[Locke]

I have to say, Kuuga is a lot more enjoyable to watch now he has his Gold forms because they make the base forms less 'special'.

It's no longer about showcasing those forms, it's about showcasing the Gold ones and so now he switches Base forms multiple times in a single fight, the purpose and use of each form becomes much more obvious and makes for much more interesting viewing as Godai makes the most out of each forms purpose. The forms are pretty uninteresting in themselves but used in combos with others and you start to see signs of all the cool stuff the Rider's would be able to do in the future shows.

Plus, I will forever love Godai's motorbike martial arts, the bikes really aren't all that relevant to later series but Godai's bike, along with Gouram which fits to the bike, really is his greatest weapon.

I also really enjoy the way this series is grounded, a Toku world where actions have actual consequences?! Even stuff like basically reusing monster suits is given actual purpose in the story, whether initially done for budget reasons or not.

Kuuga is not a great show, to be fair it's not even a good one with an oddly dour and adult story coupled with rough fight sequences but when episodes are good...man they are really fucking good, some of the best Toku I've watched. And that is because, minuscule budget or not, this series just has so much heart, imagination and effort put into it and when that actually makes it across to the viewer it's just a joy to watch, warts and all.

Also, she may not be able to act, but I've got the biggest crush on Sakurako.