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10-06-2019, 03:27 PM | #15561 |
"Well Trained" Collector
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 34
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Other than Zero One, I'm finally sitting down to watch Fourze! I wasn't super into it whenever it first aired, but I'm having a blast right now! Preordering the SIC figure was definitely an incentive to watch it too. lol
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10-12-2019, 01:16 AM | #15562 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,424
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On the final stretch of OOO now, and I gotta say, in regards to the Date reveal, too little too late. At nearly 40 episodes of having to deal with how obnoxious he comes across to me, they dragged his motivation out way too long for me to care.
I didn't like how that point in the story was handled either, because given his past behavior, him turning over to the Greeed in exchange for money made total sense, so them going back on it at the last second was dumb. And not to mention now I can't even cite his training Goto as a good point since it was revealed he only ever associated with the guy because he was paid to. So overall, no, I don't like Date. And infact he's probably my most disliked character in the whole show. Love almost all of the other characters in the show though, so it's got that going for it. |
10-14-2019, 06:12 AM | #15563 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 104
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Halfway through Decade. Yeah, this is kinda awful, but there are some amusing bits and Tsukasa is at least a pretty fun protag. The Den-O portion is easily the best of the alternate story arcs thus far, despite (or because?) the fact I haven't seen the original show. Lowlights included child Kiva, the Rider battle in Ryuki as court trial system (???), Blade's world as some sort of half-baked commentary on corporate world, glasses guy who acts like a Scooby Doo villain, discount Kuuga, etc.
Also 4 episodes into Faiz, and I like this. I like this a lot. There's just a sense of real desperation and terror in the Heisei's first phase shows that I miss, and like Kuuga and Ryuki, Faiz totally has that in spades. That text convo between Keitaro and Yuka, and the gym massacre scene.... damn. It's not like the show's completely devoid of light-hearted moments too, and the Takumi-Mari banter works more effectively for me than the typical in-your-face humor with obnoxious sound effects from newer Rider shows. On the downside, the fight/action scenes are completely uninspiring so far (well tbf I watched this straight after the latest episode of Zero One), but overall I dig this whole depressing/tragic vibe the show has. Hope it wouldn't pull its punches down the road. |
10-14-2019, 05:09 PM | #15564 |
New Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Norfolk UK
Posts: 9
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Currently watching Kuuga.So far seen the first eight episodes.
I am finding it quite interesting certainly different from the more modern KR I’ve seen so far. Also seen today : Kamen Rider W Forever: A to Z/The Gaia Memories of Fate- Massively enjoyed this. Kamen Rider Build Final Stage- Nice bit of fun. At the moment my favourite Kamen Rider(s) I’ve watched would be Kamen Rider W and Build joint in first place,followed by Fourze(the last one I watched.) then OOOs. Generally like all the series I’ve watched so far .Just found the plot and characters in W and Build the most engaging and interesting. With Fourze just liked the energy of the show and characters .OOOs liked it but just did not find it quite as interesting for some reason. |
10-15-2019, 07:56 PM | #15565 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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I'm 2 episodes into Faiz, and... well, obviously it's only two episodes so I don't want to judge too quickly; but I can't remember the last time a Rider show left me this extraordinarily bored. I'm having such a hard time being interested in anything or liking any of the characters.
I do want to finish off the Heisei era, though; so I'll attempt to open my eyez for the next faiz. I just hope something happens soon. |
10-16-2019, 09:04 PM | #15566 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Alright, I think I have some kind of problem at this point, because I've started rewatching Double and Faiz together. Why those two shows, you ask? Well, there's no particular gimmick this time. No secret connection to Zero-One or something arbitrary like that. Look, not even I'm crazy enough to watch the most fun and the least fun Rider shows together on purpose. But both are shows I watched extremely early on after getting into Rider, and I went through both of them so fast I can barely remember huge stretches of each.
