I've said this before but I think they kind of even out. Onari is really obnoxious but he actually does stuff, whereas Shunpei doesn't really do all that much, making his presence itself sort of obnoxious, but he's a lot less in your face LOUD.

Personally I prefer Onari by a country mile. I like Shunpei fine enough but I think he was way more poorly executed. His whole quest to become a valuable assistant to Haruto amounted largely to a single gag/plot device in the Movie War epilogue. I remember (playfully) mocking him a lot for being useless while watching Wizard, which is something I never did with Onari.

I'd say Shunpei, mostly cause he was just kinda... There? Honestly I feel like his role was written for someone waaaay younger.
Also points off for wearing what might just be the worst outfits I have ever seen.

I spent a lot of Ghost asking myself that question. I ultimately come down on Onari because Shunpei's awful gags were more organic and rarely superseded his character. Onari was frequently silly for no apparent reason and would actively go out of his way to do stupid shit for a laugh.

For the record I HATED Onari as well.

Onari is my homeboy however I dont hate shunpei

Has there been any news on how to get the Da Vinci Eyecon? I know that the special was released in October, but there's been no sign of it yet (outside of one Ebay listing).

Speaking of Eyecons, are they going to release the Gashapon Ikkyu and Pythagoras Eyecons? The sight has been updated with images but I'm not sure why they would release them so late into Ex-Aid.

Oh I have been waiting for a question like this for a long time. Shunpei. Easily Shunpei. Shunpei is my go-to example for how not to do a side character. For that matter side characters were one of my biggest issue with Wizard as a whole. The main thing I'm looking for in side characters isn't necessarily just their personality but rather their interaction with the main characters. What is their relationship like, how does that relationship affect one another, do they grow from that relationship etc. With a couple of exceptions, I found that Ghost was rather good in this aspect. Akari was easily that best example of this. Onari could've been developed a bit more but I liked his interaction with Akari and Takeru. Grandma Fumi, amazing. Kanon is admittedly a bit lacking, her interaction with Alaina and Makoto could've been expanded more(Hopefully the Specter movie fixes this). Narita and Shibuya are really the only duds in this case.

Wizard on the other hand, aside from Koyomi and Rinko (although they still have issue), every other character could've been removed from the show and not a single thing would happen. Wajima, really just there to make rings. I don't remember many instances of him offering advice and encouragement to the other characters. The donut people, useless. Shunpei, absolutely wasted. His whole apprentice/assistant status to Haruto goes nowhere, his character doesn't affect anyone, and most of the story arcs that focus on him aren't that great anyways(do we need to be reminded of the arsonist episodes) The only part of him that I ever found interesting was in the finale when he decided to train under Wajima to create rings, something I think should've of been introduce the moment he entered the status quo.

So yeah, while you could argue that Onari was the more annoying character, in terms of interaction, character relationship and just overall relevance to plot, Shunpei by far.

Isn't CGI really expensive too? I love stunt work anyway. The battles in Wizard and Gaim especially stood out. CGI is just flashy nonsense.

If KR gets animated, I'd see it. It REALLY depends on how well it's done

A animated Kamen Rider show, movie or OVA will probably be done from Toei. Toei has a hit or miss track record with animation.

They should do more SD Riders cartoons.

Lil chibi riders pulling off Teen Titans Go antics? SOLD. But it has to have Jim's Asian Dad in it.

How often do you guys read the wiki entries on the Riders and their equipment? Not only do they go into details not mentioned in the show, such as names and the like, they also have information on abilities the Riders possess that isn't brought up in the show. Its actually really interesting just how much detail they put into something that really isn't that important.

On a related note, did you guys know those horns that the Ghost Riders have on their heads grant them special abilities? Or that Necrom has the ability to liquefy attacks? Didn't he do that at some point in the show?

Only when I need to look up the name of an actor or something that I've forgotten.

What if Kamen Rider Amazons Season 2 included Geddon or Garanda Empire, How would they being different from their old show counterpart

I know they abandoned the mystic theme in favor of Resident Evil theme but this is WHAT IF question!

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Geddon or http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Garanda_Empire

After all, They did included Mole Beastman as Mamoru/Mole Amazon

They're neat and all but let's be honest, very rarely do the shows ever actually pay attention to them.

