Started an OOO rewatch yesterday. Good stuff all around.

I tried that January 2016 and could not get into it despite trying a second shot. I'm happy you're able to find enjoyment in something I wasn't though!

SHTGP still sucks.

I just finished Heisei Generations yesterday. It's actually a really fun rider movie. I especially liked Shinnosuke and Haruto in this (I've never seen Wizard). I like all of the little callbacks, like Wizard instantly knowing who Gaim is, or Drive commenting that it's "just like a god" for Kouta to show up in the nick of time.

And the fight scenes are some of the best I've seen in Rider period. All of the untransformed fights (and there's A LOT of them) are awesome. I also like the main villain's monster form, and I wish we could get a figuarts of it.

Finally got around to watching Kamen Rider 4.

Honestly, I'm starting to wish I'd watched Den-O before Faiz. It's not like Zeronos is that plot-relevant and at the very least there's no spoilers for the show in either SHTGP or KR4, but still, having more context on the character would have been nice. He's very prominent in both but as far as I care he's just some dude whose belt makes cow sounds.

Still, this was pretty cool. Not entirely sensical, which I guess just comes from how closely tied it is with the Taisen, but still a pretty cool crossover story that made good use of the characters involved (i mean, i guess, again, i don't really know about the den-o side).

Have no idea why the wiki is so convinced that literally all of Takumi's friends died, though, because that's apparently all they got from this special. Turns out the wiki is fucking stupid, although this comes as no surprise. I'm just dumber for trusting it to not misunderstand shit.

8 episodes left of Faiz to go, this show has been an awesome ride.

I'm almost done with Faiz. Almost. I'm at episode 39 now.

...

Am I dead yet? This show is so... argh.

Why the fuck is Takumi an Orphenoch? It makes absolutely no sense. Zero, nada, null. Why do they even have him go through multiple phases of questioning if all Orphenoch are evil if he himself was one all along?

That is so damn stupid.

There are two types of people

To be fair, I think that's the point.


It's pretty much implied (though not very well) that the reason Takumi can be such a loner is because he's intentionally pushing people away. Him questioning whether Orphenochs are all evil is a question that also extends to himself personally and something he struggles with because if they ARE all evil, then that means he's also evil. What he sees in Yuka and Yuji are Orphenochs that can live in peace with humanity. It comes to a head later on in another episode when Smart Brain convinces Takumi that he was behind the massacre at the school that Kusaka and Mari were apart of.

I see what they were going for, but it doesn't necessarily work well because IIRC, it was never stated that Orphenochs suffer from a lack of control, like what we see in Amazons. Perhaps it's supposed to be implied with all of the violent fits of rage we see from Yuji's group that Orphenochs are naturally violent, but meh.

I thought this WAS actually brought up? I distinctly remember Kiba mentioning something about the complete lack of impulse control Orphenochs have, especially when first "born" was the reason he was so unstable at first and killed his ex.

There's plenty of OTHER aspects of the show that aren't justifaizable though.

Could be the case. I haven't seen Faiz in a while.


The thing that kinda diminishes that aspect is that, more or less, all of the victims of Kiba's group were awful human beings. Not to say any of those people deserve it, but as an audience member, it's hard to feel sorry for them. It looks less like "Kiba is really starting to lose it" and more like "Hell yeah, Kiba! Kill that asshole!"

Even when he pulls a face-heel turn, his most notable kill is Kusaka, who is an absolutely horrible human being who was pretty much asking for it.

Honestly, almost all of the humans in Faiz were horrible people. At least, almost all of the ones that played any notable part in the story or a character's development.

Also, as far as the making sense goes...Takumi being an Orphnoch is something they were hinting at throughout the entire show. The belts were always meant to be used by Orphnochs for Orphnochs, and throughout the many users of the Faiz Gear, the clear distinction between the characters that could transform and those that could not is whether they were Orphnoch or not. Kusaka is an exception, but he was always a unique case.

Other than that, I think MaskedRiderAsakura has it right. Takumi is seen throughout the show as someone who has absolutely no confidence in himself or his strength of character. He's scared of what he is, and says as much when he's discussing his past with Kiba. Specifically he addresses how the last time he transformed into an Orphnoch he blacked out, and has no idea what he may have done (the incident at the reunion, which we later learn wasn't him doing anything bad but nobody really knew). He fought as Faiz in order to deny that part of himself.

Personally I thought it was a well-done twist, but that's just me.

They absolutely did not hint at it, in any way. Him being able to use the gear is irrelevant to this question as many humans use the gear without problems as well.

If they really did hint at it they would've had him ask questions in a different way. He wouldn't ask if an Orphenoch could be good in general, he would ask if this particular one is worth trusting since he knows in the back of his head that there's at least one Orphenoch that isn't going around murdering people all the time. This may just be me applying real life logic to something dumb again, but holy shit.

So no, this still isn't making any sense to me as they had to reveal it in such a manner that previous plot points were irrelevant for it to be a surprise, and that's just stupid.

