A simple passerby...
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I've been gone for awhile, but I mostly still viewed this site, just didn't log in to post because it felt like people weren't really active on here.

But I'd like to ask people what they think of the writing standards of Tokusatsu as of late. I find them to be almost lacking in creativity, and when they DO get somethings right, the lack of follow through on setups, or throwing them away as red herrings or to make a gag simply has been ruining it for me. I'm still blaming Den-O for starting this trend, although Den-O is actually pretty okay and it's comedy makes sense in the setting it takes place in. In other shows, yeah, not so much.

Right now, I'm struggling to find any interest in Zi-O outside of watching past actors of previous shows I love return and wanting to know how it ends so I can put it behind me and look forward to the next, better written show. I hate Sougo's actor, he's probably a fine actor, but I don't like his public persona, I don't like his voice, his face, his build as a person, and I think he's not Rider-material at all. That's coming from someone who was born in 1994 and grew up with a huge collection of Showa era DVDs and watched Kuuga as a 5-6 year old and loved it though. The lines they give Sougo? I mean... can this guy be anymore ditzy yet they need to emphasize that he's somehow... smart? You can just do it... because you feel like you can? Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with that, it's just... this guy doesn't really have an interesting narrative arc, or at least, his acting and the directing or the lines they give him and what we see of him isn't very griping. It's almost as if this entire show is reliant on the twist of what Sougo will do when he confronts Oma-Zi-O for the second time after collecting the remaining Ride Watch. Like, I just feel drained watching this. Like I'm forced on this "collect them all" adventure, and it's really boring to watch, especially when some characters that do return from previous shows are entirely butchered (I'm looking at you Kenzaki), or their legacies are (Hibiki).

Geiz's actor seems capable, but I think they've given him a lot of stereotypical "I must hate the protagonist because plot demands it, now I must like him, but still maintain my passive aggressive attitude). Also, after watching the Rider Time Special Ryuki (which I think completely undid all the good Ryuki's ending did), the shot where they shopped Ren's face over Geiz's face just showed me what they thought of his character. So he's a caricature of Ren... I'm not impressed, although I did laugh at it when I first saw it, in hindsight, the creativity is really lacking.

Woz was interesting at first... now he's a comic relief. I think his actor has great charisma... they just wasted him on making Light 2.0 with White Woz... which basically served for Black Woz to get the Beyond Driver. Trinity form is so bad for trying to copy Climax form, and then linking itself to Agito Trinity as a "wink wink, see what I did?" moment, but at least it's design is better to look at than Zi-O's final form leak image. That **** is a clusterf**k.

I mean, most of my complaints are really about Rider. Beyond that, I've been able to get back into Ultraman for a bit. I liked Orb, till they turned his show into a cliché tale that's trying to hard. The opening and ending are phenomenal, if only the show did better in it's second half. I completely hated Geed outside of Zero and Belial's involvement. I didn't like the actor, and I thought the plot was so by the books it just... didn't sit well with me. R/B is a disappointment. But yeah... I'm not too excited about the next Ultra series either. How many more sons of Ultras do we need exactly? Also, I don't know if I missed it somewhere... but... how do Ultras make babies? The rate they're popping them out is like... dude, slow down now, just cause Seven got a son, now everyone's getting a son? Sure, his design looks great and all. But... I don't know, I much prefer Ultra shows that has nothing to do with the trope of "will the son ever be as great as his father?" I think this is just the mindset of people in the Asian provinces mostly. Prior to the economic crisis in 1993, I think it was that notion of my parents generation achieving greatness, and then here comes my generation... failing to even live up to anything remotely feasible despite being much more capable, having more skills, and knows how to press a simple print button on the computer. I truly think this is a driving factor to the psychology of writing about sons of great heroes. The need to establish something of your own, whilst separating from the comfort that your parents provided, at the same time comparing their achievements with yours... which only results in working on a pre-established series by the older generation and... not making anything new as a result.

I'm not much of a Sentai fan. I watched it as a kid, and have fond memories of Zyuranger, Dairanger, and my favorite was Kakuranger. But that's about it really. If any of you would like to vent, I suppose, this might be a good thread. Please just keep it civil.
 
