|
Community Links |
Members List |
Search Forums |
Advanced Search |
Go to Page... |
|
Thread Tools |
02-05-2024, 12:32 PM | #151 |
Standing By
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,114
|
Quote:
Can't complain. It had a well-picked cast, good setup, a red ranger who wasn't supposed to be a red ranger but becomes great, and the first gorilla ranger ever, which was nicely done I think.
Fun fact about Koji, it recently was revealed in Yasuhisa Furuhara's youtube channel when he interviewed Gao Red that Gao Red and Ginga Green were in a band together pre-super sentai. Kaneko who played Gao Red never mentioned if they went mainstream or even the indie scene but he started watching Gingaman at the time since his former bandmate was the green ranger and he seemed to have enjoyed it when it aired. Also, Maehara who played Ginga Red was a customer when Kaneko was working at something called a cafe bar, which apparently was popular during the 90s in Japan. *excluding ToQGer Double CycloneCyclone is kind of a weird form if you think about it, since it's a clone of Shoutarou being operated independently by Phillip. Double JokerJoker provides the easiest opportunity ever for a repaint Rider, simply by changing the silver line to black and replacing the Driver. I guess one advantage of being Double is that they're resistant to being tickled by Final Form Ride, since they're already regularly bisecting and stretching themselves with their Joker Maximum Drives. Quote:
-The Decade part of this team-up movie is still real weird, man. I absolutely adore the way it wants to culminate Tsukasa?s story in a touching recollection of all the ways he pissed people off over a year, but all of the Super Shocker stuff feels tonally dissonant. (Read the full write-up here!)
How awesome is Decade Violent Emotion though?! Such a minimal change to the suit and yet he has the power to use all the Attack Rides he wants without additional Kamen Rides. Honestly, I'd consider Neo-Decade from Zi-O to be a downgrade from this in functionality, as he still had to use Kamen Rides before he could use the corresponding Attack Rides. In conclusion, Neo-Decade only removes the need for Form Rides, but Violent Emotion removes the need for both Kamen and Form Rides! Quote:
But yeah, this was a fascinating Movie Wars to return to since this was the first. Especially the Directors Cut which swaps the order of the segments and adds more to it. The first of its kind, and I'd like to say... it's probably not the worst if I'm being entirely honest. A rough first start, but there's definitely some bright spots here.
Quote:
Toku-lert!
(For those who?ve done way too many prominent roles to be tied to one franchise) Our ?victim? (as a how to guide on detective scripts I read at age 10 put it)?s dead sister is Miyuu Sawai, who is best known as the lead role actor n Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and as the previous Pink in Ryusoulger. Quote:
About being a detective in various ways, I think I get that message in Zero-One, regarding Wazu, more, than this one. While Akiko's courage is admirable (and it's consistent that Akiko looks after her clients, and people around them, this isn't one-off thing), and I understand what they're getting into (because there'd be similar stuff on a side character later, and it happens too for Shotaro being mocked as "half-boiled" due to said heart role), her saving the day is just dumb luck that (like about how the true culprit is exposed, how it lures important people), happens by pure chance, so, this message will of course get dismissed, and even I have a hard time getting through this and implementing it - or I'm also the one who should try to learn this.
Quote:
KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 16 - ?FLASH OF THE F - TAKE BACK YOUR PARTNER?
FangJoker's debut story is? y?know, okay. I love the suit, first and foremost. FangJoker is a beautiful suit, with a classic monochrome color scheme (white, black, a little purple) getting a few tweaks to the Double suit ? all them little scratches and gouges and sharp edges. It?s a beautiful suit, regardless of what I?m going to say next. Same tyrannosaurus motif even.
