Why is Yasuko Kobayashi so beloved?

[Artic_Rival]

To my recollection, I think it's because of how well intricate her writing is, as well as having a huge writing streak (sometimes penning an entire episode by herself). Her works also have villains whose goals are... well... human.

Some want to cheat death. Some want to save another's life. Some want to be whole again. Some want to be remembered. And then there's the guy who wants to blow up the world because he has a fascination with everything ending, though he's an exception.

I wouldn't go as far as say that there's some deep meanings to several shows, but I would go as far as call her the Tokusatsu Genderswapped version of Gen Urobuchi. Hey, Ryuki contributed to her high kill count. :laugh:

 

[Vitor]

I think something similar happened with OOO, people who had complained about it being too slow/not making sense were kinder about it after the very emotive finale.

Am I the only one who felt that it was hard caring about Ankh's death when he had been a crass stick in the mud the entire series?

 

[Blaze Dragon]

I think characterization is the reason why Kobayashi's works tend to be seen as so good. Characters are hardly one-dimensional, and tend to be far deeper than they look at first glance. A good example, for me at least, is Eiji: at first he looks incredibly bland, being just a nice guy who helps people (something Kobayashi absolutely loves), but then we're shown that his attitude has reasons behind it, and it's not seen as good. Rather, he's shown as a broken man.

Her characterizations work really well in the world they're in, as well. Shinji, for instance, is basically what you see at first glance and nothing more: a nice guy who helps people. However, Ryuki is extremely cynical on this, and even Shinji ends up wondering if he's doing the right thing. It makes the audience wonder it, as well, is he right in stopping the rest of the Riders from fulfilling their dreams, just to stop the war? The ending ended up being extremely anticlimactic, but I like to believe that was forced by Toei since a complete sad ending (every Rider dies) would not be liked by society or something, I dunno. I just like to forget that last part ever happened.

On the other hand, Kobayashi's series always seem to have the same problem. Great beginning, great ending, awful middle. Shinkenger is probably my favourite Sentai, and I find the middle part almost unbearably dull. Go-Busters, surprisingly, doesn't feel like that, though that's probably because of the whole Enter business.

Talking about Enter, another thing I, at least, greatly enjoy of Kobayashi's works is how the villains are hardly typical, and hardly bland. Kanzaki, Enter, the Greed and Maki, all of them are explored, their reasons are given, and they all are not only interesting as characters, but dangerous as villains. Sentai is, most of the time, incredibly bad at the latter, we see the heroes win, the villains barely manage anything, and so, any tension is immediatly lost. This is why I consider Enter the best Sentai villain I've seen: He WINS. Often, at that. Even when he loses, he achieves something. The last part of the series ends up feeling stronger just because of how Enter is a lot more important, going from the Dragon to the Big Bad. Even moreso in the last few episodes.

There's exceptions, of course, like the Imagin (and whatever was his name, Kai?), who...aren't developed, aren't interesting, and are horrible villains and even worse heroes, but I admit I'm biased on this one since I really don't like Den-O.

 

[Guardian07]

Am I the only one who felt that it was hard caring about Ankh's death when he had been a crass stick in the mud the entire series?

I didn't.

What really struck me was how willing and ready he was to risk it, seeing as his Medal was already cracked. Their relationship had gone so far that there's no hesitation in him to literally "throw his life on the line". And this is Ankh we're talking about here. The fact that he's so selfish for most of the show made the moment much more impactful.

And I was happy that the guy is at peace with his fate and gained some sort of satisfaction at the end, after struggling so hard throughout the series. Yeah, he wasn't the nicest guy around. He did some mean stuff. But I still feel happy for him that his story had a good, satisfying ending.

 

[Goty]

Now that Go-Busters is due to end next week, I'm seeing a lot of comments on various fanboards along the lines of "we can't possibly have a happy ending, Kobayashi is writing this!" or "Kobayashi's the writer so the finale is sure to be epic!"

Well, almost everyone who didn't like Go-Busters seems to have changed their tune with the final few episodes ...

