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12-13-2021, 04:47 PM | #101 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
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Quote:
Characters not getting named was epidemic in Phase 1 Heisei. It's less common in Phase 2 (mostly because nearly every driver shouts the Rider's name during the Henshin), so it was a surprise that the two new OOO Riders and (I think) the villain's monster form never get officially named in the movie.
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12-13-2021, 04:54 PM | #102 |
Showa Girl
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Super GingaOh did name himself, but just in passing and the subs translate the name
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12-13-2021, 09:16 PM | #103 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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KAMEN RIDER FOURZE: ROCKET DRILL STATES OF FRIENDSHIP
I’m not crazy about the Interactive era of HBVs, but this one keeps it relatively unobtrusive. It’s just, the consequences of the choices -- the difficulty of choosing the correct choices -- were weirdly distracting to me. Like, the first choice is Which Switch Should Fourze Use On The Monster: Rocket, Drill, Launcher, or Radar? All of the offensive ones fail, and the correct choice is Radar. Except, all Radar does is intercept an incoming Ryuusei call, directing Team Fourze to go find Kamen Rider Amazon and pick up an HBV-exclusive collectible. That’s not predictable from the choices and setup provided! That’s like having the correct choice be the Hammer Switch, because the monster had an unpleasant encounter with MC Hammer at a Burger King in 1993. There is no way to have known that when you’re making the choice! The ending choice is sort of the same thing: Choose between Amazon’s friendship sign and Fourze’s. Seems like a little bit of fluff; can’t possibly affect the outcome of the fight. Except it does, because Fourze’s friendship sign causes Amazon to cough up the Clear Drill Switch -- the thing that actually defeats the villain -- early enough to keep the villain from escaping. You go with Amazon’s friendship sign, the villain escapes and you don’t get to see the (presumably bundled with the magazine) brand-new Switch in action. Again, how could anyone intuit that from the story being told? This is presented like an innocuous choice, but it’s potentially depriving you of the better, longer ending. Besides me yelling at a nearly decade-old piece of entertainment made to sell toys to children for being too difficult (THEY CHEAT), I really enjoyed this special. This was the first place I got to know Amazon, and he’s still one of my favorite Riders I Don’t Truck With. He’s an adorably innocent Rider, and his baseline belief in making friends is perfectly in tune with Fourze’s excitability. Just two Riders who want to be friends. To quote Keanu Reeves, “It’s always nice, when it’s nice.” Sure, he was talking about people reprogramming a video game to have sex with his digital avatar, but I think the same thing applies to two superheroes teaching each other unique handshakes. It’s always nice, when it’s nice. It’s also nice to see a writer hit a minor roadblock, and then drive through it with such lunatic gusto that you can’t imagine why people drive around things. Ryuusei has told Team Fourze (for this special, that’s just Gentaro, Kengo, and Yuki) that they’ll need to travel all the way to South America to find the crucial Astro Switch and gain Kamen Rider Amazon's help. But, like, Fourze’s barely holding on against the monster in Japan. Going to South America, finding Amazon, and getting back to Japan would take almost two weeks. So what if Fourze fought the monster for twelve straight days? Twelve days of increasingly exhausted combat? Days and nights of increasingly delirious fighting? A final few hours where both combatants are basically gently slapping each other, because all strength has left their bodies and they long for the calming embrace of death? It would be amazing, and it’s such a terrific middle section that I can forgive it for BLATANTLY CHEATING on the interactive sections. It’s a bonkers conceit, coupled with Yuki and Kengo searching for Kamen Rider Amazon by going to the largest rainforest on the planet and just shouting out AMAZON until they eventually (almost literally!) stumble upon him. It is deliciously stupid, which is exactly what I want every HBV to be. This was a ton of fun. Amazon and Fourze teaming up is incredibly charming (the little “Chun!” Fourze does when he performs Amazon’s friendship sign!), and the weirdly tortuous journey the other kids go on is like a fever dream. Perfectly ridiculous, and ridiculously perfect.
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12-13-2021, 09:24 PM | #104 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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I'm always tempted to say "this is one of my favourite HBVs", because... I'm pretty sure it's true! It features two of my favourite Riders in a fun little crossover that's downright perfect and needed to happen (I would argue Fourze and Amazon are cross-generation equivalents just for how hard both push the friendship angle!), and it's a bunch of fun!
It's just. Like. My favourite HBV? When the competition is so strong? That's a bit of a tough one! I just keep thinking of Agito's or Build's or Ryuki's or, of course, the absolutely unbeatable 555 HBV that it's difficult to definitively call this one my fav. It probably is, but boy if it doesn't have a bunch of strong contenders around it. Who cares about arbitrarily assigning a #1 label to any particular one though? I'm just glad this thing exists and is as good as it is!
