[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

I finished up Exceedraft today. It wasn't bad but it's notably worse than both Winspector and Solbrain in most respects. The show carries forward the human crime oriented angle of its predecessors and has far less video and sound editing jank, but it suffers a lot from feeling like the show just didn't have anything to say. Winspector is about the importance of saving every life possible and Solbrain takes on the challenging idea of saving the hearts of people, but Exceedraft is a cop drama that just says trite things about people and society.

Pretty much this. While I appreciated how the show had more major arcs compared to its predecessors mostly having standalone episodes, I can't really say what the show is about, beyond what the trilogy is about in general. I think it peaked with Solbrain. Honestly, I don't mind Exceedraft being a lesser version, but the way the plot goes to hell left me with a bad impression, instead of what would've been an okay one.

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Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Another minus is that the suits aren't very good compared to its predecessors either (I LOVE the Solbrain suits).

I actually fairly like the overall design of the Try Jackets, although I wonder how they're supposed to see out of those opaque-looking visors. Sync Redder was a big improvement in that sense. I also winced at that early suit-up scene where Ken slaps his face with the metal gloves. Surely that hurts.

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Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

The show also tries to delve deeper into the team members as individual characters, but I didn't feel like it added much, and I feel like the characters involved in the crime of the week tended to get neglected instead. Hayato gets far less focus than Daiki or Ryoma did too, so he wasn't much of a leader figure.

I think the main characters were decent on their own, but yeah, I didn't really feel their dynamic as a team. Looked like there was a hint of rivalry between Hayato and Kosaku, but it didn't go anywhere. Katsuragi got nothing and Ai got screwed by the final arc. They've got nothing on Ryouma, Daiki and Masaki!

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Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

The further along the show goes, the more the rescue aspect starts to feel neglected, escalating into the characters getting combat oriented suit upgrades and... peaking when the show features a war between the biblical God and Devil where humanity is nearly wiped out by God's judgement for the finale? Did Exceedraft just get revived from death by aborting the child of God?! After a certain point I just had no idea what the show was even about anymore.

You forgot to mention the part where God and Devil use Santa Clauses to fight their proxy war.

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Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Largely unremarkable, but with occasional good episodes. Then the show loses its mind. Definitely the weakest 90s Metal Hero I have seen so far, but it DID make me appreciate Winspector and Solbrain even more than I already did. I guess things just weren't the same without Noboru Sugimura as head writer.

Crazy how Miyashita Junichi followed this with Janperson, which we both loved. Blue SWAT could be either high quality or a car crash, I have no idea what to expect from this wildcard writer. I can't even attribute it to being his first time, as the sudden biblical warfare in a rescue police show isn't a sign of poor experience, only poor and deranged narrative.