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Kamen Rider Die watches Masked Rider Agito
Hello. How's your 2020 been so far? I've spent a couple weeks watching the new season of The Crown (great cast, good episodes, didn't really get a sense that the season was a complete unit of storytelling), dealing with a bogus, malicious Yelp review of my business that went hilariously viral (dude managed to make up a story that made him a laughingstock), and kicking around these boards a bit. It's been good to spend a couple weeks resetting my brain after bingeing Kuuga, but now I'm refreshed and ready to jump onto the next Heisei series.
So, yes, hi, welcome back. My name's Kamen Rider Die, and this is going to be a thread where I watch Masked Rider Agito and talk about my experience. I'd be thrilled if you wanted to talk about it with me. A little background, first. I still describe myself as "new to the Kamen Rider franchise", since I've only been at it for not quite two years. (March 16th is my Riderversary, which is maybe something I should find some way to celebrate this year!) In those two years, though, I've watched what feels like way, way too much Kamen Rider. I've done the following series in the following order: Ex-Aid (Best part: My first ever Kamen Rider show! // Worst part: That demin-clad dink who stalks Nico in the Another Ending movies.) (I talk about rewatching the movies here!) Amazons (Best part: Jin Takayma! // Worst part: Finding out that a movie whose plot is best summarized as "Kamen Rider vs Never Let Me Go" could be infuriatingly bad.) W (Best part: Shotaro and Philip's chemistry. // Worst part: How the show squanders Wakana at the end.) OOO (Best part: Ankh! // Worst part: Not applicable.) Fourze (Best part: Flawless string of opening episodes. // Worst part: A bit of wheel-spinning in the last third.) Wizard (Best part: Last few episodes, the way the main plot concludes. // Worst part: Besides Beast and Rinko, I'm not sure a single other protagonist worked for me.) Gaim (Best part: Character development for miles, every character grows and changes... // Worst part:...except for the female characters, who, if you'll pardon the expression, are left to wither on the vine.) Drive (Best part: Theme song! // Worst part: My shattered heart, thanks to Heart.) Ghost (I talk a ton about it here!) Build (I talk a ton about it here!) Kuuga (I talk a ton about it here!) Which is a lot! Holy shit, it's a lot. Seeing it like that, uh. That's, that is a busy 22 months. Wow. Yikes. Anyway, so that's my background with the franchise. Over the next few weeks, I'll be watching Agito and posting some impressions here. A few things I should mention in advance, if you haven't read through one of these before. First, PLEASE DON'T POST SPOILERS FOR AGITO (OR RYUKI THROUGH DECADE AND ZI-O) IF YOU'VE SEEN IT ALREADY. I like to go into these cold, without any expectations, so please try to stay away from even teasing where the story might go. And, since I'm going to watch the other Heisei shows I haven't seen yet, please try and steer clear of talking about those on this thread. Second, I MIGHT SPOIL OTHER SHOWS I'VE SEEN. If you want to stay unspoiled on those shows I referenced up top, the Phase 2 Heisei stuff and Kuuga, this is maybe not a great thread for you! When things line up for comparisons, yeah, I'm probably going to refer to another show, mostly Kuuga to start with. Just, forewarned. Third, I TAKE THESE SHOWS WEIRDLY SERIOUS AND ALSO KIND-OF NOT AT ALL SERIOUS. It's hard to describe. I approach these shows as art, not just entertainment. I want to see what themes are being expressed, what the producers are trying to get across to the audience using the medium of Children's Superhero Program. I may legitimately forget to care about things like form changes and suit tweaks if there are Big Emotions happening in the storytelling. But, these shows are also entertainment, so I may goof around with things, riff on characters I don't like, make up names for people if it's easier for me, and just generally try and have a good time watching and talking about a Kamen Rider show. Finally, maybe most importantly, THESE THREADS ARE PARTICIPATORY. I like talking about how these shows are working (or not working) for me, but I love hearing how you feel about them. If you've got something to say about the episodes, or my take on the episodes, I definitely want to hear it. It's been a blast connecting with other fans through these threads, and they're a real part of why I want to keep talking about Kamen Rider. I think that's it for the preamble? I feel like I've gotten all the important table-setting out of the way. So, on to MASKED RIDER AGITO! Ostensibly a new hero! Presumably a new legend! GET ON! https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/agito00.png |
Ooh, this should be fun! The way I like to describe Agito is The Best Show No-one Ever Talks About. Seriously outside of the occasional token "oh yeah, that one was pretty good", this is the one Heisei Rider no-one ever seems to have a take on. Which is a shame! Because it is pretty good! Probably MORE than pretty good!
