It's the head.
Or I'm just insane because I think the green and gold is a nice color mix :lol

I'm even more insane I love Leangle's look. Not my favorite rider look but still awesome.

Ryuki 13-15

Kitaoka you sneaky bastard. He plays these Rider battles pretty smart, making Shinji believe he killed Goro to make him lose the will to fight ad get eate by Dragredder.

Goes to show Ren should be less of a prick and tell people things, but it was all solved by the end of 14, so it's cool. The stingray rider's pretty cool, nice to have another benevolent one. It was actually pretty cool of Ren to sorta stick up for Shinji by calling him a decent person. Kitaoka's having none of that benevolent shit though.

But man, Ren really does go out of his way to be a prick to people. The scene in fiftee where he roughly bumps into people, only to punch them when they try ad retaliate? Yeesh...

The new Rhino rider has a pretty cool design. Too bad he's sort of a piece of shit, though. Probably the most evil one so far after Scissors, though there hasn't bee that may Rider's introduced yet, so who knows?

And uh...you can just take other Rider's cards?! That's weird...Given how the belt ad the cards just sort of materialize out of nowhere, I just sort of assumed that was impossible.

Since it's partly Christmas themed, I'm watching W & Decade Movie Taisen 2010. I love this movie, it's what made me a die hard Kamen Rider fan! :D

So I watched Shin Kamen Rider Prologue and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Not my favorite thing but quite good to me. Felt very much like some of the Heisei Era and Showa Era Rider stuff, it was a bit slow and could have ended a bit better but I liked a lot of ideas it had especially with Shin himself. Wish there was more fighting in it because it was really brutal and good. My plan was watch the entire 90's trio so it's between ZO or J next.

ZO and J are much better. I slightly prefer J, personally, but that's mostly because the story doesn't feel as badly compressed as ZO's. ZO has the better visuals, though, by a healthy margin.

I am thinking about watching ZO then J because J has the guy who played Geki from Zyuranger in it and I liked him.

Ryuki 16-21

Wow so uh. Shit wet down in these eps. I was planing on watching like three but I got carried away. Dunno where to start...my thoughts are muddled at the moment and I don't exactly have these episodes super fresh off my mind, but here goes nothin':

Ryuki: Gotta respect Shinji's determination to be a hero in a situation that odes not call for one. But man he doesn't seem to have much luck in his goal to stopping the Riders from killing each other. Doesn't mean he won't try though.

He does seem to rethink if he's doing the right thing once he finds out that other Riders...Or at least Ren and Tezuka might have their own reasons and personal stakes for participating in the Rider War. Time will tell if this affects his opinion.

Asakura seems to push Shinji's patience to it's limits though. Someone with no reservations or doubts about killing at all ad seems to enjoy it? To the point that Shiji fought him with killing intent? Seems like those confrontations will get pretty interesting...

Knight: So Re's reason for being a Rider is finally known to Shinji and Tezuka. We also find out the reason he acts like a prick all the time is 'cause he feels he has to stay cold and distant if he wants to stay in the Rider fight and accomplish his goals of saving Eri. Which...would be more effective if there wasn't a flashback a couple episodes back of Eri telling Re to stop acting like a prick all the time.

But yeah, for all of Ren's talk of Shinji being the wrong kind of person to participate in the Rider war, it seems he isn't without some reservations himself, since he was unable to kill Gai. But he doesn't want these reservations which is why he...temporarily teamed up with Asakura?

I dunno, but it seems like he's...sorta back on the side of the few good Riders. I guess. You can never tell with this guy.

Scissors: Dead.

Zolda: Kitaoka's pretty awesome. Might be up there with Shiji as my favorite Rider on this show, but I know there's more to come so who knows? He didn't show up THAT much, but he did some pretty cool stuff. Deciding to show up at the restaurant so Asakura would free the hostages, though that seemed partially uphold his rep, was pretty cool of him. And he did show some concern when Reiko was attacked by what could be Asakura. But then again, that was Reiko, so...

He seems to be taking the Rider War kinda lackadaisically for someone who's wish is to win it and cure his incurable illness. Like he's not actively seeking out Riders to fight, he's just sort of going with the flow to see where that takes him. Even Kanzaki had to tell him to hurry up the pace.

Not much to say on Goro right ow other than he's pretty cool too.

Raia: Alright so Tezuka the fortune teller. Didn't know what to think of this guy at first, but it's nice to have another heroic rider. The same goal as Shinji to stop the Rider fight, but he seems to think everyone's fate is inevitable no matter what. Goals seem kinda conflicting, but I guess that's what he has to learn from Shinji.