God I can't wait until I'm done with this trainwreck of a show, I hate it so much.

Not the Faiz Gear, though. Each belt is different, and has different effects based on whether the user is Orphnoch or not. The Kaixa Gear killing its users and the Delta Gear...well, I was gonna say the Delta Gear's "addiction and giving the users powers" deal was an extension of that, but that was eventually dropped because Faiz got especially dumb when it came to Delta. Still, absolutely no normal humans were ever able to use the Faiz Gear, nor did Takumi ever suffer any ill effects as a consequence of his use. It's not irrelevant to the question, because the reason why he could transform was always a mystery and treated as such by other characters.

Like, I'm not saying Faiz isn't dumb, because it can be, but I don't think is as out of nowhere as you think.

Yeah but, how should I, as the viewer, know that before the fact and take it as a hint is my question?

Also, Kusaka used the Faiz gear no problem, and from what I know he is still human. Although it wouldn't surprise me if they have something lined up there as well. Since there's an actual hint for that one, Sawada said he's a failure of some kind.

Was it? I don't remember the mystery of Takumi being able to use the Faiz gear ever being more than a throwaway line. Maybe I just forgot though, I took a long break from this show for obvious reasons.

It's the first one we're introduced to, so for at least 10 or so episodes its rules are the only ones we have. Within those episodes, we see I think five or six different characters try to use the gear. Mari and Keitaro, human that they are, fail to do so, while the ones that pull it off are Kaido and some other Orphnoch of the week...and Takumi. I'm pretty sure they bring up the fact that the belts were made for the Orphnochs this early on too, so there were pieces laid out beforehand.

When the Kaixa Gear comes around, we are immediately introduced to its ability to disintegrate its users, so right off the bat we know the rules it's playing by are different, but even before that, there were already clues.

Yeah, that's one mystery the show will address. Kusaka is an exception.


Well, it's true that it's not something that gets a lot of focus, and that's something the show certainly could have done better to address, but the characters don't take Takumi being able to transform for granted. "Why can he transform, but not me?" is usually the reaction from the human side for these things, and I remember Murakami and the other Orphnochs being confused by it as well. I suppose that could fall under throwaway lines, but it still was brought up on several occasions.

Straying away from all the 555 talk, I just got done with Drive. I felt it was very similar to my opinion of OOO.
The first half was boring but each respective spring movie was painful. The second half is when it really began to shine like OOO did for me.
Going on with the comparisons I can sum up both as so:
When it's good, it's great! But when it's bad it's terrible.

Drive I will say is most certainly a back to basics KR season. The producers probably thought Gaim was too radical a change and just in case it ended up doing subpar all around they'd have a "safe" season to air the next year. It doesn't feel like it took very many chances until the second half and felt very run of the mill. I will say though, Drive's biggest strength is definitely the 4 main characters. Shinnosuke, Go, Kiriko, and Chase. Hell, even Heart, Medic, and Brain really grew on me. I absolutely loved Brain's death and his little arc before he died. Medic treated him like crap and yet he couldn't help but feel sorry for her when she was "brainwashed". Then he took the death blow for Heart, Medic, and the Riders. A bit off topic too, I'm not the only one who saw his character and thought "This is basically if Jonoichi from Gaim was a full fledged bad guy."

Go and Chase had an interesting relationship in the second half once Chase became a Kamen Rider again. With the way Go treated Chase, I could see the ending to the arc coming from a mile away. But goddamn it was still sad as hell when Chase sacrificed himself for Go. That made me get watery eyed. The second the 000 disappeared onscreen... whoo, that was tear jerking.

Overall it was an okay season. It's definitely my least favorite Neo-Heisei season but that's not to say it was bad. It has it's strengths and it's fanbase so I'm for what it's worth, I'm glad it existed. I just wish the first 1/2 was better handled.

Now onto Ghost... man, with Neo-Heisei KR it seems like unless you're W, OOO, or Gaim it's generally a season with a mixed or polarizing reaction from what I've seen. Decade was mixed, Fourze was polarizing, Wizard was mixed, and Drive was polarizing. Ghost is probably the in the mixed to meh category since I've yet to see anyone claim it's their favorite season. I'm afraid guys. 😂

Man Kiwami, if even Faiz's better handled elements make you this angry, you should probably do yourself a favor and never watch Kiva. Or better yet, DO watch it. That way I'll get the satisfaction of seeing you have no choice but to admit Ghost isn't the worst Rider show. :p

*ahem*

Of course, I'm still arguing with myself whether or not Wizard still deserves that title, so clearly I have terrible taste.

Haven't watched all of Ghost but, in the same ten episode length, Kiva already had me chewing my knuckles so... Ghost will have to really plum the depths to match Kiva's lows.

