The best Anniversary last year

Well which of the "Big 3" do you think had the best anniversary in 2006?

Super Sentai Series - Celebrating 30 years

Series at the time:
GoGo Sentai Boukenger

What they did to celebrate:
Boukenger vs Super Sentai, Toy specials



Kamen Rider Series - Celebrating 35 years

Series at the time:
Kamen Rider Kabuto

What they did to celebrate:
Umm.....various references to previous KR series, 35th Masked Rider Anniversary File I dunno maybe some toy releases I'm unaware of



Ultra series - Celebrating 40 years

Series at the time:
Ultraman Mebius And still running

What they did to celebrate:
Ultraman Mebius and the Ultra Brothers, Mebius being set in the same universe as Ultraman - 80, including the Ultra's of Ultraman - 80 in Mebius

Discuss

As for me, I think Ultraman had the best anniversary, the movie was hmmmm lets say around 300-400 times better than Boukenger vs Super Sentai, KR really didn't do that much. Plus Ultra's know how to acknowledge their past, and they certainly know how to party. Sure KR acknowledges their past at times, but they really didn't do anything this year, Sentai, well Boukenger vs Super Sentai showed how much they care for older Sentai's, having only a few stills of older Sentai, nothing pre Gaoranger makes it into Bouken vs SS. And you don't see any KR or Sentai anniversary party with suit actors in suit attending >.>

Ultraman, because Tsuburaya actually knows how to do an anniversary right. Mebius is a great series, the characters were all fun to watch, it was nice to see another hostless Ultra, but the story behind the image of the host was touching. It'll be sad to see it end next week.

Speaking strictly of the shows, Ultraman wins by a long shot. Kabuto was a fine series, but they sort of half-baked the anniversary aspect. Most of the cameos seemed like anyone they could get who had been in a Tokusatsu, rather than people important specifically to Kamen Rider. Boukenger... I didn't watch enough to comment, although I did like the after-the-show bits they had. Kabuto should have had a lot more of those (and they basically doubled as pimping the movie) but I did like the few we got, because it showed someone was thinking.

But when you factor in the toys... the amount of awesome Rider stuff (and that's excluding all the Kabuto toys even) that came out last year is pretty respectable, but that's usually the case with like every year since the late 90's. So I'll stick with Ultraman because it was a good celebration in all areas.

I have to agree that Tsuburaya did the anniversary right. They not only included previous ultras but also included all the previous hosts' actors, aside from Kotaro who was Taro's host. As usual Tsuburaya showed they are a company that cares about their series and their fans. :thumbs:

Super Sentai did a nice job making what appears to be a celebration of their 5th anniversary and pretty much ignored anything pre-Gaoranger.

Barom 1 said:

Super Sentai did a nice job making what appears to be a celebration of their 5th anniversary and pretty much ignored anything pre-Gaoranger.

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Yeah, although I enjoyed Bouken vs. SS, you could've removed all references to any pre-Gao series and it wouldn't have been significantly different.

And even for a five year celebration, I kinda prefered Super Sentai World (please do another one Toei).

I just watched the Ultraman Mebius and Ultra Brothers movie too. Now even though I'm not really into Ultraman (2 episodes of Mebius and this movie are all I've seen apart from random clips) and don't know much about it, the movie felt like more of a celebration of the show's history and I really enjoyed it.

Barom 1 said:

aside from Kotaro who was Taro's host.

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Is there any reason for that? Also, I haven't seen all of Ace, but did they somehow write out Minami also becoming Ace along with Seiji (if not, where was she)?

I haven't watched much of the Mebius series yet, so my perhaps unfair comparison here is coming from just the anniversary movies: As a Toei fan (and not exactly the biggest Ultraman fan), even I watched the Mebius movie and hung my head in shame. :laugh: Toei always rushes their anniversaries. But one thing in favor of the sentai anniversaries is that I like how they'll try to make these psuedo-poetic points about what it takes to be a team, which I find the similar meant-to-be uplifting speeches about the Ultras to not be as effective. But that's not what matters is it? It's guest-stars, and Mebius literally steps all over Boukenger and Kabuto in that area. Maybe 40's a bigger anniversary number to the the Japanese, I don't know, but Toei didn't knock themselves out.

...Tsuburaya likes throwing money at Ultraman, and the Ultraman Mebius movie doesn't let you forget it; it actually felt like a movie. I could easily picture it on the big screen. That's a weird thing with Toei -- even their big screen versions of sentai and Rider never actually seem like movies, and I often imagine them just being awkward in the theater (the versus movies are obviously excluded, since they're direct to video).

Kabuto's not even worth mentioning, is it? It was "too cool" to acknowledge it was an anniversary series. :laugh:

But I liked the extra insult to Toei -- the casting of Aiko "Abare Yellow" Itou. :laugh:

I voted Kabuto, because I'm a bitch. :169:

Shougo B'Stard said:

Is there any reason for that? Also, I haven't seen all of Ace, but did they somehow write out Minami also becoming Ace along with Seiji (if not, where was she)?

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Minami came from a Moon civilization and returned halfway through the original series. She reappeared in a small celebration segment in the ending credits of the Mebius movie, and also at the end of Episode 44 of the series.

Kotaro (Ultraman Tarou) returned the Ultra Badge to the Ultra Mother at the end of the series. this explains why he isn't in Mebius, story-wise.

and if anyone's wondering...
I voted for Ultraman, because I LOVE TPC!!!

Anyway I feel that Tsuburaya cares more about the Ultraman series than Toei cares about Sentai/KR.

Shoichi said:

Minami came from a Moon civilization and returned halfway through the original series. She reappeared in a small celebration segment in the ending credits of the Mebius movie, and also at the end of Episode 44 of the series.

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Thanks. I saw her alongside the Seiji actor during the credits and guessed something happened to her character if she wasn't in the actual movie. It seems like every other Ultra can overcome any obstacle and still return, so they could have just written her in there. Does Tsuburaya not care much for women becoming Ultras, though? Because I know fans were hoping all last year for Sayoko Hagiwara to guest in either Boukenger or Mebius and I haven't read a mention of Yurian (and Hagiwara herself has said that she wants to be in Mebius).

I just hope 80 and Yullian won't be left out in today's finale (it's 1.50am Saturday morning over here already)