I think they use CG whips for the same reason that they use dull swords, for safety reasons over anything else.

Episode 6 of Fair

Another good episode. We get another new Orphenoc that, thankfully, looks to be sticking around. Some nice characterization. Love the moments between our main vast, they interact so well and it gives the show some nice humor that feels believable.

Still not much added to the overarching plot, but we're using this time to build the characters so I can forgive it.

Also liked Takumi having his Henson sorta interrupted when the phone got knocked away. Nice bit of realism.

Not yet bro, was waiting for that first post W movie to finish downloading but these Over Time movie torrents download like SHIT. I've been leaving my PC on over night and it's still at like sixty percent, whereas like forty other movies have finished at the same time and they're also like ten times the size.

Surely if a thick whip cracks against a thick rubber suit, no one is gonna get hurt?

You never know? *Shrugs*
While I'm one to think that some safety practices are a bit much, I can understand not using real weapons.

Then again, I'm often baffled by it all. How do they do the explosions on the costumes? And how do they never set fire to everything?

The suit explosions are usually "more bark than bite." They look big, and may startle, but those kinds of teeny fire crackers could probably go off on skin and not hurt. :lol

Though the BIG explosions I always wonder. Those massive fireballs all around the character.

I'm on W37 right now; and I'm thoroughly impressed by this series so far. I feel that there are absolutely NO wasted episodes in W at ALL. The Weather Memory saga was a thriller and it gets even better with the budding reveal of Philip's past. SO looking forward to the finish of this series. Planning on watching OOO after this and an old school KR after that, any recommendations of which old school KR I should go for?

Black or Ryuki get my vote.

Agito is totally amazing.

If you look really close, most of the fires look added in post...as for the massive fireballs? I have no idea.

Faiz Episode 7
So why did Yuji jump over the fence? Couldn't he have just plowed through it or something? And lordy Yuji is a strong little one. Holding his own against that Rider Kick like it was nothing.

Takumi and this new Orphenoch are one in the same it seems.

I'm really liking Naoya. He's pretty humorous to me. Though he definitely needs to tidy up his room some. Place makes my room look as clean as a mansion. Also is it just me, or is he dressed like Bender from The Breakfast Club?

Eat quietly Takumi!

Uhhhhh did Smart Brain lady just suggest what I think she did? Or am I just perverted?

Inui Takumi: The Nicest Guy in All of Kamen Rider

Naoya I believe you just became my second favorite character. Dude is just so weirdly happy that it becomes humorous and likeable. How can you not like this guy?

Man that's a big beauty salon. Two floors and everything. Japan really does know how to make everything seem so big and awesome when it comes to stores.

Wait what? Naoya didn't even touch the guy, so how the hell did he die?

Inui Takumi: Most Backward Ass Kamen Rider ever.

You know Noaya sort of reminds me of The Joker. He goes from hyper excited to being kind of brooding in a split second, he's weird as all hell, and just seems Jokerish. I don't know, he just reminds me of Joker, but that's probably just me.

OH! Good God that had to hurt! Faiz continuing to show how not subtle they are. I mean come on, they pretty much showed Naoya's fingers getting ran over, they just didn't go up close and personal about it. But still just, mehhhh.

Oh yay, more cockteasing Keitaro and Yuka meeting.

Well there goes another episode of Faiz. I really enjoyed this episode, if just for Naoya's scenes. He's a very interesting character as I've said multiple times already and I really like him. I especially loved his scenes with the kid when he's playing guitar. Very great scene there.

Honestly the rest of the episode was your basic Faiz episode. Not much story in it outside of the Orphenoch, a fairly quick but sort of nice fight scene, some good comedic and dramatic moments, and nice effects and camera work. So all in all just another average episode.

Ryuki 44: Boy, Sano didn't last long, did he? Well, longer than Scissors, I guess. Plot points are still coming fairly slowly, but hopefully things will pick up as we near the end of the run. I am enjoying Ryuki, but I feel as if the series just hasn't clicked with me for some reason.

Edit: I just finished 49 and I did not see that development coming. I don't recall seeing them use blood all that much before, either. The happiness factor in this has been dropping rapidly. I'm not one of those 'more dark and gritty' people, but it's refreshing (from a story point of view) to see real consequences to things.

Edit 2: Ryuki Final Ep: Lots of consequences. All undone by the giant reset button. It sort of cheapens all the emotions brought out in the last few episodes. Bleargh. Still, all things considered, an excellent series.

Faiz 16.

Now we're getting further into Faiz, I must admit I'm really not enjoying the way this show handles its characters. Osada for example sometimes makes for a nice contrast, but the rest of the time her characterisation feels messy and inconsistent. Masato is a massive dick without context and it just feels entirely pointless making him so antagonistic. But then Takumi is no better, about 90% of his problems could be solved if he just talked to his friends but he keeps his mouth shut far beyond the point of reason.

