Fourze 11-12

In which Kengo learns to stop being such an asshole and Gentaro beats up an incel.

So I guess this was actually the final team gathering episode, in a way. Kengo's been there from the start, but this is the point where he finally accepts Gentaro and the others as friends and partners in the battle against evil. It's a nice change of pace, even if I thought Kengo got a little too melodramatic at a couple points.

The Zodiart for this arc worked pretty well. With a high school setting it makes sense to have a put-upon loser use his powers to get revenge. Stuff that's been going on in the news in the last few years made this one a little creepier, though, what with his plan centering around kidnapping and murdering all the girls who rejected him. The guy was definitely a creepy asshole and I'm glad we're still in the days before the villains got friendship handshakes because this fucker did not deserve one.

Episode 12 brought in the first hint that Sonoda is working with the bad guys, although I don't think there have been many active hints that she's Scorpio (there was a bit a few episodes where she sneezed when the Scorpio horoscope was mentioned, but that's about all I've noticed). Looks like Libra/Hayami/Garren arrives next episode, so she should be out of the closet soon enough. I'm glad that we're going to be losing her soon, if only to make Ohsugi less of a pathetic creeper.

This was another good arc. There was some good drama and tension and good fight scenes. I liked how the main Zodiart clearly couldn't fight, which led to the final showdown with Gentaro being amusingly one-sided.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? No. She tried to get an immediate moon landing launched, but it came from a place of emotional desperation and not something silly. She's very much still the grounded heart of the KRC at this point.

Is this not the series all about giving the villains friendship handshakes? Even in a show all about friendship, I like that they have villains who you probably shouldn't be trying to make friends with regardless.

Eventually, but during these early episodes most of the handshakes went to the newest KRC member instead. I suspect I’ll start seeing it go to the switcher more now that we’ve got all the supporting characters out of the way.

Fourze 13-14

This arc did something you don't see a lot of in Kamen Rider, especially in the really formulaic era this show was made in. We got the return of a previous monster as the focus of this story. Miura, the guy who was the show's very first Zodiart, gets some follow-up. It's a pretty cool story, too: he's avoiding going back to school because he's afraid that he'll try to find a switch again. We actually get a story dedicated to a previous monster dealing with the withdrawal symptoms of losing his powers. It's a neat twist and really makes use of the fact that all the characters go to school together and are technically still around even after their arc ends (I forget if it's the summer movie or the finale, but I know there's a moment when a whole bunch of these characters come back to help Gentaro out).

We get the full reveal that Sonoda is Scorpio here and she goes full Makamou on Fourze. She loses, but she isn't written out yet. I know she's not going to be around much longer, though, especially with the principal showing up as the next major villain. No backstory yet, but it's already weird seeing her drop her kind and cheerful facade.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? Nope. Her plan to inspire Miura to go back to school with a cheesy play is dumb, but it's also super on-brand for something Gentaro would do. This arc really helped define one of Gentaro's core traits. He may not be the smartest guy or the best fighter, but he has so much heart and determination to make up for it.

Coming up next, a small pause in programming as we reach Fourze's first film appearance: Movie Wars Megamax. I'm really looking forward to seeing that one again.

I remember that 2-parter and it's absolutely wonderful. The way I took it it's an incredible metaphor and demonstration of how difficult it is to resist addiction and old habits; and that even when consciously you do everything you can to stop yourself from doing what you know is wrong, sometimes the people and things that lure you in make that a very, very difficult time for you.

Movie Wars Megamax (Mega Max? MegaMax?)

I'm going to focus on just discussing the Fourze elements, since that's the part of this that's most relevant to my current viewing. If you want my full thoughts, you can still read them here. My original opinion is largely unchanged: movie good; Super TaToBa bad.

Anyway, the Fourze section.

It's the old, old story. Boy meets girl. Girl turns into chameleon. Chameleon turns into blob. Boy gets blob back again. Blob gets turned into switch. Switch gets turned into monster. Boy defeats monster. Blob turns into starlight. Boy loses blob, chameleon, and girl; switch doesn't show up again until near the end of the series. How many times have we seen that story?

