It made sense to Kuroto Dan, so it's probably like a lot of things in video games - seemed cool at the time :D

Rider Time: Ryuki:

Bringing things full circle for the last appearance Ryuki's going to make in these posts. Again, part of the reason I rewatched Ryuki in the first place was basically to do some exposure therapy with Inoue's take on it, so how did that change my opinion on this? Eh, not that much. It's strange, because as I've rediscovered going back through it, all the Ryuki stuff he wrote before, I either consider legitimately good, or at least a fun guilty pleasure, but there are just too many things I still feel are wrong here for me to feel comfortable calling it anything resembling good. Even if I choose to actively ignore how upset I am about seeing Raia as a traitorous killer, that scene where him and Shibaura stab whatever the new Scissors' name is is one of the most edgelord things Inoue has ever written. The bizarre, pointless symbolism(?) of cutting to shots of the meat they're eating and everything, it's just too weird. Too many things are too weird. I also still can't make sense of how it's meant to fit in with either Ryuki or Zi-O.

The only true closure I've found in this is reconfirming that I'll always have a strange love-hate relationship with Inoue's writing, and that I should just accept it. Sometimes he makes weird things I love, and sometimes he makes OOO's portion of Movie War Core, which, for the record, is infinitely worse than this could ever be. I do feel like I see a bit more where he was going with some of the plot points now (like Shinji mistaking Geiz for Ren and then not getting to participate in the final fight at all being some kind of a passing the torch thing), and maybe there's more to the story than I was giving it credit for, but at the end of the day, it simply isn't something I'm satisfied with. Which makes me feel greedy, you know? Because Toei was not under any obligation to essentially make three more episodes of Ryuki over a decade and a half after the show ended, and I don't like taking that for granted. There are tons of cool things in here. It's neat seeing everybody's Final Vent with fancy modern effects. It's awesome that they used the background music from the original show. It's fun that Inoue threw in little references like Shinji once again mixing up Ren's name. There are things to love here, and one day I think I will eventually make peace with Rider Time: Ryuki, even if only by doing what I do for Episode Final and turning my brain off when I watch it.

Den-O: Final Countdown:

Yeah, obviously, it didn't turn out to be that final after all, but as a potential second finale to Den-O, this movie is quite good. Although the feeling I kept getting watching it was that it didn't feel like Kamen Rider at all. Like it's basically a general action-adventure film where people happen to put on fancy costumes during some of the fight scenes. Not that I'm saying it's bad. It's quite the opposite. Final Countdown puts all the focus on letting the characters be themselves, and because it's Den-O, that's what makes it special. After the very safe, unremarkable Climax Deka, it feels like they really wanted to make sure that Den-O went out on a more interesting note than that. The plot here is properly in-depth, featuring a villain with an actual motivation for once, and a slew of interesting twists on the formula that bring out the best in everybody.

The big thing is that Ryoutarou is explicitly kept separate from the rest of the cast for a huge chunk of the movie, which is something that's never happened before. Since Den-O was a show all about people talking to each other, removing the main character from that equation lets you see the others in a slightly different light, and the angle of having to rescue him from the bad guys lets Momotaros especially show off how tight they are by this point. The cast genuinely feels like they're at the end of their journey in terms of growth, lending that air of finality to the story. The introduction of New Den-O, similarly, acts as a reminder that time keeps on moving forward, while also giving the movie a character who can be inexperienced and do some growing up, providing the bulk of the character development since the heroes from the show have had theirs already. I've actually always been really fond of New Den-O, for reasons I'll be getting into later, but for now, Koutarou's introduction here is solid. He's shown to be pretty arrogant and cocky, and the idea of the new hero showing up to question what's so great about the old guys is once again, a strong concept for the "last" Den-O story. It's not a particularly mind-blowing arc, but he gets humbled and works out his issues by the end of the movie, and it's satisfying.

That's probably the keyword for Final Countdown. Satisfying. It's not exactly the ultimate conclusion to Den-O that's going to tie up every loose end and show you everything you could ever want to see or things you never knew you wanted, but the fairly simple story it tells is strong. Things start off exciting, then slow down for a lot of good character moments, before going all out for a climax that pulls out all the stops. In terms of actually feeling like a movie, it's definitely got Climax Deka beat. Everybody is running around throwing each other through prop walls, there are tons of really long takes with solid choreography, and once Ryoutarou gets in on it, you get to see a Den-O Sentai lineup that tops I'm Born by throwing everybody in there. It's especially awesome getting to see Ryoutarou and Momotaros fight side-by-side. Final Countdown is just a really good time all around, and to this day, it still stands as the last Den-O film with Takeru Satoh, so in that sense, it honestly was a farewell.

Let's Go Kamen Riders:

I don't remember Let's Go Kamen Riders leaving much of an impression on me back when I first watched it, but I have to say, after years and years of countless big crossovers since, this one actually beats a lot of them out and still totally holds up. The story doesn't overcomplicate itself, keeps things upbeat, and moves at a slick pace. Right from the premise it's off to a good start. What if history got messed up and Shocker won? First of all, every other Rider after 1 and 2 cease to exist, which is, again, simple and easy to grasp, but also a cool concept befitting the 40th anniversary. There's an obvious meta logic to it, but it's also entirely conceivable in-universe for that kind of ripple effect to happen. If Shocker is straight up running the whole world since the 70's, imagine if they just found the Arcle, and tossed it in some treasure vault somewhere before Kuuga ever got a chance to use it. Maybe they buy out Smart Brain and BOARD before they develop any of their Rider gear. It's a fun idea to think about, and the movie encourages this thinking by explicitly establishing Shocker had their own Core Medal the whole time anyway.

Now, Shocker can't do crap about Den-O, because those guys aren't affected by changes to the timeline, and just like that, we've got a movie. OOO is here too, since Ankh inadvertently creates the whole mess during a brief team-up gone wrong, and the result is something of a dream team. Den-O is obviously extremely popular, and for reasons I can't entirely describe, OOO feels really suited to starring in a crossover like this. Maybe it's TaToBa's classy, rounded design that fits right in with Showa Riders (go look back at that Ishinomori-inspired picture of him with Rider 1 from the 999th episode if you don't believe me), or maybe it's Eiji's humble, respectful personality that means he has great chemistry with whoever you put him with. Either way, it's a good combo, and it works especially well, because Shouji Yonemura wrote this flick, and he already had experience with both these shows. Between that, and Kobayashi once again being credited with helping on the script, everyone's mannerisms are super on-point, which makes it so much easier to get into the movie. You actually believe it's the same guys from TV, which gives you that all-important anchor.