K

Kamen Rider IXA

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I'm still blaming Den-O for starting this trend, although Den-O is actually pretty okay and it's comedy makes sense in the setting it takes place in.
I don't hate Den-O, but its managment of story and world-building was just horrendous. So I guess yeah, you can blame it, since Toei saw how popular series become and thought "yup, so we don't really have to try at all. Let's just fill all our shows with unfunny gags and repeat them a million time each".
I only managed to tolerate about 12 episodes of Zi-O. I'd probably have to catch up with it, since some stuff at least sounds interesting, but right now it's another Drive for me where I have to force myself to sit down and watch this show.
It's more of an issue with people behind the scenes in modern toku. How the hell Kento Shimoyama gets to be a head writer? Why? Who thought it was a good idea? Why not go for Akatsuki Yamatoya who actually wrote some really good episodes, if they want to try new things? He deserves a chance at his own show way more than either Mouri or Shimoyama.
Another thing is that a good portion of modern fandom doesn't really care about any "drops in quality" for various reasons. You can make an argument why 90s shows had more effort put in them compared to 10s, but there are still will be people who will disagree and say, for example, that writing has improved, because there is a lot more serialization in tokusatsu now. Even though there hasn't been a single plot-heavy show that didn't end up having problems with its story since... Blade, probably? I really want to give Ex-Aid a pass, but it had a whole different number of problems outside of story.
 
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^ Ex-Aid is a good show in spite of itself, meaning it does so many things wrong yet still manages to get enough right so that it's enjoyable. It really could've been a classic if at least half or more of the content had been overhauled.

I agree with both of you for the most part. I'll give Den-O credit for trying something new after years of mimicking the Agito formula with mixed results, but its plot, world-building and characters were poorly developed (though I did like Yuuto and Deneb the most out of any of them). The shows since then (even throwbacks to Phase 1 Heisei like Gaim and Build to an extent) have gotten more and more slapsticky with wacky anime hijinks and ever more garish merchandise that doesn't even try to look realistic. It's irritating to watch, and I can't stand those fans who act like it's all no big deal and fall back on the "It's just a kids' toy commercial, you're not supposed to be watching it, NEEERRRD!!" non-defense, those people who haven't gotten over being made fun of in school and try to act above it all and are totally not otakus.*

I miss Phase 1 Heisei, and the only thing I'm looking forward to when I sit down to watch Zi-O is seeing those old casts again. I hope the Ryuki special is good.

While I won't say Orb or Geed (haven't seen R/B yet) were spectacular, Ultraman has been consistently good for the past decade, more so than Rider or Sentai, with better care given to the franchise and its legacy. Even though it's gone down the trinket route, it at least is trying to keep within the spirit of the series rather than just random ideas like toy cars and fruits. Not even the Decade or Zi-O legacy stuff can really claim that.

Sentai has long since past its golden age, that being the 80s and 90s. I'm kind of hoping Ryusoulger is the last regular show, and the series can perhaps continue as movies and specials. Has there been any reports on toy sales and ratings thus far?

*I wouldn't consider myself an otaku, either, but that's a far cry from acting like you only like this genre ironically. If it's just a kids' show, why are you adults wasting time arguing over plot points and characters?
 
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A simple passerby...
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I don't hate Den-O, but its managment of story and world-building was just horrendous. So I guess yeah, you can blame it, since Toei saw how popular series become and thought "yup, so we don't really have to try at all. Let's just fill all our shows with unfunny gags and repeat them a million time each".
I only managed to tolerate about 12 episodes of Zi-O. I'd probably have to catch up with it, since some stuff at least sounds interesting, but right now it's another Drive for me where I have to force myself to sit down and watch this show.
It's more of an issue with people behind the scenes in modern toku. How the hell Kento Shimoyama gets to be a head writer? Why? Who thought it was a good idea? Why not go for Akatsuki Yamatoya who actually wrote some really good episodes, if they want to try new things? He deserves a chance at his own show way more than either Mouri or Shimoyama.
Another thing is that a good portion of modern fandom doesn't really care about any "drops in quality" for various reasons. You can make an argument why 90s shows had more effort put in them compared to 10s, but there are still will be people who will disagree and say, for example, that writing has improved, because there is a lot more serialization in tokusatsu now. Even though there hasn't been a single plot-heavy show that didn't end up having problems with its story since... Blade, probably? I really want to give Ex-Aid a pass, but it had a whole different number of problems outside of story.

