Faiz Episode 12
Kaixa storming in like a bad mother fucker!

Well of course it's true Keitaro. Why on Earth would they lie about it?

Heyyyyy, this isn't the Kaixa I know of! Actually all joking aside I am aware that Kaixa's belt is handled by multiple people and not just used by Masato (who from what I understand, shows up next episode). So I guess I still have to wait to truly see Kaixa, but at least the suit is finally here and in action!

Is it just me, or is the music playing during the scene following the class finding Kaixa sound like Love Hurts?

Hey! How come Mari gets a spotlight? What makes her so special that she gets one?

I love how music being played on the radio almost perfectly matches the scene. Like you could legitimately see them playing that type of song during a scene like this if it was in a movie. It's the small stuff such as this that makes me smile when watching these shows, or any show in particular.

Also I quite enjoy how into Keitaro's love life Takumi is. And I gotta agree with Keitaro, I think Takumi is jealous. And snap! Mari's voice and eyes, scary!

LMFAO at Takumi just inching away from the room! That's freaking priceless man :lolol

I wonder if Yuji was asking if she likes him as a person or likes him in that special way. If it's the latter, this could turn into a weird love triangle.

What's with the Mexican stand off music?

Man all of these villains with a certain number of lives. Haven't they ever heard of cheat codes? Input a code and get yourself infinite lives bitch! Live forever and dominate the field like a bad mama jama!

Scenes like this just make me want to see Yuji snap and give into his Orphenoch instincts.

This girl's slight overbite is kinda cute. Or is it just me who feels that way? Oh and the girl wearing the glasses, she's really cute. Like a lot.

Wow this guy sucked. No wonder he got his ass handed to him. Clearly he is not the perfect choice and thus user for the Kaixa Gear.

Wait he can henshin while wearing his motorcycle helmet? How exactly does the Faiz helmet fit over that one? Did it just compress itself to where it's pressing up against Takumi's head? Geez, physics in tokusatsu when it comes to suits is pretty strange. Then again, this isn't as head scratching as say Doggie.

Well that fight was short. And not just Faiz shows up, kicks ass, and hits finisher short. No I mean like really really short. The action and choreography was alright but it's length kinda sucked. Wished it was longer. But hey J only has two lives left, guess they wanted to preserve them for bigger and better fights.

They all died and became Orphenochs. Calling it.

Well episode 12 was decent. It had a fairly nice story in it. It wasn't really anything spectacular, but it was pretty good for the episode. It told us about the Kaixa gear in a non in depth yet slightly informative fashion, and helped move forward the overall story with Mari, her father, and her siblings/classmates. There wasn't really any new character development, in fact I'd say there wasn't any at all. Though it was nice to see Takumi acting pretty darn nice for an episode and not just a constant brat with only a scene of pleasantness. The action was pretty lame as I stated above.

Of course we also got a new suit this episode that was spotlighted. That suit would be Kaixa. The Kaixa suit has been one of my favorite suits since I started getting into Kamen Rider last year. I love the whole X motif and the color scheme isn't too shabby either. I love the weapon due to my fetish with guns that turn into swords and it fits with the character theme perfectly. I freaking love the suit and find it utterly bad ass. Shame though that it's not being used by the man who makes a full bad ass package and made me want to watch Faiz. But hey, he's coming pretty soon from the looks of things.

So overall this was a good episode. It had a good story which in my opinion helped move forward the plot/a major part of the show. Outside of that the rest was pretty meh, which is slightly contradictorily of me calling it good. But I personally think the strong story in it helped move it along and makes it good.

...So I just finished Kuuga and now I have mixed feelings.

Lets start with the good. I actually liked the fight scenes, final fight withstanding, there was something about it that felt more visceral than the Neo-Heisei shows I've watched lately. Still think that Kabuto had the best fight scenes of the rider shows I watched, but I really liked Kuuga. Plus, he actually used his bike for a good chunk of action, something more modern shows seem to use less and less of.

Also, liked the police doing things against the Grongi, even if it was just to die in droves, at least they were there, trying to accomplish something.

