[Androzani84]

These quizzes were fun, but honestly, on rewatch, they?re kind of a chore to pay attention to.

Anyway, the answers to the last quiz were B, C and A. So now it?s time for the final quiz, which covers the 90s Rider movies.

Our three main Riders in order:

Masked Rider Shin

Name: Shin Kazamatsuri

Bike: N/A

Transformation item: N/A

Attacks: Shin Rider Kick, High Vibe Nail, Spine Cutter

Enemy: Institute of Super Science

First opponent: Cyborg Soldier Level 3

Kamen Rider ZO

Name: Masaru Aso

Bike: Z-Bringer

Transformation item: N/A

Attacks: ZO Punch, ZO Kick

Enemy: Doras

First Enemy: Koumori Man

Kamen Rider J

Name: Koji Segawa

Bike: J-Crosser

Transformation item: J-Spirit

Special attacks: Rider Kick, Rider Punch, Rider Elbow

Enemy: Fog Mother

First opponent: Agito (no, not that one)

And for the questions.

Kamen Rider J?s actor Yuta Mochizuki is known for playing TyrannoRanger in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. But what other Toku hero is Shin?s actor known for?
A) B-Fighter Genji
B) Ultraman Hikari
C) Voicelugger Gold

In early concept art, ZO would?ve received upgrade parts based on past Riders. What would he have received from Amazon?s power?
A) jaws
B) claws
C) a fin?

Kamen Rider J is known for his ability to grow giant to battle larger foes. But which of these has he not battled in a later appearance?
A) Shadow Moon
B) King Dark
C) Terror Macrow
D) Insert joke answer here.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Man, there were way more of these trivia quiz videos than I knew there were.

There were 12! I double-counted!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Kamen Rider J?s actor Yuta Mochizuki is known for playing TyrannoRanger in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. But what other Toku hero is Shin?s actor known for?
A) B-Fighter Genji
B) Ultraman Hikari
C) Voicelugger Gold

In early concept art, ZO would?ve received upgrade parts based on past Riders. What would he have received from Amazon?s power?
A) jaws
B) claws
C) a fin?

Kamen Rider J is known for his ability to grow giant to battle larger foes. But which of these has he not battled in a later appearance?
A) Shadow Moon
B) King Dark
C) Terror Macrow
D) A person who takes Quizzes very seriously

Androzani! We need to know who won the Quizzes! Please tabulate the points and declare a victor!

[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the episode where Tomoko joins the club did me in worse than any of them.

Hey, that's a great episode to get emotional over for sure!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

No, I get it. I'm planning to do a rewatch of Agito on my commute starting in May, to refresh myself for the new movie, and I feel like it's going to be real weird -- that's the show I really associate as the start of this whole writing project, where it stopped being reactions to chunks of episodes and I started to really sit with a single installment. It's a formative show for me -- the thinking man's Kuuga! -- and I definitely am going to be right back in the winter of 2020 when I watch it again.

That reminds me, I need to rewatch Build sometime! It's my second favorite Heisei Rider, so it's kind of weird that I haven't done that yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Anyway, the answers to the last quiz were B, C and A. So now it?s time for the final quiz, which covers the 90s Rider movies.

Kamen Rider J?s actor Yuta Mochizuki is known for playing TyrannoRanger in Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. But what other Toku hero is Shin?s actor known for?
A) B-Fighter Genji
B) Ultraman Hikari
C) Voicelugger Gold

In early concept art, ZO would?ve received upgrade parts based on past Riders. What would he have received from Amazon?s power?
A) jaws
B) claws
C) a fin?

Kamen Rider J is known for his ability to grow giant to battle larger foes. But which of these has he not battled in a later appearance?
A) Shadow Moon
B) King Dark
C) Terror Macrow
D) Insert joke answer here.

Poor Shin not getting any questions dedicated to him. Well, not that I mind as that's the only 90s Rider movie I haven't watched yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Androzani! We need to know who won the Quizzes! Please tabulate the points and declare a victor!

