This. I didn't think the Hibiki retool was a huge nosedive and I stuck through it till the end, but yeah, if you liked what Hibiki was for 29 episodes it's disappointing to see the things that made it special either go away or be downplayed so much.

And the final battle is an even bigger cop out than not getting to see Ultimate Kuuga use his Rider Kick. For the record, I actually kinda appreciate Kuuga's final two episodes more in hindsight and plan a Kuuga rewatch.

Also, if you're familiar at all with Heisei Kamen Rider, you can totally tell Toshiki Inoue took over the writing at the exact moment Kiriya becomes a character in the show.

Started a Black RX rewatch this week. I remember after seeing Black and Black RX the first time round, I somehow ended up liking Black RX more. Earlier this year I rewatched Black on account of getting hold of it in HD from the Bluray releases, and I adored everything about it. So I thought I'd see the sequel again... I'm not liking it as much. On one level it's nice to see things get better for Kotaro after everything he went through, but also jarring.

So I'm where Ryuki gets Survive and the show is getting really good (not like it wasn't before)! The humor and drama are top-notch and none of it is out of place. I have a theory Odin is planning to have the other Riders kill each other and then murder the last one to get the wish and save Yui.

Never a bad thing to hear someone getting into Ryuki. I always really liked the Ore Journal guys. They're very wacky and yet never clash with the tone of the rest of the show. It's just a simple trick of having them be removed from a lot of the plot but it really works wonders.

Love Ryuki. That, Blade and Gaim are tops in my book (Hibiki will likely join this group); the shows that are aimed more toward a "young adult" audience. I don't want to say they're more "realistic" than other Rider series (they're not) but, I guess they don't take the viewer to be incapable of dealing with messed up, unpleasant, complicated storylines.

What really works for me with Ryuki is that the world it takes place in is only a few shades off from our own - tangible, unlike Gaim or Ghost (or the whacko anime reality EX-Aid seems poised to give us) which may as well take place on different planets altogether.


Speaking of... watching the first episode of Ghost yesterday (I respect the Fish, so thought I'd give'er another go), I realized my problem with it is that it's a true "kids" show. Recognizing that and watching it as a "kiddie drama", it's actually a lot better - you just have to bear with the corniness, cutesy-ness and exposition-o-rama-ness. It's still got some great ideas and the suits are great. Will I watch the entire thing?

Eventually, I'm sure, but not as a priority.

I really admire that vibe with the early Heisei stuff. It's why I always describe them as "soap-operas". Hibiki is probably the best example of it. As much as I like the new stuff too, I'd LOVE to see a new Kamen Rider show in that style again.

<3~

That was actually a problem I had with it too at first, believe it or not. It felt even more "childish" than most Neo-Heisei stuff. They even write the characters' given names in Katakana in the credits (it's a big deal!). What is this, Super Sentai?

But it became clear eventually I wasn't giving it enough credit. Ghost's style may be a bit off, but it's still got the same heart as ever. It can get surprisingly heavy for how cutesy it looks at times. It's still very much Kamen Rider at its core. I imagine Ex-Aid will be the same way.

You're probably right - EX-Aid also has a very 'mainstream anime' feel to it that Ghost also has (lending to the unreality I was speaking of); not a bad thing but, skewing younger. And, sure it can get heavy - it's still melodramatica, but toned for kids.

I think they're trying this with Amazons but season one was too hermetically sealed within the world of the Nozama Peston Service to really feel as "open" as Ryuki or Hibiki. I'm hoping that season two gets into the civilian Amazons world a bit more - good way to explore the global refugee crisis, now that I think of it.

Ryuki does feel like ti takes place in the real world, but why not Gaim? Is it because of the massive corporation in that one area being unrealsitic, the dance teams, the way the characters act?

I love this about the Heisei era too. Something I love about certain shows is that the tone it uses can create such a palpable feeling or atmosphere. Attack on Titan and Gundam Unicorn being some examples. I think Faiz, despite all of its problems, has a sort of atmosphere to it unlike any other Rider show. I think it has to do with just it focusing more on the fucked up parts of soceity, or at least in that world.

Pretty much, yeah.

I think it mostly comes down to the limited episode count. Amazons has to stay focused on its narrative but a show like Ryuki can feel free to "waste" time because it airs once a week for an entire year. If they want to focus on Shinji's hunt for a place to sleep for a while or some other boring thing it's no big deal.

Well from my perspective it's a simple matter of style. Gaim starts out pretty slow but by the time the apocalypse starts happening halfway through it's way too busy to make time for the ever critical boring normal stuff. It also has those same annoying ed-ed-editing gags Drive had which makes it come off a bit cartoony at times. Not that that's a bad thing! I just think Gaim is way more in line with the Neo-Heisei shows than the older ones.

Faiz was REALLY about the character drama. That's always what made me love it so much. The conflicts in it were on a more personal level instead of the simple "oh hey a monster" stuff in other shows. "Soap-opera" is how I describe the early Heisei shows in general but Faiz really owns that title.

So has Ghost become a show worth watching once it is over or should I just forget about giving it a second chance?

Forget it, Dr Kain. It's Kamen Rider Ghost.