Someone with good taste, because Ghost's theme song is insanely catchy in the best way.

I honestly didn't care for it that much over the first, uh, thirty episodes?

(If I'm ranking the shows I've seen for their theme songs, it's:
1. Drive
2. W
3. Everything else)

I still think it's a little slow to start, and the singing doesn't really click with me, but that little drum beat in the beginning is fun, and the cadence to the chorus is getting a little earwormy.

(I am totally ill-equipped and unqualified to talk about music, so hopefully those signifiers made some sense!)

KAMEN RIDER GHOST EPISODES 41 - 42

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/411.png

I literally just watched these two episodes five minutes ago, and I am straining to remember what happened in them. And this two-parter is supposed to be kicking off the final stretch of episodes, right?!

It's got some exposition, but nothing really worthwhile. Gramps and Eadith are the same person, but I feel like that's the conclusion we all came to a while ago? If anything, a reveal that they were two different people would've been a bigger surprise. We see how Eadith met Takeru's dad, but it's really hard to care about that. It'd be like flashing back to when Onari first came to the temple. It's grounded in character, so it's not totally unwelcome, but how does it add to anything? Why save it 'til now, other than maybe the producers just forgot until they were writing up these scripts? The parallels between Eadith/Takeru's dad and Takeru/Adel just don't make the final sequence of the story more resonant. We don't really learn anything. Takeru's belief in people is well established by this point, and I don't really look at Adel as a redeemable character. He's a million miles from the epically conflicted character that Alain was in the first half, and not someone the audience is begging to see more of.

I find Adel incredibly dull and one-note, so that's maybe not helping this story much. It's a lot of time spent with Adel, and him trying to kill Takeru, and it's just not that engaging. The strategy of "show up, try to kill Takeru and the gang, watch them escape, wait, repeat" is boring, and Adel just doesn't have the sort of villain charisma to elevate boring material. He's not bonkers enough, pathetic enough, menacing enough, anything enough to feel like an unstoppable villain. It seems like the show is trying to get us to see him as an unhinged, deluded maniac, but he seems more or less the same pissy tyrant he was 20 episodes ago.

This story felt like a show with senioritis. It's got its eyes on the clock, it knows that in just a few more weeks it can leave all of this behind, it's just going to show up, do the bare minimum, keep its head down, not try too hard but also not really piss anyone off. Just run out the days and be gone forever.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/412.png

KAMEN RIDER GHOST SUMMER MOVIE: 99 EYECONS AND A DARWIN AIN'T ONE

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/summer1.png

ALL DADS ARE DEAD

When you boil it down to its basics, this is a pretty solid story. Ganma villains show up, steal the Heroic Eyecons, our cast pursues, Takeru teams up with the physical embodiments of a few of the Heroic Eyecons to thwart the main villain's plan to turn everyone in the universe into ghosts, everyone goes back to Earth and Takeru's a hero. For an hour, that's a reasonable story. Throw in some fun actors, a few new suits, and the first appearance of (my first ever Rider) Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, and there shouldn't be much to complain about. Right?

So, here's how they screw it up: every single time they need to explain something, or connect one scene to the next, they manage to pick the most convoluted, insane way to do it.

1. Ganma villains show up - Oh, their boss is Alain's brother who we just were told about two weeks earlier. He's been dead for some amount of time? He was supposed to be an early version of Takeru? I guess? He got real mad for some reason? Now he's all about that Ghost Life? "Villain wants to end all life in the universe" doesn't need to be this complicated!

2. Steal the Heroic Eyecons - Of which they already have another 85 or so? That they got somehow, somewhere, at sometime? Without anyone knowing about it? Oh, and they're letting all of the Eyecons have fun in a village until they suddenly decide to just murder them all?

3. Our cast pursues - To an Eyecon shaped planet? That's around where the moon is? That has an entire Ganma army up there? That the Sage/Eadith knew about all this time and didn't do anything about?

4. Takeru teams up with the physical embodiments of a few of the Heroic Eyecons to thwart the main villain's plan to turn everyone in the universe into ghosts - Oh he also teams up with MAKOTO AND KANON'S DAD, who has been living in a cave with the spirit of Charles Darwin for ten years! Of all the insane choices the writers of this film made, this is the most frustrating. This should be a huge deal! Why did this guy abandon his family without any explanation ten years ago? What in the hell has he been doing for the last ten years that would keep him from his family? The answers to those questions, when angrily posed by Makoto, amount to Shut Up and I Thought I Told You To Shut Up. There's a vague "I went to fight the Ganma and wanted you to be safe" thing he tries to sell as he dies (ALL DADS ARE DEAD), but come on. It's completely unclear why he left, since the only flashback is him standing around while Eadith tells Argos to go get Eyecons. He doesn't do anything! And then when that dumb scheme goes predictably sideways (hard to believe forcing someone to go get you trinkets so they can get their body back doesn't win you their trust and loyalty) he's just, hiding? Forever? And when his son comes back, he's just Whatever? Why was no thought put into something with so much importance to Makoto?! Why even bother bringing his dad in if you have no idea what to do with him?!

