Aoi Kurenai
Mad Skillz
The year is finally coming to a close and we've got two new shows to look forward to next year, but before we move onto those, it's time to review this year in toku and see what everyone thought of this year in toku.
Last year was the first year that I started watching toku shows from start to end, net wise, I dunno, that could be contributing to this, but on the whole, I haven't been nearly as excited for the "big three" this year as I was last year, which is why I'm glad I've had shows like Lion Maru G, Sazer X and Ryukendo to fall back on.
Maybe it's because last year, all three of the big toku franchises really stepped out of the mold or something, but Kabuto, Boukenger and Mebius, none of them stack up to Hibiki, Magiranger and Nexus and Max in my eyes.
SENTAI:
Boukenger started off great, it had interesting characters and we had one of the strongest reds in years. For the first ten episodes or so, I was really enjoying it, but it went nowhere fast. I think it was episodes 10 and 11 that made me realize what type of year I was going to be in for in terms of Sentai. Episode 10 was great, dramatic, compelling and really made you feel for all of the characters, especially at the end. Episode 11, the continuation of 10, did none of those things for me. It kinda seems like a waste to have DaiBouken dragged off and everyone worry when Chief ends up saying it was all for an adventure. That really ticked me off and seemed pointless as heck.
When I miss episodes, I'm in no real rush to go back and watch them. These characters just aren't interesting to me anymore. When it gets to the point that even cast members are complaining about a lack of story, you know something is going wrong. The episodes I enjoy the most are Eiji-centric, his relationships with the other characters and the Ashu are what I like about this show the most. Compared to Magiranger, Boukenger is just a boring show, for me anyway. Magiranger generally had me excited to see what was going to happen next and if not for the finale, it would have been my favorite sentai.
KAMEN RIDER:
Kabuto started off as a mixed bag of stuff, not super great, but not the worst show. I've said time and again how much I enjoyed the show by the point Yaguruma came along, but that really went nowhere. Then Kagami got TheBee Zecter and that frackin' tatto, which we still don't know its purpose and then the show started going downhill. When Tsurugi came, I was interested again and stayed interested until about episode 28 when that horrible cooking arc came along. I lost interest until episode 33 or so when Yaguruma came up, I hate it when a side character coming back interests me more than the main character getting his power up.
Hyper Kabuto seemed really pointless to me, it fit the series a little better than the movie, but in the end, it hasn't been all that great. We then got the Perfect Zecter, which seems to serve no other purpose than to sell toys and **** with other characters. The Hopper Brothers went downhill and were relegated from what could have been the best villains ever to nothing more than "those two dudes who eat ramen and "drift" into the light a lot". By this point, Tsurugi was the only thing keeping me watching, then he was killed off. Now I'm just watching because we've only got three episodes left, so I might as well keep my on the series and hope the ending isn't a total mess.
Compared to Hibiki, Kabuto doesn't even match up. I'm not sure who said it, but by episode 20, Kabuto proved that a lot of people only like the flashy stuff since Hibiki and Kabuto were around the same place in terms of story. Hibiki ended up being my favorite Kamen Rider series, Kabuto ended up being my not so favorite series.
ULTRAMAN
Mebius is an...okay show, at the best. The characters are funny sometimes, but sometimes it's too damn wacky for its own good and while it is the one show that knows how an anniversary should be done, I'm feeling that that's really the only draw. The characters themselves aren't as fun as the Max and Nexus characters. Mirai has some good stuff going for him, it was cool to see an Ultraman with no host and how he got that body was interesting. The Hunter Knight/Hikari stuff is excellent, I'm hoping the GUYS Sea stuff ends up good, but I doubt it will.
Mebius certainly isn't my least favorite Ultraman, but it's nowhere near my favorite. It relies too much on being an anniversary series than actually being an entertaining series. Max was a lot more entertaining, Nexus was ten times more interesting, Mebius, like Boukenger, was just "there" for me.
Chouseishin
This year we saw Chouseishin come to a close and to be honest, was anyone really surprised? The show was too comical at the start, I know toku shows shouldn't take themselves super serious, but they shouldn't be on the level of early Sazer X either. I did end up enjoying Sazer X a lot, the final 20 episodes or so were great. I think it would have been a lot better had it been allowed to run its intended length.
In the end, I really did end up caring for a lot of characters, even the villains were interesting at the end. It's just a shame that we'll probably never see Chouseishin again because of this series. Toho realized far too late that the comedy heavy stuff they had wasn't going to be enough to pull in the ratings they needed to keep this franchise afloat, and so, we had to say farewell to one of the better franchises in a while.
2005
There are other shows I didn't get to, like Ryukendo and Lion Maru G, but that's because I have nothing to compare them to really. Though I will say Ryukendo ended up being by far, my favorite toku of 2006.
2005 brought us Magiranger, Hibiki, Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman Max, Justiriser and Garo. 2006 brought us Kabuto, Boukenger, Ultraman Mebius, Lion Maru G, Sazer X, Ryukendo and the Garo specials. It looks like 2007 may only bring us Gekiranger and Den-O in terms of new shows and that might ended up being the first year since 2002 where the majority of year only had Sentai and Kamen Rider on air in terms of toku. I'll be hoping for a new series, Ultra, revival of a dead franchise or a new series all together, I just hope we get something else.
