How the hell is that...why did the monster...who thought that...wha? :lol

Well, stupid is stupid no matter how he series is regarded.

Well, I mean...if he had superpowers or something....

Uh... why not?

Obviously, having never seen these series, I can't speak in detail... But maybe Battlizer thinks Kamen Rider shouldn't always be put through the logical ringer. Maybe he thinks the storytelling in Kamen Rider is more impressionistic and subjective than steadfastly logical and literal.

There's more than one way to experience a story. In fact, I believe there are about 7 billion ways.

How about planets? :lol

http://media.animevice.com/uploads/0...anet_super.jpg

True, for sure. But I don't know that you can apply the same logistical scale when judging Kamen Rider as you would when judging, say, The Wire. (You kind of even have to adjust the scale between Rider series, TBH.)

I mean, you can. But I don't know that it would result in anything other than frustration.

Why does the monster not move?
It doesn't try to dodge, it doesn't try to hit him out of it. He just juts out his chest and extends his arms, like he's daring Kuuga to kick him...

Because the human brain has standards.

Because if they insist on calling those series "masterpieces" then they are inviting them to be judged by "masterpice" standards.

No.

But be realistic. Anyone can like anything they want, but calling Agito a Masterpiece is overkill. Especially when it's as flawed as it is. And ESPECIALLY when he confronts anyone who disagrees with "well, you're the ONLY ONE WHO EVER-."

Thanks for proving my point!

Now you know why Superman doesn't do stuff like that anymore. :lol It's absurd, and just goes to show the runaway fantasy trap I'm explaining. It's exactly the same as Kuuga destroying a planet.

It's called "too much." Why do I have the feeling if a dehydrated man showed up on your doorstep begging for water, you'd drown him in your bathtub, and when he protests, you'd act like HE was at fault for wanting water in the first place.

If you want to keep overselling it, you can.

And now you see.

Again, to refer back to my suspension of disbelief arguement you decidedly ignored in favour of a joke, there's limits. It's the same reason Kamen Rider has cohesive stories, continuity in the series's, and structure at all. You can't ignore every single breach of logic simply because you have to ignore some to accept the concept. That's how stories fall apart and lose quality.

I'm utterly baffled this needs explaining.

Okay, long-ass post about why Agito is one of the best Rider shows ever. Go... now!

Okay, to preface, I think that the early part of the Heisei era, Kuuga-Hibiki 1.0, is probably my favorite era of the franchise, Faiz notwithstanding (and even Faiz was really engaging at first). I like the greater emphasis on serialized storytelling and character development over the victim-of-the-fortnight format the show was stuck with in the late 00s/early 10s. I liked that the shows tried to be more adult and serious, too, often getting kind of dark and twisted along the way.

What initially drew me into Agito was the story. The show doesn't explain what the monsters want or why they're targeting people; instead we get to watch along with Hikawa as he and the other cops try to figure out what's going on. It starts off as something that could be a direct sequel to Kuuga, but the story gets deeper and deeper as we start understanding that the victims all had something in common, although it's not until near the end of the show that the characters and the viewers piece together exactly what's happening. And by that point the show has evolved beyond a supernatural mystery show and into one of the most aggressive creation vs. evolution stories I've ever seen, where god himself is sending angels to kill any person who tries to evolve beyond his preferred form for humanity. I didn't find this a cop-out. Rather, I found it to be an interesting answer to the mysteries that the show had set up and a pretty remarkable way to up the story's stakes by the end.

I liked all three of the main protagonists, but I always view Hikawa as the real main character of the show. Shouchi's happy-go-lucky nature can get grating after awhile, but he remains a sympathetic character throughout. Gills works well as a supporting character, even if his constant bad luck with female guest stars got a little ridiculous by the end. Hikawa, though, is easily the most engaging of the three. He's a guy who wants to get to the truth of what's going on, even when everyone else is trying to get him to give up or just shut up and follow orders. It always impressed me how he never gave up on trying to stop the monsters, no matter how obviously outclassed he was. He was a great character and Shouichi always worked well as his more relaxed counterpart.

The show wasn't perfect - no show is - but I felt that the story was interesting, the mysteries were engaging and largely had satisfying payoffs, and the characters were likable and well realized. I liked watching the characters interact, I liked the action scenes, and I liked feeling like I was piecing things together at the same time as the characters themselves.

YES. EVERYONE LOOK AT THAT CLIP. See how shit Kuuga is! Only joking.

But serious, it's so nice that over like a year I went from the lone disliker to being in the majority on this forum. Fuck Kuuga.

Well, I don't I want a rider show where hey can pull wacky powers outta nowhere, but if things like kicking a plane into explosion work within the shows universe then it works. I don't think kicking a planet kaboom is automatically nonsensical on principal like say...*insert Kiva thing here*.

I mean I don't know shit about Kuuga, so for all I knew they could've had some kinda DBZ level planetary battle. I mean watching that clip now, I know that's not the case. But back then, ten minutes ago...

Faiz Episode 25
The Kaixa suit on the female body looks a bit odd. I guess it's because it's more slender looking, especially in the neck area. Though I will admit, I think Saeko being Kaixa is quite the nice fit.

Well of course they're interested in the belts. They made them and as the president said, are going to use them for the Orphenoch King. Not to mention that they're attempting to take them away from you on a weekly basis. So yes Takumi, Smart Brain is in fact interested in the belts.

Kusaka you woke up in the best way possible; at the dinner table with dinner already cooked and ready for consumption. You lucky bastard :lol

I thought it was Ryuseijiji School? Did the translators just change it or something? I won't complain to much though, Ryusei is easily to say.

A fork Kusaka? Really?

Something tells me Keitaro has OCD.

How exactly do you even open the elevator doors anyways? Is it like a sensor system? You know like how some public bathrooms have the paper towel dispensers where you just wave your hand under it to get them. Maybe it's something like that, but that's honestly the only idea I have as to how they entered it.

Also I guess they're no longer any significance since the president pretty much just put a hit out on them.

Where the deuce did Kusaka get a flashlight from?

That is a very good question Takumi.

This episode is brought to you by the color purple.

Holy shit it's a mirror monster! Wait, never mind, it's just an Orphenoch. I guess they still had some use for the mirror monster sound effect. Actually that whole speech right there felt like it was lifted right out of Ryuki.

Okay I've been not really caring about this whole time it takes them to get to places thing. But how the hell did Kusaka go from being underneath Smart Brain's building, to being in a stadium? This is a serious what the fuck moment.

I like Kaixa's rider kick more then Faiz's. Mostly because the Kaixa one doesn't have that ridiculous flip transition into the actually kick. Faiz's just doesn't look all that natural too me. How do you go from a front flip into the rider kick position in one single jump? It's just weird to me.

Well episode 25 has gone by after opening my eyes for it. And I will say that this episode while odd as hell, is actually pretty good.

The story this episode was actually really nice, and helped propel the main overarching story forward. It introduced the new belts which are apparently failed results and end up turning the user to ashes. I'm quite anxious to hear about them more, especially since Takumi put one on Takuma. Along with that, I think the discovering of the school under Smart Brain, along with some of the things with the president helped move it all forward. Of course this can be subjective, and is only the way I perceive it. As for the other story with Naoya, it was pretty cool as well.

Speaking of Naoya's story, we see him get more character development in a more clearer form. Going off his words at the end, it does appear as if he's quite happy to give into his monstrous side, but also accepts that he won't be able to throw his humanity. He's a good combination of Yuji and Yuka in my opinion, with just a bit more menace to him. Outside of Naoya, I really don't think much character development was present.

In the action department, we got the usual nice fair. The Yuji VS kid fight while one sided was fairly nice to me. The fight in the school was pretty much the standout though. It was just a straight up brawl all the way around and made for some lovely entertainment. That said though, I think the speed up in it was a bit distracting and at times made everything seem blurry. This could just be me though, so I won't say it's a serious flaw or anything of that sort.

At the end of the episode and with the preview playing, I found 25 to be another good episode. It definitely continued the trend of episodes being consistently good starting with 20, so it's nice to once again be getting good episode after good episode. The story was great, the character development was good though lacking a bit, and the action was fairly nice. 25 was not as good as 24 was, which if you read my review of it know that I claim to be near perfect. 25 is another good episode, nothing too spectacular, but nothing bad. I liked it.

And thus I come to the halfway point of the show. Funny since early in my watching I didn't think I'd stay with the show. It started off as a mixed bag that even though I watched up to 3 episodes daily, I couldn't really get into it. Now I look forward to watching Faiz. The show really seems to have picked up and is delivering on the entertainment front like crazy. Critical wise there are flaws and things that don't quite work. However they are not overwhelming enough to make the show bad. It's as a said, a mixed bag. It was and the beginning and still is.