5. Everyone goes back to Earth and Takeru's a hero - And I almost wasn't mad at the end! The fight between Ghost and Dark Ghost was neat, the fact that Takeru beat him by getting all of the Eyecons to remember food being great was unique, things were looking good. But no. Takeru gets killed, again, for a minute, Akari mourns, but then Darwin's like, "Nah, we cool," and they bring him back as a Ghost, AGAIN, presumably with only a couple weeks left on his clock because they're all assholes. Thanks, Darwin!

Just a frustrating experience. I did not like this movie very much, you guys!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/summer2.png

Hey, don't hold your breath, Takeru dies almost EVERYTIME in movies, Takeru dying is a meme at that point.

I recall Ghost's summer movie being a much more solid experience than the series itself; doing a good job at really getting its morals and themes.

... but yeah it uh. Had issues.

I would say the movie is technically best judged as a standalone piece separated from the series, buuuut there's a lot of elements in it that try to connect it to the series, and every single one actively hurts both the movie and the show.

Oh no!

It's like, what they were doing in the movie was good, but how they did things in the movie sucked. Much like the winter Ghost/Drive movie, this had a real air of "Who cares? It's for kids" about it. There's virtually no attention to detail. Like, did Argos and Makoto's dad have the Dark Ghost and Zero Specter Eyecons before Takeru and Makoto had the Ghost and Specter Eyecons? That would be like someone creating a veggie burger before creating the hamburger. That is not how modifying words work, my dudes!

KAMEN RIDER GHOST EPISODES 43 - 46

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/431.png

I feel like I'm in the home stretch now. Everything feels appropriately apocalyptic. Adel's plan is underway, the Ganmeisers are indefatigable, everyone's working together to stop the end of the world. One of the things I kept thinking about watching these episodes was, "I thought these were supposed to be super awful?"

People kept referring to the last stretch of Ghost as some soul-crushing, miserable slog, and that's just not my experience? It's a little dull, sure. Adel's plan is grandiose but also somewhat benign. It's not "monsters rampage through the street"-apocalypse, like Gaim. It's "everyone dies in their sleep"-apocalypse. I mean, still bad! Still killing everyone in the world! There's no such thing as a nice genocide! But it's a difficult thing to punch into submission, so it's hard to see it as an imminent, horrifying threat. And, Jesus, the Ganmeisers are actually worse than the stumbling shock troops for entertainment value. They're bland machines, and I wish more than anything that the show would stop regenerating them. Even the fights against them suck due to how limited the suit movement is. The villain situation is not nearly as good as the better Kamen Rider series, that's for sure.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/432.png

But there's still a lot of good in these last few episodes! The "Onari possesses Alain's body" plot is comedy gold. It even enhances Onari's character, allowing him a bit of humanity to express his dissatisfaction with being so massively, massively useless. Mostly, though, it's just a joy to see Onari-as-Alain. Hayato Isomura is a goddamn treasure, and can elevate anything this show gives him. There's a moment where the possessed Alain's in the background, and he's straightening the eyebrows on Onari's body. It's a hysterical gag, and it's just this cute bit of business in the background. If they'd've built this show around Alain's character and Isomura's performance, I don't believe people would be so down on Ghost.

Not that I think the show's treatment of Takeru is some blight or anything. I like Takeru in these last few stories. I really appreciate the way the show decided to make "human connections" both the thing the villain is weaponizing, and the way the hero might achieve victory. It's a solid thematic conclusion to everything Ghost has done right with Takeru's character. I don't know if they'll stick the landing, but I'm not currently seeing the show everyone seems to hate.

I mean, they remembered Cubi and Music Note exist. Hard to hate on that!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/433.png

I can't believe I forgot about Cubi, the best. I'd like to see him hang out with Burgmon.

Anyhow, I'm not everyone so I can only say for myselfthat Ghost's final stretch didn't kick my puppy or anything, just that in hindsight it's probably the least exciting part of the whole series for me. Hope you manage to enjoy it to the end.

He's so great. I've got a soft spot for characters like Cubi and Burgmon, monsters who kind-of don't care about evil and just want to pursue their dreams. I think my absolute favorite story in all of Ghost is the one where the B-plot is that Cubi and Music Note just want to make art, and all of the sidekicks team up (with Javert!) to protect them. It's the closest this show came to touching the heights of Fourze, for me. Just a bunch of goofy screw-ups becoming better than the sum of their parts.

