Black is kind of in a class of it's own. It's predicts the Heisei style while still being resolutely Showa; it's serious business but occasionally goofy with the MotW plots. It came well later than the rest of the 80's Rider shows and shows a bit of Metal Hero in the designs and, IMO at least, has a bit of a Blade Runner / Terminator feel to the art direction - I'm talking Tokyo's neon night scenes. And the music is great - that end theme is soooo good!

Best soundtrack of any Rider series, hands down.

That's some pretty high praise, given how excellent Rider's music is to begin with.

Man I wish I could get into the mood to watch Black. I feel like it's iconic in a way no other series outside of the original is. Always loved that name too. Black. Black. So straightforward. It's literally just a color, and yet it sounds so punchy and cool.

Although I get the feeling I'll be the weirdo who likes RX better. I like the suit way more and the theme song is THE best of the Showa openings (and maybe even in general), in my opinion, two seemingly minor things that do a lot to improve my opinion of any Rider show.

Oh, I dunno; I'm pretty partial to Ichigou's "Suspense Fuzz"
and Ryuki's weird, industrial pop. But Black is definitely up there!

Black is definitely a strong show, it's just that it gets too caught up in being a fillerish series for its first half and it takes forever for Shadow Moon to appaear. Not to mention it features two of the most uselss villains in Kamen Rider history.

Nevertheless, it is my second favorite Rider series and yes, the camera work is absolutely stunning, as is the soundtrack. There is one song that is played a few times during the second half that is spectacular and then of course I love the Gorgom theme music.

Black's soundtrack is the GOAT.


The show itself is great for what it is, but I prefer more serialized plots as opposed to VotW.

Spotted in episode 2 of Black: prototype Ex-Aid suit.

Anyway, I'm glad they sort of explained where Battle Hopper came from. I forgot to mention it, but the way it was just randomly there was perhaps the one issue I had with episode 1. So...that's better.

Another strong ep, anyway.

Geez, it's been a minute since I posted in this thread! But here I am, back with my thoughts on Kamen Rider Ghost!

I've been cramming Ghost so I have a clean slate for Ex-Aid (I can't handle two Rider series at once these days). I'm still about 8 episodes from the end, but I think I have a pretty solid handle on my feelings by now.

I was really enjoying the show for about 35 episodes. I loved its soft, almost feminine, fairy tale vibe. I appreciated how Ghost's powers were emotion-based, which reminds me of a lot of my favorite magical girl anime. I loved Alain's journey from villain to hero -- it was poignantly executed and quite lovely to watch. I also dug Akari's growth as a character. I thought she was gonna be a one-note skeptic for the whole series, but she quickly accepted all the supernatural stuff and is perhaps the most competent and reliable character in the whole cast. She's definitely unusual as far as Rider's "girl sidekick" characters go -- they're almost always passive love interests, and Akari is anything but that. (In a lot of ways, she reminds me of Hermione from Harry Potter (actually, I think the show takes a lot of cues from Harry Potter, but that's a digression for another time).)

For the longest time, I was impressed that the Kamen Rider producers had finally discovered how to balance Gaim-style serialization and Neo Heisei-style two-parters. I think that allowed the show to parcel out its plot and character development in fresh and interesting ways. But over the last five-to-six episodes I've watched, that balance has been lost, and my interest has almost completely evaporated. I went from singing the show's praises to being bored out of my gourd, largely due to a string of sub-Wizard-quality two-parters that have moved the story and characters forward at a snail's pace.

Not helping matters, those filler episodes came at a point where the writers completely betrayed their portrayal of the show's villains. Once Alain did his face-turn, my interest in the Ganma waned. But with the introduction of the Ganmaisers, it's possible the show has lost me for good. The Ganma went from being morally ambiguous bad guys with arguably altruistic intentions to being one-dimensional world dominators in the span of like, 3 episodes. A criticism I've often heard is that Takeru is very one-dimensional. I agree, but I was fine with that kind of hero as long as the villains were multifaceted and morally complex. Now that they've become your run-of-the-mill, "I must control the greatest power in the universe"-style baddies, having such a milquetoast hero is unacceptable.

I know there are still a handful of episodes left, and the final eight tend to be the best of any Rider series. I have hope, but if things don't get more interesting immediately, Ghost will become the Ninninger of Kamen Rider (i.e., a show that I loved for the bulk of its run but turned on when the last 10-15 episodes failed to pay anything off in emotionally resonant or interesting ways).