As a person who takes quizzes very seriously and may or may not be as large as Kamen Rider J, I also want to know the results.

[Androzani84]

Well having gone back and looked through all the quizzes

Ichigou: Die got 0 points, Shi got 3 points.

Nigou: Die: 1, Shi: 1

V3: Die: 1, Shi: 1 Switchblade

Riderman: Die: 1, Shi: 3

X: Die: 2, Shi: 2

Amazon: 2, Shi: 3

Stronger: Die: 2, Shi: 3

Skyrider: Die: 2, Shi: 2

Super-1: Die: 1, Shi: 1

ZX: Die: 0, Switchblade: D, Shi: 1

Black/RX: Shi: 2, Die: 2

And the answers to the final quiz are B, A and C, which gives both regulars one point each. Die has a total of 15 points, while Shi has 23. The answer to who won should be clear.

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

SERIES WRAP-UP

9: JK

But he’s a character that the show frequently neglected to utilize – there’re at least a couple two-parters where he’s chilling out with Miu and Shun, despite every single other Amanogawa High student being involved in the main plot. He’s useful for maybe eight episodes in the beginning, helping Gentarou (and the viewer) navigate the social stratas of AGHS, but once the full team is assembled and Meteor is streaking in, JK just doesn’t have a place to exist, or a role to play – he’s just around, and you can tell that no one on the production staff figured out what his next move should be. I like him, and I think he has potential, but he’s clearly the character that got most usurped by Ryuusei and the Horoscopes.

I thought you'd still rank him low because of his debut, where he was the two-faced kind of jerk, but turns out it's because he's just there, where I guess yeah, this may happen exactly because of his cowardice to constantly run away and not contributing something. Of which, many people may agree for this, but where something like upfront jerks like Shun beating up Gentaro for no good reason or sabotaging Fourze's fight may be seen as completely ok. I know that he's unlikable, but I rather hope that said aspect isn't used to convince Gentaro to just cut him off or for the KRC (audience can often only want the characters to be exclusively kind only to their established friends or who they like) to just kick him out (you seem to write this for Ryusei instead), relating to his lack of contribution too and how he felt more repulsive to the audience, where him being unlikable should be the point for Gentaro's philosophy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

7: Shun

Arguably less notable than JK in the long run – once Meteor renders the Power Dizer irrelevant, Shun’s basically just Miu’s accessory – but a combination of fun initial arc (he tackles Fourze!!!), the unbeatable conception of “sweetheart himbo that’s colossally full of himself”, and proximity to Miu render him a fairly likable member of the KRC, even at his least essential. (More or less once he and Miu graduate.)

I felt the sweetheart himbo and colossally full of himself is completely separate thing where the latter is before ep. 8, and he's the former from ep. 8 onwards. I felt that he's the one who changed 180 from the beginning, like Zack from Gaim. And yeah, as the only capable enough Power Dizer user, he should still be constantly using it, even after Meteor is there, as 3 fighters, but maybe, like the usual underutilized powers of Kamen Rider fights, it's about the budget.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

6: Ohsugi

I know. I know! I still find the Scorpion-era Ohsugi to be both repellent and nearly anti-comedy in his leering, obsessive workplace harassment. But there’s a stretch of this show – post-Scorpion, pre-summer movie – where Ohsugi is such a reliable burst of goofy energy, and the secret ingredient to the KRC as a school-adjacent concept, that I totally get why they bring him back more often as a Legend Rider(-friend) than any other character on the show. He grounds the KRC back into the school ecosystem, and having to navigate his lack of genre savvy is always good for a laugh.

Guess even without something like obsessive workplace harassment (just because you have a heroic job in teacher or being a part of a lighthearted show doesn't mean you're a saint or less of a jerk to characters from lighthearted show; I guess, of which you completely expected Tassel to be nice for being a part of Saber), I guess it's recurring for you to find these kind of characters repellent, like Jean, Shunpei, Haima.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

4: Kengo

And I think Kengo carries his side of things beautifully? The high point for me (non-47/48 category) has to be Cosmic States, where Kengo has to devise and fulfill a Gentarou plan to revive Gentarou, and the ability for Kengo to do that was such a brilliant example of how these two knuckleheads impacted each other for the better. If I like Fourze, it’s because of this friendship.

