Personally, I think "operator" is a nice, natural sounding word for it... and apparently Gomen-Rider agreed, because from what I went back and checked, they flop between that and "user", which is also fine. Don't go thinking the grass is greener on the other side, though. Just look at how everything else in this particular line ended up, for example.

https://i.imgur.com/l5JjsTxl.jpg

Yeesh. Way too literal, and accidentally missing the entire point? It's the kind of line TV-N would get ribbed for, and yet...

https://i.imgur.com/iptIUoBl.jpg

Despite lacking flow to the point where it sounds robotic (plus, you know, equipper), they actually understood that Houjou was specifically crapping on Hikawa here. Which is basically all he ever does, so I don't know how you could miss it. :lol

I have just bingeread your entire Kuuga thread and it was amazing; I really enjoyed watching you break down how you felt the various elements worked together (or did not work together, haha). I'm looking forward to experiencing your impression of Agito, I have literally made an account here to tell you this.

Also the above bit is why - even though I don't mind subtitles usually - TVN's translation choices often drive me nuts. It's a technically correct rendering of what I think was the word 装着員, or souchakuin, in which 装着 is to equip or put on, and the 員 refers to a person who does something. And it does not work in English. At all. I find it incredibly jarring. You are not alone.

But to go back to more general things, I am so 100% here for this, you have brought me a ridiculous amount of fun already, and thank you for every word of it.

I'd be okay with "operator" or "driver" or "something like that, yeah, sure. Equipper, it's... it's like Houjou's calling him G3's butler, and it's like this tiny rock that lodges in the gears of my brain. Equipper. It's got this infuriating combination of being inaccurate ("Equipper", it's like putting on a belt, or more accurately helping someone else put on a belt) but also just a weird, weird word. Cumbersome, you know? It's like someone searched real hard for the dumbest way to describe wearing an awesome monster-killing powered armor suit.

That is criminal. Houjou endlessly dunking on Nijou is maybe the only reason I like seeing Nijou show up on screen.

(I'm kidding, I'm kidding. He's growing on me, a bit. I like how bad he is at his job, honestly. Ichijou was so preternaturally and immediately good at being a cop on Kuuga that... it's like, where do you go with that? When the baseline is "extraordinarily competent", where can you go if you don't get to form change? Nijou, he's kind-of hilariously not great at his job, but in a way where you can see it as a struggle he'll have to overcome. Not, like, Shunpei or someone.)

Oh my gosh! Thank you! That's super kind. Welcome to the TokuNation boards! The folks here are A+ people.

That whole TV-Nihon thing, it's really the difference between "translating" and "localizing", you know? It's true that in Japanese he'd be an equipper, but boy is that not really an English word. Obviously, if someone was doing their job right at TV-Nihon, they'd've correctly described Nijou's (former!) role as one of the following:

-G3's operator
-G3's pilot
-G3's driver
-G3's chauffeur
-G3's sous chef
-G3's roommate
-G3's model but like the kind that wears clothes professionally
-G3's gooey parts
-G3's embarrassment

I expect to see one, or preferably all, of those descriptions within the subtitles of the next episode of Agito. Thank you in advance.

I personally love early heisei rider; The shows have a completely different feel, aside from Den-o which feels more like heisei 2 to be honest; just without the toyetic influence. Its a shame they overused inoue when they should have fired him after agito, maybe we would have gotten some far better plots than the garbage we had with faiz and probably others I can't remember.
Agito is one of the best of the bunch and you see why I want TV-Nihon to all go away, perferably into a prison without internet so they can't butcher translations ever again. While they are forced to rewatch the worst parts of ghost over and over and over.

I think the best translation is G3's meat puppet nanny.

I may have to start using this one. :lol

"A completely different feel", yeah, for sure. And to the toyetic thing, I get that a lot of people don't like how merchandise-driven Kamen Rider has become, and some dumb stories have definitely made their way to screen thanks to the need to show off some trinket, but it honestly doesn't bother me. I got into this franchise because of the toyetic focus of Ex-Aid, not in spite of them. If anything, I feel like the toyetic elements make me judge a show less harshly. If you're giving me a big pile of candy alongside a decent meal, I'm not going to kick too much about the quality of the meal. If you give me just the meal, with no dessert, that thing better be goddamn delicious. So far, Agito and Kuuga are just the meal with me, where there's not a ton of crazy superheroics or weird devices to spark my imagination. They've got to completely nail the fundamentals in a way that I wouldn't necessarily demand of a modern show. Or, I still might, because it's tough to turn that part of my brain off, but I'd at least have more fun parts to compliment.

MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODES 09 - 10

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/agito09.png

Ha ha WHOOPS.

Three plots get a workout this time, with Houjou getting his moment to shine as G3's yolk, Shouichi definitely murdering that lady in broad daylight, and Ryou... uh.

Hey, let's do the Ryou stuff first, since it was barely there. After cliffhanging us with a Gills V Spooky Man face-off, Masked Rider Agito one-hundred percent steers away from that, with Spooky Man disappearing until the very end of the story, and Gills, just, going home? I guess? He gets a phone call to say that his dad died (ALL DADS ARE DEAD) and that he'd been a crazy person since the mysterious boat accident of two years ago. So, yeah. That's all we get with Ryou, a plot point where he's now wrapped up in the boat accident plotline. It's fine. Serviceable.

The other two plots, hoo boy.

I really enjoyed the "Nijou and Mana try to prove Shouichi's innocence” Phoenix Wright storyline. It's cute, and, despite the hero of the show taking a murder charge and having no alibi, pretty low-stakes. Some of the stuff Mana does is either not exactly psychometry (did no one think to check the crime scene for footprints?) or requires some pretty heavy lifting, deduction-wise (that leap to find the one #62 train car, come ON), but I thought it was so dumb that it was entertaining. It was sloppy but earnest, like a puppy chewing on a shoe. I can't be mad at them for goofing around, especially since it nailed a lot of what I'm digging about Shouichi as the show's Rider.

Shouichi's got this sweet, dumb energy to him. His whole thing about making a home and protecting it, I love how it's exhibited through domesticity. He tends a garden, he makes dinner, he cleans, it's all stuff that you wouldn't normally put on a male action hero, which is why it works so well for me. It's distinct, it's charming, it keeps even the dark elements (a lady was still strangled with wire in a park, everybody) from feeling hopeless. Godai had a nurturing side to him, but it was always weighted against the fact that he wasn't going to stick around. Shouichi, it feels different, it feels like a promise. It's comforting, that energy.

The final main plot, with Houjou joining Team G3... let me just leave it at this:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/houjou1.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/houjou1a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/houjou2.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/houjou2a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/houjou3a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/houjou3.png

No, okay, I'm just kidding. Let me talk about that Houjou stuff.

It's great, obviously. It's priceless. Him kicking ass on the training course, trying to befriend/impress Ozawa and The Other One, and, my absolute favorite, how utterly one-sided his rivalry is with Nijou.

It's not just him giving Nijou shit that I love, although I do love it. It's how he's constantly giving Nijou shit while Nijou is rooting for him. It's so hysterical, that dynamic. Nijou congratulates him in the hallway, and Houjou's all Good Luck With Your Thing and Nijou's all Hey Whatever I Can Do To Help You Out and Houjou's all Ha Ha Cute That Will Never Happen... the best. The. Best.

I realized what I loved about Houjou, why it was really working for me, once he suited up as G3. "Oh," I thought, "he's Kamen Rider Brave." All of that self-confidence, the gratuitous narcissism, the ways he needs to not just succeed but let other people know how they're failing, that's so Hiiro. And, shit, I love Hiiro. I mean, Hiiro never tried to make people feel bad, he was just being blunt with his assessments, but Brave and Houjou are both cracking me up in the same ways.

Brave also never cracked under pressure, so I guess that's another difference. Houjou getting beat and then just legging it, so fantastic. I mean, it's funny, but it's also a great way to make Nijou look more heroic for just not quitting as G3. It's a tricky situation, to make it seem realistic that Nijou would be removed and also make it seem realistic he might be reinstated, despite him not doing anything new as G3 to change anyone's mind, and this development, uh, yes. Yeah, I don't know why you wouldn't make Nijou G3's filling again after Houjou's spectacle.

