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11-22-2020, 11:33 AM | #16241 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Quote:
He's not an ant this time around, but I have to say, I've always loved the Ganma for unabashedly Showa they are. The monsters of the week are goofy and out-there, the foot soldiers are featureless and utterly non-threatening, they've all got belts... it's great stuff! Machine Gun Ganma here even has smoke coming out of bullet holes represented by cheap tissue paper glued to his body, which is the kind of insanely unconvincing way to accomplish that effect I'd expect out of 70's tokusatsu. Like, it's so unconvincing I never even knew that's what it was supposed to be until reading about it years later. It probably doesn't sound like I'm praising the show anymore, but I seriously wouldn't have that any other way. This isn't a gritty, realistic murder mystery show like Kuuga or Agito, you know? The silliness of a lot of the early Ghost monster suits fits the overall vibe of the show perfectly.
It certainly helps that like the W to Wizard stretch, Ghost leans a lot more heavily into MOTW formulas than the more heavy serialisation we've seen almost entirely since Gaim and so we actually do have a lot of MOTWs going on here and in the spotlight, but I just love a lot of these designs. Two things I really like seeing in an enemy faction is advanced mooks and a mirror of the hero's power, and that's exactly what the Ganma do; they're mooks that kinda use their own damashii and they go crazy with it! It's a simple thing but the designs are so fun and outlandish and, while I didn't think so before you said it; I think you nailed it when you said Showa. It brings a lot of weirdness back into this franchise and I appreciate that a lot.
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11-22-2020, 11:38 AM | #16242 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
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The Roidmude and Ganma are totally just Sentai monsters.
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11-23-2020, 08:48 PM | #16243 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Kamen Rider OOO Episode 10
I love Eiji Hino. He's a man that through all his travels and everything he's seen, and everything he's been through; he tries to be the best person he can and see the best in everyone else too. It's a mindset that in its worst moments leads him to deeply undervaluing himself and being too quick to forgive others, but at its best; can let him reach out to people that others would abandon. It's perhaps this that leads him to be more tolerant of Ankh and the other Greeed -- it seems there's maybe a part of him that understands these are creatures created out of desire that know nothing else, maybe he pities them despite everything they do so he never truly gets angry with them nor gives up on Ankh. He's a kind person that sees that even if someone's doing something awful, if there's something behind that or something holding them back; maybe that's worth trying to understand first. Dr. Maki is a grown man. One who is very smart, who's very in control; who knows the lives involved in his experiments and the risks to them, who lets someone completely under his command run wild with bombs when at any time he could have the guy taken in and arrested -- so even though the data from this will likely be useful, even though this is the guy creating the Medal System he's so reliant on and enamoured by. It's a strong moment, I think. It lands all the better because the past 9 episodes have portrayed Eiji as unfailingly kind, offering help and advice to any random stranger who needs it, being very understanding to even people who seem selfish and awful and never raising his voice or really scolding -- his conversation with Takeshi a couple episodes ago is a great example. So to see him finally, finally lose his temper; to see something that makes him downright hate someone and come close to assaulting them? It's a good, good, good fucking scene. It shows exactly where his boundaries lie and that he isn't so naive as to truly believe everyone's a good person or something like that, and that there are people you've got to stand up to and sometimes disavow completely. I think it's also a great thing to teach kids about boundaries, and the only person he does this to being the person who develops the technology that lets him fight as effectively as he does? That's very Kamen Rider, isn't it? This is a fantastic episode elsewhere, by the way. It always impresses me when a masked hero genre show is able to make the part of the show where no-one's being a masked hero exciting -- Eiji's frantic, hurried dash through the amusement park to warn everyone to leave and shut off as many bombs as he can is as exciting as it is genuinely scary; and it's beautifully contrasted with Gotou doing everything he can to open up the lab to let all the scientists free from the Yummy. This is also particularly interesting in its placement as it's the first scene of him truly being a hero in his own right, and is in an episode which started off by having his interest piqued in Maki's mention of a medal system normal humans could use. Hmmm. That sounds like an intriguing concept to explore, doesn't it? Fantastic episode all around, and