Yeah our Faiz watching showed how different you were to the rest of us!

That's why I really wish this stupid 49 episode min/max would just get lost. A lot of good shows get wrecked by the forced limit, and imagine how well W could ahve been if it had less episodes, thus less filler,a nd could be written entirely rather than episodes being aired just as the one four episodes away was being written.

This is another thing I have to wonder is a result, maybe, of Decade jostling things out of order, being a much shorter series One has to wonder if there were difficulties returning to the longer runtime.

W, to me, definitely ranks above Wizard because of the emotional investment it pulled. Like you mentioned, to me Shotaro's crying may be the single most believable piece of acting in Toku. Every character in W had some emotional pull for me, be it big like Accel, Sho and Philip, medium like the Sonozaki's, or small like Akiko. Yeah, she counts.

And Skull. I've never seen a movie exclusive Rider have so much lasting impact on the show, and yet never actually really appear.

Also, on the plus side, now you can watch Message from Skull and Accel Returns.

Yeah I think if W didn't have to confirm to the whole arc of the week crap, and could have been more like Gaim, pretty much all of its problems would have been ironed out.

The of the week style worked REALLY well for W in the early days, but as it became clearer so much more was going on, it seemed ridiculous that Sho and Phillip were still running around chasing low level Dopants around the city. I guess it's a testament to them as heroes, but we really didn't need that crap like five episodes away from the end of the show.

Then - as you said - the length of the show really seemed to strain the show a lot. After Accel took down Weather, it felt like the show was lurching from climax to climax, completely unsure of what to do with itself and by the end I really do think it was a bit of a nightmare.

I won't argue with you on characters, pretty much all of W's characters were wonderful and that is something that far outshined Wizard. Wizard's characters were a mess of great ideas, but W's were beautifully drawn, fully realised, people.

The only real frustration with the characters is that Aki never really grew up, despite lots of turning points for her to stop being comic relief, they kinda wasted Accel despite being AWESOME and pretty much all of W's villains were terrible.

Weather and Utopia were the only real villains to me in W. The Sonozaki's were good characters, but awful villains. The show seemed to know that, as Wakana and Saeko were obviously no longer big bads, and Terror had his own out in the show. That shot of him dancing and laughing as his world literally crumbles and burns around him is just great.

The villains also show what I mean about W being too long. Compare their time in the show, they were very brief, even though Weather is fondly remebered as a big source of upset. Had the show been shorter with less fluff, their parts would've seem much more appropriately substancial.

W is my favourite Rider show, but I'm not blind to it's problems. Some I can understand and overlook, but if I had the ability to redo it, I would redo it with a lot of changes, big and small. Thematically, W is excellent, but it's execution and delivery waver.

I will also agree on all this as well. Saeko was my favourite of the Sonozaki's, I don't think I've ever seen toku handle a female character well ever so it was a great surprise, that she was a genuinely fantastic character.

Easily the worst was Wakana, she was just so inconsistently written. She started as this prissy princess with hell bitch beneath, then got into her incestuous love affair and became a nice person and then just randomly turned all out 100 percent evil at the end for absolutely no reason. She really wasn't worth Phillip dying over, it's like Kamen Rider Great Gatsby...with incest.

I agree with this also. It's not a new favourite, but it's definitely a show with great moments that was sadly undermined by the fact that the show never seemed to really know what it wanted to be, and seemingly a pretty small budget. If they could redo the show, condensing all the key elements to a single film with a bigger budget, I think it could very well be perfect.

:lolol

Agito 49- The Man of Darkness is a real pain basically trying to commit genocide slowly. His new Unknowns are more powerful then ever, this is a dark time especially with the police believing Hojo that the Agito's are the problem. Hojo is looking ahead way to far even though he might not be wrong he has no proof. I love Shouichi and Ryou and the parallel stories they have with the new girls, it's been very enjoyable to me. Hikawa figuring out part of the suicides was good, he is a very good detective which is awesome. 2 episodes left and evil G3's it looks like.

I want to say all of them but Tackle, G3, Ibuki, Birth, and Beast.