KAMEN RIDER GHOST EPISODES 47 - 50

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/471.png

I would say, over these final four episodes, that Ghost, like, 65% stuck the landing. It's definitely more good than bad. For all of the hue and cry that everything is terrible at the end of the series, I just really didn't see it. I thought this show ended way better than it started, that's for sure. I mean, there are some problems with these last few episodes. But, yeah, a pretty solid ending to a drastically uneven show.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/472.png

The main reason why I think the ending was mostly successful is, man, when this show dials into its themes, it really knows what it's doing. I wasn't crazy about Adel as a villain, and I think the show underplayed his mania to the point of blandness early on, but it all really comes together for the conclusion. The idea of the war between the hero and villain being about empathy made for an incredibly unique final battle. Pitting Adel, someone utterly lacking empathy, against Takeru, someone with limitless empathy, really made the series as a whole feel like it was about something. There's thematic heft to that conflict. Adel is someone who shuts out connection, belittles sentiment, needs to isolate himself. Takeru is someone who needs to connect with others, who cares so much for everyone, who desperately wants to return to a life with his friends. Putting them in opposition raises the subtext to text, and the decision to redeem Adel becomes a welcome change from the usual "we have to blow up the villain" climax. It's moving, and it stays true to everything the show has been building towards.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/473.png

Wwwwwwwhich is why the second climax, with the Ganmeiser Great Eye Combo, is such a letdown. Thematically, they're not saying anything. They're just machines, and they loathe human emotion, but it comes from a place of logic. They just want logical perfection so they're going to kill everything. The idea of empathy, of connection, isn't part of their approach. All of the things that came together at the end of Adel's story gives way to some giant Armageddon for Takeru to punch in the face. It's dull, and it's unnecessary. Much like the way the show sacrificed a ton of storytelling momentum with two first acts, it squanders its emotional punch with a second, lesser, boss battle.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/474.png

And then there's the Special Final Episode. What should be a combination of two things I care about, an epilogue with characters I'm invested in and an appearance by characters from my first ever Rider show, this episode just dragged for me. The epilogue for the Ghost characters didn't get much space to breathe, and the Ex-Aid stuff felt too "FINALLY something fun will happen next week!" And I love Ex-Aid! But they overshadowed the character work, and that's not really how I wanted to leave Ghost as a series.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/475.png

And I'm actually a little surprised how much the Ex-Aid stuff bugged me. I really, genuinely liked Takeru by the end of the series. I was fascinated by what the show ended up doing with Alain, with Specter, with Javert. I wanted to see more of those reformed anti-heroes and villains. I wanted a better sense of what came next for this world, because, yeah, I liked it by the end.

Now, don't get me wrong, I liked it by the end. This series has a bunch of flaws, which I've been talking about for a bit. The first half is rough, and I wouldn't blame anyone who quit because of those stories. But, there's some really fun stuff buried in the second half. I don't think this series is as bad as its detractors would have you believe, but I don't think it's as good as its defenders say, either. It's a messy series, and not always in an interesting way. I'm glad I watched it all, though. Thanks for letting me talk about it on these boards!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/476.png

Oh, and I'm not done done with Ghost. I've got a ton of miscellany to go through: Hyper Battle Videos, music videos, some Alain thing, Rider Damashii videos, the Specter movie... I don't know what all, there are a lot of files in this folder. After that, I'm gonna rewatch the Ex-Aid movies, then it's onto Build. Hopefully I'll see you on those threads!

I remember the stuff with Adel was what frustrated me the most when I first watched those episodes. I didn't think Takeru should just kill him without hesitation or anything, but I didn't like them showing Adel having a change of heart. Personally, I think it should have been Takeru showing mercy to someone regardless of whether they deserved it, and Adel then pitifully goes into a self-destructive rage that doesn't help anyone, leading into the Ganmeiser taking over.

Maybe I was just a bit too jaded about him since he had spent so much time being completely irredeemably evil, and also flat-out killed Makoto (who fortunately got better) two minutes before all that sappy stuff played out. (And I usually love sap!)

When you get to it, I hope you like Specter ReBirth! It's... pretty special!

I think the show pulled the move you're suggesting a few episodes prior, when Takeru reaches out and Adel literally slaps his hand away. That was some hilarious villain energy!

Similarly, I thought the Adel redemption stuff worked because of how much farther they pushed his character. He stops being some cold, imperial obstacle and starts laughing in Takeru's face when he remembers he killed Takeru's dad. He's so aghast at the thought of needing human connection that he's going to taunt Takeru's strategy of reaching out, needling Takeru into a (justifiable!) rage so Adel's dim view of emotional support is proven correct.

But, no! Takeru still, after everything, after any other Rider would've Rider Kicked this dude's spine out of his body, that's not Takeru's way. To go back to some joke I made at the start of this thread, to Takeru all life is one life. Adel is clearly in deep, unacknowledged pain. That means Takeru is in pain, too. Together, maybe they can help Adel get better? I like that idea more than a one-size-fits-all Evil Must Be Punished view.

Also, like, you said, Makoto immediately gets better (not my favorite choice!), Takeru wishes everyone Adel killed back to life, so... what are even consequences anymore?

KAMEN RIDER GHOST MISCELLANY PART 1 - THE LEGEND OF HERO ALAIN

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...alainhero1.png

Weird! Super weird! I'd sort-of seen that this web series (or, I don't know, box set extra, whatever) was what Alain was up to between scenes, but it is so strange catching stuff set in the first (worse) dozen episodes. Just, like, Saionji! He was such a huge deal, and then he's dead, but in a way where I'm like, "Oh, we're going to see him again later in the series." But we never do! He's forever dead! They even retcon his involvement in Takeru's dad's death, to give Adel more of a role. It's super weird to see those creepy teeth back on screen!

