[Kurona]

I've been avoiding talking about it because I didn't want to steal Akiba's thunder, and I ESPECIALLY didn't want to spoil them; but I've also been watching R/B -- in fact, I finished it last night and watched the movie and Ultra Galaxy Fight today. And BOY did I have a good time!

It's not exactly my favourite Ultra of what I've seen, but compared to what I'd heard about it being meh or middle of the road I loved so much of what it did. The first half of the series decided to be a meta-textual commentary on older fans' views on and reactions to Ultraman and arguably the Masked Hero genre as a whole, which. Love. A little earlier on in this thread some of you all described Katsumi and Isami as "Ultramen who don't care about Ultraman", and that so perfectly describes what I love about it. I'm not sure I need to describe what's so great about Aizen obsessively collecting Gai look-a-likes to become a warped screwed up version of Orb because of his half-remembered memories of his favourite Ultraman being cool and awesome and amazing; if you get it, you get it, and it's a great time. And then the season decides it wants to get serious at the halfway point! And despite such a sudden turn, it does it in such a way that it feels totally natural and cohesive and how the show was all along!

And how it achieves that is because... despite that new emphasis on a more higher-stakes story with legitimate emotion and feeling to it, R/B at its core is an emotional story about a dysfunctional family wrapped in comedy. The first fight in its entirety is joke after joke and gag after gag; Aizen gives Kuroto Dan a run for his money; whacky family hijinks are always present... and it all works. It just. All works. It never feels like it's going too far even when it's completely off the rails or that it's being too pandering or whatever; all the comedy just feels like a natural part of the show and a legitimate storytelling element, because... how else would you tell a story about the Makotos? Isami's an obsessive hair-trigger scientist who dives into danger at the drop of a hat; Asahi's a hyperactive schoolgirl who smiles at any and every situation; U-tan's the funniest dad with the worst fashion sense running a clothes store; and Katsumi's the only sane one of the bunch practically having to run the place. It's a wonderfully dysfunctional family that thrives on comedy, allowing them to both be entertaining and give way to some lovingly wonderful depth.

Not saying too much more to not spoil too much for Akiba (in short though: loved Asahi and Tsuru's relationship; the last few episodes adds a certain element that just makes everything better; the movie was great and episode 18 was nothing short of comedic masterpiece), but suffice it to say this was an Ultraman season that went out of its way to entertain me and surpass its expectations. I'd go as far as to say that it's my favourite Family Toku so far, and I'm so glad I took out the time to watch it.