I blame Riderman, personally. As the prototype secondary Rider he kind of set the tone that most of them wold replicate.

Decided to watch more Faiz to prolong having to finish W. Don't want it to end! So episode ten.

Given the Orphenoch's motivations, the choice to now kill the "worthless" ones seems a tad counter-productive. I get that they don't want Orphenoch's helping the enemy, it makes sense to take them out but you'd think they'd train up the weak links in their forces, rather than just killing them. Although that sure worked as good motivation for that Snail Orphenoch, sucks he had to bump into Takumi right as he got the belt back.

I really do like how it feels like stuff in this show has actual cause and effect and isn't just chucking things at the wall to see what sticks. It really does feel like stuff is really coming together, already, even with the amount of dialogue in this show which actually says nothing despite pretending to be deep and though provoking.

I also really love the way this show carefully subverts expectations. The Orphenoch's are so sympathetic, so convincing as humans...that we actually forget they AREN'T still humans. It doesn't feel out of character when they suddenly do something brutal, because that is truly who they are. It works much better here than when they've tried this thing in other series.

Plus man this show is just cool. From making Juuzo a Kamen Rider (although short lived) to the coolest idea in Kamen Rider History - Auto Vajin, this is a show that satisfies on a pure entertainment level so incredibly given the shows age and the shows that surround it. Can't wait for that New Rider next episode either!

As much as I hate the guy who ends up being Kaixa's main user, I will never deny that it is a fantastic suit that looks gorgeous in action.

Gatack wasn't an asshole either.

Though some just had misunderstandings in the beginning like Gills or had different motives like Garren or Chalice.

Garren had different motives and was going through some problems, yeah. Once he sorted them out, he was perfectly amicable. Chalice...really was kind of dick most of the time though. He had his reasons but still.

Forgot about Kagami. :o

But yeah, most of the secondary Riders mellow out eventually.

I started episode 14, and so far, I feel like I'm watching Mirror Mirror Faiz, cuz Kaixa is being a total bro, all kind and asking Takumi to point out flaws in his combat technique, and it's Takumi that's being a jerk.

I assume this is temporary, since everybody says Kaixa is a douche, but so far (7 minutes in to episode 14), he's cool and I like him.

Man am I falling behind. Been such a busy last few days I haven't been able to watch anything save for the newest Gaim.

Just now starting on episode 4 of Faiz. Hopefully I'll have some down time while I'm out on Wednesday and can catch up on Faiz on my phone (love the Dramania app). Like seriously, I need to pull a Locke-speed marathon :p

Hell, I think I'm still back like..10 pages in this thread X_x

Hell yeah bro.

But we get the awesome theme song.

Oh and I see that Locke is basically done with W now, and since Split already brought it up, **** Episode 49 it is an abomination and it never happened! I am so sick of just about every season of Kamen Rider I've watched pulling the same crap at the end. But this is a rant I've had before so..yeah.

Anyways, back to Faiz. Will probably just finish episode 4 tonight, I work all day tomorrow. Wednesday I should be able to catch up to where you guys are and pump out some reviews hahahaha.

Episode 4 of Faiz

Nice continuation from the previous episode.

Hehe, Keitaro poked the dead orphenoc with a stick. I'd do the same thing lol.

I really liked the design of the spikey orphenoc. Yuka's design looked kinda cool too. And seeing her get revenge was somewhat bitter sweet.

It's a weird contrast between the monster of the week orphenocs and the ones that I presume will have a more major role like Yuji and Yuka. The former being your generic punks snd thugs mostly so far and the latter being incredibly sympathetic. It's really nice having villains you csn genuinely feel for and get.

More Sister, I assume that's what she's called, is always nice.

Was trippy seeing an orphenoc use the driver snd actually henshin with it. Can't say I've seen that in any other season. And..dafuq was with the bike? Ooooook.

So it looks like Keitaros is tagging along rather than just being a minor weekly character like a gate. I guess he's gonna be our secondary rider down the road.

