[SloopSloop]

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid:
-Good: There's a lot here, from the suits to the hints of Gaim-scale plot, but I'll say the dedication to the video game theme. Little things like calling the Christmas power up an "event item", or the Mario block-bump in the most recent episode (I know, I know, not 2016, just an example) really are great little bits for gaming fans.

-Bad: Still not entirely convinced killing off Kiriya so soon was a good idea. If they go somewhere with it, like it continues to drive the story or they make a point about how he never achieved his goals and that's how life is sometimes, it could work, but we'll have to see.

Kamen Rider Ghost:
-Good: I struggle to say anything good about Ghost besides the suits, but I'll say his debut in Drive's movie...had the tone and visuals of the show actually been anything like that, the show might have been watchable. I also enjoyed the historical figures' characterization, had they been a bigger focus (maybe a Den-O situation where their personality overrides Takeru's when using their eyecons), that could also have saved the show.

-Bad: Takeru is a glowing example of how not to do a protagonist. Especially when it became clear that neither the actor nor the writers were capable of giving him any semblance of personality, so instead they made the other, better characters sit on the sidelines and do nothing but spew about how great he is twenty times an episode.

Kamen Rider Amazons:
-Good: The last two episodes before the season 1 finale. Seeing the team finally get it together to kill Sigma, only to lose it immediately in the wake of Tlaloc and Mamoru's instincts awakening was delightfully tragic.

-Bad: The actual finale. It was clearly written before they knew a second season was a sure thing, which I get. Even so, what was the point of naming the episode after Mamoru right after he goes rogue if they weren't going to kill him? We'll have to see what they have planned for him in season 2, but he was barely even in that episode. He's like the anti-Kiriya, they should have killed him sooner.

Re-watch:
-Good: The only old show I watched this year was Gaim, for the first time. I watched it when Ghost was reaching it's zenith of badness, and it was just a breath of fresh air. Deep and intriguing story, characters who change and grow...I really wish I'd been in the fandom when it was actually airing.

-Bad: Except I still can't make heads or tails of the summer movie. It was like they were trying to redo the whole show in two hours, but also add in more new forms and riders than they had time for...it just flowed so weird. I also can't believe they made a suit for Kamuro, had it onscreen for three seconds, then turned him into a cgi soccer ball. Seems like a waste.

The Fake Leather:
-Good: I want to say Kamen Rider Heart, just because I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who likes that suit. But I'll say the parka ghosts in Ghost- the little references hidden in each of them to the historical figure, the way they usually fit well with the base suits. Seriously, why wasn't that kind of effort put into the rest of the show?

-Bad: I fully believe anyone who doesn't like the Ex-Aid suits is allergic to fun, but Sports Genmu is just a color theory nightmare beyond what even 90's aesthetics can make acceptable. It looks a little better on Ex-Aid, but the asymmetrical wheel placement still bugs me.

Henshin Belt:
-Good: Couldn't tell you why, but I really like the Mach Driver. It's bulky, but sleek. I like the way the bikes/cars fit into it. It's just...yeah, I really don't know why, I just like it.

-Bad: The Megauloader. The idea is cool, but the amount of button pressing and rotating required to operate it is ridiculous, even for Kamen Rider! The lack of sounds for 90% of the eyecons doesn't help either.

Weapon:
-Good: I really love the Gangun Hand. It's another one where I can't quite explain why. I think the hand aspect reminds me of the macabre tone Ghost could have had. Also, rifles are cool, and there should be more of them in KR.

-Bad: The Gashacon Keyslasher is super blah. Maybe I'm just disappointed that it's based on a keypad rather than a key like I initially thought from the scan leaks, but the fact that it doesn't physically change for the different modes is disappointing compared to the other Gashacon weapons. The axe mode is especially lame, it's just a bladed hand-guard. The least they could have done was made it possible to hold upside down for that mode.

The Vroom-vroom-vrooms:
-Good: I love the idea of the bike being another rider, but Lazer isn't my favorite aesthetically. I think that goes to the Tridoron. I know it's not a bike, but it just has so much more in what it can do than most rider machines. I also really, really liked the Iguana Ghostriker, but the base bike for it was really boring.

-Bad: The flower bikes in Gaim were really boring, especially in comparison to the two other lock vehicles.

Villains:
-Good: Most times in a show like this, when a villain kills a character as popular as Lazer, that villain tends to get some dislike. I haven't seen any of that towards Genmu, and he's probably my favorite character in Ex-Aid now that Kiriya's gone. He's scheming and overpowered in a way that's actually well written, and you can just tell there's something about him we don't know. Also, he's basically an evil version of Shigeru Miyamoto, how can you not like that?

-Bad: In some ways Adel was the perfect villain for Ghost, because he was just as bland and cliched of a villain as Taker was of a hero. His redemption was particularly half-hearted and dumb. Also, the scene where he sat on stone chair with no clothes on in front of his sister for a really long time. That was weird.

Movie Taisen:
-Good: I've only seen two of them since I haven't gotten around to watching Drive yet, but of the two, Movie War 2010 was a ton of fun, and a decent ending to a story as baffling as Decade. I'm surprised it seems to be so disliked, the way the stories meshed was well done and the full out war at the end was really cool.

-Bad: Again, only seen two, so I'll have to say The Great Sengoku Movie War. It wasn't bad, just kind of meh, partially because I haven't watched Wizard and don't intend to, and partially because I think Bujin Gaim could have been a more interesting character. Who is he? Why is he so different from the other Bujin Riders? How did he know Future!Mai? Given the placement in Gaim's timeline and the blood orange lockseed, I wonder if he's related to Saver at all? He's a character I really wish they'd come back to.

Epilogues:
-Good: Really more of a mid-logue, but I enjoyed the Zangetsu and Duke Gaidens. It's kind of a shame the Duke one was clearly setting up for a third set of Gaim Gaidens that didn't happen and got shunted off into a novel instead, but the Zangetsu one is a nice, self contained story.

-Bad: What the heck was going on with Baron Gaiden? The retroactive foreshadowing to Lord Baron was nice I guess, but the whole decision to frame that story as a twin-swap comedy featuring a random fictional country's power struggle was just...what? What in Gaim's story led them to that idea?