I see, yeah, I'd agree some aspects of it's world building is horrendous. Kai came out of nowhere and never got fully fleshed out. I think this is a trend with Kobayashi. Actually, not sure if she wrote Kai's portion of the story, but she seemingly delivers with great promise in the beginning. I enjoyed Amazons Season 1, and then comes the clusterf**k of Season 2 and I'm just sitting there doubting how someone who is responsible for a lot of things I like such as Ryuki could disappoint me so much at the same time. Ah well, humans aren't perfect.

I thought Drive was at least tolerable. I hated the car motif, sure I was able to come to accept it as part of it's own world and what not, still not really digging that he's technically a "Kamen Driver" not a "Kamen Rider". I thought Heart was fantastic, Chase had a pretty compelling story, and Gou developed neatly, his first impression was annoying to say the least. Shinnosuke is a boring character, but the actor is pretty great. This is a case of a good actor being able to sell shitty dialogue and still make it work. I liked Surprise Drive, at first when I heard it I was like... yeah too optimistic... but then it grew on me. Brain was utterly annoying... until he had his moment, but Medic... jesus. She's so poorly written I almost feel bad for her actress. Besides, I get the whole Heart/Brain naming scheme. What does Medic and Freeze have anything to do with it? I mean, Freeze is a bigger criminal. I mean I get it, his metaphor and naming sense made to sense to the character, but to the original trio of Roidmudes? He's the outlier in terms of naming sense that doesn't match at all. I still think they did Chase dirty with the whole Kiriko/Shinnosuke love triangle, but it did enhance his character in a sense. Honestly, I often felt like Shinnosuke was the third wheel half the time and he was just written to fall in love with Kiriko because... we need Eiji.

To the complaint of the main people behind the production, I definitely agree. I think this is a case of nepotism and playing favorites that can be traced way back to Toshiki Inoue himself. Being the son of one of the original headwriters shouldn't guarantee you free reign to do whatever you want... especially when you clearly don't carry the same ideals. I mean, I could go on and on about talented parents and sub-talented children. Hayao Miyazaki and his own son seem to have that same disconnect as well. I mean, talent isn't a genetic thing. Maybe some people have genes that are susceptible to becoming talented if nurtured in said environment after awhile, but chasing after this grand image of who your parents were and putting their works on a pedestal is almost asinine to me. Find out who you are at your core, at your soul, if you will, and use that as the paintbrush to paint master strokes in your work. Otherwise, go find another job and let other people succeed the legacies (speaking as someone who went to Japan and tried getting a writing job with Toei to begin with honestly).

The last part is particularly why I don't welcome newer fans with open arms, especially when they show a disinterest in the history. Actually, it's with every fandom I'm a part of, be it anime, games, comics, movies, whatever. I don't like people coming it as part of a mass entering to find a new trend to wear like a fashion statement of the week. This need for validation and popularity needs to die. Honestly, this forum is in the same case. 10 years back, it was brimming with members... then came social media, you know, people who weren't spending their time on the internet like we did suddenly filling in and rendering forum activities almost dead simply because some members on here are probably anti-social and they saw social media as outlet to expand their own social circle (I'm not saying this is wrong, I'm just kind of saying it's a shame).
 
A simple passerby...
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^ Ex-Aid is a good show in spite of itself, meaning it does so many things wrong yet still manages to get enough right so that it's enjoyable. It really could've been a classic if at least half or more of the content had been overhauled.

I agree with both of you for the most part. I'll give Den-O credit for trying something new after years of mimicking the Agito formula with mixed results, but its plot, world-building and characters were poorly developed (though I did like Yuuto and Deneb the most out of any of them). The shows since then (even throwbacks to Phase 1 Heisei like Gaim and Build to an extent) have gotten more and more slapsticky with wacky anime hijinks and ever more garish merchandise that doesn't even try to look realistic. It's irritating to watch, and I can't stand those fans who act like it's all no big deal and fall back on the "It's just a kids' toy commercial, you're not supposed to be watching it, NEEERRRD!!" non-defense, those people who haven't gotten over being made fun of in school and try to act above it all and are totally not otakus.*

I miss Phase 1 Heisei, and the only thing I'm looking forward to when I sit down to watch Zi-O is seeing those old casts again. I hope the Ryuki special is good.