All that said, I still don't get the vitriol with which much of fandom has responded to Ghost. Even with all the above flaws taken into account, I don't think it's a bad show. I'd love to hear why you guys dislike it so much (without spoiling the last handful of episodes, obviously).

Onari being annoying with no consequences, Takeru being bland, Makoto not really having a personality since Kanon got resurrected, Kanon almost exclusively being 'oniichan' the character, the 'victim of the week' formula being done instead of more focus on plot in the middle, the lack of explanation on certain things like Newton's Eyecon and wasted potential are what I saw get criticized the most

I kind of agree with all of that! :lol

Maybe it's because I've watched the episodes at my own pace, and not week-to-week, but those problems weren't that big of a deal for me. Certainly not enough to justify the "WERST RYDER EVAH!!1!" claims.

Unless you're 555, Kabuto, or Wizard. I felt the final 8 episodes to those series pretty much massacred them.

I'm the opposite on Wizard, I feel like the finale arc was the best part of the show, and still places in my favourite ones ever

I like what Wizard was trying to do there, but I feel the execution was tragically lacking.

I can't say that I really dislike it. Once I recognized that, unlike Gaim or the early Heisei series, that - oh, riiiight - Ghost is a bona fide kid's show, I'm willing to cut it some slack. That being said, it still seems a bit sloppy. Sometimes I think the stars just have to be aligned for these shows to not just fall into a jumbled mess.

I had the opposite effect. I was really enjoying Wizard despite is redundancy until they brought in the cheap looking mages.

The show should have just been four riders, one fire, one hurricane, one earth, and one water and introduced them over the course of a few episodes in the beginning of the show. Give each one an introductory episode, an episode of development, an episode to shine, and then bring in the next one. This way, you've already got about 12 episodes done by the time all of the main players are on stage.

Also, Infinity should have come from Haruto failing at saving someone.

I guess that's people's believe that kids deserve better

I agree. Just because its a kids show doesn't give them an excuse to be lazy or make a poorly written show. Kids are not stupid, hell kids today barely even have a childhood anymore thanks to technology and politics, so they need more things that make them think. Sentai and Kamen Rider need to evolve as kids have evolved, but they seem to be regressing.

I'm answering what I'm guessing you were meaning to say!

Generally speaking, this has always been true. I remember seeing Star Blazers and Battle of the Planets (Space Battleship Yamoto and Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, respectively) back in the late 70's and never being able to take American action cartoons seriously afterward. Anime talked to you like you could handle what they were telling you, cartoons talked to you like you were five.

Of course, in the 70's and 80's, the American way of thinking was "no one over eight years old watches cartoons".


Well, we should acknowledge a few things and paramount among them is that the actual production of a television series, particularly one as complex to produce as tokusatsu, is rife with variables. One of the biggest, of course, is budget. Budget can adversely affect just about every aspect of a show, including scripts (see: Kamen Rider Hibiki). Changes may have been made on the fly. I can't recall which, but I just read that some toku show's final episode was being written ON THE DAY OF FILMING!

There's also the fact that writing for a younger demographic is just easier. While you and I might have been of above average in the kind of programming we can handle and how much we were annoyed by repetition, etc., that's not true across the board. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was an interminably goofy and poorly written program (please, set aside your nostalgia goggles) that was such a huge success that Japan's Sentai began to cop some of it's moves - a complaint I read about at the time in old school Toku curmudgeon Damon Foster's Oriental Cinema (yeah...) and Heroes on Film (compare Oh-Ranger to, say Jetman - right?). Young kids don't care about production values or shoddy writing. They LOVE repetition. And best of all, they probably have a parent who will buy them whatever they want because "kids". Plus, you hook 'em early enough, you'll have a number of them for life *cough*powerrangerz*cough*.

I think the big problem with Kamen Rider Ghost is that we so often get a generally well written and teen / young adult geared KR show that, when they give something to the booger eaters, it feels completely egregious. Doubly so if it's messily executed.

Of course, then you have ambition scuttling shows - like Ninninger's "choose your own adventure" take on show writing. Should have given Sentai lovers a great show in the editing room. NOPE. Apparently, Ninninger's merch sales is the worst in almost twenty years. Soooo, maybe we'll see the pendulum swing back toward an older demographic.

You know, I can sort of relate with Ninninger, although for me it was more like I loved it at first, was meh on it in the middle (i.e. like eps. 20-35ish), and then ended up liking it by the end.