Now what I didn't like. First of all, Yuusuke was just...boring, you know? He was like Mary Sue with all his 2000 skills and everyone loving him, though I suppose it's justified with all the times he saved their lives. Moreover the kill count was ridiculous. It got to the point, where the moment I saw a random character, my first thought was wondering how they were going to be killed by the Grongi of the week. I get the ridiculous kill count was supposed to make the show darker and edgier and more mature, but all it did was make the show seem more silly to me. A high death count does not make a mature series, it just makes the citizens too stupid to live by going outside when people and police are dying in droves every week.

Now the Grongi were a bit menacing for the first couple times they showed up, even that Rhino Grongi's human form, who now makes me crack up when I remember him. Eventually, when I found out the reason for their attacks I just faced palmed. So, it was a game for them? For what the right to challenge for leadership for a tribe that is dying out precisely because of said game?.

Now the last couple of episodes were disappointing, Amazing Rising Mighty shows up and last for not even half an episode before being replaced by Kuuga's Ultimate form which lasted not even 5 minutes. I probably wouldn't have minded the last fight if it had lasted longer, or into the next episode, but in the end, it felt really anti-climactic for me.

All in all, I don't really dislike Kuuga, I certainly like it more than Wizard, but it was just...meh, for me.

You really don't have a good handle on what Kusaka's actually like. I deeply anticipate the moment when you see what he's really like.

Faiz Episode 13
You guys died and became Orphenochs. Seriously if that really is the case the show is doing a piss poor job of hiding it and leaving the viewer guessing. Now if it turns out they didn't die and are not Orphenochs, then I will give the show credit for having something quite shocking and surprising in it. But until that happens (if it happens), the show is doing shitty at trying to be mysterious about what happened to the family.

All these people eat is noodles. And I'm jealous because my parents haven't bought ramen in a while, nor have I been paid yet to go out and by ramen myself. I want my noodles dammit!

He just doesn't like you Yuka. Just because you both are Orphenochs does not mean that you're going to get along and be friends. Everybody is going to be different from each other and thus not like everybody.

...LMFAO Oh my God you suck Takumi! That was so fucking hilarious :lolol

Why is it glowing blue around them exactly?

*Fangirl squeal*

:lol Yuji's like "What the deuce?"

Naoya how I love you and your bat shit craziness. Even with Kaixa finally part of the show, you're still my favorite character. And this date scene has showcased why perfectly.

Yuka strikes again! It's cool seeing her do stuff outside of just standing there and talking. I mentioned it a few episodes ago about how I like this possibility of Yuka giving into her Orphenoch instincts but having standards for doing so. I quite enjoy this and I hope this stays part of her character.

Oh I am so going to love the interaction between Masato and Takumi.

Naoya was using Yuka as practice so that he could be ready to go out on a date with Mari. My sides...they hurt...too much laughter. Seriously this episode is just killing me with the hilarity in it.

Man you just suck today at fighting Takumi. Masato is just plain whipping your ass.

And thus, Kaixa was whole.

Good job Takumi. You just broke Mari's leg. Be more conscious you dipshit.

So unless the instructions to do everything are programmed into the helmet, who taught Masato to work his weapons and how to henshin? Especially the latter one.

Kaxia finisher = AWESOME

13 down and I must say, this episode was great!

The story portion of the episode was lacking a tiny bit due to having to introduce the new character, but I'd say some still broke through and got advanced, but mostly stuff concerning Masato and Mari. In the department of character development there wasn't much either. Most of the CD shown in my opinion went to Naoya. We saw him talk about his feelings which is something we really haven't seen that is being done in a positive manner. It also showed us that he can be pretty peppy and energetic occasionally. Plus his date scenes did sort of add to the story, if just to start a future plot point with him loving Mari and what all could happen with that.

The fighting was pretty nice as well. The fencing portions were done very well and the rider fights were good too. The Faiz portion once again showing Takumi getting his ass whooped which is good to see. Afterall who wants to see the rider constantly winning? It's good for him to get beaten up every so often. Though the shaky cam during the part with the two orphenochs tag teaming him got really annoying. But it could have been worse. It could've been like Batman Begins. The Kaixa fight was good as well. Personally I thought that you could get a feel for Masato's personality in the scene. He unlike the previous Kaixas fought very coldly and strategically. He didn't rush in and start throwing punches. He (to a slight degree) had the Orphenoch play into his hands, he only getting rough and rush like for his finisher. All in all I liked the action in this episode. It was definitely the best in the show so far.

