[Switchblade]

The problem with having seen so many different Rider shows and liking all of them is that it's really, really hard for me to pick just one favorite Rider character. Yusuke, Kotaro, Hibiki, Shotaro, Ankh, Date, Shiro, Keisuke... I really can't narrow it down.

Thankfully, I haven't seen nearly as much Sentai and it's pretty easy for me to highlight my favorite Sentai character: Umeko from Dekaranger. Umeko is, on paper, a character I should absolutely hate. She's the cute, tiny, hyperactive, childish girl that pops up in a lot of tokusatsu, anime, and Final Fantasies. Now if you've heard me talk about Akiko from W you'll know that I really hate these kinds of characters. But Umeko is an exception. While she does exhibit a lot of those immature genki girl traits, that's not the sole point of her character - she can also be very serious, brave, angry, hurt, kind, and all kinds of other emotions. A lot of the other examples of this character type don't have that range. It also helps that even when Umeko is being silly, it still feels natural for the character and not forced - it's just Umeko being Umeko. A lot of the credit probably just goes to how awesome Mika Kikuchi is.

Every time she was on screen she stole the spotlight, every time it's her focus episode it's one of my favorites, and she even managed to make the giant alien baby episode really fun. My favorite Umeko episode is the one where she tries to emulate Jasmine, complete with the narrator getting in on the gag. "Umeko is not an ESPer."