|
Community Links |
Members List |
Search Forums |
Advanced Search |
Go to Page... |
|
Thread Tools |
12-03-2020, 03:23 PM | #1 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Hi. My name's Kamen Rider Die, and this is a thread where I'm going to watch Kamen Rider Kabuto for the first time. I'll be talking about my experience with each episode, and hopefully you'll want to talk about your experience with each episode. Let's see how that goes!
This is somewhere between the eighth and eightieth one of these threads that I've done. We have officially reached an amount of these threads such that I no longer feel like digging through the forum to find the links. Trust me, they're there. I started off doing half of Ghost on a lark, and now I've done enough of these that the time spent not working on them is the aberration. It's weird. I'm weird. I am excited to start Kabuto, though. I know one thing about it, Clock Up. I honestly don't know if that's a big thing or a small thing, though. It's a factoid, maybe? I guess I'll find out. I'll be finding out everything about it, in the next few weeks. This is... it's a fun point in the process. Specifically I mean writing this post. I do this part a few days (usually) before I start watching the show, so this is like the orchestra tuning up. Flexing those critical-analysis muscles, some. But also just getting used to... I don't know, turning off the tiny part of my brain that acts as a filter. Just, like, typing, and not getting in my own way with it. Having fun with self-expression. It's nice to get back to. And, since we're getting back to one of these Kamen Rider Die Watches threads, some ground rules and requests, just for clarity's sake. PLEASE DON'T POST ANY SPOILERS ABOUT KABUTO: Like I said up top, I haven't watched anything from Kabuto. I like being able to watch these shows as cold as possible, so please try not to mention anything from episodes I haven't posted about. If you can, please don't even hint about what's to come, because that gets me expecting things I'd rather be surprised by. Spoiler tags are also a no-go for me, since the notification emails TokuNation sends out don't block a spoiler. Like, I will get an email that says SPOILER here is a big plot point that someone put in a spoiler tag END SPOILER. It's a bummer. It's not meant to be a bummer (it's meant to be the opposite of a bummer!), but it's a bummer. Please, no Kabuto discussion beyond the episodes I've covered. PLEASE DON'T POST ANY SPOILERS FOR SHOWS I HAVEN'T WATCHED YET: I'll eventually be covering whatever Heisei and Reiwa shows I haven't watched yet, so please try not to mention anything from those shows. Those include Den-O, Kiva, Decade, Zi-O, Zero-One and Saber. If you can just, like, table that discussion for 2021-2022 (I cannot believe I just typed that), you'll be doing me a solid. Thanks in advance! I MAY SPOIL SHOWS OUTSIDE OF KABUTO: Not maliciously or anything, but if it seems to be a parallel to what's going on in Kabuto? Yeah, sure. Consider this a warning if you haven't watched Kuuga through Hibiki and W through Build. I DON'T KNOW WHY I WRITE THIS WAY: I tried to frame these threads as accurately as I could in the first paragraph. These are me experiencing Kabuto. I'm not reviewing them, exactly, nor am I recapping them. I just watch one, and then talk about what it was like to watch it. Sometimes they're funny, sometimes they're frustrated, sometimes they're confessional, rarely are they insightful. (Like, two or three episodes each series at most.) Almost everything is a first draft. That is probably not to everyone's taste! If you're already sick of reading this, you are probably not going to love this thread. If this works for you, though, expect more over the next few weeks. I HONESTLY JUST WANT TO TALK ABOUT KABUTO: All of this is in service of maintaining a discussion. I'm sharing what I get out of these episodes with the hope that you'll feel like sharing what you got out of them. (Also, my brain just needs to process this shit publicly? I don't know why, either.) If you just want to lurk, that's cool. But the absolute best part for me is getting to hear what these shows mean to other people, so I'm grateful to anyone who wants to express themself. I can never remember if that's everything. I think it is? I've done so many of these and my memory is just nowhere. Feels like everything. Let's say it is, along with the hopefully unnecessary reminder to keep treating everyone as well as you always do on TokuNation. You're great people. Keep it up! Thank you for sitting through all of that. As a reward, what do you say to an episode of Kamen Rider Kabuto? Let's walk the path of Not Heaven But Not Hell Maybe A Limbo-ish Thing That's Mostly Pleasant!
