I'm finally watching Amazons thanks to Prime. I only bits of it, but never the full thing. I really like it so far. I feel like non toku people would probably enjoy this show. I also recommended it to anime fans who enjoy violent anime like Berserk, Gantz and Devilman: Crybaby too.

Amazons is great, I liked it a lot.

Jin (Alpha) was my favorite character.

I like to think he's the main character. :D

Also watching Kamen Rider Amazons...er, Amazon Riders, thanks to Prime and I'm enjoying it. It does for KR what RPM did for PR, it feels fresh without losing the feel of watching Kamen Rider. Although, I feel like it's a little try hard edgy at some parts but not enough parts to hamper my enjoyment. I wish the Extermination Team members that died got more screen time so I could feel more for their deaths but it's fine I guess.

I got 34-ish episodes into Kamen Rider Kiva last year and just never finished it, so I'm going back to it now. I actually missed this show a lot, and it feels good to return to it. It's a bit bittersweet though, since I started watching it around this time of year last year, as I was preparing to study in Japan.

Just watched the first two Ex-Aid Another Ending specials (Brave and Snipe, Parad & Poppy). Man, they really did two things, make Dan Kuroto a jerk, and make me want some eye bleach for the last scene in Parad & Poppy's story.

Black RX, Episode 17:

I have now watched the 4-part story that introduces Robo Rider as well as Bio Rider and yeah, this is easily the best the show has been so far.

A generally interesting subplot, 2 new awesome Rider-forms, tons of great suits, action and effects as well as new characters. It's great. Not Black-levels of great yet, but still really good.

But even though this was good stuff, most of the show really wasn’t so far. It’s just not as good as Black. Although Black did drop in quality later on, the early game was so strong that it kept you invested in the world and its characters, and the show regained strength once Shadow Moon appeared on the stage.

With Black RX it’s just filler after filler, some good, most just decent at best, and now one strong mini-arc. I really don’t know how I feel about this show so far. My current impression is that RX seems to be the sequel no one asked for.

Yeah, those episodes are great. The show tends to be much stronger from this point onward.

Well, I just watched Episode 18, the one with the infamous "Flying Squirrel Syndrome" and that certainly was… something.

Aside from all the random crap that made this episode enjoyable as hell I really don’t get why they chose a flying squirrel for their monster inspiration. First of all, the monster looks and sounds nothing like a flying squirrel, the suit looks like one of those wacky Gremlin mutants from "The New Batch" and it neighs like a horse. A horse.

And then there's the fact that everything this monster does is really vampire-esque, so I don’t get why the monster wasn't simply a bat. That would've made way more sense.

But trying to bring reason into this episode is nearly impossible so sure, why not, flying squirrel monster it is.

Aside from that, I must say I'm quite glad that Joe the Haze seems to be a regular side character now. I thought they would abandon him like the special ops agent from Black but Joe actually sticks around for now. I like him, the actor makes those really goofy faces but he’s rather likeable, and a sidekick for RX to work with functions much better than the same old monologues.

finished Fourze today along with the Fourze movie.

It was all surprisingly good, I actually liked it all quite a bit more than I expected to. The cone-head thing which I always thought was pretty weird starts to seem pretty normal and make sense (space/rockets) as you watch the show.

All the characters were very good and strong and well acted, and I really liked that he had a battle cry to pump himself up for fighting, "IT'S SPACE TIIMMMMEEE!" (and it was adorable when you'd see Yuki in the background mimicking him.)

Yuki and her 'Hayabusa Kuun' songs and satellite plushie was kind of adorable.

And I liked that it had some classic, "RIDAAAA KEEEK!" (Rider kick) moments that reminded me of Hongo Takeshi from the original Kamen Rider. The way he growled it as he was kicking really reminded me of Hongo a couple times.

All in all a good series. I really have to stop being so critical of some of these series based purely off the Rider costumes, before I watch them.

I was very critical of Cone-Head Fourze and Rabbit-Face Build, and both series it has turned out are actually very good.

Black RX, Episode 20.

Short summary of this episode: "An ogre from outer space robs banks with frozen bananas shaped like keys and then tries to kill Kotaro Minami with exploding banana bombs".

...

What kind of drugs where these guys on when they wrote this shit? I mean I have seen much crazier stuff already, but bananas? Is there some Japanese fairytale about an ogre who loves bananas or something? I kinda doubt it, but that's about the only explanation I could imagine.

It was fun though, not gonna lie. The monster suit was excellent by the way; they had working eyelids on the ogre face which look amazing. Really well done, I'm kinda surprised that this technique isn't used more often.

Anyways, fun but dumb episode, entertaining but certainly not amazing. Although, being a Gaim-fan, I can't help but wonder what fate that banana-loving ogre would meet if he ever crossed ways with Kamen Rider Baron.

...

And yes, if you ask me that way, this episode certainly was "bananas" :lol

Have you seen the Ultraman episode with the monster baseball glove that comes to life all pissed off for being ignored? Hahahaha

some of the 'monsters of the week' in these shows are bizarre.

I think it was (zyurangers? diarangers?) that had the tube of lipstick monster.

weird stuff, but I guess that's part of the charm as well.

Finally got around to starting Another Ending.

Brave & Snipe was...well, Brave & Snipe was.

Mostly felt kinda contrived, didn't enjoy the new characters. Protagonists acted dumb just to act dumb.

Kiriya stole the movie and he had like 4 scenes.

I'm 3 episodes away from Kiva and I just ???? don't understand all the hate? I've seen Kiva, Drive, Ghost, and Ex-Aid now and I think Kiva is my favorite. The problems I have with it are present in any other toku series I've seen, and other complaints people have I don't share. Like...why do people complain about Emperor being used so much? It makes waaaaaay more sense than using weak old forms, getting his ass beat, and wondering why he lost the battle like in some other shows.

For me, Kiva’s biggest sins are 1) it’s blatant refusal to explain why anything ever happens and 2) Wataru, who I found to be, at least until 2015, the worst main Rider ever. It probably also helps if you watched Kiva without seeing any of Toshiki Inoue’s other Rider shows, because they are all very same-y.

Black RX, Episode 21:

It’s starting. A certain somebody is coming back. I don't know if this can still be considered spoilers but man, I am excited for the next episode.

Even though the plot for this one was really dumb the Black flashbacks and re-usage of Black music really got me.

I haven't but that sounds amazing :lol

I looked it up for you, my mistake it isn't Ultraman it's Ultraman 80.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/ultraman-...row-out-665195

"you're pretty cheeky for a glove!"

I have one episode of Kiva left, but man last episode introduced so many new plot threads that they could spend a few more. I'm not sure how it'll end, but I've been enjoying it so far.

Now I'm debating what to watch after this. I'm thinking maybe Den-O or OOOs? I probably won't start it for a while, but it'd be nice to have something ready.

Black RX, Episode 22:

I don’t think I need to give a spoiler warning for this but if anyone somehow hasn't heard of the enemy of Black that returns in RX yet, please don’t read any further.

Anyways, Shadow Moon. Damn that was fun seeing him again. The episode itself even felt more like Black, mainly because none of the new supporting characters except Joe the Haze appear. It's all plot and action, no goofy stuff for once which is nice. Not that I hate the lighter tone of RX, but it was good to not feature any of it in the episode where Black's mortal enemy re-emerges.

Just a good episode all around and I'm glad that they didn't resolve it yet; Shadow Moon is still out there.

OOOs if you want something more serialized, Den-O if you like little one off adventures.

Just finished Amazons episode 4 on prime. This show is pretty cool so far. My only complaint is that they de-saturate the colors way too much. This episode in particular was great. Anyways, it's been a while since I've seen it, but the apartment complex at the end of Ichi the Killer looks just like the one in this episode. That'd be neat if they were the same one.

Just finished Amazons 9. The series started off a bit slow, but once it hit its stride it has been great. Episodes 7 and 8 in particular were awesome.

