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10-01-2021, 12:35 PM | #391 |
Standing By
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,100
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Oh that totally would have been a great callback for sure. Like if it made Natsumi and Yuusuke sneeze out the brain bugs or something.
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10-01-2021, 01:02 PM | #392 |
Kaiju or Hero?
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Even I Don't Know Anymore.
Posts: 1,397
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Alright, Kaito's world featuring Blade Movie Riders. I agree with Kurona, I'd have no idea these were Blade Riders, even when I was like "Are those Blade Drivers?"
Of course, I also thought this would highlight Kaito's relationship/rivalry with Tsukasa, granted, the fact you mention them being like Bettas and not being able to tolerate someone like them does fit, I was also interested in seeing if the show would spotlight it. That said, this was still a pretty good arc for our boy Kaito. When you mention apocalyptic politeness, I actually thought it was more of a hive-mind situation, and that Kaito sought freedom from the suffocating grip of this united world without conflict, where everyone is the same. Of course, maybe giving the Blade Movie Riders might have just been because someone in production liked them enough to give them a whole world to themselves, then throw Kaito in for good measure. But dang did I not like that guy's smile, or how he politely says antagonistic lines. Well played. Boy did I lose it when they showed the next world being Shinkenger (I still have yet to watch it), and how Narutaki described it. I hadn't gotten into Sentai yet, but I found it extremely hilarious. I have only seen the first two episodes of Blade, via Toei Tokusatsu World, so I am familiar with the legendary Ondul. Sat through all eleven minutes of this insanity you have given us, I guess it goes to show that even if Blade has ended, Ondul is eternal. |
10-01-2021, 02:20 PM | #393 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,420
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This was a weird one for me. I actually really liked the first episode way more than I remembered. The set up for the world is interesting, the small town setting is a refreshing change of pace from the usual stock filming locations, and bringing back the Missing Ace Riders is a really neat use of familiar but underdeveloped characters (even if Junichi's smile will haunt my dreams for the next forever or two).
The second part fell a bit flat for me, though. I liked the emotional resolution of the Super Kaito Bros. conflict in theory, but it didn't feel especially earned in practice. Junichi being a willing bad guy fits with Glaive's role in Missing Ace, but didn't really fit with the way he was shown on screen looking and acting like the Japanese version of a Stepford Wife. I also just cannot wrap my head around the idea that Daiki is a former Happiness Patrolman. It just doesn't fit with the character as we've seen him for me. |
10-01-2021, 04:47 PM | #394 |
Warrior of Delusions!
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Wait, you dont know either?
Posts: 5,826
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Would Glaive be improved if he were made from sweets?
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Check out my occasional ramblings! https://akibamusings.blogspot.com/
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10-01-2021, 05:17 PM | #395 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,551
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Hey, the name isn’t just to be cool, you know. |
10-01-2021, 05:51 PM | #396 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,420
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10-01-2021, 07:00 PM | #397 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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...Oh, and I should probably talk about the actual episodes, too!
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KAMEN RIDER DIE: On the topic of Kaitou as a secondary protagonist... my favorite moment in this story was near the end, when Tsukasa's taking no small amount of pride in letting Team Decade know that the world they're leaving now has a Kamen Rider to protect it in Kaitou.
Anyways, yeah, this is a weird pair of episodes. I kind of dig them, but I'm not sure if I'd call them good or bad or whatever other label. You guys touched pretty nicely on how the plot has to create from scratch the entire arc it wants to resolve with Kaitou, and that highlights a big part of why I keep likening Decade two-parters to movies – I definitely prefer to think of them as standalone things a lot of the time. (Also, the way the recaps at the start of each episode are structured reminds me of movie trailers, with the epic music and everything.) It's why Die can be like "there should've been a more gradual build-up to Tsukasa and Onodera's friendship thing in the Agito story", and I can be like "what are you talking about there was one other story!" It was honestly impressive to me going back to find that Decade did that much work with a character arc, because I associate the show so much more with stories like this. These episodes generate all this retroactive baggage for Kaitou out of nowhere, and it's so odd, and probably pretty ill-advised, but that's also kind of the charm of Decade to me. I can't help but have some fun with the way these episodes do their whole thing of revealing that Kaitou's got his own pain and regrets buried under the surface, and how in his past, he was once even dedicated to ideals and all this other stuff that, even though I've seen these episodes already, I was not at all thinking about hearing some of the hints about his past in the Hibiki arc. It's a backstory that feels so haphazardly attached that even though I remember it, my brain refuses to connect it with other appearances of the character, even though the whole point of a story like this is to make you look back and think "wow, this guy was secretly dealing with all this the whole time." ...Wait, I think I was trying to defend this one, wasn't I? The point is, I feel