Hey guys, know I haven't been around for a whi
iiiiiiIIIIIIAAAAAAAGGHHHHHH!!!!

Between those who hate the show, and those who adore it to bits.
I'm still the only person on this planet who liked Kengo from Kiva :lol

Yes. Yes you are.

I thought Kengo was alright. :o

You summed up my entire rant in one word. Well, maybe it isn't a word technically, but an emotion?

As cool as that action scene was, since it was a Koichi Sakamoto directed episode, I gotta admit that I was actually more paying attention to how many of his filming tropes I could find.

I haven't watched any Rider outside of currently airing stuff since I finished Faiz back in like, May (man, this summer feels like it just flashed by) for, well, reasons. But I'm back. Hopefully I can make good progress on the series I have left in these remaining months of the year.

So yeah, just got done watching episode 1 of Kabuto and Black RX.

Don't have much to say about Kabuto at the moment, other than I like how Masked Form looks in motion more than expected. Not that I disliked how it looked or anything, but it's cool.

I liked Black RX's first episode. I would have appreciated being given some context as to why Kotaro is living with these people or why he's flying helicopters now, but I guess it doesn't much matter. Episode beyond that was fine. I like the Crisis Empire guys in particular. After seeing them be nothing but disgraceful fucking jokes for forty episodes in Saban's Masked Rider watching them not be shit in this felt just a bit odd, but in a good way.

I also like the implication that Kotaro didn't even bury Battle Hopper or anything after Black, he just left his corpse rotting on some hill. Gave me a chuckle.

edit: also, while it's relevant, let me just say

fuck kiva

That was me being thrown, soul first, into the INOUE ZONE!

Blade is finished. I had high expectations going into this one based on a lot of stuff I’ve heard about it, and it absolutely lived up to it. I liked basically everything about it. The narrative, the characters, the suits designs, all of it. I have almost nothing but positive things to say about Blade, it’s easily among the best KR seasons I’ve seen so far.

My single favorite thing about Blade is how likable the cast is, and how they’re all fundamentally good people who just want to help each other. Kenzaki of course embodies this the most, his entire worldview is defined by his desire to help others, and this is shown time and again throughout the series as he repeatedly puts himself in harm’s way to ensure the safety of his friends. Naturally there’s some element of this for every Kamen Rider just due to the nature of being heroes, but I felt like it was really heavily emphasized in Blade. Of course this is most apparent in the ending, when he willingly sacrifices his own humanity and happy life to allow Hajime to continue living as a human. That was such an excellent character moment, there had been several instances throughout the show of Kenzaki’s willingness to sacrifice his own self for others, and it was all a build up to this crucial scene. Kenzaki was a great main Rider who I think really embodies the kind of heroic spirit I feel like Kamen Rider is capable of at its best.

As much as I liked Kenzaki, Hajime was my favorite character. He’s immediately intriguing due to the mystery surround his identity, and as more of that is slowly revealed, alongside his motivations and general character, he probably gets the most overall development in the show. It’s interesting because even though he isn’t the main Rider, he’s pretty much the central figure the story ultimately revolves around. The contrast between his violent, destructive nature as Joker and his desire to change that nature so he can live peacefully among the humans makes for a lot of good characterization, and is handled excellently. One of my favorite things about him isn’t actually anything he does himself, but the way everyone else acts towards him. Despite starting out very suspicious of him, and understandably so, they start to increasingly trust him and befriend him, especially thanks to seeing how genuine his care for Amane and Haruka is. Kenzaki in particular vouches for him repeatedly, and their friendship is one of my favorite parts of the show. Even after discovering Hajime’s true identity and role in the Battle Fight, Kenzaki wants to help him fight against his own nature, and you can see the strength Hajime gains from this, and how much more effectively he can fight it when he has people trying to help him. His relationship with Tachibana is more strained, especially after Tachibana learns what he is. Despite that, Tachibana does end up giving him a chance, and even though he repeatedly states he believes Joker needs to be sealed, he can’t bring himself to do it when he finally has the chance at the end. I really liked this moment because despite their somewhat antagonistic relationship, in the end, Tachibana considers Hajime a friend as well. All of that is what I like most about Hajime, how his storyline and connections to the other characters is such a strong vehicle for the show’s primary themes.

