I felt somewhat similar with you about W and Drive, but it's the opposite. There're particularly so many nitpicks that that I can bring about W than Drive here. I don't want to nitpick the two-parter format here, but man, the two-parter is one of things that hold W to be a great series. Still, I might recommend for everyone else to watch pre-Wizard series first because the post-Wizard series are much more story-driven, especially Gaim and Ex-Aid. I disliked the constant doubts of Wakana and Ryubee basically felt less intimidating compared to later villains. Even as mediocre Saeko can be, at least, she was more compelling than the rest of families.

On side note, let's compare W and OOO a little bit. I have watched the first ten episodes and sometimes before I watched post episode 31. OOO for some instances start to drive its story much fluid than W and it manages to actually make the whole point just by ten episodes. For W, it's hard to take its seriously during its first 10 episodes while OOO starts being serious during the first run. Once OOO Putotyra comes to the scene, you know that it's a serious period and no more useless fillers and more dive to the story. For W, they could just cut the whole Kirihiko's sister arc and the detective arc for more dwell to either Philip or Shotaro. W CJX also felt so sour until the last minute. I just particularly watched W post CJX's debut because of its theme.

Straying away from all the W talk for a sec, I just finished up Ghost. Earlier I mentioned it seemed like it ranged from either meh to bleh since no one claimed it was their favorite season(Well one person did right after I posted it).

Holy hell this show. See, my expectations with Ghost were that it'd at least be as good as Wizard, it didn't even live up to that. But there was some good in it, two good things in fact. Alain and Akari.

Alain was awesome this season. I loved his arc, I loved his driver, I thought he was the best handled of the three Riders, he's just so good. Another thing too is that he didn't end up getting a big boost in power like Specter or Ghost, but rather they wrote around it and pulled a Mach by having him progress his technique instead. I thought that was nice. He's pretty much a second Chase since he's initially evil, becomes good, has a nice arc to him, and ends up having some of the best character moments in the season. Looking at you Fumi-baa...
Akari meanwhile is probably the best side character Kamen Rider has had since Ichijou from Kuuga. She's right up there with him and is hands down the best side character of the Neo-Heisei era. The biggest thing I love is that she's proactive, actually finding ways to assist Takeru and the gang at every chance. I mean crap, she invented a blaster that doubles as whatever the episode needs it to be after a few tweaks. It probably helps that I had a HUGE crush on Akari throughout the whole season. I mean she's so dorky and cute and efficient and Hikaru Ohsawa is just so... <3 <3 <3

*ahem* Moving on...
With this season I was kinda excited at the theme concept of living life to the fullest, kinda like all the historical figures represented as Eyecons did. The secondary Rider could represent living life for those close to you while the third Rider is like I said, essentially Chase from Drive since he ends up turning good. On paper, this sounds pretty cool. All with a meh execution though. The worst part is that I thought that after however many meh eps there were, the last 10-15 Eps would really kick into high gear and be enjoyable. Every season I've seen up to this point did it(well except for Decade), I mean OOO did it, Wizard did it, Drive did it. Ugh, it was more disappointing than anything.
New Ranking:
Fourze
W
Den-O
Gaim
Decade
Wizard
OOO
Drive
Ghost
Kuuga
Agito

Long story short, it's probably my least favorite Neo-Heisei season. I thought Drive would take that cake but Ghost is definitely it. On the bright side with Ex-Aid I don't think it can possibly be as bad as this, it can only go up from here. So I guess I'll find out if the next season's any good in a little bit.

Game Start!

To be frank, I somewhat understand a bit of Fish's point of view from every of his posts regarding about Ghost. The more I see it, the more I realize that Ghost had more than it had. I understand about Switchblade and Kiwami's rage for Ghost. But, first of all, the whole Ghost problems are summed up in one question: 'What are the criteria of a good Kamen Rider series?'

Really, that topic is the most crucial single problem of Ghost. For many people, they would expect a lot of good twists and story escalation with fluid story-telling that is crucial for a good series. But in my opinion, Ghost IS NOT like that! I meant it in a good way, though. Ghost is actually a good series in its own way. Ghost doesn't appeal the viewers with its storyline or the plot twists here and there. Ghost's main attractions are its messages and the developments on the characters. Don't expect Ghost to be a series like Gaim or Ex-Aid who has heavy plot. Ghost might have a lighter and softer plot but it really hits as being a good series with full of messages.

Let's be honest, from all of the Neo-Heisei Riders or even the Heisei Riders, I don't think we have so many series with full of messages about life and death like Ghost. Most of the series relies on their twists and plot. While Ghost relies on its messages and the optimistic point of view. Basically, if you want to watch Ghost, you need to realize that it's NOT series that will hook you up but you can learn so many things about life, compassion, courage and other things from this series. This is why Ghost is actually a good series for kids. I know a lot of grown ups are complaining about the childish plot but it's what makes Ghost is really charming toward the kids. I bet that the kids enjoy Ghost a lot more than, say Gaim.