With Ghost, on the other hand, I went from loving it to just liking it to friggin' loving it, thanks to everybody here. I'm a little too close to it at this point to be objective but I really don't think it's any worse than just "mediocre". On a more personal level, I think it's great, and I disagree with a lot of your complaints.

Ghost ended up clicking with me on a really deep level and I think it's a show that, for how kiddy it looks, really rewards putting some thought into it. It's a surprisingly layered show, all things considered.

Okay, 555 and Kabuto yeah but Wizard's last stretch is, at worst, still Wizard. Certainly not a huge downgrade. I still love the climax with Wizard actually punching somebody for the first and only time, in extremely memorable fashion. Also I love pretty much everything else in Wizard. (Unpopular Fish Sandwich opinion #300,152)

Oh geez, the "Haruto should've not saved somebody!" complaints. It's like I'm right there in 2013 again. Ah, memories...

How much have you even watched of it? You could argue the long-term quality but I feel Ghost very distinctly picks up steam early on. Like most Rider shows, it takes the cast a bit to get comfortable in the roles, and for the show to find its overall groove.

Also, I refuse to set aside the nostalgia goggles I don't have because I grew up watching Time Force and other not s*** PR shows at the same time I watched reruns of the older stuff.

MMPR is an amazingly written show, if you'll allow me to be cynical for a second. It's perfectly, purposely geared to exploit children in exactly the ways you're talking about. That may be kind of horrible but honestly it's kind of impressive too. It's basically THE "strictly formula" kids' show.

No but really, I'm actually pretty fond of early MMPR. I think it's a lot of goofy fun with occasional hints of actually trying (Green With Evil is great).

Wow.... that is a different opinion. Holy Cow. And I thought DosmRider had unpopular different opinion.

Hey, it's my specialty or something. *shrug* *loneliness*

EDIT: Also just to be clear, I'm only half-serious about that. I don't think MMPR was trying to corrupt the youth or something stupid like that. I really do like it quite a bit and there's a reason the show is still going strong even today.

*Hug*

I love MMPR, but no, it is not an amazingly written show when it comes to story and plot. It's fun, it's entertaining, it does what it set out to do, and I ate it up. I loved it from the moment I saw the very first commercial advertising it about a month before it came out. But it is not well written, the acting is awful, and some of the effects are terrible. You can accept a show for what it is and still love it.

You do realize the whole joke there was I was saying it was "amazing" at being a shallow corporate tool to sell merchandise?

I do accept it for what it is. MMPR was a show that elevated itself above being "generic" by compensating for its lack of ambition with a lot of genuine charm.

Like I said, there's a reason PR is as big as it is. There are few kids' shows as memorable, popular, or enduring as Power Rangers in general, and definitely not from the 90's.

Amazon Episode 11: Another wonderful episode. I mainly love the fact that it's sometime Masahiko gets the random civilian needs help plot in the Showa Era because Masahiko is enjoyable. Gedon are just assholes trying to kidnap kids and drink their blood. Amazon was great again in both combat and learning about arguments and even though someone is frustrated at you doesn't mean they hate you. In Combat he beat the bloody crap out of the Snail Beastman in an amazing fight, I love his moves. I am loving Amazon's battle against Gedon and can't wait for more.

Three unconnected episodes which convinced me that its corny "hot anime" tone probably wasn't going to make it immediate viewing. On top of that the numerous posts here, there and podcasts all point to some really sloppy stuff. Again, this might all be down to TV SNAFU but, coupled with my general "meh" feeling, it's not helping. That said, I WILL watch it, eventually; feels like a good "starter Rider" for my niece. She's already a PreCure / Glitter Force devotee.


As George W. Bush would say: "uniquely American". Okay, so I made a poor word choice - how about... "childishly written"?

Fish Sandwhich, smothered in Tartar Au Contraire!


I watched it on Fox Kids after work with a bong to amp up my suspension of belief to DBZ levels. Again, remember that I was in my mid-twenties at the time and haven't smoked pot in years, not trying to be cool just explaining where I needed to go to "enjoy" MMPR.

IT'S MORPHIN TIME!!
TOOOOOOOKEEE

Big Bad Beetleborgs FTW, Flabber Kush Dank Nugs.

Sorry, I was replying to that when I was on 4 hours of sleep.

Also didn't reply to this:

Well that was one of the biggest faults of Wizard. You knew Haruto was going to save every person every time, so it became redundant. You can pretty much skip out more than half of the series because nothing changes.

Having a new Phantom general being created by Haruto failing would have added something to the show and added some much needed development to Haruto. I haven't seen a rider as one dimensional as Haruto since Super-1.

