You could join us in our informal Let's Watch of Faiz :lol

Den-O and Kiva movie. Great to see the Den-O guys, but what the hell was Kiva doing? He didnt do shit except to defeat Negataros :lol

Oh and the ending, I think the detectives dad was Hajime. Speaking of which, what Detective doesnt have a gun? He is the police for crying out loud! But whenever the bad guy had a gun, he ran.

Faiz 08. Probably one of the best episodes so far, thanks to some really surprising twists and turns.

This show is going in a very odd direction. I know Japan don't care much for villains, choosing instead to largely just create rubber suits to knock down, so it's amazing that so far that any Orphenoch that can last out more than two episodes, becomes more relateable, more sympathetic and have had much more relevant character focus than any of our 'heroes'. Hell, given Yuji's whole killing the Orphenoch that ruined Kaido's life thing this week, they're starting to feel a lot more like heroes as all Faiz has done this far has killed random monsters.

I'm sure we can all remember heartbreak, betrayal, bullying. Times when we hated the world, and everyone in it. No I didn't actually go out and murder someone, but sometimes you were just that close. I can certainly relate to it more than wanting to be a Beautician - seriously how much of this episode needed to be dedicated to that shit?! - and the vaguely supremacist statements from Mr Drycleaner.

I get that this all leads to Takumi wanting to protect dreams but there's been at least three episodes where he's claimed to be all in, before going back on it the next episode. So I've kinda stopped expecting that to change.

Another great action helping as well, loved the obvious foreshadowing in the action and I loved the music they layered over the top. Plus fuck yeah Auto-Vajin and better than Kamen Rider W quality CGI somehow, and the fact his throttle is a...lightsaber?!

That said, the Orphenoch they revealed this week, what was the point of them? They appeared, and died, in about the space of a minute and served no purpose in that time.

W 45. Post movie, final leg!

Holy shit, are those multiple late game twists that actually work? About fucking time! Hopefully the funk is behind this show, and now we can ride good vibes to a satisfying climax.

Ryuube has just won some major points with me. Especially when his hat turned into a giant monster, that didn't look like absolute shit. I wish we saw more of Terror though, it's an interesting power, to make them so scared they never raise a sword to you in the first place. I know that they needed to build the twist, that is fine, but the show could have really done with more active long term villains.

Also, so pissed off that Mick got defeated so easily.

Eh, he is just a cat.

Anyway, watched Gaim 12-13, and Banana Gaim actually works better than Banna Baron IMO. Not a huge fan of the CGI Inves (the dragon Shin Zangetsu fights in this case), but Suika manages to look awesome despite being similar. I'm kinda bummed they're fazing out the Sengoku Drivers so soon, but at least the plot's coming along epicly.

He was the head executioner for the Sonozaki family and repeatedly proved himself more capable than every member in his family. His defeat was pathetic.

Faiz 09.

I'm actually kinda finding this show really frustrating. From W's rushed pace, to this shows cripplingly slow one. When I realised I had seen nine episodes, I was shocked, because I've yet to learn anything significant about the plot.

And although The Orphenoch's who last three episodes or more are shaping up to be very interesting, especially Yuji - and this late episode twist with Juuzo...I mean Kaido, everything we learn about the heroes is either pointless, clichéd or undermined.

Plus, with the way this show works, it's hard for a lot of it to not feel absolutely pointless. I must admit I prefer every man heroes, but once you see Takumi hand over the belt and get saved by someone else as Faiz you kinda realise how superfluous he is as a hero, especially when there is nothing particularly heroic about him personalitywise either. He literally is just a random dude who got caught in the middle. Even if they plan to twist this later, they shouldn't make their protagonists feel pointless.

Not to mention that we finally meet the President...and it isn't Mari's Dad at all, with barely a handwave as to where her father's whereabouts actually are. But at least we may finally have an identifiable villain, at least!

Yes, yes everyone watch Faiz! =)

W 46.

This episode is like a sad tale of what could have been. I liked W, a lot more regularly than I didn't, but I honestly don't think it's my new favourite Rider show. It's on track to be my fifth. As we see Ryubee dance insanely in his burning house, I find that mirrors me as this show crashed and burned around me.

Why couldn't the Sonozaki's have been our protagonists? I mean REALLY have been our protagonists. If it focused around this fucked up family, it could have been something really special. A beautifully tragedy of innocence lost. Instead they've used the Sonozaki name for asspull twists, while reducing potentially wonderful villains to nothing by never focusing any effort into them.