I might end up rambling and rant non-stop like Fish if this continues, but what I said is basically sums up what Fish's previous posts. I don't say that Ghost doesn't have flaws. Remember, Ghost was pretty strong during Alain's arc but weakens during Mugen arc. I'm a writer so I understand where the problem is. After Mugen debuts, the writer decides not to escalate the story and just use VoW again. Let's be honest, this is one of the major problems for Ghost. It FAILED to escalate its own plot and instead, reducing the pacing. Why must we need to focus for the VoW for Takeru to get the emotion attacks? It would have been better if they focus more on Onari, that other Onari's apprentice, and heck, give Kanon more exposition. It would have been good if Takeru had learned those emotion attacks from his friends rather than from random people. They might even introduce the Demia Project a lot faster this way. Take a look on OOO and Drive. Once their Final Forms debut, the series' pacing is increased and they knew it's not the time to joke and wander around again. Even if they use VoW, the plot is moving even much faster than the episode.

Well, then I have done rambling. I'm not saying that people who hates Ghost to like it. I just hope that I could open those people's mind about Ghost's true nature, just like what Fish said.

On the other side, have anyone watched Specter Rebirth movie yet? I have watched it but I want other people's reaction first before I tell my own opinions.

Honestly the more I look back on Ghost the more I see the holes. The show lost a lot of its direction later on and spent a lot of time alternatively spinning its wheels and introducing plot points it didn't seem to know what to do with. There's still a lot to like (in my opinion, of course), but it's pretty much the weakest final stretch a Rider show has ever had.

That being said, I stand by the first half~ish as being genuinely quite good, and while it becomes easy to see where the hate comes from looking at the big picture I still find it nuts anybody disliked the show right away. After a somewhat uneven premiere, Ghost immediately started moving with a ton of purpose. Basically nothing was filler, the pacing of what Plot the show did have was very strong, never stagnating, and characterization on the whole was rock solid, with a ton of growth for most of the cast. I once said Ex-Aid isn't any better than Ghost, and while I've been proven horribly, horribly wrong in the months since, Ghost still came out of the gate stronger as far as I'm concerned.

But that's just my two cents on it~

Have fun with Ex-Aid, though! I think you'll find it has so many fans for good reason.

Thinking back, I think my main problem with Ghost is how unorganized the whole show is. While it was always aware of what message it was trying to teach, more or less, it couldn't really decide on how it wanted to go about teaching that lesson.

On one hand, Ghost felt like it wanted to be an episodic show that focused on how every day people were effected not only by the 15 luminaries or the various supernatural events that were happening around them but also on the deeds that Takeru and his friends did for them. On the other hand, it wanted to be a more 'traditional' Kamen Rider show with a heavy focus on its plot and only really giving focus and development to characters who were able to move the story forward.

While both can be done in a single show as long as things are planned and paced properly, Ghost gave off the impression that the writers were writing by the seat of their pants the entire time and could never figure out *how* they wanted to get from point A to point B.

Hell, even original theme of the show took a hit because of this. While the show never stops being about life, that theme becomes secondary to the individuality theme that becomes the main focus of the show post-Toucon

In short, I think the lack of escalation post-Mugen is further proof that the writers had no idea what they wanted to do with the show besides telling you life and individuality are both awesome. It kind of feels like an attempt to return to the days when the show was just about a young boy teaming up with his friends to get his life back, helping people and learning more about the value of life along the way. Unfortunately for it, those days were long gone and show had transformed into something on a much larger scale. Attempting to go back to those days after such an important moment was probably one of the worst choices the show could have ever made.

The way they introduce the eyecons in the story is horrible. I know neo-heisei is all about spamming the collectibles from the first quarter toy catalogue in the first 10 episodes, but Ghost did it horribly. A lot of the spirits within the eyecons aren't memorable and were only there to serve some comedy relief along with Onari. If they're going to make the eyecons sentinel beings then they should give them more serious supporting roles like Musashi. It would be nice if they give more screen time to Takeru's father. He's Yellow Lion and I was expecting him to make a grand entrance again during the final arc of the story. Instead we get boring Adel, Ganmaizers, and the creepy old guy.

Y-You Contrarian Bastard!!

These two posts are some of the best spoken opinions/thoughts on Ghost I've read. Very well put together and honestly I agree with a lot of what both of you guys said.

I wanted to elaborate that while I thought Ghost was subpar, that's not to denounce anyone who enjoyed it or can see more good in it than I do. You guys added a lot of how I felt about the show. Especially about the first half-ish vs the finale arc.

