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What are you watching? (Kamen Rider Edition)
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06-10-2019, 09:59 PM
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15382
Fish Sandwich
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
Ryuki 9-10:
Another trip into the Inoue Zone as Zolda's introductory arc more or less wraps up. I'd be lying if I said these episodes are anything other than quite good. Everything ties together in a really solid way, leaving Kitaoka as a character with enough layers and likability that anyone would want to see more of him. There's also a lot of great humor here, which is something I find Inoue actually excels at writing, to the point it's almost a shame melodrama seems to be his preferred style. There's a few tasteful hints of that toward the end here, but the emphasis is definitely on delivering a straightforward, fun story.
I'll probably say the exact opposite of this about Den-O quite a bit during these posts, but one of the things about Ryuki is that even though it has that darker edge to its setting and a lot of pretty macabre plot developments, and I think that's the way people tend to look at it, there is a lighter side to it, and that's often what I find myself thinking about looking back on the show. The ORE Journal crew in particular adds a lot to a series that I think would've been too serious for its own good without them.
Also, I forgot just how much damage Zolda's Final Vent actually does. It's no wonder he barely gets to use it.
Den-O 9-10:
You know, I think I might've lied about burning out on Den-O before Zeronos showed up. I had the weirdest feeling during a certain scene in episode 9 where I suddenly realized I felt bored, but like, bored 7 or 8 years ago. And now I'm pretty sure I actually quit around here for a bit and it was basically Ryutaros that got me loving the show. We'll get to him though.
The point is, it seems strange to me that I would've felt that way when these episodes do a huge amount to mix up the formula a bit. Having Kintaros essentially be a Monster of the Week who happens to have impeccable manners and a strong sense of honor is a great idea, and considering the kind of company Ryoutarou has been keeping up to this point, he's probably one of the nicest characters in the whole show. It's hard not to love the guy the way he's portrayed here, and that means these episodes did their job perfectly. While also making time to flesh out Hana, which is a nice bonus.
Oh, and just to get a head start on that saying the opposite about Den-O thing, I love how despite being a pretty wacky hero, they always make Den-O look legitimately cool in battle. From the way he puts the Den-Gasher together to his finishing moves, there's a lot of
oomph
to the way he fights that didn't have to be there. But it is, and the show is better for it.
OOO 9-10:
Alright, so, I've been doing a crap job so far actually describing why this show is so good due to how overwhelming it all is, but I recently realized I'm an idiot, and the perfect way to compartmentalize my thoughts has actually been staring me in the face literally since the second episode. So without further ado, here's three thoughts I had about what I saw this time, on Kamen Rider OOO.
Firstly, the supporting cast in this show is extremely well-defined. In a show about desire, even a character like Satonaka, who's essentially a total enigma, feels like she has some aspirations in life, and that adds tons of believability to things. I mean, what's more human and relatable than having a dream? It's a fairly large cast, and none of the characters quite gel together into homogeneous groups that can share traits while giving off the illusion of being individuals, so managing them all is an impressive feat. Yet, OOO pulls this off, and already by this point, I can tell you Gotou is clearly not satisfied with his position in life, I can tell you the newly introduced Maki is maybe a bit too obsessed with endings, heck, I can even tell you Uva mostly just wants what's his, or that Gamel just wants to do whatever, and they're bad guys. Even in Kamen Rider, you can totally get away with giving them no personality, but OOO, showing off as always, comes right out of the gate with four of them, and they all have their own thing going on.
Secondly, Eiji is probably one of the best Rider protagonists ever? I don't like making bold claims like that (I even softened it by saying "one of"!), but this guy would stand out as a unique and multi-faceted hero compared to just about anyone, even outside the narrow realm of tokusatsu. He flips so many conventions on their heads while still somehow landing back at being an easily likable, charming lead. He's extremely nice, caring, and selfless, yet utterly lacks the usual naivete associated with that, because he's also extremely world-weary and more than a bit shell shocked. He's simple in his thoughts and actions most of the time, but whenever someone tries to take advantage of him, he takes advantage right back. He's driven to do anything to save everyone he can, but the show is more than willing to explore the downsides to that attitude. To this day, there just aren't any Rider leads quite like him.
And thirdly, this arc is a straight up masterpiece. It's all the best elements of OOO out in full force. Creative action scenes tying together a story that goes very in-depth on its topic of choice, which in this case, is finally opening up about the kind of experiences Eiji has had in life. So you can probably guess why I felt inspired to write all that up there. While all this is happening, of course, we still have time for a ton of other stuff, including Gotou coming into focus in a really cool way as we see him put in a position where he has to protect a bunch of people from Yummies for a bit with nothing more than a handgun and his own wits. All because he wanted to ask Dr. Maki about his idea for a system to let a regular person use Medals. So, essentially, the show underscores Gotou's desire for more power by showing you firsthand how much effort he has to put in to do a fraction of what OOO can accomplish. Are you guys getting how tight this show's writing is yet? Do I even need to explain this? These are two extremely memorable episodes, with some of the best moments in a show filled to the brim with best moments.
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