Watched Episodes 22-24 of OOO. Loved the TaJaDor and Shouja (I think the Sea Combo) both awesome. Love Date and Eiji even more. So much fun with Love Stricken Eiji. Also loving the pairing of Gotou and Date.

The Blue/Water combo is ShaUTa (Shachi, Unagi, Tako)

Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying it! Date and Gotou make such a fun team, they're awesome!

Yeah, that's an arc that I don't think anybody likes. :lol

Ah okay I knew it was something like that. Awesome, I can't imagine the show without Date anymore lol.

Getting very close to running out of TN episodes of Kuuga :( I want the Grongi translated! D:

Anyway, just watched episode 16 and eh... It was fun and all but I'm not sure how much I enjoy character focus in this show, being that the guy playing Ichijou is about the only good actor in the entire show.

Plus everything about his latest character arc was just...bizarre, what am I meant to take away from this? His Mum practically goes blind and passes out...and is then back to work again the next episode and despite everyone telling Ichijou to go see his Mum, he doesn't go see her and instead they have a two line conversation so vague it barely counts as language. I thought perhaps it was supposed to suggest that their bond was damaged and there was a breakdown in communication but that annoying police girl seemed overjoyed in hearing a conversation that amounted to:

"Hey."
"Hi."
"Oh...I didn't think you'd actually pick up."
"I know."
"Yeah."

Just what the fuck?

Plus this whole bike aspect is just really poorly plotted, they spent ages establishing that the bike given to Godai was like the batmobile but on two wheels that for some reason had a button that changed the paint job but without the bike getting damaged, without the bike no longer having a use they've just replaced it with a new talking bike, making sure to establish that the bike beneath the armour has changed forever...just for the armour to then fall off, what is the point?

I know this will probably become clear later in the series but so far the most complicated mystery has been surrounding bike armour, how have you managed to make this last two episodes as it is? Let alone even more.

Watched episodes 25-26 of OOO, now it gets even more interesting!

??
It's still the same bike. The control panel gets damaged in one fight, might have been the one with the Rhino dude. Just be patient regarding the armor, it's not done yet.

I agree that thing with Ichijo and his mom was kinda odd, but I took it as she knew he would be too busy, always putting his all into fighting the Gurongi, to answer, so it meant a lot that he just answered. I dunno. Ichijo is still awesome, possibly the best character from the show, but I do really like Godai, too.

You're watching it with the Gurongi translated?! You shouldn't do that on your first watch through, cuz spoilers!

I'll wait for this armour stuff to all come together then!

So the fact he took a moment out of his day to ring up his mother was the important thing? Was I supposed to see Ichijou as a greater hero because he was willing to sacrifice goodbyes with his possible dying mother to fight the ULs? Because I think that just makes him a douchebag. I hate the sentiment that heroes cant do things simply for themselves, that they are made to feel selfish. But yeah Ichijou is still my favourite character.

And yeah, I hated watching it without it translated. Normally when something is constructed like this they give visual clues to what the conversation is about and keep it brief, however the ULs get as much dialogue as the human characters and I can't understand or even hint at what the hell they are saying and it was just frustrating.

Also episode 17 of Kuuga was...err... recap episode with random fight scenes slotted around it? Well that was pointless...

Just watched 27-32 of OOO dear god it's just hard to stop watching at this point. Why do I need to sleep again?

Sounds about right for OOO :lol

Episode 18 of Kuuga...there is no greater threat than a kiss from a tranny monster? Err...symbolism?

This probably would have been a lot more fun if the show didn't take itself so seriously, in such a serious series it just felt out of place. Really though the worst part of this episode is that it requires the cast to act, something a majority of them cant manage.

Then again the episode did help to create a bit more world building, which I'll never complain about and gave Ichijou (the guy who should have been the Rider) more time to shine.

Decided I might as well finish Kiva firat before I get to the other series I watched the first few eps of. So...I'm on episode thirteen right now. Fangires are weird man...

episode 7 of kabuto. so far so good.

Woah, Otoya using Ixa. Awesome.