The only caveat is that it's actually New Den-O plus the Taros, but I don't mind this at all. Like I said, I've always been fond of him, and I honestly didn't mind Toei pushing him as legitimately being the new Den-O like they were for a while. He fit in with the existing characters quite well. Not that it matters that much, as Koutarou isn't a super important part of the overall picture. The story is more about the simple fun of watching everyone try to set things straight, and it does great on that front. You get a good feel for what the Shocker-controlled world is like in the first third of the film. I love hearing news broadcasters starting announcements with "Foolish humans!", which is amazing, and it's neat how Rider 1 and 2 make their first appearance when OOO is in a pinch, only to betray the viewers' expectations by having it turn out that they aren't his friends right now. The progression of the story is interesting, and once it lets loose at the end, it manages to keep topping itself just when you think it can't get any crazier. I don't mind seeing old characters return as suits with bad soundalikes when it's done like this. Especially with the speech Owner gives hyping it up, there's this delightfully straightforward feeling of all these awesome heroes getting together to beat up evil, and seeing every main Rider get their own individual introduction helps a lot to make them feel important. But then it gets even cooler because a random smattering of other Ishinomori characters show up like "what, you thought this just a celebration of Rider?", and then it gets EVEN cooler because everyone's boy Date shows up with every other Rider in tow, and then they all hop on their bikes to form into a giant number 40 in the sky and proceed to do the most epic Rider Break ever put to film.

I haven't seen All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker in a long time, either, which I also remember having a very enjoyable climax, but Let's Go Kamen Riders totally nails the big party atmosphere a movie like this is supposed to have, and while like OOO's as a whole, I took it for granted at the time, it's a lot easier to appreciate the things it does right after so many weirdly downbeat, dull Super Hero Taisen movies with convoluted and nonsensical plots. The only big leaps in logic here involve gags with Momotaros and Ankh that funny because they make no sense, and also that things don't actually go back to normal at the end, which is more of an oversight than anything. It also balances any flaws out with all that Showa love, which wasn't too common at the time. You've got Rider 1 and 2 who, despite only appearing in-suit, are voiced by their original actors, and are presented as being awesome without the need for any modernization whatsoever, which is great. The outdated sets and doofy monsters Shocker has being shown without a hint of irony is like one big middle finger to The First and The Next, and I love it.

This is true and I probably should've mentioned that. Between what you said and the teasing of the Dinosaur Greed long before he actually ended up appearing in the finished show, a lot of the details in Movie War Core actually DO line up with OOO... just a version of it that never got made. I have to question how late those plans changed that they couldn't alter any of that in time to make the movie though.

Actually, I have to question basically everything I've ever heard about OOO's production. I'd love to see some kind of documentary or something about it, even. It's absolutely fascinating and also a bit scary how many iconic, beloved parts of that show seem to be a complete accident.

I mean, I've praised OOO for having characters so developed they practically write themselves, but whenever I hear that Eiji was going to have a rougher personality before Shuu Watanabe got cast, or what they were planning to do with Ankh, it's like, "holy crap, they literally were writing themselves!". :lol

I can relate. I think if you dig back through the old episode threads for Ex-Aid, most of them probably have a post where I express confusion about the in-universe purpose of the Stage Select. :lol

I still haven't figured it out, but the show was great, so who cares?

One thing I really loved about this - even as someone who likes seeing older live-action sets like that and who respects that sort of thing; thank you Doctor Who background - is that it is just completely all classic sets; all classic suits; all classic characters... and then with Momotaros and New Den-O thrown in. It works just so perfectly in ways and reasons that I just cannot fathom. Maybe it's the basic idea of having characters from much further along in the legacy team up; maybe it's the juxtaposition; maybe it's just the goddamn Momo effect. It's also bizarre and wonderful that Rider 1 and 2 just do not question that there's this weird demon dude hanging out with some flashy blue guy with weird angular eyes and a dude sword; they just go along with it and run off together to trash some kaijin. It really is just like a 1971 (well, 1972) Kamen Rider episode but with these two other bastards from the future thrown in casually with no explanation, and it's just so out there that I love it. I wanna see Momotaros beating up more Shocker Kaijin, please


Also, I must say; even though it all works out perfectly and everyone and everything feels on-point and accurate to their series? I find it weird that for a movie from OOO, written by Kobayashi; featuring a team-up with Den-O, Kobayashi's most fan-favourite work; the movie is written by... the Kabuto guy. It's still a good friggin' movie at the end of the day so I'm fine with it, just kind of funny to me

Every time I read anything about OOO's production, it just baffles me how lucky we ended up. OOO honestly and truly had the potential to be just...Awful, and yet the stars lined up and the background stuff happened to ensure that it turned out wonderful :lol

As for Ex-Aid, I'm enjoying it. It's quite fun and really picks up after Lazer's death. Doesn't help me from being confused as hell, though. Like how they used Stage Select to teleport to the quarry with Graphite, despite Graphite not even being present when they did so.

Finally continuing with Hibiki, I reached the new opening. I... like it, and I respect that if they are going with a new direction; they decided to get a completely new opening to hammer that home. It's also a nice bonus that they can naturally integrate newer characters and upgrades without shoehorning them into the older opening; it was good when Go-Busters did it and it's good here.

Also didn't get a chance to comment on how cool Armed Hibiki looks. It's up there as one of the best looking Finals; I like how it's literally Kurenai wearing armour; and I enjoy all the disc animals forming that armour.

Anyway moving away from aesthetics this still really sucks. The characters are now so flanderised that Todoroki has gone from a little goofy and awkward to an absolute clown who can't so much as walk without disaster incurring, and Hibiki has gone from a caring, wisened father figure - to not just Asumu but the likes of Akira and Todoroki too - with a reserved and considered perspective to now just being an insensitive idiot who somehow can't grasp that Todoroki having relationship problems might be weighing on him??? Is this the same character???????

Somehow Ibuki and Akira escape this, which is probably because to begin with Ibuki was pretty static and Akira -was- the most stubborn of the cast. It's a bit hard for even Inoue to screw up the fundamentals of that. But even then Ibuki's neutrality feels way more played up than before, and considering Inoue's history with similar characters; I'm not exactly looking forward to what he has planned for Akira if he has anything. Asumu also continues to barely show up, while Kiriya has also started to just cameo and pop in every now and then rather than being a constant presence. ... actually, for a Todoroki-focused episode; where the hell did Zanki go?!

