[Enchilada645]

Favorite New Show of 2020:

Ultraman Z, hands down. It was just a fun ride the whole way through, and it was refreshing to watch Ultraman weekly again after skipping Ultra due to R/B and Taiga not getting simulsub releases. The action was incredible, it had a really great cast, and it was just fun all around. Plus it fulfilled one of the things I had hoped for with Ultra, which is giant robots fighting alongside the Ultra. It lead to some unique scenes and just in general it had some of my favorite reintroduction's to prior Kaiju, Bullton being one of them. Hands down my favorite show this year.

Favorite New-to-You Show of 2020:

So this is a bit hard since I barely watched "new to me" shows but I can give a definitive answer or rather two, Garo: Vanishing Line & Ultraman Ginga(Just Ginga, have yet to start Ginga S). Now one is an anime yes but it's also based on the Live Action series so it technically counts!

Vanishing Line is a real nice look at a more modern/high tech version of Garo that we don't get to really see. Since while most Garo takes place in the modern world, the technology doesn't heavily mix with the Makai Order. At least until we got stuff like Versus Road. So it makes things a lot more interesting, plus I just love Sword and Luke probably has one of my favorite character arcs in Garo as well. So I now ask, WHEN IS MY VANISHING LINE MOVIE?!

Ginga meanwhile was a show I was really absolutely curious about because I had to wonder what it even was given it's reputation. Now I had actually watched it back when it aired and Overtime I think subbed it via a streamer who was watching episodes weekly with an audience. That was the most experience I had with it and I remember not gelling with it. But with multiple Ultra's under my belt I chose to tackle it again and it is easily in my Top 4 New Gen shows alongside Z, Geed and X. What it lacks in budget it manages to make up in heart. Also both the Opening and Ending theme on the Blu-Ray release are just great to listen to.

I make that distinction since Ginga no Uta is technically a second OP used for later broadcasts and releases. The original OP is also cool though.

Favorite Movie of 2020:

Garo Moonbow Traveler, so one of the many themes of this list is going to be catharsis. And oh man, having watched the entirety of Garo last year (Minus Crimson Moon and Vanishing Line) was an amazing experience. And it turned out to work in my favor since Moonbow Traveler was just around the corner. Of course we'd have to wait for a Blu-Ray and then people to sub-wait what do you mean the movie has actual English Subs? WHAT?!

The minute I found that out I torrented it and watched it as I was in for a magical ride. The first half is very much a whimsical Garo experience in regards to the setting it takes place in, and it manages to capture that nice feel alongside a building mystery.

Then suddenly for our second act we're thrown fully into the main portion and final confrontation of the movie. I'll get more to my thoughts on Kouga, hint, hint, but seeing a Grandfather, Father and Son reunion against an old foe was honestly great. And it just knew, freaking knew how to tug at the heartstrings. It definitely felt like a big send-off to the Saejima Universe and also, I appreciate how the ending has basically given Fanfiction Writers the ability to do wacky dimension crossover stuff given what Raiga and Mayuri come across at the end. A concept I want to eventually possibly dable in.

Favorite Male Lead Character:

I have to give this to my boy Haruki Natsukawa, he's a very loud and energetic character. He gives off very big shonen/mecha protagonist vibes and was just a good fit as the host to Ultraman Z. When I was worried he wouldn't go anywhere meaningful I was quickly shut up by a good chunk of the early middle of the show once we got into his past more alongside his dilemma with the kaiju. Just seeing him grow and try his hardest and now seeing where he ended up, it just makes me happy to have been with him on this journey.

Favorite Female Lead Character:

I've got to give this to Izu, and I know blasphemous, I have Haruki instead of Aruto? When Aruto and Izu should be a pair? Not to say that I don't like Aruto, but Haruki edged him out just by a bit. Izu though, an absolute joy to witness alongside her later development. Her banter with Aruto and just the back and forth she had was really what sold me on her.

Favorite Male Supporting Character:

Captain Hebikura aka Jugglus Juggler, while he was a great returning character, he honestly shined when he wasn't really being the sneaky Juggler we know, but as Captain Hebikura. While the dude has some old habits, which admittedly, are just him trying to lie to himself, he's really grown since his time in Orb. So seeing him take a commanding role in the series, and show genuine concern for his subordinates was honestly great. The real highlight was him and Haruki having their chat in the final episode, both their secrets are known to each other and they're just having a casual conversation as they get ready for the final battle.

Favorite Female Supporting Character:

This is going to surprise some people since I'm sure not a lot of people are keen on her from what I see. Yua Yaiba from Zero-One. While admittedly she got heavily shafted once we started the Job Competition, I honestly enjoyed what we got from her arc and what was given to her. Her arc is very straightforward, bare and simple, but it honestly works and I love her shift.

Could it have been done better and in a more smooth way? Yeah, but I'm still sticking with this choice.

Favorite Villain:

So this is going to be another bit of a shocker, and a return to Garo, and no it's not from Moonbow Traveler. It's the duo of Shosetsu Hagiri and Azami Kado from Versus Road. There's just something so incredibly tragic about a twisted Makai Order forcing Knights into a death game and then being killed due to the surviving Knights distaste for what had happened.

With vengeance fueled by someone who is just pure darkness like Azami, they make a pretty good duo that do some pretty messed up things to a hundred humans, possibly even more. But what's satisfying is that in both of their cases, they end up losing. Despite Hagiri's yelling about how Veil is true power, he ends up losing, not by sword but by fist. And Azami is completely lost on Kuon's final speech, not understanding where he's coming from and being frustrated that she can't understand him.

