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08-10-2020, 11:11 AM | #15981 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,556
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Well, I’ve recently watched Hibiki 24. And yeah, I think it’s the best episode so far. It’s making up for all my issues with the previous episodes by giving me some really good choreo and incredibly distinct looking Kaijin.
That said, I’m wondering if Hibiki Kurenai was another Amazing Mighty situation, or whether there was some toy released that I’m unaware of. |
08-12-2020, 08:32 PM | #15982 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Two episodes in and that's enough to determine that this is a pretty fun show! I'm already a little tired of Reiwa, so I decided I wanted to step back into kinda-technically-sorta-not-really-Heisei. Like, it was a year prior and the sequel show that Kotaro's still the Main Rider of is within the Heisei period so, shut it, Heisei show! Don't know why I'm arguing that point so much though when it's made clear from the get-go how extremely unapologetically Showa this is! From the cyborg surgery to the hooded figures to the narrator determined to turn this into tell-don't-show, it turns out 15 or so years doesn't exactly change a whole lot -- and I love it! This is like the exact mix of goofiness and genuinely darker storytelling I just adore, and I'm finding it reminds me a lot of ZO - especially when the Kaijin step in. No-one, uh, no-one really prepared me for how horrifying these things are! They led with these horrible looking spider bastards with some serious budget behind them and... lord, okay, getting ahead of myself. The first episode is wonderfully split up into three distinct acts -- Kotaro running away across the city; Kotaro returning home; and Kotaro running into his dad for some answers. The first one is an excellent opening to the whole show. It's practically shot like a horror movie, and between intimidating lady, discount Dr. Doom and the makeup on the short dude here I'm not having a hard time feeling the atmosphere! It's not long before they chuck in a flashback to ensure you Golgom is basically Shocker in their methods of accidentally making their greatest enemy, and that flashback soon turns to reality when we get Kotaro transforming for the first time. I love this transformation sequence. I knew about Batta Man (thanks wiki), but I wasn't aware of just how little he's shown and referenced. It's wonderful, like a little peak at the monstrosity Kotaro's been engineered into right before his overwhelming human spirit converts it into a tool of justice. It's a very confused first henshin for Kotaro, too; he's still very much on the run and has no idea what's happening -- sure he summons his fun bike which he refuses to get off with Kuuga-esque tenacity and he's got a lot of great choreography, but I love just how not in the right state of mind he is. I'm not even sure if he had a belt in this scene? I didn't see it on 'Black Sun', and if I'm right, it's a great choice! After beating up those losers he returns home, where after not much of note happens other than the subs not translating the intent of Kyoko making clear she's Kotaro's sister; our main hero heads to the conveniently fight-scene-friendly abandoned warehouse... for probably the best scene in the whole episode. Throughout my little Toku Journey I've seen a lot of ways to try and balance out a main character's love and disdain for their shitty dads but I think this is one of the best ones -- Kotaro's dad is acting out of desperation here and it couldn't be more clear. Golgom in his eyes is a conglomerate too ancient and too powerful to be stopped, and will conquer the world. So when they came to him with a bunch of money and a promise to keep his sons safe? Damn right he's gonna take it! ... but also, as Kotaro so wonderfully puts it; all he's done is sold their souls to the devil and twist their bodies in terrible agonising ways. It's understandable why Father Minami did what he did and Kotaro still clearly holds love for him, but he's never so much as attempted to be framed as in the right or of holding any rationality. He sold that away the day he signed up for Golgom. Kamen Rider Black's first henshin is very wonderfully underpinned with Kotaro's proclamation of the full title, his standing in front of a passed loved one and a great daytime-lit shot to show our hero in his full glory. Despite that I like how he's hardly shown to be invincible; those nightmarish spider suits are really pulling their weight by pulling their silk left and right... and I think this was a great choice of a first monster. There being a ton of them makes sense for their being spiders and it lets Black show off all his cool attacks and feel like an absolute powerhouse just tearing through all of them. With a lovely final shot of Black fading back into Kotaro... I think I'm gonna like this show, at least for a bit. I've heard from this very thread that it gets a big ol tonal shift later down the line, but for now I'm enjoying the mix of showa-isms and more heisei-ish direct drama and horrible implications about Kotaro's backstory.
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08-12-2020, 08:46 PM | #15983 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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I think it's been a little over half a year since I watched BLACK, and I'm frankly still just floored by how tight that first episode is. It's got atmosphere for days in the opening, smoothly establishes the characters in the middle, and brings it all together for an epic heroic fight by the end. It's no wonder you enjoyed it! Hopefully the rest of the show proves as much fun for you. But I mean, I'm sure Battle Hopper alone will make the experience worth it.
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08-12-2020, 09:01 PM | #15984 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Quote:
I think it's been a little over half a year since I watched BLACK, and I'm frankly still just floored by how tight that first episode is. It's got atmosphere for days in the opening, smoothly establishes the characters in the middle, and brings it all together for an epic heroic fight by the end. It's no wonder you enjoyed it! Hopefully the rest of the show proves as much fun for you. But I mean, I'm sure Battle Hopper alone will make the experience worth it.
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08-12-2020, 09:57 PM | #15985 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,433
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Black has, for my money, probably the best first episode of any Rider show.