That would have been cool. Creating a new general, and having him stick around until the end of the show, giving Haruto a personal conflict that he has to resolve throughout the remainder of the show.

Yeah to be honest I wasn't active in the community when I watched Wizard but Haruto never failing to save a Gate was also a huge complaint of mine. They could've really used this to create good drama and/or tension.

The fights themselves were still cool to look at but you knew that Haruto struggling to save someone wouldn’t have any consequences.

Kamen Rider Drive x Gaim

Good lord, jumping back into Rider with this movie is giving me whiplash. I feel like there's way to much plot for an hour and a half. If this movie was extended by 30 minutes overall, with 10 minutes extra for each part, I'd be down with it. But I guess they have to have it so short so they can get as many run times as possible.

Gaim portion:

It's cool to see Kouta and Mai on their new planet for like 12 seconds before Mega Hex messes it up. Although the explanation for Mega Hex was super lazy exposition by Ryoma. I find it interesting that MegaHex fought off the forest in order to just do the same thing the forest did lol.

The movie never really did make it clear like with Kaito, but was Ryoma also a mechanical construct or was that actually him risen to life again? Dragon Fruits energy was cool though, alebeit the new powerup was fucking chumped by some Sengoku Drivers.

And what is with Kouta coming back to life? Just because they had the Kiwami Key/Golden Fruit? I guess maybe Kouta's essence became one with the fruit once he attained Space Godhood?

Drive Portion:

I haven't seen Drive, so I might sound like an idiot when it comes to this.

The section felt very eh to me. This movie as a whole has a shit load of pacing issues, but this one suffered the worst from it. Having this somewhat interesting premise of this thief stealing the ZZZ body and having a competition with Drive for the Rider title, masquerading as others, you'd think this would be a cool thing? Nope. Everything felt like it happened so fast, they had to kill Belt-san partway through just because only to have a Mach cameo revive the guy.

I feel like the revelation of Mr. Belt original building that body should be a bigger revelation then it was treated. You'd think a super powerful unused plan would be a gamechanger and very dangerous, you know? Hell, Lupin doesn't even use ZZZ most of the time, it's there for the reveal and as a plot device to power up MegaHex.

The end of the movie is whatever, my favorite moment being Kouta referring to himself as a "Space God". And both Drive and Gaim having trouble getting into Trideron because of thier swapped forms lol.

I agree that would've been cool and all but that always seemed extraordinarily flimsy as a major complaint. You could say the same thing about EVERY Kamen Rider show. Of course he saves the Gate every time, he's the protagonist. That's what he does. Nevermind that the one time he doesn't save one, it's f***ing Mayu, so the show basically did exactly what you wanted.

And I still haven't seen a Rider as three-dimensional as Haruto since Wizard. But I guess because he doesn't always show emotion on his face he must've been bland.

Not every rider has to be able to save someone every time. Kotaro wasn't able to save Nobuhiko from becoming Shadow Moon. If the story needs a loss to happen to advanced, it should happen, and Wizard definitely needed that. It also doesn't help that Haruto's entire point for being Wizard was for Kiyomi and not only did she do absolutely nothing but sit in the background like wallpaper and stare at a crystal ball, but was barely even on screen except for when the plot needed her to be in peril for Haruto to save.

The lack of emotion isn't the problem, it's that he had no development. He was the same in the final episode that he was in the first. He didn't have any backstory outside of one moment in one episode with his soccer friend.

Kota gave up his dancing to be a rider. He lost Mai, he lost his best friend, and he lost his humanity.

Shinnosuke had his partner injured during the Global Freeze. He has his relationship with police girl. It may not be much, but it is far more than what Haruto had.

Don't care about Ghost.

That’s not the problem I have with it. Of course the hero wins every time, or like 99% of the time, that’s not what made it repetitive. What made it repetitive was the constant build-up from the Phantoms and/or the people themselves which started to lose any meaning as soon as it became clear that the worst case would never happen.

It did? The show all about holding onto hope needed an episode where somebody actually loses hope? Again, there's definitely a lot of potential there, and I don't mean to say I disagree with you about that, but it's not what I would call a necessity.

You're also brushing off all the character stuff with Koyomi throughout the show, and of course she's also exactly the kind of loss you're talking about. Haruto spends the whole final arc talking about how he's definitely for sure going to save Koyomi, and then he can't.