I liked Tachibana a lot as well, especially throughout the middle and end. He starts off in a pretty similar role to a lot of secondary Riders, being antagonistic and kind of misguided or struggling with internal issues. It’s a common trope for secondary Riders, but whereas for most secondary Riders this takes place over the course of the whole series, for Tachibana it’s all over and done with very early on. I thought this was a really interesting and welcome development, as it gave him a lot more depth later on since we have already seen him go through all of that and it plays such an important role in his relationship with Mutsuki. I liked their dynamic, with Tachibana being the one trying hardest to help Mutsuki overcome the Spider Undead and essentially acting as a mentor to him. It’s clear that he saw himself in Mutsuki and wanted to help him the way he himself had received help with his own struggles earlier on. He does end up in an almost vaguely antagonistic role later on because of his association with Hirose and Tennouji, but he has good intentions and doesn’t fully understand who he’s actually working with and what their real goal is. He just wanted to help Kenzaki and save people from the Undead, and I liked how the two of them discuss this and compare and contrast their ideals and beliefs in several tense conversations. I couldn’t help but notice what a huge difference this was from Faiz, where these conflicts happened either for no reason at all or because everyone was a non-communicative idiot. In this case, the first thing they try to do is communicate and talk about it, and the conflict feels like it arises naturally from their intrinsic character and personalities.

Then we get to Mutsuki, and this is where unfortunately I have to end my streak of praise. I thought Mutsuki was by far the weakest part of the show, and the whole Spider Undead possession storyline lasted far longer than necessary. It worked well at first as it showed his struggles to fight back and Tachibana’s desire to help, but then it just keeps going beyond what should have been its natural endpoint. All of the build up to Shima’s sacrifice and seemingly final showdown with the Spider Undead is all pointless because it accomplishes nothing. Mutsuki ends up apparently corrupted even worse than before and ends up like some kind of weird gang boss and even has what seem to be hired thugs who hang around him for a bit before they just stop appearing. It’s very strange. I did like him when all of this finally ended and he got a very brief arc trying to redeem himself for his actions and become a true Kamen Rider, but it came far too late. That should have started way earlier than it did, right after the moment I mentioned before that was the real thematic endpoint to all of that. Unfortunately though we got a character storyline that became stale and repetitive very quickly, and is the one major misstep I think the show made.

Back to good things though, I have to say it was very nice to finally get a season with an ending that isn’t either a rushed mess or straight up garbage, the first good ending since Kuuga. Agito, Ryuki, and Faiz all had what felt like rushed and generally weak endings (Or in Faiz’s case no real ending at all, just a sudden stopping point), and Blade couldn’t be farther from that. The ending was the ultimate culmination of the show’s general themes and character relationships, and it’s one of the best Kamen Rider endings I’ve seen. I was very glad to see that bad ending streak finally ended.

Overall I loved basically everything about Blade. It was especially pleasant to watch right after Faiz, because it was the polar opposite in all of the best ways. A well-constructed and cohesive narrative, well-written and likable characters with a lot of depth, and clear and meaningful themes. Blade is easily among my favorite Rider seasons, in my top three for sure, alongside Gaim and Ex-Aid. I’m excited to check out Hibiki now, but will really miss Blade.

Yes, Blade truly is "The Shit".

Oh my goodness, I always knew Mihara was useless but not this bad! I rewatched the fight against the Arc Orphnoch in Faiz and Mihara's entire presence there can be summed up like this:

He "tries" to save Mari and gang, but is casually tossed aside (and I don't mean he holds the Orphnoch off for a few seconds, I mean he starts running at it and literally the next cut is him getting thrown into a pillar and de-henshin'd).

Then he does a triple Rider henshin with Yuji and Takumi then attempts to do a double Rider kick with Kiba which gets deflected and gets knocked out for the remainder of the fight.


For goodness sake, Auto Vajin ended up doing more in his 5 seconds of screentime than Mihara did the entire fight. That is both comical and sad at the same time.

