[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER GHOST EPISODES 47 - 50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I don't know if they'll stick the landing, but I'm not currently seeing the show everyone seems to hate.

I would say, over these final four episodes, that Ghost, like, 65% stuck the landing. It's definitely more good than bad. For all of the hue and cry that everything is terrible at the end of the series, I just really didn't see it. I thought this show ended way better than it started, that's for sure. I mean, there are some problems with these last few episodes. But, yeah, a pretty solid ending to a drastically uneven show.



The main reason why I think the ending was mostly successful is, man, when this show dials into its themes, it really knows what it's doing. I wasn't crazy about Adel as a villain, and I think the show underplayed his mania to the point of blandness early on, but it all really comes together for the conclusion. The idea of the war between the hero and villain being about empathy made for an incredibly unique final battle. Pitting Adel, someone utterly lacking empathy, against Takeru, someone with limitless empathy, really made the series as a whole feel like it was about something. There's thematic heft to that conflict. Adel is someone who shuts out connection, belittles sentiment, needs to isolate himself. Takeru is someone who needs to connect with others, who cares so much for everyone, who desperately wants to return to a life with his friends. Putting them in opposition raises the subtext to text, and the decision to redeem Adel becomes a welcome change from the usual "we have to blow up the villain" climax. It's moving, and it stays true to everything the show has been building towards.



Wwwwwwwhich is why the second climax, with the Ganmeiser Great Eye Combo, is such a letdown. Thematically, they're not saying anything. They're just machines, and they loathe human emotion, but it comes from a place of logic. They just want logical perfection so they're going to kill everything. The idea of empathy, of connection, isn't part of their approach. All of the things that came together at the end of Adel's story gives way to some giant Armageddon for Takeru to punch in the face. It's dull, and it's unnecessary. Much like the way the show sacrificed a ton of storytelling momentum with two first acts, it squanders its emotional punch with a second, lesser, boss battle.



And then there's the Special Final Episode. What should be a combination of two things I care about, an epilogue with characters I'm invested in and an appearance by characters from my first ever Rider show, this episode just dragged for me. The epilogue for the Ghost characters didn't get much space to breathe, and the Ex-Aid stuff felt too "FINALLY something fun will happen next week!" And I love Ex-Aid! But they overshadowed the character work, and that's not really how I wanted to leave Ghost as a series.



And I'm actually a little surprised how much the Ex-Aid stuff bugged me. I really, genuinely liked Takeru by the end of the series. I was fascinated by what the show ended up doing with Alain, with Specter, with Javert. I wanted to see more of those reformed anti-heroes and villains. I wanted a better sense of what came next for this world, because, yeah, I liked it by the end.

Now, don't get me wrong, I liked it by the end. This series has a bunch of flaws, which I've been talking about for a bit. The first half is rough, and I wouldn't blame anyone who quit because of those stories. But, there's some really fun stuff buried in the second half. I don't think this series is as bad as its detractors would have you believe, but I don't think it's as good as its defenders say, either. It's a messy series, and not always in an interesting way. I'm glad I watched it all, though. Thanks for letting me talk about it on these boards!



Oh, and I'm not done done with Ghost. I've got a ton of miscellany to go through: Hyper Battle Videos, music videos, some Alain thing, Rider Damashii videos, the Specter movie... I don't know what all, there are a lot of files in this folder. After that, I'm gonna rewatch the Ex-Aid movies, then it's onto Build. Hopefully I'll see you on those threads!