Weirdly his whole fortune teller schtick seems to apply everywhere, even in battle, since he felt he can't predict the frog monster's movements since it was so sporadic. Still nice to see him tell that one lady that despite her luck looking bad, her fate was still up to her. And look, when a mirror monster attacked, they saved her!

Though, Tezuka does have a bit more experience than Shinji, so he seems to know a bit more of the stakes of the Rider War ad being the one to tell him that others might have a going along with it. Gotta wonder where he gets the fortune telling powers from.

Gai: I forget the rhino dude's real name, but man what a shithead. Planning to set up a bloody battle royale throughout the city 'cause your rich and bored. What a piece of shit. Well, Asakura's taken him out now, so he won't be bothering anyone anytime soon.

I wonder if his contract monster actually liked him enough to seek revenge....or if it's just pissed that it was robbed of it's contract holder.

Ouja: This guy....So this is pretty much the most villainous rider I've seen. Whatever he does just seems to make the situation more intense. Which is sort the reason Kanzaki saw fit to make him a rider in the first place. The other riders just seemed to be mulling about on the whole fight to the death thing.

Currently it seems his most primary targets are Shinji and Kitaoka, but he's the seems like he'll go after anyone in general. I doubt he'll get any kind of sympathetic scenes, right? You kinda know someone's gonna be a massive villain, in his actions made Shinji think about killing him.

Yui: I feel really bad for her each time more of her story is revealed. The old professor fro ma few episode previously saying it'd be best if she'd never been born was bad enough...but now her gradmother's hiding things about her childhood, going to her childhood home gives her weird headaches, she constantly sees her brother giving off vague hints about his plans through mirrors, and whatever the hell was going on with Tezuka not being able to read her future or seeing anything at all. Yeessh....

Still she seems determined to find out the truth. She definitely won't like whatever she'll find though...

ORE journal people: There are various points in these episodes in which the editor and Shimada act like actual journalists. Frightening. That's how dark a a turn the Ouja episodes can get.

But really, I like how involved they are in things. They don't seem like...entirely pointless comic relief. Though I guess they were always fairly involved sorta especially Reiko. I kind a like getting to view things from their angle of the story too.

Kanzaki: Hmm...dunno what entirely too say yet, thought I have a lot of questions. Primarily what his plans are for the Rider War, since there's gotta be more to it than just wanting to see what happens if a bunch of people with powers fight. I'm suspecting it has to do with Yui, obviously, ad whatever that fire was in their old house. But uh...I don't have much else to go on.

Well looks like I will have to watch episodes 10-15? Of Ryuki since I have been sorta slackin' but the Gaim!

Episodes 1 and 2 of Double:

Akiko is kind of annoying. Marina's actor kinda sucks at acting, and was that dude with Nazca's belt naked? I liked these episodes, though.

His head doesn't bother me too much. I think Leangle's design is ok.

Yay! Another brother of W! :D

Don't worry about Marina, she never shows up again after this. :lol

I figured as much.

My sister is watching it with me, since I was listening to Nobody's Perfect (hard Boiled Jazz Edit) once, and my sister heard it and fell in love with that song, so she was interested in checking out Double. (Akiko really bothers her. :lol)

Little did she know that the character in which that song belongs to is dead. :lol

Not really, I told her "Yeah, that guy? He dies in the first episode." :lol

When she saw the blood she cringed a bit, then kinda flipped out when I said "You know, this is a kid's show in Japan." :lol

Wait until she sees Shin. :lol

I thought Shin was for the adult fans, considering the well...

FATALITIES!

Still based on a kid's show though. :lol

True.

Okay, seriously, who made the Virus dopant sneak in? Not that I dislike the thought of everyone watching W, but it's kinda scary that so many people started watching it lately xD

I find it funny that the sentai that everyone (including myself) seems to be watching at the moment is Goseiger which aired the exact same year as W... maybe everyone is just in a "look back at 2010" phase at the moment. :lol

There was not enough fighting in Shin, it was short and brutal but it needed more!

Blade 34-39

Damn, still good despite the Kenzaki lurker two parter in there. I don't understand why the hell the Tiger undead hangs around Mutuski all the time considering she's his queen card.

Kenzaki using King's sword against him was awesome along with debut of Blade King. Minor complaint, but Blade defeated King and used King form in the same episode, I'd have like to have seen an episode in between to spread it out.

Yay! Tachibana's back to being a good guy again! Seriously, why was Tachibana getting all caught up in his beliefs again? Seriously, he fell for another Undead's trap just like last time with Peacock Undead, this time being Trial B. And I knew that the story had to pull out at least one Undead made to look like a dead person plot, with Hirose's dad.