Among the KRC, I guess I'd relate most to Kengo, with some Tomoko thrown to the mix. I guess though, what's fully Gentaro's plan for Kengo is when he got murdered by Gamou, to tell the others to not hate him while stopping him, as for Cosmic States, Kengo was full of anger and hatred (justificably) to Ryusei, and he's only following Tachibana's instructions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

3: Gentarou

He’s the constant that guides others, brings them together, and helps them become the best versions of themselves through attention and support. He’s unwavering, and he doesn’t change along with the characters. He’s reliable and dependable and lots of other ables (to quote Dave Lister), and that’s the perfect lead Rider for this show. Not every show needs the lead Rider to be a POV character that resolves their own traumas or learns something new about themselves. (I love that there’s literally one mention of Gen’s parents’ having a mysterious job before their mysterious death, and it never comes up again, and Gen is smiling the whole time he recounts this part of his past.) There are shows like Gavv and Gotchard that are all about growing up and figuring out your shit, as seen through the lens of the title character; then there are shows like Kabuto, or Geats, or Fourze, where the title Rider is one that largely exists as a port in a storm, an idealized figure that we can trust to show us the way forward. Gen was that Rider, despite his youth and naivete. He was steady, and an exemplar of the power of friendship. He didn’t need to change or grow, because he was more concerned about making sure all of his friends got the chance to change and grow. That’s a hero.

I guess it can be ture about how Kabuto or Geats acted as idealized figure in influencing others with their hypercompetence, but while I already said my piece about Kabuto back in that thread, Geats was someone who did something like JK early on (more like second episode). And for a show lead that isn't about resolving their trauma, that'd be also Yuusuke in Kuuga (also has deceased parents). Gentaro is also, though a newcomer in Rider system, he's also already an experienced on in fighting (the main thing Riders do, obviously), albeit he's no match for actual trained martial artists like Ryusei or Utsugi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

1: Miu

It’s such a fun character, the haughty mean girl who basically becomes the leader of a superhero team through her indomitable will and unshakable self-belief, while reframing her haughtiness as hard-earned pride, and her meanness as motivating steel. Whenever the show needed to quickly and smartly establish the stakes – comedy or drama – a line from Miu would get the job done. My favorite actor on the show, and the one who I always, always believed. I wish the show had kept her as central to the storytelling post-graduation, but even in the aftermath of her presidency, she usually got a good scene every other episode. (I don’t love that string of four episodes or so where it’s just her and Shun and whomever hanging out in the Rabbit Hatch while the story happened elsewhere, but she even made that work.)

I wonder if what's stand out in Fourze compared to other high school settings of the shows, though this may happen because it's one of the Kamen Rider shows that is meant to be about teaching morals or lessons (and Fourze also being lighthearted one), is about how the popular isn't necessarily only demonized and used as strictly an adversary, enemy, or obstacle (even the nice popular person in these setting isn't a genuine friend, the good guys are only the unpopular ones, including for the formerly popular ones who no longer popular, with unpopular being corrupted if they're in popular circle). I guess, Gentaro himself is also a "delinquent", mainly looks, but that he also has a fighting skill of one and also is against rules, which rubs some teachers the wrong way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Honestly, at the end of the day, after all these years, Fourze is a series where I feel nothing. I don’t hate it, but it’s not cracking my top 10 either. Which if you’re familiar with my opinions on… anything shouldn’t be a surprise (and if you’re not, the basic low-down is that I’m meh on anything beloved and popular, while drawn to stuff that most people are neutral to at best, dislike at worst. That’s not even a Toku only thing, I don’t like Kevin Conroy’s take on Batman)

I wonder who'd be the ideal type of main character/Rider in this case, if Gentaro, someone who's seemingly the few one who got critically acclaimed, isn't something memorable to you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

You got the goal and means backwards. Gamou wanted to meet the Presenters after hearing the voice of space and due to his lack of faith in others, he decided to use the most expedient yet destructive method to ensure he would succeed. This was the reason for his disagreement and betrayal of Rokurou, who wanted humanity to meet the Presenters.