Thankfully then, as ever, the action more than makes up for the many narrative and character shortcomings. There is this great capturing of the sheer power of our Riders, so seeing them clash, even if neither was going all out was wonderful. Similarly, this weeks Orphenoch looked rocking even if every Orphenoch is sadly so short lived.

Faiz 49 and 50

Holy shit this ending. I have never seen an ending of a TV show this bad before. Episode 50 might have been the worst episode of any Kamen Rider series I have ever seen.

I'll go over my qualms with the series' end and as a whole.

So, episode 50 starts out with Takumi getting dragged off to Smart Brain hospital only to get rescued and nothing of importance happening. Seriously, its 90 seconds they could have cut out of the episode to wrap up some plot points and tie up some loose ends but nope wasted for no reason. The kid's awakening and Yuji's being all evil while watching. I like the fight between Horse Orphnoch and Faiz and Takumi's reasoning for not killing Yuji.

So after Faiz does his thing to Yuji, he goes off to fight the now awakened Orphnoch King and shit's getting intense. And Yuji.... siwtches sides again..... okay... so triple Rider kick doesn't do anything to the King so Faiz whips out Blaster form's Rider Kick while Yuji is holding the King down, while slowly dying. While we don't get to see the actual kick itself go through, I'm fine with that.

AND AFTER THAT...... The fuck is this shit? Seriously, the Orpnoch King just got scooped up by Lucky Clover chick and put in stasis. The fuck? Oh and the other gerneral Orphnoch went on to live as a human. And why did they even spend time on the detective guy and his daughter? Seriously, cut this shit out from the end and nobody would miss it. Also, the perfect pacing that Faiz had got fucked up with the show speedily trying to get through what seems like a 2 or 3 episode finale crammed in 23 minutes.

Seriosuly this is the worst ending I've seen from a Rider series. While Ryuki (the series before it) has also a 'bad" ending, it at least resolved the Yui and Shiro relationship aspect of the show at the end. Unlike this ending which didn't resolve anything except with a "who knows?"

The dilemma with the Orphnoch King was a very morally ambiguous question that I would have seen explored with more depth then the half assed slop fest that they threw together for episodes 49 and 50. Inoue, when you bring up such dilemmas as this at the end of the show, you're expected to resolve it. By allowing the King to have survived, it doesn't make any of the characters actions have a lasting effect or solve the question that, mind you, YOU brought up. Inoue, you should have paced the series better so this ending didn';t feel half assed. I mean you had 25 episodes of nothing going on in the middle, maybe flesh out some stuff then instead of having the Muppet kid who is the Orphnoch King show up in the last 10 episodes

My verdict on Faiz...... its a good series but it has a lot, AND I MEAN A LOT of problems that takes away from the questions it poses, the great story lines and character interactions/development and the plot of the show. From the communication problems, to the plot going in circles for 25 episodes, to Lucky Clover being boring and bland, to a legitimately bad ending, people expecting a well weaved narrative with logical and complete resolutions, should not watch this because it will make you go crazy. Everything started going downhill after episode 15, in my opinion, so you've been warned.

Congratulations, you're watching Faiz.

I think I said it best a couple of episodes ago, he's just a brat.

I get it to a point, Drycleaning is in love with Osada, and he doesn't want to reveal that piece of information that she's an Orphenoch, fine. But when Masato is literally dragging your name through the dirt, turning your only friends against you, you think he'd say something, at least in confidence to Mari or something.

I dunno, sometimes I really like how he puts on this front and reveals himself to actually be pretty mature and very perceptive. But most of the time characters just aren't very consistently written in this show.

You'd think so , yeah. But there's more forced drama if everybody stays quiet.

I love Faiz but yeah that was a big problem with it.

Also by the way Takumi has been reincarnated into Micchy now. lol

Though I love both of them.

However I have the same problem of not speaking up when I should and it would solve my problems too. It's a self-confidence issue really and I remember Takumi said he's lacking it.

Just finished the two Ryuki movies. The Episode Final was pretty darned amazing, to be sure. But I can't seem to find the Ryuki vs Agito Hyper Battle Video subtitled anywhere. Does anyone know if it was done?

Other than that, it's time to start on Faiz.

And thus another joins the merry band of Faiz watchers.

Faiz is...problematic.

It has good ideas, good characters and good action but the pacing is kinda terrible across the board, as everything feels contrived or forced.

MCS did the Hyper Battle Video. I'm not sure where exactly you'd go to find it, but honestly it's not really worth going out of your way to find.

Just watched DC of the OOO portion of the W crossover film. So err is the W portion good? Because this OOO portion is one of the worst things I've ever watched. Also what is the next W movie after this one?

This was awkward, clunky, rushed and yet too long. All the ideas were bad, and the implimentation of them worse, the acting was terrible and fuck knows where this fits in to the wider show. Usually these bad films at least have good action, but even that isn't the case here. The Yummies are terrible looking MOW and this movie added another to the collection with the Nobunaga one and the sheer cheapness of the suits really clashed with the scale of the action.