Nice story elements, decent character development, and plain bad ass fight scenes make this a great episode. It isn't my favorite episode (I'd still say 3 holds that title), but it comes close to being my favorite. It's probably the second best episode so far as far as my opinion is concerned. Episode 13 you did a fantastic job and get a gold star!

Faiz Episode 14
Kusaka is a bit of a germophobic isn't he? He seems to always clean his hands after doing something. Is like the Howie Mandel of Kamen Rider or something?

He does come off as a reassuring ally. But I just know the asshole is underneath somewhere, bound to come out sooner or later. Kinda hard not to know that when there's Kaixa day in which you act like an asshole. Plus a good chunk of Kusaka GIFs are of him smirking very evilly. So yeah. Maybe I came into this with a tad too much knowledge about some of his character traits :lol

Plus the preview for the episode from 13 kinda showed him being a bit of an ass so yeah...

He's being hostile because he had to have his ass saved probably. It hurt Takumi, in his pride. You wouldn't understand Mari, a man's pride is something to never hurt.

Come on Takumi, comply with the code of honor.

He is a nice guy, just a bratty one.

Awwwwww, Kusaka likes her. How adorable. Please tell me this leads to a battle to the death between him and Naoya.

Man Mr. J really should have used the Konami Code.

This woman, I like her.

Psfffttt shows what you know Yuji. By my count she's killed well over 10 people. Oh and Naoya's humming, funny as hell.

Naoya isn't use to asking out women is here. And God dammit Faiz you're killing me! I can't take much more laughing from your episodes! Please turn down the comedy, I love it but it's hurting my sides so freaking much!

I guess you could call it love. I call it being a submissive.

That's the poooooooooooooower of love! Dah dah dah dah da da dah dah dah dah dada da!

Ahhhhh a glimpse of the ass underneath. I love it.

Are you serious? Mari made Takumi the home made equivalent of a Japanese Happy Meal? This show is suppose to be dark, brooding, and violent right? Cause I'm laughing my ass off at it. So either the show isn't as intense as people make it out to be, or I'm just not picking up on it. Either way this show is funny. It is almost episodically making me legit laugh out loud.

Okay I'm convinced now, Kamen Rider Faiz...is a tokusatsu sitcom. It's gotta be that, it just has to.

:lolol

MISTERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR J! Speaking of him, what exactly is he suppose to be? His head seems like it's based either off a lizard or a dragon but I can't really tell.

Kids if you study hard enough, say your prayers, take your vitamins, and eat your vegetables, you too can use books to create energy spheres which you can use to attack other people brother!

The new Orphenoch looks as cool as ever. He actually does come off as a rider design, just a bit more SIC like/spiky and evil looking. He'd fit perfectly in Hibiki going by his design since they seem to specialize in very odd looking suits.

Takumi blows on his food, Kusaka wipes his hands...are Delta and Psyga going to have isms as well? Is this Kamen Rider Faizisms?

I still don't get this whole projecting human self thing with the Orphenochs. Seriously what's the point of it? Couldn't they converse just fine without having to do so? And why are they shirtless when they do it too?

Hey I know, Mister J is secretly Lizardman from Soul Calibur!

Holy shit Takumi just got KO'd. Dude just straight up got knocked out! I guess he needed help after all. This is what you got for being a child and not asking for help.

Well this episode continued in the good quality the last few have had. I'm actually presently surprised by this. Every episode since 10 has been consistently good, with only one being great IMO. Is it possible the curse of every other episode being good has been broken?

Like the last few as well there wasn't that much of a story to the episode. If there was any story, it mostly was about the Lucky Clover Orphenochs and their continuing fight against Yuji and gang, as well as Mr. J's fight against Faiz and Kaixa. I'm actually surprised that when Kaixa showed up that J didn't switch to fighting him. After all Kaixa is the one who has cost him his lives, not Faiz. J has beaten Faiz up every fight and hasn't once beaten Kaixa. So why not fight him once he appeared and get revenge? I got off track there. Anyways outside of the Orphenochs, the only story you could say was about the Kusaka and the rest of the gang, but that was really only about Kusaka and Takumi, Takumi more then Kusaka. So as far as story was concerned, this did continue the trend of not having anything really beefy to it. However it wasn't completely devoid of a plot, and the plot given wasn't that bad.