You words echo my feelings on Miura almost perfectly. Miura's whole situation is fascinating in that, despite making it very clear several times that he doesn't really want any to do with Orphnoch situation, he's forced into the role by Masato despite the fact that there are people who actually want the power Delta has. The whole situation is made even more hilariously sad when you remember that, when he finally does become Delta, he's worthless in battle and exists for no other reason then to be knock around by whatever enemy the group is fighting that day. At the top of my head, he as a character is second only to Necrom P in being the most worthless Kamen Rider to ever appear in this franchise.

The scene in episode 11 of Kabuto where Misaki gets off of a spring ride and they just focus on it flipping out for five whole seconds while she walks dramatically towards Tendou may be the greatest thing I've ever seen.

I'd probably still put Necrom P over Mihara. Yeah she lasted less than 5 minutes but at least as a character, I found Aria to be a bit more memorable. Mihara feels like he solely exist just so that they can have someone to be a good guy Delta. If they wanted to do that, I honestly think they should of made Keitaro the new Delta. The previous arc about how the Delta gear supposedly corrupts its users would of worked well with Keitaro status as the most morally good person in the entire show.

My sister just finished showing my mom and I Kamen Rider Kabuto. That was certainly something. The plot, pacing, and characters were all good. I probably would have been a bit more confused if my sister hadn't been there to fill in a few gaps, like how the purple worms worked.

After that, my sister and I binged the first 17 episodes of Kamen Rider Wizard . It's completely stupid and I love it. We are currently arguing over who is hotter: Rinko or Medusa. (I think Medusa's hotter. Fight me.)

It probably wont come as too much of a shock to most of you that I have dragged a family member into toku hell.

Indeed. Blade and Ryuki are the absolute gems of the first half of Heisei, as are W and Gaim for the second, IMO.

@Shyguy: I loved Hibiki, but I don't think it's well loved by the fanbase as a whole. It wasn't actually meant to be a "Kamen Rider" show and that definitely is apparent while watching it, but I just found it really charming. I even bought toys from it, which I won't do unless I really like the series.

On the second to last episode of Fourze. This series truly has been very charming, though I don't know where to rank it in terms of my favourites

Gentaro is Fourze. No other show has had such a charming and lovable protagonist, and that makes all the difference, I think. There's a lot of decent series, but if you don't really care about the main character, you just won't connect with it in the same way.

If all the other elements of Fourze (suit, gimmick, Driver, bike, story, bad guys, etc) were above average it would be my absolute favorite, hands down. As it stands, however, a few others, due to being superior as a whole, keep it from the very top of my list.

The idea that Hibiki wasn't meant to be a Kamen Rider series is a common misconception. While it was originally conceived of as an update on one of Ishinomori's other shows, it was adopted as a Kamen Rider series very early in its conception and was always intended to be Blade's follow-up. It was never a case of Toei suddenly slapping the "Kamen Rider" name on it well after development had started.

That makes sense. I didn't think it was some finished un-named Toku just waiting around to be aired as a KR show, I just figured there had to merit to the to what I've read in that it's unorthodox in so many ways. Riders showing their unmasked faces with their suits on as the most prominent. Coincidence or not, there's definitely a different feel to Hibiki compared to others, though.

That had a lot to do with the staff involved. Shigenori Takatera was Hibiki's producer. He'd previously worked on Kuuga and had a pretty distinct vision for his shows. After Toei fired him he and Hibiki's head writer, Shinji Ooishi, went on to make Daimajin Kanon together. If you liked the first/good part of Hibiki, Daimajin Kanon basically continues to have a lot of that tone.

I watched the first 6 episodes of Stronger and uh... it's really weird. Like, weirder than Amazon weird. It is also really disorienting for me to watch for some reason, something about the way it was done is just dizzying at times. I honestly have no idea what to make of this show and its terrible suit designs, but Shigeru and Yuriko are pretty entertaining. Even if Yuriko isn't exactly... helpful most of the time.