I mean initially Saeko and Nazca seemed like a wonderful duo. But then just as Nazca hit the apex of his greatness, he died and after that Saeko basically fizzled out. I don't understand why they replaced her with Wakana, as her change from sympathetic villain to all out hell bitch came out of nowhere despite being a character turn that the rest of the series would rest on.

And Terror, he may be our big bad, but he's been in suit for less time than most of the of the week villains have, and it isn't like he's done a whole lot outside his suit either. Even when Terror gets defeated, it's shit. Accel's CGI fight with a hat was more exciting than the fight with Terror. You don't hold out on a villain for that long, then finally let him loose and just have him get punched a few times and fall on the floor. That was absolutely pathetic.

I mean the weird thing is, the ultimate villain in this show was actually Shroud. Considering it was her who unleashed Weather, who proved to be the only threatening Dopant in the entire series. But they decided to make her just another victim for reasons I honestly can't explain.

Pretty much the whole second half of this show has been a giant mess, full of great moments but drowned out by large portions of mediocrity and some generally show breaking shit ones.

Blade Episode 1
We now present you at some random fight in Kamen Rider Blade!

Oooooo, this is some nice music which just kicked in. Has a nice metal like edge to it to be catchy and rock out to. I like it.

So the riders, or at least Garren and Blade work for some sort of military organization? That's sort of a new one as far as Heisei shows go. Didn't really expect that in all honesty. Not going to say it's a bad thing since it's pre opening, and at the very beginning of the episode. So I'll just say it's an odd little thing to discover.

I've heard both OP themes before this and I gotta say that I just love the first one. It has such a great rock and techno sound to it that makes it instantly catchy to me, and the singer's voice is really nice. That said though, what the flying hell is with that video? First it's like a freaking Michael Jackson music video, and then it's just the riders doing different poses surrounded by their bikes. And not to mention the constant appearing ad disappearing of words. Seriously what the hell? I may think that the first theme is better then the second, but good God is the second OP video better. Opening videol fail and opening theme win!

Garren why are you just now using your gun? Why couldn't you use it before Blade showed up? I know you were being attacked by bats but I'm pretty sure you still could have drawn the gun and fired it. So what, did you just want to show off to Kenzaki or something?

While the monster is still here, I'll comment on it. I like the design of it, the hair bits though not so much. Overall I think the bat monster looks pretty nice.

Blade used Tackle! It was not effective!

So to use their cards, and thus attacks, they slide the card against the weapon and then the card goes into their body? That's...very weird. Not the sliding part, that actually makes sense. The whole going into the body part though, yeah that's a bit too weird for me. Did Ryuki have to do that? Nope. You just take the card put it in your slot and then shazam, you have your weapon or attack? Did Decade have to do that? I don't know considering I haven't seen Decade. My point is, if they just slid the card through/against their weapon and then the attack happened it would be cool. But the fact that it goes into their body just makes it really, really weird.

And they seal the monsters as well? Huh, guess it must be tough to pull a monster card in packs. They're so rare that Kenzaki and Tachibana have to go out and make their own.

Shirai, I like you. I love how he's all like "Oh yeah you're now my subject for writing." Guy is eager and odd, two things I tend to like in a character. Though how did he come up with the term Kamen Rider on the spot?

Wow, this place has more security clearance then the friggen Batcave. I mean Kenzaki had to do something with his phone (not really sure what he did), had scan his hand on a stairway, and then he had to do a retina scan. I'm sure considering this is a military and scientific base that they want to keep everything nice and locked up, but isn't this a little too much?

Tachibana sure does take this Kamen Rider thing pretty seriously. Not really sure what was so innocent about Kenzaki's answer. Well maybe the part about saving Earth was a little innocent, but he was indeed hired for the job, so I don't quite get how that can be conceived as innocent. Also, why is upset that Kenzaki was sent to help him? I think the company acted smart. They saw Tachibana was getting beaten down and decided to send in reinforcements. That's what most other military organizations do. But Tachibana seems to have taken it personally, and honestly I don't get why.

So BOARD is an archeological company that saved humans? How did they do that exactly? Actually I won't worry about that too much, I'm somewhat certain the show will explain it due to the always brief plot summary available on Wikipedia.

I love this maid. Love her, love her, love her.