I just can't imagine that any of this is how it would have played out if the original author was here. It's such a massive contrast out of nowhere and I find myself desperately missing the show we had more and more with each episode.

It’s not to me. Kobayashi has pretty much made it clear she hates old-school Toku shows with a passion and that most of her shows are made specifically to destroy things that fans know about them. It’s the main reason Inoue (and probably most of the Toku writing community outside of Sho Aikawa, considering how few shows she actually gets asked to write for) doesn’t get along with her

A google doesn't result in anything for a Kiba Taegu. May I ask who that is?

Decade 14-15:

When Decade got around to its tribute to Den-O, Kobayshi herself wrote the episodes, and they're good. Not totally remarkable, or anything, and I think her second shot at writing Decade a bit later was a lot better, but this was one of the rare times Decade actually got to use real characters from the original shows, and while after pounding out 49 episodes and several movies featuring them, I'm having a hard time not taking it for granted right now, it is super cool to see Momotaros and the gang interact with the Decade crew. The humor here is all very on point, as you'd expect, and I appreciate that even Tsukasa's usual epic speech is made into a bit of a joke at the end. Taking a brief trip back to Decade also reminded me why I love Tsukasa so much. He's such a delightful piece of crap. I mean, Takkun was a "jerk" because he was deeply afraid of getting too close to people, and I think Tendou was just born weird, but the Destroyer of Worlds spends half his dialogue making fun of his only two friends in the multiverse seemingly for no other reason than it amusing him. He means well, though. I think. At the very least, he'll stick up for a down on his luck Imagin when nobody else will.

These episode also feature music cues from Den-O, which I don't remember being a normal thing in Decade. Some of the team-up movies have done this too, but I really do appreciate it when old Riders come back alongside their original background tracks. They're as iconic a part of their respective shows as anything else.

Chou Den-O & Decade:

Alright, now this one will be fun to talk about. You see, while my memories of what exact order I watched the Heisei Riders in get a little fuzzy in places, I know for a fact I can thank Movie War Core for exactly one thing, if nothing else. Hearing how terrible it was when it got subbed during OOO's run motivated me to watch Double a lot earlier than I might have, for fear watching it simply for OOO would spoil something, which I felt wasn't going to be worth it if the movie sucked. Watching Double, on top of being crazy fun in its own right, in turn got me to watch Decade before watching Movie War 2010 for much the same reasons, although I was already privy to that show's infamous conclusion anyway. So from there, as I recall, since Decade went through the trouble of setting it up, I decided to watch Chou Den-O & Decade in a very "why not?" fashion, with no real expectations going into it.

All this is to say, this movie is what got me into Den-O, and as such I have something of an attachment to it. I don't remember actively thinking it was some masterpiece or anything, but as I've established talking about OOO, 2012 me didn't put a lot of thought into these things anyway, so I think what matters here is that it got me interested enough to dive into Den-O proper shortly thereafter. This movie is also the reason I have an attachment to New Den-O. I didn't totally get what was going on, but I saw this sweet looking blue guy with his combination sword/butler, and immediately took a liking to him. Having greater context now, I think Koutarou is also a great middle ground in terms of personality between Ryoutarou and Yuuto, but not having that context also helped in its own way. I didn't know squat about his arrogant origins in Final Countdown at the time, so to me, New Den-O was just this cool, charismatic hero going around chopping up bad guys, and that's all I ever really need. He's still not totally the star, but this film I think leaves a better first impression of him than his actual debut might have.

The story here is also super newbie friendly, with a very tight focus on obvious audience surrogate character Yuu, a little kid who needs all this stuff explained to him the same way I did. He works wonders in that role, and the way he gradually slides into the plot reminds me of a lot of escapist fiction stories where a bunch of strange, fantastical characters whisk the young protagonist off to some epic adventure. The movie does a great job putting you in that sort of mindset, and even watching it years later as a proper Den-O fanatic, it stil feels almost like it could conceivably be the first appearance of any of these guys. In retrospect, I especially appreciate them getting a dramatic chase scene out of the way Den-Liner tickets only work when you open a door while the numbers on a clock all match, something that ended up being extremely unimportant throughout the actual show. It also leads to a cool bit where New Den-O saves Yuu's bacon by buying him a few seconds, followed by Koutarou patting him on the head as he walks by on the Den-Liner later, which further explains why I like New Den-O so much. Again, I basically was Yuu watching this originally, and since Yuu was me, I think that quick little big bro moment from him left a big impression.

From there, we get the usual time traveling adventure, and it's solid stuff. Yuu's relationship with Deneb gives the film a lot of extra heart, I like Yuu's simple arc for what it is, and the twist at the end is nice. The Taros are themselves, which is all they ever need to be, with Momo, as ever, being the man. I'm also super fond of the monster forms of the main bad guys here. Reboot Rider 2 and V3's faces work great on those suits, and I appreciate having villains who are merely Rider-esque, instead of straight up Riders when there's no reason for them to be. There's actually not a lot of new merch being shilled here at all, come to think of it. That's mostly down to Chou Climax Form, and frankly, after seeing how the Decade cast and the Den-Liner crew take turns trying to pawn off Sieg to each other, I feel bad enough for the guy that I'm really happy for him. Everybody treats him like crap, but aside from being a textbook narcissist, I'm struggling to think of what he's actually done to deserve it. He honestly seems like a super nice guy when you get down to it. I can't even remember why I said I wasn't that much of a fan of him. All he's ever shown to do is help people out and repay his debts. I mean, I hate to say it, but are we sure he isn't better than you guys? Because I'm starting to struggle to see how having a not entirely unjustified high opinion of yourself is a worse personality defect than being an overly aggressive thug, a chronic lecher, or a hyperactive sociopath. In conclusion, Kintaros is obviously the best Imagin, because he combines all the good traits of the others with his only token vice being sleeping a lot, which I'm pretty sure he genuinely can't help.

What was I talking about again? Oh, right, the movie! Yeah, add this to the pile of things I've watched lately than I'm pleasantly surprised to find hold up better than I was expecting. I had it in my head that Chou Den-O and Decade was kind of boring for some reason, but thankfully it turned out to be a lot more fun than I remembered.