I know but, as writer, it really makes me happy to see all the little details that they put into making Riders unique, even if it ultimately serves no purpose.

I have nothing to say about that other than the teaser for AMAZONS Season 2 dropped it's goofy ass:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trz16j1M9yM[/youtube]

As I recall, he kinda did it twice:

First was his debut fight, where he opened a hole in his chest to avoid Toucon Robin-Hood's finisher.

Second was the fight after Takeru and the gang un-brainwash Makoto. Where Makoto transforms into Specter Edison again and repeatedly shoots Necrom with electricity.

And I believe it was at that point Necrom stopped using his liquefaction powers even after he joined the good guys. I'm guessing it was either because he was using his mortal body or he was afraid Gammaizer Electric might show up.

*Edit: Oh and to answer your question: Yeah, once every now and then.

Anyone here have a favorite Japanese tv drama that they liked which included rider alumni(s) as a lead(s) or regular(s)?

Personally I liked Shitamachi Rocket which was a good drama based on a novel.
It had Sano Gaku(Kazuraba Kouta/Kamen Rider Gaim), Takeuchi Ryoma(Tomari Shinnosuke/Kamen Rider Drive), and Kikkawa Kouji(Narumi Shokichi/Kamen Rider Skull) as regulars.
It is about an aerospace researcher(played by Abe Hiroshi, aka that guy who played a Roman who time travels through bathtubs) who quits his career and inherits his father's small engine factory, but because of his love for space he takes up the challenge to build a rocket engine with his employees which leads to heartfelt moments and struggles.
Sano and Takeuchi play the role of the employees at the factory, and Kikkawa plays the role of a boss at an aerospace development team of sorts.
Probably one of the best Japanese dramas that I have seen in a while, and having familiar faces helped me get into it.
Oh, and this guy appears as a regular too.

http://i.imgur.com/4AdMl3I.jpg

So I ended up reading this again after remembering it exists. Hecka Gaim finale spoilers in there if you haven't seen the show, by the way. Also some Black spoilers.

I'd be super curious to see what anyone who wants to check it out thinks. Mind blowing revelation? Total bulls***? Or maybe just an interesting perspective?

I disagree with the fundamental points being presented, but that post inadvertently hits on a lot of my big criticisms of Gaim in a way that's a bit more elegant that I usually am. Especially the bits about Kouta. Case in point:

It was certainly fun seeing those sentiments echoed back when I first found this shortly after Drive premiered. I've lightened back up on Gaim A LOT since then, but this was an interesting reminder of why it ended up rubbing me the wrong way back when it aired.

I love Gaim but I hate that part of the ending. They went on and on about how great Kouta is and how much he wants to go against the system, fight fate and not have to sacrifice, yet he did the opposite. Should've been Kaito who won, at least he would've brought out his ideals instead of succumb to something against his character. Heck, I rather have Micchi win.

Ah, that guy... I remember him.

I'm with Fish, I disagree with him on most basic points, but he still hit on what's wrong with Gaim's ending.

That, and giving a "force of nature" a face and agenda makes it impossible to not judge its actions. Sagara should of gotten his ass blown to smithereens, as Helheim, which he is, is the root cause of just about EVERY SINGLE BAD THING IN GAIM! Without Hellheim, Ryouma wouldn't have an instigator for going crazy, Micchi wouldn't of snapped like he did, Hase, Yuuya, Kaito and countless others would still be ALIVE...

Yet, he walks away all friendly, like he did nothing wrong. Fuck Sagara. And Kiwami, Kachidoki was perfect for Kouta's final form and Kiwami was nothing but empty promises and broken dreams.

Of course, I'm also biased, as I really liked Kaito. He was a character who... well, in the canon version, there's a good argument for him being poorly written, while in the fanon route... well, I've been threatening to do a major character analysis of at least the main 4, who are by themselves fascinating in how they compare and contrast, and he's easily the most interesting of the bunch.

Care to explain?

It's mostly just me making extrapolations about the character from his actions. It's more fan theory than fanon. Mostly centered around him being a far more kind/loyal person than he pretends to be. That and his massive inferiority complex and self-esteem issues that I had pegged from a little bit before he got his Genesis driver.