Nice to see Takumi make the decision to accept his role as Faiz. The reluctant hero bit was s decent start but I'm glad the show knew when to drop it.

Still not a lot of yhe overarching plot hinted at, but there are little bits hete and there. I assumr once they get to Tokyo thing will get rolling s bit.

No jobs added over the weekend, so all I could do was bum around like a bum. Got a two hour shift from work though, where I'm supposed to be grateful even though they know they're being fuckers.

The Orphenoch contrasts are kinda funny because 99% of them are just fodder, completely superfluous to the plot, they just give Takumi something to fight. But then the three that last more than three episodes end up growing into more fleshed characters than any of the heroes, lol.

And by the way the plot does start to move in a couple of episodes but then sorta doesn't. There's this scene, where Yuji demands answers and the reply he gets is 'we all cry when we're born, it's natural, but when we die we have a CHOICE' or some vaguely empty lol2deep4u shit and I immediately went 'oh it's gonna be one of THOSE shows'.

Agito 50- I knew that was coming for Risa, and I feel really sad for Ryou again because they seemed to hit it off really really well. I loved how they did the scene with Kana wanting to jump off like Shouichi's sister and that Shouichi and Real Shouichi saved her that scene was perfect. Hojo has stayed consistent in this series and is a douche. I loved Hikawa and Shouichi's scene and Hikawa and Ozawa's scene. I love how she called him the Ultimate Hero. Shouichi's last words of the episodes why he'll fight are amazing. One more episode and the movie then I finish Agito.

Okay, last episode of W. It's been a crazy ride and I'm glad the movies don't mean I have to get off yet. Could someone explain the post W movie order for me, please?

As a concept, I kinda liked this. W is a toku show, unlike any other. Toku revels in black and white, it likes the idea that a global threats can be personified by a single person that once killed, everything will automatically be okay. That isn't the case with the grey W.

They crushed Museum, forced Foundation X to pull the funding and STILL the battle continues, the fight shouldn't end when one person is defeated, that isn't how it works in any believable world. This is one thing I appreciate about W more than anything else.

Similarly, despite being criminally under utilized, every moment Ryu is on screen, he shows more complex development than any other character. Seeing him fight FOR Fuuto, after he was introduced saying how much he hated the place, it's just kinda incredible. He's the best main Rider that never was. My SHF Trial is literally on the way to me, shame the SHF base form sucks.

There are some aspects I was less pleased with. Like, I love that Sho is still fighting Dopants as Kamen Rider Joker, for example, but I think the way this episode personified grief was well...not good. Everyone experiences grief differently, but I still don't think after a YEAR Sho would still be doing the stuff he was doing here. And I say that from personal experience.

Plus Phillip's return. FRUSTRATION. His death was poorly realised, so it doesn't really ruin anything but the fact he comes back in like the last minute of the last episode makes it feel especially pointless and tacked on. They may as well have not bothered. They certainly didn't bother to really properly explain it.

Also, if they hadn't have bothered, then we wouldn't have to have suffered through the soppy and downright laughable heaven scene with Sonozaki's - seriously Shroud why do you still look like that while everyone else has gone back to normal? - and more vaguely incestuous moments between Wakana and Phillip. Gah.

Agito 51 (Final Episode)- That was an amazing final episode, this was an absolutely perfect end to a wonderful series. I love how Hikawa came back and fought as G3-X showing the power of the Human Spirit. Then Ryou came back saying I'm Immortal after washing up kind of like how Shouichi did earlier was amazing too. G3-X's and Exceed Gills team up finish was awesome too. Shouichi transforming into Shining Agito and kicking ass both times was amazing. Shouichi is really like King from Kyoryuger in a sense to me, crazy awesome in so many freaking ways. Hikawa and Kouno's ending was great, same for Ozawa's and Hojo's too. I love the G5 unit too. I love just randomly Ryou gets a puppy but that fits for him that he just goes with the flow and has a cute puppy now. =) The Man of Darkness getting destroyed by Shining Agito's Flying Rider Kick was really cool, and I liked his final scene with true Shouichi too. Shouichi getting his own Restaurant Agito was perfect I'm sure true Shouichi gave his money to Shouichi or something like that so he could open the restaurant. Honestly from start to finish this was a giant long story that fit perfectly no really weird tangents or anything, just an amazing story. Quite honestly I think Agito is my favorite Kamen Rider series now well it's definitely up there with OOO, Faiz, Blade, X, and Kuuga.

