It's cool, yeah. But that just means he won't get to join in on the KR Taisen fun :p

Yeah it would have been. He is one of the best Non-Rider supporting characters ever.

Well I'm done with the six episodes of X with proper subs.

Yesterday I complained about how Shocker didn't use guns very much, but there's really not much to that complaint that applies to G.O.D. Man. G.O.D. fuckin loooooves guns. So many guns. Jeez.

I didn't think it was that good a design, but seeing it in action, I like X's suit way way way more than I thought I would. It's great. Really want the figuarts now.

Anyway, X isn't bad. I hope the full thing gets subbed someday, especially since it really is just 35 episodes.

And now, on to...Amazon, I guess? I dunno. I've wanted to watch Amazon for a long time, and I still do...but frankly I feel a little burnt out on Showa right now. I think I'm gonna watch the first episode as a test, but if it doesn't totally hook me I'm going to move on to Gaim, and come back to Amazon after that. Let's see...

So the rhino runs a train all over Kuuga, proving that transformation is, in fact, not a free action here.

Anyway, it seems the rhino is targeting trucks due to the exhaust they output. Is he fighting for the environment? I dunno. All I know is that they speak English (Japanese) for the first time (Technically second, as they spoke it a few episodes back, but it was one sentence and mimicking what the radio was saying).

The subplot involving one of Yusuke's teachers is also interesting. I'm only pointing it out because, honestly, it's the first time in the series where I felt any sort of interest. The possibility of Yusuke's former teacher quitting because Yusuke would be unable to meet up for a date planned 16 years after the fact holds the most tension out of anything else the series has offered thus far.

Ohhh, so it seems the Rhino was disturbed by how loud they were. Alrighty!

Anyway, despite Kuuga almost getting wrecked, rhino is stopped by the timely intervention of another Grongi, who looks like a fish but I don't know for certain. They have a scuffle and fall off a cliff. However, next time we see them, fish man is gone and only rhino is still around.

So Yusuke starts training to increase his kicking ability while Ichijou decides to use himself a bait, getting into a large truck and driving about to find rhino.
In the meantime, the teacher and the girl (I swear I'll get her name down one of these days...) finally meet up and start discussing Yusuke. It seems even as a grade schooler, he had his winning smile and attitude, endearing himself to his teacher as well. It was touching how many people he affected. After a revelation about how Yusuke got his trademark thumbs up, the teacher decides to continue teaching.

Meanwhile, Kuuga gets into another encounter with rhino. Using his new training, he manages to destroy him with a powerful kick right in his face.

Well, I watched the first episode of Amazon. It was pretty much exactly what I was expecting and hoping for. Certainly a very different sort of Rider, and very great. I am definitely looking forward to watching the rest. But...it wasn't just quite enough to get me to postpone the fruity Riders any longer.

So I'm watching Gaim now. I'm four episodes in. It is pretty great.

Since I caught up with Drive six weeks ago, I've watched Blade, 43 episodes of Kamen Rider, six of X, and one of Amazon. What I'm saying is, the past six weeks have been filled with a lot of very standard, if not sub-standard, definition video. So what I'm saying I'm saying is, man are the modern series pretty. This HD soothes the soul.

Not that I'm holding poor video quality against the old shows or anything. Just saying, it's nice.

Anyway, the opening scene in Gaim is...very impressive honestly. The armies and all that stuff...very big, very dramatic. Definitely hype as hell.

Series and characters themselves have been interesting. Kouta is a riot (dem faces in episode 2) and a total weak and directionless chump, a character type I must admit to liking a fair bit. Kaito is a jerk ass, but a good one. Takatora is...violent. Mitchy I'm liking a lot.

This is one place (of many) where the fact that I know certain Spoilers is probably going to color my experience of the series, (though as spoilers come the eventual twist that Mitsuzane is a total asshole is huge and impacful enough as to be pretty unavoidable) but I am certainly liking him a lot at the moment.

Plot thus far is interesting. I know a bit about the Inves, but not a whole lot...enough that with blatant context provided I can probably guess what happened in episode 1. If it is what I think, well this show stealthily got off to a depressing start, which I suppose is appropriate considering that it's supposed to only get darker as it goes on.

But anyway, as a whole it's pretty good so far, and I definitely look forward to seeing how it progresses. It's supposed to get pretty intense, and I'm very definitely looking forward to that.