Shirai sure does live out in the middle of nowhere. Wait he got information on Kenzaki? How exactly did he get a hold of that? Did he read past records or something? Or did he just hack into BOARD's site and read Kenzaki's file? Shirai is really exhibiting some stalker like behavior. Shirai sure does love him some milk it seems.

Oh my God it's Xenomorph eggs!

So Shirai is a dirty little liar huh? Didn't they agree to not talk about this in public? I mean I know he isn't talking about what all Kamen Riders do, but should not telling be you're housing a Kamen Rider be part of the deal? Or is Shirai being a little devil and not going into the fine print? Oh did Amane burn him!

I take it this guy has some history with Kamen Riders? Why else would he be freaking out like a crazy person?

I also see Kenzaki has a uh, troubled past.

Damn, those are some nasty bugs if they can cause all of that damage. Oh, they combine into a monster. That's really cool. Well to me it's cool.

That's a pretty darn cool henshin sequence. I like how the cards form the belt strap and that they fly around the user before locking into place. I like how the card gets flipped around too, though I bet it's a pain in the ass to do with the toy belt. Oh and the whole running through the square thing to get the suit is pretty cool as well.

So that was Blade. Well it was something. The music was pretty nice, a bit softer and in my opinion kinda had a slight country feel to it. The camera work was nice but was a bit too much at times, especially when we saw Tachibana and the boss arguing and it was spinning around them. That was just nauseating. The effects of what we got were fairly nice, though they went a little overboard with the one guy's freakout. The fight scenes were nice, but not that great compared to what I've been seeing in Faiz and have seen in Ryuki, W, Kuuga, and Den-O. The acting was alright with it being a first episode. The story was, not really there. The episode didn't really explain anything or get the ball rolling on the show's main story. So like Faiz episode 1, it comes off as boring to me.

All I can say in the end is that Blade's first episode was interesting, if just for the slight WTFs it had. I do wanna watch on though with my first five rule just to see if it can get me hooked into the show and clear some things up. But for now, it isn't the show I'll probably focus on since I have Faiz which while is definitely hit or miss right now, has me entertained more then Blade. In the end, Blade's first outing was alright but nothing spectacular.

Blade is very much a slow starter. It picks up a lot, but you have to wait it out for awhile.

Well to be fair, AccelTurbolar vs. Terror Dragon is one of the best fights in the show IMO.

Yeah the Terror Hat was realised with some really good CGI, and I was kinda blown away by just how fucked up Ryu actually got. There was almost as much blood as that time Ryu from Dairanger showed off his spring training.

Terror Hat was so cool/weird when I first saw it. Really creative... thing, too. Like an Aztec dragon or something.

Aztec mythology seemed to end up becoming a consistent theme.

Faiz Episode 6
Man they have to teach Takumi to do quite a bit. First they had to teach him to be friendly and now they have to teach him to be iron. Dude just needs help all around :lol Oh and I guess Keitaro's thing is always saying his dad use to say. Well there's one trope to add to the show's list.

Those two sound like dogs with how much they were saying baka.

Seems like the SB girl just keeps talking in circle about the whole Orphenoch thing. But doesn't really matter since Yuji ain't taking nobody's shit today. Brother charging in Rambo style. Well if Rambo didn't have guns. The room is uh, pretty bright. Is it like that to hide from the viewer what's in the room? Or is it just like that to be like that?

:lol Mari seems to be into the whole stealing thing.

Not really sure why we had a POV shot there. Or why the police were chasing Keitaro. Confused!

I like this new Orphenoch. He's got some energy to him which just makes him instantly likeable to me. It's pretty fun how he asked if he was kidnapped but didn't seem to mind because of Yuka. Not going to lie, I'd react the same way in his case.

Oh hey our lovebirds met...sort of.

:lolol OMG Mari I freaking love you. She just threw Takumi under the bus to get away with it! Oh and Yuji saying he should straighten up is hilarious. Dear lord do I love this girl.

Huh, so the new Orphenoch has all the increased hearing, but his other senses are increased as well. Cool beans. That camerawork though was annoying with how fast it moved back and forth between the two.

Maybe I became a dog...XD I think this guy may be my second favorite character, and it's only his first episode!

:lol Just a little. Takumi you never fail to make me laugh.

Oh and that part timer line, perfect.

Man the new guy is pretty strong if he held off Takumi for that long to where he couldn't henshin. And I see Yuji is about to go kick some ass. I guess if you hurt the other Orphenochs, and this his friends, you'll become victim to his fury. Makes sense to be honest. He won't kill at random but is ready and willing to protect his friends when needed. He really is quite the morally righteous fellow.

