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02-04-2020, 09:50 PM | #15731 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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I have a big, slightly spoilerly review in the movie's actual thread, but I liked Over Quartzer enough I feel like doing a bit of an abridged version here.
In short, it's a bizarre film that's sure to be the enemy of the literal-minded, but there's beauty in its chaos. Probably something that will either really click with you, or won't at all, without much middle ground.
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02-07-2020, 12:13 AM | #15732 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,386
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2nd batch of Blade episodes down; Dealing in Garren's' struggle with his fear, Chalice's' quest for acceptance, and Leangle joining the cast.
I love that, to anyone who didn't know better, at this point Blade would be seen as a total decoy protagonist as all three other Riders are much more heavily involved in the overall plot than he is. Also Sayoko was too pure for this world. It isn't fair, man. |
02-08-2020, 07:57 PM | #15733 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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With all the actual series of Heisei Rider done, it's time for me to catch up on a bunch of miscellaneous side stuff I haven't yet watched. I'm starting off with a few movies!
Kamen Rider Blade: Missing Ace I finished this movie a few hours ago, and I'm not gonna lie, I've already forgotten a lot of what happens in it. I didn't... hate it, but this movie genuinely failed to impact me and I didn't feel it accurately captured the feeling of the show like so many Heisei movies manage to do, even some of the worse ones. I guess Inoue was just really on an 'Alternate Future movie' kick after Faiz so this is what we get this time, with a lot of rule changes and a lot of things that feel sort of pointless. We finally get to see the Undead Blade uses to transform! It's not exactly a big thing for him to overcome or anything, it's just sort of there to stop him from transforming for half the movie. There's a second Joker! ... alright, disregarding how that doesn't work at all with the Playing Card theming or the rules of the show, this feels very underutilised? Hajime doesn't have a terribly big rivalry with him or anything; he's not a parallel to Hajime or even Kenzaki, he doesn't even use Joker's powers in any significant capacity aside from sometimes having some mooks. He's just a standard villain who stole Hajime's look. There's three new riders! They're horribly underdeveloped and are just kind of annoying assholes for most the movie that go nowhere before their deaths. I dunno, this was just such a sad note to end on when Blade's ending was absolutely phenomenal and this leaves me with nothing. It actually took me until just now to remember that Hajime sacrificed himself, jeez. Kamen Rider Build NEW WORLD: Kamen Rider Grease ... aaaagh, I don't like to be this negative so sequentially; but this one was even worse for me than not just Missing Ace, but even the Cross-Z movie. Build deserves so much better and this might just be, in my opinion at least; one of the worst Kamen Rider things I've ever seen. I'm honestly not sure what to say about this movie other than it just made me really sad and that there's almost no decision here I like. I mean, okay, let's go with the positives here; I really like Katsuragi's little line about "when they're in your hands, they're not weapons; they're hope". That's great. Loved that. In a V-cinema duality which seems determined to tear down every single thing Build did, somehow a line like that which so perfectly encapsulates the season slips in. It's also nice to see Utsumui get to be part of the team, and... I guess Banjou looks cute with dark hair? Fights were kinda fun too. Otherwise a lot of this is just very bad. Grease himself goes through no journey or lesson (at least Banjou did, even if he was re-taking the grade) -- if anything, he acts incredibly self-absorbed and whiny half the time; letting the fact he got rejected get in the way of fighting off a terrorist. The villains are just really boring and their only claim to fame is "really powerful, and inexplicitly half of us are American". There's a new macguffin gas that does anything you want it to; elements like the Katsuragis being here aren't given anywhere near the weight they should be; and once again we get half-baked romances that they didn't even try to form during the movie. Gaaah, it just annoys me so much that this of all things is Build's final piece. At least V-cinemas for other series like Drive and Gaim had something good in there or were at least fun, even at their worst. But this was just bleak. Kamen Rider Zi-O Episode 29 & 30 Anyway, time to move onto something better; like a Blade tribute that features Diend rolling up with Knight and Baron before any actual Blade riders get a chance to stroll in! It makes me a little bit sad that just as Blade was my last Heisei series, this is my last Zi-O tribute rewatch. With Hibiki, Ryuki