[Byg42]

Favorite New Show of 2022: Ultraman Decker
Coming off Trigger which I still managed to enjoy though it has a lot of problems, I was cautiously optimistic for how Decker was going to turn out. Thankfully, my optimism paid off as I am loving Decker. Unless the finale really tumbles hard, Decker is probably going to end up in my top echelon of New Generation shows. What I love most about Decker, beyond some of its unique aspects and traits, is that it's a really well executed "back-to basics" show. I feel it hits a lot of the core tenets of Showa/Early Heisei era Ultra and it feels nice to have a show that really hits the fundamentals of Ultra. In fact despite the show's sequel nature, I think Decker would be a really good introduction to Ultra. I feel one of the biggest hurdle to watching Ultra is that they require a different mindset and expectations compared to say Rider or Sentai, it's one of the reasons it took me a while to really get into Ultra. Decker I feel hits a lot of the common ideas and themes present within Ultra and so it serves as a good intro to how the franchise operates.

2nd behind Decker would Donbrothers. Donbrothers is an absolute wildride but I've also fallen really far behind on the show, so I need to catch up on it. I think more than anything, it along with Zenkaiger and Kiramager form a really interesting set of shows. All 3 shows feel like responses to Sentais faltering popularity and all 3 shows do it in completely different ways. Kiramager stuck to tradition, delivering and executing an almost perfected version of Sentai's common ideas and tropes. Zenkaiger pushed tradition, putting the Sentai formula in new territory and being almost avant garde in what it could get away with. Donbrothers broke tradition, breaking every rule you think Sentai was supposed to follow and thus has been really unpredictable and exciting to watch.