Huh. I hate that part of the ending so much it's a key part of why I kind of can't love Gaim. A stupid plot development in the last act is one thing but Kouta's actions (or lack thereof) make a lot of previously epic speeches and whatnot from him come off really hollow in retrospect, and Kouta speechifying is such a big part of the show it's hard for me to brush that off.

I'm like, 99% positive the show intends to portray Kouta's idealism in a positive light, and that climax doesn't completely contradict it (I even presented my own revised reading to that end in that thread I made after rewatching the show), but it still really confuses me why things played out the way they did. It's weirdly ambiguous in a way I really don't think it's meant to be.

Seriously, screw that guy. More so than anything involving Kouta or Kaito, the way the show treats him is the big reason I'm so confused as to what it's trying to communicate at the end. Dude insists he's "just the hand on the ticking clock" and BOTH of the audience surrogates, Kouta and Mai, who have, for 46 episodes now, been giving lecture after lecture poking holes in the thinking of other characters (and even each other), just kind of stand there like this is a reasonable enough claim. But they don't actively acknowledge that he's right, either, so... what the heck? Is this one of those "draw your own conclusion" deals? Because if so my conclusion is that Sagara is a ****. Feel free to draw your own conclusion about what four letter cuss I just used.

I think you're being too nice.

Mass-murdering sociopathic whack-job is far more on the money. It's funny, looking at it, it feels like Urobutchi tried to staple two endings together, one where Hellheim is just a mindless force of nature and Kouta's actions make way more sense and another where Helheim/Sagara is the final boss and Kouta and whoever is available team up to beat the ever living shit out of him.

Either one of those endings would be good, but trying to blend them... it doesn't blend.

Well, not saying that Gaim's ending to be entirely bad. For me, I totally enjoy the ending a lot! But, maybe because all of the negative points were shadowed by the previous epicness before the ending. However, the main point why I felt quite disappointed in Gaim, particularly in the climax battle was because of Kaito. Really, I mean he essentially got a huge development to get a bit softer through each arc of the series, especially because of Mai. But, the the show ended up making him became the final Big Bad there.

I know that the Urobuchi might plan Kaito to become the final villain. But, they kinda too forced him to actually become a villain in the last minute and it didn't feel quite nice. After all, this element actually made almost all of Kaito's development to become null at all. I also didn't expect Kaito to be dead and even Mitchy to be alive; I thought it would be reverse. As most of people think, I feel Kaito should deserve to win much better than Kota. At least, it would be nice to see Kaito grows up and changes into a much better person, but.... Well, the rest you know. Actually, Gaim gave a rather shocking climax battle to date and it sold Gaim even more. But, trust me, there are more people who hate Kaito to become the final Bad here.

Also, Sagara.... Well, he's a rather intriguing and interesting character compared to some villains that we got before or lately. Unlike most villains, Sagara is bad, yeah one of the bad that triggered the whole events, but he isn't that bad at all. Giving power ups to Kota but surely he isn't an ally to our hero. Basically, Sagara is a neutral character. You want to say he is a villain but basically what he said were logically right and true. You want to say he is an ally but he gave more trouble than helping. You can't never say Sagara is right or wrong and he just did what he must do, that's all. Basically, Sagara is Kyubey going Kamen Rider here and as that type of character, he is only there to kick start the whole story.

'how much does Kaito really buy into his own Social Darwinist philosophy? He talks a good talk, but his actions tend to be suspiciously altruistic whenever things get serious. It doesn't help that he's similar to Kyoko Sakura, another Urobuchi-written character with a selfish philosophy that she doesn't actually seem to follow.
Is Kaito becoming a villainous Overlord simply because of his drive for more power with the Overlords gone or was it a move of despair and rage from Ryoma killing Mai and causing Kouta's death via Mitsuzane? Consider that he didn't do this until after he learns that Kouta too is dead, angering him so much he takes the chance to becoming an Overlord. The answer is that his intentions were indeed altruistic, that the world he wanted to make was one where the weak were never suppressed, above all else. Kouta himself notes that they both want the same thing, but the problem was Kaito went about it the way of the cynic that he was, amassing power and forcibly remaking the world to achieve such ends'
Tv Tropes
Possibly these reasons

I know this is the questions thread, but I've been thinking about Gaim's ending from that link, and now I have mixed opinions. GAIM SPOILERS BEWARE! (duh.)