Gaim Episode 6

So Durian... he's a creepy guy named Pierre... OOO, I think we have a problem! :lol

So, I finished The Next. As a movie, I liked The First more, as that one felt more like a "Kamen Rider" movie. This one felt much more like a horror movie with Kamen Rider shoehorned into it. Definitely much darker than the previous, and the mutant pop star killing everyone for no reason (or at least not a well explained one) kind of ruined what would have been a great V3 remake for me. However, I did enjoy the suits and final fight sequence, especially all three riders standing together on the stairs. Still not sure exactly what happened to Chiharu, nor why the movie was written as something that feels so far removed from what The First was like. Also, why was Chiharu both with Kikuma and V3?

Overall, I thought this movie was okay, and I think a different plot would have helped it immensely. I think The First did a better job at being a remake, as this movie left me wanting another V3 remake sans horror elements. There were some cool moments like V3 absorbing the flames in the burning building and the fact that Hongo punched through a guys arm...lengthways.

I also have absolutely no idea as to what to think of that sequenced after the credits. Is Chiharu somehow still killing people, while the Kamen Riders have become cultural icons? Were The First and The Next just fantasy sequences based on the Kamen Rider game machines? Were the movies fiction, while the murders are reality? That part left me with more questions than answers.

I am so, so sorry.

Been a few days off, but finally back to watching Hibiki. Up to episode 27 now, not much longer before the shifts in production.

Still a lot of questions to be answered, am enjoying the shift into the summer season though, having smaller makamou to fight has been much more enjoyable for me than the larger ones, save for the finishers being a bit less epic (most of the time it's just Hibiki going Kurenai and making quick work of them).

I seriously hate that we don't have figuarts of any of the Hibiki riders. This is the only hesei series that we don't have them for right? Hell don't we have most of the showa era seasons covered too?

Hibiki's toy sales were really, really bad. I assume that's why Bandai is dragging its feet on the Figuarts. It is kind of bullshit, though, that now we're finally to the point where all that's left are the 90s movie guys and Hibiki and Bandai's response is to start remaking the other Riders (and Shin - how the hell is Shin getting a Figuart before Hibiki?).

I'd buy Hibiki Figuarts. I dunno if I'd buy them all, but I'd buy as many as I could.

Ryuki 22-24

Aw man, Tezuka's gone. Just as they got to his backstory. I liked they way they covered how he has an understanding of how some Riders in these battles might have good reasons for participating and why he wants the Riders to stop trying to kill each other through his friend Yuuichi, who could've become a Rider to cure his injury but instead chose to to fight since he didn't want to become a murderer.

I can't say his death wasn't sorta fitting in a way though to his arc. He changed the fate by sacrificing himself to save Shinji, who he believed would be the one who could change the fate of the Riders. So yeah fitting, but he could've lasted a bit longer.

Those survive cards are pretty awesome. Even gives the mirror monsters an upgrade. I don't understand Ren's insistence to continue to act like a disaffected prick, when he's essentially a good guy, but alright...

We get a bit of Asakura's past. It's tragic and makes it sort of understandable of how he fell off the ddep ed, but...still don't feel particularly bad for the dude. He goes around killing people because they "vex" him.

Shinji thinks he can change him though, with the news of Asakura's brother still being alive. Good thing something gave him the push he needed to try and stop the rider war since Tezuka's sacrifice for him affected him pretty bad.

He plans on changing Kitaoka too, and at first I thought he might be abit easier to convince to stop the fighting tha Asakura, but eh...the dude's super self centered. Goro being kidnapped did gnaw on his conscience and he did finally give in and decide to save Goro, though, even if it was too late so who knows?

And uh...oh Kanzaki just stopped the Rider War. Um...alright? I guess he can do that. How powerful is he anyway? I mean I suppose he could appear and disappear at will, but can't the Riders jsut...I dunno, just distract him by making him talk to Yui, then jump in the mirror world to beat the shit out of him?

Blade 24-25

Man, this is way more bike action than I'm used to in Kamen Rider :lol

Episode 28 of Hibiki.

Really liked this episode. We got to see a bit more on how the puppets, as well as the douji and hime all work and the series finally seems to be moving to look into the bigger picture rather than just being a monster of the week sorta run.

Was nice seeing another oni as well, Eiki has a pretty cool design.

And the relationship building between Asumu and Hibiki, plus the girls back at Tachibana's.

Watched Kamen Rider ZO and immensely enjoyed it. The story was pretty good, the action was really good too. He also is pretty brutal; punching through people and breaking the spider woman's leg off and impaling here with it was awesome. The animation was interesting for the time. I really love the suit and how much he was a hero protecting the kid. Great movie honestly and can't wait for J.