So yeah, I think I liked this part more now that I'm watching it in its proper place in the show. Gentaro is at peak Gentaro, but I'm still not sure how well Nadeshiko works. I'm just going to ignore the sailor fuku-inspired costume, the overabundance of twinkling sound effects, and the camera zooming in on the suit actor's butt. It's a Koichi Sakamoto film, you have to expect some of that shit (also, so many women doing kicks while wearing a skirt; so, so many). As a character, I'm not sure how well she works. She kinda gets a personality by the end, but she's very much an intentional blank slate. I have to credit the actress for really doing her best with just body language but there's not a lot there to work with. I'm going to be interested to see her return in the next Movie War, because I honestly don't remember what she does all that well (because twinkling an obnoxious amount).

All of the scenes with Gentaro and other Riders are still fantastic, especially the all-too-brief moments of him interacting/shouting with Shotaro. The "It's space time!" "What the hell, man!?" moment is still fucking gold.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? Negatory. As per usual, this was filmed well in advance of the episodes I've been watching. Yuki's still sane in the show so naturally she's fine here, too.

Oh, hi Ryusei.

I just watched both of the 90’s movies on Kissasian and I’ve got to say, J is a lot more badass than he gets to show off in reunions. He takes on 4 monsters, 3 of which are very unconventional from a Toku design standpoint and suffers little problems that aren’t caused by human error. It’s just a shame the little girl didn’t offer much, but that’s what fan fiction is for.

J is awesome. Unfortunately, as a character that can grow to gigantic proportions, he would just cause too many problems in the reunions. So he either has to basically become a background character, or get taken out early on.

It feels like they forgot he had a normal-sized form for awhile, too. The first couple modern movies he showed up in he only appeared in his jumbo form.

Anyway...

Fourze 15-16

This was a really good arc. We got the full debut of Libra, the series debut of Meteor, another deep cut Rider alumnus cameo, and the brief moment in the spotlight for the really stupid Pen Switch.

The whole storyline with Motoyama/Perseus was really good. You really got to feel for the Zodiart in a way that we haven't really up until this point and the moment where he recognized the error of his ways and got the handshake with Gentaro was well realized. The fact that they pulled off most of the second episode with just the Perseus suit in no way detracted from the human drama. We also got some nice scenes with the choir kid, who used to play the obnoxious little brother way back in Agito.

Meteor's first fight on the series is fantastic. You don't see a ton of him, but all of the Bruce Lee-isms are already there in full force. I absolutely love Meteor and it's so nice to have him finally arrive. It's one of the best suits on the show, he has some great fight choreography, and Ryusei himself is a great character (or will be, at least, once he shows up in the next episode).

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? We're getting there. Pretty much any time Hayabusa comes up you know you're in store for some batshit Yuki moments. She's still pretty restrained, though, with her weirdest moment being the bit where she sings to the Rocket and Drill Switches. The Hayabusa costume makes a comeback, but she's wearing it to entertain a bunch of little children, so it doesn't seem that out of place this time. No puppet yet, but I know that's only a matter of time.

I mean, technically; a character that's a literal space god should cause problems too... but in all those teamups the riders are essentially just reduced to another guy punching in a suit.

J is really underrated because everyone seems to gravitate toward ZO more (I preferred J, but I fully realise I'm in the minority there :lol). Doesn't help that everyone has just settled on him as "that Rider that can grow" when his actual film has more to it than that.

I have been trying to find the Ex-Aid movies to stream, more specifically the another ending movies, but so far the only ones I have found are on kissasian and were subbed by order of zeronos who clearly have no fucking clue what they are doing and have no buisness subbing anything with the braindead quality they put out.

Ultimately, most riders can finish off the monster horde in crossovers alone.
However, characters like Kuuga and Gaim are more remembered for the character, not what happened in the endgame.
J, on the other hand, kinda got shafted as "That Rider that can grow big."

Are you sure it's Order of Zeronos? That group has been dead for years.

Thanks. I was told that was who did the subs, but whomever did them did an awful job

They only did the first one. The second two are done by GenmCorp, appropriately enough.

Fourze 17-18

Meteor, ready? Okay, Meteor!