__________________
心 と 刃 |
02-05-2024, 01:11 PM | #152 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,432
|
Quote:
I love mooks! The best gift the Begins Night movie gave us was the Masquerade Memory, so we could see FangTrigger wallop the holy hell out of a bunch of besuited grunts. I love how creative and insane a good mass brawl can get, and there's nothing I like better in Kamen Rider than seeing some new suit demonstrate its capabilities by obliterating zero-level idiots. So fun, and easily 70% of what I like about FangTrigger's debut.
|
02-05-2024, 03:28 PM | #153 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
I think this was a satisfying conclusion (emphasis on conclusion) to Tsukasa's journey, allowing him to start a new one with his friends after becoming free from the burden of his past. However, it's annoying that we have to watch a Movie War to see this, especially at the time since people had to wait months after Decade "ended" before the movie was actually released. Toei totally deserved all the complaints they got for pulling that stunt.
Quote:
I will probably always pick the original block of Heisei Rider as my favorite era, but if there's one area where I think it pretty consistently fails is the lack of mooks. Going all the way back to the original Shocker grunts, having a battalion of interchangeable, barely competent goons to beat up is a core part of Kamen Rider's DNA and W absolutely deserves credit for bringing the concept back. Not every show that followed had an equivalent, but it definitely became a lot more common again from this point onwards.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
02-05-2024, 07:11 PM | #154 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
|
Quote:
KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 16 - “FLASH OF THE F - TAKE BACK YOUR PARTNER”
At the heart of Kamen Rider is the idea of using darkness to fight for justice, and Berserk Forms are the inescapable consequence of that idea. We can’t truly know what the hero is risking until we see them succumb to their denied rage and/or guilt. (Depends on the Rider!) Beyond that… just, like, so cool. I love the distorted body language and horrifying visuals that go along with a good Berserk Form debut – the scene in this one with the burning Gaia Library? Iconic. A good Berserk Form goes a long way to deepening the stakes and characters of a show. Quote:
Let’s start with the second part first! A lot of time is spent over the last two episodes to eventually parallel Fuyumi’s need to risk her freedom to save Kenji from his hardcore Memory addiction, with basically everything going on with Philip, Shotaro, and the Fang Memory. Philip’s fear of losing control in an attempt to save Shotaro is given a counter in Fuyumi’s blind faith in Kenji’s salvation, and… man, I just don’t think this episode all the way gets there? The point is that it’s irrational that Fuyumi wants to save a dude who is completely around the bend, hopped up on USB drives that are drug metaphors, but it sort of doesn’t layer as cleanly on the Philip/Fang/Shotaro dynamic as it sort of needs to, in order to feel like less of someone saying some random thing to trigger Philip’s own problem-solving skills. Kenji never once in this entire story comes off as someone worth saving, or certainly someone who is conflicted AT ALL about mercilessly gunning down anyone and everyone who even looks at him funny. (Dude sets a death trap for laughs!) I don’t know if the takeaway for Philip should really be You Have To Be There For Your Partner Forever Even If They Start Gleefully Killing People And Also Do Not Want To Stop Doing Metaphors For Drugs. Like, I think it’s okay to cut some people out of your life if they are toxic and/or homicidal, but maybe that’s too nuanced of a story for a show designed to sell toys to Japanese children.
Quote:
Similarly, we really speedrun our way through the Fang story here, don’t we? Fang is introduced in the film as a cool powerup, nbd, and here it’s retconned (fairly, but still retconned) as a horrible violation of Philip’s self-control and autonomy. After that, we’re only a couple Refusal Of The Call scenes away from Philip risking permanent feral psychosis for a cosplay detective, and then a beautifully shot sequence of Shotaro Being There For Philip, and then no more Berserk Form. It feels… a little thin? I don’t know if this one needed to be a three-parter, or if we needed an earlier Fang appearance to really sell the danger (the movie did not help on this one!), or what, but even the conclusion to the story… I don’t know, it’s all a little quick for me. I’d hope for more than just I’m There For You Partner, since this sort of wasn’t ever really a story where Shotaro and Philip weren’t there for each other? Philip isn’t icing out Shotaro, and Shotaro isn’t refusing to work with Philip. There’s a sweetness to the way they’re both there for each other in the end – Philip, by using Fang to rescue Shotaro; Shotaro, by rescuing Philip from Fang – but it doesn’t really feel connected to their story over the last two episodes. It’s like the show was trying to fill in the blanks for Double’s story by pasting in the Fuyumi/Kenji stuff, but, again: not really similar dynamics!
