Because I love Tokusatsu to death, it’ll be natural if I would have my own list of favorite Tokusatsu. But for 2012’s sake, I’ll list the top 5 of my favorite ones. To be honest, 2012 is a so-so year for Tokusatsu, as we got the bad ones for the majority, and the good ones are just for a while. Find out why in my list!
5) Kamen Rider Fourze
This series should be in my most hated list, where it would be on #5, but because this is aired in 2012, it has to be in my ‘favorite’ list. It originally premiered in 2011, which back then it was a great show and had a lot of potential. But that went down, drastically. The only good things that I can list in this series is the secondary Rider, Kamen Rider Meteor, as well as the episodes directed by Koichi Sakamoto. If Koichi Sakamoto directed all of the episodes I would forgive this series, because when he directed it seems so good that even the goofy things are forgivable.
But Mr. Sakamoto must deal with the filming of Fourze’s movies, which caused him to be temporarily replaced by various directors. This is when the show starts to get boring. Sakamoto tends to utilize every Astro Switch possible in an episode, while other episodes directed by other directors only use the important ones, the States-changing Switch.
But like I said, Kamen Rider Meteor is a really good addition to the series, and possibly why the series still stands. Through Meteor, we get some really unique ideas for a Kamen Rider, which is the Bruce Lee fighting style incorporated to a Kamen Rider.
4) Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Despite airing in the majority of 2011, the seven last episodes of Gokaiger made it to 2012. To be honest this is my favorite Toku in 2011, but I gotta put it in the 2012 list because well, it ends in March 2012! This series is basically a perfected version of Kamen Rider Decade, and really makes the anniversary series looks good, as well as capable of being a stand alone series. For the whole review of the series, click here.
3) Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters
This is one of the series that I REALLY can’t wait to do a review of the whole series. This series is the first Toku that I started doing weekly reviews, although by weekly I mean episodes. To be honest, this is one of the decent-to-great level of the Sentai, but for some reason people tends to hate it, bash it, and ignore it. And why? I’ll give a glimpse of why. The series was overshadowed by Gokaiger’s popularity. During the airing of Kamen Rider Fourze it is considered, at least for me, that Sentai beats Kamen Rider for the Super Hero Time, until the arrival of Kamen Rider Wizard.
I honestly don’t wanna talk much about this, because I wanna save it for the review. And the reason why I love this series is two characters, Beet J. Stag & Enter. I’ll tell you why in the Go-Busters series review in early March.
2) Hikonin Sentai AkibaRanger
Take Gokaiger, in make it a parody. A hell of a parody. Then we got AkibaRanger!!! Seriously this is the series that all of the Tokusatsu fans enjoyed, because the main character is pretty much like us! The only gripe that I had in this series is the total of episodes, 13. Luckily, as the time of writing, it’s been confirmed that AkibaRanger season 2 will be filming sometime this year!
One of the things that this series contribute to is the sells of SH Figuarts. The appearance of the three Red Rangers guarantees the release of their SH Figuarts. So I hope in season 2, they will feature more Rangers and hopefully, more Figuarts!!! And because SH Figuarts MMPR Red is scheduled to release this year, maybe AkibaRanger will feature TyrannoRanger too?
1) Kamen Rider Wizard
After the disappointment of Kamen Rider Fourze, Wizard came and wins us back to the Rider franchise! While only 16 episodes have aired so far, the story proves to be good, and hopefully it stays or improve better, unlike Fourze. This series will most likely make it to the favorite 2013 list, but let’s see if it stays on the top spot. One of the reasons I love this series is the usage of gimmicks. Unlike Fourze, Wizard tends to spam a lot of his gimmicks, to add the feel of having a magic-powered Rider. I hope in 2013 Wizard will be greater and hopefully be one of the best Rider series like W & OOO.
SengalBoy 