Has next year's gimmick already been confirmed?

No, but given the trend (electronic gimmicks for 3 series straight at this point; plus gashats) I think it's a given we'll keep seeing electronic gimmicks

Suddenly wondering, is Kamen Rider Black, Shadow Moon, RX, Robo, Bio, Shin, ZO, and J designed by Shotaro Ishinomori himself? Because, I think the style different is quite radical from any oother his works.

I know that Ishinomori was involved in all of those projects - Hence why RX through J are counted as part of the Showa era - but I'm pretty sure others designed them

The wiki seems to list Keita Amemiya as character designer for Black, Black RX, ZO and J, so he's a reasonable candidate for those, if not Ishinomori. Of course, these could only be for the kaiju, but he's credited as designing an upgrade for ZO, so it's reasonable to put his name in the ring.

Ah, right. I know the man direct ZO, but Its new for me that he take a part for the other title. Thank you everyone!

So I went back to reflect on Gaim a bit and, after having been through literary courses in university and am now critically analysing every media I see, it just really hit me how DARK this series is.

Don't get me wrong, with something written by the Urobutcher it was bound to be dark. But back then I had a 'consume and move on' mentality without really appreciating the details. All I thought of Gaim back then was 'fruit samurais backstabbing each other vs alien forest trying to take over the planet'.

But now I see it for what it really is; a cosmic horror story wrapped underneath betrayals and power plays, all packaged under a seemingly-innocent merchandising ploy. People die left and right (and those are the lucky ones), friends are backstabbed, all the monsters all have tragic backstories. Conspiracy under conspiracy under conspiracy. And the worse part is the idea that, if you really think about the hints dropped throughout the show, this horrific cycle of events is to be repeated over and over and over for who knows how long throughout the universe. I can only imagine how other civilisations will deal with this.

I'm still not amused by the biblical parallels and inversions in the show but I finally get why people call Gaim one of the darkest Heisei shows made. Once I finally thought about it, it really did make me appreciate Gaim a bit more.

Also, I'm never going to look at fruit the same way again.

Funny this is, considering similar events happen in Zangetsu' stage show and Sylphi's last remark to Takatora before her 'death' that he'll keep on fighting without end.

Why you don't like biblical parallels?

It's just because of my religion. Simple.

Not gonna make too big a deal out of it though, what's done is done.

Speaking of Gaim, I do wonder what Kouta and Mai's daily life on their new planet is like.

I like to think that they take regular vacations on Earth as being by themselves on a planet with no one else to interact with (animals withstanding) must become boring at times, utopian paradise or not.

I also do wonder what their kid would be like if they would have one. Would that kid also inherit their powers?

I feel like a fucking moron for realizing this so late, but Touma is a Kamen Writer.

https://theglorioblog.files.wordpres..._09.52.128.jpg

We've only seen his bike like 2 times. So yeah, that's definitely a better title.

Also, I just compared the Diago Speedy to the real life bike it's based on, the HONDA CRF450L, and wow, that was an incredibly lazy conversion. If it wasn't for Hibiki using a straight up real-world bike, I think it would be the most basic looking rider bike so far.

“There is some pressure,” Uchida admits, “but unlike with Ultraman where the scripts are finished before filming even starts, Kamen Rider scripts are written as episodes are filmed."

Oh, I get it now.

(source)

So, not an Ultraman guy (just haven't gotten around to yet, not a value judgment), but let me just say that I sort of prefer the Kamen Rider approach?

Writing a TV show isn't like writing a book. It's not about tying together every thread or making sure every development is appropriately foreshadowed. I mean, those are good things to do in a TV show! But I think a TV show's most important attribute is flexibility.

Like, if you're writing everything in advance, you can't respond to what the actors and directors are doing. You can't be surprised or inspired by those little bits of magic that occur on-set. You're locking yourself into the story in your head, instead of the art in production. I love the idea of a year-long series that gets to see what's working and adjust to it in real-time. It feels more collaborative, and that just makes more sense to me?

I don't know. I am totally okay with Kamen Rider writing as they go!

Oh I totally get what you're saying, honestly I love the versatility because that means there's a lot more room to play around with things based on how people react.

Stuff like characters getting upgrades that were never planned for them due to popularity, coming back, etc.

While Ultraman does do a good solid narrative what with writing and filming way in advanced. But sometimes I feel like that does limit the more recent Ultra Shows in that way. Cause you're just sort of following directions and you aren't able to really put anything fan's might want more of into it as a result.