Episode 6 was pretty nice. It like the last episode didn't really have a story to it, but it more then made up for it in entertainment value. Whether it was the new Orphenoch or Takumi and Mari's little spouts, it kept me entertained throughout the episode. The action when we got it was nice, but since it was all at the end there wasn't much to offer, and thus examine.

Episode 6 was a good episode if anything just for being entertaining. That would be my best advice to somebody who saw the episode and found it bad or boring. Don't go in expecting a lot of story or seriousness. It's a comedic episode that is meant to entertain and delivers doing so. Definitely one of my favorite episodes so far.

W 47. NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE IT! Although it does kinda feel like another ending has just been stuck on with masking tape, this has so far proved to be a considerably more interesting climax.

As I'm not allowed to say the word, the DICTATOR like appearance of Utopia, the name of the Memory and also the comments about 'purity' - and the irony of the fact that he still doesn't have full sync of his memory - plus the fact that it's meant to 'grant wishes' when in reality it just steals your power and uses it against you. I mean SUBTLE.

Utopia is actually a Dopant who puts up a fight, which pretty much none of the Sonozaki's did and I never really truly understood what Terror's plan or motivations actually were. At least with Utopia I know what he is doing and I know it's BAD. Plus that final storm on the Foundation X facility, with Sho taking it all on untransformed. Now THAT was epic. I don't get why he doesn't just use Skull's Driver though?

Also Utopia looked fantastic, I guess it proves Dopants don't have to look cheap and shitty when they actually try, they just don't really want to try often. And of course he's the one with no SHF.

Other aspects of the climax were...weird. It was so weird to see everyone give up, so easily. Phillip has been unintentionally selfish a lot in his innocence so I wasn't that surprised by how easily he gave up, but Aki and Ryu too?! At least Sho still had his head on, it was an incredible moment seeing him pushed to all out desperation, screaming for Shroud, desperate to clutch to anything to save his friend. I love him.

Were Foundation X in OOO? I know that sounds stupid because I've watched the show, but there seems to be a lot of building up for Foundation X to be the big bad for all of Neo-Heisei but I don't remember them at all from outside of this, other than in some of the crossover films. It's a shame, because it's a pretty fantastic concept.

So are they ever going to explain Fang? Given that Phillip was never alive, he could never have been the body for W, which explains a lot. But at the same time, he was able to be the body when it came to Fang, so what makes that memory unique?

I'm not sure since I haven't seen OOO. But I am curious to this as well due to that little tease we see in the episode of the medals.

No. Foundation X is a pet project of W's producer and only shows up in shows he produces (W and Fourze). It looks for awhile like it could be part of the new unified Riderverse, but it hasn't been seen since Movie Wars MegaMax and now Gaim seems to be going back to the standalone show universes.

Philip has a body. He's not a human being, but he's still real. He's a "data human." A physical manifestation of the Gaia Library's knowledge. He's still a physical being, and Fang is meant to protect him just like it does in the series: whenever Shotaro's not around.

It's coming, though. A while back, last year's Tamashii event IIRC, he was on display, with joints and everything.

And yes, Utpoia is one of my favourite villain designs. Even the memory has an awesome image, a "U" formed by two smiling faces holding hands, almost tricking you into thinking it's not the cruel thing it is. I love how his body looks like ancient armour, or a city, that's corroded and chipped away, like a lost paradise.

I wouldn't take that as a promise. Remember the saga of Figuarts Saga?

No but I have the gif somewhere.

Oh - the show didn't make it that clear. Here's hoping that Utopia comes out any way.

It's a bit of a shame, honestly, given the similarities between Rider shows, be they tech or fantasy, it would be pretty awesome to find out this mysterious organization is behind everything.

The fact that he was a physical being that can touch, transform, punch, interact with solid objects, eat, sleep and be injured wasn't clear?

I'm pretty sure we've never seen him do half of those things - and I've long since past the point where I expect tokusatsu to be consistent in these things.

He punched Ryu and Shotaro, there was the one episode he was fat, and he's multiple times been picked up by/picked up Shotaro.

Oh yeah I forgot about that fat episode :lol

I sure miss a lot when I don't check this thread over the weekend.

I'm glad I got back into watching Faiz this past week, since so many others are, and I like that somebody said I inspired them to start it. I feel so special.