The OOO portion of Core War is shit. The W portion is EXCELLENT. It's Skull-focused. Need I say more?

The OOO portion was not written by the regular OOO writers... or someone from the same country. Or planet. There's a reason I heartedly recommended skipping it and just watching the W half.

I just never expected it to be so...bad.

Skull focus?! *gets sic down from the shelf, swoons*

Yeah, what comes after this film by the way?

Accel Returns follows Core War. I just watched it and quite liked it.

Then Eternal, but it's not very good.

Oh, are you watching the Nobunaga's Desire? Because that part is complete trash.

It's over, thank Christ. Forty five minutes of director cut hell.

Man it was so awful. I watched it before even watching OOO and knew it sucked. It just got worse once I saw OOO.

But message from Skull was cooooool.

I wish you'd announced you were planning to do that, we all would have made sure to dissuade you. Friends don't let friends watch Nobunaga's Ambition.

Alright, time for the W portion - Japan can never get Spider-Man right, can they? :lol

This felt like the pilot to a show that doesn't exist, and that makes me sad. It was still absolutely incredible though. Loved every second, honestly.

Although I think the finished product of W the series wasn't the most amazing thing in the world, I really really appreciate the meticulous approach to detail and general thoughtfulness in this film. It creates a complete experience, adds to the core show and both feel better for this existing.

Well at least in terms of narrative - some physical things were a little more distracting. Like how Soukichi and Skull had totally different hats for example, or how young Sho was during this portion - but those are nitpicks honestly.

The only genuine complaint is this was DARK. When he let Bat go down like that...holy shit, same with when Spider murdered like half of the city before dying himself like...whoa this is very un W.

Yeah, the Skull helmet is, naturally, too big for a real hat, so he gets a custom oversized one.

Faiz Paradise lost.

This was a pretty good movie. I put it up near Episode Final as my favorite Rider movies. The movie was a lot like the early episodes of Faiz, which i think are the best part, and only focused on the 6 most important Faiz characters (Takumi, Mari, Keitaro, Yuka, Kaido, and Yuji). I was glad Kusaka died pretty early on because he probably wouldn't have a place in a movie like this. I find it odd that Leo spoke English with an American accent but still said "Henshin" when he transformed. I liked the final fight along with the ending being better then in the actual show. i liked a lot of the symbolism in this movie too. From the fact that Takumi and Mari were wearing white outfits at the dance to them holding hands at the end.

I felt like the world being controlled by the Orphnochs didn't affect the plot that much and was more a background thing that was underutilized. I don't like stupid CGI legs on Wolf Orphnoch and the reveal of takumi being an Orphnoch in the movie. Leo didn't add anything to the movie either

Although, there is a big gaping plot hole. Where the hell was Delta? seriously, the movie never addresses this and its a super huge plot hole. probably the biggest plot hole in Kamen Rider movie history. Seriously, the movie had Blaster form and Delta's nowhere in sight?

Faiz Hyper Battle video

There were no subs on the one I watched on youtube but I'll try to interpret the most I can. So the Faiz gang are singing for some reason. Mari sounds really cute when she sings. Also, Smart Lady rapping. I don't care what she's wrapping about, that idea is completely and utterly ridiculous. the faiz Sounder was pretty cool and I could actually see this have been used in the show (obviously not for comedic purposes), Hook it up to the back of Autovajin and pump some Rockin' music that also damages Orphnochs while Takumi punches them in the face.

I like that the song that gets everyone moving starts at 5:55 in the afternoon.

I'm pretty sure the movie came out before Delta appeared on the show. During that part of the Heisei era it was typical for the ultimate form to first appear in the movie before moving onto the show (I think this was actually the movie that started that trend, in fact). I'm not sure where Delta was in the planning phase, but obviously it either wasn't ready by the time the movie was made or someone decided not to introduce three new Riders and an ultimate form in the same movie.

Man, I REALLY wish Skull at least got his own movie. Locke is right, Message feels like a pilot to an awesome prequel show we'll never see.

I'm not sure if they could, because it would all have to be before he became a Kamen Rider, since (unless I'm misremembering) he became a Kamen Rider either on, or shortly before Begins Night. I'm sure a big draw for the kids is the guys transforming, and fighting monsters. That said, I think a J-Drama featuring Sokichi as the lead would be awesome.

You're pretty badly misremembering, considering Shotaro is a little boy and Akiko a little girl just before Skull becomes a rider, you're totally wrong. Skull was a rider LONG before Begins Night. He's been operating for years. At least ten.

There's a TON of potential working space.

EDIT: Hell, the establishing shot of the Message flashback shows a calender stating the year is 1999. Eleven years. That's a lot of working space.

I would love to see a prequel show with Sokichi/Skull. It would just be so cool to see him on screen again and in a more active role. It would be pretty cool to see a younger Sonozaki Family as well.

Plus, Skull could've been like a silent hero of the people. If W is Superman, brightly coloured publicly-known hero and champion of all, then Skull is like Batman. Dark, mysterious, nearly mythical.