|
Community Links |
Members List |
Search Forums |
Advanced Search |
Go to Page... |
|
Thread Tools |
05-12-2020, 10:03 PM | #141 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
Keitaro sometimes can be needy as hell, but he's like the Team Mom/heart and soul/whatever metaphor you'd use for someone who prevent the other two people from driving each other insane (in this sense, he fulfills the same role as Yuuji's I guess).
But, I also think it's not wrong to call him a punching bag; Faiz has a terrific cast, it's just the way they're being used that... were often sub-optimal, IMO. The punching bag thing... I obviously can't speak to the rest of the series, but even in this first batch, all three of the heroes are punching bags? They are all portrayed in unflattering lights, and they are dunking on each other constantly. I think Keitaro takes it more personally, and that makes him appear to be more maligned. But, man, in the last episode he comes out of it much cleaner than everyone else. But then, cleanliness is his trade!
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
05-13-2020, 05:08 PM | #142 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
|
So this doesn't really have to do with anything in particular, but I only just realized the shtick Die is doing with the 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. paragraphs in each episode post, and from there I remembered I came up with pretty much the same gimmick back when I was writing three paragraphs about every arc of OOO. Like, I don't really have any real point here, I just... thought that was a bit of a fun coincidence, I guess.
__________________
|
05-13-2020, 05:12 PM | #143 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 07
--1-- Hey, what's got seven letters and doesn't usually make the smart words about music? ♪This guy♪ So, yeah, it's a very musical episode of Faiz! Let's see if I can manage to say anything of value about it! First, I don't think I've ever talked about the theme song? I really like it. It's not as epic as my favorite Phase 2 Heisei tracks (I'm listening to the shit out of that Memorial Works compilation lately), but it's still pretty fun. I definitely find myself crooning Can You Feel each episode, so that's got to be some small success for the composers. But, that fight song in this episode! Holy shit! So great! I'm already onboard with a great big Horsepower/Kaido/Faiz fight, but that fight song kicked it up a few levels. The fight itself was great, I love any fight outside Kamen Rider Stadium, but when that fight song kicked I might've leaned forward in my seat out of excitement. Really great song for a really great fight. And then the classic guitar piece over the Faiz/Owlphnoch fight. So intense. There's a haunted feeling to it, since it needs to support both the Faiz Fight at the end of the episode, but also Kaido's tenuous connection to his past. It manages to fill both roles beautifully. The fight feels appropriately serious, while the Kaido scene feels wistful and sad. There's a dreamlike feeling to the scene, where the music is almost conjuring the fight, and the energy of the fight feeds back into the playing of the song. It's a great use of music to improve some already topnotch storytelling. --2-- The storytelling this episode is all about dreams, a phrase that's said a few dozen times (I was not counting) and contributes to the big Why Does Takumi Have To Be This Way scene for the episode. Which, you know, I liked that scene! It's a good one! Takumi is being extra-jerky any time someone talks about their dreams, and it's clear that it's because he doesn't have one. The scene where he gets chewed out by both Mari (because he demanded she make him dinner) and Keitaro (for basically undermining everything he believes in) is really funny, and totally deserved. It's just, it's a little on the nose? I liked how Takumi's attitude was souring without him having to explain why, so having Mari just outright say that he's acting out because he envies people who have dreams... like, keep it as subtext! Give your audience some credit! Stating it like that, dragging it out into the open that way, it made me like that part of the story less. Still, like I said, it's a fun scene and an entertaining way to build out Takumi's character. He's so irritated by people trying to reach a goal. I like that his default state is Unhappy, and that anyone who strives to be less unhappy makes him more unhappy. He's got a lot of really serious emotional problems! I'm not sure 43 more episodes, one movie, and a Hyper-Battle Video are going to be enough to fix him! --3-- Team Orphnoch gets to deal with dreams, too, but mostly just through Kaido. (Yuuji's on bedrest after narrowly surviving the opening fight, and Yuka is almost entirely forgotten about.) Kaido's story is about how he feels like his dream was stolen from him after an injury, and now that he's an Orphnoch he's going to lash out and get some revenge. The thing I really like about how the Orphnochs are portrayed in this series, at least our core trio, is that