Added by jenndubya on 23 Jun 2016 04:56

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Counting Down the Best of Yasuko Kobayashi

Sort by: Showing 16 items

Decade: Rating: List Type:

7.7

7.6

Ressha Sentai ToQGer

Head Writer
(36/47 Episodes)
Producers: Hajime Sasaki, Takaaki Utsunomiya, Kei Ishikawa, Koichi Yada, Akihiro Fukada

ToQGer felt very much like Kobayashi was on autopilot and not reining in her other writers. While she did write quite a bit, it's almost as if all of the writers did not actually watch each other's episodes and just wrote whatever they wanted.

While not a bad series, it's also easily her weakest work from what I've seen. Which is mostly either the sub writers ignoring her or producer interference - or possibly both.

jenndubya's rating:

7.4

8.3

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (2009)

Head Writer
(42/49 Episodes)
Producers: Motoi Sasaki, Takaaki Utsunomiya, Takahito Ooori, Koichi Yada, Akihiro Fukada

Shinkenger is at a bit of a disadvantage because it is the earliest Kobayashi season that I have watched and don't really have any desire to re-watch it.
However, despite the fact that I sometimes get story elements/character traits of Shinkenger mixed up with Power Rangers Samurai, I still know that it's not at all a bad series, and definitely not my least favorite of her works.

jenndubya's rating:

7.5

Denji Sentai Megaranger (1997)

Writer
(13/51 Episodes)
Head Writer: Junki Takegami

It's a bit shocking that, in her first Super Sentai writing job, she was given a lot of very plot heavy episodes to write - despite not being the head writer. Particularly involving the Silver Ranger.
But she did a good job, and obviously impressed a lot of people, if they brought her back as head writer the following season - and continued to regularly write for the franchise for several decades.

jenndubya's rating:

7.9

8.2

Seijuu Sentai Gingaman (1998)

Head Writer
(38/50 Episodes)
Producers: Kenji Oota, Shigenori Takatera, Koichi Yata

Kobayashi's first job as a head writer and... there's definitely some kinks to be worked out. It's not bad, but there are some holes to be mended. Like tweaking a couple story bits that came out a bit too boring and not making the female villain's story an afterthought.

jenndubya's rating:

8.5

8.6

Garo: Makai Flash Knight (2011)

Writer
(1/24 Episodes)
Creator: Keita Amemiya

She only wrote one episode of Makai Senki, and so it becomes a little unfair when I'm judging a single 25-minute episode against a bunch of 50 episode series.

jenndubya's rating:

6.6

6.8

Garo: The Animation (2014)

Head Writer
(6/25 Episodes)
Creator: Keita Amemiya

I was excited to get to this season because I like Kobayashi's work and like the Garo series, so I was surprised at just how little that she wrote. She was the only writer on the project to have any prior connection to the series, which is probably why it takes so long for it to actually feel like the Garo that I know and love.

jenndubya's rating:

7.2

Zero: Black Blood (2014)

Head Writer
(6/6 Episodes)
Creator: Keita Amemiya

While I do think Makai Senki is the more solid Garo show, Kobayashi was allowed to shine so much more on Black Blood seeing as she wrote the entire thing (as opposed to a single, one-off episode).
It helps that, among the main trio, you have a veteran who is used to his role, a young actor who got his start in one of Kobayashi's shows (Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon), and an actress who followed Kobayashi to her next project (Ressha Sentai ToQGer).

jenndubya's rating:

960

8.3

9.1

Attack on Titan (2013)

This is a tentative ranking based solely on the first two seasons.

Head Writer (Seasons 1-3)
(9/25 Episodes - Season 1)
(5/12 Episodes - Season 2)
Creator: Hajime Isayama

I will say this, episode four was very much a "Kobayashi episode" - in a good way. I had not checked the writer of it beforehand, yet immediately knew she was the writer by the time the credits rolled.

6.5

Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive (1999)

Writer
(11/50 Episodes)
Head Writer: Junki Takegami

While I normally wouldn't rank it this high among the shows as a whole, Kobayashi's GoGoFive episodes are some of the most heart-wrenching things I have ever seen. Especially notable since she wrote episode 34, my favorite episode of this season. And, while it didn't all have to do with the writing, that was still a major part.

jenndubya's rating:

7.4

7.8

Kamen Rider Amazons

Head Writer
(26/26 Episodes)
Producers: Shinichirou Shirakura, Naomi Takebe, Motoi Sasaki, Atsushi Kaji, Daisuke Furuya