Agito 28:

"Wait, what the heck does some random episode of Agito have to do with anything?", you might be thinking. But this is an episode of Agito unlike any other. It's the only one in the entire series not written by Inoue, and you'll never guess who wrote it instead. I figured I'd toss this in here because, one, it's always a good time to watch Agito, and two, between this and Decade's Den-O arc, I think I'll have covered literally every bit of Kamen Rider Yasuko Kobayshi has ever written once I'm done, save for the other arc of Decade she wrote, which I talked about back when I watched Shinkenger, and Amazons, which pretty much exists off on its own planet, so I don't feel any obligation to go back through it as part of this.

So, of course, while this was Kobayashi's first episode of Rider ever, she was hardly new to the toku scene, even back then, having already helmed two different Sentai shows, among other credits, so it's not exactly a surprise that the episode is good. Seriously good. It's actually one of my favorite episodes of Agito, and my biases don't even play into that, because I didn't realize she wrote it until way later.

I think what makes it stand out so much for me is that in a very, very heavily serialized show, this episode tells a very standalone story, which makes sense given it was essentially a try-out episode for a new(ish) writer. It qualifies as filler by most people's definition, but if you ever wanted proof that isn't a bad thing, this is it. Even its position in the episode order, despite not connecting directly with what was happening before or after, actually lends the story a really cool context.

You see, in the episode prior to this, Kamen Rider Gills caught a nasty case of death, and this episode thus functions as a sort of requiem for Ryou, flashing back to a few weeks prior for an adventure that does a great job summing up the kind of character he is by pairing him up with a young boy who wants to run away from the troubles he's currently facing in life. Ryou himself has, as anyone who's seen Agito knows, been through an absolutely astonishing amount of crap since the start of the series, and the attitude he displays throughout the episode gets to the heart of what I think makes him such a fantastic character. Everything about him reeks of the usual angsty anti-hero, but he subverts a ton of the tropes associated with that archetype, growing into a hero who makes it a point not to let the tragedies he's faced break him. He's also great because everything about the way Gills is portrayed is so memorable. I mean, I could go on about Agito all day, but since that's not what I'm here for right now, I'll restrain myself to only mentioning how perfectly the show portrayed three very, very different Riders. In Gills' case, that meant stuff like the weird but neat effect when he transforms of Gills appearing alongside Ryou, or his brutal Rider Kick where he violently hooks monsters with the blades on his ankle, or the screamy Gills mask to emphasize his status as a completely organic Rider.

https://i.imgur.com/wDk4VBY.jpg

It's mostly about the screamy Gills mask though. That thing is straight up my favorite part of Agito and quite possibly my single favorite special effect in the franchise.

It’s a spelling error. I’ll correct it

Chou Den-O Trilogy: Episode Red:

I've always felt there was a secret double meaning to the color choice here. Obviously it's red for Zero Form, but the focus gets away from Yuuto frequently enough that it might as well be for Momotaros. Further confusing the issue is that Zeronos somehow ends up in Altair Form during the climax, a blatant breach of continuity that I completely forgot happened in more than just Climax Deka. I mean, there's more of a reason here. It's so Deneb can do a thing in Vega Form, but at that point, you'd think they could just do that with the red suit underneath. Play it up in the marketing like it's a cool new form, even. None of this of super important, though.

This movie seems like it would be right up my alley, considering it's about my favorite character from the show, and focuses on the star-crossed romance that I was similarly fond of, but I've always been a tiny bit dissatisfied with it in that regard. I feel like it doesn't totally commit to its own premise, but I also know I'm asking way too much. It's honestly impressive enough as it is we got a Kamen Rider film with a five minute scene of two people drinking coffee, especially considering the target audience here is liable to still think girls have cooties. I've also said before I respect how Den-O always kept its sense of humor central no matter how dramatic it got, so I'd probably be just as unhappy if the entire movie was just some schmaltzy romance film that stuck out like a sore thumb. I'm aware I'm being way too picky here.

It probably also hurts that I've never bought Takuya Mizoguchi as Ryoutarou. Largely because he says his lines in a way that's glaringly different from Takeru Satoh's distinct delivery, sounding way more confident overall, something that I've never been sure is meant to be character development or not. Some of the actual lines themselves seem more confident, so that may be part of it, but either way, it's always seriously hurt my ability to accept the change, necessary or not. So I think this movie got off on a bad foot with me when I originally watched it and saw that the first few shots with Ryoutarou conspicuously avoid showing his face or having him speak, only for him to immediately become a main character in the film. It's just not the same.

But all this complaining makes the movie seem a lot worse than it is, and Den-O is still Den-O, so it's not even like I don't enjoy it. The stuff with Yuuto and Airi, when it's there, is pretty much exactly what I want, and quite memorable for how distinct it is. The material for the Den-Liner crew serves admirably to keep things accessible without detracting from the tone of the more serious parts. Some of the dialogue seems to exist specifically to digest what's going on for the kids, which I can't consider a flaw when it probably was 100% needed for them to process the sudden influx of wistful emotional drama in their movie about rainbow-colored monsters fighting bad guys. They also provide all the usual wacky Den-O fun, which is great in its own right, especially when the highlights include Momotaros living on the streets for four months as a bum, complete with ragged clothes, even though he doesn't wear anything to begin with. I mean, if I need to justify why that's hilarious, Den-O probably isn't the series for you. So don't take my whining too seriously. It's a perfectly good movie, even if it isn't utter perfection.

Also, between Hobo Momo here and seeing him fight Shocker in Let's Go Kamen Riders, I think Toei is missing a huge opportunity to do a movie where Momotaros gets trapped in 1971 and accidentally gets wrapped up in every important moment in Rider history in a way that doesn't actively contradict anything we saw on TV. It practically writes itself! Imagine him disguising himself as one of Shocker's scientists to make sure Hongou doesn't brainwashed. Maybe the police mistake him for an Unidentified Lifeform in the year 2000. The 50th anniversary is coming right up, guys, make it happen!

Chou Den-O Trilogy: Episode Blue:

This was and is my favorite in the trilogy. I think it's by far the most focused on its title character, and since that character is New Den-O, I couldn't be much happier. It's less daring than Red, and less creative than Yellow, but Koutarou's first proper starring role does a lot to flesh him and Teddy out, telling a very endearing story about their relationship going through a bit of trouble when they end up separated. All the beats in Episode Blue are delivered pretty much perfectly. The sequence at the start where Teddy saves Koutarou from a Ryoutarou-style series of misfortunes so effectively Koutarou just walks along like nothing's happening tells you everything you need to know about them, and makes you feel that much more for Koutarou when the universe starts crapping on him later. I mean, a bird literally craps on him at one point. It's easy to sympathize with his troubles, and the plot also does that thing I always love seeing where the Victim of the Week plot thematically matches what's going on with the main characters. It's crazy tight. The action scenes even naturally feed into the drama in way that's both clever and funny by having Kintaros and Urataros act as replacement weapons for New Den-O, which naturally doesn't go well. Even the culminatory scene of Koutarou and Teddy reuniting at the very end is just beautiful in how its executed. Koutarou rushes to give him a hug, trips because of his bad luck, only for Teddy to catch him in his arms anyway, paying off that element perfectly and showing us that these two are back on track now.

