[GoldenXtreme]

Rescue Force is done and dusted! It was an interesting series, even if it didn't always live up to its potential. I always have a hard time writing out my thoughts, so I decided to try and break it down into what I liked, what I didn't like, and just some neutral thoughts and observations.

The Good:

• I think the rescue theme of the show was handled well overall. It definitely drifted away from it later on but it always did feel like a show about saving people. I found it a far better effort on this front than GoGoFive.
• The CGI looked quite good for the time period and there was lots of shooting in more rural areas, which was becoming rather rare at the time!
• It definitely had a unique feeling all around, it was refreshing to see a big TV tokusatsu that wasn't from Toei or Tsuburaya and it often did things in a way that was unusual.
• The commander is great and I think Hikaru and Kyousuke had a surprisingly compelling dynamic, nice balance of them annoying the hell out of each other and being genuine pals.

The Bad:

• There's no two ways about it. This show feels low budget even for a tokusatsu of the era. The lack of suits and props could make the episodes really blur together at times.
• After a certain point you just start to feel bad for Rei and Juri and their sheer lack of stuff to do in most episodes. Rei at least got a decent amount of episodes dedicated to her, but Juri didn't get nearly as much. You definitely get the impression the writers wanted to do more with them but it wasn't "marketable".
• There isn't much of an overarching plot and the episodic plots could be hit or miss. I almost wish the series was half its actual length. I still can't believe that arc about choosing a new commander where Hikaru was made commander for a single episode after a bunch of build up and it was completely undone before the episode was over.
• The R1 Max suit looks awful, I can't stand it.
• This show has a baaaaad case of stock footage overuse. Feels like I'm watching Precure or something...

The Neutral:

• I mentioned this in my previous post, but this show definitely feels like it is aimed at an even younger audience than your standard tokusatsu. This isn't a "bad" thing per se, but it does mean you shouldn't expect anything too thought provoking.
• Man, what's with all the weird horny energy?
• I definitely feel like the show shills Hikaru a bit too much for my taste. I like him well enough but these sorts of characters who push through everything on guts alone without ever majorly messing up bore me a bit. Since the show is aimed so young I don't think it was all that interested in exploring a failed rescue though, so I'll give it a pass.

So overall it was an intriguing experience and I liked a lot of the concepts. I'm very curious about how Rescue Fire compares to this. Is it better, worse, or maybe a bit of both? Regardless it was an interesting look into what lies outside of the more mainstream tokusatsu and I can't help but think about the potential of the series had it lasted more than 2 shows. I'll give Rescue Fire a watch eventually, but for now I should wrap up watching Kamen Rider Saber...