While I won't say Orb or Geed (haven't seen R/B yet) were spectacular, Ultraman has been consistently good for the past decade, more so than Rider or Sentai, with better care given to the franchise and its legacy. Even though it's gone down the trinket route, it at least is trying to keep within the spirit of the series rather than just random ideas like toy cars and fruits. Not even the Decade or Zi-O legacy stuff can really claim that.

Sentai has long since past its golden age, that being the 80s and 90s. I'm kind of hoping Ryusoulger is the last regular show, and the series can perhaps continue as movies and specials. Has there been any reports on toy sales and ratings thus far?

*I wouldn't consider myself an otaku, either, but that's a far cry from acting like you only like this genre ironically. If it's just a kids' show, why are you adults wasting time arguing over plot points and characters?

What happened to the edit button? I posted my previous comment before I realized there was another reply and I wanted to merge these two comments but couldn't find the damn edit button.

In any case, I tend to agree with Ex-Aid. It's dramatic moments sometimes really hit home for me. I genuinely enjoyed Parado, Kuroto (non-meme Kuroto, I think they realize they could meme him and went overboard with that), and Taiga (whom I still think is the true Kamen Rider of the show worthy of the title). Hiro and Emu just... well, it's like you said, they're anime archetypes. But honestly speaking, this is kind of what anime would look like in live action, except they should have fleshed it out to be more realistic. Kiriya was a great character, and his death was VERY impactful... till they had him do the whole return to life and pretend to be bad, but I did like his interactions with Kuroto afterwards, especially with how he questioned Emu's morality with working with the man who essentially killed him. I think there was a better way of going about it, but I can't seem to think of one off the top of my head right now, but at some point the show started overusing the whole "you can come back to life as a Bugster!" concept as a justification for many things.

That's precisely why I said Den-O was okay. It was trying something new. I was taken aback when they took away, as you would call it, the "Agito formula", I personally love that formula to death, especially in moments where it's done right. I also personally agree with Gaim and Build trying have anime moments, but then we're talking about folks who have written for anime content, so obviously their little quirks will seep into their work. It's not really a justification, just observation honestly. To some extents, I actually quite enjoy them. Gaim especially does it kinda right, with moments like Kouta transforming every five seconds when he first got his powers, but the whole riding his bike off a cliff? Yeah... that's a bit reaching too far, literally. I also agree with the notion of the toys just... looking like poorly made toys, although with the lockseeds... well, I personally liked most of them, so that's a purely subjective preference for me. I have some gripes about how the Banana lockseed looks though, but that's just me. And I'm with you on the adults who argue things like "it's for kids". These are generally the very same people I have arguments about over how bad the MCU really is. These people are the very same people who shill out about it in their reviews, claim it's the best thing in film history, buy all the merchandises, and then tell you not to think too much about it because their inferiority complex is now being validated by the masses that the non-defense argument they used against people like us is now an "okay" justification. They're also the same people who bend over when bad writing and bad feminist propaganda happens and justify it with arguments like the patriarchy. Like man, these third wave feminists NEED the patriarchy to exist to continue to have their points validated, when in reality, statistics have shown that since the 80s-90s, more women have been attending college than men on average already. I want strong written female characters whilst embracing their femininity, not female characters who take away all masculinity from male ones.

The Ryuki special has it's... moments. But at the end of the day, it's not a very refreshing addition to the story, besides clarifying Asakura's core motivation for doing what he does, which I kind of feel is acceptable to a certain extent.

On that same note, I also agree that Ultraman has retained it's spirit. But I don't know about expanding it's capacity though. The last series I truly enjoyed was Nexus, and not because of the typical "lol you're an edge lord" reasons, and even that was butchered on it's way to the ending. Rider has strayed from it's path honestly. It's a real shame.

I don't know about toy sales of Sentai and what not, but I do know there are still people in the West who still think Saban was the original creator of Power Rangers, as in, they are unaware of it being a derivative form of Sentai to begin with. I mean, this came up in a podcast I was watching about Game of Thrones when one of the people specifically said Saban came up with Power Rangers. I just shook my head in disbelief and decided maybe these people doing the podcasts shouldn't be doing it and acting so pretentious just because they got followings and a platform that their every word is holy or something.