In what kind of bizarre parallel world where people like Go-Busters are you living in? I get you reallly want Go-Busters to be popular but...please..most people who didn't like it dropped the series a long time ago. Those "various fanboards" must be in the deep web.

What i actually see is that OOO, and later Go-Busters, did hurt Kobayashi's reputation with fans a lot. This thread would make more sense right after Shinkenger. Now people are starting to put her capacity in doubt.
Maybe her ideas are starting to get dry, like happened to Inoue, but personally, i'm willing to giver her credit. Timeranger and Shinkenger are among my favorite series, after all. It's Takebe's work as a producer that i can't stand, and i hope they don't get paired again anytime soon. Oh, and please Toei, keep Takebe away from Sentai forever.

 

[Painted_Outlaw]

Well, almost everyone who didn't like Go-Busters seems to have changed their tune with the final few episodes ...

Only the people who seem to kissing its butt over how "dark and adult-like" it seems.

Everyone else who can see it for what it is.... yeah....

but I would go as far as call her the Tokusatsu Genderswapped version of Gen Urobuchi.

[hide]Not until she makes a VN where there's a girl who's actually a pile of living flesh. :laugh:[/hide]

The ending ended up being extremely anticlimactic, but I like to believe that was forced by Toei since a complete sad ending (every Rider dies) would not be liked by society or something, I dunno. I just like to forget that last part ever happened.

Best ending is movie ending.

 

[Guardian07]

Her characterizations work really well in the world they're in, as well. Shinji, for instance, is basically what you see at first glance and nothing more: a nice guy who helps people. However, Ryuki is extremely cynical on this, and even Shinji ends up wondering if he's doing the right thing. It makes the audience wonder it, as well, is he right in stopping the rest of the Riders from fulfilling their dreams, just to stop the war? The ending ended up being extremely anticlimactic, but I like to believe that was forced by Toei since a complete sad ending (every Rider dies) would not be liked by society or something, I dunno. I just like to forget that last part ever happened.

I liked Ryuki's ending, though I did wonder the story behind that ending. I guess that ending can be seen as such a childish, wishy-washy dream that is too good to come true and be realized. I found myself strongly invested in that world, and am just simply happy that that ending happened, just glad that "while good didn't win, it survives". Also, that ending meant that Shinji's wish has ultimately come true.

 

[Khaiden]

Well, I guess I'm the only one that has seen lots of negative talk about her. I recall someone saying she was part of the ''scary three'' or something, down there with Yonemura and Inoue.

Myself, I used to hate her back when I read her story about not having watched a single thing about Kamen Rider when writing Ryuki. Then, I realized all of those drastic changes to the franchise might not have been entirely her fault.

 

[Vitor]

I liked Ryuki's ending, though I did wonder the story behind that ending. I guess that ending can be seen as such a childish, wishy-washy dream that is too good to come true and be realized. I found myself strongly invested in that world, and am just simply happy that that ending happened, just glad that "while good didn't win, it survives". Also, that ending meant that Shinji's wish has ultimately come true.

Well, that's the thing. Shinji didn't win the Rider War, Ren did and Ren's wish was that his girlfriend would be rid of some illness that I can't rightly recall at the moment. I think it would have been better if things had just been left how they were instead of retconing the whole thing

 

[Guardian07]

I think it would have been better if things had just been left how they were instead of retconing the whole thing

That world, and everyone in that world is better off if the whole ridiculous war never happened. So many innocents died in the hands of the Mirror Monsters, dying for something that doesn't even involve them. So much wasted and meaningless deaths over a single wish that probably didn't even exist.

After going through the whole series, after seeing so many lives screwed over, because of the selfishness of a few, because the Mirror Monsters are just hungry, or simply because Ouja is an utter bastard who have the power to do what he wants and more, if the option of undoing everything is available, I would have taken it. At least now Asakura can be taken down without having to use an Advent Deck.

Now, would I still like a different ending? Probably, yes, as long as it's well-written.