In order to understand Gaim's ending, you have to think about the main themes of Kamen Rider as a whole, or at least the show Gaim took a lot from, Ryuki. (remember that rant? No?) It's about fate and tragedy. Me trying to wrap my head around this, found nothing. Then, thinking about OOO and remembering Ranbu Escalation, remembered another theme, power. Fate, tragedy and power, they are SO important to Kamen Rider. I made a really convoluted web graph connecting various elements and characters from Gaim and Ryuki and found all of them connected to at least two of these. The way I see it, people with power can create tragedy, tragedy makes people feel hopeless, making them crave power, this is a cycle, making fate. Just think about it, why did Kanzaki start the Rider War? To save Yui, which was a tragedy to him. Darkwing, who was created from his desire to gain the power to save Yui, sends Ren's girlfriend into a coma, compelling him to seek out power to save her. Kaito lost his home to the strongest power in Zawame, Yggdrasil, making him also crave power to take down those who bestowed tragedy to him. What words did I repeat? Fate, tragedy and power. Kouta may have failed his character and at being a Kamen Rider, a rebel who fights fate and those who use their immense power to bring tragedy to others, but he's basically the three words in a nutshell. Take one line from Ranbu Escalation from Kaito, "I should've crushed you when you were still a green fruit." Why didn't Kaito take down Kouta during their duel in episode 3? Why didn't Zangetsu finish off Kouta in episode 4? Why did they let him grow strong through the lemon raiment? Take the battle in the first episode. Gaim and Baron fight while Zangetsu and Ryugen watch. They were FATED to fight. Remember when Urobutchi said that Hase's death was supposed to be very important to the story as a turning point, this is true especially for Kouta. Remember that his parents died when he was young? Tragedy spurred Kouta to crave the power to help others. Also, who gave Kouta his powerups? Helheim, through Sagara. Helheim creates tragedy and gives power, and thus it creates fate.

Despite this, Kouta is not the bad guy.

Kouta fights the Inves to protect humans, not the other way around. He is an Inves. Kaito is an Inves. Inves are basically the authority. A popular saying is, "With great power comes great responsibility." There is no way that Kouta could've beat Kaito with his power close to Zenith's (Kiwami) power and his army of Inves. Kouta becoming authority by becoming the Man of the Beginning was the only way to beat Kaito and save those close to him. Kaito would've abused his powers, Kouta didn't. He killed tyrant Kaito, not sacrifice his human friend Kaito. So what Kouta didn't completely stop Helheim? He made a sacrifice to abandon his friends and sister. That pained him so much in the episode where he became an Inves and had to fight Yuuya. Remember the start of the show when Kouta traded adult responsibilities for street dancing? He doesnt want responsibilities so of course he doesn't want authority. Kouta isn't a Kamen Rider, he's an Armored Rider. Why would Urobutchi dump the iconic Kamen Rider name for Armored Rider? He's obviously a fan of Kamen Rider and knows what it means to be one. None of the riders in Gaim were ever masked heroes searching for vengence and justice, but this doesn't make Kouta any less of a hero.

So since this is the questions thread, how would you rewrite Gaim?

It did? I think you're confusing him with that guy in your signature who actually knew how to fight fate. That's an easy enough assumption to make but Kouta's selflessness was always more just kind of a natural part of his personality than anything.

If the show were going for that angle it probably would've come up a lot more. For comparison, Wizard just the year before was hugely motivated by the tragic loss of his parents, and you can tell because it forms the backbone of almost every episode involving Haruto's backstory.

Honestly it just needs to be a lot tighter than it was. The base plot is really great in concept but it's bogged down so much by the nature of how Kamen Rider shows are written (i.e. without a detailed plan). As it is there's a lot of ideas that didn't pan out quite right and lines of dialogue that seem to be setting stuff up only to be completely forgotten as soon as they're said.