like I've gradually been becoming more and more of a Diend fan ever since initially watching Decade, so, while I can rag on the lack of cohesion or whatever, going back to that movie mentality, and treating this as its own thing, I do like the way it paints Kaitou. It's like... it's a type of story I enjoy, it has some fun concepts, solid direction, and even a great Blade meme or two. The material itself is quite interesting. That being said, I kind of actively loathed what Inoue did with Newsuke here? He used to be a Cool Guy in-training who set off on this adventure with everyone to honor Yashiro's wish for him to protect people's smiles, but now apparently he's just looking for a world where everyone is already smiling to settle down in? It's like Inoue asked for a description of the character, and whoever he was talking to got as far as "Well, he can be rather naïve, and gets into his share of embarassing situations, but—" before Inoue said he got the gist of it, and, man, I mean he might have actually not known this guy was supposed to be Kuuga? Still, for how much I felt Newsuke's character was totally off the rails in these ones, I got a kick out of Tsukasa's impromptu psychoanalysis of Kaitou throughout the second half, which encapsulates both what Die was saying about how Tsukasa reads people too easily and what I was saying about him not understanding people. That was one of those disagreements we had that I don't actually think was a disagreement. It's that whole New Game + analogy that I still feel perfectly sums up how Tsukasa helps people out. He's great at knowing what motivates people and where their stories are going, but I feel like he often acts on that in this slightly detached way that suggests to me he genuinely can't really feel that stuff on an empathetic level the way your average Rider protagonist can. Again, as though this is just some quest in a video game to him that he's trying to speed along to its conclusion. Which gets you moments like him telling Kaitou at the end that since he's found The Treasure Of Self-Confidence or whatever in this world, he won't need to steal stuff anymore, only for Kaitou to immediately inform him he's off to go steal more things. I don't know. Tsukasa's most of the way there, but I feel like he stumbles in these weirdly specific areas, and it's a fun thing about his character. On an unrelated note, before I forget, the theme song switches to the second verse starting with 22 to signify this being the second big chapter of the show, which is a nice bit of detail.
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10-01-2021, 11:43 PM | #398 |
Reiei
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 3,691
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Are we talking about Inoue? Were we talking about Inoue? I wanna say a few words about Inoue.
I like Inoue. I have this weird love/hate relationship with his works, that it all just circles back to me appreciating him. He has all these neat pics with Murakami, it's cute. But going back, I honestly kinda feel bad for him too, since after Kiva he seemed kinda burnt out on Toku on his later years. I feel it may be showing on his stuff in ZI-O. I wish we could get another Inoue season in modern rider, but I know that'll be next to impossible to happen since it'll be a toss-up of either Inoue completely willing to write the WHOLE SHOW and Toei not letting him, or Inoue simply not feeling it and writing only two episodes. He's one of the few writers we got who absolutely wants to do something that goes absolutely out of the 'safe' radar, and that's a blast to watch when the execution is great. Faiz still being one of my favorites out of him. I unironically feel we need more of him. In terms of Decade, this two-episode arc for Diend, is a favorite of mine and also cemented Diend as one of my favorite secondaries. I was extremely disappointed what they did to him in SHT, and then I was completely enamored when he came back for ZI-O. This also gave birth to the amazing meme that is Kamen Rider Glaive. |
10-02-2021, 12:58 AM | #399 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Forgot to check in on a notification and missed an entire day of thread chatter! WHOOPS!
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The second part fell a bit flat for me, though. I liked the emotional resolution of the Super Kaito Bros. conflict in theory, but it didn't feel especially earned in practice. Junichi being a willing bad guy fits with Glaive's role in Missing Ace, but didn't really fit with the way he was shown on screen looking and acting like the Japanese version of a Stepford Wife.
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That being said, I kind of actively loathed what Inoue did with Newsuke here? He used to be a Cool Guy in-training who set off on this adventure with everyone to honor Yashiro's wish for him to protect people's smiles, but now apparently he's just looking for a world where everyone is already smiling to settle down in? It's like Inoue asked for a description of the character, and whoever he was talking to got as far as "Well, he can be rather naïve, and gets into his share of embarassing situations, but—" before Inoue said he got the gist of it, and, man, I mean he might have actually not known this guy was supposed to be Kuuga?
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It's that whole New Game + analogy that I still feel perfectly sums up how Tsukasa helps people out. He's great at knowing what motivates people and where their stories are going, but I feel like he often acts on that in this slightly detached way that suggests to me he genuinely can't really feel that stuff on an empathetic level the way your average Rider protagonist can. Again, as though this is just some quest in a video game to him that he's trying to speed along to its conclusion. Which gets you moments like him telling Kaitou at the end that since he's found The Treasure Of Self-Confidence or whatever in this world, he won't need to steal stuff anymore, only for Kaitou to immediately inform him he's off to go steal more things. I don't know. Tsukasa's most of the way there, but I feel like he stumbles in these weirdly specific areas, and it's a fun thing about his character.