While most people would usually have polarizing opinions when a gritty tokusatsu comes onto the scene, I see Kobayashi's name and I at least know that I'm gonna have a bunch of feels.
Amazons does just what it intended to do. It put Kamen Rider in a realistic setting, with realistic emotions, without sacrificing the genre. (The Amazon in a wedding dress from S2E01 is one of the most tokusatsu things that I have ever seen!) The show is also gory, but when you consider the original Amazon from 1974 had the lead character regularly slice open monsters every episode, it's not gory just to be gory.
Kobayashi also got me to not only like the Mole, but made him one of my favorite characters that I am super invested in. Not that Amazons was all that similar to the original 1974 series to begin with, but she kept the one thing that I hated about the original and made him lovable.

jenndubya's rating:

6.9

7.7

Kamen Rider Den-O (2007)

Head Writer
(45/49 Episodes)
Producers: Atsushi Kaji, Shinichirou Shirakura, Naomi Takebe

Kamen Rider Den-O is Yasuko Kobayashi's best take on a comedic show that I have seen thus far. Sure, she is no stranger to injecting comedy into her shows (and some of those episodes are my favorites), but it was never the backbone for most of those stories.
Although don't get me wrong, Den-O still has elements of Kobayashi's classic emotional storytelling for anyone who likes that too.

jenndubya's rating:

7.7

GoGo Sentai Boukenger (2006)

Writer
(11/49 Episodes)
Head Writer: Shou Aikawa

Boukenger is the sentai with the least amount of Kobayashi influence on this list, but she still was at the helm of some damn good episodes. Like Natsuki piloting the robot by herself, Chief getting rejected from adventure school during an undercover sting, Red and Silver playing mommy and daddy, and Pink and Yellow mowing down mooks with machine guns!

jenndubya's rating:

7.7

7.9

Kamen Rider OOO (2010)

Head Writer
(38/48 Episodes)
Producers: Kengo Motoi, Naomi Takebe, Kazuhiro Takahashi

Honestly, the only reason this drops down to #4 is the fact that Kobayashi did not write the 40th anniversary movie and tie-in episodes. I mean, good on you Shouji Yonemura, but this is a Kobayashi list not a Yonemura list.
When I started this season, I did not realize how many characters I was familiar with through memes and such. Underwear man? Check. Blond dude with the monster hand? Check. Freakishly strong girl? Check. Creepy man with the creepy doll? Check. I started watching solely because of the kick ass theme song and had no idea that any of those people were in it.
Because of this, I was scared that my expectations were too high, but every episode was just so good. It's the perfect balance of tokusatsu silliness with the classic Kobayashi storytelling that tugs on your emotions.

jenndubya's rating:

7.6

7.4

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (2003)

Head Writer
(49/49 Episodes)
Producers: Takeyuki Okazaki, Toshiyuki Takesawa

While I was in the right age range, I did not grow up with Sailor Moon. (For one, I was a poor child who did not have cable.) Although, for some reason, I still know the dub's theme song way too well.
After joining the tokusatsu fandom, I very quickly learned that the live action series was a thing, but didn't really see the appeal of magical girls at the time.
However, when I finally decided to give this series at shot, Yasuko Kobayashi sold me so hard on Sailor Moon. Every time I felt like backing out, she pulled me back in tenfold.

jenndubya's rating:

8.5

7.7

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters (2012)

Head Writer
(36/50 Episodes)
Producers: Motoi Sasaki, Naomi Takebe, Gou Wakamatsu, Koichi Yada, Akihiro Fukada

While the main three characters are not super lovable, they are endearing enough that I'm still really invested in what's going on. And no one is badly written/portrayed that it brings down the story.
On the villain side, Escape is probably Kobayashi's best written female villain that I've seen to date. Dayuu and Glitter/Noire are not bad, but Escape's rise and fall is just so much of an emotional journey that the others don't stand a chance. (And Shellinda, Lila, Beryl and Mezool suffer from Generic Female Villain™ problems.)

jenndubya's rating:

8.2

8.1

Mirai Sentai Timeranger (2000)

Head Writer
(40/50 Episodes)
Producers: Ken Fukuyoshi, Jun Hikasa, Koichi Yada

Timeranger is easily Yasuko Kobayashi's magnum opus of everything that I've seen thus far. I frequently just put on a random Timeranger episode and enjoy. It's just so good and I don't have time to rewatch full shows all the time.

jenndubya's rating:

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Yasuko Kobayashi is an anime/tokusatsu writer and one of Toei's most prolific female writers for their live action shows.

This is a countdown of every Kobayashi written show that I have seen, ranked from worst to best.

Because I have not seen every show that she has written, expect new shows to be added periodically.