So 25 in with 25 to go, I do think I'll stick with Faiz here. I have things I don't like, and things aren't all that great in it as a show. But I am consistantly entertained and find enough pros to not rage at it's shortcomings. So yeah, I'm liking Faiz. It isn't the best Rider show I've seen, but it certainly isn't the worst.

P.S. I enjoy Kuuga quite a bit.

That's a great thing.

This is a great idea taht I REALLY liked until episode twenty when we still hadn't figured out ANYTHING.

Bolded my problem.

That's WAY too long to draw that out. That's utter PAIN to draw that out. That's somethign that should've been revealed at the halway mark.

And this, really, is my biggest problem with the show. Que, Morbo impression:

EVOLUTION DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!!! GOODNIGHT!!!

Evolution is not a preset genetic fucntion that takes over in individuals. Evolution is not a metamorphisis, it is not magic.

Evolution is just a fancy word for adaptation. And it takes millions of years for substancial change. And, it only takes place if it NEEDS TO. Thats why crocodiles have remained relatively unchanged for eons. Evolution is entirely dependant on concious decisions made by MULTIPLE numbers of a species over a period of time. Evolution has no set path, that's why we have different races in animals. That's why humans have different races. Africans have darker skin to protect them from hotter climates and direct sunlight. Caucasians have lighter skin because they evolved in areas with cooler climates.

It's funny how evolution is pretty much the fundamental of life, and yet so few people seem to understand how it works. Evolution, also, is not entirely biological. Because it literally means adaptation, it presents itself in many ways. Certain fish have evolved to build structures to lay their eggs in, but they physically have undergone no change to facilitate this.

In no sense of the word is developing an varied array of unrelated abilities with no practical use ever a sign of evolution. This is something studied and debated even today, but humans don't need to evolve anymore. We have evolved physically into creatures of constant adaptation. Our bodies, rather than undergo physical changes, have given us a brian that allows us to build our way out of problems. To fight animals, we did not grow claws spontainiously, we figured out how to tie a sharp rock to a stick.

THAT is Agito's biggest flaw: it's lack of understanding over it's very own concept. You claim it's creationism verses evolution, but the evolution is represented by powers created by someone, bestowed upon randomly selected individuals. That is the EXACT OPPOSITE OF EVOLUTION.

So the entire point of the show has fallen over dead.

But as I said, it DIDN'T MAKE SENSE.

Because all this culminates in such a ridiculous way, it's all rendered pointless.

I'll get to the character bit in a moment...

Oh God Agito is another piece of Japanese media using religious iconography while not understanding what they actually mean...AGAIN? And to boot they get something like evolution wrong? Don't they teach that in schools in Japan?

That much we can agree on.

But even he became repetative and one-track, never really changing or growing.

But he doesn't.

You can't just say he is something without proof. Time and time again, people die, and Shouchi is completely unfazed. We later learn he is ENTIRELY aware of the deaths, and his powers, but either through stupidity or cowardice (the show offers neither as true) he never mentions it. He never seeks out answers, he never does anything with his amazing gift. He doesn't MENTION his amazing gift. He just plants his stupid tomatoes.

That, to me, is worse than the monsters. He ALWAYS lets people die before he gets into action, and since tehre's a new monster every week, it's hard to say if he actually saved anyone at all. The only time he ever felt emoton was when his fake-girlfriend died, or when he foudn out his sister killed ehrself.

So basically, he only cared when something happened to somethign he loved. What about the children or parents or sibligns or friends off all those killed? Agito never even PONDERS, never even ACKNOWLEDGES that someone has died. He is worse than heartless, he's borderline mindless. He's not a character, he's a prop.

What exactly did he support?

Because he had nothing to do with the show. He ran into Agito and G3 once or twice, but he was off by himself, and when he finally joined up in the last, oh, five eps? Lost his powers.

He did nothing.

And he rarely, if ever, truely seeks out that truth.

Good men want. Great men obtain.

That's fine.

But that's not a lot to go on. PLENTY of characters don't give up, but accomplish far, far more.

Not really.

Than again if Souichi were anymore relaxed, his heart would stop.

And yet, you said it was a masterpiece.

E-yup.

Evolution is not something you can really even define. It is actions passed on through offspring. And individual cannot really evolve. That's why we say a man adapts, but mankind evolves.

Honestly, this just reminds me of my favourite episode of one of my favourite cartoons: Beast Wars. In one episode, possibly the most famous episode of the show, the character of Dinobot had been undergoing some pretty intense inner trumoil. He, and all other characters, existed in Earth's prehistory. They were in the past, which meant either everything they did changed the future, or everything they did was meant to happen anyway. This nearly drove him to suicide, as he "could not live if not the master of >his< own fate." The evolution comes in part when Megatron gets the idea of destroying a key tribe of the ancestors of the human race to halt or alter their evolutionary journey, as humans would someday become an advantage to their enemies. Dinobot, after a bloody battle to stop this, is defenseless, and Megatron holds a proto-human hostage. Dinobot then grabs a stcik to beat Megatron, but it's not really effective. He then embeds a rock into the stick, creating a hammer to damage Megatron just enough to turn the tide. The protohuman witnesses the hammer's crafting, and later uses it to crack open a coconut to eat, and afetr that, kill a snake that had killed one of his fellows earlier. As the proto-human holds the hammer in awe of it's power, he screams to the skies as evolution at it's purest has taken it's first step. And yet oddly enough, if it itself a roundabout story. Dinobot introduced the human to tools, but Dinobot was only on Earth in it's perhistory because of humanity's technological achievements leading them there in the future. It's one of the most beautifully thematic moments in a cartoon show I've seen.

You're acting like there's one human brain we all share, and it's in your head. :lol

Fair enough. Though I'd argue that he just doesn't have the vocabulary (or maybe just the patience) to articulate why he thinks the series is a masterpiece.

"Anyone can like anything they want but calling Agito a Masterpiece is overkill."

So... apparently they can't like anything they want because you are the ultimate arbiter of quality, and you have deemed Kuuga unworthy. :lol

Though yeah, citing a majority's opinion is an infuriating counterargument. We're in agreement. Especially when he came out the gate swinging.

And that lack of imagination and insistence on logic is why modern Superman comics, stunts aside, sell like shit and are mostly terrible. He's a character who thrives in illogic. Not so with a character like Batman, who thrives when grounded and well-reasoned.

My favorite recent Superman story is All-Star Superman. I think that's a fairly common opinion. That story features a Superman strong enough to move Earth out of it's orbit. You may not buy that Silver Age nonsense in the simple stories from the 50s & 60s, but that same nonsense works in the context of ASSM because the emotional logic is sound. Grant Morrison proved that you can have crazy, absurd things happen randomly so long as your character reacts in a way that's true to his psychology.

My point is: The same logical rules can't apply to all stories. The rules are entirely context dependent.

Interesting analogy.

I'm just arguing for an open mind. I'm not saying the way you prefer story is wrong -- just that it's far from the only way, as your tone implies.

I didn't address it because you just kind of said the words "suspension of disbelief" and said the way to achieve it is to be able to visualize an absurd concept. I think that's overly reductive and depends on everyone having the same level of imagination.

After this post, I kind of see that you're arguing that a strong internal logic is vital to fostering suspension of disbelief. I agree, in general, but I also believe that most people can sustain their suspension of disbelief even in the face of logic breaches (as long as they're rare) if most of the other logical areas are strong.

Where we disconnect most is when you seem to imply that there is a universal set of logical proofs that exist to provoke suspension of disbelief, and that they're the same for every person. That if you tick off enough boxes on this imaginary list, universal suspension of disbelief is automatically achieved for everyone. Maybe I'm misinterpreting you, But that's far from true.

What Split is trying to convey, as to how I understand it and appreciate it myself, is that even the silliest shows in the world have logic, they are ground in their own version of reality and set of internal rules. It's up to the show to allow us to buy into noticeable zips, cardboard robots and pretty Japanese boys being better suited to fight monsters than actual trained officials.

But Kuuga's planet destroying kick defies the shows own continuity. Kuuga is a show, to be fair, with very strong world building. Although I hated the tone, Kuuga does feel very much like how a Rider war would perhaps play out if it happened fo'realz. So to suddenly turn around and 'HERP DERP DESTROY THE PLANET KICK' it was really, really, really DUMB. Even within the shows parameters of rubber monsters and rubber armour. Because it doesn't fit with anything else.

It'd be like watching Double Indemnity when suddenly Walter Matthau suddenly gained the power to lift buildings - and did.