Just wrapped up episode 29 as well. This pair of episodes are amongst my favorite this season so far. A lot seemed to happen, from a better look into how the puppet, douji and hime, and makamou stuff works to some really good moments between Hibiki and Asumu, great send off to the first half of the season. If I remember right, the next episode is where the production changes occurred, so we'll see how big of a difference that makes.

Edit: Watching episode 30 now, the first episode after the change in production.

First thing I notice, where the hell is my intro by Asumu? The hell.

Secondly, Kiriya is a dick.

Third, that sushi looked delicious.

Fourth, even though I noticed this before we were introduced to Kiriya (whatever, my thoughts can be out of order), nice seeing even more into the goings on of the mystery couple behind the makamou. While part of me did like things being kinda shrouded in mystery, I do enjoy seeing that mystery slowly revealed to us too.

Fifth, that guy getting burned to ash by the makamou was pretty gnarly. Which brings up another point, I'm actually really surprised at how violent this season has been. From people being fed to monsters, dissolved and fed to monsters, impaled and fed to monsters, the blood (even if it isn't red) when the makamou or douji/hime are attacked, etc. the blood when the oni are injured, that just took me off guard. Especially since this season is sorta recent, I'd have figured by this time they'd have toned it down considering how tame modern seasons have been.

Sixth, Kiriya is a dick. And a showoff.

Seventh, well he apologized for calling Asumu boring, so he's..not a complete dick?

Eight, ok so Kiriya invites Asumu over to thank him for the day prior. He's aight.

Nine, so I kinda have Kiriya figured out. He's a bit of a humble braggart, though him faking the sprained finger seemed a bit odd to me (at least it seemed like he was faking it to me). He came off like a bit of a dick at first, but now, I dunno, he seems to be genuinely trying to be friends with Asumu, and aside from his tendency to showoff how much better he is at everything, he's not really that much of an ass. And he seems to have some personal problems as of yet unexplored.

Tenth, Hibiki is his father?!?!?!

If you want to stop now, I won't think any less of you. Quite the opposite, in fact.

No. No, he isn't.

No, I will see this through. It's been one of my favorite seasons up to this point, and good or bad I want to finish it. I mean I stuck with Dexter until the end. It can't get THAT bad.

Ah well, kinda figured that wouldn't be the case.

Episode 31 went down smoothly. I actually rather liked the plot with Asumu getting to know his father, and I'm still not quite sure what to make of Kiriya entirely.

Next episode looks to be an upgrade form arc, should be good. Kurenai form was alright, but it was a palette swap more than anything, so getting something new will be a good refresh.

And curious to see what the mysterious couple are up to with their new experiment they've been hinting at.

Yeah I think I'm one of the few who didn't mind the second half of Hibiki. It actually had some good story arcs. The one with Ibuki and Akira and the one with Zanki and Shuki were pretty good I think. The ending could have been better though. I found Kiriya to be annoying to the point that I'm having a hard time appreciating Yuuto in Den-O as I'm watching it now.

Speaking of which I'm at ep 23 already. Holy hell so now Ryoutarou has five Imagins? Wonder what form would Sieg be? I found his voice familiar so I researched on it and found out he voiced Hiruma in Eyeshield 21. I loved that anime.

Sieg doesn't really stick around. He mostly just appears in the various movies, and even then he usually just randomly shows up out of nowhere to help out.

Hey NGW, since it is fresh in your mind, what are the episodes of Hibiki that had all of the Onis teaming up to take out the mutated monsters that were teaming up? I thought it was 21, but that does not seem to be right. I also want to say it was the episode where Ibuki saw the man and woman walking down the street and tried to follow them.

BTW, you definitely want to stop now. DO NOT PASS GO!! JUST GO HOME!! Once you hit episode 32 or 33 your ears will bleed and you will want to stab your eyes out.

Anyway, outside of Gaim and Blade, I haven't watched anything KR related recently. It has more to do with not needing the temptation to get some more Figuarts as I don't have any money to buy any new Figuarts outside of those I already have preordered (especially since I am trying to play catch up with MonsterArts).

When I do head back into the KR world, what series should I tackle? Or give another shot to? I've got all of Amazon to watch and I believe KIT is more than halfway through Skyrider, so it is a show I'd be able to take my time with. Or maybe it is Stronger they are halfway through with... Or do I want to give Den-O and Kabuto a rewatch since they first aired?

They're a little over halfway through Skyrider. Stronger only has seven episodes left to go. KIT has really slowed down this year, though, so I'm not sure how long it will take to get through those, especially with Akumaizer now in the mix. Amazon is fun, though, and really short.

The one where the two combined into a single one? That was 21 and 22 I think. If not that, there's been a couple other times where the three riders joined up.

No, I started this and I will finish it. I mean it can't get worse than Wizard was at times.