Yeah, that's why I don't like the use of Japanese honorifics in dubs... of anything. Sure I know what they mean and can understand them, but what about the casual passer by that finds an dubbed anime or movie while channel surfing? They'll just be thinking "WHAT THE FUCK IS A SAMA!"

Mogura-jujin~

I love that guy. :D

Kiva 42 and 43

Well, holy shit. The douche plague seems to have passed from Shima and faded into nothingness, it seems. At least enough for me to feel sorry for what happened to him in these episodes. Even though you kinda get the impression that he wasn't eaxactly the best foster dad to Taiga. Not sure he deserved that death.

Cool seeing Yuri in eighties commando gear. if only for a brief while. Duuno, why but I was expecting Maya to lose her fangire powers in one of the later episodes.

Man, Mio's life was messed up...That wedding scene was one thing, but hear death at the end...? Man...

Woah, woah. wait. I'm like two minutes into Kiva 44, right before the opening theme and I had to pause it. What the fuuuuuuuuuuck is going on?

Kiva 44 and 45

Wow...wasn't expecting any of that. Wateru's sure willing to act like a goof to prevent himself from being born. Glad he and Otoya got along though. I almost thought he would go around not believing Wateru the whole episode.

I definitely didn't expect past King to show up and fight Wateru too. Things are really heating up. Though..if King's fangire form is so powerful, why did he even need Dark Kiva? Anyway, Bishop made a monumentally stupid move by telling Taiga that he killed Mio.

And now, after getting kicked around by Taiga, it looks like Bishop's going to get kicked around by Nago, as per usual.

It was funny seeing Kivat Jr and Sr together, but it made me wonder...where the hell does Tatsulot come from?

Agreed.

It never gets explained, and that was one thing that was nagging at me throughout the whole show.

I watched Kiva 10, man that was a sad episode but made me love Wataru and Otoya more. Very good plot intrigued so far. I love the Ixa outfit just not liking Nago after this episode.

Nine episodes away from Kuuga's end, so here is a rant about Godai by me:

He's a Gary Stu and I just find that really boring.

I guess and at a push, he could have smiled his way through and enjoyed his new powers when he first got them at the beginning but you would think that when he died, he would have shown some kind of character growth or change and would start to take his battle more seriously.

But nope he's back to being gormless and goofy and now the plot is about Godai losing control of his powers but if you see him out of action scenes it's hard to imagine it's the same person in them. I mean it's never been easy in the first place but now seeing Kuuga battle with self control to the next scene Godai throwing his thumb at people like nothing happened is just annoying.

You could literally cut out all the fight footage and the show wouldn't suffer because they are basically clips for another show entirely slotted in anyway, for all the reaction and response Godai shows to his battles. Even when he gets really bad injuries they've already healed by the next scene and he just carries on. And sometimes the stuff he says and does actually actively contradicts everything in the fights, as if both the writers and actors hadn't actually seen that portion of the show.

I mean he's not unlikeable and he doesn't plow his way through every battle but I want to see more reaction from Godai, even though it is a little late to ask. A big core of the series is exploring his powers but we seem to explore the powers more from the side characters than we do from Godai himself. Honestly with him going around and being perfect at everything we have basically no personal insight to him at all by this point. Our protagonist doesn't actually feel like our protagonist.

And people tell me Haruto is boring.

I wasn't expecting him to become a recurring character, I'm really happy about that :D

So episode 42 of Kuuga was jarring as it just jumped right into the action and contained it all in the first half of the episode. At least, as far as Kuuga goes, the action was pretty satisfying, even if the same problems as above remain. Where the hell was the first half of this episode?

So wait, were the ULs human all along? And just like Godai they are tapping into dark powers? If that is the case that gives an interesting explanation as to why they have human forms.

Man, I seriously need to watch Kuuga...

As a warning - the action and acting is for the most part pretty terrible and the show is very dour and depressing. That said Ichijou is really awesome and it is very well written.

For acting, I'm used to bad acting in both American and Japanese shows.

But the action is terrible too? How so?
Sorry if you've stated it before. Because I haven't watched Kuuga yet, I don't read a lot of your longer posts on it so I don't accidentally spoil myself.

That is fine I do have a tendency to ramble!

Kuuga is just a lot more...physical. In modern Kamen Rider shows heroes fly around the screen with all sorts of mad CGI creations for attacks.

To some up Kuuga, at one point to make his Rider kick stronger, he does a flip first. Yeah, it's like that...

Oh, is that all?
There's nothing wrong with that. I'm a fan of that kind of fighting. Makes fights feel all the more rough and more reminiscent of an actual fight.