Yeah, that whole plot was aces for me, for the humor, the action (that park fight, the first one, so cool!), the character interactions (Ozawa hates Houjou but she's trying to make it work, Houjou needs Ozawa to acknowledge his greatness, The Other One is such a beta), the ways backstory gets filled in organically, it's all so good. The Team G3 stuff is going over really well.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/agito10.png

"This is where the fight really begins!" is the quote of quotes from Agito for me. Hikawa (Nijou, as you call him) proves his worth by Hojou's failings as G3 in this scene for me. Hikawa starts every fight in the negative, and Hojou just wasn't ready for how hot the kitchen becomes on a regular basis. It's one of my favorite Agito moments hands down.

Yeah, I think a lot of the success of Houjou Loses His Shit is down to how long it takes to get there. Like, he gets his successes, and then when the fight gets difficult he shatters. It's incredibly funny to me (those faces!), but him literally running away does a tremendous job of reestablishing stakes, of making sure Agito retains primacy in the Rider hierarchy, of reframing Nijou's time as G3 as less a failure for not winning, but more a victory for not quitting. It's surprising to me how ridiculous that scene can be while doing everything you'd want a dramatic scene to do.

:lol

Oh man, such a great moment. The best part is that Houjou learns absolutely nothing from the experience. No humility, no respect for Hikawa, nothing.

Oh no!

MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODES 11 - 12

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/agito11.png

I realized, watching this episode, that I don't spend much time at all talking about the superhero action on this sci-fi superhero action show. Not cool, Kamen Rider Die!

Some of it's that there's not a ton of it to talk about. The Phase 2 Heisei shows, it seems like (in my memory) the action was all over the place, every other scene was a henshin and a monster fight. With Kuuga, and now Agito, it's entirely at the ends of episodes. A few seconds as an episode starts, a few minutes as an episode ends, that's all you get. I know it's down to different storytelling objectives (serialized drama VS to sell toys), but it means that there's a lot of non-action for me to talk about and think about, but not much action to touch on.

But, uh, I mostly entirely didn't care about the story in this one, save for a couple minor things.

First, there's a neat moment where Ryou and Shouichi have the nowadays-standard Rider debate of optimism versus pragmatism, aka "the world is beautiful and so is everyone in it" versus "uh, my life has been a neverending shitshow, so, agree to disagree". It's baked into the multiple-Rider formula now, but here it feels very fresh and welcome. It's doesn't feel reductive or didactic, it feels like two people with very specific views and life experiences looking at the same thing completely different. It's a debate that spins around how Shouichi views his amnesia as a freedom from pain and sadness (that thing from a couple episodes ago where he wishes he could have new amnesia every day, super unhealthy but very sweet), while Ryou views adversity as something to overcome, not ignore. It's an exchange that only lasts a minute, if that, but it was super strong.

Second, obviously, all of the stuff where Houjou throws absolutely everyone under the bus to make himself feel like he isn't a coward and a failure. That stuff is gold-plated brilliance. (I also love the low-key burn of Nijou making Houjou the getaway driver when the Zebra Unknown attacks. If there's one thing Houjou's good at, it's running away! Oh, and he screws that up, too.)

Other than those two things, a big shrug of a story for me. The Unknown attacks feel totally disengaged from whatever is happening with the heroes, a distraction from the episode's plot rather than an integral part. Most of the victims have no story, and no sense of stakes. It's a monster, the heroes eventually stop it, okay. And the other main element from this story, with someone who knows more than she lets on about Shouichi's past and Agito and the mysterious boating accident of six months prior but oh whoops she dies before she can reveal anything, lame. Very lame! It's not clever, it's just frustrating. I'm not at the edge of my seat, I'm flipping off my monitor.

So, the action. The camerawork is pretty uneven this time out. Some well-designed shots (that fight on top of the cop car was amazing) just a few minutes after nausea-inducing bouncing shots (the first scene where Shouichi runs to the lake to save Saeko, I honestly had to look away to keep from getting sick). The thing I like best, the thing I think is working the best for Agito's action, is how stoic Agito is. The very calm walk into and out of fights, the smoothness and simplicity of his attacks, it's a kind-of minimalist, sure, but it contrasts really well with Gills' viciousness (so much Amazons) and G3's, uh, ineptitude. Agito comes in, punches hard, kicks fast, Rider Kick, explosion, hero pose. It's a strong contrast, not just with the other Riders, but with Shouichi's normal self.

