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ARIANA GRANDE, PERSONAL PICTURES

[braveandsnipe]

braveandsnipe's 2022 tokusatsu retrospective

in which i take a trip down memory lane and talk about all the toku i watched this year!

Kamen Rider

This year I completed 5 Kamen Rider series: Drive, Ghost, Ex-Aid, Zi-O, and Zero-One!

Kamen Rider Zi-O (Dec. 2021 -> Jan. 2022)

Started the year with an ending haha. Out of the 5 series I watched, this was the one that took me the longest to complete. At the time, I had only watched Wizard, Den-O and Build, so I didn't understand every reference in the show. I honestly wonder if that makes a difference. On one hand, I couldn't be mad at the show if they botched a "tribute" cause I didn't know any better, but on the other, maybe I would've enjoyed it more/been more motivated to watch if I knew more of the returning characters. Overall, I enjoyed the series. I thought it was very fun, even if it didn't necessarily stick to it's own mechanics (which in of itself is a huge flaw, but that's discussion for another day) and it's slow decent into a Decade AU™. I love Woz, and the main 4 group is one of my favorites. The 0.5 episodes we're also gold, I loved the self-reference humor. As for things I wish it did differently, definitely making Tsukuyomi a rider earlier. And I didn't particularly enjoy the final episodes (although that could've been because I stayed up until 4AM and had work at 8AM).

Kamen Rider Drive (Jan. 2022)

Inspired by the 2018 hit Kamen Rider Zi-O I decided to watch Drive not to long after. It wasn't really a season on my radar, but I was intrigued by Chase. Initially, I did enjoy it, even though the first 12-ish episodes did drag at times. But after Gou comes and especially the 001 arc, it got way better. Looking back on it now, while I still like it, I don't like it as much as I did when I first watched it. It's solid, but I wouldn't say any character stuck out to me or with me once I finished. Similar to Zi-O, I wish they made Kiriko a rider. I'd argue, she potentially could've made a more interesting main than Shinnosuke, given her relationship to the villains (creator). Maybe could've gotten an interesting family dynamic out of it.

Kamen Rider Ghost (Jan. 2022 -> Feb. 2022)

A more polarizing entry (on twitter anyways). I wasn't really going in with any expectations good or bad. The first 11 episodes were hard for me to get through, but after that, the show does get a flow going and became easier to watch. Similar to Drive, none of the characters particularly stood out (except Alain) for me, but I liked the supporting cast of Ghost better than Drive. I wish they did a bit more with Makoto because (at least concerning the show, no extras) he just feels like he's there. Sure, he has a connection to the other two riders, but he himself never does much besides look out for Kanon or the others. (Maybe he did more than I remember, but I haven't rewatched. I do think his V-Cinema delve more into his character, so maybe I'll get around to watching it). I liked Alain's arc the most, him and Ms. Fumi were iconic and episode 30/31 made me so sad (I cried at work). And Takeru was a fine protagonist. The only thing I didn't really like was how they killed him off 3 times (4 counting Heisei Gen.)

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Feb. 2022)

I did not go into this series expecting the impact it would have on me. The main reason I watched it was to finish out the second half of Phase 2 (Drive -> Zi-O) before Zero-One. Honestly, while this is the series out of this list I rewatched the most episodes of, I don't particularly love it. Coming off of Ghost, the beginning of Ex-Aid was really refreshing, and I liked the conflict and connections between the 4 riders. It started falling off for me once Parad became a rider and the introduction of Masamune. I really don't know why I dislike Parad, every time he's was on screen I just got annoyed. And then I didn't like what happened during the finale. But with the bad was good, ie: my namesake. I really don't know why I loved Hiiro and Taiga as much as I did at the time. In a sense, I think I related to certain parts of their respective personalities (which is probably not good...), but otherwise it wasn't like their characters storyline took off until the mid-30's of a 45 episode show. In retrospect, while it it a bit rushed given the timeframe of the show, their story was still really compelling to me. I haven't talked much about V-Cinemas and extra content (mainly cause they're mostly harmless but not much to talk about), but allegedly Ex-Aid only got 45 episodes so they could get the V-Cin. trilogy, and boy do I hate that because the Brave and Snipe V-Cinema was bad. Surprisingly, it didn't hit until my spontaneous rewatch where I realized how dirty it did the characters. In short, Ex-Aid: High-Highs but Low-Lows