I didn't even mention any of the Kamen Riding; which is maybe one of the best things you can say for a Kamen Rider show! Kamen Rider Ghost Episode 6 If there's two things I hope I've communicated well enough in this rewatch so far, it's that A) I have a newfound love for Takeru as a character through his lack of confidence; and B) I love when characters are hypocrites with their beliefs. Takeru so far has spent the series running into people who say that their work is more important than their life -- advances in science, in business, etc - to which he emphatically responds no, no, above all else your life is the most important thing. It is a downright beautiful message to send your audience especially when a lot of aspects of society can feel like they're saying or encouraging quite the opposite at times; I've been vibing so so much with Ghost's insistence that life and people have value in and of themselves, yet here he is; saying what's the point of living if he can't ever see people again. And granted, yes, that is quite a different and quite a larger issue; but that's what makes it all the better -- this episode is insisting that life still has value no matter what, and Takeru is still starting to question if that's true at all. Which if I might get emotional for a second about symbolic stuff I'm not even sure was intentional? Musashi. The big rule about Eyecon creation is that there must be a person involved with a deep connection to that person -- usually the character of the week, but for Musashi? That was Takeru. So when you've got an episode where he's slowly falling into a frantic mess and unintentionally pushing everyone away, and you have him drop that Musashi Eyecon and abandon it to his enemy; only to have it saved by his best friend, who throws it to him after an encouraging chat, and he uses Musashi to finish off his opponent right after getting a brand new toy, and after every usage of it since the first episode has been a failure? Bit hard not to read into that as important! Everything going on with that is beautiful, especially as they don't have any blatant "Musashi... this is The Most Important One" scene. One thing I have noticed about Ghost so far especially in comparison to OOO (though, uh, hardly an insult if you're not being as elegant as OOO) is that Ghost is extremely blatant about what it's about and saying what it's about? And I don't have too much of an issue with that; especially when you're dealing with subject matter this important on a kid's show, sometimes a bit of bluntness is important! But it also means that it lets subtleties like this land so, so much more. To bring all that round, I like how this episode recenters the moral around not only saying that life is important above all else; but that it's okay to not pursue lofty achievements too much if it's driving your loved ones away and causing you issues. It's a beautiful beautiful moral that's all about hammering home the inherent importance of life, and it's made all the better by the final moment having the character of the week writing a letter saying that instead of going for performing on the grand stage, right now he's going to refocus on enjoying music and finding what's important to him in that. Kamen Rider is often very good at finding importance in the mundane, but I'm finding that Ghost is specialising in that area, and it's just wonderful to see. This series is slowly turning into something special for me!
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11-23-2020, 09:40 PM | #16244 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Both of these episodes are extremely special ones for me, so I'm not even sure where to start, besides with OOO.
I think I used that exact screencap of Eiji punching that fuse box or whatever it is when I was rewatching OOO, and that's because this is one of those scenes I just kinda saw again on a whim one day, probably while Fourze or Wizard was airing, and... I mean, I only barely remember the context, but I think it might've singlehandedly kickstarted my habit of getting intensely yet fleetingly nostalgic for OOO? Because what I recall for sure is seeing that moment, being shocked I forgot it was a thing that happened, and how dramatic and great of a scene it was, and, ever since then, that simple swing of a fist is burned into my brain so much I don't think I'll ever forget about it again. When I think of Eiji, there are two weirdly specific things that always come to mind for me: one is the words "thank you", which won't be relevant for a while, and the other is that frame from episode 10. Episode 6 of Ghost was the first one written by Nobuhiro Mouri, and probably the first time I really had an inkling that my enjoyment of this show was going to go beyond simply liking it. Like Kurona said, Ghost is exceptionally direct about what The Message is supposed to be, but episodes like this are the proof that isn't a bad thing. It's telling the kids at home something really, genuinely important, and it wraps that naturally around a great bit of character growth for Takeru; if I wasn't before, this is the point in the show where I really starting feeling invested in his personal journey. One of my absolute favorites of the entire series. I've always had a huge soft spot for Beethoven Damashii because of it, too!
