Agreed. That's one of the things that appealed to me about Toku. It's like Anime, but with a lot less weird. Granted there's still some weird, but it's live action, so it's usually grounded in reality and features a lot more things that could physically exist, if that makes since.

Like physics belongs in either of these genres :lol

The best moments in Toku just say "to hell with physics, let's do something awesome!"

I like the fact that these Toku shows tend to have a definitive end. I have become so jaded and angry at American superhero comics constant reboots , death and rebirth , fighting each other that it's refreshing to see the leave them wanting more method. I personally cannot wait to see superhero taisen to see the gokaigers and Eiji again.

Weird reason, I know.

I can see the reasoning though. Some animes throw physics out the window to often (though I can think of plenty that don't break physics much/at all). Toku, on the other hand has to work at it to defy physics making the moments more awesome.

This is more than just a difference of medium or Western vs Eastern. You must remember some things:
1. Toku series such as KR and SS are given one year, with 48-52 episodes to tell their story. Simply knowing how long you have to tell your story changes everything.
2. Take a step into the 80s and 90s for comics and see what happened. Constant deaths, rampant revisions, and overall, trying to change the old characters to tell newer stories. It didn't go well, often with the original version of the character returning to salvage things.
Just imagine if Toku handled things in a similar manner to Marvel or DC. When Double ended, instead of everyone screaming and hollering for more Double when OOO began, they would've simply continued Double.
While OOO would've never gotten his chance, the people would've got what they wanted (Rather than waiting for his sporadic appearances in the movies).

Meh. To me, it seems all anime needs is some trippy visuals and BOOM. It's the next [Insert widely praised anime here].
And then there's shite like Highschool of the Dead, which is literally just "Bouncing breasts in uniforms: The Series" (That series was what killed my hope for anime to be an actual medium, imo)

And I like that, for the most part, Toku is kinda grounded in reality. Yes, there is a lot of CGI, but it's only to add to the fights. When a punch is thrown, it feels like there's weight to it, and I like that ^^

Wrong. I used to defend her like crazy over in the TFW Rider thread. I always loved her. Her over the top mannerisms made her a winner in my book.

Like in Akibaranger when Nobuo says "Consistent power levels don't even exist in Sentai!" :lol

You're preaching to the quire man. I manage a comic book store and I've become horribly jaded to most comic books these days, with a few really fantasstic exceptions.

Agreed on all counts. People are so quick to say that tokusatsu isn't a form of art, but it is. Nowadays you have to watch cartoons and movies if you want a honest to goodness superhero story as these days heroes seem to like beating up each other instead of doing good deeds like the heroes of Super Sentai, Metal Heroes and Kamen Rider. It makes me sad that it's come down to this, that Marvel and DC only care about the next big thing instead of caring for their audiences.

I don't think you guys quite get it.
The difference between Toku and Western heroes is who we follow.
For example: Can someone tell me the major character moments Shotaro has? Eiji? Tsukasa? Not the major moments of Double, OOO, or Decade, but major points of character growth.

The difference is that with Toku, they're given a set number of episodes. So they tell a story in those episodes. However, the story is almost never relevant to the man behind the mask.

Let's Go Kamen Rider's main point was even this. The person behind the mask doesn't mean anything. It's the mask itself. THAT'S who people remember.
That's fine when you have a story to tell with a set amount of time to tell it.
It's not when the story has to continue.

That's where the appeal is for someone like me. I love seeing my favorite heroes being heroic, but there's a reason why Spider-Man overshot Superman in popularity. It's because the person behind the mask was someone I genuinely wanted to know more of. That's where Toku takes a dip. It sets up interesting characters, but never expands on them beyond snippets here and there (It's the problem I had with Gokaiger, in that Episode 1 Luka/Joe/Marvelous was the same as Episode 51 Luka/Joe/Marvelous, only Gai ever experiencing any form of growth). I don't want mindless action, I want characters.

I see your point and I'm not knocking it at all. I love Peter Parker & Kyle Rayner for the person and not the hero. Im just saying that I've witnessed so many up's and downs with these characters that my switch to Toku has been the biggest breath of fresh air. I needed the "mindless action" after years of the deaths, big events and re-boots. That's the only point I was trying to make. Also as fan of superheroes in general , it's been nice discovering so many new ones. Regardless of how well developed a character is.

I'm currently working on W and Decade. Ryuki is after those on my list. But after that I am leaning towards Kuuga or Black-Black rx. Thoughts please!

Kuuga and Black are both among the all-time greatest Rider shows. Black RX is decidedly not.

actually have started on Kuuga finally...have been kind of random in my series selection...just watched the grasshopper themed Unknown...loved how he had the scarf like KR1...

One day will re attempt Blade and Hibiki...

One day I'll reattempt to watch Faiz :lol

ok ive been noticing this lately, the fact that i just cant seem to be able to finish a series now. im in the middle of kiva, gaogaigar, and go-onger but i cant see my self finishing them in the near future. its not like theyre bad theyre good, i just cant sit down to watch them even though i have a ton of time. has this happened to anyone else. though i do have ADD so it might be that, though ive never had it happen before

I don't think I've ever seen one person rave about how great Hibiki, Blade or Faiz is. I don't really know that I even want to sample it myself at this point

Damn it I LIKED Faiz! Sound concept, cool designs... just slow on start up and rushed ending. I really liked paradise lost as well...

You haven't been paying much attention then.
Most people can't stop praising Hibiki (Until a certain point, that is :lol), and Blade gets praised all the time (Though the video and sub quality is what gets criticized).

