[Kurona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

That being said, you can't begin to imagine my joy when I saw you had written posts like this for three different shows in separate threads basically at once. Or, wait, no, maybe you can imagine it, because I think this is exactly what you're always telling me? There's a real passion that comes across when you're writing about a show you enjoy, and it makes reading it so much darn fun.

Three shows? ... Oooh you mean the like three episodes of Gridman I done, right? Yeah, that was a fun time. Still watching that, by the way! The episode that went up today... would have been perfect if it weren't for those last couple minutes, but otherwise my favourite episode so far.

Glad to see I was missed! Or, sad? Mixed feelings obviously!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

...And hey, while I'm giving out all this praise, I should probably mention how much I adore the whole possessed Makoto arc? First of all, much like when Specter stole Edison, it was crazy surprising and novel to see the show essentially make use of the merchandise in such a creative way. It wouldn't have been weird if the sound the Necrom Eyecon makes in the Ghost Driver stayed just a fun bonus bit of compatibility for the toys, right? But beyond that, like you said, it's such an absolutely perfect microcosm of the differences between Takeru and Alain's worldviews at that point in the show. The sheer sincerity with which Alain views Makoto being an obedient drone as the pinnacle of friendship is so, so telling.

Yeah, that's so great as well!! I love it when they do the more out there things with the toys; capitalise on their more non-standard features. It's definitely a lot more fun than the usual formula of "new progrise key, put in the driver, new form yay". Especially when it's used for THIS effect, holy hell! To go off on a slight tangent, I am AMAZED how little modern Ultraman takes advantage of their toys' extra effects! The Orb Ring, Fusion Riser and Z-Riser all have henshin and final attack noises programmed in for every single medal, which is a little insane to think about -- you get the Gamma Future set and you can henshin and attack as Tiga, Dyna and Gaia right there! And yet the shows only used this for, like, a few Zero Darclops near the start of Geed. Ultraman barely shows off half of what their toys are capable of!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Hmmm... Makoto definitely plays a huge role in Alain's arc until it hits its climax in episode 30, but if it's after that you're talking about, yeah, from what I remember, they don't get a ton of material after that specific to them as a pair.

Man, when even you're saying this I can't help but be worried about Ghost's last third... but, hey; I still love Zero-One and Hibiki a lot despite their endgames, so I'm still taking everything that's amazing here away from this!

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

Man, when even you're saying this I can't help but be worried about Ghost's last third... but, hey; I still love Zero-One and Hibiki a lot despite their endgames, so I'm still taking everything that's amazing here away from this!

I mean, there's other stuff going on in those episodes that's cool! Sure, the first third of Ghost is the one with magic hugs, but the final third is the one where Takeru has a literal rainbow of emotional special moves – and episode 38 is only the slightest bit behind 12 as my favorite episode of the entire run that constantly keeps me coming back. I do agree with the consensus that Ghost's overall plotting gets noticeably more uneven towards the end, but a lot of the best parts of the show are also from that stretch. Adel is legitimately one of my favorite Rider antagonists ever, and plenty of those lowkey post-Mugen two parters are very fun stories in their own right. I don't think it's the downgrade it's made out to be, but of course, it's me saying that, so I guess take it with a grain of salt.