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08-13-2020, 02:00 AM | #15986 |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 462
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I think Black is my favourite out of the Kamen Rider shows I've finished, the 80s are starting to take over my toku rankings a bit the more I finish(even though I was born in 92 lol)!
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08-13-2020, 04:39 AM | #15987 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 104
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I had some misgivings about Black when I rewatched it couple of years ago, but it's undeniable that the first episode's aces. Also, my favorite ED song ever from a KR show (*not that there are many competitors for that), so incredibly nostalgic and hit different when you've finished with the show.
Finally got to continue my Ryuki rewatch and I gotta say, the period from episode 31 to 40 was my least favorite portion of the show. Megumi's fine in her introduction filler episode, but not really a fan of her being integrated into the recurring cast. It kinda threw off the previously established rock solid chemistry of the ORE Journal crew, most notably by dragging Shimada from the subtly hilarious character tics into full-blown loud slapstick territory that's not really my cup of tea. The Asakura/little girl sub-plot didn't really land for me, as did the Tiger/Alternatives (at least initially). But mostly it's the Yui/Shiro mystery, which at this point has become too one-note and depressing for how much it's just Yui being in distress. (also it just dawned on me since I'm watching both shows simultaneously, but Koyomi's role in Wizard is pretty much just a rehash of Yui's, isn't it? Very similar premise in "an older male figure can't let go of female family member, set up convoluted machinations that cause unnecessary pain and suffering to everyone else", which doesn't work well at all over the course of 50-odd episodes when that female character spend all her time just awaiting impending doom while being kept in the dark the whole time) There are enough high points in this stretch to make up for them, tho. Tiger's design is a complete beaut, one of the most effective and badass Rider design ever, especially with the claws out. I didn't really get Toujou until after Imperer's entrance, but I ended up liking him as a character. Most of all, the Shinji/Ren stuff during this period just worked really well for me. It's kinda funny, there were times when I used to dislike both of them, although not simultaneously. In my first watch when I favored Ren, I thought Shinji was an annoying pushover dork; in my second watch when I favored Shinji, I thought Ren was a cringey edgelord; this time, I really do love both of them. Their character arcs just beautifully dovetailed with each other, and the debut scene of Ryuki Survive encapsulated how important these two's symbiosis is to the show as a whole. Quote:
As a controversial opinion though, I would TOTALLY have a person who had never seen Kuuga before watch with the Grongi subtitles. I think understanding what they are saying actually makes the mystery more intriguing by giving you a bit more info to go on, and you get a better grasp on the relationships between the individual Grongi. Even back when the show first aired I'm sure fans translated it as the episodes aired and discussed it, so its hardly something that I think needs to be some massive secret!
So yeah, not understanding the convo invoked a specific kind of atmosphere the way the showrunners intended to, and made the scenes worked really well for me the first time I watched Kuuga. Regardless, I'm not going to tell people either that the ideal experience of watching Kuuga is by not having that Grongi sub, different preference and all. It may not work out as well in this era too, when information about that is readily available in the Net. |
08-13-2020, 07:59 AM | #15988 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
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I hope you too grow to love Battle Hopper. Is the first secondary of modern rider G3, Gills or Ichijou? No, it is Black's trusty bug-shaped motorcycle! |
08-13-2020, 06:11 PM | #15989 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Promise I'm not gonna do an episode-by-episode play-by-play - mostly because especially for longer series and ones I've never seen before, I have difficulty really talking about individual episodes - but. Man. This is the sort of shit I love. It's not a shot Black lingers on for long or a concept that the episode really stays with much, but it does what it needs to. Kamen Rider Black's just saved a bunch of people, they all look up at him in admiration, and he wordlessly rides off into the night. OOO reaching out to the man in the Cat Yummy. Build doing all he can for a victimised former prison guard's family. Everything in Kuuga. What I prize in Superhero media above most other aspects, and what I've found so much in Tokusatsu; is the willingness to just help normal people without question. To dive in there and do anything you can to save lives, because you have that power to do so and life is that precious. Something I particularly love about how Black does it for the first big time here, in Episode 3? Even though like I said, it doesn't spend much time on it; what is there is irreplacably important. Because they're scenes that wouldn't have been out of place if you'd replaced Kamen Rider Black with a Firefighter. He doesn't just leave after he's dispatched the Silkworm Mutant, he goes right back in there and throws off cage doors, tears people out of their silk confines... it's a wonderful scene, and one scarce of dialogue aside from his little assurances like "Hang on!". It's Kamen Rider down to its bare bone essentials. You're not a hero because you beat up the bad guy; you're a hero because you're there for other people when it counts. Kamen Rider Black so far is very content on being a fairly simple series, but one that's also effective at making me recall why I fell in love with this franchise to begin with. Good episode.
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08-13-2020, 06:43 PM | #15990 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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No, no, you're doing this all wrong! You were supposed to be talking about how great BLACK is, but all you've done is put me in one of my trademark "Why is OOO not my favorite?" moods by reminding me of one of its best scenes.
This was probably like one of the first dozen episodes of Kamen Rider I ever saw! Do you have any idea how much this has stuck with me over the years?! How did I get this lucky?!!! I'm going to be like this for at least a week now, so thank you.
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Last edited by Fish Sandwich; 08-13-2020 at 07:02 PM.. |
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