And, I don't know, this isn't the most integral bit of storytelling I've seen for a Kamen Rider ancillary project. It seems like they realized what a talent they had in Hayato Isomura, so here's more with him. And he can do pretty much anything well: there's fun gags, serious drama, heartache... I really don't have a problem with a show just being about whatever Alain gets up to. It's not wasted time!

But, god, it's insane how off-model everything looks and feels for the first first act. Alain wearing his weird grey sweater outfit, when eventually the show would decide that Ganma royalty only ever wear uniforms. The way Specter's all "we lived in HELL", when eventually they'd be all "oh, actually, Alia took really good care of us." How ill-informed Alain is, and how much Saionji has control of the action, since he's not going to stick around at all. It's a fun episode, since, y'know, Alain, but looking back to when this show really, really didn't work is... not super pleasant.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...alainhero2.png

The second episode, I don't know. It's really not trying to do a lot. Feels like a lot of clips from the second first act. It's pretty neat to see them try and do more with the Specter/Necrom friendship, though. You see flashes of Alain's fondness for Makoto in the second first act, the way he feels guilty about controlling Specter, how he wants everything to be how it used to. This gives those feelings a bit more room to breathe, but in unexpected ways. Like, Alain is inappropriately handsy with the controlled Makoto? And he's going to take him on a date with himself and Kanon? Like, I'm not sure how much of this is the producers trying to goof on a somewhat-standard "very, very close male friendship between Riders" that can easily be read as queer (ChaseXGo forever), or if they're just like, "Nope, Alain is in love with Makoto and doesn't really know how to express it." I can't tell if it's a joke to them or serious. I don't ever really expect much out of any romantic plotline on a Rider show, not since the shockingly juvenile stuff with Accel and Akiko back in W, but the emphasis on the romantic qualities of a friendship in this episode was like, what are you trying to say, program?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...alainhero3.png

Third episode of four, and we are very much in the heart of the Alain Arc. Everything interesting about Alain's character can be found in this era, and I presume most folks would call it the show at its best.

I mean, I get it. Alain's always going to be a more compelling character for people who don't like Takeru. He's, I don't know, more traditional. He's brooding, he's got an edge, he's tragic, he's got an awesome look, he's very Peak Japanese Dreamboat Hero. Takeru is, like, a sweet boy. He cares, a lot. He's very open with his feelings. He's smiling, like, constantly. He doesn't change as drastically as a character like Alain; his growth is more internal and spiritual. Alain's a flashier, easier to read character. You don't have to work as hard to enjoy his story.

And, yeah, this part of the series is so, so good. There's a lot in this episode about dealing with death, since Alain is mourning both his (double-murdered) father, and Grandma Fumi. It's not a lot we didn't see before, but, like the previous episode, it's more about Alain's viewpoint than we necessarily got in the series. It's funny and sweet and cathartic. Just a really solid short.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...alainhero4.png

What a sweet little epilogue, the final episode was. I really like the idea of the end of Alain's journey being about (sorry to put it like this) the friends he made along the way. It's a little corny, maybe, but it's refreshing to see Alain's character through the words of the main cast. He was an asshole, and a villain, but eventually he won these three over. It's a really nice ending.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...alainhero5.png

Generally, the criticism given to Ghost is that its first part is pretty weak.

Reading you, it made me remember that I did have fun during those last episodes. How Alain is such a good character. I even went as far as watching those little episodes about him.

Ghost wasn't has awful as you were told and that is why I think it's a good thing to watch something on your own and not necessarely do what you're told to do such as " Don't watch this it's meh".

Yeah, for sure. I certainly don't regret my time watching it.

That said, it's definitely in the bottom tier of Kamen Rider shows for me. I don't know if it's my least favorite, but, uh, it's down there. The show rebounds pretty decently in the second half (where there are still some bum episodes), but YIKES that first half. Lotta mistakes made there, for my tastes.

KAMEN RIDER GHOST MISCELLANY PART 2 - IKKYU EYECON CONTENTION AND IKKYU INTIMACY

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/ikkyu1.png

This was barely a trifle. It's based pretty heavily on Japanese language puns, which, y'know, don't translate super well. Still, it's a fun little diversion, if you can avoid Onari just being a total creep to some lady who needs help beating up a ghost. Dude has no sense of professionalism or respecting boundaries or asking for consent!

It's weird, looking back to the first first act of Ghost, how educational it seemed like the show was trying to be, maybe to the detriment of characterization and coherent storytelling. This special reminds me how much the early episodes were about learning who the Eyecons were, what they'd done that made them famous, why people would idolize them, etc. Eventually, in the second first act and the second act, the show used the Eyecons more to tell us something about our cast. Like, the Houdini two-parter with the ghost dad wasn't really about Houdini's distrust of mystics or his skills as an escape artist, it was about how various characters dealt with grief and loss. Before it would've been a list of facts, later it was beats of a story. It's strange to see the old ways, the less interesting ways, on full display again.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/ikkyu2.png

Oh, shit, Poppy's in this?! Hot DAMN! This was actually really funny, and way more enjoyable than the previous one. (There's way less creepy regressive gender politics, and only one body-shaming joke, so I guess that's progress?) I don't want to make this all "one performer can save a show", but Ruka Matsuda is so, so good in this. I can 100% see the producers watching her work in this and knowing she'd need to be the female lead in the next show. She's fantastic.