Character development mostly went to Naoya and Takumi. It continued to show off Naoya's goal of living like a human and experiencing love, something which he seems very set out to do. It does appear he isn't giving up his Orphenoch ways (well he had no choice here), but I'd say that he does seem to truly live as a human. As for Takumi, ehhh, I guess you could say he uh, okay yeah he got zilch. CD went to Naoya, end of story.

The fight scene was good as per usual. Once again we see Takumi getting his ass handed to him pretty hard. So pretty much the same old same old in terms of quality and back and forthness. But at least this didn't have shaky camera!

Well all in all this episode was alright. It wasn't as great as 13, but nowhere near as bad as some of the other episodes I've seen. It was a good episode, and does continue (in my opinion) the latest trend of every episode being good in quality. This was more of an alright episode, but it wasn't boring or just plain bad.

So, I've watched the first two episodes of Blade. I don't know, I suppose that maybe I've just heard too much hype about this series for it to live up to, but I'm just not feeling it yet. Granted there aren't many series that completely had its hooks in me two episodes in but hearing most people talk about it, I expected something extraordinary. Chalice is pretty awesome looking though, I'll give it that.

Blade's hella overrated. The show makes great use of its gimmick, probably the best use of a gimmick in the whole franchise honestly, but minus that and some sweet Rider designs there really isn't much good about the show at all.

The action for example, is really good when it comes to the punching and the use of weapons and stuff, the amount of sparks that fly are overkill even by toku standards but that makes every hit feel powerful and vicious. But then when it comes to using their actual superpowers it gives Kuuga a run for its money in terms of looking dated, it gets pretty awful pretty quickly too when Rider's start getting these "epic" chain attacks that are so limp wristed and poorly realised it's embarrassing.

All of the character arcs take way too long to play out, and never satisfy and the plot and general mythos is silly and convoluted even by Rider standards.

/Although has admittedly seen less than a quarter of the show, so it could suddenly turn into a masterpiece mid way through.

Blade is a slow starter. It's worth sticking with, though.

It kinda does.

Still never really felt that was a good excuse though. Admittedly OOO turned out to be my favourite Rider show, despite feeling like the stuff leading up to Date was a total and utter slog but I feel it's important that a show grabs you from the start, I guess if you've got the time then fine but I really don't have the time to waste just in the vague hope of getting another OOO.

I wouldn't call Blade overrated. It starts slow, but once Garren's story arc starts I couldn't get enough of it.

What makes Blade be heralded so often is it's story over anything. What exactly were you expecting 2 episodes in?

When you hear a show described repeatedly as 'perfect' you tend to expect more than the usual fare going in. So I was expecting something that was, at least, above average. Ridiculous, I know.

Worst still, I actually thought Blade got worse as it progressed which is why I never made it to the quarter way mark, so as you're not feeling it now you might be another who falls in love by the midway point.

*Shrugs* Okay. Drop the show.

At what point did I state any intention of dropping the show? All I said was, at this point and despite all the hype, it hadn't yet clicked with me.

Faiz Episode 15
I've watched this opening for 15 episodes and I must ask...when do I get to see Lite Brite Faiz in an episode?

Monkey's Lunch? Man how do these drinks get names like that? I mean seriously who concocted this thing and was like "Hmmmm it needs I name. I know! I shall call it...Monkey Lunch!"

I see. So the parties will be taking care of their enemy. This should be at least somewhat interesting.

:lol "We don't have time to save this guy." Cracking me up as always Naoya.

She brought him to an abandoned warehouse? Why? Why couldn't she take him to a hospital or back to the apartment? I mean yeah there's Naoya but still. I'd think she could at least find somebody to go and get help. But nope. Run down warehouse will do just fine for a place to let Takumi recover.