In Double's case I also wanted to see how much better it is than I remember (and no, that's not an "if"), because it's probably the only series out there that stands a legitimate chance of making me question my assertion that OOO is simply head and shoulders above everything else. For Faiz... look, I just really like Faiz, okay? I'm sorry, but it's always been my favorite Inoue show (sorry!), and now that it's been like 8 years and I'm no longer totally at the mercy of TV-Nihon's decrepit subtitles, it's been one I've always wanted to get back around to. This show left a huge impression on me, and while I'm totally prepared to eat my words if it turns out it's really as horrible as we all believe (and that one IS an "if"!), I have a good feeling about this. So basically, just like the last time this happened, I had more than one thing I wanted to watch, and ultimately decided not to decide at all. Which in this case means absurd tonal whiplash. Seriously, do not try this at home, kids! I'm still doing the two episodes at a time shtick, but if I try to go all out and write huge posts for every set of episodes, I'm convinced I actually will go crazy this time. So I'm taking this more casually. I'll still be popping in here to say stuff, but I'm not even going to attempt to be comprehensive. If I can't remember half the stuff that happens, it's going to be super hard to talk about all the episodes in the grander context of the series, so I don't think I'm in a position to be very insightful. Maybe one day I'll do some proper sequel to the Kobayashi-thon by like, comparing all three of Inoue's shows or something (which sounds both fun, and horrifying), but right now this is more like some low-budget spin-off. Who knows, I might even skip talking about some episodes completely if I feel like it. Faiz 1-2: To set the tone, I'm barely even going to touch on the actual episodes for this one. Especially when the preamble went that long. So real quick: - The atmosphere is great - I forgot there was an attempted suicide in only the second episode. Geez. - Takumi and Mari have great chemistry - Man, do I love Justifaiz! What I'm more concerned about at the moment is how completely terrible TV-N's subs for Faiz are. Please tell me someone else has done this show by now. It really deserves so much better than this. Inoue's dialogue is actually fairly sharp and punchy, but you'd never know it from the stiff, frequently mistranslated lines I somehow used to put up with. I think the highlight so far is Mari asking Takumi if she can ask him a question, and Takumi's response being "It'll need an answer, right?". You see, what he actually said was "that depends on the question". It's a curt, avoidant little line that informs the viewer a fair bit about the kind of person Takumi is, but if you make the mistake of trusting TV-Nihon, you're left with an exchange that I'm not even sure makes sense. If anything, I think what they have him say means pretty much the exact opposite of what it's supposed to. W 1-2: This is a really strong set of episodes that tells you pretty much everything the series is going to be about in a succinct manner, from the tone that can effortlessly switch between silly and serious, and other important things to get across right away, like the partner dynamic between Shoutarou and Philip. It's let down a fair bit in my opinion by a climax that probably looked a lot better as a script, with some special effects that aren't quite up to the job, and what might be my least favorite Rider monster ever? The T-Rex Dopant is just way too stupid looking for one of your debut monsters, and turning into a bad CG robot (?) doesn't help anything. I think this even legitimately got in the way of me enjoying the episode a bit back when I first tackled this show. Less so now, but it still seems like an odd choice. I think they're just going for deliberate, camp fun, but suffice it to say, when I think shows written by Riku Sanjou with dinosaurs, Double isn't what comes to mind. Also, since this is something I definitely would've never noticed back in the day, I have to appreciate that Ren Kiriyama and Masaki Suda are specifically credited together. Like they both get top billing, because it's Double? Kiriyama's is even on the left while Suda's is on the right! That's attention to detail, right there.
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10-16-2019, 09:20 PM | #15567 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 2,934
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A group called Agony released Faiz at some point last year. I'm not 100% sure on whether it's just a scrub or a full resub, so I don't know how it compares to TVN, but it's an option.
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10-17-2019, 05:02 PM | #15568 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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It's kinda wild that I started Faiz at basically the same time as two other people here; and I feel pretty bad that I seem to be the only one with not much positive to say!
Though... since my negative feelings haven't changed (I still find it very dull and find it pretty difficult to like any of the characters; Takumi and Mari's dynamic especially being very grating), I might as well go into what I do like? Because now I'm 8 episodes in, there's been a lot more positives since Episode 2. - Justifaiz is pretty nice. I had heard it a lot before, but it still stands - I really like that even beyond the much more computerised belt voice that sounds more like an onboard computer, how the belt is treated in general feels a lot more realistic. Neither it nor any of the gear is summoned out of thin-air, and there's multiple scenes where Takumi has to just fight barefisted until Mari or Keitarou can retrieve and chuck him the belt. I still LIKE Riders summoning their shit out of thin air, but this is still a nice change of pace especially when three preceding Riders all magic'd their belts on. - Talking of Keitarou, he's nice and I like him, but I'm definitely getting Kagami (Kabuto)/Onodera (Decade) vibes from him. As in, he's very much set up as the stereotype of the Nice Boy rider and shown as very naive compared