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10-02-2021, 03:26 PM | #400 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
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I've been incredibly lucky to be able to enjoy shows with so many like-minded fans, but I am aware of how lucky that makes me. Even here, with fans of Faiz and Agito and Kiva, there's a sense that Inoue carries a lot of baggage with him. It never gets, like, hostile or anything, but we're all cognizant of Inoue's reputation, and the ways his work can be interpreted. He's a tricky creator to celebrate, even if there's no one to complain about it.
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KAMEN RIDER DIE: I don't know that I've ever laughed as hard as I did when I realized that Inoue took this opportunity to tell a story about the Tyranny of Politeness.
This is maybe his Final Form as a writer, which feels apt after the last couple episodes. AKIBASILVER: I feel honoured to be talking with the world's most hardcore Inoue fan for this, the most Inoue of episodes I feel like this was him realising he didn't have to relate strongly to any Rider's themes, now the main set of tributes were over, so he could just do what he wanted And what he wanted was a story about a dystopia were everyone is really nice Because they've got undead worms in their brains Quote:
AKIBASILVER: The story very quickly lets you know "This will be our mandatory Kaitou story! Please sit back and enjoy the ride!"
It's one of the sticking points of Decade - by construction, the constant shifting focus onto the past heroes mean our regular cast oftentimes get shafted by comparison Sometimes, they get integrated nicely, like Yuusuke into the Agito story Othertimes, not so much, like Yuusuke into every other story Diend, he's been around for 10 episodes now, and he didn't have much of a deal beyond "Thief with heart of maybe gold, likes treasure" I forgot he knew Tsukasa's past till this episode teased me with it! So I get the decision, now the mandatory "What past Rider are we doing this week" is over, to go and take the spotlight to the secondary cast But that just means we've suddenly got tonnes of backstory coming at us Quote:
AKIBASILVER: I'm not sure
Diend's tragic backstory feels very separated from who he is now, and being left to infer the gaps of "Oh at some point he ran away to another world and found the Diendriver and got an interest in treasure" detracts a little because it's even more disconnect I don't dislike it, it's just hard to feel like it's ever going to come up again KAMEN RIDER DIE: This story tries to have it both ways: Kaitou was searching for treasures so he could free his brother from the grip of Fourteen... and he also just likes getting treasures. There's a fun Inoue twist in there, where Kaitou might enjoy the role of a villain because he wants people to hate him, as a form of self-flagellation and self-negation. But it feels like it's, yeah, so divorced from the last ten episodes. Quote:
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AKIBASILVER: I like the idea of the dystopia concept - and kudos to Decade, cause the multiple worlds concept allows them to do this nice little contained piece when other shows couldn't - but as you say, it's similar to last time, and after the first half, it mostly disappears?
Aside from a little Yuusuke comedy, it doesn't matter that Fourteen is making everyone insufferably selfless in Part 2, it's just Fourteen brainwashing He may as well be brainwashing them into being [insert your least favourite Rider series here] fans, the details don't matter You've got an interesting point with Kaitou there, but again, it feels pretty specific to this episode. Past appearance didn't have Kaitou being villainous because he wanted people to dislike him, he was just like Tsukasa in that he didn't care, as long as he got that treasure Unless you're Hibiki, in which case he may accidentally help you Quote:
KAMEN RIDER DIE: And scrub Riders who exist to get murdered as motivation for our Real Heroes? Yeah, maybe they didn't deserve his respect or recollection.
But! Still pretty weird to see a full tribute to a movie I maybe half remember. Like, all three of the New Generation Riders are back! With the original actors! Otherwise, the Missing Ace movie Riders, in this story, other than Junichi (who is irredeemable in Missing Ace), they seem to lack the negativity seen in he original movie, even if they're the same character with same actors (except the other Natsumi turns into Haruka), the reverse of the implementation of other Hibiki Riders before who are more selfish and control freak. Quote:
KAMEN RIDER DIE: The one thing I'll say in his favor, and in Inoue's favor, is that Onodera and Natsumi at least get a little side-story in the first part of this arc. They get to have a little goofy adventure! They get to leave the photo studio!
AKIBASILVER: I do like Natsumi's "I'm going to find more about Kaitou" It's like her recurring thing - she at least tries to learn what the new world is about, even if it's all offscreen and she just has to put up with Kivala the entire time
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