I'm just slightly confused by these bracelets. So...these people were tested on, and given bracelets to control their transformation. When the bracelet runs out, they start transforming into their Amazon form, and need to be exterminated? Then how can some still transform before the bracelet runs out?

Well the amazons we see in the show (with the exception of Jin, a certain character that will be explained later, and a few characters introduced in season 2) aren't human, they're creatures made from scratch in a lab that can just mimic humans. Also all the amazons are capable of transforming whenever they want, all the armlet does is keep their cannibalistic urges in check.

Wait, I thought they were people who were experimented on and became amazons? How did I miss all that xD. That explains a lot though.

This show kind of feels more and more like Tokyo Ghoul.

There are 6 times of Amazons over both seasons and 4 of those are Riders. The Amazons they fight in Season 1 are the only ones who are not human at all. They are completely artificial and only look human. The rest I won't explain for spoiler reasons, though you probably know about the two riders by now.

I met the third rider in season 1, but I haven't heard anything about season 2 aside from seeing a screenshot of another rider. I don't know what it looks like but I remember not liking the design as much.

But yeah, that makes a lot more sense now. When I started the series, I was under the impression that the Amazons were all people who were experimented on. The fact that they were created in a lab explains a lot of the things I was confused about lol.

Black RX, Episode 27.

So I assume this is the end of Shadow Moon. It was okay. And that's the worst thing about it: It was only okay. It shouldn‘t be, it should've been amazing.

They did some neat stuff at least but ultimately it was too weak to serve as the finale of such a great character. What a shame.

The more and more I watch of Black RX the more I want to believe it’s an alternate-universe kinda thing, like a continuation that’s not canon. It’s a decent show at best but at the end of the day it’s just not good enough to be the sequel to Black.

Black RX, Episode 29.

The Crisis invasion fleet is now under the close watch of an inspector because Emperor Crisis is finally fed up with their incompetence. Only took them like half a year.

Anyways, since their job (and life I assume) is on the line they carry out a rather good plan: Destroy the control stations of the water resources of Japan and then regulate the water output so people have to obey Crisis who appear as generous helpers in need which give out free water.

That's one part of the story; the other is a young woman whose parents have been killed in one of the attacks. She desperately wants to avenge them, and thus channels the power of Adolf Hitler to smite her foes:

https://i.imgur.com/pA5Utu0.jpg

....

Nah I'm just screwing with you guys, she thinks she needs to develop superpowers so she points at random stuff and tries to learn the ways of the force.

Meanwhile, Kotaro opposes Crisis and faces backlash from the people who need water, but manages to take out the Crisis monster responsible for the attacks.

A big strength of this episode is that the plot makes (some) sense for once, and that Reiko finally gets more development. And that gets rewarded with a nice twist as Kotaro decides to let her in on his secret. And finally, Nazi girl does get superpowers by the end of the episode. What the fuck. And there’s a second part, this was just the first one. The hell?

I'm trying to push through Hibiki. Doesn't help I'm watching the TV-Nihon scans which are a little blurry.

Swear sometimes I feel like I'm watching a French Art film at times. Bad noises and sound effects, wonky camera angles. *sigh*

I'll keep pushing on but so far I'm really not digging it. I'm only a few episodes in and I really hope it gets better. And with luck the video quality improves, because right now I feel like I'm watching an old tube-tv through a window that's been smeared with vasoline.

Download Shushutto's release, TV-N's Hibiki is unspeakably horrid.

thanks. I just looked them up and found 1-36 and the movie.

I checked the TV-Nihon ones I have (episode 37) and it doesn't look as bad as the first 5 have looked, so I guess they got better towards the end of the series.

Thank you though, 1-5 has really been pretty painful to watch, so I appreciate it.

TV-Nihon's are ripped from the original broadcast in 2005 and pretty badly compressed. They basically look like someone rubbed Vaseline on the image. The Shushutto subs are at least DVD, if not Blu-Ray rips. I've been watching them, too, and they're great.

that was exactly what I thought when watching them, that I was looking through a window smeared with vasoline. They're very soft and blurry looking.

watching a few more Hibiki episodes tonight. It is much better and easier to watch and enjoy now that I can clearly see what's happening.