I wouldn't consider myself an Otaku either, but I like that term more than weeb. In fact, I don't know if it applies to me at all, since Weeb seems to have originated in the West, and I grew up in Thailand... where literally every kid I knew in my age group was exposed to Japanese media as if it was normal. We had Thai dubs of Pokémon, Digimon, Kamen Rider, Sentai, all that jazz on our morning television, so to me, it almost just seemed pretty normal. Well, that is until I learned that Thailand has a habit of stealing and copying materials from Japan AND the West since well... we're a third world country, and we almost have no originality of our own, so we just follow whichever country has the strongest currency that invests in our country and people who we import stuff from. Explains a lot about the **** Chaiyo Productions tried to pull with Ultraman and that lawsuit. In any case, I'm not an Otaku, but I'm PRETTY close to one, and while I wasn't a hikkimori, (was reasonably pretty socialable, I was also a pretty close to a delinquent at a young age. I mean I started drinking and smoking when I was 14-15, and I was already clubbing a lot when I was 18, which is probably why I don't go out much more anymore these days. I find it boring, since I kind of did all that in my teenage years, and most people my age saw me as troubled and now all they do is go out at night to clubs as if it's an adult only thing that I can't comprehend, and to me it's just like... yeah I've been through all that waaaay earlier than you, as in, I messed up my own life pretty early on already, so I don't need to bother glorifying Night life just because I'm an adult now and mess up my life when I'm in my working age).
 
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How the hell Kento Shimoyama gets to be a head writer? Why? Who thought it was a good idea?

Shimoyama Kento is the main writer of the most successful new kid's action franchise in years (Shinkalion) and he had already worked under Toei in a format where his writing followed decisions of other production members, rather than having a rigid plan from the start (Ninninger). A show like Zi-O dealing with guest appearances and Toei's usual limited schedule (we recently learned that Kageyama's actor was only contacted one month and a half before shooting the Kabuto episodes of Zi-O based on his official comment about the role) means that the writers must be willing to heavily follow those external factors, which limits the writer selection.

Even though there hasn't been a single plot-heavy show that didn't end up having problems with its story since... Blade, probably? I really want to give Ex-Aid a pass, but it had a whole different number of problems outside of story.

People forgive Blade's flaws due to the dramatic ending, but there's a lot of bad writing early in the show, or contradictions between the early show and later episodes (remember when Chalice was connected to a computer and an Undead compared him to Blade and described both of them as "suits" with compatibility rates). There is a reason Blade ended the trend of high tv ratings that early Heisei Rider had.
 
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Shimoyama Kento is the main writer of the most successful new kid's action franchise in years (Shinkalion) and he had already worked under Toei in a format where his writing followed decisions of other production members, rather than having a rigid plan from the start (Ninninger). A show like Zi-O dealing with guest appearances and Toei's usual limited schedule (we recently learned that Kageyama's actor was only contacted one month and a half before shooting the Kabuto episodes of Zi-O based on his official comment about the role) means that the writers must be willing to heavily follow those external factors, which limits the writer selection.



People forgive Blade's flaws due to the dramatic ending, but there's a lot of bad writing early in the show, or contradictions between the early show and later episodes (remember when Chalice was connected to a computer and an Undead compared him to Blade and described both of them as "suits" with compatibility rates). There is a reason Blade ended the trend of high tv ratings that early Heisei Rider had.

If that's the case, then I feel pretty bad for writers who need to follow such orders. So it means Toei is more concerned with what statistically makes money for them, rather than satisfying a crowd that wants good story content, at the expense of a writer who might want to go beyond their current potential. But hey, if he's like Eichiro Oda who willingly prolongs One Piece simply to remain at the top for as long as he can, then sure, whatever. Limit yourself to your one, long series. Being successful with one piece of work is not indicative of being successful with a second one after all.

I'm partially guilty of one of those people who forgive Blade for those instances. But I did notice that tidbit. In fact, I had thought that maybe, Chalice was a Rider on the Undead's side, as in they MADE an Undead Rider, to be their warrior of sorts. I suppose that clashed with the theme of 53 Undeads and the nature of the battle royal. I mean, if we were going by that plot I just pointed out, maybe that's how BOARD ended up creating Riders for Humans in the first place. By using Chalice as an experimental test subject. There were hints at his duality, and it almost seemed like he might have been living with amnesia in a sense. His nature of taking an interest in photography could have easily been "trying to recapture moments he lost due to amnesia". Of course, then it the plot took a different turn and went with him being Joker. Didn't Blade also change writing staffs halfway through?
 