Does anyone watch New Japan Pro-Wrestling? One of my favorite wrestlers is Kota Ibushi. His moveset is fantastic, his athleticism is off the charts, and he comes across as a very fun, upbeat performer. Recently, they've been doing a thing where, as matches go on and he can't put his opponent away, he enters this, like, fugue state. In that state, he gets this blank look and starts brutalizing his opponents: punches are way stiffer, kicks are continuous and gruesome, it's all in service of hurting someone, not defeating them. It's unnerving, since it's cruelty dispensed by a sweet person. (Honestly, it's like he's using Hazard Trigger, but let's assume it's got a couple different Kamen Rider comparisons in it.) Agito has that feel to me, where I can't see what Agito does as what Shouichi does, because I can't see that violence in him. It's confident physical dominance from a wacky, sweet housekeeper. I think that juxtaposition is clever and intriguing. The action on this series is so specific and solid, the ways it's built around characters, and it's something I'm really interested in the show exploring further.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/agito12.png

Yeah, agito and black hazard have the two fighting styles we need to see more of in kamen rider main series. We have plenty of frothing bezerkers, upbeat happy go lucky guys and smug arseholes; but we really need more "jesus christ this is not a fight this is a goddamn execution" characters. Agito's fighting style is less brutal than Hazards, but its still....otherworldly and serene. Like hes done it so many times its autopilot over any actual thought, like shouichi is just serving as a vessel for some unfathomable power.

The plot WILL make sense eventually, it just takes a bit, and after agito; I reccomend W if you haven't watched it, Ryuki is also really good. Blade starts slow but gets extremely good.

I think "serene" is a really great way of putting it. With Agito, a few of the fights have this thing where it's like he's not even responding to his opponent, like he's fighting through them. It's distinct, for sure.

And, yes, W! It's great. I really loved it. (The ending, once Foundation X starts to take over the story, way less love for that part.) I'm doing the Phase 1 Heisei shows in order (I already did all of the Phase 2 shows except for Zi-O), so Ryuki's next, and then Blade a little down the line.

Hey, wait a second...

Huh. I guess TV-N got fed up with seeing "equipper" about the same time you did. Shame they didn't think to use "gooey parts", but what are you gonna do?

Definitely. I actually think Hazard Form is sort of a bad comparison for this very reason. Serenity is the throughline for Shouichi and Agito. Whether he's transformed or not, he's kind of "at one" with the world around him in a way Hikawa and Ryou aren't. Hikawa's uncertainty is reflected in his often rather poor showings as G3, and obviously Ryou channels a lot of anger into his fighting style. For Agito, it's less that he's actively displaying dominance, and more how that's a natural result of the grace and purpose inherent in how he moves.

Again, very organic. Very well thought out.

Also, probably as good a time as any to mention that Agito was the start of Seiji Takaiwa's enduring tenure as the suit actor for Rider leads, and even in 2001, it was obvious how talented he was. His more active roles are great, too, but he's also fantastic at putting weight into subtle movements in a way I don't think many other people could.

Ha ha, yeah, I keep forgetting to mention that! I think TV-Nihon must've fired the "equipper" intern.

"User", you know, it's fine. It feels very dry and functional, which is what I'd expect from a serious institution. I don't (angrily) notice it, at least, so it's a huge step up.

I mean, the versatility of his performances are insane. The thought that one guy played so many different Riders... like, being able to do Fourze AND Agito? Those two are diametrically opposed, style-wise. And then you toss in Wizard, and Ex-Aid, and Gaim, and on and on. Crazy. Top of the mountain, for performers in Kamen Rider.

Most people myself included probably think Centipede Orphenoch when they think Jun Yamasaki the actor who plays Hojo. Its only times like this where someone reviews Agito we remember the great G3 Early Retirement of one Tohru Hojo. :lolol

Putting those six pictures together is maybe the thing I'm most proud of in my life, and I co-own a comics shop that's won international awards.

Honestly, Agito is one of the most interesting riders; especially when you get farther into the lore. Its a shame we never see him just snap necks though. The shows lore is really deep but a lot of it is only avaliable through the wayback machine or the wiki. I personally wish Hojo decided that he would prove he should pilot G3 by attempting to take on gills, by himself. Just to see the absolute beatdown that would occur

I mean, I don't want to oversell what they're doing with this show, I don't think it's my favorite Kamen Rider, but why aren't we talking about Agito all the time?!