Just finished the Kamen Rider Heisei Generations - Dr. Pac-Man vs. Ex-Aid & Ghost with Legend Rider. Oh man, some real good feels. And a nice long movie too. I never realized how much I missed that donut chomping Wizard. Gaim's arrival is more than a little plot-holish. As is Drive's return. However they give a really good amount of screen time to each Rider. The villains are generic, and really, it's Pac Man. Out of all the possible characters to make a bad guy......sigh.

It's rather smart IMO. Popular classic video game character who's main enemies are ghosts. In a movie with a video game-themed Rider and a ghost-themed one.

I was actually a bit stunned by how well this worked.

I never realized that either. Ex-Aid continues to surprise me by how smart it is.

Rewatching Ex-Aid 24, I need the People Game song. Now. Lol.

Finished OOO again, rolling back to W.

But, oh man, that ballad version of Anything Goes is like a kick in the emotional guts every time I hear it.

Watching Blade, aka "Tachibana-San: The series"

Have a bit of patience with Blade. It has a rather... awkward beginning.

Finished Black 35. I don't know what those silly looking things on Shadow Moon's legs are, but I think I like it. I am getting a bit burnt out though I have to admit, I often find myself wishing Showa stuff was half as long as it is.

I believe the technical term is "ominous footstep clackers."

I think you mean the "AROOLLY A TRAYDER?" series. Speaking of, Blade's first episode has it's anniversary today

Oh, it's good past the first few episodes, but they do say Tachibana's name a million times.

I enjoy the characters a lot. Kenzaki is a bit flat at first, but little things like him nursing Hajime make the character seem more noble than his fellows. Tachibana started out grating, but I like how he's mellowed out, learned from his mistakes, and shifted into a mentor role for Mutsuki.

Neat!

I'm done with Faiz. Literally and figuratively. What a terrible, terrible show. The characters are complete garbage, the story is shit and the overall tone is just crap. There's just so little to be enjoyed that you might as well not bother at all.

I took a liking to a few characters but this show made sure to ruin that within a few episodes. They switch sides and believes so easily just because the writers want them to and it sucks.

The ending was also bad, in a sense that it doesn't exist. It feels like the show could just continue after the last episode no problem, nothing is resolved really.

And the biggest fuck you from this show: Kusaka just dies. And then, just one episode after that, the people who should hate him for all eternity for the horrible shit he pulled cry because they still think he was their ally. Just no. That was completely unacceptable.

So yeah, easily the worst Rider show I have ever seen. The one thing I liked was the suit design, I think the Rider suits are very well done. And so are the Orphenoch really, I'm not a huge fan of the chess piece colors but I get it. Everything else though? Just no. The action scenes weren't even that good either, mostly because all I remember is the shitty CGI. And most fights took a complete backseat to the stupid drama too, what a waste.

I don't feel like posting the updated ranking list of my watched Rider shows right now but believe me when I say: This will be at the absolute bottom. And it will take a lot for it to move up.

Next up is Blade, I've heard good things and bad things about it but I'm very curious to watch it.

I feel mostly the same way, though I managed to finish Faiz. I really like the design aesthetic of the show, but I will likely never sit through it again. Probably the best thing to come out of Faiz for me were the Takumi/Keisuke bits in Heisei vs Showa. (Although, honestly, I do like Hitomi Kurihara so I was glad to see her come back after Ryuki.)

As for Blade, that's a show I couldn't manage to finish. I'm tempted to give it another go, primarily because of Hironari Amano. Hopefully you'll do better than I did. Good luck!

Wait wait wait! You have to watch the Faiz Hyper Battle Video first, trust me!

Definitely. Kiwami you've gone through the worst - you owe it to yourself to see the HBV.

No seriously, stay far away from Kiva.

Hope you enjoy it, it's a way better show than F-

Wait you've heard bad things about Blade?! Who are these people?! WHAT LIES DID THEY TELL YOU?!

I second this notion. It's the catharsis you need.

The only real issue I have with Blade is that the first ~12 episodes can be kind of rough and have some pacing issues. Once the show settles in, though, it gets really good. And don't worry, you won't have issues with how this one ends. It is still, to this day, the best ending of any Kamen Rider series.

Personally I didn't have a problem, but I didn't get why people didn't like Drive's first half for a bit. Though Blade's first batch of episodes is redeemed by 'AROOLLYATRAYDER' and 'ORE NO KARADA BOROBORO DAAAAAAA'

I am not a Blade fan, but the ending is indeed quite good!

I'm with Fish all the way on this.

I'll say I didn't hate Faiz but, yeah, don't think I'll be watching it again anytime soon. It's the birthing caul of the INOUE ZONE (prior to Faiz, Inoue was pretty good - see Jetman), it's an incredibly sloppy production (crew in shots, boom mics) and it's just a really trying show. I loved the design aesthetic, the set up of the show, Kusaka who was a Grade A Bastard, his potleaf pendant and the bartender Lobster Orphenoch (oh... So beautiful) and, finally, power-up upside the head / dropping out of the drop ceiling.

Still not as bad as Kiva.

KIIIIVVVAAAAA!!!