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03-09-2021, 09:20 AM | #341 |
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Ryutaros is basically a kid, so I think his love of Airi is more innocent and familial than Miura and Ozaki and even Urataros with his infamous "she's too good to just be your sister" line. The important thing to remember is that Ryutaros is an Imagin which can be a lonely existence. He was born without anything resembling a family of his own so he wants to experience that through Ryoutarou. Actually, this is something I can relate to, since I don't have a big sister either. It reminds me of a story written by Inoue in Ohranger where the siblingless Oh Blue/Yuji tried to make two brothers stop fighting with each other and that episode made Yuji my favorite member of the team. This is probably another reason why Ryutaros is one of my favorite Imagins, in addition to him being purple and cheerful. Ryutaros' love of Airi is also a catalyst for his development towards becoming more heroic and tame, by looking up to Airi as a big sister and role model for how he should behave. This isn't like those other guys who are just lusting for her without thinking about what Airi wants. Ryutaros' care is more genuine and from the heart. Quote:
So, an episode that starts to peel back his layers is enormously welcome. To see him less as a perennial punching bag and more as someone who has made difficult, unhappy choices to protect the people he loves, to see a side of Ryotaro that is willing to say I Deserve Better Than This, yes. Very ready for that story. We’re only scratching the surface of that here, but it feels like the show is setting up Ryotaro to be at least a smidgen more assertive.
And I think the Imagin feel it, too, since they are pretty sure someone’s going to get kicked off the DenLiner for Ryotaro’s sake, and they’re pretty pretty sure it’s going to be Momotaros. Which, fun story, even if there’s no way it would ever be Momo. (Ryutaros first, then Urataros, then Kintaros, then Momotaros.) The story needs it to look like it’s going to be Momo, though, because he has the least amount of chill, and the story’s ten times better if it’s him freaking out over his job security. For a character that’s usually almost no help outside a fight, Momo somehow becomes even less helpful the more he struggles to be helpful. It is like his effort to be of use generates anti-useful particles, sabotaging everything around him. Every minute he tries to spotlight his value is another minute on the highlight reel of why he should be expelled from the train. He is failing at a superhuman level, and it’s terrific. Regarding which Imagin is the weakest link, I'd say Urataros might be more of a liability than Ryutaros. He seldom fights unless it's near water and he causes a lot of complicated romantic problems for Ryoutarou. I can see how Momotaros might be secretly worried about being replaced by all these newer younger Imagins, but yeah, there's no way Ryoutarou is going to throw him under the train (haha, get it?). Those two have a lot of sentimental value.
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03-09-2021, 10:59 AM | #342 |
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That said, I way prefer her train outfit. It's a good look! Quote:
Don’t worry, I’m off the face actors wagon for this thread. I’ve merely been finding loopholes.
And now for our VA of the week, whose anime list was so long I half considered cutting it down. Nobuyuki Hiyama Notable Anime roles: Hiei in Yu Yu Hakusho, Maito Senpuuji in The Brave Express Might Gaine, Ikkaku Madarame in Bleach, Guy Shishioh in King of the Braves GaoGaiGar. Joe Higashi in Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, Pedro Kazmaier in Jungle King Tar-chan, Rai Ryuga in Ginga Sengoku Ryū Knight, Yuushiro Gowa in Gasaraki, Ichimonji Kobayashi in Cheeky Angel, Harunobu Madarame in Genshiken, Kogoro in Keroro Gunsō, Jetfire in Transformers Energon, Kankuro Nishiyama in Muteki Kanban Musume, Kōyū Ri in Saiunkoku Monogatari, Yoshimune in Yoshimune, Viral in Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann, Hirohiko Yokomi in Tetsuko no Tabi, Kojuurou in Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de, Kōki Maeno in Mnemosyne, Ichirō Toba in Double-J, Ultimate-Kingtaurus in Battle Spirits: Saikyou Ginga Ultimate Zero, Uzu Sanageyama in Kill La Kill, Yoshiteru Zaimokuza in My Youth Love Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, Sasaki Kojirou in Duel Masters VS, Seiichi Kinoshita in Shirobako, General Goro in Yatterman Night, Gao Granner Leo in Tomica Kizuna Gattai Earth Granner. Notable Tokusatsu roles: Boss Kamikaze in Gosei Sentai Dairanger, Bomber the Great in Choriki Sentai Ohranger, Gun Boss Sambash in Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, Camejil Alien Ben-G in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, Hades Beast,an Berserker King Glúm de Bridon in Mahou Sentai Magiranger: Bride of Infershia, the Narrator and Tachibana in Kamen Rider Fourze, Ultraman King and the Geed Riser in Ultraman Geed. Notable Dubbing roles: Rampage in Beast Wars, Barry Allen/The Flash in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Blue Falcon in Scoob! Notable Video Game roles: Link in The Legend of Zelda: Occarina of Time (and the Super Smash Bros series), Joe Higashi in the Fatal Fury series, Siegfried Schtauffen in the Soul Caliber series. I will mention that this will be the bulk of my comments for this week, since my own thread is busier than usual (I chose this week to do BOTH of Hurricaneger’s movies, in addition to the usual 3 episodes). Quote:
Ryutaros' love of Airi is also a catalyst for his development towards becoming more heroic and tame, by looking up to Airi as a big sister and role model for how he should behave. This isn't like those other guys who are just lusting for her without thinking about what Airi wants. Ryutaros' care is more genuine and from the heart.