Kind of a weird thing to post but I always feel like shining a light on the well spoken and not condescending thoughts on any forum of discussion. Like Kuuga would say. Good job! *thumbs up* ^-^

The minute the sisters from the web videos randomly showed up is the minute I knew that Ghost had no idea what it was doing anymore.

Man, I can't even agree with myself now? This is starting to get out of hand. :lol

Although any day I'm living up to Kuuga is a good day in my book. :thumb:

Honestly, if they actually lost their direction for Ghost, they could have just used the plot from the summer movie about Argos. I already read so many posts regarding about how Argos fits better as a villain in the series rather than Adel. I have read a post from Fish that Adel is anti-thesis for Takeru, but for me, Argos is even more an anti-thesis toward Takeru. Regarding the summer movie, I actually pretty enjoyed it and I really wish that they should have just used some of the plots to the series and I bet it will be more compelling. Even Gaim's summer movie wasn't as good as Ghost's, to be honest.

I really want for a good Rider series than a good summer movie, instead. Take a look at Gaim. Its summer movie was terrible and full of plot holes but the show is great. For Ghost, the movie is pretty enjoyable but the series went out of direction. Still, I really hope if they can do both. Really, are there any competent writers that could make a decent series and a decent summer movie other than Riku Sanjo? Both W and the A to Z movie aren't that bad and even so much enjoyable. Drive even has a more awesome summer movie while still (barely) connected to the series.

I have a feeling that Takuro Fukuda actually just planned to write for about half of the series. Really, just watch the climax of Alain's arc. It feels like an ending for a series and it should have stopped right there. But then, Toei said: "No, you can't end it here. We still have more toys to promote and there are 15-ish episodes left." Man, I felt that if this is the case, Toei really burns out Fukuda to the edge of the seat.

Still, maybe because the sub for Specter Rebirth isn't out yet, not many people has watched it, huh? Well, I watched the RAW for the movie but I still can understand most of the dialogues there. And man... If there is one single Ghost movie that is worth to watch, it must be this. I don't care if you hate or like Ghost, but Specter Rebirth movie is one of the best Kamen Rider V-Cinema. I'm even surprised that this is even better than Gaim's V-Cinema combined. Well, really, just watch it, guys. Even if it still on RAW.

'tis over. I have now watched all 40 episodes of Saban's Masked Rider.

Frankly, looking back, I struggle to even call it a bad show. On some level, I really wish it was the horrible, awful show I half expected it to be, because at least that may have been entertaining or interesting in some respects. In reality, it's just about the most painfully bland and forgettable 90's kid-oriented sitcom imaginable, occasionally sloppily interspersed with some shit about aliens and bugs.

There just isn't much to say about it. It really isn't a show worth wasting precious moments of one's life on. But I guess I did. Though, full disclosure, I cheated, because I watched everything from around episode 17 forward at at least x2 speed, because...I mean, why spend any more time on it than necessary. It was still perfectly comprehensible, and no less boring.

Even Ferbus is just kinda there. He sucks, but in the worst way imaginable, where it's not even worth getting worked up about or caring, just like the rest of the show. It's all just so trite.

...

"I AM AMAZON" was pretty funny though.

Just to add to the Ghost discussion, Post-Mugen is definitely the part when Ghost pacing starts to fall upon itself. It perphaps spent a bit too much time with its Votw side stories and while the show never forgot its ongoing plot, it ended creating so much build up and set up for them that the actual execution of those plot points leave a lot to be desired, the biggest case being the Demia Project. With that said though, I never actually minded the Votw stories.I liked the way they tried to integrate them with the ongoing plot which made them not feel totally pointless even though it did end up artificially lengthening it.

In fact, I think Ghost had some really good Votw stories. Most were paced well, I liked the messages and themes they presented, and I liked how they started to integrate them with the eyecons post-Boost, something which was greatly needed due to how hastily they were introduced in the first 10 episodes. Another thing I think Ghost did well was its set up. The show build up a lot of its events and was constantly teasing you with new questions and new information. Its part of the reason why I think that while Ex-Aid may have the overall better plot, Ghost I think was better at trying to keep you interested in its plot as I wanted to know what new stories were going to happen or what lingering questions were to get answered. While this did results in a number of its plot points falling flat due to how much build up they had, again look at the Demia Project, when the show executed them well, it really executed them well. The biggest example was probably Alain's redemption arc, which in opinion is Chase's redemption arc done right.

The pacing of the overall plot however was a bit all over the place. The first 10 or so episodes was definitely too fast due to how quickly they introduced the eyecons and how they just skipped weeks in between episode in order to rush through the first 99 days. Post-Mugen had the opposite problem where the pacing was too slow, dragging out some of its plot points far longer than they needed to. The middle of the show was where the pacing was at its best, building its plot at a reasonable pace and ending them where they needed to.

