Stuff I’ve watched since 2010
Okay, so I have this system where each night before bed, I watch one episode of a show I’ve downloaded. Typically, I download shows in batches after they finish airing, or I just watch older stuff when their subs are finished. It’s usually just mecha anime and tokusatsu. I’m gonna try to list out all the crap I’ve watched over the past two years and give my opinions on them.
I might be missing a few, however.
Azumanga Daioh (Yeah, I’d never seen this before) It was a cute, fun show, but it was filled with all those Japanese pun jokes I can’t stand. Looking past those, though, I got some good chuckles out of it.
Gundam 00S2 *sigh* That first half showed such promise but this… goddamn, it’s like they forgot how to write these characters. The story was okay, I mean it was predictable for a Gundam show, but interesting characters can always save that. Too bad it didn’t.
Metal Armor Dragonar (half was previously watched) I really liked this show. It was basically a Gundam show, but not. Heck it felt more like a Gundam show than most AU Gundams have been.
Gundam ZZ (rewatch) Honestly I don’t hate ZZ as much as most people do. It was stupid at first but it got decent later on. It’s not the best, but it’s certainly not the worst.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes This show was one hell of a ride. I knew it was good, but DAMN. Yes, it can be slow at times but it NEEDS to be slow to tell its story. It’s not Gundam where battles can end in just a day and wars last a year, no man, this is some serious shit. It had great characters on both sides and really, really engrosses you in the story. It even gives some incredibly great, unexpected plot twists. A+ all around.
(The next is the “Zordon Era” of Power Rangers. I’m going to be listing them by the season.)
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Season 1 Really, there isn’t much to say here. It was the first show, and for what it was, it did its job. The only thing that really bugged me were the sloppy transitions between American and Japanese footage, like you’ll see Tommy and Kimberly walking through a park while the monster they’re bantering with is behind someone’s house…
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Season 2 UGH what a mess. I realize that most of the problems were due to behind-the-scenes stuff, but that doesn’t change how much of a MESS this season was. It basically goes from badly-edited Zord fight scenes, to badly-edited Ranger fight scenes. And don’t even get me started on Jason/Trini/Zack leaving the show…
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Season 3 Now THIS is where shit gets good. Actual STORYLINES. PLOT POINTS. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. GOOD FIGHT SCENES. It was one of their best, IMO, though those kid actors in Alien Rangers left something to be desired…
Power Rangers Zeo Kind of the best of both worlds. It was still monster-of-the-week, but actually had a good, cohesive story going on. It also didn’t have any major cast/costume changes to screw things up, but now that we know the Billy story, it’s hard to get angry about the one it did have. Also, his outtakes in the later episode take on a whole new meaning (especially the one of Kat saying “I just can’t believe it…”).
Power Rangers Turbo OKAY. I knew this show was bad but fuck, I didn’t believe it. Divatox was lame and when they made the cast change they just… didn’t do it for me, at least not yet. The sad part was, Justin, yes, JUSTIN was the best character, even if he was based on the worst idea ever.
Power Rangers in Space YES YES YES. Slashed budget aside, holy crap this show was just… GOOD. It was nice to see them go, “fuck the sentai, we’re doing our own thing”. And it WORKED. I wish more of the later shows did this. It’s a shame we never got to see who the Phantom Ranger was, though.
Super Beastial Machine God Dancouga (rewatch) I HATE THIS SHOW. Goddamn, it’s every bad 80’s mecha cliche rolled into one. The characters are fucking dumb and the interesting ones don’t even get any worthwhile development. AND YES THIS WAS THE SECOND TIME I WATCHED IT.
Reideen the Superior THIS SHOW SUCKS TOO. It’s like every bad NINETIES anime cliche rolled into one. Seriously, it out-gays Gundam Wing. IT OUT-GAYS GUNDAM WING. The plot gets stupid (especially in the second half) and there are plot holes big enough to fly the God Bird into. AND WHY IS REIDEEN ITSELF THE BAD GUY?!
Transformers Headmasters The weakest of the “Takara Trilogy”. It tried to capture the campiness of American G1, but it didn’t really succeed because it took things too seriously. And holy fuck, if you thought Daniel was bad in the American series, he’s even worse here.
Transformers: Masterforce It starts off good, but it falls apart later on because it has too many damn characters. It also can’t decide on who the main character is, which gets a bit confusing. Definitely worth a watch, however.
Transformers Victory The episodes themselves weren’t very notable, but it had a good atmosphere and presence throughout. It handled its characters MUCH better than Masterforce. The two-parter where Ginrai is rebuilt into Victory Leo is the highlight of the series, heck maybe even Transformers period. You don’t see moral dilemmas come up often in this franchise. Overall, my favorite of the three.
Mazinkaiser SKL Pointless, money-grabbing crap. It simply wasn’t good. If you changed the character and mecha designs you’d have any generic mecha series. I can’t believe we got this instead of a Shin Mazinger sequel.
Brave of the Sun Fighbird It was… okay. It had strong, likeable hero characters and good designs, but the boring story and generic, cookie-cutter villains totally killed it. It understood the Brave series formula and executed it well.
Brave Express Might Gaine I didn’t like this one. It didn’t feel as… “brave-y” as the others. It lacked the humanity the other shows have, and the robot characters might as well have not been there. Seriously, the Transformers in the Micheal Bay movies have better development. It did have some GREAT villains however, and a good story. In a sense, it was the polar opposite of Fighbird.
Brave Police J-Decker THIS SHOW was fucking GREAT. It had everything I’d ever wanted from a Brave series. Lots of heart and just all around fun. Had one AMAZING plot twist I never saw coming towards the end. A great deal of humanity and had that child-robot friendship all of these shows need.
The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar/FINAL (rewatch) Yeah, it’s still fucking awesome.
Betterman I watched this mainly because it was the other show in GGG’s universe. It was alright. It tried a bit too hard to be different and ended up being a little confusing. It wins for its incredibly unique characters, however, and the connections to GGG really made me smile.
Phew, I think that’s it. Up next on the list is Pretty Cure (the first series), and following that, I have Combattler V, Daitarn 3, Getter Robo (!), and Victory Gundam (rewatch). It’s gonna be one hell of a year.
EDIT: AQUARION! I FORGOT AQUARION! WHY? BECAUSE AQUARION WAS REALLY REALLY STUPID. WHY DID I PAY MONEY FOR THAT?!
