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09-27-2018, 10:40 PM | #31 |
天心の英雄たち
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Maryland
Posts: 939
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Zi-O has a Zi-O Mech.
This pleases me,... And makes me want the toy |
09-29-2018, 09:47 PM | #32 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 1,473
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I can't seriously see myself skipping a Kamen Rider series - I watched all of Ghost, and I thought most of that show was terrible - but Zi-O is tempting me. The most basic plot conceits make no sense. How the Another Riders replace the Rider of a time period has, as far as I can tell, nothing to do with time travel. "Here, I'm going to grant you the power of Ex-Aid, which I took from... oh, wait, I didn't take it from anywhere. Nevertheless, Emu can't be Ex-Aid because reasons. Also, there are terrible consequences if you don't do as I ask. Oh, wait. There aren't."
Sougo wanting to be a king is just stupid. He does not live in a context in which becoming a king is something that people do; this is a character trait that belongs on a kindergartner. He doesn't seem to have a discernible motivation beyond that. I can't tell whether the actor is terrible since he's been given so little to work with. Although it was really nice to see Emu and Hiiro again, they didn't have much to do. Why even have prior Riders appear just to be ineffectual before losing their Rider powers? So far, Zi-O as a show hasn't taken advantage of the paradoxes they're theoretically creating. If the doctors of the CR aren't around to stop the bugster virus, the city should be overrun by virus-mutated monsters. Most previous Riders stopped some sort of catastrophe or another; if time has been rewritten so main Riders never were, Japan should be monster-infested toast. Kamen Rider Zi-O isn't going back and taking the place of the Riders whose powers he's carrying around. I'm numb to prior-Rider nostalgia anyway due to various Taisens and the now-annual "new form based on last year's Rider" thing. Decade at least let us get away with enjoying previous Riders' moves and powers. Zi-O has abstracted the power of Kamen Rider Build down to "he's got a drill arm," and Ex-Aid is just hammer-hands. Rather than prompting me to feel nostalgic, it's prompting me to remember how much better the fourth episodes of both Ex-Aid and Build were. I'm enjoying the .5 episodes a lot, and it's telling that they specifically seem to lampoon the flaws of any given episode's plot. I really, really want this show to get better. I just don't know how it's going to do so. Sougo needs a discernible personality and motivation. Geiz needs to actually act on his desire to defeat Oma Zi-O instead of making snarky comments; so far, he's neither killing Sougo nor taking a particular interest in trying to keep him alive while ensuring he never becomes Oma Zi-O. The time-travel stuff needs to start having defined, internally-consistent rules. Ex-Aid and Build were so good; I'm gobsmacked that we could sink so low so fast. The first four episodes of Ninninger were better than this. All I can think is that the toy line has finally risen up and strangled the show's story to death. (It's been threatening to do this for years, but we keep somehow getting shows that are good anyway. Well, except Ghost.) I imagine I'm asking too much. I'd like to believe a zillion Japanese kids are also dumbfounded by how bad the show is, since a decline in both viewership and toy sales is probably the only reason this show would course-correct. I just watched this today, and I'm honestly offended by how awful the whole thing is. |
09-30-2018, 04:58 AM | #33 |
Avi by @CSarracenian
Join Date: Jul 2016
Posts: 4,186
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Quote:
I can't seriously see myself skipping a Kamen Rider series - I watched all of Ghost, and I thought most of that show was terrible - but Zi-O is tempting me. The most basic plot conceits make no sense. How the Another Riders replace the Rider of a time period has, as far as I can tell, nothing to do with time travel. "Here, I'm going to grant you the power of Ex-Aid, which I took from... oh, wait, I didn't take it from anywhere. Nevertheless, Emu can't be Ex-Aid because reasons. Also, there are terrible consequences if you don't do as I ask. Oh, wait. There aren't."