their rage is like Takumi's rage: it's a resentment born of desire. Yuuji's actions were against the people who robbed him of the life he longed for, one he still can't entirely let go of. Yuka's actions were because she wanted acceptance, and she could never obtain it. Kaido wants to hurt the people who are living out his dream. I think the key scene for me in this episode is after Kaido storms his old guitar class with his new club banger Stupid Stupid Stupid (Dance To My Drums). He's about to get thrashed by a group of students, which is perfect, because then he can unleash his inner monster on them with no guilt. But then his teacher comes out, and Kaido's whole demeanor changes. He's polite, respectful. He apologizes for his actions. His anger isn't at his teacher, or the institution. His anger is at the people living the life he wishes he could reclaim. And then you get the other half of that scene, when Kaido helps out a struggling first-year. There's a vulnerability to the scene that I found heart-warming. I thought it might go a different way, like Kaido would go nuts on him, or the kid would turn out to be the Owlphnoch. Instead, it's just this really sweet scene about a character trying to heal his own soul through the music he can't play any longer. It's... really not the direction I thought this show was going in, and I love that it tried this move. This is a tough show to predict, and I love that about it. --4-- It's not impossible to predict, though. We're still going to get a Faiz Fight at the end of the episode, and it's against the mysterious new Owlphnoch. I really like the helmet design, how it takes the owl head and structures in a gas mask. They make some interesting choices in the body, how the pants seem puffier and there's a bit of a backpack. Visually, it makes the Owlphnoch feel more like a guy in a suit than, say, Horsepower. But I still really liked it? I don't know why, I guess! It just looked cool! --5-- This was a weird one for me, where it seemed to backburner a lot of the recent revelations in favor of both a straight-up classic Monster Of The Week problem-solving story for Keitaro and his sidekick Takumi; and a character study on the newest member of Team Orphnoch. Live Action Hatsune Miku and Smart Brain barely get a scene, and there's nothing about Mari's dad or the origin of the belt or any of that. It's a very Basic episode of Faiz, if it's even fair to say that at Episode 7. I had a great time with it, though. This cast is great, and the story, small though it was, came out terrific. I'm completely okay just hanging out with these characters, so I've got no complaints if they don't want to push the series story forward. It's just a little weird to throttle back after just starting to explain some of this stuff.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 08-02-2023 at 10:48 PM.. |
05-13-2020, 05:18 PM | #144 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
So this doesn't really have to do with anything in particular, but I only just realized the shtick Die is doing with the 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. paragraphs in each episode post, and from there I remembered I came up with pretty much the same gimmick back when I was writing three paragraphs about every arc of OOO. Like, I don't really have any real point here, I just... thought that was a bit of a fun coincidence, I guess.
Which, I, uh, just slightly tweaked as you were posting that! I wanted to do the 5 thing, partly for the show, and partly for my own workflow. The Ryuki posts were getting a little long for my tastes, taking a bit too long to put together, so I wanted something that would force me to be more succinct. Five points about an episode, that's it. Leave the rest to discussion. But then I just goddamn kept writing sometimes, and I got sick of staring at unwieldy blocks of text, so I made the numbers more of a break than a list. Now I can have my paragraphs back! My precious, precious paragraphs! Hopefully this'll make for better reading (and writing!), while still enforcing some discipline on me to keep from losing a night on these. We'll see! This last one was already longer than normal, so I'm probably just screwing myself over!
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
05-13-2020, 05:30 PM | #145 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,432
|
Quote:
First, I don’t think I’ve ever talked about the theme song? I really like it. It’s not as epic as my favorite Phase 2 Heisei tracks (I’m listening to the shit out of that Memorial Works compilation lately), but it’s still pretty fun. I definitely find myself crooning Can You Feel each episode, so that’s got to be some small success for the composers.
Quote:
Team Orphnoch gets to deal with dreams, too, but mostly just through Kaido. (Yuuji’s on bedrest after narrowly surviving the opening fight, and Yuka is almost entirely forgotten about.) Kaido’s story is about how he feels like his dream was stolen from him after an injury, and now that he’s an Orphnoch he’s going to lash out and get some revenge.