On a related note, something I didn't mention early because it wasn't relevant was that I would have loved it if Ghost was like Dekaranger and, rather then having a big bad or an over arcing story, simply focused on the character's personal growth and development. I think a slice-of-life story enhance with the supernatural would have worked really well with Ghost's themes and, like you, I thought Ghost had really good MOTW plots.

I kinda agree and disagree with some of the points there. I agree that post-Mugen arc felt so drag and slow. They even wasted the big build up for the Demia Project. I don't mind for an overarching build up, actually. It just the way Ghost executed isn't worthy for the long build up. I never said that Ghost's VotW cases aren't good. I just said that it would have been better if Ghost had just focused for its main characters. Really, many people complained about Makoto and Kanon's importance to the story and they would have been integrated more if they had gotten rid of those VotW case for the last arc.

I really agree that Ghost was really strong during its Alain arc. Remember the time where people all hail for Ghost because of the badass Necrom or the great development of Alain. The pacing is great too and actually it's pretty compelling if you ask me. It shows that Ghost CAN be a good series but the writer lost the direction. I already said that there might be some meddling during the production. Though, I disagree that first arc of Ghost is too fast. The pacing felt so fast mainly because they need to advertise the toy. Really, if Ghost only had a main 4 or 5 forms, instead of 7 or 8 forms, you might realize that Ghost's pacing aren't that really bad in the first place. Still, I think that they should have made Boost's debut a bit later than that.

Ghost's middle arc might will get you hooked up to watch it even more. But, Ex-Aid is by far more compelling and I felt more hooked up for the series. Both series' middle arc usually ended in a cliffhanger but I think Ex-Aid handles it better in several episodes. Let's just see, ever since a particular bike boy made a huge impact to the series, Ex-Aid has been so attractive and I felt more excited with how they will handle the plot. Compared to Gaim, let's say, Ex-Aid's plot is much fluid and it's pretty unpredictable. For Gaim, it's pretty unfortunate that because the series was written by Uro, many people has already predicted several plots and how the ending. Let's see, who already know how Ex-Aid will end?

Also, while Alain is pretty similar to Chase, I don't really like to compare their development as a character. For Alain, his change of side was at the same with his development. For Chase, his development was way after he changed side. While Chase's change of heart was pretty awkward for some people, I think it's the only excuse for them to do it. Chase is a mechanical lifeform with implanted program. His change of side was because of said program and not because of a development. Alain is the otherwise. He can feel emotion but his mental instability and doubt really clouded his judgement. Because of that, Alain needed development first before the change of heart while Chase is the otherwise.

Perphaps I should rephrase that bit especially since this is something I realized in hindsight. While the pacing of the overall story was fine aside from skipping weeks between several episodes, it is really the introduction of Eyecons that kinda bothers me. Gaim, Drive and Ex-Aid did have a similar thing where they introduced new form after new form every week for the first 10 episodes. The difference is that the gimmicks in those series were a lot more throwaway. The Eyecons however had a lot more importance to the story and their very nature allows a lot of stories to be told with them, which the show did post-Boost. Thus in hindsight, their introductions feels a little lackluster due to how important they eventually became to the story, if that makes any sense.

Just like as I said, it would have been better if they didn't push almost 2/3 of 15 Heroic Eyecons for the first ten episodes. If they could divide the forms equally, I think it would have been better. Really, we have three Riders but Ghost had 10 out of 15 Eyecons!? They could have just divided the Eyecons 5 for each of them. On particular hindsight too, if only Grateful Damashii, which is the culmination of 15 Eyecons' fusion, were to be a Final Form, they could have not shoved all of those the Heroic Eyecons too early. That's why I hate Mugen so much because it's particular existence just shoved off the importance of the Heroic Eyecons in the first place!

That sounds extremely depressing.

I hope you kept a receipt. I'm pretty sure that, right as you die, you're allowed to get back any time spent watching Masked Rider.

Finished Agito this afternoon. Overall it was a very fun, but very flawed show. I had a lot of thoughts on this one.

The characters were a mixed bag to me. Shouichi came across as someone who is very likable and entertaining, but not someone who really works too well as a protagonist. He just didn’t have much depth, and his whole personality was basically just “friendly buffoon.” I didn’t feel like he ever came into his own as a real character or protagonist until near the end, it took far too long for him to get any real development or growth. Having just watched Kuuga beforehand, I thought Godai was a far better lead Rider. I did like Shouichi, I just wish the development they started giving him near the end had come sooner.

