I find it super ironic that the Scouting Panda Progrise Key's ability is 'search' whereas actual pandas have poor eyesight.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d6/2a...b04d9251e7.png

So I just saw the Metsubojinrai movie today and on top of it being really good, I can't help but think that I want to see a special where Metsubojinrai interacts with Heart, Brain and Medic. I feel like they'd really get along.

I don't know where else to put this, but I finished the original Kamen Rider manga release from Seven Seas Entertainmen over the weekend and need to talk about it. I knew some parts about it beforehand, but not the end. Jesus.

It's 50 years old by now, but just in case someone is planning to pick this new release up in the near future and doesn't want to get spoiled I'll put it in tags:

The final arc of the manga deals with "Project October", a plan by Shocker to flood the market with high-tech TV's and wristwatches which in combination with a giant machine brain can control people's free will.

Kamen Rider infiltrates the secret base, faces the final enemy "Big Machine" who in their fight reveals - it wasn't Shocker who put this plan in motion. It was the Japanese government. Shocker simply found out about their plans while they were already happening, jumped into action and usurped the plan for their own gain.

So yes, one final revelation of Kamen Rider is that the government wanted to put mind-controlling devices out there. At the end there's even a panel were a TV-broadcast is being watched in which a politician who is confronted with these claims just says "I won't resign!".

Ishinomori never did feel the need to pull his punches, damn.

Been reading it before going to sleep for about 10 minutes at a time, only on the Man-Bat chapter, so I appreciate the spoiler tags. Very excited to see where the story goes, I'm loving the horror-esque style of the art. Definitely fits the very grim feel of the first few episodes of the original series. Ichigo and the kaijin I especially adore the way the art makes them look less like people in suits, and more like animalistic monsters

The spreads were its just this giant image spread over two pages is where I had to stop and look at for minutes. It's so good.

Actually, there are lots of pages with no text at all but I can’t help but gaze at the art.

My favorite page though, out of the entire thing is this, just for the monologue alone:

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

I loved that page too! The art has been so good! Gorenger's art was pretty good, but it didn't have nearly as many pages where I just stopped for a minute to admire it. Ishinomori was absolutely incredible

I don't know if it was some early drafts, a supposed 'leak', but I could've sworn one of the ideas for ZI-O was that Geiz and Tsukuyomi were siblings?? I have no recalling of that information, but I swear I read it before.

I had the random idea yesterday (after seeing someone's Zi-O Decade design) for an actual Ziku-Decade Driver.

Basically Decade ridewatch still has the side slot, but goes on the Rider side, with the side slot covering the year counter and modified to take rider cards.

Changed rider cards display the rider logo and year sideways on the back, displaying them forward when inserted into the slot.

It makes me sad that Revice is better then Saber, or at least that it's quality and interactions with tropes are more fresh/interesting. It's hard to look at something you like and start to see more and more flaws. If anyone wants to talk saber I'd enjoy hearing what you think.

I'm that way with Gaim. Like, I still have a lot of love for it, but over the years people have made more and more criticisms where I'm like "That's fair", and sometimes it can leave you wondering if you were mistaken in the first place. But that's fine. Something doesn't have to the best, or perfect, for it to find a place in your heart.

I've not seen Revice yet, but I did watch Saber, and while there were some bits that didn't catch me, I still had a good time. Ren and Dezast, Rintaro's difficulty betraying his family, all the stuff about stories inspiring us in the endgame, those all hit the mark!

The key is simply realizing that even if something is flawed, that doesn't take away from the experience you had with it, and it's ultimately up to you if the things people say they don't like about the work bothers you or not. If you had a good time with it and/or if it's special to you, that's all that matters, really.

I've accepted Saber's flaws long ago. Highly flawed or not, I had a blast with it and is gonna be a personal favorite for me. I love the characters, even ones a majority seem to dislike like the Shindai siblings, the suits are all cool (except Solomon), I think Touma's fine as a protagonist, he certainly does less polarizing things than the rider before him :lol, and I'm definitely looking forward to the V-cinema.