The thing I really like about how the Orphnochs are portrayed in this series, at least our core trio, is that their rage is like Takumi’s rage: it’s a resentment born of desire. Yuuji’s actions were against the people who robbed him of the life he longed for, one he still can’t entirely let go of. Yuka’s actions were because she wanted acceptance, and she could never obtain it. Kaido wants to hurt the people who are living out his dream. I think the key scene for me in this episode is after Kaido storms his old guitar class with his new club banger Stupid Stupid Stupid (Dance To My Drums). He’s about to get thrashed by a group of students, which is perfect, because then he can unleash his inner monster on them with no guilt. But then his teacher comes out, and Kaido’s whole demeanor changes. He’s polite, respectful. He apologizes for his actions. His anger isn’t at his teacher, or the institution. His anger is at the people living the life he wishes he could reclaim. And then you get the other half of that scene, when Kaido helps out a struggling first-year. There’s a vulnerability to the scene that I found heart-warming. I thought it might go a different way, like Kaido would go nuts on him, or the kid would turn out to be the Owlphnoch. Instead, it’s just this really sweet scene about a character trying to heal his own soul through the music he can’t play any longer. It’s… really not the direction I thought this show was going in, and I love that it tried this move. This is a tough show to predict, and I love that about it. Second, welcome to one of Toshiki Inoue's favorite story tropes: the artist with the career ending injury. It's an easy pathos well that you will see him come back to throughout his era on Kamen Rider, including another guitarist at one point (although not nearly as well as with Kaido). I'm not saying it doesn't work here, because it really does, but it's one of those things you'll notice repeating as you watch more of this guy's work. |
05-13-2020, 05:37 PM | #146 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
Second, welcome to one of Toshiki Inoue's favorite story tropes: the artist with the career ending injury. It's an easy pathos well that you will see him come back to throughout his era on Kamen Rider, including another guitarist at one point (although not nearly as well as with Kaido). I'm not saying it doesn't work here, because it really does, but it's one of those things you'll notice repeating as you watch more of this guy's work.
That said, and no spoilers if I'm right, but my headcanon is that the driver who ran over Kaido's hand was also the truck driver who put Yuuji in a coma. After losing his truck-driving gig, I'm thinking that he ended up becoming a girls' basketball coach at a local high school. Again, don't tell me if I'm right! Although I think I've cracked this plot wide open!
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
05-13-2020, 05:52 PM | #147 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
|
Quote:
I do like the new version better, though. Very cleanly! Quote:
The song here, Dead or alive, is a favorite of mine. This won't be something you can really comment on for obvious reasons, but the lyrics do this super impressive thing where they're really motivational and empowering... but from a distinctly nihilistic perspective. It'd be a perfect theme song for Faiz, if its actual theme song wasn't already perfect. Quote:
And then the classic guitar piece over the Faiz/Owlphnoch fight.
__________________
|
05-13-2020, 06:26 PM | #148 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
So great it took you 6 episodes to comment on it! One of the many, many things I miss about early Heisei Rider is having regular insert themes. I mean, shows like Gaim prove that using them as occasional punctuation works too, but at the same time, Agito telling you to BELIEVE YOURSELF every week legitimately formed a huge part of that show's identity.
The song here, Dead or alive, is a favorite of mine. This won't be something you can really comment on for obvious reasons, but the lyrics do this super impressive thing where they're really motivational and empowering... but from a distinctly nihilistic perspective. It'd be a perfect theme song for Faiz, if its actual theme song wasn't already perfect.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
05-13-2020, 06:36 PM | #149 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
|
Quote:
The thing about having a status quo that strong is that it becomes more notable when it does get mixed up, and these shows did that with the music in some clever ways. There were quite a few episodes of Agito that used the insert songs to deliberately lull you into that complacency only to have the music cut out abruptly after the heroes start losing, for example.
__________________
|
05-13-2020, 06:44 PM | #150 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,432
|
We don’t talk about the OOO portion of a Movie War Core.
|
|
TokuNation News & Rumors |
Memorial Edition GoPhone Announced |
Kakuranger: 30 Years After |
ToyRise RyuKenDo |
Alternative Cut of "Day Of The Dumpster" Released |
Shodo SUPER Kyoryuger Teaser |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:42 AM.
|