And that's just flatly bulls***. A bunch of the episodes in Wizard were devoted to exploring Haruto's past. The flashbacks throughout the show. The episodes where he gets Flame Dragon. The ones with his old teacher. The aforementioned soccer ones. Haruto is one of the more fleshed out protagonists in Rider and the show was always very distinctly his story. He absolutely has development, too. Even just with Koyomi in the end, that's a big moment for him because he's forced to accept the loss of the single most important person in his life. Haruto has some pretty crippling self-worth issues and he basically defines his entire life by A. being Wizard and B. protecting Koyomi, so it's a HUGE deal for him to move on. There's all sorts of other bits throughout the show too. Haruto was a very unique and relatively subtle main character and I refuse to accept he was anything but a strength for Wizard.

I guess? This is getting into the concept of "stakes" I've never understood but, again, isn't that true of every other Rider show? They're always trying to convince you the whole world's in danger but, outside of Blade and Gaim, how often does stuff ever actually get that far?

I think your real problem here is simply that you didn't find the stories the show was telling very interesting, which, again, I do get, even though I'm getting pretty heated about this.

I guess Ghost isn't the only show I'm unnecessarily defensive of... :(

Not true actually. I mean yeah the main plot was garbage, that's not up for debate, but I did enjoy the weekly plots a lot, mostly because I like Wizard's silly gang. I don't find them to be as annoying as most people around here do.

I can remember a lot of those little plots, and that's saying something since I watched Wizard once like two and a half years ago.

The problem for me was when we got to see the Phantoms plotting stuff, because I knew it was all a waste since these useless idiots would never accomplish anything. Same when the whole "trying to make the Gate despair"-thing started, I knew they would fall for it, but it wouldn’t happen.

There were simply too many recurring elements wasted on something we, the audience, knew would never happen. That's what bored me.

I don’t question a Rider winning against the odds in almost every circumstance, but other shows don’t waste so much time with useless crap to set this stuff up. Like, OOO has a very similar setup with the Yummies who are able to possess or feed off of people’s energy, but for one it wasn’t always the case, different Yummies form different Greeed acted differently, and if it did happen there was no set form every single one had to go through.

With Wizard it was always: A short moment where the Gate is noticed by the bad guys, then a scene with Medusa and/or Phoenix talking about pointless stuff which then results in one of them introducing this week’s Phantom, then they brief it, then it goes after the Gate, fails, retreats, Wizard & co. take the Gate in, Phantom tries again, gets the Gate to the point of absolute despair, Wizard shows up and saves the day.

That’s what I hated, this exact formula repeating itself over and over and over again. With some small alterations here and there to be fair, but it was still so obvious that I couldn’t help but noticing it every time it happened. Other Rider shows have similar setups, no question about that, but with Wizard I noticed it in a negative way rather quickly and that bothered me.

Don't tempt me now! :p

That's absolutely a fair point, but I personally feel, much like Kuuga, the repetitive villain plans are just a vehicle to tell way less repetitive stories about the main characters and the VotW. There's generally more to an episode than just what the Phantoms are up to.

I'd just like to say that this is a 50 episode plot that banks on the audience caring about a character that most viewers I've come across were apathetic to at best.

You have to bear in mind that the only major loss was the character that spent most scenes with a thousand yard stare, which is why it didn't have the emotional impact that the Mages' own personal stories had. The kid and his bike or the man and his child meant a lot more because, while they didn't have as much time to develop, you felt the emotion that they all exhibited.

Your defenses for Wizard aren't wrong. However, you're arguing on the basis that everyone can set aside the problems and look at the silver lining and enjoy everything that is enjoyable about it, but it's just not going to happen. Haruto comes off as bland because he's indifferent to most actions of the supporting cast, his interest in the character of the week are based simply on the fact that a Phantom is after them, and his emotional range is really weak except when it affects himself or Koyomi. Koyomi herself spends most of the series doing nothing, really, and is absent for the other half beyond a few scenes of her just sitting around, and Beast might as well be off in his own universe for how relevant he is. The villains are bland, with most people's favorite, Phoenix, just being a generic angry guy, and the endgame of the series, while a highlight, comes in too late for most people to cut the show some slack.

You're not telling me anything I don't know. And it isn't the silver lining I'm looking at, it's the whole cloud. These aren't minor parts of the show I'm bringing up. My defenses may be based on focusing on the positives, but everybody else's... offenses(?), are based on accentuating the negatives, too. That's sort of how having an opinion works. It's not really something I can help.