and Faiz I'd gotten into a kind of nice pattern with it, where even if I didn't enjoy the series itself I got a lot out of rewatching the tributes and what they did for what they're homaging. And... this is it; this is the last one. If I can go on a tangent for a little bit about these, actually; I LOVE Zi-O's tributes to the Heisei 1 seasons. People have gushed about them a lot already and so have I, but it's only on these rewatches that I've realised just how much I like them. For one thing, it's really neat that I can come into them and understand everything that's going on straight away, even the basics of the current ongoing arc. Oh, sure, I've watched the series; but I don't remember everything that happened in it -- and yet, a few lines and flashbacks here and there mean that for once, a time travel series doesn't have me confused as to what's going on. That's fantastic, and surprising given how confusing Zi-O is as a whole! I can absolutely imagine, like, a Hibiki fan or a Kabuto fan not terribly interested in Zi-O jumping into just these tribute episodes and still being able to understand what's going on. I mean, until they whip out video game hammers against Kiriya. Ex-Aid armour was an interesting choice for the Hibiki tribute... But as well, it's just really nice seeing this much devotion and effort given to what were essentially niche mid-2000s passion projects. Like, okay, yeah; it's Kamen Rider, but early Heisei in particular is when it was throwing everything at the wall and trying to get on its feet and was constantly seeing rewrites and low ratings and everything. It was such a messy time and yet, despite that; most of them managed to get out a unique story that really felt like it was something the writers wanted to tell. Yeah, on one hand it's a big merchandise-driven toy advert; but on the other hand that just felt like the means through which these writers could say what they wanted to say; show what they wanted to show with the window dressing of honouring a legend from the 70s. How they could write a story about an amnesiac being idealistic in the face of horror and protecting everything he loved despite not being grounded in any way; about a man sacrificing everything just so that he doesn't have to choose between the world and a single person he's grown to love; about unrelenting hope against monsters of our wildest dreams. That's what thrills me about Kamen Rider: it's exactly the sort of thing I want to see from media, even if they're at the same time trying to sell me a talking sword or a transformation phone. About people telling the stories they want to tell -- and then, a good decade and a half later; those stories being honoured and cherished in the best way they can. Zi-O had plenty of faults, but when it was at its best; it served as an ode and a gallery to these weird mid-2000s projects and was able to continue those stories without going against the artistry of their endings. ... So anyway, this two-parter is awesome! My feelings on it are much the same as when I first saw it; in that it probably tries to balance a little too much -- Blade, Trinity, White Woz, Geiz & Woz; and then you throw in Diend for a big chunk of it too. But it's surprisingly a lot more balanced than you'd expect, helped by it having an impressive pacing that lets each and every one of those mini-arcs shine and feel properly resolved. Blade's stuff is what I'm here for, so I might as well focus on it; this was just a superb follow-up. Any lesser series taking Blade and Chalice's powers away might have felt like a cop-out and an insult to Blade's ending, but instead this all feels incredibly deserved. Kenzaki sacrificed everything to save Hajime 14 years ago -- and it was heroic, and beautiful, and tragic. But it's been 14 years. The idea that someone can sacrifice so much for someone, but that with enough time we can find a way to help that person and ultimately move all of them forward? It's so, so incredibly Kamen Rider and it is very Zi-O. And it's wonderful! I love seeing these two finally get a happy ending. Something a lot of people don't bring up either is Amane -- we don't get any mention of her mother, but it's awesome to see her grown up and managing the café on her own, and while understandably still pained by Hajime's disappearance, she's still able to move forward with her life. Just seeing all these characters happy warms my heart... Though I will admit, it's not without its faults. Until his final scene, Kenzaki's attitude is just utterly bizarre in this. He's very aggressive and provokes fights with Hajime for no real reason; he says that as Jokers they're forced to fight, but it's hardly like he puts up any resistance. He goes out of his way to track Hajime down and fights him then and there!! TWICE!!! What the hell, dude?! It almost feels like the two are switched; with Hajime pleading to not fight and only putting up token resistance. It's an unfortunate mischaracterisation I feel in what is otherwise a very, very good tribute. Still, point is: these episodes were great, and with each tribute rewatch I've had the more credit I think Zi-O deserves. They done Blade good.