Hikawa was my favorite of the three Riders. I felt he had the most development and really made for a better lead character than Shouichi. Their scenes together were always enjoyable to watch, and he also had a great dynamic with Ozawa (Who was another of my favorites). It was frustrating at times though because I felt like the show would sometimes lean too hard into his hardheadedness when it was narratively convenient to do so. This is most glaring when everyone is trying to hide Agito’s identity from him, and even though they all basically give it away repeatedly and obviously, he doesn’t get it. Then there’s when he sees Another Agito and gets the mistaken impression he’s the real Agito. Even in shadow, Agito and Another Agito have very distinctive and obviously differing silhouettes, and considering how often Hikawa fought with Agito it’s entirely unbelievable he would ever confuse them.

Ryou was…well, he existed, and that’s about all I can say about him. I just didn’t find him or his story interesting at all, especially considering how disconnected he is from the others for so much of it, and how much of his story is just a series of misfortunes to the point it becomes comical. I didn’t dislike him, I just really had no feelings towards him whatsoever.

Then there’s Kino…this guy was, for me, the weakest part of the show. He shows up and dies too quick to care about him, and what content he does have is not handled great. He decides he has to be the only Agito and has to kill the others for…reasons. At no point does he ever express a coherent motive for this. Then he decides to stop trying to murder them, dies soon after, and is never mentioned again outside of one brief scene. His story had no impact on the overarching plot, and it feels like they just threw him and his arc in there because otherwise they were too close to the end of the story and needed to extend the show to meet the episode requirement. It’s a shame because I think underneath all of that he had a lot of potential, but it was badly squandered.

The story itself was interesting, I liked the mystery surrounding Shouichi’s amnesia, the Akatsuki, the Lords, and the way it all ties together. The pacing was drastically improved over Kuuga, it’s never boring, but towards the end it does start falling apart. Besides my aforementioned issues with Kino, plot holes just start appearing everywhere. Just to give a couple of examples, there’s the thing with Hikawa’s vision that suddenly comes up, is briefly made a big deal, then suddenly goes away without explanation. There’s also the way it introduces Agito’s Shining Form…it’s his ultimate form, but in a stark contrast to other Rider series, it just randomly appears with no real build up and one of its main features (Gaining power from the sun) is never discussed or explained. And then the ending itself is pretty underwhelming. The Overlord has had his views challenged repeatedly by the real Shouichi, but shows no signs at all that it’s getting through to him. But then he suddenly gets Rider kicked by Shining Agito and just out of nowhere goes to the real Shouichi and tells him he’s stopping and is just going to watch humans now before deciding what to do. It feels rushed and not at all consistent with what’s happened in the story up to that point.

The suit designs I thought were really great. All of the main Riders had very unique and distinctive looks, I really liked that variety. The Lords were great too, they’re some of my favorite monster designs in the franchise. I really liked the way they focused so much on their faces, the way they handled the eyes and mouths made them feel much more like living creatures than monster designs in any of the other Rider series I’ve seen.

Ultimately, I enjoyed watching Agito. It was far from perfect, but I always looked forward to another episode, no matter how messy it got. I sound more critical of it than I really am, this stuff all stood out to me but didn’t majorly detract from my enjoyment of it. It was a lot of fun for just a relatively simple action show.

Just a heads up, Shining Form was actually introduced in the "A New Transformation" special that aired between episodes 35 and 36, and it does more or less explain the solar power thing.

Although despite clearly being meant to be canon with the show proper, there are a couple weird glitches in the continuity that don't line up, which is kind of weird. I recommend not thinking about it too hard if you watch it. :lol

Oh come on, try to feel the angst for Ryou... Life is already harsh to him and you should give this man a hug. He didn't want to become a Rider in the first place and his life went so bad since then. Don't you remember during the time where Gills had a very dangerous side effect for decaying Ryou's body? Thankfully, the OoD minimized the effect to him short after until his apparent death. Well, that side effect went away after Mana revived back Ryou, though

On the other side, Agito is particularly a good series. I agree that it has much better pacing than Kuuga but can't be nowhere as good as Kuuga. Both Shoichi and Hikawa tried to become Godai and Ichijo 2.0 but it went miserably. Still, because of this, they became an apparent comic relief and it actually works for a rather dark series, like Agito. Just look at the craziness of them by playing tennis with a frying pan!

It's surprising that you talked about Agito without even mentioning Hojo. He is basically a pretty jerkass character that should be spoken at least on one Agito's post, haha. While I'm sure not many people like him, I don't recall him as a bad guy. I still thought he is a good guy but with a rather cunning and stern personalities.

I don't really mind about those Kino since he also kicked the heroes to go serious, particularly after the Akatsuki's arc there. It would have been better if they gave more focus and development for him or introduce him earlier to give him more exposition. That being said, the most let down and the disappointing part of Agito is they didn't explain the villains properly. The real nature of Lords, the Overlords and even that Tetsuya man was explained rather subtly. I recommend you to check the external information and links about Agito for better understanding this series. I'm serious, Agito is actually a pretty confusing series if you don't have enough information beforehand.

Good to know, thanks for the info! That does make more sense now, though that's kind of a weird way to do a final form introduction.

My problem is that the show tried way too hard to make you feel sorry for him, it just absolutely beats the viewer over the head with "look how bad this guy's life sucks." I did feel for him, but it just got to the point where I couldn't take it seriously anymore because they just run so far with it.

I really enjoyed Shouichi's and Hikawa's friendship, their scenes together were usually my favorite. I thought their comic relief worked really well. One of my major issues with many of the Neo-Heisei shows is the loud and obnoxious slapstick humor, which I can't stand, so the more subdued humor in the earlier Heisei shows is vastly preferable to me. I like it a lot more when the humor comes naturally just from the way the characters' differing personalities interact.

Yeah this was a big omission on my part, meant to talk about him and forgot. I actually thought he was one of the most well-done characters in the show. He was a colossal jackass, but despite that, really did have genuine intentions. Another Kuuga comparison here, but compared to Kuuga, the police force in Agito was incredibly incompetent. One of my favorite things in Kuuga was how active the police are in trying to stop the Gurongi, by developing ways to fight back and working with Godai. In Agito, it's like they don't do anything except wait around for more Lord attacks so they can just show up to say "Yep, this murder was from an Unknown." Hojo was the most prominent exception to this, throughout the show he's actively trying to find ways to fight back against the Lords and even though he constantly antagonizes the G3 team, he really does want to do the right thing. He just needs to work on his teamwork skills! The only development with him I really didn't like was close to the end when he decides to have the police protect the Lords and let them kill the people with the seed of Agito to prevent more Agitos from arising and taking power over normal humans. It just felt really out of character to take him that far, and really ruined his complexity by making him just a straight up villain. I think that was a really poor decision, and either should have been discarded entirely or a better conclusion to it written where he ultimately can't bring himself to go that far. It just absolutely ruined all of his characterization up to that point.

Yeah I researched a lot of this stuff as I watched because the show never really goes into any of this stuff much at all, despite how significant it is. It's all there to some degree, but really needed more focus. All of the major explanation and detail comes from sources outside of the main show, and it should never be necessary to need something like that to fully explain content from the main series. I think it's the show's biggest failing.

I have watched the first 10 episodes of Blade so far and I can only continue to praise this show. Since I watch them without any schedule and forget things quite easily I even made notes about some things I want to talk about.

First of all, the character arc of Tachibana is great. I love that the belt isn't destroying his body for no reason, it's his own fears that slowly kill him. That's some heavy shit right here. His arc is far from over though, the big bad undead guy (the Neo from Matrix wannabee) just operated on him and now he seems fine but is of course obliged to help the bad guys. But I like everything about this so far, especially the involvement of the female doctor who's name I have forgotten.

Next thing I want to mention is Mr. Milky Way, Kotaro Shirai. What a fantastic support character. He's our human sidekick who goes for the laughs, but man is he well done. That speech he gave to Tachibana about how worrying is what makes us truly alive and lovable to others is just amazing. I think we all have these situations where we worry over nothing and fall down a hole, and in these situations, you really need someone like Kotaro who just pulls you back up. Also, his comedy is rather subtle and thus enjoyable, I cracked up when Shiori told him he drinks too much milk and will turn into a cow, and his immediate response was "Sweet, then I could drink my own milk" :lol

Next up is Hajime, who has now left the residence because of the bomb and the Undead threaten to harm his foster family. I think he has lots of cool stuff going for him too, especially now that Kenzaki knows he's Chalice and they fought. He's now traveling with some homeless person and gets some life lessons that way.

Kenzaki currently hasn't much going on solo but is involved in both Tachibana's and Hajime's development and that works for me.

I also quite like that the chief of BOARD is involved again and that they get some answers early which helps to focus the story.

The action is really good so far, that fight with all three Riders and one Undead in the research facility was awesome. I also quite like how the Rouze cards are combined as finishers, Thunder and Kick for Blade and Flame and Uppercut for Garren.

One random thing I noticed, when Tachibana is still suffering and they have him resting in the residence with the chief being there, there's a scene where Kenzaki's actor jumps up to aid Tachibana and rams a hanging lamp with his head full force, that shit had to hurt real bad, but he kept rolling, that's what I call a professional ;)

Well, good thing that you enjoy Blade's first quarter. Most of people hates the first quarter of the series but then it becomes so much good later on. Don't worry, if you like the first arc, there's no way that you won't love the coming arcs. I also really loves Blade in so many aspects and I could say that this series is like Drive; slow at first but the kicking the top gear when needed. Not going to spoil so much here. Just have a fun ride with Blade :D.

