Go-Busters, the show so far
 

Well Boys & Girls its Destroyman back from the grave with a brand new discussion thread.

So since we've hit the half-way point by now, I thought it'd be a great time to talk about how the shows been going, where it might go & if its changed much since it first started.

So without further ado, DISCUSS!

I think it's probably better to talk about where this show hasn't gone :(

I was really pumped at the beginning but I knew that whatever came after Gokaiger wouldn't be nearly as good by comparison. I lowered my expectations appropriately. But even that wasn't enough.

This show has/had promise. Ryuuji is a great Blue. He's animated, fun, great in suit voice, best buddyroid. All around great dude. Yoko is cute and from time to time interesting. But Hiromu is like the Heero Yui of Gobuster. Boring, emotionless, and utterly without passion. Nick is a damn transforming robot motorcycle that some how is still boring and Usada is the most useless highly advanced robot ever!

Jin and J are nice additions. Although I still can't stand that Magi Yellow is Jins' actor. The kid is on the way wrong end of the snaggletooth spectrum to play someone as badass as Jin. J is brilliant. Easily the best standalone character of the series. A smart ass 'imperfect' robot that can also henshin. What more could I ask for?

To be honest all of the support characters are so bland and cookie cutter it's painful. Enter is an interesting villain but Escape is just awful. And the mecha, dear god the mecha. Individually is where all of the Gobuster mechs shine. Literally every combined form I've seen is just an atrocious mess in both show suit and DX toy form. The concept is there, the design is mostly there, the execution is painfully lacking.

Overall I feel like this show had tons of promise with a relatively creative/new plot. The mech battles are filmed fantastically and made to feel very real. The characters can be interesting when taken as a group but taken individually very few of them shine. The biggest problem is that nearly every episode feels like filler with fluffed plot in between to keep us interested.

I may sound harsh on this show but it just had so much promise and really hasn't delivered. I'm hoping that whatever revelations lead to the use of the Super Modes and the new mech Tategami-RaiOh will be good. Those 2 things look like the turnaround point of this show. As we stand right now, at the halfway point, I don't think I could convince myself to ever watch this show all the way through again.

^ I think you're way too harsh on the series, Den-O.

As for me, I have wanted a show that distinguishes itself from Gokaiger, and Go-busters definitely delivers. Real time henshin sequence? Check. Wrist morphing device? Check. An overall serious tone? Check. MOTW that actually do things differently (by separating Metaroid from Megazord)? Check, check, and check. I like all the characters, and I feel that while they aren't as razzle-dazzle as the Gokaiger cast, they feel more real and not just caricature or archetypes. Maybe it is because the head writer is Kobayashi, who also wrote Timeranger, Shinkenger, and OOO, but I think she got the characterization mostly right. The mechs are great with or without combination, and the miniature battles are the best I've seen in recent sentai series. I think the show got a bit slow after episode 15 or so, but recently it definitely picked up the paces, and we're getting more info on not just hyperspace, but also avatars.

There seems to be some disappointments toward the show, and given that it follows the wildly popular Gokaiger, I can sort of understand, but I don't think it deserves all the criticisms leveled toward it. Hopefully eventually it will convince even the naysayers and convert them into fans of the series.

I partially agree with Den-O. I love Masato as he is and am finding Escape to be pretty fun so far. I'm also willing to forgive the clustery combined mech because of how great the solo mech stuff is.

Where I'm with him, though, is in the plot. It really doesn't feel like there's any kind of over-arcing storyline here. Monsters show up, Go-Busters beat them, repeat. There's no attempt to infiltrate Hyperspace for a rescue mission, no attempt to shut down Messiah, it's just an unending string of defensive battles. I like that they show is doing some different stuff, but without a solid story behind it all I'm finding that I have little impetus to keep up with it (I am, but new episodes can sit for days or even weeks before I get around to watching them).

I've really enjoyed it thus far. A lot of fight scenes seem kind of redundant from episode to episode. But Super Sentai has always been like that. I guess it just seems different now because Go-Busters are not nearly as flashy as Gokaiger, it's immediate predecessor.
I feel that the redundant elements make the unique story elements stand out more. I like the characters. Familiar, but different. As for the mecha, I think they look great. Combined or not. A lot of this show I would say rides on how they answer all the questions it brings up.

I want to love Go-Busters more than I do. Its got great suit designs, a fantastic villain in Enter and individual mecha fights that put pretty much every other Super Sentai to shame.

But that being said, there's so much dullness about it too. Ryuji is the only interesting character out of the main three, and even he only really grabs my attention when he's in overheated badass mode (such as last week's episode). Even though I was critical about them in their debut, I've grown to really like J and Masato and now their appearances are the only things really holding the team together for me. Then there's the combined mecha, who couldn't be less exciting if they tried. And this is coming from someone who doesn't mind clusterf**k mecha on the whole.