I'd probably put Ryutaros and Urataros neck-and-neck as far as who is the least helpful. Depending on the particular scene, either one of them could be the biggest drawback to Ryotaro's goals. But, Ura has at least some marginal use (investigation, subterfuge) that Ryu lacks. It's a close one, though! Definitely some variables that can change in a heartbeat!
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03-09-2021, 11:26 AM | #343 |
Standing By
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At this point in the show, I guess I'd argue with the last line? His affection for Airi is still unhealthy, being that he treats her like a sister when she doesn't even know he exists. There's no reciprocity to their relationship, and that means that Ryutaros' care is more selfish than not. It's him caring for a character in his story, not a real woman with an interior life. He's obsessed with Airi, and even if it's not in a sexual way, it's still not great.
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I'd probably put Ryutaros and Urataros neck-and-neck as far as who is the least helpful. Depending on the particular scene, either one of them could be the biggest drawback to Ryotaro's goals. But, Ura has at least some marginal use (investigation, subterfuge) that Ryu lacks. It's a close one, though! Definitely some variables that can change in a heartbeat!
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03-09-2021, 12:22 PM | #344 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Conversely, Urataros is admitting that he's untrustworthy, while Ryutaros lulls you in with his childlike naivete. It's really a push between these two!
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03-09-2021, 03:05 PM | #345 |
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Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,550
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Discovered just now that Naomi’s costume was designed to be decorated with random numbers. Have to wonder why they changed that.
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03-09-2021, 03:11 PM | #346 |
I got nothing
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 148
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Odds are the material didn’t play well with ot or it didn’t look good when made i to a physical costume
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03-09-2021, 03:45 PM | #347 |
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KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 17 - “THAT GUY IS HERE! AND IN THE PAST!”
There’re really two things going on in this episode, and they didn’t really connect for me yet. (I assume I’ll feel differently by the conclusion.) There’s this bonkers story about the Imagin thinking they’re about to get fired for incredibly vague, possibly Hana-invented reasons (it’s pretty much a game of Telephone where Ryotato says Things Should Change and Hana goes Ryotaro Demands An Imagin Battle Royale), and then there’s this bleaker story about lives deferred, and about the seductive poison of nostalgia. Quote:
Ryotaro… not the easiest title character to love, if I’m being honest? He’s sweet, and funny, but he’s so shrinking and quiet that it’s hard to really root for him. Or, I don’t know, I find myself way more excited about seeing an Imagin possess him than I am him whispering his way through a scene. He’s constantly getting overshadowed by bigger personalities, and now we’ve reached the point of him almost dying because he can’t get the four Imagins he’s entangled with to stop running him ragged. He’s pushed around a lot, and it’s hard to really get what’s driving him.
So, an episode that starts to peel back his layers is enormously welcome. To see him less as a perennial punching bag and more as someone who has made difficult, unhappy choices to protect the people he loves, to see a side of Ryotaro that is willing to say I Deserve Better Than This, yes. Very ready for that story. We’re only scratching the surface of that here, but it feels like the show is setting up Ryotaro to be at least a smidgen more assertive. Quote:
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THE BAGGAGE CAR
-Sawada’s… I mean, she’s a great way into Ryotaro’s story, to have someone who’s even worse at hiding their pain than he is, but I found her a little too on the nose. Like, she says "nostalgia" a lot, and she’s doing nothing but reminiscing about her high school days. She is a little one-note. She plays that note well, though, so it’s not a failure or anything. She just feels more like a plot device than a character right now.
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03-09-2021, 09:27 PM | #348 |
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Passion! Momo's the passionate one!