The whole story, like its predecessor, is a lot of goofy puns and a ton of physical comedy, but when you've got the right performers (or the right performers and Makoto) that's going to be enough. Totally worth a fifteen-minute or so viewing.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/ikkyu3.png

The power of triangles truly is the greatest weapon Makoto ever had.

Pythagoras is legitimately an amazing choice for an Eyecon. They just went for triangles. There's no attempt to pull out a deeper thematic resonance, or tie a story to a character. They're just, like, Triangles. He fights with triangles. It'd be like if the Edison Eyecon just threw light bulbs at people. Bonkers!

That said, I'm still amazed that the power of edison is Gun

If I remember right, the power of Edison is just being Edison. His sheer ego power you through.

It was his one regret from life, that he didn't get to shoot more people with a lightning gun. (Japanese shows are clearly a lot more diligent about showcasing the lives of historical figures.) It's nice that he could find peace as an Eyecon.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/edison1.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/edison2.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/edison3.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/edison4.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/edison5.png

It's still a missed opportunity that Takeru never got to use those powers against an elephant monster.

On a somewhat related note, I'd just like to mention that the impression Tomokazu Seki does of an American speaking Japanese for Edison's voice is the best thing ever.

KAMEN RIDER GHOST MISCELLANY PART 3 - RIDER SPIRITS

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/spirits1.png

It's hard to talk critically about this series of shorts because it is 100% fan service. Like, there's sort-of a story, but the whole point is to debut Rider Spirit Eyecons. Any themes are purely accidental, I'm sure. If a good story is a balanced meal, consisting of a variety of ingredients that all support a healthy experience, these shorts are a pile of candy. Even more so than the average sugar-shock episode of a Kamen Rider show, there is no nutritional value to these shorts. They're designed to spike your system.

Much like eating too much candy can be bad for you, watching seven of these shorts in a row got a little exhausting and maybe gave me a headache. I love all of the shows these forms were calling back to, but the pattern of "old monster reappears, Ghost or Specter get beat up, Rider says totally out-of-character phrase that calls back to a Legend Rider, collectible item appears, Rider Spirit henshin and catchphrase, monster explodes" was maybe done four or five too many times.

But, dang, how mad can I really be? I liked seeing the old monster suits again, I liked the Rider Spirit suits, I liked hearing those goddamn catchphrases again... It's fan service, and as a fan I felt served. Why complain?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/spirits2.png

The Legacy suits in Ghost are probably the best version of this gimmick. Then again parka are just naturally more stylish than Gaim's head-shaped armours and Ex-Aid's weird cosplay.

I remember those suits also briefly showed up in the Ichigo movie and they were cool for the literal few seconds each were featuted.

The Ghost motifs absolutely do a better job of incorporating Legacy designs than other series. That W one specifically is hot to death. One of my favorite suits gets a sweet-ass redesign!

...that said, my favorite take on adding Legacy designs to a show's aesthetic is going to have to be Fourze:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...urzelegacy.png

(Tomoko saying "A-ma-zon" in that garbage suit is maybe one of my Top 5 things in the entire Kamen Rider franchise. It's not #1, but it's up there.)

Yeah, I watched these a bit backwards, so I saw these designs in Ichigou first, when I probably (maybe?) should've watched these first. I liked the designs when, like you said, they were up on screen for a heartbeat, and I wished I could see them a little more. Luckily, Bandai Namco Holdings decided that there is no limit to the amount of programming they'll create, so I got my wish!

KAMEN RIDER GHOST MISCELLANY FINAL PART - TRUTH! THE SECRET OF THE HEROES' EYECONS and RE:BIRTH: KAMEN RIDER SPECTER

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/saionji1.png

Well, Saionji's back in "Truth! The Secret of The Heroes' Eyecons", despite dying 39 episodes earlier and not mattering at all to the plot since. Takeru's insistence on making an emotional connection with people, no matter how awful, is one of the lone bright spots in what is otherwise a complete waste of everyone's time. It's all so lazy. The Da Vinci Eyecon is reused from the (terrible) winter movie. The main set for the story is just a slightly/barely redressed version of the temple basement we've seen in 50 episodes of Ghost. The incredibly-late-in-the-game attempt to give Saionji some relatable motivation sort-of, kind-of makes sense, except that we never spent any real time with a Saionji and Ryu, so there's a ton of speechifying to set up exactly how and why Saionji held a grudge against him. Like a lot of times Ghost would bring a character from the first first act back, it feels so perfunctory, like a big ol' "Why not?" They're barely saying anything with the character, and no one really missed them, so why even tell this story? Far from reinventing or rehabbing a failed character, this story just reminds you why you didn't miss them in the first place.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/specter1.png

I wasn't sure what could even be in a Specter-focused sequel to Ghost. Of all of the characters at the end of Ghost, Specter was the one that had the least story ahead of him. (If the show had killed Makoto and had Mockoto take his place, then, sure, story ideas for miles. They didn't ask for my input three years after the series ended, though, COWARDS.) Alain obviously is headed back to the Ganma World to save his people, and Makoto... goes with? To support his friend? That's not nearly enough motivation to build an hour-long movie around.