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12-13-2021, 10:03 PM | #105 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,093
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(I'd totally be down for a more in-depth choose-your-own-adventurer Kamen Rider story).
I think I remember Hiroaki Hirata voicing the Mutamid in the special, which was pretty fun. |
12-13-2021, 11:08 PM | #106 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Quote:
I'm always tempted to say "this is one of my favourite HBVs", because... I'm pretty sure it's true! It features two of my favourite Riders in a fun little crossover that's downright perfect and needed to happen (I would argue Fourze and Amazon are cross-generation equivalents just for how hard both push the friendship angle!), and it's a bunch of fun!
It's just. Like. My favourite HBV? When the competition is so strong? That's a bit of a tough one! I just keep thinking of Agito's or Build's or Ryuki's or, of course, the absolutely unbeatable 555 HBV that it's difficult to definitively call this one my fav. It probably is, but boy if it doesn't have a bunch of strong contenders around it. Who cares about arbitrarily assigning a #1 label to any particular one though? I'm just glad this thing exists and is as good as it is! (Drive is just outside my Top 3, for how insanely cool the HBV-exclusive form ended up being. Probably Decade after that, what with the Decade Bazooka and all.) Quote:
Bandai's got options, is all I'm saying.
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12-14-2021, 10:31 AM | #107 |
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Posts: 1,093
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I remember Kabuto's where I think Kagami is trying to be like Tendo and the only good thing he gets out of it is Hyper Gatack.
Or like Blade where there's evil Blade with scarf and everyone attacks Kenzaki thinking he's the fake. |
12-14-2021, 06:34 PM | #108 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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It's been such a long time since I've seen this that I barely remember it (which should change soon enough!), but I recall being super excited at the time that it simply existed, and enjoying the end product... well, just like I enjoy pretty much everything Fourze ? a whole lot. It was great that they used the freedom an HBV has to do whatever wacky thing, and made it into a chance for Fourze to do something with such a straightforward 40th anniversary feel to it by shoving some old guy into a guest-star spot. And not just any old guy, either! It's Amazon, the inspiration for the best Fourze character, and the Showa Rider *so* inherently lovable even Die will admit he's got his charms. He really is the perfect choice for a Fourze team-up. Like, how weird would this thing have been if Yuuki and Kengo had to arbitrarily fetch Riderman or something instead, you know? Although Stronger might've been good too, though... And then, I suppose Riderman's arms are kinda like Fourze's Switches?
Actually, you know what? I think Fourze can probably team up with any other Rider and have it work out, right? His whole shtick IS befriending literally everyone, after all.
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12-14-2021, 11:56 PM | #109 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Location: Chicago, IL
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Quote:
It'd work out, but it wouldn't be as absurdly fun as this. Like, Amazon is so on Fourze's wavelength that it never feels like either character is dumbing down to make it a comedy. It's not like (and I love these) the Wizard cop show Net-Movies, where all the old Showa guys are slightly deranged. Here, it just feels like Kamen Rider Amazon showed up to help the cast of Kamen Rider Fourze... and all of those characters are slightly deranged.
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12-16-2021, 07:27 PM | #110 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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KAMEN RIDER X SUPER SENTAI: SUPER HERO TAISEN
An exciting movie, with terrific action and a million characters… that I utterly despise if I think about what it’s saying for more than a minute. Well, maybe not “utterly despise”. That’s overly harsh. I do genuinely hate what this movie ends up saying at its conclusion, though. After an entire film of Tsukasa and Marvelous putting lives in jeopardy and humiliating their friends, we get a Tsukasa speech that, hand to god, is just him going A Real Hero Knows The Ends Justify The Means. Like, look at this garbage: I literally had to get up and walk away after that triumphantly-scored (!!!) moment. Yonemura had the goddamn anniversary-level balls to have a superhero tell a villain that any action is justified if the end result is a defeated villain. OH MAN! No! No no no no no! I hate that lesson so much that I will always resent this movie for having it as a moral. The path to get to that moral is equally insulting. Decade and Gokai Red’s plan to gaslight both friends and enemies alike is riddled with logical problems. Like, the gimmick is that both Tsukasa and Marvelous are hiding other heroes in a pocket dimension, so the villains will think they’re dead. Tsukasa and Marvelous do this personally, with a purple-colored attack. And then they rain fire down on their friends. And then they send other villains after the heroes that only they can protect. What if General Shadow just murders, like, a Magiranger? Or if DaiZangyack’s