And now the gang really is all here with the arrival of Ryusei Sakuta. Ryusei got a lot of focus in this arc, almost taking over the entire story from Gentaro. It's a good way to bring in the character, but it feels a little weird getting such an abrupt switch in focus (especially in 17; 18 felt more like normal Fourze). I'm not sure if the show was playing up the differences in the characters or what, but Gentaro felt a little extra goofy at first. I like that he saw through Ryusei's friendly act, though. He didn't piece together the whole "new Rider and new classmate show up at the exact same time" thing, but no one else did so I can't fault him for that. Gentaro really strikes me as, in D&D terms, a high WIS, low INT character. He can be really perceptive about people, but is still kind of a dumbass a lot of the time.

I remember eventually getting tired of Ryusei pretending not toe be Meteor, so we'll see how that goes this time. I did like that he at least partially explained why he has a different goal thant Gentaro and how Tomoko called him out for trying to fight Gentaro, though. It felt like a direct slap in the face to all of the times that Heisei Riders ended up fighting each other.

Finally, we have the fairly abrupt end of Sonoda's story as she gets sucked into a wormhole, never to return. I'm still not sure how I feel about that, but it's definitely hard not to argue that she got way less interesting as a villain after her identity was compromised. Also, Ohsugi is going to start being way less creepy now, which is a big plus.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? No. Honestly, she was barely even in this arc. She was less sidelined than most of the others, but anyone who wasn't Gentaro or Ryusei was mostly overlooked this time.

I always thought Ryusei was, and I say this with affection in my words, kind of a lame-o! I could never tell how seriously I was suppose to actually take his secret identity plot in the show, what with how obvious it was yet oblivious the rest of the club was about it. His martial arts and Bruce Lee homages as Meteor were definitely really cool, but I always got the sense (probably unintended) that it also displayed him as being a bit of a try-hard and kung-fu fanatic.

Also I don't quite remember if this is true, but I keep recalling that after he gets his power-up, he pretty much never wins any fights up until the last episode, or at least he gets beaten up way more than he really should.

All of that did make me root for the guy though, maybe not for the reasons the show intended.

Sooo, sorry, this is going to be a long post....

I just finished watching Shin Kamen Rider and Kamen Rider ZO.
Shin Kamen Rider is interesting in that it's supposed to be "for adults" as far as I understand, I actually liked seeing the main character more than the Rider Form.
First time watching it and, well, there really isn't anything to say about it apart from the fact that the movie, being a movie from the 90's seems technically better at what it wants to do compared to the movies we get these years.

The "Evil organization" which isn't even named is a famous trope that we've seen in Kamen Rider since Ichigo so I wasn't expecting anything else.
I also liked the fact that it's an open ending.

I think that the movie would have won in quality if it had been longer than an 1 hour and a half ( or less) because you can feel that several days, even months are cramed in that "hour" movie and you cannot even be aware when there is an ellipsis in the narrative....

Now, ZO...Well...What was I expecting?
Nothing really, I was like "there are 3 Showa Riders I've never seen their adventures, why not doing it now that I have some free time"

And...Well....hu...I don't understand the goal of this 48 minutes episode/short movie. Everything went too fast with as little explanation as you can have....
I mean, a dude creates a new lifeform and the Kamen Rider to basically...hu...save his son and stop said new lifeform? Sure why not.

There's nothing to be said about ZO I'm afraid.
At the very least, I like the Kamen Rider design. It feels very organic but not as monstruous as Shin x)

One question : Did they use a sort of recycled Shin as an enemy in this movie? The main monster looked a lot like Shin.


Aaaand finally....I restarted watching Decade but....the only thing I'm really enjoying in the show is the opening, the soundtrack, and Tsukasa.
The story around A.R Kuuga is so weak....

Then we jump to Kiva and that reminds me why I hate that Kamen Rider : It's because I've never watched Kiva and that Decade doesn't make me want to with that plot with the kid afraid of becoming a king and not wanting to bear responsabilities as a king.
It might have worked if it was told some other way.

There really are a lot of problems with Decade I'm afraid, but still, he remains my favorite Heisei Rider. I have good memories of the Agito arc, I'll see when I'll watch it.

The pitch in itself, the reason this series exist is interesting, saving the world by travelling in the 9 Kamen Rider A.R. It's just that some things are poorly executed I suppose.

I personally liked the AR Worlds of Kiva, Kabuto and Hibiki more than the series themselves. A bit more solid and self-contained; though I wish Hibiki's had borrowed more from the initial 29-episodes than going all wild with conflict.

Thinking of rewatching Decade after I finish the last few Heisei riders I haven't seen, though I'll probably just rewatch their arcs.