Honestly the 3 Riders of this series are some of my favorites of all time.

I loved that moment. It was the perfect cap on all of the character growth Terui had during the series, and has cemented him as my favorite secondary Rider.

Faiz 11.

Faiz has this uncanny ability to do lots, while actually not really doing anything. I dare you to try and name ten IMPORTANT and CRUCIAL things we learned from this episode, you can't, can you? Somehow the episode that is introducing us to our first identifiable villains, both came across as the most shallow and the most boring.

The good stuff in Faiz, is very good, but it's problematic when you could cut out about 18 minutes of every episode and have no impact on the experience. Unless dry cleaning falling in love with an Orphenoch is your idea of a good story.

You're going to fast. You started Faiz, what, yesterday? And you've already caught up to me. Granted, I took several weeks off, but still, I'll only be watching 3 or 4 a week, you're watching 4 a day it seems like. :(

Nah I've been watching it for a few days now. And until I get a new job, staying at home is the only way to not needlessly spend money.

Faiz 12.

It's frustrating, because even when this show does something right, it doesn't really do it well. The ratio of characters standing about chatting, to the proportion of people fighting is painfully twisted in the chatters direction. And for a show with such immediacy in its plot, it's amazing how much time it wastes on pointless side characters and funny - but useless - gag scenes.

It's frustrating because we have more than enough interesting dynamics, and plot details to explore and every episode only introduces even more exciting ones, so why aren't we focusing on these? Plus if it keeps introducing new stuff into the plot, before it even tackles stuff that came before, it's gonna end up like Lost all over again.

The saving grace of the show is always just how ahead of the times it is though. Whenever an episode meanders to the point of near tedium, suddenly a motorbike is now shooting with a machinegun wheel, and Faiz is fighting with a lightsaber and suddenly you can't remember why this show was ever boring

Also Kaixa's debut was just insanely cool. I really like the fact that any one can use the belts as long as they're...y'know... as it's cool to pick out your favourite powers and not have to have the decision impacted upon by characters. You guys can have Faiz, I'll have Kaixa.

I wasn't super captivated after the first episode of Ryuki so I took a break to watch some more Hurricanger. I'm back on it and just starting episode four. It does pick up a bit in episode two and I'm really starting to see the parallels others have mentioned with Gaim. I hate starting new Toku series, though, as it means I will most likely end up buying more Figuarts.

Also, Yui is pretty darned cute. :D

You picked the worse series then. 12 riders, the bike, and contract beasts. My wallet will forever hate me since I'm going all in on the Ryuki figuarts. But while your wallet will weep like mine, it's worth it. The Ryuki figuarts are the best ones ever in my opinion.

Since Knight seems astronomically expensive, I'm going to try to limit myself to primary Riders from here on out. Let's see if I can restrain myself to that policy though...

Also, Scissors has just shown up!

Just get Knight's Figma. It goes for about $30 but can go up to $45. It's cheaper and IMO the better figure.

Is there a scale difference between the Figmas and the Figuarts?

Movie War Core - Message from Skull
W Returns Accel
W Returns Eternal
Let's Go Riders (Shotaro and Philip cameo)
Movie Wars MegaMax

It really is a beautiful suit, isn't it? And not just anyone can use it, but you'll find out that story eventually. The three belts in this series all have different rules because they were made for different purposes: Delta was the prototype, Faiz was made for speed, and Kaixa was made for power. Each one responds differently when a non-Orphenoch tries to wear it.

Figuarts are a bit taller. The only real big differences is how the joints are concealed, the paint, and you don't get all of the cool extras like sliding the card slots open and some don't come with certain weapons.

I'll check into it, thanks a bundle!

Thank you!

