[DreamSword]

FINAL THOUGHTS ON HIGH SCHOOL

DS: Here we are, at the end of the road.

En-chan: Well with that car blocking the way, we certainly are.

Androzani: Well there is a spin-off, but it's not on anywhere I can think to look.

I only know about it due to JP Wikipedia saying there's a bonus episode this season that translates as "Return of Heshikiri-Hasebe."

DS: A shame that it never got subbed then

But for all intents and purposes, we're at the end of our watch. And just like En-chan and I did for Nice Buddy, we figured it'd be best to type up our own separate final thoughts, and then present them in their purest form. With maybe some small talk inbetween and after.

Androzani: Well I'll go first, so we can do this in alphabetical order.

Androzani84's' Final Thoughts:

Now I like to keep my final thoughts short but sweet, and this will be no exception. High School is a very easy entry point for beginners, considering its a third season. And while as a result of being the newbie, I was less invested in other characters from OG and Nice Buddy, I still think we got some memorable moments out of them. The designs took some getting used to, but coming out at the same time as Donbrothers and Revice helped make them a bit more palatable

DS: I can see that. Though it is shame that there's a good handful of references that will fly over the head of anyone new.

En-chan: The new protagonist does help put High School over the edge of potentially being the first season for someone over say a season like Nice Buddy which definitely feels like a continuation.

DS: Speaking of which, En-chan, how about you go next? E comes before S, afterall.

En-chan: Gladly.

ZeroEnchiladas' Final Thoughts:

I'd say High School is a fine addition to Dogengers and an overall solid show. There's a more noticeable budget increase this time around, but I still feel like it keeps the usual Dogengers charm. And I do enjoy the theme this season of 'change' being the core aspect.

Plus, I think they managed to hit the sweet spot for balance this season in terms of structure. While Jiro was our big character for Nice Buddy alongside the Dogengers again, their role got shared with two additional characters who while antagonistic, were just as important to the overall core of the story. As a result it was a very packed season even if it does have one of my favorite toku episodes of all time. Meanwhile High School firmly plants Mako into the protagonist seat with her own supporting cast. The Dogengers meanwhile are placed into mentor roles via the cultural festival. I think in terms of wanting to show off a new hero's story, while also making sure our other heroes aren't fighting for screen time, they did well.

Speaking of cast though, I really enjoyed all the new faces this time around and felt they lent towards the idea of "people can change" rather well. Our new heroes we introduced this season were also fun, Koujin EX and Bincho Fire made fun additions despite their fairly minor roles.

On the villain side, it was surprising to see characters like Shuraomaru and Shadow get episodes where we got to see more sides of them. And it was also nice to see Yabai Kamen back in the main villain seat, he's got that threatening aura back again while being the big goof we've come to enjoy.

A bit of a ramble, but I suppose that's it for me. Overall I enjoyed this rewatch quite a lot.

DS: Oh yeah I agree. Alot of the new stuff that the show managed to come up with when it came to the old cast was a definite highlight.

Androzani: Probably helps that they've been doing three seasons by this point, and probably realize they need to come up with new uses for the older cast

DS: And with that, I suppose it's my turn.

DreamSword's' Final Thoughts:

If I were to sum up Dogengers High School in one word, it'd be "average."

Almost everything about the show is about what you'd expect from a tokusatsu show about, well, a high schooler growing up.

The jokes? They're pretty good. The action? It's fine. The acting? Pretty decent. The music? Standard. The lessons imparted this season? Basically what you'd expect. Everything about this season is, well, normal.

And given how Mako's' entire deal is about her being ordinary, sure, one could argue that it's all very intentional in order to be thematically fitting. Heck, one of the statements this show makes(that I do approve of) is that while change is good, there's also nothing inherently wrong with being, well, a "normie."

But the main issue arises, however, when one remembers that this is Dogengers. The show that prided itself in just how outlandish yet at the very same time down to Earth it could be. While Nice Buddy forewent alot of the balanced tone of season 1 to be alot more comedic, High School swings the opposite direction of downplaying alot of aspects to be more standard toku/high school.

That's not to say the over the top antics are totally gone, of course. But they are definitely more in the background rather than at the forefront. If you're not invested in Mako and her relationships with her various classmates, then you really won't be into about 70% of this show. I was, so I didn't entirely mind, but at the same time I wasn't near as invested as I was with the stories that the previous two seasons had to offer.

Regardless though, I did enjoy what we got, and I'll never completely fault a franchise for trying something new in and of itself. It's just that, in terms of toku shows as a whole? HS doesn't have a whole lot to help make it stand out like what S1 and NB did. Despite that though, the main thing I look for in stories is characters, and I for sure liked all the characters in this season, both new and old. I made a GIF out of that mirror scene for more than one reason, you know. Even Daisuke ended up growing on me!

Anyway, I feel like I'm about to ramble in circles, so in the end, I can think of no more fitting a rating to give Dogengers High School then a 3/6. A perfectly average score for the stuff I review.

Androzani: I think the big difference is that the first two seasons had a fairly new director doing her first major projects, while High School was directed by a guy with 20 + years of working on Rider and Sentai.

DS: Yeah that's definitely one very notable difference. The directing styles are way different between this and the past two seasons.

En-chan: I do find it a bit amusing you hit average considering one of the very last lines in the show very much states that entirely ha ha.

DS: Just shows they knew what they were doing. And hey, I won't hold it against them.

With that, we hope you all enjoyed our (re)watch of Dogengers High School. Metropolis won't be for a good while, but I do hope my homeboys here join me for that as well!

Androzani: I've only seen two episodes of it, so I'm not so sure

En-chan: Well this just means I have to binge Metropolis in the near future then!

DS: The contract has been sealed.