The solution, surprisingly, was to break Makoto down in the most catastrophically demoralizing way imaginable. I'm referring, of course, to the unspeakable: flashing back to elements from the Ghost Summer Movie. (Sorry, should've had a Trigger Warning.)

Yep, it's time for a new entrant in ALL DADS ARE DEAD, as Makoto's heretofore unmentioned third dad, Danton, arrives from space to be not only a very charismatic villain with a legitimate point of view, but also a way to try and salvage some embarrassingly shitty ideas from 100 Eyecons. Danton tells us that Makoto and Kanon are superclones from the Ganma World who were stolen to Earth by Daigo who, after changing his name from Godai for no apparent reason (who on Earth would even care?), "raised" Makoto and Kanon until he mostly didn't want to anymore and left for a cave.

(My absolute favorite part of a movie I generally enjoyed was that, when the producers needed to drop in scenes with Daigo to sell Makoto's love for his first dad, the best they could manage to describe Makoto's worst father was "strict", and the image they paired it with was Daigo giving no care to his son's rage at being abandoned. "Strict"!)

Bringing up the convoluted mess of 100 Eyecons, while possibly regrettable, is part of the larger overhaul RE:BIRTH is doing to Specter's backstory. The other major part is resolving some of the vagaries of all them Mockotos at the end of Ghost. The show mostly hand-waved at the notion that the Deep Specter Eyecon connected with the Ganmeisers somehow to make a mess of Mockotos, and while all this clone stuff is a retcon, it's a lot more compelling and sensible, sort-of. It makes for a complicated combination, where the Daigo part makes way, way less sense, but the Mockoto part makes way, way more sense. I guess it helps (like it did for me) if you liked the end of Ghost more than you liked one of the worst summer movies I've ever seen. Your mileage may vary!

The plot of RE:BIRTH was interesting, especially in how dark it got for the heroes. Alain's dream of fixing the Ganma World has, uh, mostly been killing people. A lot of people. The entire hope for his world hinges on Akari (who's looking great, I just gotta throw that in here) magically fixing a machine she's failed to fix six other times. So when a new, charismatic leader shows up offering an alternative to "hoping you don't die from atmospheric toxins", I feel like the Ganma aren't jerks for considering it? The movie is definitely pretty deep in the Pure Unaltered Humanity Is The Only Answer pocket, which, seems a little ableist, who am I to say, but it doesn't seem like the movie ever really disputes Danton's methods? Like, he's a lunatic, he kills people, bad guy, boo, sure. But before that, it seems like he saved a bunch of lives? And, yeah, Akari's device works in the end, but why not have two solutions? Alain never seems like he has a counter-argument beyond "I don't like that" and "My dad didn't like that", so, A+ leadership there. His dismissal mostly serves as a reason to have Makoto and Alain fight, which I guess is fine. More importantly, it's an excuse for some snazzy new suits.

Those new suits! Aces. The Mugen-ish design for Specter looks regal and yet still menacing, while Necrom's Burst design is a fun take on Ghost's Boost form. Two new suits! In one movie! We're being spoiled. I didn't love the Necrom/Specter fight (too dark and rainy), but I love those new designs we got because of it.

The final fight between Specter and Danton, though, probably the highlight of the movie. (I mean, you'd hope that the climactic fight would be the best one, but not always the case!) After just under an hour, I totally bought that this was an emotionally fraught battle between father and son. The action was intense and well-choreographed, with some very fun effects- and camera-work. (That Omega Drive!)

I mostly enjoyed RE:BIRTH. I wish it hadn't brought back nonsense from 100 Eyecons, but I sort-of respect them trying (and partially succeeding!) to make them better. A solid movie, and a pretty okay coda for the full cast of Kamen Rider Ghost, with the most Ghost ending possible:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/specter2.png

ALL DADS ARE DEAD

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/specter3.png

Aaaaaaaand it looks like that's it for me and Kamen Rider Ghost!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/byeghost1.png

Thanks for letting me write about it here. Should any other Ghost-branded pieces of entertainment drop, I'll probably be back in this thread writing about them. Also, I'm happy to keep talking about this show as long as anyone else feels like it. There's definitely stuff to unpack.

I didn't love Ghost, but I ended up liking it more than I thought I would. The characters grew on me, even if they never had the easy connection of, like, the Fourze cast. (Best ensemble, no contest.) The main plot said some interesting things about Takeru and Alain and Adel, but it never really overcame its dull, slightly cheesy origins. (Those Ganma sets! Spend a few more bucks, producers!) It was a very compromised show, screwing up its foundations but managing to create something memorable, nonetheless.