Sougo wanting to be a king is just stupid. He does not live in a context in which becoming a king is something that people do; this is a character trait that belongs on a kindergartner. He doesn't seem to have a discernible motivation beyond that. I can't tell whether the actor is terrible since he's been given so little to work with. Although it was really nice to see Emu and Hiiro again, they didn't have much to do. Why even have prior Riders appear just to be ineffectual before losing their Rider powers? So far, Zi-O as a show hasn't taken advantage of the paradoxes they're theoretically creating. If the doctors of the CR aren't around to stop the bugster virus, the city should be overrun by virus-mutated monsters. Most previous Riders stopped some sort of catastrophe or another; if time has been rewritten so main Riders never were, Japan should be monster-infested toast. Kamen Rider Zi-O isn't going back and taking the place of the Riders whose powers he's carrying around. I'm numb to prior-Rider nostalgia anyway due to various Taisens and the now-annual "new form based on last year's Rider" thing. Decade at least let us get away with enjoying previous Riders' moves and powers. Zi-O has abstracted the power of Kamen Rider Build down to "he's got a drill arm," and Ex-Aid is just hammer-hands. Rather than prompting me to feel nostalgic, it's prompting me to remember how much better the fourth episodes of both Ex-Aid and Build were. I'm enjoying the .5 episodes a lot, and it's telling that they specifically seem to lampoon the flaws of any given episode's plot. I really, really want this show to get better. I just don't know how it's going to do so. Sougo needs a discernible personality and motivation. Geiz needs to actually act on his desire to defeat Oma Zi-O instead of making snarky comments; so far, he's neither killing Sougo nor taking a particular interest in trying to keep him alive while ensuring he never becomes Oma Zi-O. The time-travel stuff needs to start having defined, internally-consistent rules. Ex-Aid and Build were so good; I'm gobsmacked that we could sink so low so fast. The first four episodes of Ninninger were better than this. All I can think is that the toy line has finally risen up and strangled the show's story to death. (It's been threatening to do this for years, but we keep somehow getting shows that are good anyway. Well, except Ghost.) I imagine I'm asking too much. I'd like to believe a zillion Japanese kids are also dumbfounded by how bad the show is, since a decline in both viewership and toy sales is probably the only reason this show would course-correct. I just watched this today, and I'm honestly offended by how awful the whole thing is.
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09-30-2018, 06:46 AM | #34 |
Hmm....
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 2,813
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I am didn't have high expectations to Zi-O series. I also think Zi-O series should be less darker than Build......
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09-30-2018, 01:43 PM | #35 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 194
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Quote:
So far, Zi-O as a show hasn't taken advantage of the paradoxes they're theoretically creating. If the doctors of the CR aren't around to stop the bugster virus, the city should be overrun by virus-mutated monsters. Most previous Riders stopped some sort of catastrophe or another; if time has been rewritten so main Riders never were, Japan should be monster-infested toast. Kamen Rider Zi-O isn't going back and taking the place of the Riders whose powers he's carrying around.
In my opinion the show isn't flying in the face of logic as much as it's simply failing to explain things it could easily explain, but I think it still will be a fun ride, if only for the returning actors and hopefully the main cast's characterization. But they dropped the ball when they didn't bother to give a common reason for the Riders - why they exist and why the main Riders are the "Main Riders". Some kind of "cosmic plan/destiny" plot is really the only explanation for totally unrelated armored heroes who transform with belts appearing annually and combatting unrelated races of monsters, as well as the main Riders being uniquely important (they could explain that the Main Riders are the most important ones because they're the most heroic, or the most central to the conflict, or something like that). As it is they're entirely ignoring the pressure on the suspension of disbelief and it's really disappointing when there's so much potential for an interesting plot.
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09-30-2018, 04:53 PM | #36 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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Quote:
So at the very least the show is aware of this problem. Unfortunately it can't change how uninteresting Sougo is right now, but like I said in the thread for episode 3, there's a good chance he's written the way he is for a reason. Quote:
Admittedly there are few storytelling concepts more headache-inducing than time travel, but I think the important thing to note here is that it's not like Skynet is sending Terminators back to assassinate Emu. If they were this episode would've met the quota for wanton cruelty to Emu. What's happening is that the events that lead to them becoming Riders are gone, and where does every Kamen Rider get their powers? From the same source as the bad guys. Ex-Aid exists because there's a Bugster virus to be vaccinated against. Build only exists if Pandora's Box comes down from Mars with Evolt in tow. If the Riders are gone, so are the monsters that result in their creation. Therefore, no Riders = no catastrophes. Or at least that's my theory? For all I know the show's already contradicted this idea and I haven't noticed. I have a pretty high tolerance for time travel nonsense given how inherently unrealistic the concept is. Unfortunately, not all works of fiction can live up to the genius of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
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