What are the thoughts on Toqger?

[pipermae]

The first five episodes have been a bit underwhelming, to be honest. I've always ended up feeling discontent after watching them because there's just something missing from my viewing experience, though I don't know what, exactly. It doesn't help that I only initially liked two characters out of the core five. I was a bit ambivalent towards both Right and Tokatti, though more towards the latter because I couldn't decide if his antics were irritating or not. Kagura I detested from the get go (and I still do) and I can't get around the thought of people actually liking her character, idk.

However, I think there's also something charming and quite endearing about the show, despite everything. I'm not expecting to be blown away by it, but it's definitely enough to keep me tuned in every week.

 

[Alvetica]

Kagura I detested from the get go (and I still do) and I can't get around the thought of people actually liking her character, idk.

She's my favorite.

 

[lazycoconut]

She's mine, too. I think there are a few issues with her character (like, I get a bit irritated at how it's always a female character and usually the youngest who has to be the sweet, naive, innocent one that others want to protect) but she's got a lot of inner strength and makes me smile. I think she's a good example to girls in the audience. I find her less grating than Candelira, Houka, and other characters that people still like despite them being more ditzy than Kagura. She shares some similarities with Kotoha and Hina and I started out disliking both of those characters, but by the end of the show was totally won over and now they're two of my favourites. So I have faith that she'll get a satisfactory resolution to her character arc

 

[Undrave]

It's enjoyable, but I thought episode 2 and 3 were far better than what we got afterward.

I'm okay with the suits but the mecha still looks terrible and none of the robo scenes were very exciting so far. Shield Ressha coming out of nowhere was the worse. And I'm not really sold on this Gaoranger redux bit where they hunt for their support mechas.

The gimmick of changing color is completely pointless. If they could use the support mechas to change into special rangers then it'd be great! But for some reason, despite it being possible in the toy, they didn't think to do it in the show. They never really explain what it does beside being a fancy way to trade weapons.

Furthermore they don't even bother with an expanation on how monsters grow, which is just lazy, and nor do they explain what the Rainbow Line does besides fighting the Shadow Line. Do they even carry anything other than ToQgers?!

Not the best sentai ever really.

 

[RougeRider03]

The previous seasons of Sentai and KR; Kyoryuger and Wizard, while started out interesting and did have their share of awesome moments suffer from rather abysmal conclusions.

While seeing the scans and rumors for Toqger and Gaim, I did not have high hopes for or expect much from either, mostly because of how underwhelming the suits for both series looked.

However, Gaim has continued to prove me wrong, and for the best. The story is superb, the characters are well written, and is just getting better.

Toqger had the same effect on me, while the characters aren't the best that Sentai has given, the series is still young and there is ample room for growth.
While the mecha's are still far from the best of sentai mecha's, it doesn't bother me as much. But the best part right now are the villain's both in streamline and simple they look, but also the progression, especially the general with the sword.
Even the twist at the end of the 1st episode was great, and I can't wait to see where it ends up.

 

[Fantasy Leader]

She's mine, too. I think there are a few issues with her character (like, I get a bit irritated at how it's always a female character and usually the youngest who has to be the sweet, naive, innocent one that others want to protect) but she's got a lot of inner strength and makes me smile. I think she's a good example to girls in the audience. I find her less grating than Candelira, Houka, and other characters that people still like despite them being more ditzy than Kagura. She shares some similarities with Kotoha and Hina and I started out disliking both of those characters, but by the end of the show was totally won over and now they're two of my favourites. So I have faith that she'll get a satisfactory resolution to her character arc

What I appreciated about Kagura in episode 6 was during the bits where she couldn't tell that Right was bluffing. It does show that she is very naive, but still believable. I've met people in real life who just can't read people at all. Like, Kagura tells her teammates that she sincerely couldn't tell that Right was bluffing. And I like how Mio was nice enough to take the time to help correct her.

The show could've always instead played those scenes out as if she were stupid, hopeless, and unintelligent. What we got from Kagura was: "I really couldn't tell Right was bluffing." What we could've gotten was "Right was bluffing??? Durrrrrr" Which probably would've then lead to her teammates belittling her for it... you know, for the lolz. :redface2:

The difference there is why I can bring myself to enjoy characters like Umeko (and so far, Kagura), but not the likes of say, Natsuki.

 

[Sentaifan'07 Xman]

It's more of those, "If Disney was still doing Power Rangers, yeah, it might work as a possible season." type of sentai series.

 

[lazycoconut]

What I appreciated about Kagura in episode 6 was during the bits where she couldn't tell that Right was bluffing. It does show that she is very naive, but still believable. I've met people in real life who just can't read people at all. Like, Kagura tells her teammates that she sincerely couldn't tell that Right was bluffing. And I like how Mio was nice enough to take the time to help correct her.

The show could've always instead played those scenes out as if she were stupid, hopeless, and unintelligent. What we got from Kagura was: "I really couldn't tell Right was bluffing." What we could've gotten was "Right was bluffing??? Durrrrrr" Which probably would've then lead to her teammates belittling her for it... you know, for the lolz. :redface2:

The difference there is why I can bring myself to enjoy characters like Umeko (and so far, Kagura), but not the likes of say, Natsuki.

I think for me it helps that she's actually played by a young teenager (although technically the ToQgers are supposed to be the same age) and she's not supposed to be sexy, whereas Natsuki and Houka were obviously adult women trying to act like kids and got a lot of fanservice based around that. Also that generally the whole ToQger team is on pretty much the same level even if Kagura is more naive, Hikari is the smartest, etc. They're all quite childlike and sometimes silly, so it doesn't feel like she's singled out so much

In general terms, I really like the show. It has a lot of heart and has been great fun for me to watch so far. The cast have really won me over fast, even Hikari and Mio, who are types I wouldn't usually go for. I have a few minor gripes, mainly the characters of Gritta and Wagon but at this stage they're not really interfering much with my enjoyment

 

[pipermae]

I think for me it helps that she's actually played by a young teenager (although technically the ToQgers are supposed to be the same age) and she's not supposed to be sexy, whereas Natsuki and Houka were obviously adult women trying to act like kids and got a lot of fanservice based around that.

As far as I know, Natsuki technically is a child in a young woman's body, so any of her naivete/childishness can be attributed to that. I have no excuse for Houka or even Umeko, though.

 

[lazycoconut]

As far as I know, Natsuki technically is a child in a young woman's body, so any of her naivete/childishness can be attributed to that. I have no excuse for Houka or even Umeko, though.

She's supposed to be, yeah, but then they'd use her for fanservice and I found it kinda squicky? Like "we're telling you she's a child, but look, she's got a sexy adult body so you can still drool!" :sweat: