Faiz 20.

Probably the best episode in a while, this episode reflected that this show has a pretty personal understanding of its characters and used them accordingly for great results. I'll be interested to see what this cold thing is all about, if anything.

Plus - most importantly - it feels like the villains are finally making some kind of move. Mr J may have been entirely worthless, but it seems with him out of the way the others have really picked up the slack.

His replacement is a much better villain, too.

I don't really know how the chick killed the dude with Champagne, especially as her Orphenoch form uses a fencing sword but that shit was awesome.

Also Poem Whip kinda sucked when he was first introduced - even if he did beat the shit out of Yuji - so it was nice to see him really boss Takumi before turning into Faiz this episode.

Faiz 21. - Holy hell is this show getting good.

It's nice to see Takumi actually have an emotional response to the Faiz stuff. For about the first time in the whole series, the Faiz stuff doesn't feel like a completely disconnected sub narrative about a man in a rubber suit fighting monsters.

Secondly I like how this episode finally made the middle section of the episode worthwhile. Faiz has a tendency to bookend the important things during the cold open and the wrap up of each episode, leaving the middle to be almost entirely filler but with the twist with the pizza shop owner, that I probably should have seen coming but didn't, it was probably the first episode worth watching from start to finish.

Not to mention that the action was great, I'm a sucker for seeing Riders - and in this shows case, monsters - fight out of suit as it really adds to the believability of it all.

Also holy form change Batman, it is like a combination of Kabuto and Trial...before either of them existed! After Kuuga and Blade I was really ready to write of Heisei Rider in terms of action, so it blows my mind just how great this show is on a pure visual level. God Mr J's so called replacement didn't last long, though, did he?

Not to mention that I love Yuuji and Takumi's budding friendship, especially as an audience we're more knowledgeable of the two characters than the characters themselves are. Can't wait for them to find out the truth.

Hibiki 1&2
Wow. Just wow. The show starts out really fascinating and unusual and I love it already. The atmosphere is both magical and scary, the imagery is breathtaking and the designs look amazing. The characters seem fun so far (though I still don't get over the fact that Kanbe Miyuki has been dead for almost 6 years now. It's a bit saddening to watch her on the show, being as happy and joyful as she always was...).
It's really, really different from anything I've seen in tokusatsu so far, but the style reminds me a bit of the Fatal Frame series for PS2 and Xbox, having the same creepy atmosphere around Japanese Folklore. And those are some of the best games I ever played. :D

It's heartbreaking to think that this series will be changed to another style and direction at some point... :/

How is the quality of the episodes you've watched? I'm really interested in Hibiki but I heard it's some of the worst quality ever.

The quality on the Hibiki encodes is not the best to be honest. It doesnt really bug me all that much but especially during some of the more "artsy" scenes it can get a little too blurry and hard to follow some times.

Yeah that is what I heard before, oh dear. Hopefully some better scrubs end up happening at some point.

It never bugged me personally. The picture is okay for old TV-N codecs, it does seem somewhat clearer then Magiranger (which was my first Sentai, so I'm kinda used to it). Of course it's not as beautiful in the blurry scenes (mainly the fights), but the filters in that scenes probably wouldn't even allow a much clearer picture in HD quality.

Maybe I'll give it a go once I've done with Faiz!

The ones I watched of Hibiki were good; however, once you get through the horrible Beta-Max recorded subbed episodes of Battle Fever J you can get through anything.

Also I'm still trying to pick my next show.

What are you choosing between?

Hibiki, Black, Super-1, Garo, Kikaider, and Metalder. I still think I am in a Kamen Rider mood, so more Black, Hibiki, or Super-1.

Also Super-1 and Metalder mostly are from HK Subs.

Before you watch more Kamen Rider, watch GARO! Best Toku show ever :D

You know what for you, I'll watch the first episode and if it hooks me I'll make it my next show. Kamen Rider X hooked me after one episode so it happens.

It's not that long is it?

Each season is about 25 episodes long.

Yay, a new Hibiki fan! Always great to see someone new discover the show.

And the change happens in episode 30, fyi.

Is Kamen Rider X good? Barely seen any showa Rider unless movies count.

And yeah body! You're in for a treat.

Yeah I loved X, the subs are a bit off but it's good and the first one with an ongoing plot for the Showa era. I haven't watched much of anything else from the Showa Era but want to.

The ZX Special was okay but the Manga, Kamen Rider Spirits tells the same story better. J, ZO and Shin are the only other technical Showa era stuff I've seen.

Grah! I've been looking for X, subbed.

So, 28 more episodes of awesomeness and then... Inoue and friends x,D

I forget if I asked this already, but is the Hibiki movie worth watching?

I believe Switchblade sent me the link for the torrent but I think I still have it.

If you do would you mind PMing it to me? I'd be immensely appreciative!

Only the first six episodes are properly fansubbed; the rest are HKs. It's a great show, though, and if you don't need a perfect translation it's well worth the watch.

Faiz 22.

Although not as strong as the last two episodes, seeing Lucky Clover and that hot Smart Brain chick gathering up exceptional Orphenoch's was pretty awesome. This show has some amazing designs.

Plus man that upgrade for Faiz, it's just so awesome. It's amazing it can be both older than W and Kabuto but do the whole super speed thing better, seeing Faiz in action this episode was just INSANE in the best possible way.

Where the episode really fell down, is the love triangles in this show are just nuts. Well it's more like a love octagon, how can we have six core characters and yet everyone is in love with everyone? It's like the worst kind of Soap Opera.

Also I find it severely problematic that the fights between Yuuji and Takumi are like the least interesting fights in this show, despite having the greatest amount of narrative significance.

It's almost a 180 from her Ryuki character. She does look good in this. I cannot argue that.