Easy example of both: Marika. She serves so little meaningful purpose in the story you could write out half of her moments and give the other half to existing characters. I think the single most significant she got was interacting with Micchi after she first showed up, and mostly because she gets to have a conversation with him about "serving two masters" or whatever that ties into his dilemma of trying to work for Yggdrasil without losing his friendship with Kouta. In general, the Energy Riders are meant to be foils to the guys they share design traits with (Zangetsu/Gaim, Duke/Baron, Marika/Ryugen), but the parallels between them stop WAY quicker than those other two pairs. But what about that other guy, Sigurd? Because here's the thing, he was a foil to Micchi even before he became a Rider, egging on his darker side and generally reflecting the slimy a**hole he could become. Even afterwards, they end up in an alliance for several episodes, united by their mutual hatred of Kouta.

So why is Marika even still here? Ryouma mentions at one point (episode 18/19-ish, I think) how she hasn't ever gone all out yet (or words of that sort), but nothing EVER comes of this, begging the question of why you would even write those lines in to begin with. She doesn't ever turn out to be some amazing fighter or anything, certainly not against Kouta, becoming just as much a joke as Sigurd when fighting him. And it's not like this is implying she has some hidden agenda nobody knows about, either, because, you know, she doesn't.

I'm not grumpy about her the way I am stuff like the ending, since she's a relatively minor part of the show, but Marika really was a massive waste of a character. I guess Bandai just HAD to have four new Riders, or something? Maybe?

It was one line in episode 1 or 2 and I only know because I watched it like 4 days ago. Also, yeah, pointless but I thought it was something to bring up. To add another thing, you are completely right that Kouta should've been more like Kenzaki and actually fight fate, but it is what it is.

To be fair to the poor kid, few Rider protagonists can live up to Kenzaki. :p

Yeah, what other Riders have been ingrained into the viewers' minds with just one line...

ONDUL!

Speaking of Kenzaki, I remembered that Gaim's ending was supposed to be as tragic as Blade's ending. I mean basically Kota and Mai decided to fight the fate itself and went out from the Earth. However, unlike Blade, the whole tragedy that Gaim tried to made wasn't as impactful like Blade. Mainly, it was because of the epilogue and yep, it's one of the element that most of Gaim's haters seem to lash out. You know the epilogue made a suggestion that despite it was so far away from Earth, Kota still could come back at anytime he wants as long as he is needed. Unlike Kenzaki, despite he STILL on Earth but of course he must seclude himself from his friends or even normal people at best. It's just heartbreaking that he is doing this for a single person and that he lives in a lonely life. Basically, the epilogue just gave a good spotlight on Mitchy so anything other than that basically is just too headscratching.

Gaim's ending was suppose to be a tragedy?

Main character and leading lady can't stay on Earth with friends because they need to attend evil-alien-forest. Guy who's been acting more like the secondary rider than the arguable secondary rider is so far off the deep end main character has to finish him off. Micchy spends about a year (more or less) feeling like shit for acting like a shit, only to move on when Kouta gives him a godly pep talk. Hase is still dead, and what's-his-face only is just told that the guy he abandoned emotionally episodes back went and got killed.

It wasn't exactly a trip to the 100 Acre Woods.

Hold up, I'm having trouble parsing this one. Who are you referring to here, as I'm having trouble understanding.

Main character and leading lady leave Earth to go make Paradise, taking evil-alien-forest with them so that it doesn't bother their friends anymore. Guy who's been acting like the secondary Rider (because he was) finds peace in death, finally acknowledging main Rider's worldview in the process. Micchi gets to atone for his horrrible actions and go back to being a good guy again. Jounouchi finds out what happened to Hase after being kept in the dark and gets to show how much he's grown by accepting that he was partly responsible for it, and also atoning for his actions. By getting his crap kicked in so Micchi can do his atoning, but hey, it counts.

Gaim's ending was pretty far away from a tragedy. The word we're looking for here is bittersweet.

I'm pretty sure he's referring to Kaito (since that's the only guy Kouta kills). But...I'm also pretty sure Kaito is the secondary Rider. I mean, I could see an argument for Mitchy being secondary if that's the angle they're going for, but I think "officially," for as much as that matters, it was always Baron.