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 08-26-2023 at 05:59 PM.. |
12-03-2020, 03:30 PM | #2 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 01
SOME GOOD I like Tendou. He's an interesting protagonist (I'm assuming!) so far. His introduction is all about his zen nature, his clarity of purpose, his ability to focus on his own responsibility rather than the actions of others. It's a neat idea, him being all about the achievement of personal excellence as an inherent good for society. I like it mostly because we see a couple shadings of it here that don't... he doesn't come across as The Best Dude always, and I think that's fun to develop? There's a kindness to him (the scene with his sister), an aloofness to him (the scene with Kagami), and even a judgmental aspect to him (snapping at the vendors for not doing their job, basically his whole Henshin). There's a complexity there that feels like a nice counter to Hibiki's more straight-forward personality. Tendou feels like a character I'm barely scratching the surface of, while still feeling like I'm rooting for him. Pretty good first appearance! -- It helps that this episode just looks gorgeous. There's a great use of light through Tendou's various scenes, keeping him illuminated to a degree that I don't really doubt his divinity. He's frequently bathed in light: the living room of his house has windows everywhere; the garage might as well be on the surface of the sun; and that Henshin scene is him practically enveloped in sunlight. The camera tricks deployed to sell the Worms' Clock Up abilities are always always fun. It's nothing that needs CG, which is why I adore it. It's just body doubles and edits, but characters suddenly appearing in new places is... I'm just a fan of it? It's such a great Oh Shit technique, and I never get tired of it. Some guy is halfway down a block, the camera pans around, and now he's behind the POV character? That's the sort of stuff I love to see, how a show can create atmosphere and tension through practical effects. The rest of the episode looks like a million bucks, too. Not a very showy set of camera moves or anything, but coherent edits and perfect angles and great blocking and solid tracking and and and. Incredibly professional work that may not match the lyrical quality of Hibiki's opening, but has a technical precision that feels like a leap forward. -- Which is good, because the action in this episode is of a much larger scale than Hibiki's One Guy Versus Two Guys thing. There are dozens of Zectroopers (with their Riderman gauntlets!) and multiple Worms (who turn into spiders, because Kamen Rider Premiere), and that's before you even get to the Kamen Rider showing up at the end. The first fight reminded me a lot of the Amazons premiere, where the tactical nature gets full focus, setting up the organization that'll support/contrast with the more singular nature of the title hero. It's a neat way to set up the stakes, to see a well-armed, well-trained crew of elite killers just get demolished by the lowest-level monsters. The Zectroopers aren't chumps, but they sure get chumped out in a hurry. But that's a) still fun to watch, and b) super helpful to make Kabuto's somewhat brief fight at the end still deliver. He's in a Husky Kabuto suit, so he's clearly not even at full strength/speed yet, but he beats the Worm with clever actions rather than brute force. The trick of bouncing his targeting lasers (?) off of mirror shards to locate the Worm, man. Man! I love it. I love it because it undercuts some of the Chosen One stuff I'd normally dislike by showcasing how prepared Tendou is to be Kabuto. He's someone whose entire existence has been about this role, and that dedication pays off. It's not a huge fight, but it's a smart fight, and I maybe prefer that? -- Overall, just a smart episode with how it's telling its story. The opening has an otherworldly sadness to it, full of pain and portent. Then you move into a nightmarish sequence of being killed and replaced by a doppelganger. Then there's a paramilitary raid. Then a moment of danger, resolved with bizarre humor and nonchalance. Then familial warmth. Then training, then action, then heroism. Every scene flows into the next with focus, with care. Nothing feels unnecessary, or irrelevant, even as you're certain that some small touches will take on greater importance later. It's a very watchable premiere. SOME LESS GOOD Although it could stand to be more fun? There's only one scene that even vaguely approaches Funny, and that's the Tendou introduction. Even that's, like... I didn't laugh at it, you know? I admired the playfulness of it, but that's the most I felt. Everything else is very dour, very serious. It's cool if that's the direction the production team wanted to go in, but I'm not sure I'm going to love that. I definitely want my Kamen Rider to be more bonkers, more wacky, and that doesn't feel like what Kabuto is? I don't know. Maybe there'll be more lightness, more comedy down the line. This one was a very dark premiere, and those aren't going to be my favorite. -- As a whole episode... I don't think it does anything wrong, and any complaints I'd have are going to be of the It's Not What I Ordered But I'll Still Eat It variety, but this wasn't a blast to watch. It's technically proficient, and solidly written, but all of the ZECT stuff is not what I watch Kamen Rider for. I can get through it, and it doesn't ruin the show for me, but Organizational Kamen Rider is not really my favorite template. Personal preference, for sure, but that's not where my enjoyment lies. A QUESTION Hoping to spur some direct discussion off of these episodes, so we're going to try some episode-specific questions for y'all. Kicking things off, how do we feel about not seeing the full Rider suit in the first episode? Feels chancy to me, and slightly misguided. I think the bare minimum a Rider show should deliver is the Rider's base suit in Episode 1. At a minimum! (I'd actually prefer it if the suit showed up before the final scene, but I get that that's maybe asking a lot.) Are you okay with only getting Husky Kabuto in this one?