SkyRider Episode 14: I am back to this after finishing Juspion. I feel so sympathetic to Tani, I saw him in Super-1, but I didn't realize he had been hurt by NeoShocker. It was nice to see the supporting cast do more. Hiroshi was just as awesome as I remember, and I loved him just going Kool-Aid man without his bike this time. NeoShocker are as bad as they sound. I can't wait for more.

I thought that Stronger took awhile to really get going. For me, it didn't really take off until the Delza Army took over as the antagonists, at which point the show became really, really good.

Personally, I loved Stronger from the beginning but the character I loved, and I loved Mr. Titan as well.

SkyRider Episode 15: Damn, Penicilluman was crazy fierce, and that was a lot of people who got destroyed by his mold, though SkyRider was tough enough to beat him. I am really glad his supporting cast is picking up steam. Tani and Midori were both really good this episode. I love Hiroshi so much right now, just being so brave, and noble. I can't wait for more.

Watching Ghost.

Everyone's giving me a hard time for it.

Edit: 11 minutes into episode 1, I decided to not watch Ghost. Everyone hates it, so it must be bad.

.....Gonna go with Wizard, like everyone says I should.

I mean, although Ghost is so disliked in the fandom, that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch it just because most don't like it. People LOVE OOO but I just can't enjoy it personally, maybe the reverse is true for you with Ghost

If you stopped watching just because everyone says it's bad without ever forming your own opinion of its quality, how can you even say its bad?

:lol

Seriously, though, good call.

To answer everyone's questions simply...

I got bored.

Yep.

Not even halfway into episode 1, two things hit me.
One- how much people hate this series. And two- how boring it starts out.

So, I called it quits and I deleted my torrents. Just gonna go watch Wizard or something.

Wait, this is a joke, right? What "everyone" are you talking to that Wizard comes recommended? If you want to avoid series people dislike, you're better off with just about any other Rider outside of Kiva and possibly Faiz. Go do yourself a favor and watch Double or something.

(Also Ghost is fine.)

I've watched W, Fourze, and Ex-Aid. I feel no reason to/am reluctant to watch Gaim. Planning on watching Drive with a friend. OOO feels too slow for me to care, despite what I've heard. No plans on watching Build atm.

So I'm trying Wizard.

If that's what you think, that's totally fine. It just seems a little weird to me that you decided to stop halfway through the first episode.

I don't really know if I'm ready to give up on Ghost, though.

Like, its first episode is boring to me. But I like the idea of a slice-of-life/political/sci-fi drama with "ghosts". But I've heard the show gets trashy pretty early on.

I'll probably just finish Wizard, Drive, OOO, and some Sentai and Ultraman...

Speaking as someone who genuinely, unironically loves Ghost (and Wizard, incidentally), I think its premiere is one of its weaker episodes. Things admittedly get somewhat messy towards the last chunk of the show but the first 30 or so episodes are pretty much all uphill, and, in my opinion of course, way better than they're often given credit for.

So, Ghost is a "decent" season?

But it's more or less Kamen Rider's own ToQger? Some love it, others hate it, general consensus is that it was less-than-stellar?

Edit: Also, Fish, since you love Ghost so much.... how should I tackle it? It's certainly a different beast than the other Riders I've watched, considering all the hate that surrounds it is slowly "infecting" me.

I'd say the general consensus about Ghost leans towards more dislike. Granted every show is always going to have a group of people who either really likes it, Ghost being no exception. Heck I'm one of those people that really likes Ghost.

Okay.

So, there are people who like it.

It's just... difficult. I've heard a lot of bad things about this series. Like, nothing but hate.

For once...... What are some good things about this show?

There's a couple of things I can think of off the top of my head. So without spoiling anything:

• Akari, the female lead of the series, is awesome. She's one of the first characters I think when it comes to favourite female characters in Kamen Rider.

• The tertiary rider, who's name I won't spoil. He's my go-to example of how to do his particular type of character arc right.

• I really like the types of themes and morals it tried to present. While it didn't hit all of them out the park, I appreciated what it was trying to do with them.

• The suit design I'd say for the most part is pretty solid.

• The gimmicks. I think Ghost implemented its toy into the story quite nicely with a few hiccups here and there.