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04-14-2023, 11:18 PM | #31 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
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I see you. I will judge your tastes appropriately now since that Ryuki comment gives me some much needed perspective. |
04-14-2023, 11:22 PM | #32 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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It's that or Ex-Aid's theme, and that one at least finishes strong. Ryuki... I'm listening to it right now, and it just meanders. Not for me!
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04-15-2023, 04:53 AM | #33 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
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I will not stand for this Ryuki slander. Mods, please delete the thread.
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04-15-2023, 10:12 AM | #34 |
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Oh boy... It's Revice time... Before I even put out my closing thoughts on Saber xD
Still have to do that, but that's for another time. For now... Revice. Let's pull off the bandaid off early; this is one of 3 Toku shows I actively hate, not just dislike, but actively hate. This makes this all the more interesting since I have very strong feelings for this show, just in the completely opposite direction than Saber. It's also the only Toku show that annoyed me so much I decided to write fanfic about xD I really have to get back to that ^^' That said, episode 1 is ok. It doesn't stand out in and of itself, and from the 3 Reiwa first, it defiantly felt like the most standard. I'd even say it's technically better than Saber's; it just left me with not much originally, which is fine for a first episode. There have been shows that left me cold for the first arc before I fell madly in love with them. In and of itself, this episode doesn't do anything wrong. And I really liked the fact Ikki gave up the Driver at the end. It seemed like an interesting direction to take a character. Which... sadly didn't go anywhere really meaningful in episode 2, which was a shame. But that's more a fact of the story just not being that interested than any actively bad aspect of it. In general, 2 continues the trend of being very fine. Not much I have a problem with, maybe minus the fact that I'm not a fan of the Revi and Vice suits and sidegrade suits, all looking very samey and washed out, but that is not a fault of the episode. That said, the huge emotional moment passed me by like nothing, which felt weird for me at the time, given how much I ate up a similar moment in Den-O between Ryotaro and Momotaros early in the show. I didn't even know why back then. I think I know why now, given hindsight, but I get plenty of opportunity to address that once it becomes more obvious why this didn't work for me. Besides that, unremarkable, but not in a bad way. Also, before anyone worries, I'm not here to just rage and make anyone feel bad about liking the show. I'm here to see why people like it, even if I don't.
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04-15-2023, 10:39 AM | #35 |
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I definitely didn't think you were trying to make anyone feel bad for liking Revice! I think your criticisms are valid and measured, even if there're some that I don't agree with (I really like the suits) or maybe don't account for all the parts I liked (Ikki's choices are clever and distinct throughout; the family dynamic is gold). While I've had a fun time with the first two episodes, I've also described the second one as "nothing exceptional or even necessarily memorable", so I can understand feeling a lack of connection to some of its bigger emotional swings. What's here so far isn't really showing its cards yet, so much as shuffling the deck and explaining the rules. I'm excited to see what I get dealt, but I'm also not quite ready to go all-in on it.
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04-15-2023, 12:05 PM | #36 |
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The opening had a nod on Agito with the painting-esque scene at the start, though I don't fully understand that yet, there seems to be an implication of Ikki and Vice switching roles, which'd add up more to their dynamic. Other than that, Ikki's Vistamps is revealed to be able to... speed up a bicycle, which is a gag moment of a bicycle outspeeding a motorcycle easily, but is random too. There's a debut of Revice's another form, the W-motif Eagle Genome (does George just randomly model an animal with past Riders due to enthusiasm?) with count up feathers instead of sins as catchphrase, and to catch up with the flying Kamakiri Deadman. And Revice's seemingly ultimate ability of both combining into 1, shaped in the animal they represent in their current form. Eagle Genome has less stats than Rex one, so using Rex to fight Megalodon Deadman was the more ideal move, with Vice's rex abilities shown to breath fire and slap opponents with big tail too; I wonder if those abilities are exclusive or both Riders can have it.
The finisher of the Rex one is a mere stomp on the opponent enhanced with energy though by jumping high... with the Eagle one being a spiraling kick enhanced with green cyclone like W. There's a drawback that doubles as a gag, with the combination not being actual merging, and Revi can let go of Vice, and Vice's position of the Rex one being directly behind... Revi's butt. Vice should learn what the toilet joke of his can inflict to others in Saber finale from that. And for all the science can provide in a Rider... a simple drone was the tool Fenix use to spy on them! Quote:
KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 2 - “THE DEMON WAS JUST A BAD GUY AFTER ALL?”