Favorite Returning Past Character:

Continuing with Garo, absolutely, without a question. Kouga Saejima's return in Moonbow Traveler, there's just something great about seeing him again in this movie. Especially once he makes his true appearance in the flesh.

One thing noted is that Kouga does show up in Makai Retsudan but the theme he has is Theme of Makai Senki, the second series' first OP. But once we see him make his full appearance here, we get Theme of Garo from the first series. Just hearing it start up gave me chills and seeing him truly in action again was honestly great.

Favorite Actor:

I gotta give this to my boy Ryutaro Okada who played Isamu Fuwa in Zero-One. He's a real good actor and honestly what made me love him wasn't just his performance as Fuwa, but his Youtube channel where he just jokes around, does funny things with the other actors, and wears a gorilla mask when handling roleplay toys. Honestly a fun dude all around.

Favorite Actress:

Noa Tsurushima is on here because of her just spectacular performance as Izu in particular. I loved Azu, and seeing her get to emote. But just seeing Noa as Izu who has to constantly be shown as mostly stoic, keeping a straight face, and genuinely robotic, is honestly impressive. It makes the moment in Episode 40 when she breaks down even better because of her performance up until that point.

Favorite Suit Design:

Kamen Rider Zero-Two! It's never over. There's just something very nice and aesthetically pleasing of Zero-Two, it's a natural evolution of Rising Hopper, and it's sleek and minimalist look with the added silver and red honestly make it amazing.

Favorite Weapon/Vehicle/Mecha:

It would be blasphemous to not put Sevenger on here, because if you told me I would be in love with this adorable gigantic mecha a year ago I would have just said "Who's Sevenger?" and be blissfully ignorant. I love Sevenger so much to the point I want that Sevenger headband that they had in that one episode, SELL ME THAT MERCH TSUPRO!

Favorite Fight Scene:

This is a hard one, so I'm picking four:

Ultraman Z, Geed, and Zero vs. Celebro: It's a really nice energetic fight set to Ultra Spiral which is an absolute banger of a theme, and we get to see Z and Zero cycle through their various forms, combining forces and it's just great.

The Saejima Family vs. Ouga: There is no fancy Final Hour Power Up, no big new form, it's just Son, Father, and Grandfather sharing armor and kicking ass via their own fighting styles to defeat what is possibly one of the strongest Makai Armor's in the franchise. It's an absolute blast to see them all working together, tagging each other in, and the final slash scene.

The first of my Zero-One picks, Rampage Vulcan's Debut: So there's been a lot of catharsis going on in this list of things I just loved to see in regards to returning characters and etc. But Rampage Vulcan is honestly one of the strongest Secondary Rider final form debuts I've seen in a while. It has energy, it has Vulcan using multiple of the new gimmicks functions, and just seeing all the combined powers before getting a really cool final attack at the end was a treat. Also it was the start of the "Gai gets his shit wrecked" set of episodes too.

My second Zero-One Pick, Ark-One vs. Horobi and Magia Army: Speaking of very, very overpowered forms. Ark-One is a monster of a form and the episode surrounding Ark-One's hunt of Horobi is absolutely great. Just seeing Ark-One littered with explosions, still moving forward, despite being grabbed he just keeps on trucking. Nothing is stopping this behemoth, and he's just disabling every single Magai with just his hands.

And just seeing Horobi, who up to this point has managed to hold his own quite well because, robot/AI, just get absolutely wrecked by Ark-One is scary and amazing to see. Also props to the scene where Ark-One is just walking towards Horobi slowly and charging up Conclusion End while Horobi tried to counter with his own kick only to get it shut down.

Favorite Dramatic Scene:

I have to give it up for Aruto vs Horobi in their final battle, the emotions in that scene, both people who are in pain because of the losses each other caused. Both of them coming to the realization that this can't be kept up, and that they need to end this cycle of violence in a different way, it was honestly just great.

Favorite Comedic Scene:

Can I just pick the entirety of Ultraman Z Episode 13? Yeah I'm going to pick the entirety of Ultraman Z Episode 13. It's a good bit of levity with some serious moments, but the real fun and funny parts come from Haruki trying to hide Kanegon from both Hebikura and Yuka, one of which is screwing with Haruki and the other Haruki fears is going to dissect his new alien buddy.

Biggest "WTF did I just watch?" Moment:

Saber's first big Wonder Combo finish via Dragon, Hedgehog, Peter Fan, I mean honestly if you know what I'm talking about, I shouldn't really have to go into detail. That was something I did not see coming and just kept yelling at the screen while cheering loudly because holy hell that was amazing but confusing!

Favorite Song:

Listen I have to give it up to Chant My Name Z, Masaki Endoh killed it this year with the song and it's nice to see that he got to sing for Ultraman. As for my second favorite song... something that only got revealed about a week ago actually, the ending theme for Saber's Winter Special that double billed with Zero-One RealxTime, Taju Rokou:

It's got a nice mix of funk and jazz that I really appreciate alongside the energy it brings. Really fun song.

Favorite Piece of Merchandise:

I'm going to say Zero-One Driver with the Zero-Two Unit, I had managed to snag that two pack and eventually got it. Honestly the Zero-One Driver is fun and I just love the way they were like "Behold, we have turned it into a new Driver via a Faceplate swap" they did with the Zero-Two Unit, and subsequently have done for everything else too.

Biggest Surprise of 2020:

Ultraman Z's Youtube run being a Simulcast Sub release only 30 minutes after it airs in Japan. That honestly made my night and I was just yelling with joy as I shilled people to watch Ultraman Z weekly.