And asshole Kusaka appears again. Only this time he really was one. Serious though who doesn't help somebody injured? It's obvious Yuji is in pain and can't really reach the water because of that. So the most you could do is at least push it towards him so that he could get a better hold on it. But nah. Let Yuji do it himself. Though to be fair I think Kusaka telling Yuji to clean it up is more of an ass move then not helping him get the water. Still it was sort of nice to see more of his assholiness. I guess that comes from knowing before the series he's like that, so seeing him act all pleasant is sort of odd. Well except towards Mari. Then it's nice.

Time for Yuka to kill some bitches. I'm really enjoying the struggle the show is showing with Yuka. She really is trying to be kind to humans and not harm them. It's just that dipshits keep pissing her off and thus invoke her Orphenoch wrath. This is probably one of my most enjoyed aspects of the show so far.

Yeah after you royally pissed him off. Honestly Takumi probably should just keep quiet about Yuka being an Orphenoch. True it might not be a bad idea to alert Keitaro to it, but Keitaro has fallen in love with her (again) and thus isn't going to take too kindly to people suggesting he not be with her. Plus with Takumi being Takumi he isn't going to be all that gentle about it as we just saw. Until he can come up with a sensitive and not so blunt way of telling Keitaro, Takumi should probably just keep it to himself.

You know I'm curious, what service do the Faiz and Kaixa phones use?

Well Naoya VS Takumi was pretty good. I really liked the slow down effect used in the bout.

Boy did Takumi just surprise the hell out Keitaro and Mari. Well Kusaka too but Keitaro and Mari more I'd say.

Takumi did something nice again. Really nice actually. He may be an annoying brat but he truly is a good guy. And even though Yuka's an Orphenoch, he's ready to protect her for Keitaro's happiness. Good for you Takumi.

When the hell did Kusaka get that!? Man first Kaixa's blade hums and now he has a mecha walker. George Lucas is going to sue somebody me thinks :lol Don't really like that it has a sidecar though. It looks great as a bike but the sidecar kinda ruins it for me.

Well that was episode 15. I must say that I am quite pleased. It continued the trend starting with 10 onwards of each episode ranging from good to really good, which is a great thing. I'm happy that for now it isn't bad, good, alright, repeat.

The story in the episode while not strong was at least there. It mostly focused on Yuka and her struggle to live as human but still tapping into the Orphenoch powers. This also leads to a great deal of the character development of the episode. The other part of the story and character development went to Takumi, but they kinda fused into one thing. Takumi developed to where (at least for this time) he understands that even if it isn't the best for a person (Keitaro loving Yuka) that you shouldn't condemn it and try to fight it. Takumi decided to fight to protect Keitaro's happiness, which is something he hasn't really done yet. So it was nice to see him do so. Outside of those there wasn't much development or story.

I already talked about the fighting so there's no need for me to discuss it in my wrap up.

Episode 15 was another great episode. It's very emotional, but not in the sense that most viewers find something emotional (i.e. it bringing them to tears). The emotions in the emotional aspect comes with the conflict of the episode. Yuka's feelings of confusion and Takumi stepping up to protect something somebody loves. It just fills you with emotions, doing so pretty well in my opinion, which is always something welcomed in a show, regardless of what type of show it is.

All around it was a great episode. Easily one of the best so far.

All I know is that trying to sell someone a show leads to frustration all around.
I'm not going to argue Blade's merits. I don't want someone to continue a show because everyone else says it's good, or else it'll lead to what happened with me and Kuuga.

I've only seen the first episode of Blade and to be honest, it bored me. Nearly to sleep too I might add. I want to keep watching because I love the designs but I don't know. I may have complained about Faiz's first episode being boring but it was still entertaining. Blade's first was just out right boring and makes me not even want to continue, or simply watch it whenever I'm bored and don't know what else to watch.

Ah, I think that's where this miscommunication came about. Sorry, I wasn't trawling for someone to sell me the show. I didn't make it clear that, despite my lack of enthusiasm, I intend to continue watching. For bad or good, I'm going to watch all the Heisei Rider series. Even if I don't like a show, for the most part, something will pop positive for me at some point. Well, except for Kuuga. Mind you, even though I can for Riders, I can't force myself to sit through a Sentai season I'm not fond of.