I saw episodes 10 and 11 I think? I'm not sure what numbers, but hey, secondary rider Kaixa joins the show, and what a surprise, he's kind of a dick. But the appearance of the Kaixa belt was really intriguing, with some peril to the characters and of course, Kaixa's equipment is cool.

Reading everyone's thoughts on the first handful of episodes reminds me that I too thought Takumi was kind of a douche, but he seems to be a pretty swell guy right now.

I mean, sure he's full of himself, and he's kind of a dick to Kaixa first, but at least he's been almost friendly with Mari and Laundry guy, whatever his name is.

All the W talk also got me to download W again and start a rewatch. I've seen the first many episodes a number of times, so I jumped right to the Sweets and Virus arcs (cuz of how the episodes were bundled in the torrent).

The show is pretty solid by this point, in my opinion, and since I know it only gets better, I'm really excited to see more. Except I'm limiting my time for rewatches to Sunday night.

Speaking of rewatches, I also started Kiva over again, and I don't care what all the haterz say, I still love it. I love Wataru and Megumi and Yuri and Otoya and Kivat and Castle Doran (queue epic organ music).

Opening my eyes for more Faiz tonight.

It was me who said I was inspired by you! I think after Faiz I may rewatch Wizard, see how it is a second time where I can't catch up to the show as it's being aired.

W 48.

This final arc has been amazing for Sho. He's left with the impossible conundrum. Does he let Phillip die, but save everyone else, or does he let Phillip live but have everyone else suffer because of it? Sho cannot win, or become the hero, no matter what side he chooses. It's a very mature, true to life scenario that I've come to expect from W. Plus Sho's crying is probably the most genuine, real feeling display of emotion I've ever seen in toku. What an incredible goodbye.

That said - there is always a but - this was kinda ruined by being well...kinda dumb. Firstly, Sho goes into battle untransformed just to avoid killing Phillip, but when that doesn't work he just immediately accepts it and transforms which in itself is dumb enough. But this whole time he's had the Driver that allows him to turn into Kamen Rider Joker? So why not do that? Or, since Ryu is down, why not use his Driver? The man who can wield Xtreme can surely wield Trial? It just seems like there were loads of options to avoid all of this, and as the show just kinda ignored them it felt contrived.

Utopia - like Nazca - you'll be a villain I'll really miss. You came too late to really have a lasting impact, sadly, but you become the best villain of the show in such little time and that really says everything. I'll probably miss you more than Phillip.

Shotaro didn't have the Lost Driver, though. He lost it fighting Eternal, remember? Philip made him a new one as a present.

Also, it's at this point that I must confess my feelings towards episode 49. Depending on how much you like the ending of this, episode 49 may or may not count as "real" to you.

He didn't destroy it though, did he? And even if he did, then he should have used Ryu's or opened the present. Like seriously, there were options here. It wasn't a do or die scenario.

Emotionally I liked the way episode 48 ended, but I found the whole scenario painfully contrived.

Yup, used "Unicron" Mazimum Drive and vaporized it.

Ryu was hospitalised, and he didn't have time to go running around the city. It was do or die, as the Gaia Impact was almost finished when he "beat" Utopia. Had he wasted any time he wouldn't have made it.

Plus, the only way he beat him was untransformed. When he took Narumi's hat, and the emotion it personafied, that was what Utopia couldn't overcome. Utopia easily dispatched Accel before.

How was he supposed to know what was inside? he still didn't want to believe the only way to win involved losing Philip, so he never opened the present, and Philip never told him what it was.

Plus, Philip and Shotaro transformed because Shotaro didn't beat Utopia by himself. There was only one way they were gonna end it, and Shotaro couldn't avoid the truth anymore.

Just wait, he gets worse.

How many secondary riders have been assholes right out of the gate?

'Cuz really, I only think Birth was actually a cool guy when he first appeared. Everyone else has been butt-chinned. Even Accel to an extent.

Oh I didn't realise it got vaporised.

Sho had the time to go to Shroud for help, so it's bullshit to say he couldn't have taken the time out to do other things. The whole charging up the Gaia Impact thing was a contrived device in a contrived scenario.

But he didn't beat him untransformed? I don't get it? I just thought the hat blocked the attack? Is this a scene that appears in the next episode or something?

If Phillip had communicated, this could have been avoided, thus it was contrived. Given that it's Kamen Rider I can't wait for him to come back to life next episode and render this all pointless any way.

He has his own day for a reason :lol

Everything is contrived if you put it that way.