I've said before that I had a real blindspot with Agito, that it didn't seem to come up a lot in recommendations and favorite lists, and, you know, I'm going to point a lot of fingers at a lot of people in this thread. This show's really good! It doesn't deserve to be ignored the way it feels like it has been! Evangelize! Proselytize! Every thread on these boards should have people talking about Agito, and if they're not talking about Agito, everyone needs to be saying "Why aren't we talking about Agito?"

...okay, that's definitely overselling it. Sorry. It's just, I assumed this show was going to be forgettably dull, based on how no one ever seemed to mention it. (I've got that feeling about Kabuto as well, same reason.) It's weird how many people here are very pro-Agito, to a degree that seems like y'all are hiding it from the world. Is it shameful to be an Agito fan? Is everyone here using dummy accounts so the real Kamen Rider fans don't find out about your heresy?

It's just so weird to me. Why was this show being good such a surprise? Why doesn't it seem as heralded as fan reaction makes me think it should be?

Thoughts?

Hey, if I haven't been singing the praises of Agito enough, it's only because I was under the impression it was universally regarded as one of the franchise's best series.

Maybe that's the problem? It's so good it goes without saying... so none of us have been saying it?

If I had to guess, its just that its much easier to talk about how 'avant-garde' Kuuga was, and how, well, interesting the next few shows that come immediately after Agito are.

...Or maybe there is in fact a secret conspiracy to erase Agito from the public consciousness! You're already slipping on one of the main character's names, after all...

I feel like the early Heisei era in general is less popular than it used to be. It's not Showa-levels of obscure, but most newer viewers are more likely to have seen Gaim, Ex-Aid, or OOO than to go back to the 00s stuff.

This right here^

Agito definitely doesn't get enough love, and I find shows like Faiz, Kabuto, Hibki and Kiva get outright hate most times, despite the fact they are truly some of my favorites. Meanwhile, people gush over Den-O and Fourze, which while they have their strong points are low on my personal list of Rider shows. I think the newer shows just have more vocal fans. In the days of HenshinJustice Kuuga-Kabuto got a lot of love, but newer stuff has taken center stage.

(Uh, incorrect. I use all of the main characters' proper names: Shouichi, Mana, Ryou, Houjou. Please retract your scandalous assertion. Thank you in advance.)

Hmm. Interesting theories. It's maybe some mix of them all? Like, probably some folks who don't want to bang the drum for Agito again, and a lot of folks who don't feel the need to watch 10-20 year-old Rider shows. But that part's super weird, since Agito doesn't feel that different to me from Gaim or Ghost. It's not a one-to-one comparison, but I don't think a new fan would confuse Agito for a different franchise or anything.

For the record, I'd've also accepted "A guy who doesn't want to hear about shows he hasn't watched yet and doesn't traffic the main Kamen Rider discussion threads is maybe not the best person to declare what people are or are not talking enough about." Just, that could maybe also be a solution to my conundrum.

MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODES 13 - 14

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/agito13.png

A two-parter that showed, at best, incremental movement on a few different storylines, but also a commitment to characterization and some fun choices that kept it enjoyable and entertaining.

It's a weird structure, this one, in that it's incredibly straightforward. It's pretty much just one story, instead of two or three plots of varying tension. The G3/police stuff is working in unison with Shouichi/Mana stuff, trading characters between stories to enhance the momentum. Ozawa meets Shouichi, Mana keeps working with the cops, it's all happening at the same hospital as Not Shouichi (didn't catch his real/"real" name) visits Spooky Man, even Houjou's Trying Way Too Hard To Be Cool With Everything moments are used as links between scenes, only happening when a story beat needs a quick transition. Everything feels like it's pulling in the same direction, since the stakes of the monster plot are, uh, Shouichi's life.

It takes an episode to get there, though. The first half spends a ton of time investigating/rehashing Mana's dad's death, sprinkling in new clues like a "blank" videotape and an inside-out tennis ball, items that don't connect all the dots much but definitely shout out This Dad's Death Is Super Weird. There's a lot of the investigation, coupled with the one Ryou scene (One! Was he busy filming the non-existent Agito/Kuuga movie?), that starts to get all the various mysteries into one Big Mystery. It's about time! It was clear from the start that all of this would be the season plot, the superpowers and mysterious deaths and ancient DNA and boat accidents and amnesia, so it was only a matter of time until it all came together. That time is, uh, still not here! It's cool that there's a focus on big plots that mean something to the whole cast, I'm way more into that than a random Unknown story, but we're still very much in the Asking Questions phase. Not a phase I want to spend a ton of time in, but it's still a necessary phase.