Decade episode 9:

Matrix is going to hate me...

I thought it was pretty good. Oh my gosh! It's Todoroki! I'm guessing that DiEnd summoned him? That Mitsu...whatever, I'm just going to pull a SPLIT LIP. That Meatsoup guy became a total jerk, it's like, just yesterday, you were low in the company, and now you're insulting your former superior? get out of here! It's kind of funny how when Tsukasa's being a jerk, he somehow unintentionally helps the Rider whom he's giving a hard time (with Yuuske's help of course). Faiz world is next. Blue butterflys? What is this? Persona?

Decided to sample the remaining 2000's riders I hadn't tried.

After two episodes of Den-O, I'm interested to see more. For all it's comedy, it still has a dark edge and there's some nice danger. I'm still not sure about it as a whole, but I like Ryotaro well enough and Momo's still fun (Seen him in crossovers and the like).

After one episode of Kiva, I have no interest in watching more. Everything here is disconnected and unexplained mess. I couldn't follow anything that was going on and the Kiva (whatever his name is) is pathetic. Why was such a good design wasted on him? Only good thing here was the hotty with the whip dagger thing. This would be so much cooler if she was Kiva.

After 3 minutes of Hibiki I had to check that I downloaded the right file. WTF did I just watch?! It starts with a huge big lipped alligator moment. It turns back to a standard TV after, but still WTF?! I'd be more interested overall if the video quality wasn't terrible. I could barely tell what was going on in the fight scenes.

Yeah, Den-O's the clear winner here. I might give Hibiki a 2nd chance if a version with better video comes out. Kiva...ugh.

Dude...give Kiva a chance. He grows out of that wimpiness. I do love Den-O though, I do hope you enjoy it.

Seconded. Kiva is a sadly under-rated series.

Also, Yuuri (the whip-dagger-wielding female) does become a Rider later, though only as a brief replacement.

I tried four or five episodes of Kiva and I couldn't get into it either. It was hard to follow and the fighting was bland. I know 'it gets better later' but am I really the only person on the internet who doesn't have time to sit through like thirty episodes of shit to get to the 'good portion'? If there are other shows I haven't seen, that are fantastic from the very start, then obviously I'm gonna pick them.

Yeah, Hibiki is... different. It's a pretty odd departure from standard Rider fare, but if it clicks for you you'll love it.

You made the right call with Kiva. It really doesn't get better.

I also quit Kiva after one episode, though I didn't think it was bad, it just didn't grab me.

Also Locke, you're not alone. I don't feel like watching thirty episodes of a terrible show just to see if it gets better. Though unlike you I'm a shmuck who downed pretty much all of the melodrama that was Agito because people told me "it got better."

I absolutely loved Kiva, I'm probably watching it next after OOO.

Mutsuki, I hated that episode, and Tsukasa helped fuck all. It was Yusuke's own misinterpretation of Tskasa's taunting that saved the day.

So once again Kuuga ruins a fairly cool bit of writing with weak execution.

Everything about Godai's death was fantastically handled, well as best as it can be with the rather weak acting. But his return fight was...rubbish, he was in the White form, the weakest form and despite the spore guy saying the Rider kick wouldn't work...he just did it three times and then it died? Wow...spectacular... Everything after the fight was spectacular as well.

It's a huge problem when the weakest part of your Kamen Rider series is the Rider himself.

He was still weakened from nearly dying, what else was he supposed to do?

It would have been the perfect time for a new, more powerful form, like a return from death form.

And I don't know, but you can make a more exciting action sequence than 'that kick doesn't work...oh you used it three times now I'll die.'

I need to retract an earlier statement I made.

Kamen Rider OOO is not a series that starts off weakly before getting better. While it does get better as it goes along, that is not to say the first 10 are weak; they are just weaker when compared to the succeeding episodes.

The thing about Kamen Rider OOO is that it gets darker as it goes on. The atmosphere and mood of the series in the first episode contrasts sharply with that of the last episode. Eiji grows and develops as a character as the series progresses. The series goes in a direction that the first episode alludes to, but the next nine dissuade those perceptions.