Then, do try to enjoy! Hopefully you'll see why so many like it. If not...Then I hope you don't hate it too much :lol

We really are polar opposites, Faiz for me started near perfectly and as such it gave it the greatest amount of space to fall, which it did spectacularly for a while until it started to fall at such speed that it completely burnt out - for me anyway.

Similarly, I thought the start of Blade was fantastic, but as soon as that God damn Garren story starts, without context and just goes on and on eurgh shoot me.

Funnily enough, I just started watching Blade. I remember watching the first episode of Blade and Kabuto around the same time, and decided to watch Kabuto first because I really liked Kabuto's design and action more. After watching the first two episodes of Blade, I can already tell I'm not gonna like the kid Amane all that much and there's something about the way Kenzaki speaks that bothers me for some reason...

Kamen Rider Wizard 14&15 were pretty good, naming the action, and most likely Haruto won't tell the girl the truth.

16&17 is supposed to be Beasts debut right? Gonna check that out now.

Smart Brain.

A warning, a lot of people who didn't get Haruto, loved Nitou simply on the principle of him not being Haruto - I assume anyway, can't imagine why else. And although Beast is cool, and has some fun moments, he is basically excessive baggage until pretty much the last ten episodes of the show.

He had a lot of potential to be great, but you almost get the sense that the writers hated him and didn't even want him to be there. And honestly most of the time, nether did I.

I "Got" Haruto.
I still didn't like him.

I "got" Haruto, didn't like him, and found Nitou to be even worse.

Haruto, to me, was just bland. A character that could've worked in different circumstances, with a different direction. (like if he was the straight man to the whole crazy world) Nitou made him look like fucking God. Nitou was so obnoxious.

Haruto had a great sense of humour, was charismatic, sharp and witty and worryingly rare for a Rider, he was also always active, never waiting for the villain to come to him. The way the Phantoms worked undermined this a bit, but speaking purely as a character Haruto is my absolute favourite Rider.

I wish more Riders were like him, I get so tired of the obnoxious types like Nitou which are sadly common place in tokusatsu.

Faiz Episode 16
Rolly rolly polly Faiz is a slinky!

"I'm so strong that I crack trees! Huh? It's my knuckles cracking and not the tree? Well shaddup because you're wrong!"

Are you two really shocked over the possibility of Takumi not liking Kusaka? I think it's been pretty obvious since their first encounter that they don't really like each other, and it showed even more once they started working and living together. Not quite sure why you both seem so shocked about it.

Honestly I can't say I blame Yuka. After all she dealt with before becoming an Orphenoch it's easy to see why she would be afraid of humans. She was constantly bullied at school and her family were utter c***s to her. If she can't even trust her family to treat her well as human beings, then how could she trust other humans and not be scared of her? Yet through all of this she wants to live as a human and go through all of the emotions one as a human experiences even though she isn't all that normal. In this regard she's just like any other teenager, especially a girl. She's the outcast who wants to fit in even though the odds are against her. In this case the odds are the humans and her being an Orphenoch. Regardless of what happens in the show down the line, and my problems with it so far I must say, they're handling this whole character and story supremely well. It quite frankly is the best part of the show so far and I'll be sad when it ends. Naoya may be my favorite character and Kusaka my favorite rider but Yuka is my favorite story and I'd say she's even deadlocked with Naoya for my favorite character. So regardless if the show gets better or worse down the line, I can at least say that there is one thing they did (IMO) near perfectly.

Please tell me at some point during the show Takumi when being asked about his blowing habit responds with "Blow me."

Ass Kusaka appears again! You guys can hate on him all you want but I'm loving how much of a manipulative ass he is. He has a set goal and will do whatever it takes to get to it, even if it means tainting somebody in their friends' eyes. He's a driven man. Sure his methods aren't the best or nicest but still, he's going to do what it takes to reach the finish line. I love me some Asakura but I got to say, Kusaka may just be the most despicable and evil rider I've seen next to Tiger.

So do we now have a bat themed Orphenoch? Or is it suppose to be based off some other flying animal?