But if there's anything I say this show lacked, I'd say its heart. Its not something I can describe as easily as "the characters are dull" or "the mecha are rubbish" but even though there's so many radical differences in the series it just feels so by-the-books and samey. Nothing seems to stand out any more, and while after the first few episodes I thought this would turn out to be another one of my favourites now I find it more on par with average series like Gaoranger.

I still love Enter though. Just like Goseiger, its strange how I find all my favourite villains in the weaker shows.

Every time I think that it just gets nulled out by a chicken phobia.

To this day I have no idea what went wrong with this series. It had such promise as a spy series but as others have stated there's no heart and soul to the characters and that's sad considering the head writer was the one who did Timeranger,Shinkenger and OOO. I'm willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt, but if things don't pick up when we get the lion bike I'll just follow Wizard until we get the next Sentai team.

Go-Busters reminds me a lot of Transformers Prime; the designs are mostly great and I have a lot of fun watching it but there's not a lot of quality storytelling or depth in any of it.

Honestly, I really like the show, I will agree Hiromu and Yoko are kinda bland characters, I also think Hiromu gets way to much attention for such a bland character, my biggest complaint would have to be Messiah, he's just not a great villain, all we've seen him really do is wine about every little thing Enter does wrong, and then make Enter and Escape do everything for him.

On the other hand, Enter is a really good villain, and the highlight of the show, at least until Jin and J showed up. Jin and J are great characters too, and I think the show really picked up with their appearances. Ryuji isn't the best character, but I can't help but like him, plus I really liked in the last episode that he overheated himself just to fight more efficiently, plus him and Gorisaki are a great pair. I also really enjoy the Mecha designs, both combined, and not, the fights are really well done too.

Cheeda Nick and Escape are okay characters, but the rest of the supporting cast are pretty much just as, if not more, bland than Hiromu and Yoko.

Agreed, that's the only part of the series that makes me die a little...


Speaking as someone who loved Gokaiger to death, I honestly think Gobusters is better.

It addresses my biggest issues with Gokaiger, and we now have a villian who's competent, and can be taken as a legit threat, and mecha battles that I can give a damn about.

This statement breaks my brain :lol Competent villain? Did Basco not fill that roll? Enter is competent in that he is skilled and has great plans, but they near constantly fail. And Escape is like every anime fan character babe stereotype ever rolled into one.

Basco was the only competent villain, the Zangyaku always annoyed the hell out of me. The series makes them out to be this force that took all the sentais to defeat, and yet on screen they're a bunch of bumbling fools. The one time Walz Gills shines through as a legit threat, and they end up killing him off...by the time they introuced Acdo gills, it felt like it was too little, too late.

I'd say Go-Busters is pretty good. Ryuji's pretty cool, even if he's too much like Renn. Hiromu's alright. I'll agree that Yoko's bleh. Jin is awesome. J is great. Enter's way cool. Escape is whatever. Messiah is whatever. The MOTWs are cool, for their design and the fact that they're the first monsters to not grow in at least 30 years. And oh god, I do love the music. I can confidently say that I dig all the music and songs in Go-Busters. Even the ending theme's pretty good.

Just discovered this gem, and decided it further adds to Enter's awesomeness...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBE53yVKYzA

Yeah, Enter is an awesome villain. He can have his own silly theme song and still seem menacing.

I'm very disappointed with the show. It started out really strong, by giving us a surprisingly good cast of rangers, an awesome villian, and some of the best mech fights in a long time. It had a fresh feel to it with its real time henshin sequences, its realistic take on everything. Then after Enter obtained the data for a new Megazord, the show fell into a slump. It took forever to move Enter's plot and when he finally did unleash the new Megazord, it was no match for Stag and Beet.

Ever since, the monsters either run from battle way too quickly or there is no sense of a threat going on. Hell, even the Megazords don't really seem to put up a fight anymore because they know they are just going to be destroyed by Gobuster-O. ANother problem is the rangers have hardly done anything. Its nice that they have finally been outside after 20+ episodes, interacting with people, but it is too late.

It's one of those series that started out with great ideas, and has dwindled into just going through the motions. And of course, they introduced Escape, but as of right now, she seems to be there solely for fanservice over anything else. Enter is pretty much the only reason I am still watching the show, but if he doesn't do something in the next few episodes, I might jump ship.

Honestly, I'm just here to enjoy a fun action show with enjoyable characters. It mets those requirements and I really don't think it needs to be anything else right now.

See, I'm not even enjoying the action because it is over when it just gets started. Take episode 24 for example. The rangers are battling Cottoncandyroid while Enter is battling Jin. Those two are having a nice fight, but then Enter just stops and says they got what they needed and they leave.

This series had so much promise and felt very different than the past Sentai series right off the bat, but then it seems like the writers just didn't know where to take the show and it's now going nowhere. Every show feels like a Deja Vu of the one before, with decent ground action, meh Mecha action, and a boss (Messiah) that doesn't absolutely nothing except complaining to Enter. Just when will we get to really explore the Hyperspace where Hiromu and Yoko's parents are at? Is Masato going to help them get there or is he going to hang around forever? BTW Hiromu is the blandest Red Ranger I've ever seen (out of the 5 or so Sentai shows I've watched so far) and only J, Masato, and Enter have my attention thus far (Escape, sadly, hasn't appeared on the show enough for me to judge).

