This is something I've actually been super curious about when it comes to Trigger. (I think Sakamoto?) said in some interview early on that the main goal with doing a new Tiga was the idea of trying to leave that kind of impact on today's kids, and I always kind of got the impression from the way Trigger was written that it *would* be something children would easily get really into, regardless of what us curmudgeonly older fans think about its quirks. If kids were out there begging their parents for the merch more than usual, I feel like that is legitimately pretty dang vindicating for Trigger.

Was the response that divisive in Japan? I know it got pretty mixed reception here, but I have no idea what the reaction was at home.

I can see that. I almost half wonder if all those kids in the finale were kids who were already watching Trigger.
The only frame I have is Reddit, which...yeah.

"24 Hours Inside Xio" might be my new favorite Ultraman episode.

Same here! That episode was just magnificent! Not only does the style work great, but it's absolutely hilarious and provides a fun look inside the everyday life at X.I.O. Definitely one of my favorite Ultraman episodes ever.

I've started watching R/B. Never finished it the first time around, so I want to give it a fair shake. It's better than I remembered so far, but oh man are the transformation scenes way too long.

I never really understood the antagonism against R/B. I kinda think that too many were unfairly comparing it to Geed and we're disappointed that it wasn't Geed.

I've been watching Leo and rewatching R/B. Leo is.... something (good? bad? both? neither? I DON'T KNOW), but man, I'm really enjoying R/B. Maybe more than I did the first time watching it! Although:

It gets better later on but yeah, it's rough at the beginning.

It felt very tonally different, which I think was part of my problem. I'm not having that problem now, though. In fact, the family aspect reminds me a lot of Revice and some of the things I like about that show.

The lack of official release also made it more obnoxious to keep up with the series when it was airing. Since I wasn't that into it, it got a lot easier to just drop the show.

I assumed it would, but the fact that the early episodes had to do the full toy demo twice every time Blu and Rosso did anything just made those moments drag so much.

New Episode Z trailer:

[youtube]wKkpTIqeBAo[/youtube]