Things may not have gelled perfectly, but it's hardly so unexplainable that it falls to pieces, especially consideirng Shotaro always acts impulsively, and without full thought. He plays it by ear. It's still, IMO, the most solid KR finale next to OOO, and more satisfying in the grand scheme because OOO was a lot of nonsecical repetition before it's finale, verses W's penultimate episodes being more solid.

When I say "beat" I mean "he didn't destroy him in the building when the Gaia Impact blew up." He set him back, beat him in battle, but not the war. Philip and Shotaro did kill him, though, as Xtreme.

And that's why, to me, 49 is not the real ending. I know I'm spoiling, but you're smart, you can tell this death isn't permanent. I don't think anyone seriously thought it would be. The way he comes back isn't horrible, and actually kind of touching with the Sonozakis, and Shotaro sort of growing in comparrisons to Narumi Soukichi, but yeah they go for a happy ending with all the heroes back together.

Which is not to say I don't like happy endings, but W had the perfect ending in 48. If they wanted to bring Philip back, they should've done it in a movie, and had lots of build up and it be something that didn't happen an episode later. A proper revival, seperate from the series, so you could choose to keep the "original" ending intact if you wanted.

W had quite a few good movies, but still not as many as it deserved. Especially with Eternal's ridiculous "Oh but he was a good guy says this one girl who comes from nowhere" flick taking up what could have been.

I dunno. I really haven't enjoyed W's lead up, or the pay off either. It isn't quite as terrible as Fourze was by the end, but it's no OOO.

"had lots of build up and it be something that didn't happen an episode later." this piece of sentence, kinda sums up my feelings of W in general. I liked W, more often than I didn't, but I find the show this feels closest too is Wizard and I'm just a little more attached to Wizard than I am this.

Both were shows that weren't defined by having one strong half, one weak half as both shows were ultimately mediocre but a sort of admirably consistent mediocrity that at least meant you always knew what you'd get, which means you could never really be disappointed - I guess sorta like McDonalds.

The problem is though, when W did things well it did it SO FUCKING WELL that the mediocrity of everything else became frustrating because it showed how good this show could be, if it actually wanted to be. But instead it was just tripping over piles upon piles of terrible creative decisions.

Ultimately, like a lot of shows, W's problem was pace. W knew how to create good pay off, but the show never seemed to have a clear idea of how to get to it and was often tripping over itself to provide pay off, forgetting these things are all in the build up. And when the build up is bad, we lose investment in the proceedings and then even good pay off falls flat because we just don't care.

And that is kinda the thing. We had a few filler arcs, the Sonozaki's started dropping like flies without putting up any kind of fight, not that it mattered as they were a mixture of never being relevant in the whole show, or not being relevant for a long time and then there was this stuck on with masking tape final arc, which was bound so tightly in contrived storytelling that the regular good moments were strangled to the point of lifelessness.

I think it's best if I just pretend this show ended when Weather was defeated.

Faiz 39-44

39 and 40 really felt like the end of an arc with Takumi becoming Faiz again and gaining Blaster form. And that badass line transformation.

I like the new villain introduced in 41, he had a different motive then Smart Brain and actually used his resources rather then relying on the whims of random Orphnoch street thugs and his Lucky Clover buddies.

The most awkward thing I have ever seen in Kamen Rider was when the orphan kid was freaking out and wanted to be left alone and Osada pulled up her skirt because she knew that would calm him down...... the fuck Inoue?

Also, Mari in a bath. (Yes, I'm 15 and she's 15 in the show and I find her cute now shut up about me being a pedo.)

Osada's death was actually really well done for not showing Lucky Clover-bitch attacking her. Although I find it odd that Inoue used the "death before going on a date" just like Ryuki with Zolda. I just find that trope weird because it seems like to set up for a positive payoff because twists it into a different direction and I really find it odd.

They really did cut down on the Kusaka bullshit this time around because THANK GOD, that was unbearable at points earlier in the series.

So, I presume the series is going to end with the Riders beating the Orphnoch King? Since if the Lucky Clover shit from a majority of the series is what we're ending on, then I won't be satisfied.

Well that's the best part about the forum, it's all personal opinion. You say it's pacing is bad and certain things fall flat, I disagree because personally I never felt that way. Actually I rarely ever agree with you on any points you make in your episode reviews. But once again that is because I am me and you are you. Sad you didn't get into it as much as I or some of the others do, but hey, apples and oranges.