I personally found it very underwhelming and very clunky. You can't make it truly feel visceral and physical because they are in rubber suits, so it all just feels a little artificial and flat. This show made me understand why you need the sparks and explosions and at one point in the fight the monster would just die since Kuuga's special moves look exactly the same as his regular ones.

Kiva 46

Okay, so when characters kept on talking about how great an inspiration Otoya was, I could buy it, but I thought they were hyping his gift of speech up a little too much. Now, I think they were underselling it. It's worked too well.

He told Wateru protect the music in people's hearts and protect beautiful things like that. Wateru took it as: become captain badass. Seriously, he could beat Fangires with his bare hands UNTRANSFORMED now?! He causes them to run away like wusses by staring them down?! He could barely take a hit in his normal human form before!

He's not even protecting anyone! Nago and Megumi are trying to that, Wateru just up and challenged Taiga to a death battle.

Otoya's death scene was pretty fitting for him, I think. Playing one of the only two songs he ever plays. The show finally explains how the arms monsters got in the castle in the first place, and to be honest...I was half expecting it not to.

I've never been taken out of the action because the actors are in suits. I watch Godzilla, and when he's not using his atomic breath, the fights consist of two guys in rubber suits smacking each other :p
No sparks. No explosions. And very rarely, blood.

I can see why the sparks help, as it creates a sense of impact, but I'm hoping I'll be able to live without them :lol

ALSO. If you found Haruto boring, you'll HATE Godai who is perfect at everything he does and everyone who ever even passes him in the street falls madly in love with him.

That might become a problem, then :lol

He is so optimistic and cheerful he feels completely disconnected from the Rider he is supposed to be. Godai and Kuuga may as well be two separate characters.

I might be able to treat Kuuga and Godai as a Jekyll and Hyde sort of thing.
It's little headcanon stuff like that which allows me to like oft hated characters in other shows.

I just wish Ichijou got to be Kuuga or just got to be in a better series. But I'll forever be grateful to Kuuga for Ichijou.

Speaking of Ichijou episode 43 was a weird filler episode with Ichijou at the helm, we got some nice moments like seeing him in action without Godai and his softer side but this didn't even have a monster of the week, just a disgruntled employee, it wasn't about anything and added nothing to the story.

Kiva 47 and 48

Alright, final stretch. Well, Shima's alive! And they actually explained how! Great! I'm really not sure Otoya's words had a completely positive effect on Wateru. Sure, he's stronger, but uh...he's acting like a supervillain now!Also, he stopped giving a fuck about Taiga and deciding he wasn't worth killing.

Now, uh....how did Taiga become chairman of the board for a rich company. Are they all Fangires? I'm not even sure now...He really did lose everything though. Well, not his mom, at least he...oh. Nope. Wait he killed her. And now Kivat Sr is going to help him? The whole reason Old McKivat turned good in the first place was to help Maya!

Alright, last episode. Seeing the arms monsters fight in the present day was pretty cool. Nago, still partially blinded finally slays Bishop and his creepy eyes. But Megumi restores Nago's sight with....THE POWER OF LOVE!

And I guess...Wateru got acting like a supervillain out of his system. I guess his reasons for becoming King are....good? I dunno. Anyway, resurrected past King is back...as a mindless monster. Wow, Bishop. Good job summoning a better King there.

And Wateru is saved by....Otoya's ghost. Alright. That works, honestly. The team up between Kiva and Dark Kiva was cool and all, but uh...guess Wateru forgot that Taiga KILLED THEIR MOTHER. Um...okay, no wait. Apparently he didn't.

And now Wateru and Taiga are full on martial arts movie-style rivals. Remember kids, it's okay to fight your siblings to see who's strongest, but only if your mother says so.

So, wedding epilogue. Glad...to see Yuri's ghost make it to offer Megumi some kind words before she gets married. I kind of wish they just had all the dead people just appear in the background of the wedding like Jedi ghosts or something. The arms monsters were invited...so I guess she or Nago got to know them or something.

Wait..what the...? Oh man. Wateru's son?! The Neo-Fangire Empire's invaded from the future?! TO BE CONTINUED---> ?! ...Eh, no, I guess not.

Anyway, weird decent series. Had it's share of massive flaws, the biggest of which was not explaining shit. Characters sort of grew on me, including ones I didn't particularly like at all in the beginning. Of course others, flip-flopped between being okay and unbearable, but whatever.

Comparing it to other series? Eh...All I've only seen one other, so...guess I'll just have to watch more!

What you gonna watch next?

Well, I started Hibiki and I had no problem with it so far, so I might as well finish that. I also might watch more of Blade. I saw the first episode and I'm interested to see how it goes on from there.

