This zoo of extra new attachment Mecha these days. There was a time when a new robot was a moment when you could picture yourself punching the air in triumph as it comes down to assist the team when they're really getting thoroughly jobbed at. All that tension is rewarded with a triumphant new robot. Since someone in Bandai discovered that dialling up the saturation rate of toys in a show is a good idea for business, new Mechs are so ubiquitous that there's nothing special about any of their introductions. Oh no, this monster has allegedly mildly inconvenienced us with one shot despite no visual evidence of any substantial damage! Quick, let us use this new ManBearPig Mech that we acquired from our arses/just had lying around unused until now. As a result, I shy away from Sentai during these insipid moments in their first and maybe second half of the shows.
This next point doesn't quite turn me off from watching, but were I to build a dungeon to throw prisoners in, this would get quite a substantially big room. I wish belts would shut up. Well, not shut up as in remain completely silent, but can we dispense with the hyperactive singing belts that sound obnoxious and just ruin the lore of the show? Hello, professor, I believe you constructed this belt. Is there a reason why it is yodelling? Hello there, I understand your belt is an ancient artifact from an ancient age. Okay, but why is it chanting something in English like a toddler's first educational toy? I think the last time I was really okay with a belt was uhh...Kabuto? The Zecters never said that much and I can easily imagine them being created by an organisation like ZECT.
Horrible, horrible, horrible forced overacting. You know like in shows where you have the most imbecilic and incompetent of policemen? And you know when they see or process something that is perhaps shocking or horrifying their jaws are forced so open that a bullet train can easily whisk through and their faces contort and they do this "AAAWAARR?!!" sound into the camera? Or perhaps a "NAAAAAAAANIII?!". It's not just policemen. It can be anyone. A random guest of the week can be like that. Main characters do that as well. It's not funny when everyone shoves their faces right into the camera to do exaggerated anime reactions. And that leads me to...
...overly making something anime-like. I've already mentioned the anime-style exaggerated group reaction shot. How about moments when cartoon effects blight the foreground and just completely pulls you out of the moment, especially if these moments are uncalled for and badly timed in relation to what's going on around it? They're not funny either, and they're not what I wish to see in Toku. Though I have to admit, there are exceptions when they have been used effectively, like in that one episode of Wizard with the crow attack taking place through the medium of manga panels. I thought that was creative, until I realised a moment later that it was a stupid episode anyway and the scene contributed nothing to an episode that already has no substance apart from idiocy.
Jar Jar Binks. Sorry Shunpei, but I don't like you, or your kind. Hold on, who is your kind? Gokaiger's Gai? That's not right, because I grew to like Gai and his character has some good stuff working with good material. Genta? I like him as well. Ban? Tolerable and likeable. Really, Shunpei, what are you? You're often filed with these other characters, but you're the worst of them all. You contribute nothing to the show, and a writer could have half-arsedly made you a ring apprentice anytime in the show before the last two minutes. You're redundant with Nitou around and you dress like a hippy sex offender. I never wish to see a character like you ever again, or at least in a long while.
Huge stretches of episodes when nothing in the way of plot substantially happens, especially when the standalone episodes aren't very compelling on their own merits. It frustrates me to see these Sahara moments of dry nothingness.
Characters who are just irredeemably batshit crazy. Though I enjoy most of Kiva purely because I wanted to see what new stupid thing the show would pull next, my head hit the desk when Nago descended into his nadir acid-trip moment. It was then I asked to myself: if I were a writer, what the hell is going on in my mind were I to sit down and a character like this? I clearly am not striving for some kind of deep, sympathetic character conveying any kind of profound message or anything. No, I'm just here to write a character who becomes batshit insane...though Nago has a special case because his characterisation goes on a rollercoaster ride. I have people like KR Tiger/Tojo in mind though, for the batshit crazy category. At least Asakura has an ascertainable and understandable motive; he's a criminal and he just wants to **** **** up. Tojo believes in a very warped idea of heroism that includes a willingness to needlessly sacrifice a close friend or partner because...reasons. And he's dead serious about it, and thus acts bewilderingly erratic throughout his time on the show.
Can we stop it with these Taisen crossover things? Every year it's the same. Villains manage to remain quite united and composed to have a grand scheme that will most certainly involve excessive and/or bad CGI. Heroes for some reason for another decide to fight against one another, which might include in there somewhere some kind of convoluted scheme to trick the villains that no actual sane human being would ever concoct and seriously put into action. Then towards the end other heroes who were inexplicably missing for some reason just show up as an ensemble to do very little. I don't see any reason why I should ever care or devote any viewing time to these movies and what should have been a momentous concept of heroes from various franchises coming together united to face one grand evil has been beaten into the ground by corporate spade-wielding suits with no emotional creativity left.