Like I said, I was a fan of New Den-O before I was a fan of Den-O itself, so the fact that he got his own little movie with his own version of Double Action and everything makes me really happy. I'm honestly a bit sad he isn't still popping up in stuff. I'd definitely prefer him being around to recasting Ryoutarou, or what we get nowadays since Takuya Mizoguchi is now older then Takeru Satoh was when Den-O started, which is having the Taros running around with nobody holding their leashes at all.

Chou Den-O Trilogy: Episode Yellow:

Somewhat inexplicably, the final Den-O movie to date not only stars a character from Decade, but is once again written by Shouji Yonemura, with Kobayashi merely credited with supervision. It's plenty of fun in its own right, and the plot has a lot of fun twists and turns that start with Diend trying to shoot his own past self early on and never really stop. Still, it doesn't have that same touch to it, and the plot isn't anywhere near as emotional as the other two films. The way G Den-O is written comes off as extremely heavy handed at points, with particular mention going to the awkward way he offhandedly mentions his defining personal trauma when telling Kaitou he can't change the past about a minute after appearing. It's not a dealbreaker by any means, but Reiji definitely feels more like a character from Kabuto than Den-O.

Kaitou himself has the hurdle to get over of being a character from Decade, which I think means most viewers are inherently conditioned from that show to not invest themselves in any development they get, but for what it's worth, his character here is reasonably strong, despite a predictable arc, and Diend's status as a thief makes him one of the most unique Riders in the franchise, so I definitely appreciate giving him a chance to be more in the limelight.

Overall, the Chou Den-O Trilogy was a fun experiment, and produced three movies that are all pretty decent. Like the rest of Den-O's post-series output, it's not mindblowingly amazing, but they're reliably solid, and Den-O's cast has legs to the point where they don't feel stale, either. I also appreciate that Toei didn't shoehorn in an overarching plotline, which is something that I feel detracts from similar projects they've done since. The only throughline here is the latest showdown between Owner and the Station Master, which you get to see at the end of Episode Yellow after some build-up so subtle you might not even catch it. It's actually kind of an adorable way to connect the movies.

Well, I finished Hibiki.

... sigh.

What an... overwhelming example of how Inoue ruins everything he touches. What happened to you, man? You used to write Agito. Agito was great. Really liked Agito.

Thinking it over I'm not sure how much I can really pin on the concepts here. The show feels like it betrays Akira; Kiriya never feels like he earns anything; Asumu becoming a doctor feels far too out of left field... but are those bad things in and of themselves? I don't really know. What I do know is that the writing style is so blatant and over the top that none of it comes across as genuine; none of the sincerity that marked the first half of the show is present.

Something Fish has been saying about OOO, about what made it so good is really sticking with me: that despite all the fantastical elements, something about it still feels grounded and believable. And I think, watching Hibiki, this applies to that show pre-retool as well -- that's how all the casual, laidback stuff worked alongside hard training and destroying demons with music. Because there was a real world pull; all the characters had personality while still being restrained enough so as to not be cartoons.

And that's not me saying that having cartoonish characters or going all-out wild is a bad thing -- not in the slightest! I adore me some Fourze and Ex-Aid, and I'll defend those shows to my death! But... it just doesn't have a place in Hibiki. Despite certain retained elements and an attempt at tribute in the last few episodes with playing certain themes and calling back to Todoroki's purifying of the battlefield, it's quite clear things have gone off the rails. What is there for me to say? I've ranted at length about how the characters feel flanderised. I've expressed a distaste for the new elements introduced. I dearly mourn the unique themes and ideas that were now nowhere to be seen.

I'll end with this: if you ever need a good idea of what Inoue is like as a writer; you need look no further than Hibiki -- in that in the very relaxed slice of life series whose themes and aesthetic are predicated on a deep respect and reverence for nature and Japanese mythology and culture; the very first scene he writes is a businessman getting assassinated by a cgi barking flaming wheel.

Movie War Mega Max:

Yeah, I saved the best for last. Actually, you know what, the bold text isn't even good enough. Let's try this again:

https://i.imgur.com/ceoySf5.jpg

That's more like it. Yes, even the movie's own title card has an explosion in the background. It that doesn't tell you everything you need to know, I don't know what will. This is straight up the best Rider movie currently in existence, and if they ever manage to top it, I think the resulting film would genuinely have to be so amazing our mere mortal minds wouldn't be able to handle watching it. I'm honestly ashamed I don't watch Mega Max more often than I do. It's been a good couple years since the last time, and despite a lot more Rider films coming along since, its crown is still undisputed to me.

Remember how I said OOO was so great because it was every kind of good story rolled into one? Well this is the best Rider movie because it's every kind of good Rider movie at the same time. You've got the slightly more lowkey, V-Cinema epilogue sort of plot represented by OOO, the super fun summer movie style side-story from Fourze, and in the midst of all this is fanservice-laden, anniversary team-up goodness. Directed by Koichi Sakamoto. Plus, get this, the plot? It actually makes sense. I'm sorry to say, but I think with that last part alone it already beats out the vast majority of other Rider crossovers.