Probably my mistake, just that I thought Rokuro didn't specifically seek to see the Presenters, where IIRC he only talked about making Fourze Drivers, Astroswitches, and passing them to the next generations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Rogue planet

More like about referring to him as true hero like Tendou before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I also want to clarify like you did for JK that I don't actively dislike any of these characters. They all have some good points. Kamen Rider Fourze is such an awesome show and that's mostly thanks to this lovable group of different individuals making the world around them worth protecting.

I rather felt that, at least from what Die said above, there'd be still characters who feel that they're just there, like JK or Shun. Of which, though personal feelings might be different, it can seem that you'd be way harsher for these cases in other shows that aren't Fourze or Ghost type, but lets it slide for these kind of shows. I guess, I more meant that deeming someone as being bad or irrelevant is still subjective.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

And that's totally okay. Gentarou wouldn't want you to say something you don't believe. I respect that your opinion is authentic and not just jumping on bandwagons.

Well, there's a comment in this thread to force people to like Miu.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

This is something this thread has got me thinking about lately, but, as best as I can currently put this theory, I'm starting to think my relationship with Fourze is sort of locked in time in a way that isn't true of any other Rider show for me? I associate it so strongly with a really specific point in my life that it's hard to think of it outside that context. It actually made rewatching the show a sluggish process for me, because I kept having that experience I described with the Meteor stuff in the finale over and over again, especially in the early episodes. It's the lighthearted show that makes me smile, but I kept getting choked up over scenes that aren't quite supposed to be *that* emotional, even when they are emotional, dramatic scenes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the episode where Tomoko joins the club did me in worse than any of them.

It seems to apply in your case for any lighthearted shows like Fourze, Wizard, Ghost, Saber.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

And the answers to the final quiz are B, A and C, which gives both regulars one point each. Die has a total of 15 points, while Shi has 23. The answer to who won should be clear.

Wow, I was more competitive than I thought I was. Thanks for doing the math!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I guess, Gentaro himself is also a "delinquent", mainly looks, but that he also has a fighting skill of one and also is against rules, which rubs some teachers the wrong way.

It's something about the character that gets lost later in the series as the classroom scenes are even more brief than usual, but Gentarou canonically is a terrible student. He's a great friend, and a multiplier to everyone else's high school experience -- he's cheering for everyone to succeed -- but all that enthusiasm and support comes at the cost of, like, paying attention in class and doing the work. I would probably not want to try and teach him, regardless of how well-meaning he is!

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER X KAMEN RIDER WIZARD & FOURZE: MOVIE WAR ULTIMATUM (DIRECTOR’S CUT)

originally posted on December 24th, 2021, as part of “Kamen Rider Die rewatches Legend Rider projects (and more!)”



I think, at the end of the day, I appreciate what these two stories were trying to say.

They’re both broadly about getting out of the way for the next generation. It’s a theme that fits Fourze a little better, which is why the Fourze section is a little more thematically-grounded. The Kaijin Alliance are a group of kids who are horrified by what the previous generation has left for them, and pessimistic on their own chances for happiness. Gentarou’s story is centered on his need to step back and let that next generation see that they’re in control of their own destinies, rather than operating at the whims of manipulative scientists or over-protective teachers. The only way the next generation can become the best versions of themselves is when they feel like their future is truly in their hands.

The Wizard section sort of hits on the same issues, where Poitrine is a character that disregards her responsibilities to indulge her own desires. She should be a guardian of children, but she’s too wrapped up in her deferred dreams to be of much real help. Her story is one of adulthood, the realization that you eventually need to be okay with how your life turned out and find some way to help the next generation along. It’s a sort of Wizard take on Fourze’s themes of growing up, where Poitrine’s depression and need to relive her childhood dreams risks destroying the people around here.

