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04-07-2020, 08:07 PM | #311 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Short version, I think the show has evolved out of Fighting Darkness With Darkness and more into trying to use the hero's darkness to say something about the universality of darkness, and how seeing that it in one another allows us to stop viewing other people as monsters and more as someone that can be reached with empathy. This is just my take, though! Me talking about this in another thread will have a bunch of disclaimers to that effect!
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04-07-2020, 09:22 PM | #312 |
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It's a long explanation, and I shouldn't have brought it up since it's not 100% relevant and it'd kind-of derail things. (I mean, What Is The Theme Of Kamen Rider is sort-of not this thread's mandate?) I've gotta think a bit more about it, and then it'll land in the General Thoughts thread for people to pick it apart.
Short version, I think the show has evolved out of Fighting Darkness With Darkness and more into trying to use the hero's darkness to say something about the universality of darkness, and how seeing that it in one another allows us to stop viewing other people as monsters and more as someone that can be reached with empathy. This is just my take, though! Me talking about this in another thread will have a bunch of disclaimers to that effect! On a more thread related note, this thread just reminded me there was an RP Rider war but with MLP characters as inspiration for designs and character, and that sure was a thing.
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04-08-2020, 11:29 AM | #313 |
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There’s a bunch of little storyline things that happen in this episode (Yui and Shiro severing their familial bond, Kitaoka’s worsening condition, Eri’s fluctuating health, Shiro being a confirmed ghost, and a Brand New Rider at the end), but let’s be real. This episode is 100% about how Kamen Riders aren’t cool and you shouldn’t enjoy their fighting because it’s serious and dangerous and not cool.
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Which, of course, is why this episode has an amazing sequence where Ren, in human form, cold cocks a monster so hard it falls down a flight of stairs: Amazing. Amazing. I feel like, the producers, they wondered if Ren just being a Kamen Rider would be cool enough for this kid to be obsessed (hell yes!), and since they weren’t certain they devised the goddamn coolest way for Ren to enter a scene. It’s enormously bad-ass. No wonder this kid wants to be a Rider.
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Takuya’s story is a sweet little done-in-one, a way for the show to have its cake and eat it too. The Riders get to kick ass and be heroic, while also serving as a stern warning to Not Try This At Home. It’s… variably successful. The ways that Shinji, Goro, and Ren all interact with Takuya are great. They’ve got nice chemistry, with Ren as a bemused older brother, Shinji as an overmatched babysitter, and Goro as the beating heart of the group. The comedy lands great, the kid’s motivation is dead-on (didn’t we all want to be superheroes as kids so we could be awesome?), and there’s a nice progression to the story. It’s protection, then caring, then the lesson. That lesson, that being a Kamen Rider is serious and not something you should want to be… man, I don’t know. I get what they’re doing. I get that they’re trying to sell hideous stakes to a group of kids who are probably shouting FIGHT OR DIE at their TVs every week. You need to occasionally remind them that this is a series built around terrible choices and moral ambiguity, that no one in their right mind should want to be a Kamen Rider. But, of course kids should want to be Kamen Riders. They’re heroes with special powers and cool costumes, and so much of what Shinji’s about as a character is an object lesson for impressionable children: help each other, protect people, try not to murder your opponents. I feel like Takuya running away from the battle at the end… it’s a bit much. I think there’s a way to reinforce stakes without casting the show as a merciless abattoir. Gotta be a lower gear than that.
Goro is... another "victim" here like Takuya? He too is traumatized seeing the Riders in action for the first time due to watching Kitaoka fight like that. Has Goro (an accomplished cook btw) gotten Shinji's gyoza lesson yet? If not then it's unfortunate all due to Takuya where someone has to look after when Shinji and Ren joins the fight. And congratulations for Ren to make Auntie warm up to him, now she thinks that Takuya may be his little brother or son instead of something bad in mind for Ren. And Shinji's debt to Ren is even growing...for petty reasons. He wasn't lying when he told Shinji his debt was 100k in ep. 10! Last edited by DreadBringer; 04-08-2020 at 11:32 AM.. |
04-08-2020, 04:45 PM | #314 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Location: Chicago, IL
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It's a great running joke, and I'm so glad that Ren has an itemized bill for Shinji, instead of just making up higher and higher amounts. There's a dedication that Ren has to being an asshole to Shinji that is, to me, no less heroic than his actions as Kamen Rider Knight. These two torturing each other forever? I mean, that is some Relationship Goals right there.