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11-23-2020, 09:45 PM | #16245 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Quote:
Beethoven Damashii was a really nice one. Something I really liked but just didn't feel I had room to talk about was the sound design in this episode -- muting all but the Ganma sounds is a simple if effective gimmick, but I like how it ties into Takeru's issues causing him to literally not be heard (or seen) by anyone; culminating in Beethoven's use of music once he finally gets things going. Nice bit of episodic thematics in this one!
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11-24-2020, 05:53 AM | #16246 |
Warrior of Delusions!
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Wait, you dont know either?
Posts: 5,825
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Beethoven is the best spirit, I'm glad you're all here to agree.
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Check out my occasional ramblings! https://akibamusings.blogspot.com/
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11-27-2020, 11:16 PM | #16247 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Kamen Rider OOO Episode 11
An episode about a guy trying desperately to be as good as other writers more famous than him and disregarding everything unique about his own writing because the bigwigs say "we only care about writers who are just like this currently popular one"? Well DAMN that strikes a chord! I mean, c'mon Yonemura, you haven't even written Super Hero Taisen yet! People liked Kabuto! I think! Trust me, dude: you've got a handle on OOO just fine. Along with a VERY funny two-parter later and the movie it leads into, this is Yonemura's only guest credit in OOO, but what has always impressed me is just how naturally he understands this cast. I'm not gonna act like he brings this magic to the characters' developments or that it was critically important these episodes existed (though I don't know how I'd live in a world without the 1000 2-parter), and true enough I don't actually have a lot to talk about this episode mostly because like the last time this happened, this is the set-up portion of a 2-parter; but it's the sort of thing where if you told me Kobayashi had written these episodes I wouldn't have blinked an eye. Eiji feels right, Ankh feels right, Gotou feels right; just the whole vibe is on point and I have to wonder if this is maybe one of this writer's strengths -- maybe that's why he was brought on for Super Hero Taisen in the first place. He watches a few episodes of a show and he just Gets characters. I'll probably get more into the character of the week and his whole deal next time, but what's really striking me about the episode right now is Gotou. Once again he's got his big whole Tsundere deal going on, stretching to the point of literally just showing up after Eiji gets beat to say "Huh. I'm going to save the whole world". No point to him doing that, at all, and it's so perfect. This man is such a wonderful mess powerless to do anything while his boss goes "Yeah no you actually like Eiji it's written all over your face", and it's a wonderful contrast to our main hero. The man trying to save the world is being outdone at that task by someone just doing his best to help the people in front of him. Simple, wonderful, elegant poetry. So let's blow him up!!! Kamen Rider Ghost Episode 7 I love to see a Kamen Rider protagonist decide not to choose and to just do what both benefits themselves and the world around him. I love to see it. Guess the theme of today is piling on the parallels because our character of the week is worried about his childhood friend acting strange and not responding to their friendship stuff after not seeing each other for years despite them having the closest of bonds as kids. I mean, uh, that's not a parallel at all; that's completely unrelated to Takeru's flashback about his childhood friend and Specter strangely looking at Takeru's father's grave and getting his backstory exposited to him by Saionji! I like that they're not beating around the bush too much with this reveal, by the by; while at the same time not outright saying it. The characters don't know yet and the show doesn't say it to the viewers, but this is the episode practically spelling out to you that yes, Specter is Takeru's childhood friend acting strange and not responding to their friendship stuff after not seeing each other for years despite them having the closest of bonds as kids. I'm a fan of this! I like when a show respects your intelligence enough to both get on with these story arcs so we can get to the juicy emotional beats while also not just saying to your face what's going on. It's perfect timing, too -- Specter's had a good few episodes now of Being The New Badass, and now he's actually starting to lose ground to a Ghost with newfound confidence, they're quite happy to move on with his story. Talking of his newfound confidence, following on from last episode; I love how quickly Musashi has gone from getting merced every episode to now practically being Takeru's first super form. It's maybe not granting him great power as much as it's a sign that he's about to get real and kick your ass -- and on the flipside, I love that he stopped using an extra eyecon to do a Rider Kick in his base form. There is, like, no upside to that! But he did it just to show he has confidence in what he can do alone! And it works! Sure he needs the new Eyecon to win against probably the best bee woman suit this franchise has ever made (she's so cute), but new toys are new toys and symbolic acts are symbolic acts. I can take them using an american outlaw or two if it means the show can be as fun as it is right now.