Revice so far is doing just fine with me, it just has some decisions that I'm not too particularly fond of that keep it from elevating itself. Not too big on some suit designs (Volcano and Live are ones I don't like), I think Vice is a discount Momotaros who should've been in a physical body after Barid's debut, Daiji is so far the most disappointing secondary rider for me of the three Reiwa shows, but show's not over yet so it hasn't been a make or break thing.

One thing I'd like to see though, is if Revice can keep itself stable as it goes on and if it can one-up Zero-One.

Solomon is a fantastic suit though!

I haven't posted on here in months, but since we're talking about this, I might as well:

Personally, I'm not having as much fun with Revice as I did with Saber and Zero-One. I'll admit that Revice is probably the better made show, and I do like it, but so far it hasn't really stuck with me like the other two did. Despite both shows making some questionable writing decisions, they're still two of my favorites.

Also I don't care what people say. Aruto is a good protagonist and Cross Saber is the best final form.

If it's as a drawing or in certain lighting, sure. But the physical suit? The cardboard texture is surely throwing me off. Storious is the superior repaint.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FEM_Zura...jpg&name=large

Saber nor Revice have clicked with me the way Zero-One did. And even Zero-One isn't a top tier season for me. Build was the last season I truly loved.

But Saber has more an "insane dumb fun" factor. I find Revice to just be boring.

For me personally I've been really liking Revice, to the degree it might actually end up my favourite since Build. Some of the earlier episodes were a bit rough, but past that it's a show that's gotten better every episode for me with some very clever and well-done characterisation. Saber didn't really do anything for me and 01 had a lot of issues in making more than a couple characters interesting, and Zi-O was uh. Well I liked it but I'm not gonna pretend it's good :lol So it's been fantastic vibing with a Rider show again.

Two things for two different shows
I just remembered there's a Mexican wolf and I could see that popping up in Revice due to the whole Go/Julio arc.

Also Kento in Saber isn't only trying to sacrifice himself cause he think he needs to save the world, but because he values his life less then he does others. He thinks he has to die to repent for the sins his father committed. Touma sees value in every person, especially Kento. This is probably obvious to most people.

I've been watching Ghost for the first time lately, and I'm actually enjoying it decently, but the protagonist feels like a third wheel in his own show.

Wow, I didn't feel that way about Makoto at all.

I know, right?! Alain's barely getting any focus. Don't worry, he'll start doing more in the 10s :lol

But seriously, I feel like the 'Drive situation' happened to Ghost for a bit where the main character has little to do with the conflicts of the story, but he's there anyway. Shinnosuke has little relation to do with the Roidmudes up until Deadheat debuts whereas Gou and Chase have some connections to the enemy.

Takeru's thing is collecting the Eyecons, but Alain and Makoto have things to do beyond it as well as connections to the lingering plot behind the scenes.

Not that it's necessarily bad, but it's just a thing I notice.

:lol You joke, but I was commenting yesterday as I watched that I'd prefer Makoto and Takeru if they swapped roles This in spite of the fact that so far Makoto has basically gone from overly confrontational, to brainwashed, to stuck in a body capsule with only a few moments to really shine between that chaos!

I'm actually about half way through the show! What triggered my comment in the first place was the fact I'm really enjoying the characters for the most part. Akari and Onari are great, Cubi is wonderful and I hope he comes back from his travels later, the other non-Riders are at least fun. Alain is a really interesting tertiary, kinda like they worked from the base of "Micchi from Gaim but with the ability to actually do some self-reflection". I enjoy everything I see from the antagonists. But then Takeru is just there, and I am really not interested in anything he has to add to a given scene, in fact I find his presense often detracts from the show a bit for me!

I think comparing him to Shinnosuke is fair, the plot treats them similarly in a lot of ways. I'm not a huge fan of Shinnosuke either, but I like him better. Probably helps that I think his actor does a better job with the role, in my opinion. I don't want to give Takeru's actor too much flak, but he was very young at the time and I think his inexperience often shows.

That's something we can't share, because I love Shinnosuke :lol

Hey, I respect it! He's a cool, cohesively written character with a ton of great moments to his name. I liked his dynamic with Krim a ton in particular.

He just isn't the most invested I've been in a Rider lead. I'm more of a Shotaro Hidari kinda gal when it comes to Riku Sanjo shows.

It's been a minute since I watched Ghost, but I feel like the show sort of sculpts itself around how much of an outsider Takeru is to these plots?

