Also, how is an invisible ghost shooting where not a single person is killed at all shocking compared to the boat ride full of helpless children flung into an exploding tower from episode 1?

Or for recent shows, the Global Freeze from Drive. But I think in the light of recent events we should stop looking for mass murders or global tragedies in Kamen Rider just to prove vin13ish wrong.

I'm a bit behind Ghost due to school work, so I had to catch up on both episode 4 and episode 5. So far I like how things are going. I do wonder how Ghost is going to get all of the icons soon with Specter in the way? Things are getting interesting.

Specter may be the typical badass secondary rider that we seen a million times before, but I still think that he is pretty cool. Badass anti hero secondary riders are always popular like Knight, Meteor and Baron. So I can see why they made Specter into another anti hero again. I would imagine he would become friends later on similar to Knight and Meteor was.

Agreed. Ghost's main problems right now are pacing and misuse of the Parka Ghost gimmick. If both could be fixed around the time we get to episode 10 this show could turn around. We seriously don't need a grimdark show right now and I'm sure as hell we really don't want another Ninninger.

Vin13ish's fondness for sheer darkness just doesn't gel with what the main audience of these shows want; fun with a strong drive towards action with comedy, with drama added as needed. There's nothing wrong with being lighthearted and perhaps at some point vin13ish will understand this.

I enjoyed this episode. Spectre is pretty interesting and I like the whole finding his motivation quest for Takeru. I'm sure it was all just to make Spectre look badass here. I am intrigued with Spectre and Alan's friendship and exactly what he wants with the Ganma. Well I can't wait for more.

Well he is the reason why modern day music exist today and everyone has know who he is. I do want to see how the Beethoven forum will turn out in action though.

I'd reckon that Toei decided with the time-honored tradition of "names on a dartboard." :lol

Well... I liked it better than the prior few episodes. So far, Specter has me considerably more interested than Takeru and his Scooby Gang. I think the direction is a good chunk of what's bugging me about the show, both in terms of the fight sequences and in terms of the constant shouting on the part of Makoto and Akari.

I'm probably also a bit spoiled: I've watched several Rider shows that I enjoyed a great deal more over the last two years, and it's probably not fair to expect this show to live up to W, Den-O, Gaim, or OOO.

That Takeru has to compete for Eyecons is a much-needed dynamic. I appreciated getting a week's break from the "guest character of the week has really strong feelings about Winston Churchill and also happens to have Churchill's favorite coffee mug" format.

I still find the Sentai villains pretty distracting. I didn't know quite what to make of the "gangster covered in plastic bags" thing; perhaps I'd best not dwell on it.

But darn it, would it kill the show to throw in some spookiness? I'm not even asking for grimdark, just, y'know. Something that makes it feel like a show about a ghost.

(Well, okay, that Takeru goes invisible/intangible when sulking is actually pretty nifty.)

I think they're supposed to be smoking bullet holes.

To be fair, Japanese ghost culture is a lot different than it is over in the west.

So, uh, why didn't Takeru just turn into a ghost and try take back Edison? I guess we could blame that on his stress/pain at that moment, but I'd like to see Takeru use his abilities for more practical/useful purposes soon. Specter was neat; it's a shame I don't like the figuart too much, because he has a really nice design.

Hell, I think one of the Grongi was reported to have killed ~1800 people. Kuuga and Agito were pretty brutal in terms of civilian casualties. The Porcupine episodes of Kuuga (34 & 35, I think) are two of my favorites from Kuuga.
I dunno, I think Starfish Hitler would be a bit more divisive. (To be fair, I have not seen the Starfish Hitler episode)
On the bright side, that means we'll probably be done with this part of the story and move on to more interesting things sooner rather than later.
I'm still miffed that they just glossed over that. It felt so unnecessary, and they don't ever follow up on it.