I think what bugged me in regards to Kuuga was the lack of any major ramifications to a lot of what Godai did in suit and the Grongi in general. Somewhere in the first 10 episodes it's mentioned that the Grongi have managed to kill somewhere around 100 police officers and yet...life goes on as normal for people? Kuuga was clearly a show that wanted to be grounded in reality but it there were always little pieces here and there that made me wish certain episodes would touch more upon the fact that the hero has the ability to destroy the planet.


(this is why I'm glad Kiva never brought up that stupid attack Dark Kiva has that can blow up the earth)

For me it's a show where I can ignore those things because I enjoyed the characters and visual style enough that it didn't bother me, but it's definitely one of those times where you realize a show doesn't hold up well under certain standards.

Yeah those were my major problems for me too. For a show so fixated on the death toll, Godai was like the most disconnected Rider I've ever seen. It was almost offensive how undeveloped he was by the end. I find it funny that people stand in a line to gargle that shows dick despite the disgusting insults to the fandom, then a show like Wizard with a proactive hero who doesn't have a death toll to his name in the thousands gets collectively shat on.

Wait, what?
Dark Kiva has an attack that can blow up the Earth?

Wow, that does sound really annoying and like a huge breach of trust between the creators and the audience.

I still stand by my statements, though. That suspension of belief isn't as fragile as Split makes it seem... so long as the creators maintain a mostly consistent internal logic.

The King's World End attack, otherwise known as Wake Up Three. It's mentioned on the TV Asahi profile page for Dark Kiva.

In general, there is...a lot of material concerning the specifics of the gear in that show that never actually made it to the screen. The Buron Booster add on the bike gets later has the ability to nullify any air resistance. Kiva's bike? Yeah, that was made by member of Kivat's race called Motobat the 16th. Also it contains the brain of a horse monster.

And you completley missed the point. Whatever.

Then he shouldn't be at all surprsied to have it challenged.

Are you calling my opnion wrong?

As much as I'm sure you'd just love to disagree, quality can be judged objectively.

Now, wether someone likes something regardless of quality is something else entirely.

You seem awfully intent to try and cut out the legs of my arguement than face it head on, by pulling the INCREDIBLY weka and petty "opinion" card. (seemingly unaware it ALSO cuts the legs off of yours and his arguements)

Yes, everyone's opinions are different yet equal, do not insult me by assumign I don't. But when you are judging what is esoteric and intangible, you have nothing but "your" standards and your perception. I can not give you a diagram or model of a standard. It is not something I can find or touch.

You seem unaware of the discussion at large.

"Flippant" is saying something is a masterpiece. He did not say he "thought" it was a masterpiece, but that it WAS, and I was wrong.

If you truely cared about opinions, you'd not be trying to scratch at my ankles. I NEVER said he was wrong. HE did. HE said I was wrong, and that I was alone in my wrong opinion. He said that, I've quoted him saying it.


Nope.

THAT is opinion.

Me, too!

Now you see, this is actually a good position that does change my mind on a few things...

But ultimately still supports my arguement, as it happens. As you said, the emotional logic is sound. Basically, you will accept ASSM's leaps of logic because of it's presentation, and it's narrative significance. Kuuga's leaps of logic don't exist for those reasons. They exist to be flashy, overdone, and be "epic" without any proper grounding or emotional narrative weight. They're a cheap out in creating suspense and grand-scale imagery, rather than being the logical conclusion set by events in or outside the story.

Essentially.

That breach in logic though, that's too much. You just cannot kick a planet and make it explode. There's nothing to be gained from that type of action other than a false idea of 'epicness' as the kids say.

You are mis-interpreting me.

I'm not saying everyone's limits are the same, but everyone has limits. And as a species with culture and society, those limits are often close.

Obviously my stance is not alone, not that I care if it is, or else EVERY series would have this kind of over-the-top imagery.

It's not that suspension of disbelief is fragile, it's that Kuuga's stupid kick was such a vicious blow to it, as Locke pointed out.

I mean ultimately your entire arguement here has been semantics.

...

Dangit Kiva, you were already dumb enough.

Dragon Knight 16

Good lord why am I still watching this? So we get some backstory on Kamen Rider Sting and some support from Maya while Kit and Len go and fight physcorogue. It was an okay episode.

I like Dragon Knight. Maybe I'll rewatch it to get my Kamen Rider fix.