You have clearly not been reading my posts. :lol Hibiki is one of my favorite tv shows ever (up through episode 29, that is) and I love Blade.

Faiz can go jump in a lake, for all I care. Great suit designs, but the plot and characters are dumb as all hell.

I haven't been able to make it past the first 10 episodes of Hibiki. Guess it's not for me.

I will praise Blade, but it takes a while. A very slow burn at the beginning.

The video quality is realy poor on Hibiki but Blade isn't nearly as bad. However the Kuuga episodes I've gotten through KRDL are some of the worst quality I've seen. That's why I haven't even begun to get into it yet.

Ditto on Faiz. The design is okay but those upgraded forms just look terrible to me. I do love Kaixa though.

Faiz looks gorgeous, design wise.
It's a shame about the rest of it...

Matrixbeast, remind me later to explain why I f**king hate suit only appearances like in all All Rider movies. I don't want to get on a rant right now because I'm loving Agito to much. :p



Last night I ended up watching 34-40 of Agito. It got that good that I accidentally marathoned it. There's a lot of Hikawa being dumb as a brick (and clumsy as they all keep reminding him), but he's never boring to watch. :lol Another Agito is cool (aside from the halfassed name) and a great addition to the show. Considering how much forshadowing Kino had, I was not disappointed.


Two things I've been waiting the whole show for finally happened and they were awesome. The first is Hojo getting kicked in the nuts. Thank you Ozawa! Okay, it was probably his gut, but I doubt her knee can actually reach that high, so close enough. The second one being Hikawa finding out who Agito is. While the actual moment was dramatic, the episode was hilarious. The follow episodes where they start working together is great too.


PS Also watched the first 20-ish mins of that Special with G3 Mild before I quit caring because no matter what it can't be in continuity.

PPS Meant to ask this a while back, but is it just me or is the V1 armor a Metal Heroes?

I'll be sure to bring it up at an inopportune moment ^^

I've been watching some of the recordings of Kamen Rider stage shows. Of course, they aren't subbed, but as an acting guy, I love watching stuff like this. The plots are pretty easy to figure out too. (Libra has stolen Fourze's NS Magphone, so all of the Heisei riders, Ichigo, Stronger and V3 come in to help get it back? Okay.)
Gosh, as cheesy as it is, I'd love to be part of a production like this. Closest I've been is being a tech for a middle school rendition of Bugsy Malone.

On episode 16 of W. One thing i love is that they have a name for their own origin story. Taboo shows up and Phillip spouts something about her being a commander from Begins night. I feel like there should have been a similar scene in a Batman movie where he names his origin story.

Watched the first episode of Kuuga last night. Pretty cool, but damn, the film stock this was shot on did not age well. At all.

At this point in the show, it's time for Movie War 2010. All you need to see is W's segment (the first 20 odd mins of the film) if you don't care about Decade (the stories are not attached in any meanful way).

It's important to W's plot due to resolving a subplot that's already dropped by the point you are at and it goes into the details of Begins Night (in fact, that's the title of the segment). Plus: Skull.

I watched it, Thanks though. I just find it funny that they themselves refer to that day as Begins Night.

I've been watching the tiny bit of X that's been subbed by Order of Zeronos. I don't know why, but this show appeals to me for some reason. I think it's the wonky camera work.

I've been meaning to try X just because the monster designs are insane, but I'm waiting until they sub the one episode I really wanna watch.

I've seen those episodes and it really bums me out that OoZ has effectively closed up shop (again). X really seems to be an awesome show and I want to see more. I don't expect to anytime soon, though. There aren't a lot of guys subbing Showa Rider and the ones that do are pretty busy with other projects. :(

Finished all of Ryuki last week(LOVE IT), now starting with W, just saw episode 2. Dig the production quality, story is off to a good start, I like how it's pretty easy to understand. The concept is neat too.

WBX!

Alright, i kept putting it off, but since i got a friend of mine watching Kabuto as one of the first series to watch by herself (She's seen kamen rider the first, and me and her are watching kuuga everytime she comes over, we're up to episode 8) i am working on finishing kabuto, and i got 4 more episdoes and god speed love to go

now, i need to decide on what to watch next:

Ryuki, Den-o, or Faiz?

It depends on what you're looking for. If you want a more mature and dark storyline, go with Ryuki or Faiz. If you want something lighthearted and silly, go with Den-O.

I've been watching a few premiere episodes to try and gauge interest for whatever series I decide to get into next. I've tried Black, Kuuga and Hibiki so far. They didn't really do anything for me (bite me), but if the pre-Inoue's descent into madness Hibiki is as good as they (Switchblade) say(s), I might just keep going then.

It is even better than I say. Although it probably is fair to point out that Hibiki's general weirdness can make it more of a love it or hate it kind of show.

finished kabuto, though i still have to watch God Speed Love, but yeah, Kabuto is easily my favorite kamen rider series i've ever seen

I'm leaning on going ahead and watching all of Den-o next, i've started it before, but got distracted, but i'm in the mood for some comic greatness

Raelly? Even though they completely forgot who the main villians of the series were when they went on to do some side story arc and ended the series with that arc?

Decade and Den-O?
What?

yes, really, i love the characters in this series, they are so much fun. the suit designs are gorgeous, the choreography is fantastic, the story is engaging, its my favorite rider series. i'm not saying its the best kamen rider series of all time, but its my personal favorite.