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Last edited by Kurona; 11-27-2020 at 11:19 PM.. |
11-28-2020, 01:52 AM | #16248 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,567
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So I watched a bunch of Stage Shows, and decided I'll briefly give my thoughts on them.
Zero-One Final Stage - Aka Metsubojinrai Final Stage: I say this because really, I feel like MBJR got the most depth and characterization among all the Riders present. Just the stuff with Ansatsu-Chan returning, the little details with Horobi and Jin, and all four of them at the end, it was really nice stuff. Oh and Zero-One, Vulcan and Valkyrie were cool too, I guess. Also not even 10 minutes in and Thouser immediately jobs, all is well. Not much to say other than I loved the focus on MBJR in this. Also I kinda found it cute how the yelling in this was replaced with "clap your hands to the beat of the theme song" for obvious reasons. Kamen Rider Zangetsu - Gaim Gaiden: This was an interesting thing to sit through, mostly because it felt almost like watching a replay of Gaim. Literally every Proto-Rider and even the dude parading around as Zangetsu for a bit, are literal expy's for their real Rider counterparts. It evokes a weird sense of Deja Vu. It's an interesting exploration into Takatora's past and shows just how much Yggdrasil screwed things up before all the stuff in Zawame went down. And it basically shows a country that ended up becoming a Failed Zawame city in a sense. It's a lot more high budget than most Rider Final Stages up to that point, they do some real good things with projectors and screens to do cool transformation effects as well as attacks and stuff. I say up to since Zero-One's final stage ended up doing some similar stuff. And I really dig how well they were able to perform a live toku as a result. One thing that sorta just struck me odd though was all the dancing that ended up happening in the middle of fights. I'll be real when I say I just didn't really see the point to it. Even in stage play form though, Zangetsu Kachidoki is a beaut. Kamen Rider Build Special Event I feel like the first 7 or so minutes is basically a meta commentary on how pathetic Shocker has grown over the years. It's basically them going "Wow we kinda suck and only ever do special events anymore" for a bit. Also three Shocker Scientists are fans of Miitan, more on that later. So this oddly fits very snug right after Cross-Z Magma's debut, Gentoku is still working for Nanba, or in this case Shocker because Stalk said so. And we've got Sento, Ryuga and Kazumi acting as our heroes. And man, they really got everyone on point here, and i have to wonder... do we really need Kazumi to suffer more? So after finding out the three shocker scientists love Miitan as much as he does, they end up becoming comrades and they start calling him boss. This all comes to a head when they sacrifice themselves to save Misora who got kidnapped. And thus, Kazumi once again tragically loses three people. But to get away from that depressive spiral, Ryuga was a riot in this one. I guess only Build is allowed to form change since Ryuga busts out Cross-Z Magma immediately just to punch some Shocker grunts. He ends up being beaten by being tricked to drink Soy Sauce labeled as a protein drink. Overall a goofy and meta poking stage show with sudden depression towards the climax. Kamen Rider Den-O Final Stage You know it's interesting how far we've come in regards to certain Final Stages, while Zero-One's was more lowkey, past ones have been rather insane in certain aspects. Den-O's is pretty standard honestly, the most I really got out of it was the Time Terminal/King Liner has a Hot Springs Inn with its own Manager. But yeah, it's your usual Imagin Shenanigans, touching moments with Ryotarou, Deneb and Yuuto are fun as well (PS you can send Yuuto New Years cards all throughout January), and overall just the usual stuff, nothing too thought provoking really. Next time I post I'll probably talk about the Ex-Aid and Build Final Stages, I may even rewatch Gaim's just cause it's been a while. |
11-28-2020, 10:36 AM | #16249 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,392
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I finished Super-1.
