[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rei

Takeru got only from meh to OK for me. He's got a few good moments, but it's a bit difficult to get with him at times. Really, it's a bit hard to buy his "Wah, I'm a Ghost!" schtick, but it's not really a point where I disliked him.

Honestly, I think maybe people don't fully appreciate the escalating stakes for Takeru and how strong he is for continuing to carry such a heavy burden that I don't think any Rider before or after has actually had to deal with. Sure, for the first 99 days, it's just his life on the line and he does exactly what you expect a hero to do by putting others' lives before his revival.

But a lot of people call his second 99 days a deus ex machina or consider it to be a good thing for him without any bad consequences at all. And that is completely untrue. He may get more time, a shiny new form, but all of that, as Edith very explicitly points out, comes with the heavy risk of what Ryu is willing to sacrifice. He can't stake his life since he's already dead, so he stakes his afterlife on Takeru's revival! From that moment, Takeru has an obligation to revive, or his father would lose literally everything of himself. That's a lot of pressure! Takeru experiences the partial destruction of his own soul later in Episode 33 and it's only thanks to his friends' wishes that save him. Even though his show only lasts 6 months in-universe, he's been through a lot. So when I think of who is my favorite Primary Rider, who is the most heroic, selfless and brave, I immediately think of Takeru. The infinite potential of humanity isn't something to be taken lightly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rei

Adel and the Ganmaizers are terrible. Just terrible. Boring, uncharimastic, petulant, did not deserve how he went out. He should've been dead in the 30s and have the Ganmaizers take over.

The Ganmaizers are such gorgeous suits that's completely wasted on a waste like Adel.

The Ganmaizers look amazing, they probably should have been a team and gain sentience early on and have individual personalities that contrast Takeru's thing with the 13 eyecons and the other riders.

But no, all of them share Adel's voice mostly and say the same thing.

And then Adel gets replaced by the Great Eye at the end anyway. I don't think he really deserved that final scene with him. The Great Eye's repaint suit takes the final villain slot anyways and it's SUCH a weird ending. I don't know what to make of it, really. Genm's there, that's neat.

But the whole philosophy of Adel and the Ganmaizers was that individuality is stupid and all life should be assimilated in to a single perfect consciousness. So for the Ganmaizers to all think and talk the same is a deliberate contrast to the 15 (not 13) Heroic Eyecons, who had very different ambitions in their time, but they believed passionately in those ambitions and dedicated their lives to accomplishing them.

Adel's redemption isn't even about whether or not he deserves it. After he killed his own father and confessed to killing Takeru's father, I also thought he couldn't be redeemed. Even Onari, the best moral support in the show, has a crisis of faith due to the severity of his crimes. But Takeru takes the lessons of the Heroic Eyecons to heart and believes that he can still reach Adel. The fact that he's able to forgive him means Onari is able to forgive him and honestly, I kind of wanted to forgive him as well, for no other reason than Takeru believed it was possible. It just shows that he's a really great guy!