__________________
The most complete non-wiki encyclopedias for Kamen Rider series (currently only found Ryuki and OOO's). |
02-05-2024, 09:26 PM | #155 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
SHOTARO HIDARI HARDBOILED DELUSION DIARY EPISODE 4 - “WHAT IF AKIKO WAS A PHANTOM THIEF?”
I mean, yes, OF COURSE I would watch a W spin-off where Akiko and Philip are classy thieves. That’s a no-brainer. What we get here only hints at the possibilities, with Akiko dressing up as Fuyumi and Philip skipping Kenji’s drug addict fatigues to land entirely on Lupin I Guess. They make a heart, which doesn’t 100% seem like an effective larceny strategy, but when you’re dealing with a guard in Shotaro who just knocks a jewel off a table directly into the path of the thieves… I don’t know, maybe that heart and wink from Akiko are enough. Good short, and I appreciate everyone making the fight against the Violence Dopant look as crummy as possible. (Akiko just, like, puts up her hands and bounces around. It is great.)
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
02-05-2024, 10:14 PM | #156 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,604
|
Again, love these little skits the actors get to fool around in.
That being said my favorite bit of this Delusion Diary is the lore that Shotaro has a locked chest in the back of the office that just holds little knickknacks he amassed in his time. Just seeing him fondly look through it was real fun. |
02-05-2024, 10:20 PM | #157 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,452
|
Just finished the FangJoker two-parter. I come out of it liking it more than not. The whole reason everything about it works; The theme of emotion versus reason and the possible consequences of going out of control, all work so well because it's Philip who's at the center of it all. His characterization has been very firmly established at this point, and seeing proof of how he's grown over the course of the show via the trap he gets placed in all makes for a very engaging story.
The only real bit that kinda falls flat for me, and I guess I can extend it as a bit of the show overall, is that I'm never really invested in any of the Sonozaki's' as characters(unless one counts Kirihiko), but that's an overall minor bit in the grand scheme of things. Had fun with this one, and if memory serves this was about the time were W started to "get good" for me back when I first watched it.
__________________
|
02-05-2024, 11:04 PM | #158 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
The only real bit that kinda falls flat for me, and I guess I can extend it as a bit of the show overall, is that I'm never really invested in any of the Sonozaki's' as characters(unless one counts Kirihiko), but that's an overall minor bit in the grand scheme of things.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
02-06-2024, 10:00 PM | #159 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 17 - “FAREWELL TO N - THE MEMORY KIDS”
Kirihiko! What is there not to love about this principled Wife Guy doofus? He’s the perfect foil for Shotaro. Kirihiko’s as image-obsessed as Shotaro, but in a more refined and dignified way. Kirihiko loves Fuuto like Shotaro does, and he even designed the town’s mascot. He cares about Fuuto, but in a way that prioritizes a potential glorious future over a chaotic and violent present. He’s a Shotaro that didn’t have the steady hand of Sokichi to guide him. It makes for a fun secondary plot to this Afterschool Special of an episode, where Shotaro and Akiko attempt to reach a group of wayward youths who are hooked on USB drives that are drug metaphors. There’s not much to the angle besides the joke of Shotaro acting like he’s 60-years old all of a sudden – there’s not much to Touma than the panic of writers in 30s and 40s who can’t connect with teens, and Akane's currently just, like, Going Through A Phase. It’s not an episode that really builds out its mystery plot with a ton of nuance or specificity. (Like, Team Double is only a single Queen & Elizabeth guest appearance away from completely getting to the bottom of Akane's disappearance.) But it does form an interesting idea of how you can care about something, but be so distanced from it that you don’t understand it. Kirihiko loves Fuuto, but his marriage to Saeko (and overall striver ethos) make him see Fuuto less as a collection of lives and more as a balance sheet, to be managed and eventually cashed out. It’s the same with Shotaro and Akane, where he just assumes she’s going to be a sweet kid forever, instead of growing into a complicated teenager. I don’t know if it’s an idea that, y’know, goes anywhere this time, though. Kirihiko’s concerned that kids are getting Gaia Memories, instead of the usual cautionary tale scumbags and lunatics, and Saeko barely tries to even mollify him with assurances that it’s being looked into. (I appreciate her not just laughing in his face, like she clearly meant to.) But it’s not really a story that does more than allow for some character growth to be applied later to Kirihiko. We’re clearly setting up to a breaking point for Kirihiko, but this episode is all setup for that moment. It’s an intermittently enjoyable episode, though. The Memory Kids stuff is vague and uninteresting, but Kirhiko’s spotlight is entertaining and offbeat enough to make up for it. I love how much him and Shotaro could be best friends, if it weren’t for the whole Drug Metaphor Kingpin thing. — DIE-A MEMORIES -What’s that? A handsome, effective detective rookie is coming to town? What a normal thing to talk about as a scene begins! (I kid, I kid. As far as teases go, this one’s barely obtrusive.) -The whole Fang subplot in this one is peak W for me. It’s goofy, colorful, and eventually completely awesome. And it ends with a definitive Akiko Can’t Catch gag!