Thanks again!

I just watched a few Ex-Aid things to celebrate finishing all my finals, namely the True Ending movie, and all 3 of the Another Ending movies. I was under the impression that the True Ending movie took place before the final episode of Ex-Aid, but nope, it took place afterwards. Honestly though I found all 4 of the things I watched to merely be okay. True ending movie was nice and self-contained for the most part, just a bit of dumb fun, but the Another Ending things felt like they were kind of shoehorning character development in to fit their broader "Dan is lose again" plot. It just felt really odd.

Seeing Dan naked made it worth it though, that was an experience.

I just got done watching these myself. I definitely agree with this. It reminded me a lot of the Sharivan and Shaider V-Cinemas from a few years back in that regard.

Overall I'm not quite sure how I feel about Another Ending. I loved True Ending quite a bit and think it really lived up to the name, but here? There's a lot of stuff I liked for sure, but by the end I was just kind of left with the feeling that not much really happened. I get that The Game Is Forever and all, but, like, how many of these are we going to get? The series proper and the movie both ended on notes that left room for more while also feeling totally definitive, whereas, without spoiling anything, Genm vs. Lazer feels a lot more like merely the end of a chapter.

I don't know, I'm probably sounding a lot more harsh than I mean to be. Ex-Aid is the s*** and between making sense of the ending to the Snipe miniseries (さすが高橋さん) and causing me to actually to "get" Kuroto for once, I'm impressed by at least as much stuff as I am not impressed.

And hey, if nothing else, they remembered to get one of these in there:

https://i.imgur.com/R4WLPgZ.jpg

Seriously, this is beyond coincidence at this point. The poor guy can NOT catch a break.

I could only think of the “Mmm whatcha say” song during this scene.

I finished Kamen Rider Black RX. It was... disappointing :(

Like, I didn’t hate it, but I got extremely bored by it. There are some real gems scattered throughout its runtime but most of it is filler, in the worst way possible: So many stories we have seen before, so many flat characters, so much wasted potential.

If you look at what you have on paper, you could make something amazing out of it. But they didn't. It's just more of the same, with only a few episodes showing off what could have been, and ultimately the whole show feels like a giant waste.

And that's only if you ignore that it is the sequel of Kamen Rider Black. If you don’t... this show won’t do anything for you.

I wanted to like it, I took so much time to wait after I finished Black to ensure I wasn’t biased, and I think I wasn't, but Black Rx was still an underwhelming experience. Which is sad, because as I said, the foundation is there, they just don’t do anything special with it.

It's the weakest Showa-series I've watched, it's far from the overall worst Rider-series I've seen but it isn't anywhere near the top either. I don’t know if I would recommend it, it's worth checking out for sure but I see no real value in watching it in its entirety. There's just too much boring episodes which you've already seen in multiple other Rider shows in some way or another.

All-in-all: Not a very good show.

Not going to argue with any of that. Black RX is a seriously mixed bag. I think it did eventually manage to find its footing and on the rare occasion when it did longer story arcs (demon princess, the finale) it was actually pretty good. It did have some tonal problems, though, especially at the start. I don't think it's the weakest Showa series, though, but that's largely because I don't care much for Skyrider and Super-1. I will definitely agree that it's a good thing that Kamen Rider went in a very different direction when it came back with Kuuga. I don't think modern Rider would be nearly as interesting if it was another 18 years of evil organizations kidnapping scientists' children.

Finally getting back to watching W. Enjoying it a lot more once i hits the late 20s. The mystery of the week and the main plot intertwine a lot better, instead of the randomly cutting to show the viewer what's going on with the Sonozakis. Shroud and Museum and Foundation X showing up next episode are making quite an interesting mystery now. That, and Shotaro, Phillip, Akiko and Ryu are still fantastic characters. Even Akiko isn't as annoying as she used to be

Akiko is adorable. Not sure why so many seem to dislike her.

That show totally won me over from 'fan of the Showa era' to 'fan of the Neo-Heisei era'.