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Just got back from Japan and I saw Shin Kamen Rider while I was there. Here are my thoughts.
Disclaimer: There will be some spoilers, but nothing very specific. I'm moreso going to talk about stylistic decisions and such, which some people might not want to know beforehand. Each paragraph will be spoiler tagged separately, with only one of them giving a very brief overview of the story. Still, better safe than sorry. So first things first, this is a lot more similar to Shin Ultraman than Shin Gojira. Like Ultraman, the story is divided into mini arcs that each focus on a different villain. However, I think it worked a bit better in Shin Kamen Rider, as there is the "fighting against Shocker" plot thread tying everything together. Ultraman, in comparison, felt a bit disjointed. Or, at least, it did to me. Also like Shin Ultraman, the film pays a lot of homage to the original series, embracing some of the goofier elements. Like how Shin Ultraman kept the Ultraman "zoom in" style transformations, Shin Kamen Rider has a lot of shots of him flipping through the air. The film also keeps the series' trademark edginess, with bloody fights, grainy footage sprinkled throughout, lots of wide angle shots and fast cuts, and some trademark Evangelion-style Anno-isms shining through. It felt very 2000s to me, and while I've never seen The First or The Next, I can't imagine how they're made any edgier. Story-wise, I'm still pretty basic in my Japanese, so I didn't understand much of what was going on. From what I could tell, the story was fairly standard Kamen Rider - Hongo escapes Shocker after being turned into a cyborg, and uses his new powers to fight the organization. In this version, however, Hongo is much less at peace with who he has become. If you've seen Evangelion, the way this is portrayed will feel pretty familiar to you. As a fan of that series, I really appreciated this element. The suit designs were all fantastic. Sadly, the fight scenes were my biggest issue with the film. On the plus side, there were a lot of fights with a nice variety between them. Each fight showed off different techniques and styles. Unforuntately, they were also full of CGI, awkward camera angles, and super quick cuts, which all made it very hard to follow and get invested in. A few of the fights seemed to go overboard with flashiness and CGI, feeling more like I was watching Dragon Ball Z than Kamen Rider. This is just my personal opinion, though - I've seen other reviews that seemed to like the fights. So yeah, overall I thought it was fine, but I can't help but be disappointed. Of the four Shin films, this one was my least favorite. I think a lot of it is due to the language barrier - since I couldn't understand the story, I missed out on a TON of the movie, and the part that I could understand (the fights) wasn't to my taste. That's not to say it's all bad, though, as it was certainly still enjoyable. It's just not up to the standard set by the incredible Shin Gojira, and it seems like Rurouni Kenshin's influence on live action adaptations is starting to wane. So it was good, it just wasn't as top-tier as I had hoped for. I can't wait to see it again with subtitles, to hopefully enjoy it more. If anybody has any questions, feel free to ask. Side note: I saw it at the Toho Cinemas in Kabukichou with the Godzilla head on top of it. |
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Go check out what I just posted in the Toys & Collectibles section :lol |
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As for the fights, I think you should watch the First (the Next is very specific), because fights are very good there. Of course, the movie were not without unconvincing CGI, but still the main emphasis was on martial arts and motorcycle stunts. |
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Also, in my jetlaggedness, I thought this was the Kamen Rider what are you watching thread. Whoops :lol |
I rather like The First and The Next as visual spectacles, they are really stylish. I can barely remember the plots though, just a few bits that made me go "Toshiki Inoue sure is the writer".
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Sorry for the late and longpost, but...
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And the Riders aren't as fragile as normal humans like you think of how being caught in a trap would get them instantly killed. Traps itself also don't necessarily mean insta-death and can only mean to hinder their chance to win the round. And even for the worst case scenario of it probably killing she can jump in to save him (not negating the DezaStar missions but a counter against the view of her would be willing to let others die you suggested). People like Keiwa has no obligation to grief like that, but at least he'd vote out other Riders as it's forced for all Riders, he doesn't like, vote himself. In that position though he won't like it he might be willing to perform the missions in bare minimum way and act if things go south. But anyway, it'd be actually not anti-heroic (as them overall, but only briefly for her) when someone does bad things only when forced into extremely difficult situations, and ends up regretting it, while under most circumstances tries to not do bad things or minimize it. It's important to look at the character as a whole of their good deeds vs their bad deeds (and then factoring in WHY they did bad things); like there's a difference between someone who consistently kill anyone 'bad' in cold-blood, and someone who disagree on killing bad ones but at one point is forced to do it due to the situation, while not liking it and regretful. It's context that really weighs the scale in either direction. Losing her wish permanently (+DGP memory wipe) would make her stuck living like what's seen after her elimination forever, otherwise she tries to be upright as she could, and when she have to resort to underhanded means she'd still feel bad about it. Not only cherry-picking certain actions for both good/bad sides; as in treating only paragons as straight heroes and only people as horrible as Isaac or Beroba evil/villains, and lump everything else together. Quote:
I know courage and determination (which'd be why risk is often elevated) is often the traits used by people to talk about heroism, but I personally won't follow that. Because risk (w/ courage and determination) can be used by super persistent villains by plowing through any odds, enduring/resisting any fatal punishments without taking any breaks for dedicated pursuit of their goal sonce they set their mind to it (and on some occassions they got glorified as heroes for this trait). The difference of "refusing to stop at anything thrown at them" for the heroes is that it's done for good deeds, which I'd conclude this means heroes are good guys - as in how they're broadly defined - but to me the specific definition would be someone that has positive qualities and consistently do good deeds. Consistency is important as, villains doing a single good act, even self-sacrificial one, won't put them on the same place as heroes in morality - looking on the character as a whole. About only counting the risky ones, this can be why something like beating up bad guys is so elevated as this is done by fighting superpowered villains that'd put their lives at risk, but this'd sound like the view where heroism is limited to fighting (or similar big ones), when the world is full of people who need healing, care, love, compassion and help outside of monster fighting stuff - I'd value how much and extensive they care for. This'd be why I value the parts like charity (of which both it and saving lives can be done together) because it shows how they care more than just keeping people alive but also improving their lives, other than how the risky part also shows they care enough to put themselves at that situation for other's sake; I'd place as high regard on Yuusuke's child consoling as much as Grongi fighting. Thus I'd encourage the display of many morally good trait and deeds in addition to risky ones for heroism. Quote:
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Plus, do not forget about the psychological part of the issue. Guilt over someone's death, even indirectly, is an ordeal for anyone who is not Asakura. I am sure that even the villain and criminal Morio would only be able to kill a person in the most extreme situation. Actually, that's why he didn't even try to resort to this path in the card mission. And given that death for the horseman is final, it is not surprising that most do not want to take on this responsibility. Quote:
What I agree with is that through memory loss and personality change if Neon loses in a no-win situation. In principle, like all riders, but for her and Keiwa, this is perhaps the most tragic. But there is an obvious way out: ask Ace after the victory to return her memory by touching the ID-Core. That way she wouldn't lose herself and free herself from the shackles of the DGP. And unlike Keiva, her desire is quite feasible without the help of supernatural forces, she just needs to move out from her parents and start dating. At the same time, it would show that Ace values friendship. I would still look for hidden motives from him, but a plus in karma. And I understand that this is a show and Na-Go, as one of the main riders, will be at least until the final, but option is still workable. Quote:
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