Kamen Rider Zero-One (Apr. 2022)

The final series I watched before never finishing a series until this month. Similar to Ex-Aid, I think Zero-One has some really good highs (some of my favorite characters and moments from the franchise), and really bad lows. The writing of Zero-One (in terms of implications) isn't the best, and even arcs were pretty hit or miss. Like a lot of people talk about how the job wars arc was drawn out, and initially I disagreed because I didn't find it that terrible, but thinking back to it, I remember making a post that was like "the most interesting thing about the past 10 episodes was that Fuwa had a chip in his head" so I guess there wasn't plot development. I liked how a lot of the early episode felt like a tour of the town Aruto lives in and we get to meet people (workers) in the community, almost like a carrer fair. Looking at the episodes in a vacuum, I think they're quite nice. I really liked Metsuboujinrai, probably my favorite villain group. At first I thought Horobi saying Jin was his child was going to be a throw away line or like resolved relatively quickly, but it wasn't. The reveal that Horobi was a father-type humagear, and in the final episodes where he slowly was coming to terms about caring for Jin are some of my favorite moments. In episode 42 (?) when Jin sacrificed himself, even though I knew what was coming (the whole "your the only father I ever had" line), I still cried so much during the scene. It was very well done. Ikazuchi and Naki were good support characters, I'm glad each of them have some funny/iconic/good scenes. I wish they had done more with Yua outside of Gai. I feel like Gai gets more to do than her despite her being the tertiary introduced in episode 3. The whole chip in Fuwa's head thing was also weird (I don't have the words to explain it right now). I liked that Fuwa liked Aruto's jokes because their similar to the ones his dad made. I think Aruto is an interesting character to be the main, it's kind of weird he was just thrown into the company, and a bunch of other things I'm going to leave for another day. I don't think Gai needed a redemption arc, but I teared up when he got Thouser back. (Wow I had a lot to say)

2. Super Sentai

I didn't watch that much Sentai this year, and only completed 2: Seijuu Sentai Gingaman and Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger

Seijuu Sentai Gingaman (~May 2022)

I kind of forgot I watched this lol. Overall, it was better/more fun than I was expecting it to be.

Bakuyuu Sentai Abaranger (Nov. 2022 -> Dec. 2022)

I started this one day because no one (my teachers) decided not to show up to school. I ended up enjoying it a lot. I like the team dynamics, and it was solid at balancing silliness and seriousness. I think having the motws be made from forms of art (painting and music) was cool and made for some cool designs/abilities.

3. Ultraman

This year I finished the trifecta and watched 2 Ultraman Series: X and Orb.

Ultraman X (Aug. 2022)

I watched this for totally legit reasons…/ It was alright, but it kind of just felt like the same thing (formula) for 20 episodes. I did like the 24 hours at Xio episode and the Ginga S crossover. I also think this series had some good effects and the fact that their car turns into a jet is so funny to me.

Ultraman Orb (Sept. 2022)

I liked this series better than X. It was more interesting and I feel like there was more intrigue and a story line. The unfolding of the connection between Gai and Naomi was great and overall I liked the one episode plots

4. Power Rangers

Since I've watched most Power Rangers, I only finished the latest series this year. I sometimes forget power rangers is a tokusatsu lol.

Dino Fury (Feb 2021 -> Sept. 2022)

I said a lot about what I thought about the show on my other blog. Generally, I think it has good idea, but the execution of them is hit or miss.

(wow this kind of fell off at the end)