I think you'd be acting weird too if an Orphenoch the creatures which you have sworn to fight saved your life, and she's the person your friend is in love with. I have to agree with Takumi though. While I'm sure Yuka and Keitaro would have a good relationship and he'd be able to give her what she wants out of human life, it's still going to end up ending badly. It's like a doomed relationship you read about in old gothic novels. I hope they (Keitaro and Yuka) have some scene together where this all becomes revealed and I hope if this does happen (even though I agree with Takumi) that Keitaro accepts her, Orphenoch in all. Even if it does appear to be doomed, I just want Yuka to be loved and for Keitaro to get this piece of happiness he's wanting.

Is it just me or does this Orphenoch look like Ryutaros?

Okay at this point Naoya is just straight up creeping. Also this scene reminds me of the one in Ryuki when Asakura, Ren, and Kitaoka all declare Shinji the biggest dumb ass ever. All it's missing is the streamers. All I have to say is poor, poor Naoya :lol

Oh my God Narutaki is an Orphenoch!

Takumi had that on pretty fast. Does he just sit in the van with the belt on so that when an Orphenoch pops up he can be instantly ready?

Okay Takumi I know you have a lot going through your head right now, and I'm sure you're thinking about how it is possible not all Orphenochs are evil. But you just saw this guy attacking a human being and leaving him for dead. Get your head out of your ass and fight back!

Well 16 episodes down and 34 to go. As far as 16 goes, it was good just like the past few have been.

The story of the episode focused mostly on Takumi, with him dealing with his feelings towards Yuka and Orphenochs, as well as having to deal with Kusaka. Honestly I can't praise the story any more then I have been for the last few. It's just great to me. This is easily my favorite part of Faiz so far.

Character development however was missing though. Even with Takumi being the central focus of the story, he didn't really develop much. He was pretty much his regular self, just a bit more quiet. Nobody else really developed either so the CD was non existent for this one.

Unfortunately this isn't the only knock against the episode, as the action here was just lame. Both fights were short and didn't really get you pumped like the others have. Kaixa just punched and kicked the Orphenoch into water over and over, and Faiz just gave up. So the action here is pretty lame, probably the worst of the show so far.

However even with no character development and really lame fights, I'd still say the episode is good. It's redeeming factor is how great the story was and the interactions between the characters. Every bit of the story was great and the way every body worked with each other was great again. Once again this is a pretty emotional episode, with this one being more depression based with some bits of anger.

It may have bad CD and action but the rest of it was good. 16 isn't the best in these recent episodes I've seen but it isn't terrible. It definitely has continued the trend of each episode being good after one another.

Well I watched the Beast episodes and so far he's good, but from what you guys have been saying here he'll go down another path but for now I enjoy him.

Now as for the episodes, it was sorta of cheap to just get new cloaks, but it makes sense.

Now what even what I found surprising is seeing Beast makes me want to continue with Wizard. See usually when the secondary or sixth is introduced in a series I just sorta stop the series and something gets me to get going again, now only W,Dairanger, Gokaiger almost did this to me so I am glad that with a series such as Wizard didn't make me stop for a bit.

Haruto is pretty much what you get when you try to make a Showa style Rider in the modern era. He has a little more self-doubt than most of the old guys, but in every other way he's much closer to the classic dudes than any of the other modern guys except maybe Hibiki. I love him for pretty much all the reasons you listed. I just wish he'd been on a better show.

The idea of Haruto was sound, but the actor's bland delivery (wether it was because as an actor he lacked, or poor direction, the latter is not unthinkable given the direction for everyone else was quite clearly over-the-top obnoxious) and the awful writing of the show overall meant he just came across as boring.

But if he was in a different show, with better writers, I could see him becoming a strong character. But he wasn't, sadly, and he didn't. But hey, he WAS the best part of Wizard. I deffinitely warmed up to him when I saw how everything BUT Haruto broke down into mind-numbing annoyance.

In your opinion, maybe.

In a land of screaming children I loved Haruto's delivery, you either got the wave length of what he was trying to say or you didn't, the show would never try and spell out what emotion you were supposed to correctly respond with.

I still think overall Wizard isn't as bad as they say, do I wish my favourite Rider was on a show that wasn't just utterly average? Of course, but it could have been worse, he could have been like Ichijou forever trapped in a shit pile like Kuuga.