I actually really liked the Faiz suit, but it isn't until I saw Kaixa that I realised how much better it could be. The changes that it makes are all subtle, but every change just makes the suit POP. Really looking forward to exploring the Gear.

Also, SHF Knight includes Darkwing, and the Figma doesn't, and if that's not reason enough to buy the Figuarts, then I don't know what is.

Knight is one of the best Figuarts ever made.

Darn. I guess that settles that. Ryuki Figuarts are going to put me in the poor house, aren't they? :lol

Also! Zolda arrives! He's kind of cool looking. May have to buy him, too. I have no willpower. :(

Yes, they certainly might.

Skip Gai, he's way over-priced and sadly under-accessorized, get the Figma.

Ryuga is totally worth getting, best black repaint I've ever owned.

Zolda is probably my favorite of the Ryuki figuarts that was widely available that didn't include his contract beast, and the one with the most accessories (except he doesn't have his contract beast).

Faiz 45-47


Finally, I was wondering when the Riotroopers were gonna show up. It also looks like Ram Orphnoch finally figured out how to use an elevator. And he looks like a Japanese Harrison Ford in his human form. the kid is the Orphnoch King. Are you fucking kidding me? Is this supposed to be some sort of Jesus type figure for the Orphnochs because Murakami's Crucified Shot pose kinda made it seem like that.

And Yuji wants to kill the kid and asks help from the Riders? What? If anything, you'd think that the Riders would be on the King's side due to him killing off all of the orphnochs.

The death of Japanese Steve Perry that was performing experiments felt kinda wasted potiental. I liked the potinetal of that arc of turning Orphnochs back into humans and the pointal conflicts between former/current Orphnochs that come from it and even more disscussion of what it means to be human but nope. Went out by Kiba's sword instead.

It looks like I'm gonna have to wait a few weeks for the series to get finished get resubbed on DVD because I am not going back to watching it with shitty quality and poor translation for the finale.

EDIT: TV Nihon just posted Faiz 48 and I'm downloading it now.

Black Episode 1
Why it took me so long to get to this show I have no idea. Especially considering until I sat down and watched Den-O last year, this was the first Kamen Rider show I wanted to see. But regardless I'm finally watching it and I am a happy panda because of it.

The opening theme is pretty nice. It has that Showa feel to it but still manages to have a bit of a Heisei feel to it. But very early 90's Heisei. So I guess it's like a combo of Showa era Kamen Rider and early Heisei era Super Sentai. The video is alright, kinda boring since it's just him riding the bike. Also I don't really like how they say black in the song. It sounds too soft and kinda whispery/scratchy and (for me at least) doesn't translate well in the ears. But outside of that it's a pretty good theme. Not the worst, not the best, not my favorite, but not my least favorite.

Hey look it's Clotho. Except he's older, his eyes are blood filled, and he looks like an angry old man. And he seems to have gotten the ability to control lightning. Oh and he has some friends who look like him. Neato?

Wait, this Akizuki guy sold Kotaro and Nobuhiko to these alien/Jedi like creatures? Why? Man it seems like all the riders I've seen lately really have some bad days. Kotaro though may be up there though. After all he saw both his father and brother die. That's pretty messed up. I'm sure somewhere The Joker is relishing this somehow.

So was that all just a flashback?

Man they must have really pimped out Kotaro's body if he can take all of that punishment. It's like them gave him PCP and Steroids. He fell from the sky through a roof, got electrocuted, slammed through a wall and against a wall. Is he Superman or something?

Laziest henshin ever. He just staggered around and then became Black. Now I know later on he does use the belt to transform. Still though, kinda sucks that the first henshin is this lazy and boring.

So judging by the fact that the bike was already there and he knew it's name, I'm guessing he's been Black for a while now? Could be wrong though and it's just that good old coincidence and immediate knowledge everybody seems to have in Sentai and Kamen Rider. Bike is pretty cool looking. I like the bikes which have the more motocross look to them since I was huge into that as a kid and I still like those bikes today. Though that whirring sound it makes is pretty annoying.

