[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

I'm just surprised that their show is actually such a tattered mess, and rather than Gokaiger attempting to perhaps round off or even unify all the bits and pieces it chooses to just smash them all together whether it works or not. It almost feels like a Neo Saban way of approaching an issue, "well we CAN beat it, but who puts in effort?" and like I say, it's especially shocking from a show that is otherwise pretty much perfect.

The thing that you're surprised by isn't all that surprising to me, having watched a ton of Japanese media.

It seems that the Japanese love to celebrate the imperfections of each popular franchise. It's why the weird-ass jump cuts still exist in Sentai. It's why Ultraman still has the zipper-fin. It's why Godzilla is still clearly a man in a rubber suit.

They incorporate the charmingly flawed elements into the DNA of the show. Even when advancements in technology make those "flaws" avoidable, they still find a way into the show. And when you excise them (as Go-Busters did), Japanese fans react very negatively.

Gokaiger wasn't meant to fix things going forward, it was meant to revel in the past. It's a love letter that celebrates the franchise, warts and all.

Go-Busters was an attempt to usher in that brave new direction you crave, with a brand new continuity and new timeline and everything. I recall reading that it was designed to streamline future shows into one universe (like the neo-Heisei Rider shows). But because it failed so badly on a commercial level, I think Toei apparently abandon that more realism-based, continuity-minded approach.