That’s unique ground for a Kamen Rider movie to cover, because it has a kind of maturity to it. It’s a story for the adults in the audience. Or, at least, it’s a story more about the adult anxieties of the production team. This whole movie is about how to protect children, and when to step back from protecting them, and how to live with the idea that it’s someone else’s turn. That’s nothing a kid is ever going to care about. It’s a perspective that only comes with age, and that makes for an interesting Kamen Rider movie.

Thematically, I think this movie has a lot to recommend it. Narratively and structurally, though… um.

The Fourze section has the roughest patch in it, where, again, I appreciate what it’s trying to say. Saburou is a villain who’s just lashing out from loneliness, and he needs someone his own age to tell him he’s worth befriending. It’s just, it’s a resolution that’s asking everyone around Saburou to bend over backwards to make him feel better, when he barely does anything to warrant it. It needs Miyoppe – who is victimized by Saburou – to ask for Saburou’s forgiveness for… I’m not even sure what? It’s Saburou who’s constantly harassing and endangering her, while she’s solely focused on her own goals and activities. It’s like she’s being penalized for not thinking enough about how the surly asshole in her class is feeling, selfishly focusing on her own happiness, and it’s gross? It’s a little gross, the way she’s made to bear responsibility for her bully. It’s preaching a moral that wants to say Sometimes Mean People Just Need Compassion, but it definitely comes off as Maybe You Had It Coming. Not a fan of that!

The other big thing that people are probably going to kick about from the Fourze part of this movie is Gentarou throwing away his Fourze Driver, and I’m of two minds on it. On the one hand, it’s completely the sort of Big Dumb Gesture that Gentarou would make. He’s someone who is very focused on the current interaction, and he’ll gladly toss away everything Fourze accomplished if it means getting through to one struggling teenager. On the other hand, the plot immediately shows what a short-sighted maneuver this is, since Gentarou needs to borrow a Fourze Driver if he’s going to save the world. There’s some obvious calculus here, about the needs of the many versus the needs of the one, and I get why Gentarou throwing away an apocalypse-averting piece of gear would bother folks. I think it works for the character, but I wish it was being done for a kid who maybe deserved it more? Gentarou’s throwing away a hero that saved millions of lives for a grumpy bully who’s making himself the victim. I don’t love that trade?

The Wizard section… boy. I really loved about 99% of it. The idea of Poitrine drawing strength from her love of toku, but needing to find a healthy way to incorporate it into her adult life? YES. Relatable! But, wow, to sort of it toss it all aside for a Gay Panic joke? When (and I know this was never going to happen in a million years) you actually have a sort of poignant trans metaphor to work with, something that could speak to a whole group of kids watching toku that never thought they’d get a chance to see something that spoke to their experience or perspective? It’s heartbreaking. It’s a great story about identity and expression and how hard it can be to not see yourself in the stories you love and how we get to pull the parts we want out of toku to make something just for us and how being an adult means keeping some of that love for toku out of sight… and then you find out its written by someone who thinks gay people are a joke, and that sucks. It super sucks.

Those disappointments aside, I think the movie works okay. It’s a Sakamoto joint, so the action is top-notch. (Folks complained about his male-gaze-y direction before, but this was the movie where I found it too distracting. Every girl in a skirt needed a close-up and slow-mo shot of her twirling skirt! There were a bunch of Nadeshiko butt bumps! Inga Blink was perpetually glistening!) Every Heisei Phase 2 Rider makes a return appearance, even if it’s just the main hero suit and zero dialogue. Eiji’s here, because Eiji’s cool. We get modern-day refreshes on classic Ishinomori characters. There’s a massive Mad Max-esque vehicle fight that lasts about as long as a Mad Max movie. It’s a gigantic action film with a ton of cool-looking characters, whatever its other failings.