Before getting into the show itself, I wanna give props to Bereke Scrubs who did a great job at subbing the show. The subs were all very clean and easy to read, and alot of the dialogue felt very natural. I also appreciated their attempt at converting many of the Japanese puns to English ones. I also only ever noticed one typo, so good editing overall too. I'll definitely be using them whenever I get around to watching Stronger and Daimajin Kanon. As for the show itself... In the end, while I still feel that the second half is way weaker than the first, I will atleast say that it isn't ALL bad. However, the critiques I gave earlier still stand: The Junior Rider Squad still drags the show way down, Jin Dogma is nowhere near as interesting as Dogma was, and the plot, what little there was to begin with, basically doesn't exist anymore. It's rather telling that most of the better episodes of the second half are the ones where the Kids are barely in it, and coincidentally many of those episodes are ones where my favorite of the Jin Dogma squad, Doctor Ghost, is the focus bad guy. Amazing name aside, he turned out really well! For real, Doctor Ghost is the only Jin Dogma goon to get serious results, and the lack of kids in most of his episodes actually allows Kazuya to display some actual agency and be a superhero. You know, the very thing most people would be tuning in to actually see? Ghost's' actor as does a pretty good job at giving him a memorable personality in contrast to everyone else. Speaking of his plots, while I don't doubt the timeslot change actually happened, thus resulting in the second half, it really does make me wonder what 80s censors were on. Because such new "kid friendly" content includes: A guy being stabbed to death on screen, people getting shoved into a gas chamber, Super-1 ripping a monster's' eyes out, and my personal favorite; People getting melted into bloody flesh-puddles. Black came nowhere close to this stuff. If there's one thing that remains consistently good throughout the entire series it's the action. No joke, both Kazuya's' actor and Super-1's' suit actor actually learning kung-fu for the role lent alot of authenticity to the fight scenes that wouldn't be seen again until Power Rangers, and ontop of that the choreography and the utter intensity of what goes on makes alot of episodes really fun to watch even if they're super bogged down by the obnoxious Rider Squad. Despite my complaints, I had alot of fun watching this show! Overall, assuming you're watching it solely in terms of a fun ride and not taking anything in too seriously, I give Super-1 a 4/6. I do definitely prefer the first half, as there was actual effort put in towards character development and story, but if you can get past the kids, the second half isn't out and out horrible. That said, I wouldn't be able to blame anyone who decides to treat episode 23 as the actual finale and decides to just stop there. I also consider myself lucky in that I watched this right after Fourze, because it's clear that Fourze took alot of inspiration from Super-1. Think about it. A Kamen Rider originally built for space exploration who can swap out body parts to gain different equipment to use in his fight against evil, a Rider Club is prevalent in the plot, and there's a secondary focus on kung-fu. Yeah, that added a whole new layer to watching this, and I'm overall glad I saw it when I did.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 11-29-2020 at 06:36 PM.. |
11-28-2020, 05:07 PM | #16250 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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You know, in retrospect, maybe the episode ending with something as absurdly extreme as a supporting character firing a bazooka at the hero does make it pretty clear who wrote this one.
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Kamen Rider Ghost Episode 7
All of which is to say, yeah, it's pretty great Ghost goes out of his way to use Ore anyway when he and Specter Rider Kick each other here, which serves as a great parallel to the last time Takeru tried that and nearly lost yet another Eyecon for the trouble. Even beyond the story significance of all these things, I've always really appreciated how much Ghost as a series makes it a point to get as many appearances in for forms as possible, even once they're old news. It obviously still starts dropping off after a point anyway, but it's nowhere near to the extent of some other shows, and I can't think of many Riders in the years right before or after Ghost who ever did just their base form Rider Kick as often as Takeru did. Also, Insect Ganma might be Best Ganma? Or at least Best Ganma That Isn't Into Art? I've always thought that design really popped, is the point; it's probably the color scheme.
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