I think of it a bit like Ryuki, where the main character is frequently wondering why everyone can't get along, and all of the supporting characters have rich, vibrant motivations. (Takeru's main motivation is I Would Prefer Not To Be Dead, which is not nearly as specific and compelling as My Sister Is A Collectible.) The show basically has to pivot away from the title character's goal, and then has to reorient him as a POV hero who wants to help his friends emotionally.

I mean, yeah, Alain is great! Makoto is super interesting! But Takeru's relative blandness allows him to become this weird sort of glue for the show, where his selflessness and sacrifice help the more compelling characters reach their potential.

I don't know. I definitely felt like you felt at this point in the show - Alain in particular really saved the middle portion of Ghost for me - but I think Takeru's character really came into focus for me around the same time.

I've got a pretty similar thing going on where I last left Blade. Hajime is struggling with finding a place he belongs, with his Undead body and human emotions, and Tachibana-San is trying to prove to himself and Kenzaki that's he's strong and brave enough to be a Rider while being reliant on mysterious peacock man's magic seaweed, and then Kenzaki mainly shows up to talk really fast and then get his ass kicked by everyone else in the show. Now don't get we wrong, it's very entertaining, it's just not the role I'd expect of a main Rider. At least in Ryuki, Shinji played a big role in everyone else's life, even if he didn't have much of a plot of his own

I really owe Blade a rewatch, it completely baffled my the first time I watched it but I think my mentality was all wrong. I took the show dead seriously at the time and needless to say that isn't the best way to approach that particular show.

On the subject of Shinji-esque protagonists, I get the argument that Kenzaki and Takeru fall into the same sort of role, but I disagree. Shinji works as a protagonist because Ryuki desperately needs a character to ground the show because so many of the other characters are such desperate people. Shinji works as a connection back to reality, with his loser-ish personality and earnest desire to help people also helping to ground other characters around him. I don't know if I would consider Kenzaki a particularly grounding force in his show, since he is usually getting up to as much weirdness as everybody else, even if he does have the loser personality and earnest niceness going on. Ghost is also grounded enough already that I don't think having a protagonist like Takeru to ground it really helps the show in any way. Now Kagami from Kabuto? That is a character I think serves the same kind of role as Shinji, the only sane man in a world of unmitigated chaos.

Just wanted to post this poll. I have no idea if it's legitamite, but it is amusing

Probably not officially sanctioned, but I did spot JP users on Twitter voting when I was searching around with Hiromi's name. He's really popular!

I remember seeing that his acrylic stands always sell out frequently and fast-everybody loves Hiromicchi!

https://i.imgur.com/zrNk5PG.png
I made a thing.
At the rate Revice is going, unless they really go nuts, I feel it's not gonna surpass a C for me. Who knows, though. Some shows had weak starts and finished strong.

The fact you dislike Decade more then Ghost terrifys me a bit.

Well then prepare for trouble and make it double because I too dislike Decade far more than Ghost.

That's less to do with liking Ghost more then Decade, and more due to how much matrix dislikes ghost. I think it's also been a hot minute since I've seen matrix talk about decade, so I forgot how much vitriol they (I forgot your pronouns sorry matrix) have for decade.

Oh baby, my hatred for Decade burns so strong.
I despise Decade. It was probably the show that got me into Kamen Rider, so I thanks for that. But after the lackluster middle and ending, as well as watching the shows that came before and after, followed by a re-watching of Decade about 5 years back, it's just a trash show.

Now, I dislike Ghost greatly, too. A D is still a failing grade, after all. However, Ghost had Necrom.
I think I may be more vocal about my dislike of Ghost because I didn't like it when it aired, and only got back to it to finish off the Heisei series I skipped on. Thus it's more fresh in my head :lol

Also, I'm a boy c:

Ooh, ooh, I want to post my tier list! No fancy visuals though because I'm lazy.