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04-08-2020, 06:21 PM | #315 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Location: Chicago, IL
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MASKED RIDER RYUKI EPISODE 28
EPISODE 1 EPISODE 2 EPISODE 3 EPISODE 4 EPISODE 5 EPISODE 6 EPISODE 7 EPISODE 8 EPISODE 9 EPISODE 10 EPISODE 11 EPISODE 12 EPISODE 13 EPISODE 14 EPISODE 15 EPISODE 16 EPISODE 17 EPISODE 18 EPISODE 19 EPISODE 20 EPISODE 21 EPISODE 22 EPISODE 23 EPISODE 24 EPISODE 25 EPISODE 26 EPISODE 27 (Shiro made Shinji live the entire series over again so he could undo his fight with Yui, I guess. I super hated this episode. I wish it had just been a clip show. This was way more frustrating.)
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04-08-2020, 06:44 PM | #316 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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For me the whole thing was worth it for Shinji "I dedicated so much time, effort and energy and went through so many possible odds PURELY SO I COULD PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE" Kido
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04-08-2020, 06:49 PM | #317 |
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Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: World of Ataru
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I actually really like this episode it a clip show but it dosen't feel lazy to me. Our new Rider litterly have the power to bend time giving a really strong debut. Phus facilitating a in universe explanation for why where seeing all of this again. And Shinji response torwards all of this and actually landing a hit on the guy was pretty hype. (Then again I'm a sucker for time travel so lots of bias here)
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04-08-2020, 06:56 PM | #318 |
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Oh I don't know if this has been brought up before, but I like the fact that they split the classic rider helmet design elements between Ryuki, Knight, and Zolda. Ryuki gets the compound eyes, Knight gets the teeth, and Zolda the antenna.
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04-08-2020, 06:57 PM | #319 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
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I'm not particularly interested in disagreeing with you on episode 28, but I am sad you didn't end up liking it. It's always been a favorite of mine, and the whole "I became a Rider to protect people! And that means I can protect Riders too!!!" bit is like, the definitive Shinji quote. For what it's worth, here's my take on the episode.
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The whole Time Vent plot was an extremely clever twist on the normal concept of a recap episode, showing the events of the series up to this point play out again in a fashion that reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode or something. The whole context of the episode is that Shinji is completely powerless and can't even remember he remembers what's going to happen most of the time, which is kind of horrifying, and gives things a very different atmosphere than the usual clip show where people sit there reminiscing about things in a laid-back manner. Actually, I keep comparing it to a clip show, but I'm not even sure that's fair. It might just be a total coincidence the episode functions as a summary of the story, because I have to imagine restaging a bunch of old scenes again probably ruins the low-effort part that usually motivates such things, even if most of the Rider action is recycled. At any rate, I love this episode to bits because it's one I think of whenever I think of how captivating this show was to me at the time (and obviously still is). It seriously felt like anything could happen by this point.
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04-08-2020, 07:02 PM | #320 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
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I actually really like this episode it a clip show but it dosen't feel lazy to me. Our new Rider litterly have the power to bend time giving a really strong debut. Phus facilitating a in universe explanation for why where seeing all of this again. And Shinji response torwards all of this and actually landing a hit on the guy was pretty hype. (Then again I'm a sucker for time travel so lots of bias here)
Worse, it doesn't really do anything with Shinji reliving the timeline. He can't change anything, but he gets just enough flashes to try and change things, but he can't change anything. Past the first scene, for me, there's an enormous amount of frustration built into the premise. That's by design, but I hate that design. The frustration's there to validate the catharsis of Strike Vent To Impossible Opponent, but, again, I just didn't feel like that payoff was sufficient. I might've if the secret of why this all had to happen didn't completely suck (Shiro keeps using big moves to make Yui feel better, it's completely his thing, and I still hate it), but I think it did, so it wasn't working for me. Like, at all.
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