[Kurona]

I love how different most Toku series are allowed to be even within the same franchise, with only certain fundamentals and visual theming connecting them. Kamen Rider is where you see this the most -- one series could be a detective show, the next a high school drama, the next a battle royale, etc. Any given story you will typically see a lot of variation from the last, and that also means the few times a series does go truly back to the franchise's roots, it actually does feel special and important.

I love how loose continuity is. Even when connections are stressed their hardest in Ultraman, it never feels that restricting and still feels like any show could be a one-off; with continuity just used as a fun tool, something for the sake of setting up cool little crossover movies, and in a way that places less relevance on the literal events that happened and more on revering what a show and its cast was about and what was important and beloved about it.

I love how these shows understand and maintain an important balance for a kid's show: to be completely aware of their target audience and that they are at their core silly and fun, but also respect that audience enough to ask important questions and explore topics that'll leave those kids thinking and expanding their thought processes and ultimately leading them to grow into more open-minded people. Most toku I see have that wonderful balance between not being afraid to put forward those topics but also realising that you shouldn't push it so far that it loses the fun and light-heartedness, which is just as important -- and some of the best shows realise that these aren't strictly separate notions, but go hand-in-hand with an intersected venn diagram where these important topics are approached and peppered with optimism and hope.

I love the sheer unadultered passion you see behind so many shows. Now obviously, this is hardly universal and in franchises this big with corporate toy-advertising control this tight there is going to be a lot of cynicism somewhere; but more often than not I find actors throwing themselves into a role, scriptwriters having fun with the premise, producers and directors feeling an importance for the position they've found themselves in and treating it with a lot of respect. Countless scenes and interviews I've seen of actors, writers, stuntmen and all the rest of the creative team leaving the show with tears and hugs and a sense of satisfaction and hope for what they've achieved.