[Kurona]

Favorite New Show of 2020: Chant my name!!



Ultraman Z!!!

This was... magical, for me. Easily jumped the ranks as my second favourite Ultra show already between its superb, lovable cast and its dynamic action -- but something I especially have to draw attention to is the simulcast. A bold and amazing choice on Tsupro's part that not only made it much more accessible (and with fantastic subs to boot!) but also made it such an experience watching along with other people! I often end up working weekends so I didn't truly get to experience this as much as I could what with it airing at 1:30AM for my time zone, but when I did get to tune in it was just a bunch of fun with friends and acquaintances alike. There's no category for it so aside from just 'favourite new show', let me just say this is my favourite thing of Toku in 2020. Not gonna be forgetting this one any time soon.



Favorite New-to-You Show of 2020: Standing here doing nothing won't get my anywhere!!



Geeeeed!!

Or, perhaps... just Ultraman as a whole, as represented by my favourite?

I've seen a lot of people say they've been experiencing time ~weirdly~ during 2020 due to lockdown, and while I can't entirely relate due to being an essential worker and hence having a schedule that way; I definitely get that feeling when I remember that wait I only started watching Ultraman this year?! Not only have I by now seen everything from the Zero movie onwards as well as about a third of Tiga, but I've already gotten so many favourites and so many feelings and thoughts about this franchise and, man, I'm disappointed in myself for not checking it out earlier! Standing at the top for me is Geed, which is fitting as I feel its strongest points lie in perhaps working like a very standard Ultra show; which I think is the best possible way to stand in contrast to the evil dad set-up. It's a rare case for me where before I started the show I thought it'd be my favourite, and when I finished... yeah, it was indeed my favourite! Just for very different reasons than I thought I'd have. Awesome, awesome show; in an awesome, awesome franchise.



Favorite Rewatch of 2020: Taka! Tora! Batta! Kaigan!!





It might seem weird to be cheating on this when Kamen Rider OOO is my favourite Toku show ever, and Kamen Rider Ghost is something I'm much more middle-of-the-road about. But we're not talking about shows, we're talking about rewatches, so when it comes to that? I've been having a blast with both.

First of all it's the first time I've ever really rewatched more than a couple episodes of a toku show; the first time I've actually sat down and started watching an entire season all over again -- so both of them are very special to me right off the bat for that, but with both of them it's interesting just how much more I've been noticing. I've been getting a much clearer idea of Takeru's character; noticing little hints dropped in early on that inform us about Eiji; subtle thematics going on with the Musashi Damashii; Gotou's story unfolding; a deeper respect for what Ghost was doing and a re-inforcing of everything I loved about OOO. I might like one a lot more than the other, but I'd never drop either in a million years.



Favorite Movie of 2020: Majesty Time!



Is Geiz Majesty the best V-Cinema of all time?

Granted, it's not like there's a lot of competition here -- one of the things I'm saying in its favour is that it's competent and has a clear, solid arc for our main character that's dedicated to the new setting; and can you really say that of like, New World bringing back Evolt or Gaim Gaiden doing... doing whatever the hell Gaim Gaiden did? But I digress, this was just a great movie. It gets points immediately for finally patching a hole in the W tribute with an in-series actor, and I like how those returning actors actually inform the journey of Geiz -- the roles he and Tsukuyomi were placed into in Zi-O's new timeline seemed very generic and by the books in the series finale (in a way that was fine and fitting), but here it's hard to not get invested. You seriously just want to see this kid get on with his life and do what he wants without all these Kamen Riders bursting in and demanding his power or whatever! It's a solid movie and for that, yeah, this is something I didn't expect to like but gave me a great time.



Favorite Character: I'll turn ZAIA to scrap!!



Zero-One really just made Fuwa one of my favourite Rider characters ever, huh?

Do I really have to say much for him when every single scene he's in demonstrates why? He's so good he practically became the main rider for a while; his journey from his hatred of Humagears to instead becoming perhaps their greatest ally and going rogue against ZAIA instead is beautiful; he's an intense character whose forceful personality is just so strong it inspired his actor to adlib a lot of lines and actions that he felt were in-character... this guy's gonna stick with me for a while. Zero-One is a series that frustrated me every chance it got, but Fuwa's so good he done all the legwork in making me enjoy this show.



Favorite Villain: This is where I should smile, right?



She's just so cool, yeah??

Like Yodonna kinda came out of nowhere and took over the show, and I'm not complaining! Kiramager is a fun show and she is a very fun villain. It's not like Garza and Crunchula were having a hard time entertaining me (they're so, so good), but you throw Yodonna in there and you've got a perfect dynamic. She raises the stakes, she's constantly coming up with great plans, she actually gets along pretty well with one of the other villains; what's not to love?



Favorite Returning Past Character: Besides, I'm a suspicious alien



I can't believe he's still angry about that fucking tree.

Could it have been anyone else? Juggler is one of those characters who is just... completely impossible to pin down and a joy to watch. The fact his actor came back for the show had me and a lot of friends freaking out for a few weeks of Z trying to figure out whether or not it was Juggler of if all his actions were an elaborate joke about the shared actor; and then the episode preview for 4 showed his head popping up behind Haruki out of nowhere and I screamed, and yeah, that's kind of what his character is. It's great having seen him grow into a real leader as well yet lose nothing about what makes him a joy to watch, and I dearly hope this isn't the last we've seen of him!



Favorite Suit Design: Gathering Round!!!



Maybe no surprise with how much I like Fuwa, but fuck I love Rampage Gatling.

It's the perfect example of a suit I hated from the scans but then absolutely adored the moment I saw it in motion. It's just an outright beauty of a design with a clean, 'refined' Shooting Wolf on one side and then a chaotic tangle of broken robo-animal skeletons on the other; a perfect representation of Fuwa which is then topped off with the 'feathers' of each animal around one of his eyes just because it's cool. Oh, and then the gimmick item gives his Shotriser a completely new visual identity; because this form wants to tick off all my favourite points! Love this thing!



Favorite Weapon/Vehicle/Mecha: Maybe it's too soon for humans to have this technology...



It seriously, seriously doesn't get much better than this! Maybe the biggest thing on a wishlist of "Things I'd want a mech-using Ultraman Military team to do", yeah; taking King friggin' Joe and modifying it to somehow be even cooler wins points for me! It's always cool to see the normal humans get to be on the level of our rubber-suited heroes, and that's exactly what this cool as hell mech allows Yoko to do. Perhaps the most I've ever been tempted to pick up a DX toy!



Favorite Song: One To Two, Zero Two

Yeah, so, uh, just in case you haven't heard any songs from the Zero-One movie; they're all amazing! This one especially that perfectly mixes the main themes of Zero-One and Zero-Two is nothing short of perfection. Zero-One in general had one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard in Toku, and I'm glad to be repping it here!