Weirdly enough I picked Blade over Kabuto the first time I was watching through them lol. Though it was because it was at first arc with The Bee and he annoyed me at the time, though I love Yaguruma by the end of it.

I still just like to mention that Kuuga isn't a shit pile. I really like the characters and never wanted an enemy to die as much as the Grongi. Also I love him working with the police too.

At least I'm not in the minority with Kuuga any more, there are those like yourself who genuinely like the show - which is fine - but it does seem to be finally getting some much needed revisionism.

It seems people are much more critical of the shows failings now, than a year ago when the only people who had seen it on these boards had seen it a long time ago, and thought fondly of it in their nest of hazy nostalgia.

But as you can see from people who have finished it more recently, they are less inclined to brush things under the carpet simply on the principle of the fact there was a long gap of no shows. Every year Kuuga has more to contend with, and every year it seems to be gaining one more naysayer and yay to the naysayers!

I feel like comparing Kuuga to Gaim is a bit unfair. 1999 was a different time. (Yet, I say this having never seen Kuuga. :lol)

Which is fine but I bet every year it gains one more yaysayer (Is this even a word? if not I am using it more.) to the cause of Kuuga. Sure it has it's flaws but all the shows do. I accept Kuuga's flaws because I think Yuusuke is one of the best main characters there is.

Also power to the Yaysayers!

Why though? Jetman is one of the most highly regarded series of sentai, and that is over twenty years old. It isn't JUST about technical prowess, it's about the quality of the show itself.

And although Heisei and subsequently neo-heisei became too bogged down in the two episode structure, crippling some of its potential perhaps, you can't honestly say Kuuga compares with those shows even outside of technical business. Because it well...doesn't.

Maybe. But not here.

If you look back over the thread - not that you're going too - it seems you're the only person who's watched it recently and come out glowing with praise. And rightly so, every show has flaws, few have as many crippling ones as Kuuga does.

And I will never understand how people can hate Haruto and love Godai, Godai is everything the haters claim Haruto to be.

Which is weird because I can't get into Jetman. Though I will say I love Kamen Rider X and Battle Fever J which are older than Jetman and I think are very well done shows.

Anyways it is difficult to compare the new stuff to the older stuff sometimes, but I will say I enjoy the Storytelling structure of the older Heisei Era stuff to the Neo-Heisei era. Gaim feels more like the older Heisei era honestly.

Kuuga, is a very good show, and to be honest I watched the first 4 episodes and it put me to sleep. I watched episode 5 months later, and absolutely got hooked with Yuusuke, well I also got hooked with Faiz the same time and watched them both together. I thought both of them were amazing shows that did a lot of things well. Yuusuke working with the Police was something very different and Ichijou is just awesome. I liked how everyone was working together to try and help Yuusuke and stop the Grongi. I like how the threat of the Grongi actually affected the real world and that there was so much fear around. I liked how Yuusuke trained himself to defeat enemies and get better. I love that he used his Gentleness, his kindness to reach his final form not anger and that he didn't have to succumb to that to beat the Grongi. Personally the show has had an affect myself too because I thumbs up all the time because of it.

Gaim on the other hand is taking everything that Kamen Rider has ever done well and crammed it into one show so far, Gaim is very hard to compare to any show before it.

Also about Haruto, I have only seen him in movies and the first episode of Wizard, I found him to be amazing too, especially being about Hope. Probably good and bad Yuusuke and Haruto are a lot a like.


So I've defended Kiva, and now Kuuga lol. Anyone want to debate about Agito, Blade Kabuto, Faiz or Decade next? lol

Jetman is overrated to be fair, but those sorts of things always are. You can't really herald a kids show about toy sales as some kind of second coming. I suppose I'm the bigger fool for actually buying into the hype in the first place.

Once again - unlike the others - it was the start of Kuuga I liked the most, mainly because it seemed to blow all of its budget in the first three episodes. I also appreciated Ichijou, but absolutely hated everything else.

The poor story telling, the fucked up tones, the ineffective Rider, the disconnected action, the extremely low budget. I've gone into detail so many times, I wont bore you by saying the same thing again - although literally read Spirals post on this page, they said pretty much everything I feel but were easier on the show in the process.

It was gratuitous in all the places it shouldn't have been.