Like I said way back in this thread, basically, any Kamen Rider is good Kamen Rider to me. The bad stuff still has things that make it worth watching, even worth recommending. (I didn't love Wizard, but you have to watch the Phoenix origin two-parter. All of the villain origin two-parters are great, but that one knocks it out of the park.) Hopefully, all this talk and exploration of Kamen Rider Ghost can get people to see the flecks of gold in an otherwise admittedly rocky show.

I'm going to move on to rewatching the Ex-Aid movies next, starting with the Dr. Pac-Man winter movie. I'm planning on doing the three theatrical films, now that I'll maybe get more of the references, but I might just do the Another Ending films, too. I don't know. We'll see how I feel. After that, it's onto a first viewing of Build, which I'm really looking forward to.

Thank you all, seriously, truly, for giving me a space to get all of these thoughts about Kamen Rider Ghost out of my head. You've definitely improved the lives of my friends who don't care about Kamen Rider and roll their eyes when I casually mention stuff from it during larger conversations. Their eyes hurt so bad, you guys! From all of the rolling!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ghost/byeghost2.png

I will admit... you have kind of made me want to rewatch Ghost, lol. Or at least the Specter movie. Maybe I was too hard on it the first time, but you do bring up some good points about it.

Thanks! A full rewatch of Ghost, I mean, I don't want to oversell what they achieved. Maybe start with Episode 13, see how that feels? Or, yeah, a one-hour Ghost movie like RE:BIRTH could be a good choice, too.

The Rebirth movie is quite the peculiar ride, but I don't think it was done badly... as long as you're willing to pretend the parts of the summer movie were better than they actually were.

I absolutely love the final climatic fight though. The action is stellar, the sweet remix of Specter's theme playing is great, and I mostly bought into the emotional stakes even though it involved this new rather ridiculous backstory.

And the final final scene of Alain giving this big speech about how much his friends have taught all while this exciting instrumental of Ghost's theme song plays, it honestly made me go 'You know what? Ghost is altogether alright' in a way some old coach says upon seeing their underdog school sports team celebrating. I hope that analogy makes sense...

I totally get what you're saying. These screw-ups tried so hard and, man, it may not be perfect, but it worked pretty well. They came a lot farther than a lot of us would've thought. Give these scrappy kids a hand.

Having Alain deliver the final "here's what the story was about emotionally" speech was the best choice the producers could've made, though. He's easily the strongest male performer, and he can sell the gravitas of a Bold New Tomorrow speech. I did laugh a bit in the middle, though, where he's trying to tie his friendship with Makoto to the fate of the Ganma people, and it's just... I get that you have a very special, very fulfilling friendship with Specter, but these people have been dying in the dirt. (Is takoyaki the only thing they eat? They must be so malnourished!) I don't think they care so much that your friends make you happy, Alain! They mostly just want to not die!

I freakin' love the Specter movie sooo much. The amount of guts it had to try and tie together so many of Ghost's sloppier bits into something more worthwhile is commendable, and while the end result still isn't entirely airtight, it really feels like a present for everyone who stuck with Ghost to the bitter end. Just look at how they handled Takeru in it. Everybody else gets their wish granted because it's a story where Alain and Makoto are firmly the main characters, and yet I still get to be happy too because he made sure to do some speechifying in what little screentime he has. It's the definition of a win-win scenario.

And that climax is honestly one of the single most hype moments I've ever seen in Kamen Rider. Especially that Rider Kick. I still vividly remember my mind being totally blown watching it for the first time and realizing after a second or two the significance of the fireworks that were suddenly going off behind Specter. It's this absolutely perfectly timed moment where the literal plot bleeds into the visual symbolism in a way that's just... I mean, wow is it good.

It definitely helps that the movie was directed by Kazuya Kamihoriuchi. He massively elevates anything he works on when it comes to cinematography. He directed a handful of extremely memorable episodes of Build too (as well as both Heisei Generations Final and the summer movie), so look forward to that.

And thank you for making this thread, by the way. I'm not gonna lie, my initial reaction to seeing it was "oh f***, here we go again", so it was a pleasant surprise to see you consistently giving the show such a fair shake and really approaching it on its own terms rather than simply dismissing everything you didn't like about it without a further thought. This is easily some of the most level-headed analysis of this show I've seen, and it was cool to see how unique your particular perspective was. I've certainly never seen someone say Ghost is at its best in the back half before. Even I tend to agree the show was strongest around either side of the middle, so it was something of a shock to see you having so much fun with some of those later episodes.

Yeah, the camerawork in the finale of RE:BIRTH is really top-notch. There's a balance between spectacle and clarity that I think is really tricky in Rider fights, so I'm always thrilled when someone comes up with clever angles and gimmicks that feel like they help tell a story.