The monster plot, though, really fun. Shouichi's first fight with the Scorpion Unknown ends with a poisoned Shouichi and a ticking clock of 24 hours until he dies, which the show?€? completely ignores? I mean, a few characters bring it up, but Shouichi doesn't really care, and I thought that was an amazing choice for the show to make. It's a great demonstration of Shouichi's?€? mindfulness? Shouichi's a very present-tense character, to the degree that his recent expressed desire was to only ever live in the now. He's a neat thematic foil to characters like Ryou and Nijou, characters whose heads are anywhere but right now. They're investigating mysteries of the past, reconciling what they thought they knew with what secrets have been hidden from them. Shouichi is emphatically not that guy. He's told he'll be dead in a day, and he's like But I Still Have To Bake A Cake. There's a point where Nijou has to remind him he'll be dead in four hours, and he's like But I Need To Weed My Garden. (It most reminded me of my favorite early Ghost bit, where Takeru uses the Eyecons to save Kanon, and everyone is trying to save him except him. He's zen about it, willing to accept the cost of his choice. The second episode of this story had that same feeling, even though the character approaches were slightly different.) It's only when he realizes that his death would mean that Mana would be unprotected that he acknowledges that maybe he should care slightly about the next day. It's an incredibly sweet version of a character, a guy who lives every day like it's his last by treating everything in his day as something to enjoy and celebrate. It's an abdication of the terror of mortality by embracing the enlightenment of usefulness. It's someone who sees every other moment as less important than this moment, right now, and the thing that he's doing. It is, like a lot of Shouichi stuff on this show, a fascinating way to build a main character.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/agito14.png

Oh! One last thing!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/work.png

I was super bored at work today, which led to me being real active on the boards, to maybe an irritating degree. It felt overactive. Sorry if I got a little too post-y today in anyone's threads. I don't want to be a nuisance!

That's just silly. Why would anybody be on this thread if not to see your posts!

I'll attack you with G3's chainsaw arm if he never upgrades from Nijou though...

Ha ha, thanks! And, he's getting there. He's at, like, 85% Ichijou right now. If we can get him below 70%, he'll feel like a different character to me. Not to put a ticking clock on it, but if he can't un-Nijou himself by episode 25, it's pretty engraved in my brain. No pressure!

Anyway, I kept thinking about that mindfulness thing, about Shouichi. So much of his character, even the Agito part, is about the now, the moment. Like, his Agito Sense is This Is Happening Right Now. It's not a warning of the future, he doesn't last past a current attack, it's only good for now. And then, when a fight's over, it's just over for Shouichi. He's not trying to track down the Unknown, figure out their plan, stop them at the source, none of it. They show up, he fights them, that's it.

All of that should be infuriating to me. It should drive me insane, the sheer stubbornness to engage with the plot of the show. But, it's the opposite? I really love how unconcerned he is with the monster attacks, the mysteries, the why of it all. Saving lives is important, but so is baking a cake and having Nijou try some cabbage and buying a mackerel or two. Everything's important, so anything he does is worth being in the show. (I could 100% be okay with Shouichi and four ladies bake cakes, no joke.) His.. I don't know, equanimity? It's calming and valuable, and I really like seeing how the show positions it as a pillar of storytelling.

The only thing I will say about kabuto is that the suits look great, the action is great, the main character is about as interesting as a brick wall. They kinda wrote themselves into a corner and the plot devolves into a mess rather quickly. That is why you don't make your main character "good at everything"

Also, when you said kuuga/agito movie the only thing that came to mind was inexplicably, a dance battle between the main two riders. I have no idea why; but I want to see a dance off between agito and kuuga

The inventor of Stomp and a man of 2000 skills against a housekeeper? I'm not loving Agito's odds! Still, if anyone's got a reason why up-to-episode-14 Agito could win a dance battle against Kuuga, let me know.

The genius is in the fact that it will be agito vs Kuuga, not Godai vs shouichi. Maybe I just wanna see the super serene agito put his ancient warrior skills to the test in a matter of EPIC DANCE MOVES.