That is a very good question Kotaro. Why was Papa Akizuki there? But more importantly, why did he sell his children to aliens!

Camp Diablo? Jeez that doesn't sound suspicious at all. Though who knows, maybe it's the Japan chapter of Camp Crystal Lake.

I guess this is Mama Akizuki and Kyoko is the sister. And jeez Kotaro, it's called self control. Or do you not have a good handle on your powers yet? If so then you get a free pass. But if that isn't the case then control yourself dammit!

Well at least he's being honest about it and not lying. Gotta appreciate that in a backstabbing child selling father. Calm down? Kotaro wasn't acting hyper or not calm though. So uh...pointless? You joined an alien cult so you could fund an archeological dig? That sounds way too extreme. I'm sure there were better ways to get the money that did not involve joining a cult.

Oh my God Golgom's monsters are demonic versions of the Godzilla kaiju! Well if they mated with bugs. They look ungodly cool though. Probably some of my favorite monster designs I've seen in Kamen Rider and tokusatsu as a whole.

Eh...the henshin sequence is alright. Though I always forget that with these Showa era riders that they either don't put the belt on, or there isn't much to the belt initiating the transformation as a whole. To be honest though I do like the henshin for what it is. I really shouldn't expect too much considering the era the show came out in and that technology didn't allow for the cooler henshins we see today. Though I can't help but wish there was just a little something extra to it. I know they couldn't have done much but there was still some creative and great special effects in the 1980s, and I'm sure they could have come up with something. But regardless for it's time period, it's a nice henshin.

The fight scene was pretty cool. It showed off some good offense from Kotaro and some good defense from him. And by defense I mean him getting knocked around a bit. Though that isn't a bad thing, it's good that the fights have some back and forth to them so the rider doesn't just god mod his way through every episode. So yeah pretty cool fight.

Wait isn't the his wife? So why did she call him Dr. Akizuki? Is that just a Japan thing I haven't picked up on yet? Or is she not his wife and more of a maid/nanny or a family friend?

This is a really nice ending theme. It's soft but has a rocky edge to it that is very 80s like (duh considering it's from the 80s). I love 80s music to death so I can really get into the song. The video is alright too, though like the opening video it is kinda boring. But I can forgive it here since it is the ending video, and thus is just there to sorta take care of credits not shown in the OP. So very nice ending theme, meh video.

So Kamen Rider Black's first episode was really nice. I mean in terms of over all first episodes it isn't the best. Better then Blade's definitely, but not better then Faiz. But to be fair I shouldn't really compare it too much to the Heisei shows, since the eras are vastly different in how the episodes go and what not.

The acting was good, bit dramatic though. The worst part though was when Kotaro was crying. He wasn't shedding any tears and his crying came off (sound wise) as pretty bland and emotionless. But that was the only problem with the acting I personally noticed.

The story in the episode was nice and it is great to have a first episode again that actually sets up the story well and gives you all that is needed. The story didn't feel slow or boring and as I said gave you all you needed. It introduced the main hero, the conflict, important side characters, and the first appearance of the rider. It succeeds very well as a story for a first episode and is one of the best in that aspect.

The fight scenes were pretty good, with the second one standing out more since it was a bit longer. I won't go into too much detail though since I already said all my thoughts on it.

The special effects where used were good as well for the time. I really loved the effect work done in the second fight when Kotaro was on the bike and just running everybody over. It's clear that it was some blue/green screen stuff but it was a very sweet effect.

Oh and not to mention the sexiness of the Black suit. So simple but so damn great looking. Easil yone of my favorite designs ever.

Overall I liked this episode of Black. It had a great story in it, the music used was very good, the action scenes were nice, and outside of one hiccup the acting was good as well. As a first episode in all of the Kamen Riders I've seen, it definitely isn't the best one, but it isn't the worst one. As a first episode of the Showa era, it's awesome. Though considering it's the first one I've seen from the Showa era I don't have much to compare it to.

All in all excellent episode. I planned on watching Black in full before this and now I am without a shadow of a doubt finishing the show.