Ikki’s the one I was most interested in in this story, because his arc is the most thoughtful and nuanced. He’s not just No Heroics until he’s All Heroics, there’s a… he’s got very specific reasons for his wanting to Henshin or not. He initially declines the Fenix offer, not because he doesn’t want to help people, but because the responsibility of answering to Fenix can’t ever take precedence over his obligation to his family. It’s a non-starter for him, that offer. He instantly grabs the Revice Driver when there’s danger, though, because he can’t stand by when people are in danger. He’s got a duty as a Kamen Rider, but a deeper, stronger commitment as an Igarashi. He won’t join an organization that would ask him to put his family second. Quote:
His mom clarifies the issue for him, though, in my favorite scene in the episode. (I like when the whole family is in one room together! This episode only did it once! Not a great decision!) It’s not about him protecting the family to the exclusion of the world, it’s about him recognizing that their family exists within the world. It’s also not about him alone sacrificing for his family, but them supporting what’s special about him. If Ikki can save people as Kamen Rider Revi, then the rest of the family will provide him space to do that. He doesn’t have to say no to a part of himself in order to care for his family.
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The big part of the episode is Vice not really getting the whole Protecting People part of superheroes, and if the show glides through the dilemma a little too quickly to really do it justice, well… you kinda can’t have a show until Vice stops trying to eat people every time Ikki Henshins. It’s going to be a bit of a distraction! Sort of a big problem! The solution, to have Ikki basically go I’m Going To Get Murdered By Monsters And You’ll Die Too until Vice agrees to be a helpful, non-eating-people’s-moms demon… it’s okay. It’s way too early in the show to really have a serious, emotional throwdown about Ikki’s dedication to protecting people versus Vice’s inherent selfishness, so this shortcut version is fine to get our two main characters to be effective enough to take down the lowest level of weekly monsters. The resolution is such that we are definitely going to circle back to this (Vice’s acquiescence is more about self-preservation than a deep love for humanity), but it gets our oddball dynamic to at least stop trying to negate each other. That’s a win! Sort of!
Vice did something in this episode that is probably even worse than what Momo did at ep. 4, as at least Momo intended to help Ryotaro, though it caused misfortune upon non-Ryotaro people. Here, Vice didn't have any nobility for his actions, he just seeks conflict due to his love of fighting (a trait Momo also had), tempting Araki to release his inner demon, and his other aim is an even worse one to just eat humans while Ikki is fighting (and thus he gets materialized). Other than that, Vice is somehow significantly more intelligent than the usually mindless demons, and this is how he got to tempt Araki, by faking trying to eat someone. Luckily he's the type of morally unjust comedic character that has restrictions to keep him from going too far, not completely though as this episode showed. like his life depending on Ikki's, only materializing when he henshins as Revice, and otherwise being intangible and unseen spirit, where the extent of the trouble he can cause are annoyance and misunderstandings (as Ikki'd seem like talking to his family, especially worse when he's riled up like to Genta). Quote:
And that’s the basic lesson for this episode, through the weird golfer/caddie double monstering: focus on how effective you can be as a unit, and stop trying to blow it up for your own appetites. It’s not an all-the-way-through success of an episode – too little family dynamic, the golfer’s motivation is Chaos I Guess, I don’t care enough about Fenix’s command structure or employees to need to start the second episode off with a guy getting dressed-down and embarrassed, and I absolutely do not like the Remix routines and their accompanying horrible CG. It’s got some stuff I’d’ve maybe corrected on an edit, for sure. But the structure is solid enough, the MOTW plot rhymes with the Ikki/Vice arc, and the cast is pleasant enough.
Daiji's the other central focus for this episode, character-wise. It seems that here Daiji doesn't have any ill feelings towards Ikki, knowing that Ikki can become a Rider, he's focused on recruiting him as one of the Fenix member to help them fighting Deadmans, even if he won't take the center stage. He's also willingly listens to Ikki's order and later tries to keep Ikki becoming a Rider (especially with his life being at danger), practically relinquishing his role as a Rider to him. The other characters get even less of the screentime compared to those above, albeit it's probably necessary to build up Revice dynamic: Hiromi disapproves of civilian becoming a Rider and got demoted. George as usual goes fanboying to Revice's Eagle Genome debut, but continues to show dark ambiguous side of him seemingly reveling to Hiromi's failure and the opening with him excitedly looking at the experimented 3 legendary Riders (original, Black, Kuuga) in a tank. Yujiro seems to be the drill sergeant-type character expecting the best and having high expectations to fill, but the strictness goes too far that he'd treat low-ranked members like Hiromi as worthless, insisting others to not listen to talentless individuals. Hot take, but I'm not into Ryuki's theme song Alive A Live either.
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04-15-2023, 01:32 PM | #37 |
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04-15-2023, 09:33 PM | #38 |
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KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 3 - “HOSTAGE TROUBLE! WHAT WILL THE BROTHERS DO!?”