I like the idea of AR Kabuto being stuck in Clock Up. Otherwise, I found a lot of the AR worlds lacking.

ZO is way too much plot crammed into its running time. That's why I tend to like J more: the story is simpler and more direct, but it still has some cool suit designs and action sequences.

I will be watching J tonight.

As for Decade, I decided to continue, and yup, this was only the first two arcs that bothered me.
I like what they did with Kabuto. I never watched Hibiki but I must say that I like the tribute in Decade. It might be worth watching up until episode 29 if I remember correctly?

Watch all of Hibiki and suffer the second half with everyone else

Even with the mediocre second half, I still consider Hibiki to be my third favorite KR series after Agito and Kuuga. It's really just that good. Just an inventive series full of heart and character that makes great use of Japanese culture and folklore.

I wish someone would reboot Hibiki without the Kamen Rider title and just do a proper fantasy series Garo-style.

Yeah, the first 29 episodes of Hibiki are fantastic and you should only stick around if you're really curious to see everything get completely ruined.

Positive highlights of post-29 Hibiki:-

- The new opening
- Armed Hibiki
-
-
-

I actually hate the new opening. The original is so damn good.

Yeah, I'm with Switchblade on this. Hibiki's original opening was awesome, and I'd further argue that replacing it with something that had vocals was just one more way that chunk of the show undermined everything that was unique about Hibiki.

As did giving him a sword, regardless of whether or not it had a built-in microphone or whatever. So Armed Hibiki is out, as far as I'm concerned.

A proper version of that list would thus read like so:

Of course, I genuinely love the final scene between Hibiki and Asumu in the finale, so I'm one to talk...

Yeah, I'm with both of y'all on this. Hibiki's original OP is fire. Makes me wanna paint kanji characters on my face and train harder in the gym every time. It's also a nice breath of fresh air from the usual J-Pop stuff.

Hey now, I never said I preferred it! The original OP is of course better. I just like both.

Special mention to Shonen Yo. I often skipped the ending song in Kuuga and in most Sentai shows, and so they don't leave a lot of impact, but Hibiki's Shonen Yo was an exception. I listen to it and feel like I'm embracing my youth while standing on top of a mountain.

Hit the beat; keep your beat...

QUICK EVERYONE BURN THE INFIDEL BEFORE HE STARTS HAVING MORE PERSONAL OPINIONS

On-topic, I actually really like Kuuga's ED. It's like...I don't know, Godai's dream of a future where he doesn't need to fight anymore, where he can just rest and be happy.

Although speaking of OPs, much as I love Agito, I'll be the first to admit that his OP is underwhelming as heck.

Hat only applies if you prefer an out there Series. If you don’t, then the second half is an improvement

So yeah, I'm the kinda guy that has that unhealthy pleasure to see the things I like get destroyed/ruined...( well that depends)
I might watch Hibiki up until the very end. x)

I done that, I was the same way!

I regretted it!

Fourze 19-20

So there's this thing I've noticed with Super Sentai. Whenever they add the sixth member of the team, the show's normal dynamic gets really screwed up for awhile as the show tries to integrate the new guy into the plot as much as possible. Rider doesn't do that nearly as much, but it feels like that's what's happening in these episodes. Ryusei's presence throws a big wrench into Gentaro and Kengo's partnership, which leads the latter to temporarily leave the KRC. It's not a bad story, but it does represent a regression for Kengo's character.

I liked the part where the police showed up to investigate the school/get brainwashed. It's nice to see another moment where the show recognizes that people would not be cool with rampant monster attacks at a local high school.

We got Magnet States during this arc, too. I was never a huge fan of this one, but seeing it again I'm finding that I like it a lot more. The big shoulder pads aren't as bad as I remember and I kinda dig the domed face. The hand on the leg switch is still really stupid, though. I may try to remember to rank the five worst switches when this is all over, but for now Hand and Brush are definitely on that list.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? We got a weird moment when the hot dog Foodroid was unveiled, but for the most part she's still acting like a real human being.

Next episode: Nao That's What I Call Kamen Riding!

I will always love Fourze for giving me the Hayabusa Kun song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaBo4KSlBYs

lol

Woah, Magnet States really debuted that early? I could have sworn it was the 30s or late 20s...