I feel like Ghost hit me in the end the same way Wizard did, where once they landed on an ending I was able to clear away in my head the stuff I didn't like, and see this clear, bright thread of what they were trying to do (plotwise with Wizard, emotionally with Ghost). When the show would get out of its own way, I think Ghost is really, really solid. They would just occasionally make dumb mistakes that handicapped them for huge chunks of story.

And, y'know, people really rag on the last string of Ghost episodes, and it just feels a little disproportionate. Like, the way some people talk about it, you'd think it was a swirling morass of disappointment. I mean, it's not like the show forgot to do fight scenes and form changes and explosions and Omega Drives and sacrifices and escapes and all. That stuff is still there! It's in practically every episode! I don't know if it's folks feeling let down after the heights of Drive (fair) or the online tendency to regard a lack of perfection as The Worst (less fair), but I didn't think the end of Ghost was nearly the catastrophe folks made it out to be.

That beginning, though. Eesh. Eeeeeeeeesssssshhhhh.

If you want an elaboration from someone who thinks the ending is a bit naff, I'll try to give a few thoughts I have. I don't hate Ghost, and the middle run of episodes is good stuff, but the end just kinda lets me down. I just don't find Adel and the Ganmeizers compelling villains. Adel doesn't have the bombastic *fun* evil other villains use (Chronos, Evol, Gold Drive), so it's forced to come down to his plan and characterm. He never feels like more than a petty child (maybe that's the point, idk, but it doesn't make it better), and the plan... look, watching Ghost week to week, I didn't have a clue what was going on with Demia. First it's stealing people's souls, then it's pulling a "The End of Time" and mutating everyone into Adel. I just couldn't follow properly, so it was less engaged.

Plus, the Ganmeizers could be replaced with planks of wood that shoot lasers. Combine that with the random reappearance of the stars of the Legend Rider specials, for whatever reason, as well as Ghost's inability to properly explain how any of its magic-science fits togther... it lost me.

Don't get me wrong, there are some things I love about Ghost. All three main Riders are pretty great (but then again I think Geiz is great and half the board disagrees with me on that!), and the ReBirth movie, while being bonkers af, is a fun ride. But the finale just doesn't live up to the hype, either thematically (for reasons you gave) or excitement-wise.

I have similar reasons to Silver; but in addition I felt that they really dropped the ball on giving Alain ANYTHING to do; and I got absolutely nothing from Makoto's side of things. I've also got a big ol' rant about Jiro saved somewhere...

But, yeah, maybe it's not as bad as I initially felt

"Alain got to train with the three Sanzou spirits, that counts as something to do, right?"
- John Toei, 2016.

So, yeah, the Ganmeisers are just not interesting. Never were, never will be. The biggest problem I had with the Ghost finale is that, for me, the real meat of the conclusion is the stuff with Adel.

For most of the story, Adel is not a great villain. He rarely seems like a real threat, and the overall plan is just "turn Earth into Ganma World", which, it's too nebulous to feel viscerally scary. The ramp up into monomaniacal I Am The World insanity is too cold and emotionless to really get things going in the final run of episodes.

But! Once Adel hits the villain stage of Taunting The Hero Because You Killed His Dad (all dads are dead), I feel like the show really, really locks into something. All of the isolation that Adel's brought on himself is revealed as a defense mechanism, and it's used as the thematic opposite to everything Takeru stands for. Making the climax of Adel's story "Takeru hugged him so well he didn't want to be evil anymore" is hokey as shit and also amazingly brave. It's a way of the show being true to its emotional goals even if folks would rather see a violent confrontation. It's cathartic, but in the most unexpected way. I don't know, I thought that choice bought the show a lot of my appreciation.

I get what you're saying, though. If the Adel resolution doesn't land for you (for a variety of very valid reasons!) the final string of episodes mostly just drag and then stop. Still, I'd suggest that it's at least competent and steady in a way that the high/low swings of the earlier parts of the show maybe weren't.

It's a little tough, because the show seemed like it blocked off a time in the season to develop Makoto (up to episode 15) and Alain (13-mid 20s) and then was , like, "Mission accomplished!" They did good work defining them, and then froze them in place. Rewatching the Ex-Aid movies, I realized that one of the storytelling drawbacks to Takeru's habit of empathizing with everyone and getting everyone to work together is that there's no friction in the team dynamic. Past the two-thirds point in the show Team Ghost is, like, a hive-mind. There's no real dissent, no real alternate strategies, no schemes or intrigue or anything that'd add drama to the group's setup. When characters do act on their own, it's to protect everyone else. And, I'd argue that everyone rallying around Takeru's worldview is exactly what the show is going for (connectedness! It's a motif!), but it inarguably robs the show of some basic ability to generate drama.

Like a lot of things that keep Ghost from greatness, it's a choice, and I can see why the producers made it, but it maybe wasn't the smartest choice.

Still, and I'm sure this doesn't matter much to folks that were way more into Alain (reasonable!), but I think the show was really trying to dial into the Takeru/Adel conflict, maybe to the exclusion of other stories. I ended up thinking it was a worthwhile use of episodes, but, y'know, I can see why people might feel otherwise. I don't feel like my view is the only one. I am not the world!