I thought I was responding to a joke with a joke. :rolleyes

No, I'm calling your methodology constricting.

I don't disagree, per se. And I love plenty of things that are objectively not great (say hello, Kiva!).

But while I think individual elements of a story can be judged objectively -- like character motivations, inter-character conflicts, the trajectory of a plot, the pace of the editing, an actor's performance, clarity of theme -- I think it's much harder (to the point of irrelevance) to objectively measure a complete product. Because at a certain point, individual people will value each element of a story to varying degrees.

And I realize the subjectivity argument is weak, but I don't think that's the argument I'm making. I'm trying to say that people's interpretation and appreciation of a given show is more complex than you're making it seem.

But either way, we're not going to solve the age old debate between objective and subjective interpretations of art on a tokusatsu fan forum. Still, it can be fun to talk about.

I think I read a certain amount of playfulness in Switchblade's post while I read hostility and judgement in yours. Sorry if that's not a fair read.

Also, I have to admit I was irritated by your assertion that he can't hide behind the "Kamen Rider is inherently silly" argument. I find Kamen Rider's absurd, unexplained nonsense inextricable from its appeal -- and how well it balances that nonsense with legitimate excellence is a fundamental part of this franchise's magic. And sometimes, the lack of explanations makes it feel like the world is bigger than the characters who populate it.

You discredited an element of the show that I hold dear -- and which I find necessary to the genre's appeal -- so I felt the need to jump in. Sorry if that seemed like an attack or something.

It's not an opinion that Superman and Action Comics -- Superman's top selling solo titles -- were #48 and #49 respectively on Diamond's top 100 sales chart in January.

Supposedly the most popular super hero in the world can only muster a #48 or #49 sales ranking. That means that DC's approach to the character isn't resonating with audiences. It's my opinion that they're scared of the character's fundamental absurdity, and the stories they tell are contrived as a result of forcing him into a mold he doesn't fit.

But I digress... :lol

Wow, that was a nice string of positivity and agreement!

But, the World-Ending Kick isn't the problem in and of itself. It would work in a story whose rules allowed for it -- like Dragonball Z or something.

But it seems like, in the context of Kuuga, it's a huge breach of the logic of the world. At least, based on my understanding of the show.

Once I realized the scope of the argument, I totally understand your problem with that scene.

*pats you on the back*Now you know our pain :lol.

Even Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band had that song about the meter maid. Perfection isn't required for something to be fantastic.

*sigh* I've already given ample, AMPLE reasons why it's not a masterpiece or fantastic or whatever, and yet you go after the one part of my post you can argue with semantics.

I'm gonna let that fact speak for itself.

I don't know what you want, man. The stuff that bugged you about the show didn't annoy me. I like the characters, even Mana sometimes. I love the story and the way it's both structured and paced. I don't care that it has an understanding of evolution on par with Pokemon. Everything that you hate either doesn't phase me or is something I like. I legitimately believe that the show is objectively fantastic and one of the all-time greats. I'll admit that I've been having a bad day and haven't articulated my thoughts half as well as I should, but I've had that Beatles zinger in my head for the last few hours now and wanted to use it, damn it. :p

Faiz Episode 26
Poor Keitaro :lol

Sawada is going to be Delta. Calling it.

How exactly are those paintings staying up? It looks like they're not connected to the wall, I don't see a stand under them, and there aren't any wires holding them up. So yeah, how are they not falling down exactly? That aside though I do like them.

Because you're not important to the plot unless you're interacting with Yuka?

What the hell was that thing he used to lite the crane on fire with? And what was with the music in the scene two. It's like it switched between types of sound systems.

So the key to getting Takumi to actually work productively and not be a brat is to have him work or be around other nekojitas? Cool beans. And hey, maybe I'll get to see some funny Takumi love scenes.

Is this guy suppose to be like an evil Ryutaros or something? He always shows up when music is playing, and appears to have his own theme song. Regardless he has a really cool suit design. Kinda reminds of the one guy from B-Fighter/Beetleborgs.

Well uh...um...wow. That's a stone cold murder right there. And it appears that it was done by another human for once. That's quite shocking.

Is Kusaka afraid of tunnels or something?

What's with the ominous music?

Well episode 26 was quite interesting. Story wise I'd say it had quite a bit, that good sum of story doing good to help move the main story forward with giving details about the Delta Gear, which is obviously going to be a fairly good part of the show. Plus it also gave us a new character with the new employee. I really hope she and Takumi have some good funny scenes together.

