Tokusatsu (2): The One with Trains

...OK so a looong time ago I promised myself I'd talk a lot more (frequently) about tokusatu. And then I realized my knowledge was incredibly biased and limited, and then I kinda left it at that. Also, not being in the country means I have really limited access to info on the newer stuff.
This weekend, I pulled out my stash of DVDs and watched a bunch of them.

• Several Japanese films (well, films with Masato Sakai or Hidetoshi Nishijima in it, because that's how I choose my films, obviously).
• Gundam 00 <First Season>, or the anime that utterly broke my senior year to shreds. *weeps in a corner and eats chocolate*
• Slam Dunk - BEST SPORTS MANGA EVAR. I will fight you for Jin-san. I swear.

and then,

• Kamen Rider Den-O

Kamen Rider Den-O was aired in 2007-8, in the now famous Super Hero Time slot on TV Asahi. And as the title so clearly implies, it is a part of the major tokusatsu TV series, the Kamen Rider series.
I won't go into details or about how intensely I obsessed over it in senior year, because I will go on forever (or very close to it). This is my absolute favorite Kamen Rider title of all time.
What got me was the intensity of the story - seriously, this was really deep for a 7:30am kids' show - and the characters. Time travel, paradoxes, sci-fi, life and death, consequences, the importance of memory... This was the first show that I ever really considered the importance of the screenwriter in a television series.
Yasuko Kobayashi (the lead writer) simply stunned me. I loved the way she wrote Hana and Kohana and all the girls. She was also incredible in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (Super Sentai series), but that's another story.

Oh, and how fun it was. Den-O was intense and there were lots of drama and sadness and plots that were waaaaay too intricate for a 10 year old, but it was incredibly fun. Every week was so entertaining and gripping, it got me incredibly invested. It was clear the writer(s) knew the characters very well. They were treated with care and so much respect. I guess that's what really got me invested. Every character was so distinct and flawed and real (sure a bunch of them weren't human but hey, anything goes). Everyone had their own goals, their own worldview, their stake and meaning.
(This also goes to how Yasuko-nyan wrote Shinkenger - her characters are all so incredibly "human" and incredibly appealing.)


My favorite character? Urataros, hands down. I love that sneaky turtle.