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 08-26-2023 at 06:00 PM.. |
12-03-2020, 03:47 PM | #3 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: World of Ataru
Posts: 857
|
I actually don't mind the show not showing the full suit all that much in the first episode. It helps build suspense and mystery. I know Kamen Rider is a kid show and they have to sell toys but this approach is alot more restrained and I like that it helps keep the pacing at a decent speed without going all out on the blantet toy shilling.
__________________
|
12-03-2020, 03:57 PM | #4 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
I actually don't mind the show not showing the full suit all that much in the first episode. It helps build suspense and mystery. I know Kamen Rider is a kid show and they have to sell toys but this approach is alot more restrained and I like that it helps keep the pacing at a decent speed without going all out on the blantet toy shilling.
Would you be okay with them not showing the hero Henshin at all in the first episode? Or would that be too much?
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
12-03-2020, 04:11 PM | #5 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,558
|
Quote:
It just feels a bit weird to me, to have the suit in the opening credits and then not have it in the first episode. Feels like the first episode ran out of road, which is maybe appropriate for the Kamen Rider show about speed!
Would you be okay with them not showing the hero Henshin at all in the first episode? Or would that be too much? Fun fact, Kabuto shares a few traits with the Showa era rider Kamen Rider Stronger; they are both modeled after rhinoceros beetles and both are the 7th rider to appear in their respectful era. |
12-03-2020, 04:21 PM | #6 |
Standing By
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,108
|
Kabuto not using his default form in the first episode is atypical but not completely unique. Kuuga was stuck in Growing Form and Ryuki was stuck in Blank Form for their first episodes since they hadn't unlocked their default forms yet. In Kabuto's case, he could use his default form if he wanted to but Heisei Phase 1 is a little slower at showing new forms. If EX-Aid had aired a decade earlier than it did, Level 2 might have debuted in the second episode as well. I think leaving Rider Form's debut until the second episode adds some more suspense to it, so it will be more awesome when he finally uses it. Tendo is something of a minimalist, unlike most Primary Riders, he uses what he has to in the moment.
I would like to mention one thing I love about Kabuto is NEXT LEVEL, my third favorite OP in Heisei Rider! The show actually starts out pretty good and surprisingly apocalyptic with the Meteor of 99.
__________________
心 と 刃 Last edited by Sh Ranger; 12-03-2020 at 04:24 PM.. |
12-03-2020, 04:25 PM | #7 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,558
|
|
12-03-2020, 04:27 PM | #8 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,554
|
Well this is the earliest I’ve ever showed up to one of these threads.
Anyway, my running thing for this thread will be to discuss the similarities between this show’s riders and their inspirations (and also share comments I made on the episodes and movie online when I watched this show for the first time). Kamen Rider Kabuto - Kamen Rider Stronger. (Beetle) Both are the 7th Riders of their respective eras. Both have something of an ego. Both have a fairly prickly relationship with their co-stars (Tackle/Kagami) Both refuse to associate with the main benefactor for other Riders (Tachibana/ZECT). And also ZECTroopers/AriCommandos. (The henchmen for Neo-Shocker from the 1979 Kamen Rider) (Ants). Both are primarily black. Both are disposable cannon fodder. And that’s all I can say about those without getting too spoiler-y. Anyway one thing I’d recommend with this series is watching the scenes that come after the “next time” trailers for some episodes. |
12-03-2020, 04:30 PM | #9 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
Quote:
Kabuto not using his default form in the first episode is atypical but not completely unique. Kuuga was stuck in Growing Form and Ryuki was stuck in Blank Form for their first episodes since they hadn't unlocked their default forms yet. In Kabuto's case, he could use his default form if he wanted to but Heisei Phase 1 is a little slower at showing new forms. If EX-Aid had aired a decade earlier than it did, Level 2 might have debuted in the second episode as well. I think leaving Rider Form's debut until the second episode adds some more suspense to it, so it will be more awesome when he finally uses it. Tendo is something of a minimalist, unlike most Primary Riders, he uses what he has to in the moment.
Quote:
And, yep, great opening song! Probably cover that more next time.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
12-03-2020, 04:30 PM | #10 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,558
|
Question to Die, The opening theme. Yay or nay? Personally I consider it the best out of the 20 Heisei Riders. Really fits well with the show I think.
|
|
TokuNation News & Rumors |
Kakuranger: 30 Years After |
ToyRise RyuKenDo |
Alternative Cut of "Day Of The Dumpster" Released |
Shodo SUPER Kyoryuger Teaser |
Figuarts/Seihou GRIDMAN |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:48 PM.
|