YMMV / Mashin Hero Wataru Series

• Even Better Sequel: The overall East Asian demographic (including domestic Japan) agree that, of the entire series, Wataru 2 holds the best visuals, character/mechanical designs and story execution fit for its world setting. To sum it up, while the first installment was fun, Wataru 2 was fabulously fun.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Being one of the first anime series imported into China, the series is still fondly remembered by many Chinese who grew up in the 1990s.
• One-Scene Wonder: The appearance of an adult Himiko Shinobibe talking with the present day Himiko during the latter's Hidden Purpose Test in Wataru 2 didn't just throw fans for a loop, but it became Fan Fic Fuel on the endless possibilities of what the character could be like in a couple of years In-Universe.
• Sequelitis: Because of a six-year gap between Wataru 2 and Super, most fans who grew up with the original installment and its Sequel assumed the series had ended, thus turned their focus to other shows. When Super was released, viewers noted it took a Darker and Edgier tone in content as a result of the aftermath of what Neon Genesis Evangelion brought to the genre. While it retained elements of gags, the brightness, quirkiness and Rule of Fun for this series were taken out in favor of mental development, accompanied with a drastic change in character design, crude, misaimed humor, questionable direction in animation execution,^note Such as favoring the fluidity of the summoning scene of Ryujinmaru and adding "detailed arms, legs, and heads with their own separate actions" to Himiko's wacky run, which made her look as if she has real Spare Body Parts, while sacrificing various portions of in-between animation quality to squeeze in 5 more episodes than Wataru 2, leading to occasional Off-Model. and the unexplained absence of certain characters; inevitably, Super was attempting to do what Evangelion did. The producers assumed the original demographic would return for Super, while simultaneously introducing the installment to a new audience; however, their other department was also competing side-by-side against Super by working to throw back the gleefulness of the genre post-Evangelion with The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, which successfully attracted the audience towards the latter instead of Super. The lack of support from the series' original fans for Super, including new viewers to the series citing Later-Installment Weirdness, led to overall poor viewership performance. 23 years later, the series got revived again in year 2020, but promotional trailers seem to indicate that this is Revisiting the Roots of the more fun adventure compared to the Darker and Edgier approach as to what Super did.