Sakurako Sawatori. I had to look that up. Something about her name is just really hard to remember. I can remember the names of most supporting characters from all the Rider shows I've watched, but hers always slips my mind for some reason.

I remember watching Kuuga and feeling sorry for her character, because mostly she just sits at her computer and answers phone calls. Of course there are rare instances where she goes out, but most of the time she's more of a plot-device instead of a character.

This alliteration and identical amount of syllables throw me off, so I end up combining her names (Since she always introduces herself with the opposite name Godai calls her) and I end up getting confused and just typing "The girl" when referring to her.

Anyway, 13. The fish Grongi who screwed over the rhino returns and starts a rampage, first on a large boat, then on some dock and shore workers who accidentally got cut.
As all of this goes down, a man pretending to be an unknown lifeform shows up. However, he has given up on humanity and might have mental issues.
Meanwhile, Jean has uncovered more ancient artifacts, and this is making Kuuga's Spidey sense go crazy, flashing visions to him mid-fight. I'm particularly interested in where this is going.

Anyway, the Grongi are counting their kills, which was obvious since the bracelet, but it's good to know with certainty. I'm still a little confused as to why, but I guess we'll get there.

As for Sawatori, yeah, she is kind of a plot device. As much as they try to give her a character, it seems that all Godai and Ichijou ever do while interacting with her is "Translate the thing. Have you translated more of the thing? Please keep translating the thing."

Sakurako (had to double-check the spelling :p) is never the most active character, no. She does eventually get out of the research room more, though. And, if nothing else, she does at least contribute to the plot. I can think of a few Rider Girls who never even manage that (looking at you, Rinko, you beautifully-assed ball of wasted potential).

I'm glad she gets a little more proactive. Lots of KR series I've seen tends to have one guy always behind the desk on a computer, and they tend to stop being relevant around the halfway mark.

Anyway, 14. Godai seems to have his transformations under control, able to change at will. I'm rather glad, since I do love the look of his alternate forms. However, he is not much of a staff fighter, is he? Wow, that was some pretty poor rod work :lol

We see the kid who wants to be a Grongi finally see what death looks like and see just how vicious they really are when he's targeted by the fish.

Anyway, now Ichijou has access to bullets filled with the gas that harms them and Godai seems to be getting in the groove of things. All while the ancient parts discovered rearranged themselves into the what I presume to be Gouram, now jetting towards him.

Stronger Episode 12: Really enjoying the storyline with Titan and the leader of Black Satan as they have sent their strongest Cyborg and it had trouble with Stronger. I like that it shows that there is a connectivity through the episodes and it's more than just an episodic show. I think one of my favorite parts is how they don't explain how Stronger does some of the shit he does. He's done crazy things in past episodes but in this one he just makes it on to the ship, beats the crap out of all the Black Satan grunts, sneaks past the Spider Cyborg to destroy his poison machine. Stronger says he's always one step ahead of Titan but doesn't even explain how lol. It's just hilarious at times and I love how Shigeru does these things and even thinks of these things too. I once again enjoyed Titan vs Stronger's mini battles and believe we are finally reaching the final showdown between them soon as Titan seems to be getting more involved in fighting now. Tachibana and Tackle were pretty fun in this episode and Tackle kicked a lot of grunt butt. I mean I understand that based on how she modified that she wouldn't be powerful enough to beat the big cyborgs but damn that was one hell of a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle that they gave to Stronger. I also liked the story about someone else having someone they know get taken and modified by Black Satan and trying to spread the word about it. The next episode looks fun with Titan so I can't wait for more.

I'm up to episode 22 of Gaim.

Jeez. So many characters. So many agendas. Though really the Armored Riders that aren't in the main four are all but irrelevant now and that doesn't seem to be changing soon so I guess it's not that many. Still, lots of revelations happening and lots of...stuff. Mitchy is coming along nicely.

Stuff with Hase kind of bothered me though. Mainly the fact that Jonouchi wasn't involved with that at all and he hasn't learned about it since either, I kind of expected something different with him at least. No one but Kouta has really known or cared about it either...(Kaito knew, but really isn't the type to care).

I've been giving Kamen Rider OOO another shot, and I'm definietly liking it a lot more than I did the first time around.

It somehow manages to find a right balance between grim dark and silliness and the characters are pretty memorable, I'm starting to see why Kougami is so popular amongst the fandom.