to our unconventional bitter arsehole rider. And despite me liking Decade, that's never a thing I like a lot. I never like one of the things I love most about the franchise being framed cynically. That said, yeah, Keitarou is nice and I like him. - And while I'm on this train of characters I like, man; they really tried to please me since Episode 2. Our little Orphenoch trio has proven far more interesting to me with extremely different points of view and very sympathetic backstories for each. I can never quite tell what direction they're gonna take next despite sticking their feet in the mud, and I honestly found myself pretty surprised that Horseman just went and killed... uh... Gas Mask dude? It's honestly hard to tell which animals each Orphenoch is based on outside of the aforementioned Horseman. Still, it's nice that I've found characters to be invested in! - Man, I was on such a huge Transformers kick before I got into Toku full-time like 2 years ago; I forgot just how much I missed having a robot that turns into a vehicle. Auto Vajin is great and I'm trying not to get too excited for an explanation on its pseudo-sentience and acting on its own because this is Inoue, and, uh. Inoue. But he's a bike that turns into a robot dude! He's basically the secondary rider! Screw Kaixa, we've got Groove/Arcee/Lugnutz/Prowl/Other Transformers Bike Name! Still, I wish it'd tone down the pretentiousness and grandstanding about dreams juuuust a little. Episodes 7 and 8 in particular went on for way too long about that. |
10-17-2019, 07:03 PM | #15569 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Faiz 3-4:
I really love the initial road trip section of Faiz. It's neat to get Rider away from the same big city environments for a bit, and it actually serves something of a narrative purpose by keeping the two main groups of protagonists very clearly separated before the show is ready to have them start interacting. I don't know, it's cool. I joked that this is the least fun Rider show before, but there's a certain charm to it when it clicks with you that actually does make it really enjoyable, despite being so aggressively macabre. I get the feeling from Faiz that after Ryuki kicked the door open with regards to how much Kamen Rider could change things up, this is the show that just went for broke. If nothing else, it's hard to accuse Faiz of playing it safe. Not only is the main protagonist introduced in a ~misunderstanding~ that makes it look like he's the bad guy for a second (and yes, the ~misunderstandings~ start in the very first episode), it takes him what would've been a month in real-time to even remotely commit to being involved in the plot, and that's only after we already had a second Faiz. In the fourth episode! We'll see how much this holds water later on, but it's that sense of wild creativity that draws me to this show. Speaking of which, episode 3 has one of the more inexplicably memorable moments of the series to me. It's the first time Faiz uses his gun. Obviously it's gotta be some epic moment, right? Probably a really dramatic shot where we see him looking down the barrel, all determined and cool. Oooooorrrr he could just be chilling on the ground taking a little break after the monster knocks him down. See? Inoue's "whatever" approach to writing Faiz has its upsides! W 3-4: Holy crap this show knows what it's doing. This two-parter is solid gold. Even a decade later, this show still feels like a breath of fresh air in a way little else can compete with. Double has this insanely strong idea of what it wants to be, and it gets right to it. There's no waste to be found here. The central plot is a perfectly genre-appropriate shady casino mystery that does its job of further developing the main characters, effortlessly getting Philip directly in on the action during the climax, just so you know he won't only be sitting in one of two rooms the entire series, and everything around it is no less amazing. Something I wouldn't have appreciated when I first watched it is the gradual build to Nazca's reveal. It's this neat progression of the ongoing bad guy subplot where we see a few brief glimpses of him, generating some intrigue until we finally see the full suit at a particularly dramatic moment that amazingly doesn't involve a fight scene. I guess Double is just too clever for that. Also, the Money Dopant is awesome. I don't know if monster commentary is going to become a recurring thing, but considering I dissed T-Rex last time, I feel like I should at least give some props to a villain that's more my speed. The design is a perfect blend of weird and cool, being neither as silly as T-Rex or as generic as the Magma Dopant, and as a character he's got a fun personality and a suitably scummy scheme to get you wanting to see him taken down a peg. 10/10 stuff right here: Quote:
Honestly, I'm appreciating all over again how amazing it is that Excite! went and did such a nice job with Blade out of nowhere. I hope Faiz (and Den-O!) can get the same treatment some day. Quote:
Definitely don't feel bad about not liking Faiz, either! I'm pretty sure that's the "normal" reaction to being exposed to this level of Inoue. Quote:
Auto Vajin is great and I'm trying not to get too excited for an explanation on its pseudo-sentience and acting on its own because this is Inoue, and, uh. Inoue.
I don't think this is something ever explicitly addressed in the show, but they do specifically show him activating for the first time in episode 4 by reacting to something Mari says, so there's a fairly clear implication.
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10-17-2019, 07:38 PM | #15570 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Quote:
Actually, in my case it's not that wild, because the knowledge that you and Kamen Rider Die were both liable to get around it soon was one of the things that gave me the push to give myself this refresher. I want to be able to actually talk about Faiz, and that's hard to do when so much of it is a blur to me. Definitely don't feel bad about not liking Faiz, either! I'm pretty sure that's the "normal" reaction to being exposed to this level of Inoue. . |
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