It's not for everyone, but it deserves a watch.

Actually, that sounds like a better decision than a new form.

He was still too weak to get a new form. In fact, as you'll see when he finally gets a Rising Form, it doesn't just magically happen on its own.

What?

Fair enough, my bigger problem was with the Rider Kick. Hardly a dramatic come back when his enemy is immune to the kick, then it works because he used it three times...for some reason.

he wasn't immune to it, he was able to absorb the energy from it, but that doesn't mean he can do so indefinitely. Repeated kickings surpassed the amount of energy his body could absorb.

I see it like you could survive if somebody shot you once, but if you get shot enough times, you're going to die, even though the first one didn't kill you. You can survive some loss of blood, but if you keep loosing blood there's no saving you.

Anyway, it makes sense to me, doesn't mean it has to make sense to you. I kinda feel, though, that you're watching the show looking for problems, rather than looking for things to enjoy. Try it the other way, maybe things will be more fun to watch.

Maybe it's just because, for now at least, I still consider myself a bit of an outsider to the workings and tropes of Kamen Rider, but I completely understand what Locke is saying.

Thematically, if you're villain is resistant to a certain attack, simply repeating it three times is not a "cool" way of beating him. It's how you beat an enemy in a video game that's health bar takes three finisher moves to beat. In a narrative "I can absorb that power" either means that your hero needs to use an even bigger, stronger attack to overpower them, or try an entirely new attack. Not just, essentially, spam the same attack button-mash style. It's... lame. Imagine if W beat Uptopia by doing his epic Twin Maximum Drive bicycle kick... but only after he had done it two times already.

Well, I guess I can see the 'it's not cool' argument, and I wonder if I am sort of seeing it in a video game health bar sort of way.

But still, he was limited to his weakest form due to recently having been dead, just like the opponent he was fighting (who otherwise would have regenerated again), so what else can he do but spam his most powerful attack?

That's the point where you need to stop and say "if there's no other option but for Kuuga to use his least powerful form and least powerful attack, why did the writers put him in this awkward and unflattering narrative position?"

because it can still be gratifying to see someone triumph despite overwhelming odds?

Not if they do so in dissapointing, contrived ways.

It's not what you do, it's how you do it. I'm not saying it's the worst thing ever, just at I completely understand his viewpoint.

This is exactly the point I was trying to make. I guess I could have *possibly* swallowed this on your average of the week episode, but the Fungus guy killed Godai, so you think he'd get a better send off than 'I kicked him three times' and considering the whole episode was so epic, Kuuga's return wasn't triumphant at all, since he just did the same move three times and that was that. This should have been an epic moment but I've seen web series with better action sequences.

And as I've said before, it isn't like the show cant do action, it stages wonderful sequences for Ichijou and the ULs but Kuuga's powers and general fight sequences always underwhelm. And it's a problem when your Rider is the least interesting thing in the show.

And yeah being critical of shows is how I process and enjoy them, I like pointing out what I found wrong and discussing it. Sadly it gives you a lot more to talk about than anything else.

For the record I love Kuuga, I just think the acting is poor and Kuuga himself is rubbish.

We are like-minded. If I don't analyze something I can't take it in. It's not everything, but shows deffinately. And yeah, talking about the bad stuff always has more, because you're describing the flaws, how they're flaws, and what should have and could have been done. You don't do that with good stuff because there's no need. Unless something is super, amazingly impressive to the point where you want to spend ages peeling the layers of a grand epic, you're always going to waste more air on the problems.

You are like the first person I've met who actually understands this!

I can understand you wanting to have an epic new power to beat the guy that killed him, but I like that we have to wait a couple more episodes for the Rising powers to manifest. I like the tease of the electricity in his anklet for the next couple of episodes

And yes, it's definitely easier to discuss what you don't like, compared to what you do, unless you find crazy people who don't like what you like, then you can discuss it for a page or two. :D

I have absolutely no idea which one of us that dig was directed towards. :lol