But that's all my opinion and you wanna go into it fresh, so "No-one Ever Talks About" is probably as good as can be for you. There's some conceptual stuff I could say but I think that's best saved until a few episodes in when all the cast and stuff is set up and you've got to know em a bit; so for now you just go awaken that soul! |
MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODES 01 - 03
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/agito01.png Are we 100% sure that Agito isn't just the subtitle of the second season of Kuuga? Like, is that settled case law by this point? Because, you guys. You guys. This show... it's just more Kuuga, for better or worse. Let's start with the better, since (and maybe you'll be as surprised by this as I am) there's more of it than the bad parts: holy shit this show looks great. If you'd've asked me to guess how many years passed, production-wise, between Agito and Kuuga, I'd've said five or six. It all looks so much better to me than Kuuga did. The action's shot better, sure, but this one's just so much more stylish to me than I found a lot of Kuuga. There's so many cool shots in the premiere alone, with Ryou's pool workout, Shouichi and Ryou passing each other on the stairs (crazy foreshadowing energy for days), the G3 introduction, the Unknown murder scenes, it all looks more accomplished and assured than I thought Kuuga frequently came off. It's like they found a way to tell the Kuuga story with more energy, more drama, a tighter pace, a better plan each episode to move the story wherever it made the most sense. It's Kuuga scenes, but done with more flair. And that was the overall feeling I got from the first three episodes. It was Kuuga, but I was into it. Kuuga has this reputation of being realistic, of being gritty, of being serious. But, the flipside is, it could often play as dull, as grim, as self-serious. Agito so far is Kuuga without the parts of Kuuga that bothered me. There's no constant reminder of what time of day a scene is happening in, or exactly what prefecture a character is in. The body count is rising, indicating a need for a rapid response, but not skyrocketing, indicating that the heroes are doing a terrible job. Scenes get in and get out, instead of lingering on inconsequential movements and blank looks. The monsters get a group name immediately, even if it's just The Unknowns. Agito's full Agito from the first episode. There's a reason why the monsters are killing who they kill, rather than just slaughtering whoever is closest to them. New Ichijou (Nijou, I think that was his name) gets to have a Kamen Rider suit to be a part of the action, rather than the action having to warp around his presence and skill-set. There's a bunch more things (I don't hate the new Nana even a little bit!), more than I could've hoped for. It really felt to me like an improvement over Kuuga in basically every way. But, it's just an improvement over Kuuga. I wanted a new show, and I got Better Kuuga. I mentioned in a different thread (probably the Rewatches Ex-Aid Movies one) that one of my favorite things about Kamen Rider as a franchise is the ways stories are allowed to end. That a cast leaves the stage, to make room for a new cast, a new set of stories. And, yeah, this series may lack Godai and Ichijou and Enokida and Sakurako and Nana, but it does not lack Handsome Hero Who Wants To Make People Safe And Happy, Action Cop, Scientist Cop Lady, Academic Who Knows About The History Of Magic Powers, and Teenager Who Has A Crush. Like, those are a pretty specific batch of character types! They sound real familiar. (Nijou looks disturbingly like a younger Ichijou. They even gave him the same goddamn haircut! They are making these comparisons way too easy for me!) I'm sure Agito will differentiate itself from Kuuga, but, Jesus, I couldn't believe how much this felt like a recast second season of Kuuga. It's better in every way, to me, but so familiar that it's distracting. https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/agito02.png |
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Watching the first few, I kind-of get why. I'm not sure (yet?) why someone would need to watch Kuuga and Agito. They are very, very similar shows, and Kuuga has the shine of Got There First. I think Agito is an improvement, for sure, but it doesn't really have the uniqueness of the other 19 Heisei shows. |
Oh, wow, that was quick!
Well uhhhh. Yeah, sweet, glad you're enjoying it! "Kuuga but different and with more style" is definitely an impression that's not surprising. Especially because the precedent of the way Showa Riders did things was still prominent and because Kuuga done pretty well, Agito was in fact originally conceived as just "Kuuga 2". I believe Agito was initially supposed to be an 'evolved' form of Kuuga in a similar way to Black becoming Black RX, and you can certainly see other elements in there too -- the Unknown operating and having a style very similar to the Unidentified Lifeforms; the Police having a massive presence and their having Rider technology feeling like an advancement over what they learned last season; a lot of mystery and ancient mysticism in general... it's all pretty clear. G3 as well is visually very much based on Kuuga himself, and obviously you've got the little direct callbacks to the Unidentified Lifeforms and "No. 4" as your screenshots showed. That said... it was originally conceived as Kuuga 2, but eventually the concept moved away from that and it was retooled into something different. Many of the same themes and directive choices are still there (such as the heavy involvement of the police and how the Unknowns operate), but eventually the show does start to move away from that and develop its own identity much more solidly. |
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Agito is not pretty good. It's the BEST of the Heisei phase 1! :thumb: Also, it's the best of all KR shows that Inoue Toshiki wrote. :thumb: |
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