It's a big thing with TV comedies, and how they don't usually get good until the seventh episodes. That's because the first six scripts are written before most/any of the actors are cast, so the writers are writing towards the character. Once the writing team gets to see the first couple scripts filmed, they get to see how the performers play the material, and they start writing towards the performer.

I think that's enormously valuable in TV production. That ability to see the end product in stages, and get to tweak all the little pieces to adjust for it.

I guess both methods have their advantages? Flexibility is good, but if you go too flexible you risk making your story less cohesive start-to-finish, while rigitidy guarantees you live (or die, tbf) on that initial vision and have no room to course correct?

Also, considering Ultra series are half the length of Rider and Sentai, I guess it makes more sense that one is written much more "on the fly" than the other? Hard to come up with a 100% cohesive plan when the enddate is a year away!

I get it, I can see the appeal, I can even see what could be the excitement of working on a project and being able to react in the moment, being able to look at this things and be like, "oh, wouldn't this be cool if..." &c. but also, as an audience member... yeah.

For the longest time, I've felt like there have have been moments in shows where I just don't follow how A has led to B, where it feels like the show has jumped several episodes ahead without laying the groundwork, and it's been driving me crazy making me think that it's either a language thing or just me being a dullard. This especially has been a problem for me with Saber, and I know that the general census is that the show's story is "good" now, but, forgive me for being a curmudgeon, but I often feel that what people are saying is that actually the fight sequences are good.

I get this is probably just a me thing, and I'm not silly enough to know that kid's TV doesn't live and die by its panache, the excitement and merits of such as Sakamoto's fight choreography, and the last thing I want to do is insult the staff... but reading this interview definitely made me feel as if I finally had an answer as for why Saber felt so jumbled and contradictory and repetitive in the unfolding of its narrative.

/end grumpy old lady rant.

That's all fair! I can't speak to Saber (will revisit this post in late-2022/early-2023), but there have been any number of Kamen Rider series where I feel like the pacing is inadequate, or the plot doesn't have enough material to justify itself, or any number of other problems that were the result of Episode 26 only being concerned with resolving Episode 25 and setting up Episode 27. Sure. Absolutely, no argument.

But, like, Wizard is a series that I think has the tightest series arc (the reveals and resolution of the last few episodes made me adore that season) and some of the most repetitive individual episodes of any Kamen Rider I can think of. It felt like a show that was committed to a story that the actors couldn't quite connect with, or that the theory was losing out to the reality. I'd've traded a cohesive and brilliant conclusion for a few less episodes that were purposefully hitting the same notes.

I mean, I don't know how all of these shows are produced. The ones I might deride as overly schematic might've been written the night before shooting, and the ones that feel fresh and responsive might've been locked before the actors waved on stage at the first press junket. I don't know. But my feeling is that I'd prefer the spontaneity of We Are Building The Bridge As We Go Off The Cliff to having everything set before the rest of the team gets to contribute.

I get this, and I totally see the appeal, and trust me if anyone was ever foolish enough to allow me to be involved in the creation process of something like this, I would revel in this chaotic energy, lol—but as a member of the audience, I think a lot of my frustration comes from a sense of feeling that there interesting ideas that aren't given time to be developed because of this approach, or that ideas are being developed outside of the core series, and then being drafted in because someone is like, "What a great idea!"

I haven't seen Wizard, if I'm honest. In fact the only thing I've heard about it is that it had to be extended because of complications with the following series? I will get to it eventually though! Maybe in 2022/2023, when you have seen Saber and I have seen Wizard we can reconvene, lol.

I know a lot of this is me being a grumpy mare though, and I appreciate every single person on this board who humours me and gestures for the nurse to come and take me back to my room.

Believe me, I understand (and empathize with!) your concerns and misgivings. It's definitely not the sort of struggle, Planning Vs Improvisation, that I think has a clear answer. It's more of a spectrum, for artists and audience alike. It's totally fine to value different parts of the process, or to look for different things in the results. You don't have to be sorry!

You're too kind. I worry that I am oft out of step with general consensus, and I don't want to give the impression of being one of those people who only watches something because they dislike it because... that makes no sense to me at all, lol.

Having complained about all this, if the shows were absolutely perfect in my eyes, there would be no room for me to write fanfic, so in a way, maybe I should be grateful, haha.