ship obliterated Fourze? The entire plan falls apart if anyone other than Decade or Gokai Red attack the heroes… and step one of the plan is to take over armies of villains and send them against the heroes. (Also, best part is Rider Hunter Silva going No Riders Detected as the villains make their move... while Gokai Green is about twelve feet away. Is... is that all that was necessary to hide the various heroes?! Keeping them behind rubble? In a robot's blindspot? Amazing. So dumb!) It’s a shockingly cruel plan, even if I can sort of see Tsukasa trying it. (I don’t know Marvelous, so maybe it’s similarly believable that he’d shit all over his friends and team-up with the very villains he spent a season eliminating?) Tsukasa deciding all on his own to enact a plan with a hero he just met that might piss off all of his friends… it sort of tracks? It’s reckless, and that’s very much Tsukasa’s M.O. when it comes to plans. It’s dangerous and insulting, and then the end result is all of the Sentais and all of the Riders being in one place to stop the villains from completing a scheme they only attempted because they thought Marvelous and Tsukasa got rid of the other heroes. It’s like dousing your best friend’s home in gasoline, and then leaving a book of matches on their front doorstep, all so you can catch any would-be arsonists. Worse, it’s like trying to catch a known arsonist in the act. Like, why don’t the Riders and Sentai just, like, fight the villains from the start? Why all the subterfuge, when the only things that were gained were a) terrorized friends, and b) an army that didn’t need to be tricked into showing up? It’s a long way to go for an ending that’s just All Of The Heroes Fight At The Quarry, a thing they do more-or-less every season anyway. The most frustrating part of the story to me is that Diend actually calls Tsukasa out on it, and he’s right, and then the movie throws it all away. Again, can’t speak to the Sentai part, but it’s way more interesting to watch this movie after watching Decade. The real throughline of the movie (for me, at least) is how Kaitou and Tsukasa navigate their toxic relationship. There’s plenty of stuff about putting aside differences or reaching out to people or how The Greatest Treasure Is Friendship (gross), but I love how this movie really drills into how much Kaitou and Tsukasa need each other. Even in the midst of trying to make everyone in the universe think he’s a bad guy, Tsukasa sort of breaks character to try and recruit Kaitou. The real climax of the film for me isn’t the bullshit We Fooled You/We Fooled You Into Thinking You Fooled Us stuff that Marvelous and Tsukasa smirk at the villains with. It’s when Kaitou is furious that Tsukasa would consider their friendship/”friendship” collateral damage; acceptable losses. He’s 100% right, Kaitou. It was a lazy plan by our “heroes”, and it presumes that they can be forgiven as long as no one dies. It’s nearly sociopathic in its disregard for people’s feelings. Tsukasa could’ve easily told Kaitou what was going on, just like Marvelous could’ve told the Gokaigers. All of this villainous subterfuge is just cruelty dressed up in nobility, and it’s disgusting. Kaitou’s dead right to tell Tsukasa that he was worse than a supervillain; he was an asshole. But then Kaitou tilts into Psycho Ex territory, and the movie loses its thread. I mean, I sort of like how Kaitou’s reaction to Tsukasa valuing all of these Riders and Sentais over what he had with Kaitou is Okay Fine Die With Them Then. Kaitou doesn’t really care about Riders or Sentais in the aggregate. He might care about Gokai Blue as a person, but he doesn’t particularly value other superheroes for any innate reasons. The idea that Tsukasa would destroy their relationship for the sake of strangers would naturally (for a toxic version of “naturally”) make Kaitou want to put those strangers in some sort of jeopardy. I don’t know that Kaitou forming a giant robot and trying to murder decades worth of superheroes works for me, though. It’s like Tsukasa’s plan: it’s too much, too fatal. It treats the safety of everyone else as obligatory, ensured. Like, this is just Kaitou throwing a tantrum at being ignored, don’t worry about it, let him get it out of his system. It’s less fun if the movie can’t treat it seriously? But, I don’t know, the rest of the movie is pretty fun. The plot is really nothing. It’s just a ragtag group of survivors (two Gokaigers, Diend, and Hina from OOO) running around and watching cool Sentai and Rider fights. That’s it. They don’t really have a plan to stop their ex-friends from slaughtering other superheroes. It’s just Marvelous and Tsukasa’s weird scheme, front to back, which works out basically 100% correctly. (Even the Kaitou stuff just puts them back where they started.) Still, y’know, a million superheroes! A fun cameo from the Den-O Imagin! Eiji’s in this about as much as Gentaro is! Great fights! (Best one for me was the early Gokai Red/Decade fight, where they kept using similar-themed suits, like Blade versus Spade Ace. I love when the match-ups get clever like that!) A massive battle at Kamen Rider Quarry! A finale that depends on continuity from the Fourze HBV! The story in this one is alternately illogical and offensive, but the fan-service and action are so good that I find myself working to forget the story. Weird, weird movie. Incredibly successful as a celebration of tokusatsu; practically criminal in its stupidity and abhorrent morality.
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