BTW despite some obvious flaws Gokaiger is head and shoulder above Gobusters in terms of action, story, and characterization. It's not too surprising that Gobusters have the sagging ratings thus far. It's not interesting enough a show to hold audience's attention for long. I'll keep watching but I am more looking forward to KR Wizard at this point.

I'll keep watching it as well but I'm none too excited for Wizard either. I have the same bad feelings about it that I initially felt about Gobusters. I'll keep watching Gobusters because I'm already half way through and I might as well finish. Other than Tategami Rai-Oh appearing I'm not holding out for much more.

Okay. I made it through episode 5 and I am booooooooooooored. When do Beet and Stag show up? I'm hoping they'll add something, because right now? I'm considering just going back to watching Gokaiger. Or trying Akibaranger.

Thought you were loving it? :p
Beet and Stag first appear at the end of episode 14.

I was loving it. Then the love turned into an epic storm of mehness. I don't absolutely hate the series, but it doesn't.. do anything for me anymore. I'm hoping that Beet and Stag might help return some of the love. Otherwise I'll just go back to watching Gokai.

Trust me, nothing happens when Beet and Stag appear.

Now you know how the rest of us felt during Goseiger. :p

Seriously, though, nothing ever happens on Go-Busters. There are a lot of episodes with cool moments, but the show as a whole is slower moving than a dead snail. If you can't put up with it for the occasional flash of awesome, then you probably shouldn't bother.

Ha ha.

Yea, I think then I'm just going t finish off Gokaiger. Atleast there there's entertainment. Marvelous and Doc alone are worth the price of admission.

Haters gonna hate...

While the characters are far more straight laced and not as charismatic as the pirates. That could be lent to the fact that the characters were essentially raised from childhood to be spy's and fighters , seriously how much fun must that have been?

I also enjoy the fact that much like Riders , they can beat monsters single handed when need be.

Never said I hate it, Meteor. I save that for Ninja Storm. That show takes up all my Haterade reserves.

That's no excuse though.
If you want to see the Showa equivalent, check out Sun Vulcan. Bad characters really bring a series down, regardless of backstory.

rightfully so. Ninja Storm was terrible.

I don't know. The problem I'm having is it sometimes wants to be this exciting and dramatic spy show and make the whole mech deployments more realistic . . .but it also wants to be this goofy wacky show with the robot Banana Splits and . . .the two don't really mix, and the overall effect is something that's not wacky or dramatic and is just kinda there for a half-hour.

I don't hate it, but there's not much that really grabs me, either.

Robot Banana Splits. Never has there been a more epic description of anything, ever.

That hasn't bothered me, actually. The tone of the show is fine; mostly serious but with the requisite goofiness that comes from being a Sentai. What's bothered me is the lack of plot development. The main drive for most of the characters is to rescue their parents from Hyperspace, but what have they done towards that end? Fuck-all, so far. Occasionally they'll bug Masato about Hyperspace, but he always blows them off and, instead of pressing him, they move on to tell ghost stories or dress up as clowns and juggle. The first twenty-seven episodes of the show are pretty much just a bunch of done-in-one MotWs with little to no ramification on anything important.

Thankfully it seems like Toei is fed up with the increasingly bad ratings and are forcing the writers to actually introduce ongoing plot elements. The most recent episode actually set up a variety of important plot points and the preview for next week shows even more. It's actually possible this show may yet find a story to tell.

Or, and probably more likely, after next week we'll get a block of episodes where Hiromu's wacky uncle visits, Yoko becomes an idol, Gorisaki ruins Ryuuji's ironing, and J can't join the team in battle until he bakes a little boy a birthday cake. :rolleyes

Seems legit! Sign me up for the ironing episode and the j bakes a cake :D

Dont you dare tease me like that. If J doesn't bake a cake i will be outraged.

"Behold, my birthday cake!"

Does anybody else wish Ryuuji was Red Buster? He is way more interesting then Hiromu. Not that Hiromu is horrible, his abrasive thing gets old and kinda makes me look forward to the Gokaiger/ go-buster movie. I just wanna see Marvelous bitch slap him.

I just wanna see Marvy's reaction to Hiromu's chicken weakness.:lol

I can't believe I forgot we'd be getting one of those down the line. Should make for an interesting dynamic that's for sure :lol

I can totally see Marvelous eating on a chicken leg when he meets Hiromou and offer him some. :lol

PS Marvelous didn't even slap/punch/maim GoseiRed, only flicked him on the nose. I think Marvelous will find Hiromou entertaining more than anything.

PPS I want to see J and Luka fight over Enertron. It's valuable, afterall :D