One thing that is slightly bugging me about the series is how Eiji seems to be completely useless without help or interference from an outside source...because thus far he's won every battle using something that's given to him to bail him out of a jam.

The two episode story arch definietly makes the pacing of this show tough, it's a lot better watching it in chunks I gotta say.

OOO is one of my favorite series, so I'm glad you're liking it.
As for Eiji, the first quarter has him discovering the potential of his powers, so he kind of fumbles around some. Once he learns how to use the medals perfectly, he becomes a total beast with his powers.

Anyway, Kuuga 15.
The Gouram appears and attaches itself to the TryChaser 2000.

Other events is that a Grongi (Whose animal I can't figure out) is terrorizing people in a truck...Huh. Okay. He has at least 9 kills, so I guess he's doing something right. In a brief moment of understanding, another Grongi is trying to shame him for using a human made item, so I guess they don't like us very much...As always, rose is just kind of standing around.
(Also, an aside from about 2 episodes ago, Rose used her ring to unlock something on another grongi's belt. I don't know if that plays into much, but it is something to mention...)

We also find out that Ichijou's family is the best in the world, his father a super cop who died saving lives and his mother a nurse who works on holidays and all year and etc. Okay.

You have no idea.

She's sort of the leader and the only one who can unlock the belts to allow that Grongi to begin the game.

Damn, gave in and read the spoiler...
Oh well.
I always assumed she was the leader since no one ever spoke against her (Except that one time). I didn't know how important the belt thing was, though.

It's not really that important, it's just a nice little nod to the whole belt thing in Kamen Rider. All the Gurongi wear belts which need to be activated for the game to begin, and most of them break when they are killed. You know at this point that there were two tribes back then, the Linto and the Gurongi, and both used belts: The Gurongi have them and of course Kuuga does.

This will form a nice Yin & Yang in the final end fight, you'll see what I mean once you get there.

Last time I tried watching it, it was right after W so yeah right off the gate I had a lot of biases coming off of an incredible series.

But watching it with more of an open mind, I can definietly see why people consider it among the best I'm enjoying it so far.

Might end up doing the same with Drive after a few years...

Also the blatant apple product placement that started with this show is just hilarious.

I guess there's just a little too much mystery to Kuuga...Hm, I guess I'll see what you mean eventually :lol

I think he was a roach, if I remember correctly.

Wow, the Showa vs Heisei Taisen movie was...just, utter garbage? Like, I don't think I was expecting too much, but still. Just awful. What an insane, crappy mess that last act was.

I did get a kick out of Ryuki and Blade teaming up for a finishing move in the last (stupid, stupid) battle, since those are the two Riders whose series I've actually finished. Beyond that, I really don't have anything good to say about it.

I thought it was fine for a "hey, here's a bunch of Kamen Riders in a single movie"

it was dumb but it was a good dumb.

I love that movie, ignoring the last ten minutes and the Sentai cameos. I am completely over Yonemura's garbage and repetitive scripts, but all the stuff with the returning actors was great. I loved the Keisuke and Takumi stuff, in particular. It was also probably the best use of Decade ever.

It's definietly better compared to the last few all rider team up movies we've gotten but it just doesn't have the same magic that All Riders VS Daishocker had.

I liked the film, but it feels like too many people had too many different ideas.

We have one person that really wanted this film to be like the Avengers for Kamen Rider.

Then we have another that really, really wanted to do a Faiz epilogue.

Finally, we got some exec that came late into the meeting and told them they had to include Gaim and the Toqgers because they're the shows all the kids are watching.

It's fine, I just hate how the Showa Riders are complete dicks for no reason whatsoever...

OOO 27 and 28:

This was just a filler arc, but very entertaining. All hail Great Leader ANKH! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Also, Maki was funny.

29 and 30:

MAKI WAS NOT FUNNY!

In all seriousness, this was a good arc, I like that we got backstory on the OOO Dirver's origins as well as Ankh, and how Lost Ankh was made. Also, Maki torched his sister after she was about to leave him, and became mean. So, I guess this is where he snaps...oh boy. I find it interesting just how sympathetic he is...you rarely get that in Kamen Rider, and it's done very well here, which is great! Since that's an easy thing to mess up.

It's really good to know that you still find Maki interesting and sympathetic despite his actions.

Well, I mean it doesn't justify him murdering his sister, but it's still hard not to feel sorry for the guy.

