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02-21-2021, 05:28 PM | #11 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Man, this show throws a sweet skeletal dark side Saber form my way and then the very same episode also assures me with the preview that both Brave Dragon and Dragonic Knight are still going to have significant screentime the week after. I should really apologize to the people who hate Saber, because I still swear Toei is for some reason literally making this show exclusively based around things I personally want to see.
And I am a sucker for the old "hero has to struggle for self-control against some kinda evil will" routine! Metal Cluster Hopper was cool. Hazard Form was cool. PuToTyra is equally as cool as TaJaDor to me. Ultimate Form? Way different in execution, but still, very cool. We've seen this trope quite a bit in Rider by this point, and while the most recent time is still arguably too recent for them to be pumping this well again, the redundancy didn't bother me at all. I think Saber put enough of a spin on Primitive Dragon to keep it feeling fresh. The wild body language is just insane (Kousuke Asai is very good at his job); the way he holds the sword is inspired; and heck, even the design of the book itself is downright genius. What more appropriate way could Saber have chosen to communicate a form that reduces Touma to a mindless beast, devoid of free will, than a claw that forcibly holds shut a book, a source of knowledge, and a medium for self-expression? Everything about this form has got me so hyped. Dragonic Knight was pretty much a definitive straight upgrade, but it never got me excited the way the creepy bone dragon does. Looking forward to seeing if the way it works itself into the narrative proves to be as interesting. (By the way, should I mention here that I've had a theory Touma's big picture book is the final form item for a while now? They're certainly hinting at a larger significance for it here.) Anyway, yeah, Primitive Dragon is the big draw to this episode, but it's not ultimately a majorly significant part of the narrative. Which is fine, because we what's building up to that climax is a crazy heist movie deal with the villains and the heroes both launching simultaneous plans to break into Southern Base, which is utterly delightful as a concept, and pretty darn fun in its execution. I lowkey like the Megid trio a fair bit, and am always waiting for the show to give them a bigger chance to shine, and this was a solid outing for all three of them, demonstrating Storius' scheming, Zooous' brutishness, and even a bit of Legeiel's pride, all in one episode. Like, these guys have always had distinct character traits, but in a lot of episodes, you kinda have to go looking for it, so the clarity this time was nice. The more the show does with these three, the better. On the heroes' end, I think I mostly just loved how goofy Touma was throughout the infiltration? There's a vulnerability to his comic nervousness that brings him right back down to earth after so many epic speeches in a row lately. Again, this is something that's always been part of Touma's characterization, and it serves as an especially nice reminder of his humanity in an episode that builds up to the threat of that being ripped away. This is an episode heavy enough on setup that there's potential for them to fumble some of these points later down the line, but as a start to a new arc, I thought it was quite promising.
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02-21-2021, 05:45 PM | #12 |
WONDER RIDER
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,713
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Primitive Dragon is awesome! The fighting style is definitely different compared to Saber's more orthodox swordsmanship and is instead a wild raging beast, complete with the impractical (if not stylish) backhand sword grip. Of course, I wonder if this means this form can't actually be used to save people and would instead be relegated to fighting the Megid leaders.
Something interesting to note is that Master Logos (or whoever Storious actually met on the stairs) called Storious one of "The First". Someone noted in a previous episode that in the flashback which relegated the tales of the first swordsmen, three of the swordsmen shown looked suspiciously like Storious, Legeiel and Zooous so something's definitely going on here. Also, the Calibur suit's back next week! Could it be Kento? Of course we haven't seen Desast around for some time, although I doubt it would be him as 'Calibur' is seen in the preview helping Yuri fight Touma. EDIT: Also, love how Primitive Dragon's totally grabbing Rekka by the blade. Like it doesn't give jackfruit if it cuts itself or not.
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Last edited by gashatfreak; 02-21-2021 at 05:52 PM.. |
02-21-2021, 06:23 PM | #13 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,501
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Out of all the berserker power-ups we had thus far(Putotyra excluded since that is technically an ultimate form) this looks nice and I love how he moves like a fragile yet feral zombie of sorts. It reminds me of SkullGreymon to an extent just painted icy blue and more unstable.
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02-21-2021, 08:47 PM | #14 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: World of Ataru
Posts: 857
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So as it turns out Primitive Dragon's theme is just stock music. Here's the vocal version
And the instrumental one used in the show.
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Last edited by GrandComplete; 02-21-2021 at 08:54 PM.. |
02-21-2021, 09:02 PM | #15 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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I had a suspicion about that! I didn't like it that much, honestly? I don't have anything against the use of stock music, but this particular instance clashed way too much with the show's usual style for my tastes. That's probably what they were going for, to be fair, but still.
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02-21-2021, 09:14 PM | #16 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,567
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Oooh now that is certainly interesting. Honestly I loved the background music a lot, which is surprising since it's basically a stock track.
Reminds me of how in certain season's there are like very specific track repeats from prior ones. Or like how during Grease's debut you could hear a Kyuranger track! |
02-21-2021, 10:43 PM | #17 |
Suprise Gamma Future
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,852
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Very interesting about the music. That definitely stood out to me while watching the scene. I couldn't put my finger on what felt so odd, but that explains it.
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02-21-2021, 10:52 PM | #18 |
Reiei
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 3,691
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I kinda liked the stock music, to be honest. The title of the track also gives me the idea of a proud beast rampaging around rather than the standard 'oh shit' music a berserk form soundtrack would play.
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02-22-2021, 12:46 AM | #19 |
Fangirl-Type Humagear
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Massachusetts, USA
Posts: 703
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Okay, maybe I'm just a sucker for berseker forms in general, but I loved that debut for Primitive Dragon. The design, the feral and slightly zombie-ish movements (shoutout to both Touma's actor and the suit actor, they really sold it), the brutal fighting style that totally clashes with the image of honorable knights, the way the bone dragon grabs Touma as if claiming him, just... hell yeah.
It's been really fun watching these past handful of episodes where things were getting better and better for Touma and it looked like he might be able to turn this whole traitor situation around, knowing Primitive Dragon was coming to mess that all up, and it did not disappoint! I also really liked the beginning of the episode, when Daishinji said he could modify the other swords to separate humans from Megid and Mei asked "what about the people who were already transformed?" It hit hard. Even though Touma promised to find a way to save them too, I like how the writers aren't letting us forget the consequences of failing to save people.
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02-22-2021, 05:37 AM | #20 |
WONDER RIDER
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,713
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Just a random thought from me but I do wonder why berserker forms are extremely popular. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against them but what is it that makes them so endearing?
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