Mega Max wastes absolutely no time whatsoever. The first shot of a Kamen Rider on a bike comes within the first minute of the film, as the opening quickly establishes the Basic premise (with a capital B) of the bad guys being after some space rocks by giving the viewers Showa Riders up the wazoo fighting them off all over the globe. Toei had been getting their feet wet with remembering the Showa Era for a while by then, but with the actual 40th anniversary Rider now on the air, it's like they really kicked into overdrive. There is not a more perfect way to open a Rider anniversary movie than with Riders 1 and 2 kicking the crap out of mooks before the story has even started in earnest. The entire sequence is absolutely glorious, and packs so much fanservicey goodness into a mere 4 minutes, it's mindboggling.

https://i.imgur.com/eIYc27c.jpg

So now the movie's barely started and already your brain is totally melted. "How can it get any better than this?", you ask yourself, likely while wiping drool from your mouth. But then it turns out Yasuko Kobayashi wisely decided NOT to delegate writing a team-up movie featuring OOO for once, meaning you finally get to see that show properly come to life on the big screen teaming up with other heroes besides the couple minutes you got of Fourze in the summer movie. The way Mega Max follows up on OOO's story is very clever in how much it knows what to give the audience and what not to. The TV series didn't leave any major loose ends to speak of, so figuring out how to continue from there must've been a tricky question. The solution used here, to focus entirely on the new element of Kamen Rider Poseidon coming from the future, versus trying to push the existing characters forward, was definitely the best fit for the format of a Movie War film, and, OOO being OOO, it accomplishes a few things at once with this premise. Kamen Rider Aqua's plotline provides the actual character development in a manner similar to New Den-O in Final Countdown, while also thematically bridging the standalone OOO portion of the film with the rest by giving him a very classic looking design and showing that that even in the future, Riders are still going to be going strong. It also allowed OOO to get around Ankh's fate in a way so sly that even as recently as Heisei Generations Final they've managed to keep getting drama out of it. I'm seriously impressed even now that OOO found a way to cheat its own ending without even remotely feeling like it undermined the impact the finale had. But, then, this kind of quality is hardly unusual when we're talking about OOO. I'd also be remiss not to give a big shout out to Shout Out, for finally managing to get played onscreen... for about 15 seconds. But that 15 seconds was in Movie War Mega Max, so it's awesome!

You'd probably think you could use a good break after all this awesomeness. But in a movie that keeps up this level of excitement this constantly, where half (if not more) of the plot developments happen during the action, it shouldn't be a surprise that its idea of cooling down is with even more action. Mega Max's brief interlude was a super cool way to give the overall film more cohesion without losing the central gimmick the Movie War series started out with, and in this case it's all the better because Koichi Sakamoto gets to shoot more action with Kamen Rider Joker, the breakout star of that other super masterpiece Rider movie he had directed a while before this one. I can't stress enough how incredible Sakamoto's direction actually is here. This is the kind of stuff that gives him the reputation he has for being so awesome, even though if I'm being totally honest I don't think anything he's directed since around this time has ever been quite on the same level in terms of raw energy. I was going to do a bit where I showed screenshots of all the back-splosions in the movie, but so many things were exploding so frequently I don't think it's possible to get an accurate count. He really gives it his all here, lending Mega Max that sense of non-stop momentum that elevates it way above the standard Rider flick. It's also fascinating to see him handle the old guard with new style, "modernizing" the Showa Riders simply by filming them with a dramatic tilt to the camera and having them do awesome wire stunts and the like, essentially forcing anyone who thinks these outfits can't possibly look cool anymore to shut their mouths.

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

The awesomeness just keeps on going with the Fourze part, telling a straightforward story about Gentarou falling in love that is positively dripping with Fourze's signature style, between also having its head writer on board, and the fact that Sakamoto was the show's main director to begin with. I've always thought Fourze's little jetpack was basically a birthday present to him or something given how conducive it is to the aforementioned wire stunts. It's a great time, and the focus on Gentarou is super strong, with some great moments thrown in for the rest of the Kamen Rider Club, too, especially during the hot-blooded climax. It's actually even better, now that Fourze has itself become old enough to be nostalgic. Especially to someone like me, who ate that show up back when it was new. I've been away from this show for far too long. I forgot like half of those Switches existed, and seeing Gentarou pull out Hopping (which actually happens during the team-up part, but nevermind that) suddenly gave me vivid flashbacks to like episode 3 or 4 (the one where Miu joins the group?), when if I'm remembering right, he went out of his to prove to Kengo that a pogo stick attached to your leg is totally a viable tool in combat. That was so awesome. Assuming I'm not getting my facts mixed up here. Man, I'm gonna have to rewatch Fourze now, too, aren't I?

https://i.imgur.com/3WU0lTY.jpg

Again, the movie's already been at peak awesomeness since about 55 seconds in, but it gets even cooler when OOO rides up on his bike and asks Fourze if he wants to go fight some bad guys together, which of course he does, because Riders help each other out. Of course, things are getting pretty crazy by this point, so who else to call for backup besides Double, always ready to lend his junior Riders a hand, because Riders... well, you get the idea. This time it also results in what is still somehow one of the coolest shots of a bunch of Riders standing together ever.

https://i.imgur.com/2Eh4xIW.jpg

So, from this point onward, things go completely apes***, with all three of those guys up there fighting mooks in every one of their forms while their respective theme songs play, the Showa Riders helping clean house, Aqua popping back into the story to get in on the fun, and our two main heroes blasting off into the skies to fight the evil mad scientist main antagonist while riding a huge rocket into space, which is really the only possible conclusion a movie this nuts could have that would feel appropriate. I can't even be mad that it turns into a video game, because every shot of bad CG is balanced out by more glorious Showa action.

https://i.imgur.com/NE0B0A9.jpg

This movie is the bomb. It's just perfect. You've got two great shows coming together to pay tribute to five more awesome shows with an assist or two from yet another awesome show. It's everything I could ever want, and it's pretty much the whole reason I decided to extend this little project of mine beyond watching just the shows themselves. It's been a pretty crazy journey, but we're at the end of it, and hopefully I could share at least a little of the fun with everyone else here. I always get a little self-conscious posting huge blocks of text like this, and I haven't done that to this extent in a while. So what did I accomplish in the process? You got me. Even after all of this, I don't think I've actually definitively laid down how much I love about all three of the shows that started the whole idea. But I've also come to think, you know, maybe that's what so great about it. If there's one thing Mega Max shows, it's that Kamen Rider has always been, and will always be, awesome, and as long as that's the case, it will never stop being fun to talk about. So I'm taking a break from bombarding this thread, for sure, but just you wait, some day or another, that bit about Fourze isn't going to be a joke anymore.

Aqua ended up being very important for me when I watched this movie the second time round. A big part of the reason I love OOO is that Eiji and his fundamental morals resonate with me so much; and to see him inspire someone from 40 years in the future, keeping those ideals going without being condescending and just being a genuinely nice guy? It's great. Similarly I loved when he inspires Cross-Z in HGF but this scene is like, the core of Aqua's entire character and development; so I just can't help but love him. UGH this movie is so GOOD

Mega Max is a high point I'm definitely looking forward to watching again as I go back through Fourze. I always loved the moment when the original seven Riders used their finishing moves without obvious edits to make up for the wonky physics involved.

