[Locke]

IT'S TIME FOR FINAL BUSTER!

For all of its epic action, the nicest thing about this finale was how subdued and most importantly...final it was. I mean there was some pretty melodramatic set up, but the episode knew when enough was enough. And even during the very melodramatic parts, it was strongly acted enough that the melodrama was easy to swallow. I've said it before, but chemistry between casts like this is oddly rare in sentai, despite it being a team focused show and I really wish we had more teams with this tangible a feeling bond.

Also was really surprised to see, in this day and age, that Jin actually died. I would normally complain about a character exit like that, but with the amount of toku that creates EPIC character deaths and then retcons them five minutes later this was really nice.

Out of all the sentai shows I've finished, it probably has the best core cast I've ever seen. Gokaiger will probably take that spot when I finished it, but just for now, what an incredible cast, what an incredible set of characters and what wonderful acting.

Most importantly this is the first, and probably only sentai in the last fifteen or so years, that doesn't feel like it's still trapped in the early 90s - at least for me. This is a high concept show, which adds much needed fixes, crucial updates and modernising across the whole production and it works for great effect.

For whatever reason sentai seems happy to just exist in this permanent bubble where the stories, special effects and characters never really change, they just put them in a new set of clothes - pretty much literally in sentai's case. This a franchise that doesn't seem so much scared of change, but is simply perfectly complacent in a comfort blanket homogeneity, this seems to be a Japanese Culture thing as this is something that seems to permeate through pretty much all typically Japanese mediums, franchises etc Some westerners love it, but me not so much.

With that in mind, I am so so so grateful for Go-Busters existence, this is a season that rejects your homogeneity, refuses your nostalgia and attempts to play on, mix up and experiment with every cliché of the franchise and whether it's ultimately a success or not is up to you, but either way, rock on Go-Busters, you crazy rebel.

So...it's your new favourite show? Eh...not really. There is kinda an elephant I've been waiting to address. The main reason Go-Busters hasn't been immediately propelled into my favourites is that well. The writing kinda sucks. The show gets action, it gets the franchise, it gets characters but we're missing a crucial thing here - story. It easily has worse storytelling than Dairanger and more filler than Kyoryuger, it's that bad. It's messy, it's unfocused and poorly paced. It's a show without a single feeling of urgency, that still somehow manages to find a way to slow itself down all the way, slow itself down to the point of irrelevancy.

This show is almost completely directionless, it has THREE endings and maybe this is because of alleged behind the screen crap but it doesn't make the viewing any better. Go-Busters bumbles its way to each of its three endings, and with two of those endings the show comes back with an entirely different tone and focus that actively makes pretty much everything that comes beforehand feel entirely purposeless.

Overall Go-Busters issues make it more of an average series for me, I mean the series itself isn't "average" but it's not as horrible as Dairanger, not as fun as Kyoryuger and although in many ways much more progressive than Goseiger, I just liked that season more overall. The only real people I'd give this a straight recommendation to, are those who don't like sentai. Because it does attempt to be so unique, and mix up the formula so much, it's pretty much THE sentai for non sentai fans. And I think they could do a lot worse. Take from that, what you will.