[Kurona]

Shinkenger... was really, really good! It had a rough start for me and there's certain things I still have misgivings about (too many lessons were way, way too needlessly harsh and naive), but as a whole I honestly enjoyed this season. The final stretch in particular has all the makings of a classic Kobayashi story; she just has to break every single main character she makes -- she can't help herself!

Talking of the final stretch, Kaoru Shiba to me is a great example of how well this writer does characters. It's barely a few episodes but you get a really good feel for what she's like and parallels are expertly drawn between her and Takeru. It's essentially a condensed version of a season-long arc and it just brings everything together so well and... gah, this last part! It's, so good! I even liked the little subtle distance between Kaoru and Genta going on; she doesn't even involve any of his mecha (aside from Ha-Oh) until they actually team up! That's great! It works!

My thoughts are all over the place right now but it was just such a good final 6 or so episodes that tied everything I liked about this series together. Just a shame that Princess Shinken Red and Shinken Brown didn't get to join in the final battle; they earned that honestly.




(also, Shitari surviving was literally just set-up for the Goseiger movie, wasn't it?)