I'm up to episode 11 of Faiz and I can't say I'm much invested in the story or most of the characters yet. I still like the overall suit design and some of the Orphenoch suits look pretty good, too. I'm still trying to figure out why Faiz's punching device is a camera though. I won't say this is the worst series I've watched thus far because it does have its moments, but it's a tough slog. I haven't felt any real excitement as I move from one episode to another. Still, it looks like things may pick up a bit so I'll keep going and hope things turn around.

Faiz is kinda weird, because aside from about three episodes so far, the show has been awful. But in every single awful episode, there is at least one scene where it's like all the effort that would have been focused throughout that episode is focused into that single moment. Those moments are usually the action that bookend the episodes, and as such you come out of every episode feeling positive despite the fact that you basically wasted 19 minutes of your life, for the sake of about three good ones.

I'm sure there is a masturbation joke in there somewhere.

Dude it never take me 19 minutes, let alone with three whole minutes of payoff.

That's some olympic pornstar stamina you got there.

:lolol

Faiz 23. Here I thought Faiz was getting better, but here we get the worst episode in a while.

Faiz may have a firm understanding of its characters, but that doesn't suddenly make the characters more enjoyable. With episodes like this, that try and give a character moment to everyone, it only makes it stand out more that the characters are divided pretty firmly down the middle between hypocritical douchebags and just general doucheags. It's ironic that I'm growing to love Laundry the most, as he may be naive and annoying and pointless but at least he isn't a raging asshat.

Also man that scene in the rain is HILARIOUS. Like the ridiculous church music as Masato spouts nonsensical dialogue and Takkun questions all the parts of what he is saying that don't need to be questioned.

Even the action this week didn't do a lot for me. Lucky Clover betraying Masato should come as a surprise to no one on the planet but the Orphenoch are just so WEAK it takes all the punch out of the proceedings.

Faiz Episode 8
Naoya is such a cool guy. I like his whole "I'll do it if it's interesting attitude," mostly because I have a slight attitude like that, so I can connect to him in that aspect. Plus he just seems like a chill guy who while wanting revenge, is also pretty kind hearted. So far I'd say he's my favorite character.

I like this kid's ambition. He's just throwing himself into his studying and if people don't like it, they can go fuck themselves. Though it is nice that he is setting a goal to return to them, if just to play them a song. It's also good to see Keitaro understand his feelings as well. He has his own dream and would obviously die for it, just like the kid would. But I'm getting tired of this whole sort of scolding Takumi bit. It was funny the first episode or two but now it's boring.

I like the detective's daughter. She had a brief role and appearance but I like her. Just sitting around eating and reading. Gotta love that type of life. Of course with me you replace reading with watching tokusatsu, and playing games, with reading every now and then.

Naoya's speech about dreams being a curse, very heartlifting in a way, and I can understand his logic behind it. Dreams can be your worst enemy if you can't achieve them. You'll think about how you didn't reach it constantly, and it'll eat you away. It sounds weird, but Naoya made pretty sound sense to me. Plus dreams seem to be a big tie in with many a character's story in the show, so it's a perfect little tie in to that idea.

Also am I the only one getting a white knight like feel from Yuji?

Wohoo! Mari did it and showed dat salon bitch.

I freaking knew it! I knew from episode 7 it was going to be the teacher, and right before the scene when he is caught it got confirmed it was him, mostly by the way his face looked when he was listening in on the two, as well as his words when congratulating the kid (whose name I still can't remember). Whoop whoop I solved the mystery!

Oh Takumi, once again showing how sweet and nice you can be. Funny since you'll probably be acting like a dick the next episode. Oh well, at least you were showing your kindness here.

Well another episode has gone by.

This was actually a pretty story driven episode to me, on all accounts. You had Mari's story of getting better to get the beautician job, and you had Naoya's story about his accident and teaching the kid to play. Though I'd say the episode belonged to character development. In my opinion, all of the main characters shown outside of Keitaro received development. Takumi learned that he though he doesn't have a dream he can still protect the dreams of others, Mari learned to not give up and give it her all, Naoya was able to come to terms with his accident and to move on, and Yuji and Yuka learned that humans aren't always as great as they can be or as Yuji wants them to be. So in my humble opinion, this episode had a good story and great character development.

The teacher's Orphenoch form is alright looking, not a big fan of the head design. You gotta love those claw blades though. The mysterious man's form though looked damn kick ass to me.

The fighting here was really nice. Both the Yuji VS Teacher fight and the Takumi VS Mysterious Orphenoch fight were cool. I really love the finisher with Faiz's sword. Totally sweet. Also just plain lulz at Takumi getting mad at Auto Vaijin.

Nice music, very nice fight scenes, a good story, and phenomenal character development made this a very good and enjoyable episode. Easily one of my favorites of the show so far.

Kamen Rider Gaim Episode 14:

Well... that was... very um... :cry

HASE-CHAN! :cry

I was watching the original Rider yesterday and noticed something disturbing. At the end of episode 7, you see Hongo doing this:

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/...h31m08s139.png

Aww...he gets cute puppies. So cute.





...Then I get to episode 8 and see this:

http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/...2h04m54s18.png

Hongo experiments on puppies! And one is missing. I bet it's dead. Hongo killed a puppy!


But seriously, I've been watching it and it's been a fun watch thus far.

Tokusatsu is known for the death of puppies~

I take it Hongo is a villain...

So we're all cheering for a dog killing bastard :lol

Every time you see a dog in a pre-2000 tokusatsu, it is going to die. After 2000 it's about a 50% chance.

That's Rider 1, dude.

Sorry to inform you, puppies were harmed and experimented on in the making of this episode. :D

Since 1971-forever.