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 02-09-2024 at 03:21 PM.. |
02-08-2024, 05:53 PM | #160 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
|
Quote:
KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 17 - “FAREWELL TO N - THE MEMORY KIDS”
He’s the perfect foil for Shotaro. Kirihiko’s as image-obsessed as Shotaro, but in a more refined and dignified way. Kirihiko loves Fuuto like Shotaro does, and he even designed the town’s mascot. He cares about Fuuto, but in a way that prioritizes a potential glorious future over a chaotic and violent present. He’s a Shotaro that didn’t have the steady hand of Sokichi to guide him. Quote:
It makes for a fun secondary plot to this Afterschool Special of an episode, where Shotaro and Akiko attempt to reach a group of wayward youths who are hooked on USB drives that are drug metaphors. There’s not much to the angle besides the joke of Shotaro acting like he’s 60-years old all of a sudden – there’s not much to Touma than the panic of writers in 30s and 40s who can’t connect with teens, and Akiko’s currently just, like, Going Through A Phase. It’s not an episode that really builds out its mystery plot with a ton of nuance or specificity. (Like, Team Double is only a single Queen & Elizabeth guest appearance away from completely getting to the bottom of Akiko’s disappearance.)
Quote:
But it does form an interesting idea of how you can care about something, but be so distanced from it that you don’t understand it. Kirihiko loves Fuuto, but his marriage to Saeko (and overall striver ethos) make him see Fuuto less as a collection of lives and more as a balance sheet, to be managed and eventually cashed out. It’s the same with Shotaro and Akiko, where he just assumes she’s going to be a sweet kid forever, instead of growing into a complicated teenager.
Quote:
I don’t know if it’s an idea that, y’know, goes anywhere this time, though. Kirihiko’s concerned that kids are getting Gaia Memories, instead of the usual cautionary tale scumbags and lunatics, and Saeko barely tries to even mollify him with assurances that it’s being looked into. (I appreciate her not just laughing in his face, like she clearly meant to.) But it’s not really a story that does more than allow for some character growth to be applied later to Kirihiko. We’re clearly setting up to a breaking point for Kirihiko, but this episode is all setup for that moment.
Adds another difficulty for W's fighting that Fang Memory moves on its own, and Akiko with Phillip failing to find it, to the point of Philip making a mess to look for it, making W resort to CycloneJoker, then CycloneMetal, and HeatMetal, thus he can't put down the significantly stronger than usual level 2 Nazca Dopant that uses super speed. Though Philip does find out that, like how it's designed, Fang Memory will come through him when he's in danger. I'd like it better if FangJoker utilizes his boomerang ability to deal with the flying Bird Dopant.
__________________
The most complete non-wiki encyclopedias for Kamen Rider series (currently only found Ryuki and OOO's). |
|
TokuNation News & Rumors |
Ultraman X Avengers |
Memorial Edition GoPhone Announced |
Kakuranger: 30 Years After |
ToyRise RyuKenDo |
Alternative Cut of "Day Of The Dumpster" Released |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:44 AM.
|