Charcter development wise, I really didn't see any. At all. I would say the same for action, but there was at least some action. Unfortunately it was really, really short.

So in the end, episode 26 wasn't really all that great compared to the last five. It did help move the over arching story forward, but that's the only real thing it contributed. There wasn't any character development, and the action present was too short. It was an entertaining episode, but only in a few parts. Outside of that, it is definitely not one of the better episodes.

Faiz Episode 27
How come Delta gets the cool red blaze when he snuffs an Orphenoch? Faiz and Kaixa just get blue blaze. Shouldn't Faiz have red, Kaixa yellow, and Delta white or black? Is Delta so powerful that his attacks are red hot? Just seems odd he gets the cool color for taking out Orphenochs but Faiz or Kaixa don't.

Good lord, these kids need some damn rehab. This belt is like a freaking drug to them. Their friend just died and they could give two shits. You know I'll admit that Kusaka is a dick head, but these two are utter fucking assholes for the reason I just said. Their life long friend died, and they don't care. You two can go eat a meal with the reaper and die for all I care.

Oh and Sawada has the belt now and is probably Delta? Called it. But before I 100% take in my calling of it, I'll wait for a full on conformation.

What the hell are these three doing? No seriously, what the hell? :lol I guess they're trying to cool the noodles down so that Takumi and Kimura can eat them without blowing on them? Isn't this a little much though? Whatever it is, it's bloody hilarious :lol

...I can not handle the funnies in this show. They are killing me with every viewing. It doesn't matter what scene follows. I don't even think somebody getting blown to hell would matter. The comedy in this show is too fucking funny for me too handle.

What the heck is Naoya doing?

Oh come on. Is Delta really so powerful that it stops people in fear without even being in front of them? I find that a teeny bit hard to believe. Hell if the Delta Gear really is in the God tier, why wasn't Smart Brain going after retrieving that belt?

...The fucking hell? Okay these two aren't fucking assholes. No they are straight up ****s. You all can say Kusaka is a douche all you want, but I think I have come across the two most despicable characters I have ever seen in Kamen Rider. They're even worse then freaking Tiger, freaking Tiger! And he wrote the book on being despicable. I hope these two get killed, brutally and in the worst way possible.

Did they just use the force or something? No? It's just an aftereffect from using the Delta Gear. So if I'm understanding this right, if you even use the belt for 10 seconds, it's power stays with you. Once again I have to ask, why aren't Smart Brain going after this gear? It seems like it's the cat's pajamas power wise.

I guess nekojitas aren't all alike.

Man I really love the design of this new Orphenoch. He looks so damn cool with his little afro and mask like face. Dude looks bitching.

You know this how most of those sleazy Japanese pseudo snuff films I love so much start.

"Just scared shitless after having an encounter with God Rider. That's all."

Those two make the most perfect of couples.

Sawada is the Orphenoch? Boy was I wrong about him being Delta. Guess I can't have a victory party for being right :(

Why do they keep playing scary music when they talk about Delta, or Delta shows up? They're building him up with this music to be like a freaking serial killer. He's like the Kamen Rider version of Michael Myers. Though to be fair, they sure are building up Delta like their lives depended on it. All we've gotten are glimpses of him, and yet I'm already hyped for him. He hasn't even fought yet and he's already has this presence about him. Regardless of who Delta ends up being, the writers sure did a damn good job at building his appearance up.

Well that was Faiz 27, and boy was it an episode. It just oozes atmosphere. All of this helped by the episode's story. It as it's own episode is great, and as an episode to help move the main story along is great as well. We get more details about Delta and the powers associated with him, we get more out of two more recent characters. The story was well paced, it grabbed you by the balls and kept you interested through the entire run time. Story was this episode was just damn perfect.

The character development present was, well present. Kimura got development in seeing more of her personality, as well as how she interacts with everybody, well just Keitaro and Takumi. Character development for Sawada was present in the form of us seeing him request to no longer be a like a human, he only wanting to be an Orphenoch. Those two ****s got development as well in us seeing just how much of a death grip the Delta Gear has all of them. Our main characters didn't really get any development, but they didn't have to so that we could get great character development. The CD here was just plain greatness.

The action scene completes a trinity of awesomeness. The fight between Sawada, Kusaka, and Takumi was great. It had a great deal of back and forth even though Sawada is obviously one of the strongest Orphenochs we've seen in the show so far. I really can't say anything more then it was great.