Decided to go ahead and rewatch Decade's Hibiki tribute; and I think I'll rewatch Zi-O's as well.

I don't want to say I liked it purely on the merits of Asumu and Akira becoming the Riders they deserved to be, but Goddamn if that isn't making it hard to be unbiased. Especially because that aside, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it. It goes for a completely direction and theme than the series, which I'm fine with because this pointedly isn't Hibiki - it's a tribute, and an AU at that. It just makes it a little difficult to see what it was going for though.

I think I kind of get it - they went for a conflict between schools so there was something that could be done within a 2-parter that didn't need a whole half a season of explanation. But it still feels a little out of touch with what Hibiki really was at its heart and at its best; a laidback slice-of-life season where the actual Rider stuff almost took a backseat. Looking beyond it as a tribute though, as it's own story, it works very well. You understand the basic conflict and stakes here and you really do feel for all the characters involved.

But this is Decade, so you know what we also get? We get a hell of a lot of fun. I mean right away having characters like Decade, Diend and Kuuga running around in Hibiki's setting and with their characters is something else to behold, but then they throw in the likes of Ouja and Momotaros and I am just sitting back here laughing and having a great time. It's also fantastic just how many Hibiki cast members they got back, and despite the heavy changes to Ibuki and Zanki's characterisations, the performances still shine through. A very special shoutout to the little ceremony where Todoroki hugs Zanki while Ibuki and Akira just smile at each other. That's the series I missed.

Watching Ex-Aid, Chronos just whips out OOO's medals...Oh, wait, no, they're just the normal power up tokens. While it makes sense for Chronos to store power ups in OOO's medal book, it's still kind of jarring for it to return like that :lol

The Makamou battle rock-out is the single best moment of that entire series.

It's not like there was much competition, considering the series...

The Black/Black RX double transformation is a pretty close second.

I have a soft spot for Decade because of nostalgia reasons. It's far my favorite show, but I'm always happy to see the character show up again.

I think my rewatch just embittered me towards it :lol

Fourze 5-6:

Man, it was nice to see one of my most beloved Heisei era supporting characters again... that sidewalk on the hill! That spot used to show up so frequently, but it feels like we haven't seen it in years now. Really nice to revisit it.

Anyway, this was JK's arc, wherein he goes from being kind of a douchebag to... kind of a douchebag who's in the KRC. He gets better, of course, but man the guy is such an asshole during this part of the show. I liked how Gentaro handled him, though, and how he sympathized with the villain for wanting to kick the crap out of JK.

So, not only did I forget that Elec States existed, I forgot how nice it looks. Probably my favorite of the special forms, just ahead of Fire and well ahead of everything else.

This was a really weird arc for Nozoma. We still have a few episodes before Amane from Blade tries to kill her and she joins the crew, which leads to her fulfilling her contractual obligations with a couple of really weird scenes. Shun at least got a scene with Miu that felt relevant to the plot, but Nozoma's big contribution to the arc was dumping natto on Yuki's lunch.

Finally, since apparently I am going to share my thoughts on these arcs, I'm introducing a new feature. I'm calling it "Has Yuki Gone Insane Yet?" and I'll be using it to figure out exactly when in the series she finally inhaled too many cosmic radiation fumes.

So, has Yuki gone crazy yet? No. No, she's still a fine, normal character.

Kiva. First time watching. I can tell so much of a difference now between the eras/decades that these series were produced. Not that it's a bad thing, just a noticed thing.

Decided that I might as well contribute something to this thread.

Currently finished watching the Kabuto movie. It’s mostly your basic Heisei phase 1 movie (ie, an au story), but with the twist that it ends by tying back into canon. Namely, it explains where Tendou got the belt for the Kabuto Zecter.

Overall, I think it’s a good film. Can’t really fault the exclusive Riders, other than all of them being beetles. But Caucasus alone makes up for that more than enough.

So I finished Ex-Aid True Ending...And was left with a cliffhanger that leads into Heisei Generations FINAL that's a crossover with Build, and according to the KR Wiki, it takes place before the Ex-Aid trilogy.

So...How much do I need to know about Build to watch Heisei Generations FINAL? Should I watch up to episode 14 (Which is when it allegedly takes place, according to the KR Wiki), or would I be fine just jumping into it without having watched Build?

Heisei Generations Final is honestly more of a Build film than it is an Ex-Aid one, so you would definitely want to watch Build up to 14 before watching it. It's not really that relevant to the larger Ex-Aid narrative comparatively, and unless I'm forgetting something you could even skip it and go straight to the Another ending trilogy.

The main thing you really need to know about Build is that it takes place in a Japan that's been split into three separate nations by a giant wall. If you're wondering how that in any way jibes with Ex-Aid, don't worry, the film explains it.

It's a really good movie, too. I say this with all the seriousness you would expect from seeing me type these words: I got a really good laugh out of an Onari scene. Yeah, the movie is actually good enough that it makes Onari work.

That Onari scene is pure gold, that's why.

Fourze 7-8:

This arc in two words? Bad Boooy!

So I'm a bad Kamen Rider fan for forgetting that the detention teacher was Alternative Zero from Ryuki. That one's on me. He's still great, though, and his catchphrase is one of the weird minor pieces of the show that's stuck with me over the years. There were a lot of returning actors from older Rider shows during the opening arcs on Fourze, which was something I really loved about these episodes. The show didn't keep it up in the long run, but it was fun seeing minor actors like this again. I'll be seeing more in the next arc, which brings back Amane from Blade as the next Zodiart.

The big focus here, of course, is getting Shun on the team. It still seems like a big push given how much of a dick he's been up to this point, but never underestimate the power of daddy issues. We're going to be seeing more of the Power Dizer from now on, too. It's kind of weird; despite mechs being more of a Sentai thing, there have been a lot of Rider shows in recent years that have dipped their toes in that water, too. I don't think any of them ever worked as well as the Power Dizer, though - mostly because the others were either largely abandoned because of the CGI costs or because they were monumentally stupid like the pirate ship igauna from Ghost.

This was another good pair of episodes and the characters still really shine. I am constantly amazed at how I could have forgotten just how much fun Gentaro is. I'm really happy that I'm rewatching this show.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? We're getting some early signs. Things were mostly normal for 95% of these episodes, but then we saw what she did to get detention. I generally chalk her Hayabusa costume in the Queen pageant up to being awkward and nerdy, but trying to plant giant space books in the library while wearing a plush shuttle on her head? Yeah, this is more like the Yuki I remember.