Speaking for myself, my opinion on Saber has little to do with the action sequences (although I will not complain about the reduction in stock footage). What's turned me around on the show is that, after an insanely rushed first quarter, the show has started focusing more on the core characters and their relationships as the tools to drive the plot forward. Splitting the cast into smaller groups really helped better develop most of them and it allowed the show to use their different bonds as it went into the third quarter. I also get so much mileage out of the show willing to do unexpectedly smart things like having Kento actually explain his motivations instead of saying "Someone like you would never understand me" followed by the inevitable punching.

I'll admit that my bar is really low for a Takuro Fukuda joint, but I've really enjoyed the last several months of the show on a narrative level.

Except for Ren. Fuck Ren.

I want to like Ren... I just feel that, like Sophia, who I also want to like, there are large stretches where I forget he is a character in the show. I don't want to pooh-pooh Saber, I am just frustrated by the characters spinning wheels for ages, repeating the same sentiments over and over again until the lead literally turns to another character and says, "Oh, you're still going on about this?"

I don't know. Perhaps I'm just grumpy because I'm clearly a fan of "old man" Oogami and he's not been in it as much. :p

I’ll just say that I’ve known about this hectic method for months and move on.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=XyNoQihfoKs

According to new information, Kamen Rider Solomon will wield the Omniexcalibur (a repaint of Kingexcalibur) and use the Maken Godriver to transform with the Omni-Force Wonder Ridebook (repainted from the X-Sword Man Wonder Ride Book). And if you don’t know what “Maken” means despite how common a term it is in Tokusatsu (it was once part of an episode title, then I can’t help you.

This video you posted pretty much said all the things I've been thinking but with far more grace!

Something low key I like about Touma is that he’s achieved his dream. He spent much of his life wanting to be a writer and now he is, and that’s great! It sets a good example for kids that dreams are possible to reach.

Something I should have noticed earlier:

-Only the Northern SOL riders (excluding the Caliburs, but including Yuri) name their finishers
-Rintarou and Tetsuo make english names for their finishers (Snack On the Chopper and Hydro Stream)
-Touma and Ogami name their finishers in japanese (Bakuen Gurenzan and Dai DanDan)
-Kento (as Espada) names his finisher in Spanish
-Ren also names finishers in japanese, but names them in the format of techniques (Shippuu Kenbu: Niren)
-Yuri names his finishers both in english and japanese, depending on his form (Hikari are and X-Sword Break)

The rest, Falchion, Durandal, Sabela, and Caliburs don't name their own finishers.

I always did like that about a lot of our Riders in Saber.

There's just some more oomph that happens when you yell out an attack name.

Pretty rare to see it happen too! The only one I could recall who makes finisher call-outs would be Fourze.

Tho, Touma despite having the largest list of finishers and names for them (won't be surprised if he writes these down), still doesn't have a rider kick finisher in his base form. Tho, I guess we'll see something like that in a final episode or movie of sorts. Was a bit bummed his first rider kick was in an auxiliary form as Dragon Jackun.

You know something I was sort of pleasantly surprised by, just the amount of Rider Kicks we've gotten in regards to everyone. Like despite the heavy emphasis on swordplay and such, we've still had time for Rider Kicks aplenty.

Definitely glad to see it in some form of prominence with Saber and Zero-One. Was pleasantly surprised too when Buster had a rider kick for himself, too.

Yesterday's radio episode for iDOLM@STER feature a guest lyricist one Shimoji Yu. He talks about Hide & Attack, a song he wrote with "Kamen Rider Straylight" in mind. This eventually caused said rider name to go trending a bit on japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tINMlonTe6s

I can't believe I just found out that Kamen Rider Poppy is pjysically stronger than Kiwami Arms. Like, she's even faster too! I mean, yeah Kiwami Arms has a bunch of powers to make up for it but MAN it's such a strange thought that a Rider who's not even a tertiary Rider can outmatch a final form.

I guess it's just the slow but steady power creep that makes each year's Rider more stronger than the last one.

I misread this as "Kamen Rider Stay/night" for a second. Sorry, it's my current binge of the Fate franchise that's to blame.

We were close with Saber. We were close...

Does anyone know if the Detail of Heroes EX versions have anything new in them? Like, say does the Kiva EX book have anything new compared to the old Detail of Heroes Kiva? EX is usually for the 10th anniversary of that show or something so I want to know if they've added some stuff.

Oh my goodness it gets funnier. They really just pull Rider stats out of nowhere don't they? Get this, Fourze Cosmic States is actually WEAKER than Kiva's BASE FORM.

I always love pointing to the completely ridiculous stats the riders have as evidence to not just take everything a series says at face value.
Taking pure stat line into power, Poppy is one of the strongest riders out there :lol