Good luck on your journey into Rider! Mine is going a little slower than yours haha.

Blade is a great series to watch!

Stop Hibiki after episode 29. The production staff changed and the show really dropped in quality.

What is the Kuuga episode listed 46.5 special?

I'm not sure how I manage it either...

Then you'll be glad to know I've decided to watch that one first, since the series came first chronologically. Not that it really matters, but still.

I probably should've re-watched the first episode, but I think I remember everything well enough: Blade and....uh, whatever Tachibana is called work for this BOARD group as Kamen Riders that hunt down monsters called Undead. Tachibana betrays BOARD, kidnaps it's chief, and blows up the base. Which is all pretty cool for a first episode.

This one picks up right after that. Kenzaki/Blade fighting an undead as the base explodes. These Rider suits/belts/weapons are elaborate as shit, I have to say. No wonder Kenzaki gets attacked twice before he can even henshin.

This might be the most Kamen Rider-y series I've watched yet. The suits are clearly themed after insects (and playing cards, but insects still) and they actually call themselves Kamen Riders. It's always weird getting used to a new style and tone of one Rider series after watching three billion episodes of another one, but it's always a nice change of pace.

Kamen Rider er...Heart-guy has green sludge for blood! And speaks the Undead's language! Huh...

So they capture Undeads by throwing cards gambit style into their chest and sealing them inside of the cards? Am I getting that right?

Aw, really? That sucks, the series seemed pretty unique. I dunno, I might just stick around for a few eps to see if I still wanna watch it 'til the end.

Yeah, Hibiki doesn't really have any ending to even begin with, so stopping at epsiode 29 will bring you no less closure than the actual ending of the series. In fact, the Decade cross over feels more like an ending to Hibiki than HIbiki's actual ending.

Blade is still one of the best, if not the best, Kamen Rider series ever. If they ever reissue the henshin devices like they have been doing with other shows, I'll definitely pick them up.

So the final stretch of Kuuga has been a weird one, whether it's weird narrative jumps, some of the first filler I've seen in the series or the fact they're still introducing new bullets for the police and a new form for Kuuga, I'm honestly unsure at this point how they plan to wrap all this up in six episodes. I mean hell it's episode 44, with only about three ULs left and NOW they've found their weakness. Hell I still don't know what the hell a Final Gegeru is.

Plus I'm still convinced Godai has special needs.

Blade 3

I forgot to mention this last time, but I really like how all of these battles are taking place in some kind of snowy mountain range. Nice change of pace from the city.

Rider with a heart face/the reporter guy called the other riders humans. I guess he's an undead then? Or something. He seems to know a bit about the girl's father's death as well.

Apparently the use of these Rider suits cause you to hulk out for five seconds before exploding. Sounds tough. I sort of just realized that the can use the power of defeated Undeads that they've already sealed. Cool ability.

Also that bit at the end was weird. All those photos being set on purple fire. Interesting...As is Tachibana's reveal/assumption that BOARD released the Undead to test their new Rider systems.

Still, I'd like to see. If I end up regrettign it, it's my fault.

Yeeeaah, those things are crazy.

I've already been recommended OOO and Fourze but I feel like I should be checking out Blade as well.

You should. It's really enjoyable!
The biggest problem is that the video quality is crap (At least on TVN's side of things. I don't know if there's another sub group that has subbed Blade or not, though).

It's a holiday special. If memory serves it's pretty much just a clip show. You can safely skip it.

I'm glad you're noticing the jumps, because I should probably warn you that there is a BIG one between episode 46 and 47. It's a moment that a lot of viewers get very thrown and confused by (myself included).

It's probably worth mentioning that, like in most other aspects, Kuuga's ending is very atypical for a Rider show. I can't say whether or not it will work for you, but just keep in mind that it's not going to be like any show that came before or after it.

Yeah it looks like only TVN are doing it. I guess I'll wait til I'm done with Fourze at least to see if there are any new releases.

Okay, skipping 46.5 then!

And yeah I thought I missed something when one episode Kuuga defeated that chick on the boat and the next episode literally opened with him locked in a battle with someone else. I assumed it would flashback but nope, he was dead 8 minutes in and that was the end of that. Okay then...

Oh God, I'm not looking forward to this ending.

According to one of the guys from GUIS there is another group that's going to be redoing Blade from the dvd rips.

It's very interesting in terms of symbolism and character, but if you're looking for the big budget CGI-fest final battle you're going to be disappointed.

Yeah, I thought the same thing when Taiga supposedly killed Maya. I also REALLY wish that they made a movie with Wataru's son. They seriously shouldn't have made a cliffhanger, and not acted on it.