So if you haven't figured out, I am outright sucking the dick off of this episode. But I'm doing so for good reason. The episode is just (say it with me now) PERFECT. It has perfect story, perfect character development, perfect pacing, perfect action, just perfect. It had both light hearted and dark moments (hey I finally see the dark aspect you all go on about). I can't say it enough. Episode 27 of Faiz is perfect and is the best episode of the show I have seen so far.

Well Hibiki 1-6 were a good bunch of episodes, and I just love Hibiki's finisher and I can't wait to see the finishers when there are more Oni's later on, especially the trumpet one(Since the trumpet is the best instrument).

Now seeing the exams affect Asumu as well as seeing Hibiki affect him could of been done better, but hey I practically forgot I was watching Kamen Rider,,it's that good.

Yay, Hibiki! :D

And yes, the trumpet finisher is cool. But not as cool as Todoroki's guitar finisher.

I was always interested the dichotomy between Agito and Faiz. They both feature stories about the evolution of humanity. Agito is very mystical and heavily features creationism where as Faiz is very technological and scientific.

Faiz Episode 28
You know for a couple of cleaners, Takumi and Kusaka sure do let their suits get dirty.

Oh snap. You touch him and you die? The president may want to get his hands on this kid, he's seemingly unbeatable. Of course he'll probably get beaten but still, for now, he is unstoppable. He's like the living embodiment of the plague.

Keitaro let me let you in on a little secret. Nobody cares. That is all.

Takumi agrees with Kusaka? Did Hell freeze over?

That's Kitazaki? Huh, never would have thought that would be what he looks like. Though with the way he's been built up in conversations, the power does match up pretty well.

Inui Takumi: The Man of a Thousands Moods

That's a pretty big pool.

I want Kitazaki's shoes. They are awesome and I would like a pair of them please. Seriously, give me those shoes.

Sawada's got some big ears. He also has one kick ass weapon in his Orphenoch form.

Holy shit she's Delta!

Mari for the love of all that is holy get the hell away from here. Sawada is no longer the same person he use to be. He wants to kill you and has voiced his desire to do so twice. You won't be able to save him. So just please, GO AWAY!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Well that was 28. I'd write a full review, but the death of one of my favorite characters has me not in a detailed mood. So a quick rundown it is:

No real story was present, but it did add some meat to the Ryuusei School plot. Character development appeared in quite a bit of places, it developing the Takumi and Saya relationship, introducing and developing Kitazaki, the Kusaka and Mari relationship, and even Takuma got a bit of development. So character development was quite the strong point of this episode. Action wise it was good for what we got. Just not a whole lot of it.

28 was a nice episode, but a return to the mover average feel of most of the other ones. Now excuse, I need to have a good cry now.

Super-1 Episode 12: Woohoo! A Two-parter yay! I was hoping for this because the episode really fit for it. An opponent that might be stronger than Super-1 now this gets really interesting. Also awesome Martial Arts fighting. Also I love Kazuya defending the people. He might be my favorite Showa Rider yet though I absolutely love Keisuke/X.

Well Hibiki 7-10 were pretty good. Is it safe to say this might be my favorite series ever?

Black RX 20. This episode had one of my favorite monsters of the week ever. It's a crazy demon voodoo priest whose human form looks like the love child of Doctor Shinigami and Colonel Sanders. And he is obsessed with bananas, to the point where his main weapon is frozen bananas that explode when they hit something (although he also has a giant banana to use for emergencies - it's like Gaim, but even more overtly silly). Add in some really odd horror movie cinematography and it all made for a surprisingly good episode.

I had that same feeling after I watched Agito. So feel safe in saying however you feel.

Starting Hibiki right now, I'm SUPER EXCITED especially since I've got the Hibiki figuart REALLY high on my pre-order list right now :D.

Up to episode 11 of Kabuto now. I want to like this show more but it really isn't making it easy for me. Tendou is an obnoxious asshole, the cast-off form of Kabuto's bike is perhaps the worst CGI-thing I've ever seen the franchise attempt and the level of collateral damage just to play up the Clock Up is ridiculous. The amount of smashed windows caused for no reason by Kabuto is incredible, all of which is just going to rain down on passers by when Clock Over happens?

That being said, the story did pick up once theBee was introduced. And Drake's here too now, he seems pretty cool.