Last year was the first year that I started watching toku shows from start to end, net wise, I dunno, that could be contributing to this, but on the whole, I haven't been nearly as excited for the "big three" this year as I was last year, which is why I'm glad I've had shows like Lion Maru G, Sazer X and Ryukendo to fall back on.
Maybe it's because last year, all three of the big toku franchises really stepped out of the mold or something, but Kabuto, Boukenger and Mebius, none of them stack up to Hibiki, Magiranger and Nexus and Max in my eyes.
SENTAI:
Boukenger started off great, it had interesting characters and we had one of the strongest reds in years. For the first ten episodes or so, I was really enjoying it, but it went nowhere fast. I think it was episodes 10 and 11 that made me realize what type of year I was going to be in for in terms of Sentai. Episode 10 was great, dramatic, compelling and really made you feel for all of the characters, especially at the end. Episode 11, the continuation of 10, did none of those things for me. It kinda seems like a waste to have DaiBouken dragged off and everyone worry when Chief ends up saying it was all for an adventure. That really ticked me off and seemed pointless as heck.
When I miss episodes, I'm in no real rush to go back and watch them. These characters just aren't interesting to me anymore. When it gets to the point that even cast members are complaining about a lack of story, you know something is going wrong. The episodes I enjoy the most are Eiji-centric, his relationships with the other characters and the Ashu are what I like about this show the most. Compared to Magiranger, Boukenger is just a boring show, for me anyway. Magiranger generally had me excited to see what was going to happen next and if not for the finale, it would have been my favorite sentai.
KAMEN RIDER:
Kabuto started off as a mixed bag of stuff, not super great, but not the worst show. I've said time and again how much I enjoyed the show by the point Yaguruma came along, but that really went nowhere. Then Kagami got TheBee Zecter and that frackin' tatto, which we still don't know its purpose and then the show started going downhill. When Tsurugi came, I was interested again and stayed interested until about episode 28 when that horrible cooking arc came along. I lost interest until episode 33 or so when Yaguruma came up, I hate it when a side character coming back interests me more than the main character getting his power up.
Hyper Kabuto seemed really pointless to me, it fit the series a little better than the movie, but in the end, it hasn't been all that great. We then got the Perfect Zecter, which seems to serve no other purpose than to sell toys and **** with other characters. The Hopper Brothers went downhill and were relegated from what could have been the best villains ever to nothing more than "those two dudes who eat ramen and "drift" into the light a lot". By this point, Tsurugi was the only thing keeping me watching, then he was killed off. Now I'm just watching because we've only got three episodes left, so I might as well keep my on the series and hope the ending isn't a total mess.
Compared to Hibiki, Kabuto doesn't even match up. I'm not sure who said it, but by episode 20, Kabuto proved that a lot of people only like the flashy stuff since Hibiki and Kabuto were around the same place in terms of story. Hibiki ended up being my favorite Kamen Rider series, Kabuto ended up being my not so favorite series.
ULTRAMAN
Mebius is an...okay show, at the best. The characters are funny sometimes, but sometimes it's too damn wacky for its own good and while it is the one show that knows how an anniversary should be done, I'm feeling that that's really the only draw. The characters themselves aren't as fun as the Max and Nexus characters. Mirai has some good stuff going for him, it was cool to see an Ultraman with no host and how he got that body was interesting. The Hunter Knight/Hikari stuff is excellent, I'm hoping the GUYS Sea stuff ends up good, but I doubt it will.
Mebius certainly isn't my least favorite Ultraman, but it's nowhere near my favorite. It relies too much on being an anniversary series than actually being an entertaining series. Max was a lot more entertaining, Nexus was ten times more interesting, Mebius, like Boukenger, was just "there" for me.
Chouseishin
This year we saw Chouseishin come to a close and to be honest, was anyone really surprised? The show was too comical at the start, I know toku shows shouldn't take themselves super serious, but they shouldn't be on the level of early Sazer X either. I did end up enjoying Sazer X a lot, the final 20 episodes or so were great. I think it would have been a lot better had it been allowed to run its intended length.
In the end, I really did end up caring for a lot of characters, even the villains were interesting at the end. It's just a shame that we'll probably never see Chouseishin again because of this series. Toho realized far too late that the comedy heavy stuff they had wasn't going to be enough to pull in the ratings they needed to keep this franchise afloat, and so, we had to say farewell to one of the better franchises in a while.
Final Count
2005
2006
Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman Max Ultraman Mebius
Kamen Rider Hibiki Kamen Rider Kabuto
Mahou Sentai Magiranger GoGo Sentai Boukenger
Genseishin Justiriser Chousei Kantai Sazer-X
There are other shows I didn't get to, like Ryukendo and Lion Maru G, but that's because I have nothing to compare them to really. Though I will say Ryukendo ended up being by far, my favorite toku of 2006.
2005 brought us Magiranger, Hibiki, Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman Max, Justiriser and Garo. 2006 brought us Kabuto, Boukenger, Ultraman Mebius, Lion Maru G, Sazer X, Ryukendo and the Garo specials. It looks like 2007 may only bring us Gekiranger and Den-O in terms of new shows and that might ended up being the first year since 2002 where the majority of year only had Sentai and Kamen Rider on air in terms of toku. I'll be hoping for a new series, Ultra, revival of a dead franchise or a new series all together, I just hope we get something else.
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