleverness when it comes to the monster nomenclature. To name each of them after a film related to their faction and/or their own characteristics allows the viewer to just sit through an episode and try and work out how a particular monster is related to his or her namesake movie.