S (near flawless):
Build

A (incredibly good):
Kuuga
555
Kabuto
W
Fourze
Ex-Aid
Zero-One

B (great):
Black RX
Gaim

C (enjoyable but with major flaws):
V3
Amazon
Stronger
Black
Ryuki
Wizard
Drive

D (actively starting to upset me):
Kamen Rider (1971)
Den-O
OOO
Ghost

F (painful):
Agito
Hibiki
Kiva

X (I can't mentally process this):
Blade

I'll freely admit my opinion on some of these might shift on a rewatch considering it has been quite a few years since I last saw some of these. Both Kuuga and Ryuki have risen up on the rankings after I rewatched them recently! This also made me realize I have seen so much Kamen Rider that I only need to see 6 or 7 more shows to have seen everything. I don't even know what I'll do with myself once that happens!

My ranking of Kamen Rider shows I have seen in their entirety so far is really small compared to a lot of people. Hopefully at some point in the future, it will change and it would have a very serious update accordingly.

1. Dragon Knight
2. Agito
3. Ryuki
4. Kuuga
5. Amazon

I really can't rank these things properly. All I know is that Kuuga and OOO are my Top 2 and that Decade is at the absolute bottom. Maybe I'll try to think it over when I've seen everything in like 3 years.

aight I'll add mine

S(My favorites)
Ryuki
Kabuto
W
OOO
Gaim
Build
Zero-One

A(Good Time)
Kuuga
Faiz
Blade
Kiva
Drive
Zi-O

B(It was fine)
Agito
Saber

C(Once is enough)
Hibiki
Den-O
Decade

Haven't finished/started: Fourze, Wizard, Ghost, Ex-Aid

I really should get around to finishing Faiz, but I honestly can't even make it past the 15 mark before dropping it. It just doesn't gel with me. Like, everything besides the Horse Orphenoch's story really doesn't interest me.

I'm probably gonna give Saber another chance one of these days now that some batch subs have dropped. I'm just not in a particular mood for it right now :lol

As for the reasoning behind my rankings, the four S tier shows are top notch. Kamen Rider that you can't go wrong with. Double, OOO, and Ex-Aid are universally agreed to be amazing, while I personally feel that Blade is slept on far too much. It really is just that good!

A tier are shows that you can't go wrong with. Some people feel Build and Gaim should be S tier, but I feel their flaws are just too big compared to the actual S tier shows. Agito took a bit, but it grew on me and I'd say it's definitely deserves a spot at low A.

B are the shows with major flaws, but still completely enjoyable in their own right. This tier was actually ranked in order of quality. When I first watched Kabuto, I was indifferent on it. And 5 years ago, I probably would've put Kabuto somewhere along C to even D tier. However, upon rewatching it, it's charm and style is just infectious. It's plot is insane, but otherwise, it's not bad. Drive is carried by it's cast, even if the plot isn't all that great. Fourze and Den-O are not bad, but very much shows that don't give a fuck about the plot.
Zero-One...Eh, it had potential to be A tier, but fumbled the ball and ended up bottom of B.

Hibiki occupies a curious space. If you take the first half of the show, it's solid A tier material. Different in a refreshing way. A story about growing up that also just happens to feature a Kamen Rider. If you take the series as a whole...Yeah, nawh. Because the tier list didn't include 2 pictures to represent both sides of Hibiki's coin, it gets it's own slot :lol

C tier are shows that don't have enough substance for me to really enjoy. Kuuga is adored and it revived Kamen Rider and Godai is the greatest and blah. It just did so little for me, coupled with an unbelievable amount of hype that it fell flat. A few years later I've softened on it, but I still don't see it as that great.
Also Go-Gadoru-Ba > N-Daguva-Zeba
Ryuki is a series that I watched very early on when I first got into the toku, and one I never rewatched. But coupled with such little impact it left on me alongside a story that didn't grip me, I feel it's C. Revice is still airing, but as it stands, yeah.

D shows are bad. Kiva's love story plot is interesting, but that's all it had going for it. The present day stuff is just plain bad. I hate Wizard. Beast helped, but that wasn't enough. That said, I can recognize that it wasn't all bad, even if I disliked it. Ghost is only here because it's strangely not as bad as the two shows in F.

Fuck Decade. Fuck Zi-O. Strange that both these shows are about the titular character becoming an all powerful murderer that one of their companions exists to stop. That aside, all style over substance. That's nice and all, but aside from stuff like the double Black transformation, or the Agito and Zi-O double Trinity moments, there wasn't enough to hold things together.