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raden238

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My main issue with the Tokusatsu writing is simply the formula-matic nature of every show we get now. Let's start with Kamen Rider.

Since Drive in 2014, we have gotten same template of a trio of Heroic Riders (Drive, Mach and Chase). The third member of the trio always start out cool/serious and then ends up being comedic relief (Necrom, Grease and now Woz). We have also gotten the same Main/Secondary Rider relationship setting where they start off as rivals but ultimately best buds. This has been going on for years. I'm sick and tried of it. I want Rider to start mixing things up again. We don't need every year to have a multi-Rider based season. I'm not fond of the humor either, it just seems so anime-like. Every show has needs to evolve to get with the times but this show needs to get away from that and steer closer to its roots again.
 
K

Kamen Rider IXA

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People forgive Blade's flaws due to the dramatic ending, but there's a lot of bad writing early in the show, or contradictions between the early show and later episodes (remember when Chalice was connected to a computer and an Undead compared him to Blade and described both of them as "suits" with compatibility rates). There is a reason Blade ended the trend of high tv ratings that early Heisei Rider had.
I'm aware of Blade's flaws, but it's still a solid show with strong start and strong finish. Blade's changed writers, so some things obviously didn't work out well. Still it doesn't fall apart same way Build does during Daddy Arc or Gaim during Overlord Arc.

A show like Zi-O dealing with guest appearances and Toei's usual limited schedule (we recently learned that Kageyama's actor was only contacted one month and a half before shooting the Kabuto episodes of Zi-O based on his official comment about the role) means that the writers must be willing to heavily follow those external factors, which limits the writer selection.
Gokaiger had similar approach as well, yet it's nowhere near as controversial as Zi-O is. Maybe Zi-O magically becomes the greatest tokusatsu ever made at some point, but when I dropped show it was nearly unwatchable because of how dull, tedious, obnoxious and annoying it was. Show didn't celebrate returning characters, instead pretty much making them extras in favour of Zi-O's "real story", which was one-note and boring. It's one thing to adjust your show for returning characters, but when you waste them on your boring fanfiction and clearly doesn't care about franchise you're writing, that's where I call BS. The sheer hubris of those people! I just don't understand this mindset. If they've changed approach at some point that's fine, but there is still no reason they had to start show like this.

If that's the case, then I feel pretty bad for writers who need to follow such orders.
Be as it may, as far as I'm concerned Shimoyama's only real achievments in tokusatsu are a couple of good Goseiger and Gokaiger episodes (and he wrote significantly worse ones for both these shows as well) and Gorider mini-series (in which he still managed to screw up Blade's lore (sounds like the guy you would put in charge of anniversary series, right?) and rush ending to the point where it almost feels like a disappointment). He seems like the guy whose writing quality depends on the producer yeah, but even at his apperent best Shimoyama's a pretty subpar writer.
 
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It's as bad as Hollywood started to get in the '90s -- the suits have completely taken control, 100%. It doesn't matter who's credited as writer on the shows now -- Bandai's the real writer. This is why all of the shows follow the same format and are just all the same now.

Look how they'll make a big deal about getting a drama writer to do a show -- with Ghost, with Build, with Ryusoulger to name a few. And those shows are same-old same-old "get 'em all!" shows wrapped around trinket collection.

This is when I realized toku was doomed. I used to always think the problem was the anime writers they'd get -- back in the '70s and '80s, they'd get people who, sure, had some anime on their resume, but they also had written dramas. Which is going to help when writing in live-action, don't you think? A LOT of modern writers have only anime on their resume, and I thought that's what one of the problems was, that's why stories got replaced with journeys to collect trinkets and why the humor got so over-the-top and bad. But then how to explain these newer shows that have drama writers, when they're exactly the same? Because it doesn't matter who's writing it anymore -- the bean counters, the uncreative ones are calling all of the shots. To them, all toku is just the same goofball thing, good for just selling junk. And look where it's at...

I find it funny, though, that if Sentai or Kamen Rider sticks to a formula, it gets heavily criticized, but Ultraman can literally be the same show since 1966 and it's ""Oh, it's such a magical franchise that carefully tends to a legacy and follows tradition. It's art! No, it's not at all formulaic or unafraid to change anything!"
 
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