This is a terrible idea and should in no way, shape or form be made. If it is made, I want houjo giving the commentary for a bit before gills attacks him and G3 takes over.

I mean, if you're suggesting a dance battle would undercut the intense drama of a Kamen Rider series, *gestures at the cast of Kamen Rider Gaim, specifically at Baron, I'm looking you dead in the eyes right now and pointing at Baron, do you see him, are you looking at Baron right now*

So, taking this seriously? I just don't feel like the serenity of Agito's dance moves are a match for the improvisational stylings of Kuuga. Kuuga's going to work to win over the crowd, while Agito's technical proficiency won't make up for his lack of showmanship. It's about emotional connection, and I don't think Agito (at this point in the series, anyway) has that.

Well in that case, I want it on the record that when I did my epic rewatch of all the Rider shows Yasuko Kobayashi wrote last year over in the "What are you watching" thread, I specifically included the one episode of this series she did largely as an excuse to talk about how great Ryou is. I'm doing my part! It's the rest of you who need to step it up! :p

In all seriousness though, it's warming my heart how much love you're giving Shouichi. He's always been a huge favorite of mine for how atypical he is as a lead, and it's great to see that clicking with you the same way.

Great work! You've exhibited real dedication to the fandom. +5 Rider Points, and Miu Kazashiro declares you to be the eighth-most important member of the Kamen Rider Club. Please adjust your TokuNation Scorecard appropriately.

Thanks! Yeah, I just love how sweet and heartfelt his character is. I love him because he's a gigantic, earnest dork. Honestly, that's what I want out of my Riders, the main ones, anyway. I want them to be weird and courageous and slightly dopey and funny and in desperate need of people to care about them. I think that's a main reason why Wizard never really clicked with me as a Rider. He's just, like, a cool guy. He's a former soccer player who becomes a motorcycle-riding magic-using badass. He's always the coolest guy in the room, never loses his shit, doesn't look stupid, doesn't have any weird flaws besides always getting the same donut. And, even then, it's mostly how weird everyone gets about making him try different donuts, not his pickiness or whatever. He's too cool for me to care about, if that makes any sense. Shouichi's such a sweet puppy dog of a Rider that, like, I'd fight for him. I wouldn't fight for Haruto. (I mean, Beast or Rinko, god, yes.)

See, those are a lot of the reasons why I like Haruto so much. Especially coming in after several years of the main Rider being some form of goofball if was nice to have a protagonist who was more serious and straightforward, but without being a total dick like Tendou or Tsukasa. For me, Haruto is the one Heisei era Rider that feels like he’s the hero of a Showa era series. I don’t need that every year, but it was nice to see for a change.

And, you know, that's fair. I don't think Haruto's a flawed character. (I do think Wizard is a flawed show, however.) I think Haruto's a collection of character traits that I just find... not unappealing, per se, but dull. He's such a perfect hero that I can't invest in him emotionally. But, "emotionally", so it's totally subjective. Just because those attributes were dull for me, I'm sure they completely worked for someone else. Every Rider is someone's favorite.

I mean, not Accel, obviously, but every other Rider.

What's wrong with Accel?

Oh yeah, no, Wizard is a deeply problematic series that completely falls apart by the end. I really like Haruto, though.

And there’s nothing wrong with Accel. Wait a couple more series and you’ll find the real Kamen Rider with no fans.

Honestly, I was just picking Accel to see if someone would be all How Dare You Accel Is My Spirit Animal. I don't mind Accel! I'm mostly into the fact that folks will feel strongly about Riders I wouldn't think too much about. That's pretty fun for me to see, the passion for Riders that are barely a blip on my radar. Accel and Meteor are maybe my two least-favorite Phase 2 Riders (I don't even dislike them, I'm largely indifferent to them), and I wonder if anyone out there just, like, adores them. I guess I was trolling, a bit, to see if someone would want to argue on behalf of Ryu Terui. Somebody's probably got feelings about that guy! (I will say this: dude says the best Henshin of the entire franchise, maybe.) (To clarify, the way he says Henshin is my favorite. "Hen... ... ... ... SHIN!" It's like he's forcing it out of his body. He's going to give himself a hernia saying Henshin someday!)

As to Wizard, what kills me is that I think it gets better by the end. The last string of episodes have some smart plotting and difficult emotions. It's a lot of the first two thirds that I find criminally dull.