I wish I liked this movie more. There are ideas and themes that I think are smart and original, but the execution tells me that the writers didn’t know what they had. Good attempt, bad follow-through.



—

NOT QUITE FIVE YEARS LATER



Okay, let’s just do some quick hits because I watched this movie again, sat down to write about how I liked its take on ceding the stage for a next generation and how that dovetailed sweetly with the defeat of Gamou, and then I found out I wrote basically the same thing in 2022, minus the Gamou part.

-I guess that’s one of the things that was nice about watching this movie again, after also watching the series, because it feels like a real epilogue to the final episode, more than anything with newly-revealed foes or snazzy kit-bashed suits or catching up with space girlfriends. It’s Gentarou trying to learn from Gamou specifically, and create room for the next generation to work their stuff out with safety and support. (Also, man, after Gamou’s scheme, Gentarou should have zero tolerance for Bamba’s plan of manipulating emotionally-unstable teenagers to power-up a strange device!) It’s a story that’s really just about Gentarou learning to turn his teenage enthusiasm into adult guidance, and be the kind of comforting and heroic presence that Gamou could’ve been, if only someone had shown him the way in time. That’s sweet.

-Unfortunately, it doesn’t leave a ton of room for the KRC as a group? With so much of the Fourze section given over to the new kids, we're allowed one Getting The Club Back Together montage, and then some traditional club activities (fighting monsters), and that’s sort of it? I know that asking for a Trio Of Deep Sin-esque examination of friends drifting apart into adulthood is too much to ask for a Sakamoto-directed superhero movie -slash- leg show, but it’s a bit of a bummer that we got a movie that focused on Gentarou’s journey at the expense of, like, the Club’s bond. I liked what we got, but I’m not thrilled with what we gave up to get it.

-Did I seriously not talk about the Ishinomori Insanity of it all originally? Poitrine! Inazuman! Akumaizer 3! I didn’t watch any of those show, so I don’t really care about the historical background of the characters, but I think it’s neat to shovel in so many Ishinomori creations – that said, I would’ve WAY preferred that Toei have done it via a Taisen flick, since (again) all these extra characters don’t leave a lot of room for our Legend and current casts to carry the story.

-Kind of fun to see Sakamoto do a sort of Movie Trilogy for Fourze! This movie acts as a capper for a string that starts in the previous year’s crossover movie and runs through the summer film, bringing back Nadeshiko, Rocket States, Inga Blink, XV-2, the Fusion Switch, and somehow finding a few seconds to canonize the Amazon HBV?! It’s mildly unnecessary, but I like that Nakashima and Sakamoto went to the trouble.

-It bears repeating: maybe the most egregious Sakamoto Gaze project for Kamen Rider? The Miu/Rumi stuff is cringe-y, sure, and the Nadeshiko butt bumps are done three times too often, but there is an establishing shot for a scene set in the Akumaizers’ truck realm that starts on Poitrine’s thighs. My dude! Even Quentin Tarantino would say you are indulging your fetish a little too much as a director!

-Finally, there’s a shot in the back half of the movie where Fourze and Wizard do the Friendship Handshake, and it occurred to me that – assuming Takaiwa is Wizard in any scenes featuring both Fourze and Wizard – this was probably the first time where Takaiwa was on the receiving end of the Friendship Handshake. That kind of blew my mind a bit, and it had to have been a little jarring for him as a performer. Talk about getting out of the way for the next generation!

[DreamSword]

The two biggest things I'll ever remember from this movie:

1. Gentaro throwing his best friend into molten steel.

2. The Director's Cut going on for an eternity.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

The two biggest things I'll ever remember from this movie:

1. Gentaro throwing his best friend into molten steel.

2. The Director's Cut going on for an eternity.

1. I mean, there is precedent for sacrificed friends of Gentarou to miraculously return! Kengo specifically calls out that the Fourze Driver will return when Gentarou needs it, and he's sort of the expert on the topic!

2. I definitely skipped the Wizard section this time, because a) I'll be watching this movie again early next year, and b) I would like to finish this thread before May.