I like how willing this show is to make Daiji unheroic. It’s not… y’know, it’s not the most upbeat or cathartic viewing experience, but I find it maybe more compelling than Ikki’s franchise-typical hot-headed empathy and unstoppable self-sacrifice. Those are the engines a show like this runs on, but Daiji’s self-sabotage and envy are the scenery that get my attention. It’s an episode that’s mostly concerned with issues of scale, and how family affects that worldview both positively and negatively. Daiji’s weakness is that he wants to do too much, as his mother (BEST CHARACTER) tries to point out. He wants to be a world-saving superhero, and the weight of that causes him to freeze up and freak out. Meanwhile, Ikki just wants to keep his family safe, and it lets him tap into a reservoir of conviction that Daiji can’t access. A massive motivation like Saving The World… that doesn’t really mean anything, at least not in a way that one person can get their hands around. But even non-Riders can work to keep the people close to them safe, as Sakura’s actions attest. Heroism starts local and builds global, not the other way around. Daiji could be the hero the world needs, if he’d just stop thinking about what the world needs. And yet, while the show makes that lesson clear, Daiji doesn’t learn anything. I really like that? I like that it’s going to be harder for Daiji to get out of his own way than just coming through in an Episode 3 clutch. His issues are bigger than that, and he’s in a situation where his family’s support and happiness just makes him feel more like a fraud and an outcast. He has a vision of what he wants to be to his family, but that’s not what they want from him. The tension of that, how what’s a treasure for Ikki is a curse for Daiji… boy, I’m really into that. This episode’s Stamp Story nicely plays into that, with both a parallel for Daiji’s unhappiness and anxiety (Ayaka, trying to get her mother to see her the way she wants to be seen) and a darker version of Mom Igarishi’s moral from the kidnapper: the world is horrible, and we do what we have to with the tools and options provided to us in order to make it something that treats us better. It’s a lesson that’s not quite an inversion of Mom Igarishi’s suggestion of personal responsibility and incremental action, but it still manages to turn a lesson of self-acceptance into a justification for selfishness. It makes for a tight episode, and one that kept me emotionally engaged, even as the action sort of left me cold. It’s fine for what it is, but the tactics are really nowhere in this superhero show. Revi and Vice win because Daiji ran and got a new power-up, which just so happens to beat the bad guys. (Well, Blue Mariachi just wanders off, which was considerate of him?) There’s no clear reason why a Den-O flavored beatdown is so much better than a W or Revice flavored one, other than it’s newer and we’ve got merch to move in Q1. I always like it better when these fights have at least a little bit of strategy or cleverness to them, and Revice’s… don’t? They’re flashy, and have some interesting camera choices, but it hasn’t really felt narratively integral to the episodes yet. It’s there, but it’s not much more than that yet. Luckily, yeah, I like this weird, frustrating story the show’s willing to tell about the Igarishi family. Ikki’s fiery compassion and reluctant heroism; Daiji’s stern dedication and constant humiliation; Sakura’s quiet confidence and intolerance for creeps; and the wackiest, most charming parents a Kamen Rider show ever let exist for more than a flashback. It’s a fun little world, set in a monstrous bigger world, and I like how that friction is affecting our cast.
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04-15-2023, 09:54 PM | #39 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
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Oh Daiji, Daiji, Daiji... I don't think Daiji's my favorite in this show? But he's extremely interesting and he goes some places that's for sure. Very excited/curious to see what you'll think of him as his stuff continues further on. It's an interesting story they'll be able to tell with him, about how he ended up failing and how that's still haunting him, especially since he has to deal with his brother in which their views do not match up in the slightest, at all.
That being said... I guess Den-O worked well cause Vice had the big ol shields? Tbh the normal Genomes don't really do it much for me in terms of variety even though we're pumping them out one an episode so far. But yeah, a rather nice single story that also helps advance some of our characters... or is it? Given the cliffhanger with the whole Kong Vistamp and our 'mystery' hooded person with the Deadmans. Speaking of them though, I appreciate Julio's (Blue Mariachi? Wait... his outfit is purple though) drip. I think it's the sombrero that does it for me. |
04-15-2023, 11:11 PM | #40 |
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Oh Daiji, Daiji, Daiji... I don't think Daiji's my favorite in this show? But he's extremely interesting and he goes some places that's for sure. Very excited/curious to see what you'll think of him as his stuff continues further on. It's an interesting story they'll be able to tell with him, about how he ended up failing and how that's still haunting him, especially since he has to deal with his brother in which their views do not match up in the slightest, at all.
I guess it's purple? I haven't gotten a great look at it, so I'll defer to your eyesight. Of the two Monster Mariachi, Purple is more flamboyant, for sure. I don't... like, I don't know why there are two of them yet, which has unfortunate echoes of the Book Club from Saber, but I appreciate that they're visually distinct. I can't wait to see which of them flips around, and which plays the piano!
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