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Last edited by Kurona; 02-08-2020 at 07:59 PM.. |
02-08-2020, 09:35 PM | #15734 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Other cool things about the Grease movie:
- Shoujirou Nakazawa's direction - Grease never letting go of those dog tags throughout the entire final fight. Other not so cool things about the Grease movie: - That second good thing is horribly let down by the context of the plot - Build is becoming dangerously close to being another Gaim situation for me.
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02-08-2020, 09:52 PM | #15735 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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"Gaim Situation" in my experience can describe... a LOT of things, and changes from person to person. What is it to you?
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02-09-2020, 12:05 AM | #15736 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 2,481
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Is it worth it to watch the Build V-Cinemas for hate viewing or so bad their good stuff?
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02-10-2020, 06:29 PM | #15737 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Quote:
The common thread is that the things I didn't like later in the show (and the V-Cinemas in Build's case, obviously) have led me to reevaluate my overall opinion on the series, and not for the better. The Cross-Z and Grease movies, to me at least, aren't merely crappy in a vacuum. They're an escalation of underlying issues with Build's writing that have been there longer than I wanted to admit to myself. Seemingly minor symptoms I chose to ignore. Part of me has been saving up a big rant on Build for a while, but if that's ever going to happen at all, it's not right now. The thing about my opinion on Gaim is it never stopped evolving. It eventually looped back around into being a series I can say I enjoyed again, and the whole experience kind of taught me how to avoid falling into the same trap again. I spent a good year or so denying to myself that there was ever anything in Gaim I loved to begin with, and no matter how similar the situations get, I don't think there's any risk of that happening to Build. After all, the things we believed in were not an illusion, right? Quote:
I think the ideal way to watch them is if you can pretend in your head they're not related to Build at all. If you put aside all the toes being stepped on, they're not bad movies. Very backhanded compliment, I know, but I'm really trying here.
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02-10-2020, 06:38 PM | #15738 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,403
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Quote:
Oh man, that's right! You weren't even on the forum back during my Gaim PTSD days! To keep it as short as possible, I'm saying Build is a show I loved that's running the risk of becoming something I really don't.
The common thread is that the things I didn't like later in the show (and the V-Cinemas in Build's case, obviously) have led me to reevaluate my overall opinion on the series, and not for the better. The Cross-Z and Grease movies, to me at least, aren't merely crappy in a vacuum. They're an escalation of underlying issues with Build's writing that have been there longer than I wanted to admit to myself. Seemingly minor symptoms I chose to ignore. Part of me has been saving up a big rant on Build for a while, but if that's ever going to happen at all, it's not right now. The thing about my opinion on Gaim is it never stopped evolving. It eventually looped back around into being a series I can say I enjoyed again, and the whole experience kind of taught me how to avoid falling into the same trap again. I spent a good year or so denying to myself that there was ever anything in Gaim I loved to begin with, and no matter how similar the situations get, I don't think there's any risk of that happening to Build. After all, the things we believed in were not an illusion, right? And yes, the subsequent irony of my Tokunation avatar is not lost on me. |
02-12-2020, 08:58 PM | #15739 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,386
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Watched Ultraman vs Kamen Rider. For only being 12 minutes, that was hype as hell. Never forget Hongo driving right through a Kaiju's' head.
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02-14-2020, 05:34 PM | #15740 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 2,481
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Hi folks, I was gonna do one of those threads about my experience watching a kamen rider series, like all the cool kids are, but one already exists for ghost, and this is a rewatch anyway. Also the pic is from ep 2 can you believe it? So anyway episode 2 of ghost is pretty alright. It introduces us to some of the mechanics of the world we're in (ganma holes. a deeper explanation of eyecons). The messages are pretty solid in this episode and ones I really like, mainly don't let someone else exploit your dream for their own profits, which is funny considering it's about Edison. Takeru comes off well in this episode, unsure of how to deal with the whole being dead thing, but Akari reassuring him, and getting him to believe in himself, and he got a good moment where he stated a person's value is more then their labor. Also we got something I wish had continued thru the series which was Onari doing something you wouldn't attribute to monk (finding the victim of the week the second time). Oh also we saw Captain Ghost, which design-wise is one of my favorite of the big dumb cgi toy thing. I really wish we got more details into what its deal was.
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