So before I'm even 30 seconds in, the main character in full suit hurls through a green screen void while T-posing.

I think I'm gonna like Kuuga.

The first episode of Kuuga is my favourite. That's not a knock against the rest of the show, it's just that first episode was that memorable to me and has a lot of incredible bits I still remember clearly a decade later.

So, I'm up to Blade Ep 15 (Aka the one with S A Y O K O!) and it looks like the first arc of the show is coming to a close. It's been a weird one. It's a lot slower than I'm used to, with stories unfolding longer, and generally being a bit more meandering than the early parts of, say. Ex-Aid or Build, where the ongoing story feels a lot more divided up by the MOTW battles. Here, they almost feel incidental, as though they have one guy on the Blade staff who has to remind them they need to fight Undead.

Tachibana's emotional arc is a little cliche, and oh boy is Sayoko's fridging bad, but even with the victory over Isaka, we move to a new plot, so I'm still interested in where we go, especially as the explanations for what's going on are a little... lax. Reminds me of Den-O, but Den-O at least didn't feel like much mattered on how exactly time travel worked or whatnot. Here, it feels like its supposed to be the mystery. In any case, I'm apparently over the roughest bit, so it should be smooth sailing from here.

Kuuga definitely had a very, very strong premiere. One really specific thing I always appreciated about the fight scene at the end was how it shows Growing Form pushing that bus into the spider Grongi and building up enough momentum to smash it through a wall, only for the Grongi to be unharmed.

The whole fight is super representative of Kuuga's attitude as a series in how Yuusuke is barely scraping by throughout, and I always thought it was neat that it's explicitly shown visually that Growing Form is actually far stronger than a normal person like that. If he were just getting wailed on the entire time, the viewer's instinct would be to start questioning why Kuuga is so weak, but because the show establishes he isn't, you're almost guaranteed to have the intended reaction of "holy crap, these monster guys are tough".

Man, I love Kuuga so much. Those first couple episodes will always be extra special to me, too, because I think I watched the first one literally right after the first episode of OOO back in the day, which would make it the second ever episode of the entire franchise I saw if I'm not remembering that incorrectly. Not a bad place to start.

The funny thing is, Episode 4 of Kuuga is my favourite so far. The fact that you watched Kuuga that early Fish shows me exactly where you got your love for a good rider machine scene from; because Kuuga getting his Trychaser felt right and triumphant in every single way and makes me wish for more scenes of him on it. And then he goes and changes it to his colour scheme in the next episode, and it's just even better.

I've gotten through just the first 5 episodes of Kuuga so far, but I'm really enjoying what I'm seeing for the moment. Having only seen Amazon and the three post-RX movies of the Showa era, I'm not sure how valuable my opinion about this is; but something about this feels like they were really pushing the revival aspect of "punching bugman is back my dudes" without explicitly stating it or having any ties to the original or even going for overarching themes beyond the obligatory spider and bat; and I just love that. I think the thing that really pushes it home for me is the theme -- it's of course describing Kuuga as a whole, but when you've got lines like "Legends will be rewritten" and "A blazing revival" - well, depending on your subtitles - it's really hard not to read into it as "Kamen Rider is fucking back, baby". And it makes me wonder if the entire concept of Kuuga being a revived and revamped legend is intended to be a metaphor for that as well.

It gets even better than that. TV-Nihon was the only place I knew to go to for subs at first, and at that point they only had those first four episodes of Kuuga subbed (and no Agito whatsoever, which is literally the entire reason I watched Ryuki right away), so for a while that might as well have been Kuuga's finale to me.

I mean, that's the one where he actually becomes a Kamen Rider, right? What more do you need? It honestly does feel like a climax. And once he gets on that bike, he just refuses to get off. It blew my mind seeing him take that thing up a staircase.

Plus, the thumbs up Kuuga gives at the end is apparently the most iconic one in the whole show, given how often I see screencaps of it.

When the first episode is literally titled "Revival"? I doubt that double meaning was unintentional. That's another thing I love about Kuuga. You could tell it was being made with a lot of pride.

Fourze 9-10

Well, we've got the whole band together finally. I always thought it was weird that Tomoko was saved for last, considering how much more willing she was to help Gentaro than JK, Miu, and Shun. Still, she's on board now and the show did a good job of fleshing out her personality in this arc. Shun and JK's turns still felt a little abrupt, but with Tomoko you really do get a sense of why she would want to hang out with Gentaro and everyone else. Especially Yuki. Oh man, did I forgot how aggressively gay Tomoko was for Yuki early on in the series.

We got Fire States in this arc, too, which is Fourze's last good-looking form change, unfortunately. It's all massive stupid shoulders from here on out. I generally like Electric States more; you get better fight scenes with melee weapons than with firearms, especially in the CGI-heavy Neo Heisei era. Fire is still a pretty neat form, though.

So we have the full KRC assembled, which means our next milestone is either Libra arriving or the big Scorpio reveal. I forget which one comes first and I'm not sure either happens right away. Mega Max is approaching pretty fast, too, and I am really excited to see that again.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? No. Far from it, actually. She shows a remarkable amount of self-awareness here, openly acknowledging that she's a nerd with a tenuous grasp on reality (oh, if only we knew just how tenuous that grasp would be...)

It has been a long time that I do not remember when it was that I last time I updated,

From what I roughly remember I was 20 odd episodes into ex aid and now I am currently at where Emu has obtained his final form, which is pretty good it is,not my favourite final form but still a good.

Ex aid has been a really good watch through thus far, would put in my top ten rider series I have seen thus far, probably in the 6th or 7th spot.

Finished episode 11 of Kabuto and now I can’t help but wonder if Drake inspired Otoya from Kiva and Canalo from Ryusoulger

I'm about midway through my second rewatch of Kuuga. This might still be my favorite Kamen Rider show. Grounded, realistic, while staying true to the spirit of the original character. It's basically a character drama/police procedural disguising itself as a toku show.

I gave up on Ryuki after the fifth episode, and couldn't get past the pilot of Gaim. Something about the more "toyetic" Riders just throws me off, which seems to be a personal problem I have with all of the Neo-Heisei Riders.

So I was looking up when to watch Movie Wars Megamax in my Fourze rewatch and I made a very unfortunate discovery. If I'm going to do this rewatch to completion, which is my goal, it means that I'm also going to have to watch...

Super Hero Taisen.

:cry

You could always just watch the net movies, and pretend those count instead. Anything other than suffering through that mess.

And it's not even the worst Taisen film out there.