OOO 31 and 32:

Oh dang, Dr. Maki's just going full on nuts now. Also, we get the last bit of Eiji's backstory. Yeah, trying to help a country and have it backfire into civil war, and having his parents take advantage of the story to get votes is rough. Also the story with the guy who was trying to help his old teacher's family was nice. I liked the moral there.

As for 32...this one was great, we found out why Eiji is able to use medals (and combos, I assume) without going berserk, it's due to his lack of desire, which is interesting. Kougami also had a lot of good moments here, in that he wasn't just being the big ham, but actually giving some insight into what exactly is going on. Also, PuToTyra...still not feeling it's design, but that was a cool fight. Also, are those people that got caught up in the smoke dead forever?

Kuuga 16.
So rather than being awesome, the Gouram screws over Kuuga and locks his bike up mid fight. However, Kuuga is still able to overcome the roach and destroys him. However, we find that the roach does what roaches do best, and survived, going on another rampage briefly afterwards.

In the meantime, rose calls for another Grongi to be brought in, but I don't have much idea for who it could be.

After a brief examination that yields nothing, Kuuga rides the Gouram into action and this time it decides to work, ramming into the truck so hard it tips it and explodes...And then decides to be lame again by strangely turning back into fossils and collapsing into pieces.

Something that this episode dealt a lot with was Ichijou and his mother...And it proceeded to do nothing with it, disappointingly. Despite there being multiple nudges for him to go visit her after her collapsing, he doesn't. And when he calls her, she's perfectly fine. They exchange 2 lines, and end of conversation. Feels like a waste.

Yeah that's a waste. If anything you could take it as another clue for how Ichijou only lives for his work. If I remember correctly they also talk about his father in this or the last episode, so his mom probably realized a long time ago that Ichijou is too much his fathers son, so she doesn’t expect him to come visit her.

I think they established last episode that they visit once a year, but work interfered this time.

And it's time to get back into Ryuki. Episode 18 here I come!

Could be, honestly I don't remember these details at all :D

But I wanted him to visit his mother too. I mean the lady almost died, geez.

I see you are watching Ryuki Xros.

Hope you enjoy it, Ryuki is my absolute favourite rider series.

Gaim is good series. Very good series. Mitchy's descent into evil has been one really great arc. I'm on episode 28 now. It's great.

Also, I just. Really really really love the Drivers' transformation announcements. It really makes me want to get some of the DX toys, because they're just so fun. "Fight! Power! Fight! Power! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fi-Fi-Fi-Fi-Fight!" is going to be stuck in my head for the rest of time. Shame the other energy lockseeds don't have anything. But lemon is good. Shame that like everything else Gaim the DX stuff is just way expensive.

Speaking of transformations though, for a while now Gaim has really gone out of its way to not show the crack opening for the armor parts most of the time. I guess it's a budget thing, and I can live with it, but without the crack showing or even the zipping sound it looks like the armors are just falling from nowhere and that's Not Great.

I wish they could at least have had it shown it during Zack's first transformation, but eh.

Oh I love it. :D

I can see why people are in love with this series. This series has very interesting development for their characters and the story just always keeps you on edge.

OOO 33 and 34.

33:

So, we got to see Eiji's friend from high school. I had a feeling that it was his friend who captured Hina, but aside from that...not much happened.

34:

It was nice to see Eiji gain some control over the purple medals, and we got some nice development for Eiji and Ankh's relationship. If I had one major complaint, it would be that there wasn't much closure to the situation with Eiji's friend. Eiji just beat the Yummy, then they all went back to the restaurant. Like, yeah Eiji had the conversation with him on their way to save Ankh, but I wish we got more aside from that.

So episode 17 was just a clip show? Fun...
Well, I watched the new footage in it. All 4 minutes of it.

You will get another one.

These two clip shows are sadly a result of them not knowing how well a serialized show like Kuuga would workout. So they put clip shows before the start of every major arc to catch the viewers up to speed.

Well, it's slightly good to know that a major arc is coming up, at the very least. Perhaps the series will shift from reacting to Grongi attacks to actually telling a story, now.

But it is disappointing that there's another one, too. Clip shows really bore me, especially like this current one. There is no framing device. Kuuga starts fighting a grongi, and then it just begins out of the blue. For a moment I thought the Grongi was speaking perfectly to Kuuga because the narrator just starts talking when the fight starts...