Finished Wizard and Gaim again and started back in on Den-O and Decade. Man, I'd forgotten how much the last few episodes of Gaim (and especially the last two) annoyed the crap out me. I still love the series, though.

So I'm going to make a bigger post in the actual thread for it but I just watched the Specter V-Cinema and wanted to say:

It's shockingly good.

If you even slightly liked Ghost you owe it to yourself to go watch it.

And I thought I could praise Blade the most... I just thought I make a few notes on what you said.

-I agree with you that Tachibana's arc in the beginning was pretty good, especially compared to the overall quality of Blade's first quarter, but I still wish they explained how seaweed water makes him different, like is it Undead alien seaweed or something? Also, why didn't Tachibana's seaweed siding-with-the-bad-guy tendecies ever come up again? He does side with bad guys again, but why not because of weird seaweed, or at least make that part of the reason. I just feel like the seaweed was a pointless addition. Make Tachibana's so afraid of his fears that he sides with the bad guy because of it, not needing to add that to make his fears seem less powerful.

-I found Keitaro from Faiz much more interesting and lovable than Kotaro. He's just there. I love Blade but even I don't remember much things he said. At least Keitaro did some memborable things with his penpal and saving those kids from the fire.

-I feel like Kenzaki's character moves very slowly in these episodes since they're setting up Hajime and Tachibana's arcs for later on, their arcs are important but Kenzaki is the main character and needs more than him just passively mentioning his parents died in a fire so he wants to save people.


I wanna watch it now that you said that it's good, but then again, you said Wizard and Ghost were great...

Seriously, I'm a pretty positive person, and it even took me around 13 episodes to really get into Blade. It kind of warms my heart to see Kiwami enjoying it so much. :p

This is different from that!

I mean, come on, I was even sort of almost crapping on Ghost a page or two ago! Just like a normal person! :lol

But really, it honestly is quite good.

I once again agree with Fish on this topic again. I only watched it raw but it's still so damn good movie here. Although the inclusion of sub might make the movie is a bit better or worse, it's not going to hurt so much to overall plot. If you don't like Ghost but you want to watch this movie, just think that this movie just a separate act or story from Ghost.

Changing the topic, out of all Heisei Era Riders, I only haven't watched Hibiki, Kiva and Decade. Can you guys please give some first reactions and recommendations about which I should watch first?

Of those three, Hibiki is the show I can recommend the easiest. While all three of them are flawed in their own unique way, Hibiki's flaws without a doubt the most straightfoward and the easiest to prepare for. I said my piece about Kiva earlier in this thread but, long story short, the show starts off fine but becomes more and more of a trainwreck the further you get into it. While this mostly applies to Decade as well, Decade's protagonist makes the show more fun to watch due to his unique personality and the novelty of an antihero as the primary rider while Kiva's protagonist makes watching the show more frustrating then it already is.

As for the show itself, Hibiki is a unique Kamen Rider show that takes full advantage of how unorthodox it is to tell a coming-of-age story in way that's not just special when compared to Kamen Rider, but special when compared any show. At least... the first half is.

I really look forward to this, I can't imagine how I could enjoy this even more :lol

I will do it, for you. Who subbed it so far? If it's only TV Nihon then I'll have to wait.

I like Keitaro, but his main problem is that he is featured in Faiz. The stupidity involving this character is off the charts. The penpal thing was especially dumb IMO.

And he's too silly I think. While Kotaro can step and really be serious if he needs to Keitaro always just seems like a joke to me, I can't buy anything this character does.

I mean it's not just him mentioning it briefly, they play the full flashback twice, and it's a big part in his early quarrels with his fate as a Rider. It's resolved quickly but that doesn't change the impact it has on the character.

Just want to add that, though the first 35 episodes of Hibiki are gold, it's sooo tonally unique amongst Heisei Riders that you might find yourself resisting it at first. It's - I hesitate to say realistic, it just far more grounded than your typical Rider, nor does it have the typical Rider stuff like belts. It could have easily just been called ONI and been entirely seperate from KR and no one would blink. However, give yourself over to it and you will be greatly rewarded.

Until it crashes headfirst into MT. INOUE ZONE, that is.

Awww~

Unfortunately you will indeed have to wait. Assuming Over-Time even gets around to it? I mean, they did the summer movie eventually, so...

Agreed on both fronts. Hibiki is great and definitely something to prioritize, despite having the actual weakest last stretch in all of Rider.

