Ah, I see you're giving Kurona a special sneak preview of RX's change in tone. :p

But yeah, BLACK is a show that has some strong points and some weak points. I didn't go in expecting anything more than a series of episodic plots about Kamen Rider fighting monsters and saving people, and that's very much what I got. Everything beyond that was essentially gravy, which is why I don't think it bothered me that, for instance, Koutarou was literally the only character in it I ever formed any real attachment to.

There was maybe some unrealized potential for BLACK to be a more major leap forward for the franchise than it was in terms of writing, but as a back-to-basics reminder of why people fell in love with it in the first place, I think it's first-rate.

I also still like RX better, but that's a story for another time, I guess.

I mean, they could do that, I suppose. But wouldn’t it have been even better if they’d just smacked him with a manhole cover?

That would've been fucking hilarious.

But nawh. "Let's hit him hard...Together" and Ginga is gingone.

Anyway, Kabuto episodes were cool. Kagami becoming Kabuto was cool. Yagaruma getting shit on one final time goes beyond the limits of space and time.
Den-O episodes were okay. It was funny to see the uncle literally get hijacked into fixing the Den-Liner...Makes me wonder where the Owner was during all this if he literally allowed the Imagin to dick around the the train hard enough to crash it.

Started Blade just last week. Already on Episode 4. I dig it so far. Not really sure where it's going for a couple characters in the long run, but I am intrigued.

Another Zi-O II looks so much better than Another Zi-O. Definitely rocks the machine monster look a lot better.

That said, I do wish more of the Another Riders had solid design choices. Another Kabuto being a Worm and Another Double being two bodies side to side? Love it.
Another Build and Another Ex-Aid just being monster boys? Not too keen on that.

The thing I remember most about pink seashell man is that at some point he started wearing white face-paint all the time, and while I'm sure that was a retcon of the character's design, I prefer to think he actively started wearing that make-up to show that he was more serious now.

The Another Riders all take elements from their basis’ series’ monster aesthetic. Another Build has a rather crude appearance, similar to a Smash and Another Ex-Aid technically fill the “video game chara bought to love” idea by virtue of Ex-Aid being modelled after the eponymous Mighty of Mighty Action X.

But yeah, it’s not that clear unless you really look closely. It took someone 33 episodes to start noticing similarities.

Not really, or even a little. Another Build is crude, but they all are, and if the Smash had any unifying visual gimmick, it's that they were kinda geometric.

Some of them might take cues or gimmicks from their show's monsters to drive home the point of being a twisted version of that, like Another Ex-Aid spreading the bugster virus, but there are just as many examples where the premise is as simple as 'this rider but scary-looking'.

I like the Another Rider designs because they all kinda look like SIC designs on crack.

I just wish they had a more cohesive design choice.
Smashes have a very clean design aesthetic, where Another Build is just Build, but monster.
Like, maybe Another Ex-Aid could have emphasized the fact that he has two heads, perhaps be half transformed in between Level 1 and 2 or whatever?

I just felt too many of the Another Riders were designed going in the wrong direction. Wizard has a jewel motif, so why does Another Wizard have a skull motif, for example?

They really do.
I'm honestly curious about how an SIC Another Drive would look.
Especially when you consider that his right eye literally features someone's screaming mouth pressed against the crushed windshield :lol

Hell, SIC could have a field day with most of the Another Riders