But none of that is entirely accurate. Saying his interest in the VotW is based "simply on the fact that a Phantom is after them" is like saying Shoutarou and Phillip "simply care about the VotW because they're their client that week". That's true, yeah, but it's an oversimplification.

And his emotional range is not weak! This is what I mean about him being subtle. He's got a lot of angst he keeps buried under the surface. That's only when it comes to him or Koyomi, yeah, but that's hardly a problem when so much of the show is focused on him to begin with. Even beyond that he flips between his three basic moods of "sarcastic a**hole", "slacker", and "determined hero" throughout every episode. There's a lot going on with him and I'm baffled nobody but me can see it. He's, at his absolute worst, another Kamen Rider lead.

Yes, she absolutely is absent a lot of the time. This is a problem with Wizard. I will not deny this because it's a fact. What I will deny is that when she is around, she's doing nothing. There are episodes throughout the show where she's very central and she's also extremely in focus throughout those last 8-ish episodes.

For one, he's a foil to Haruto, and extremely relevant in that respect. Two, his disconnect from the events of the show is something of a plot point. The White Wizard is always brushing him off as insignificant and it bites him in the a** when Beast is actually the one to stop his evil plan in the end.

I don't really care.

No, it's definitely the silver lining.
Your primary argument is basically taking argument A and telling them how their view is wrong or how something is misinterpreted on their part.

It can be helped. Much like how I'm not trying to smack down everyone who liked Kuuga or Decade, or disliked Blade or Gekiranger.

Except it is true. Shotarou showed concern over what was going down in his city, so even if they weren't clients, because it was terror being caused to someone in the place that he loved, he'd still do what he could.

It didn't feel like Haruto had any connection to the gates. Yes, he would help them with their woes, but he'd clean his hands of them just as quickly once the threat was out of the way.

Perhaps the reason no one but you can see it is because you're injecting what you believe Haruto is feeling?

I'm not looking for fucking Batman and constantly brooding, and I'm not looking for Shinji constantly wearing his emotions on his sleeves. But Godai, Eiji, and Kouta all did the whole angst thing and made it clear that they were actually feeling it while subtly hiding it from the others. Eiji and Godai were especially good at it, both concealing it for quite a while and, unlike Kouta, not receiving constant flashbacks to their true feelings on the matter (Eiji being unable to save that one black girl notwithstanding, but that could easily be construed as his resolution to not lose anyone again).

Haruto felt like a complete brick. His constant apathy did nothing to convince me that he was feeling anything other than indifference, annoyance, or anger.
The easy connection is that he's using his apathy as a defense mechanism to hide his real feelings. But I just never felt that way. Perhaps I wasn't paying attention to the right cues. Dunno.

I'm not saying Koyomi is irrelevant. That statement was hyperbole. It was meant to imply that her relevance just isn't felt for so long. Sorry. I just phrased that particular sentence really, really poorly.

For me, it was always just a matter of pay off. Koyomi was so lifeless, so dull, and just so uninteresting that I just never felt the emotional weight they wanted me to feel. The ring maker would have elicited a lot more of a response from me should something happen to him, and I don't even remember his name.

I guess my key issue (Or should I say, ring issue*) with Koyomi is that I just...Feel nothing concerning her. Her actions don't bring up any memories outside of the endgame

*Crappy pun that doesn't even make sense...Keys are a Sentai thing. I just said key and pictured a transformation sequence...Disregard the pun (I'm leaving it in because I typed this up before thinking about just removing it so now I'm attached)

This one was also hyperbole, just because I was getting tired of the post and didn't feel like elaborating on Beast. :lol
I know he's important to the show. His energetic nature makes him a fine foil for Haruto, his contributions to the ending were big, and his nature makes him an entertaining addition to a dry cast (Beyond the kid with no fashion sense).
But the disconnect is still a problem since the show isn't hinting at any bigger purpose for him, and I don't recall Chimera saying much about it until the end (It's been a while, could be wrong).

I mean, yeah... Isn't that how arguing works? If I thought somebody was 100% correct about everything I wouldn't have much to say to them.

I can't exactly start drawn-out arguments/dumpster fires about how awesome Blade is or how Toei totally screwed Hibiki over, you know? :o

Am I really coming off that aggressive? :confused:

It's not like I don't like you guys or anything. I just get really opinionated when I feel shows aren't getting a fair shake. You'll note I don't get set off nearly as bad when people tout Gaim as being the best show ever, because I'm happy they feel that way. But negativity makes me negative. If it's really such a problem I can stop.