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03-10-2021, 11:52 PM | #349 |
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KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 18 - "THE CLOCKWORK FIANCE"
So, I liked the idea behind the episode, where it ended, but I was not at all into how we got there. Like, at the end, this is a story about people bravely taking on the burdens of others without telling them, and how colossally stupid that is. It's an episode that shows through Ryotaro and the Imagin that killing yourself to save others from hardship is just creating a situation that's bad for everyone. Ryotaro doing all of this dumb training to be of more use to the Imagin has nearly gotten them to kill themselves, and that in turn would've left Ryotaro at a disadvantage/crippled him with guilt. Everyone's making sacrifices that only make things worse. It's "The Gift of the Imagin", basically. So, that concept, I do like it. The fight scene in this one is the most memorable part, because it's Momotaros feeling justifiably let down by Ryotaro, and just stopping the fight dead to lay down some scolding on Ryotaro. Momo is, for all of his flaws, a straight-shooter, and he's not happy with all of the secrets Ryotaro is keeping. Having the Airi stuff and the Den-O stuff collide in a thematic lesson from Momotaros is brilliant, and it makes me wish the episode's path to that speech was better. Because, goddamn, a bunch of fat on this one. Sawada, for one, feels somewhere between a massive red herring and a missed opportunity. Her story is disappointingly simple, with her feeling overburdened and homesick, and then Airi gives her a pep-talk, story's over. The whole point of the scene with Airi ends up not even really being about Sawada (who has recovered astonishingly well after being assaulted by a monster who disappeared into her body), but instead it's just more of a push to get Ryotaro to stop coddling Airi and tell her the truth. Sawada barely feels like she's a part of this story in the second part, which is way more concerned with Airi's tragic backstory. Which, man, not a huge fan! Two of my least favorite toku tropes are Narratively Convenient Amnesia and We Can't Tell A Woman The Truth For Reasons, so imagine how thrilled I was to hit the midpoint of this one. The directing is selling Airi's tragic backstory for all it's worth, and it sincerely hurts to see Airi so devastated, but I'm just zero percent into this story. This is completely subjective, but the foundation of this thing is just rotten to me. So rotten that it's almost preemptively spoiling the appearance of Zeronos (I recognize the toy from his train pass, plus Hello Kyosuke From Hibiki), because I'm not going to love hearing this dude explain why We Can't Tell Airi The Truth For Reasons. I hope that's not where they're going! I wish with all my might that Kobayashi is smarter/braver/stronger than that! But I got my fears. So, yeah. Fun ending, with this being a story about folks needing to stop keeping destructive secrets and start letting people in, but the nostalgia theme never really came through for me (it doesn't really feel pertinent to anything other than Airi's memories?) and Sawada didn't really get enough focus. Love that fight scene, pretty disinterested in the rest of this one. THE BAGGAGE CAR -I almost can't wrap my brain around this, but the whole thing about the Imagin (no idea what he's supposed to be) that's just totally artistically blocked in 2004, just looking at this blank canvas of a city and stumped about what he's supposed to do to level it, I loved that. It feels like the production team couldn't figure out a reason why the Imagin doesn't just blow up 2004 after escaping from Den-O in the previous episode, and they definitely need him to hold off so that they can do all of their Airi exposition, so the team just seems to have gone Maybe He's Drawing A Blank Too. It's such a weirdly human response, and it totally worked for me. I love the banality of it, how this monster looks at destroying the past like it's confusing instructions for Ikea furniture. I am all about monsters who are not great at their jobs, so this Imagin was a bright spot for me in the first half of this episode. -Zeronos! Real interested to see what Sakurai's like, and how much my (incredibly recent!) memories of Kyosuke color his introduction. For a show that's all about trying to reconcile the mistakes of the past with hope for the future, having everyone's favorite Hibiki character from everyone's favorite Hibiki era show up... very thematically appropriate! Great meta casting!
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03-11-2021, 02:26 AM | #350 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,416
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Not a ton to say about this one. Its main purpose is to be the exposition dump on Sakurai, which in turn sets up the introduction of Zeronos. There are some nice bits - Momo's apathetic fight, Kin asking Ryotaro to make a wish, Elly from Ultraman Max is still hanging around a bit - but it's not the most exciting or dynamic episode.
Quote:
-I almost can’t wrap my brain around this, but the whole thing about the Imagin (no idea what he’s supposed to be) that’s just totally artistically blocked in 2004, just looking at this blank canvas of a city and stumped about what he’s supposed to do to level it, I loved that. It feels like the production team couldn’t figure out a reason why the Imagin doesn’t just blow up 2004 after escaping from Den-O in the previous episode, and they definitely need him to hold off so that they can do all of their Airi exposition, so the team just seems to have gone Maybe He’s Drawing A Blank Too. It’s such a weirdly human response, and it totally worked for me. I love the banality of it, how this monster looks at destroying the past like it’s confusing instructions for Ikea furniture. I am all about monsters who are not great at their jobs, so this Imagin was a bright spot for me in the first half of this episode.
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-Zeronos! Real interested to see what Sakurai’s like, and how much my (incredibly recent!) memories of Kyosuke color his introduction. For a show that’s all about trying to reconcile the mistakes of the past with hope for the future, having everyone’s favorite Hibiki character from everyone’s favorite Hibiki era show up… very thematically appropriate! Great meta casting!
The important thing is that, with Yuuto here, you're finally going to get to see the real MVP of Kamen Rider Den-O. I'm excited for him to be here as I am for you to meet him. |
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