I need to apologize to Ghost for suggesting otherwise. I consider Real!Hibiki and INOUE!Hibiki different shows to the point I straight up forgot they are technically the same series. :lol

Their track record of V-Cinemas is pretty good too, so I'm pretty comfortable with waiting for this to be released from them.

Well, don't worry too much. I'm actually one of the minority that love Faiz, so Inoue Zone won't be so bad for me, haha :D. On a side note, I heard that Hibiki's producer is also Kuuga's producer. Since, he made such a good series like Kuuga, maybe Hibiki will be as good as or even better than Kuuga.

Um, why does it seem that everyone hate TV-Nihon? I actually pretty like this fansub. Well, I agree that Over-Time might have a better translation but as far as my experience, TV-Nihon isn't really too bad at all. Though, you need to process the words the several seconds. Still, I really hate Over-Time for calling siblings with their name, instead of calling them 'Big Bro', 'Big Sis' or even don't translate them at all. This one of the reason why I like TV-Nihon better.

Their translations used to be terrible, they left Japanese words in there for fun because they expect you to know what they mean. Like they left the entire sibling pronouns untranslated or stuff like "itadakimasu". And I personally know what it means but it's still lazy to not translate it all the way and use Engrish instead. Breaks the flow of reading quite a bit too.

Then there's the whole issue with them inserting English insults which are way harder than the Japanese counterparts just to be edgy.

Lastly, I despise their graphic shenanigans. Like putting up logos behind the text and changing fonts for the Henshin and shit. It's distracting and annoying.

Those were the issues which drove me away from them in the past, I have no idea if they are fixed or not. What cemented my opinion to never watch any of their stuff again though was finding their forum per accident and reading the translators talking shit about the show they were subbing. That's an absolute no-go, I know it's fan-translations but god damn show at least a basic level of professionalism if you're publishing stuff on the internet.

If it's well written and formulated critique like the one our boss Den-O does for the articles of his photo shootings then that's absolutely fine, but those guys were talking trash like no man's business.

To which I said in my mind "Fuck these guys" and that's why I rather never watch certain movies and stuff if TV Nihon are the only ones who subbed it. Because fuck those guys.

TV Nihon's infamous for screwing up translations pretty badly. Such as in Gaim, Kouta's sister said something that really pissed off a number of people. Turns out, TV Nihon botched the line which resulted in thw mess. Gaim had it again because TV Nihon translated 'akumademo' which means selfless into 'Even though I'm the devil'. The most infamous screw up is 'Ladies and gentleman, banana new shoe'. Hell, there's a tumblr which caught a BUNCH of stupid shit TVN did called Onore TV Nihon

Yeah, TVN's overly literal translations are noooot my favorite. By and large, I may understand the RANDOM JAPANESE they leave untranslated (and even that had exceptions), but trying to show anything they subtitled to a less familiar audience just results in a barrage of "What did they just say?". I also have a deeply dislike the use of translator's notes. I understand if you use it on the rare occasion for something which you think is vital, but mid-2000s TVN threw them around for practically no reason. It really ruins my suspension of disbelief to see a random note that I probably can't read fast enough and have to rewind to read some inane comment that was completely unneeded. Nowadays I really think at least translation-wise they have improved, and in Gaim's case they are my preferred subbers, but even then I vastly prefer the more localized translations of Over-time. I guess it is a matter of preserving the meaning of a show for an audience of a different culture by changing some details to a tonal equivalent or being much more literal like TVN and potentially losing some meaning to an English-speaking audience that way.

That's not actually what akumademo means at all but yes, TV-Nihon did indeed botch that line hard.

So, just to add a nice, moderate perspective to this conversation, TV-N really has sorted out a huge amount of the problems they had in recent years and it's a mistake to assume their current stuff is anywhere near as awful as something like their Magiranger subs (*shudder*).

They still make actual, objective translation errors every now and then, but so does every group. Just a couple weeks ago Excite Subs turned a simple line in Ex-Aid into complete nonsense that actively contradicted everything else in the episode. I whined about it in the episode thread and everything.

But since this whole conversation started because Kiwami wanted to watch the Specter movie, I should also point out that, even beyond the obvious special effects text and onii-chans, their subs for it are serviceable at best. There's an "itadakimasu" in there that isn't being used in the usual context of eating but is still left "as is", which would suggest that it was just mindlessly translated from the captions or something but there's no way that's the case since they also messed up several lines by mishearing words.

Although given the translator was quick to let us know in their forums how much she hated the whole film, maybe it's just laziness? I mean, I honestly don't say this to crap on TV-N, and I love that they make it a point to sub every last thing in a series down to the commercial bumpers, but jeez, if you're straight up saying you feel like you've wasted your time translating something, it probably isn't going to be your best work?