I watched the ZX special, and while it is 100% relying on your pre-existing associations of the sped-through ZX origin story with every other Showa rider, it's a fun little thing. The SHT of its day.

Watch the Accel movie special. I overall found it a solid enough sit, though I didn't really like how some of Akiko's' character traits regressed after the development she had gotten in the show proper.

And I still don't buy that her and Terui are married. Those two has like zero chemistry.

So I'm catching up on Saber ps 13-15, (ending on Caliber's death ) and I have to say... am I missing something? Spoilers ahead.

So Touma and SaberCaliber are talking, and SaberCaliber says how h fought EspadaCaliber in the past, EspadaCaliber tells him how he betrayed them to find the truth and save the world... so SaberCaliber decides the Sword of Logos must be evil! I don't get it! Am I missing something? It honestly feels like a line got skipped. I know he's going to be right, because I've seen vague stuff about the future, but it feels like such a leap of logic. If it turns out he's seen the Sword of Logos doing some dodgy stuff in the future, please don't spell it out for me, but a little "Yeah he has knowledge you find out" could help.

I'm guessing he decided that was the case the moment he took hold of Kurayami and got a taste of its abilities. Either way, it hasn't really explained it in the show proper. But I'm assuming this is something they explain in the special with the previous SOL members?

It's tricky to tell because of how the dialogue is spaced out, but I believe the key, at least in terms of what was shown on-screen, is that Hayato mentions he was told by someone that everything he was doing as Calibur was a good idea, which is what Kamijou initially locked on to. Another reason it might be confusing is because the "someone" is question is referred to extremely respectfully as あのお方, something difficult to reflect in a translation that makes it clear it's not just some random person off the street who planted those ideas in Hayato's head.

For something different, I ended up watching episodes 24 and 25 of Kamen Rider Decade if only because there is something of a crossover between Shinkenger and this particular KR series.

It didn't really make any sense to me either. I'm still behind on Saber, only on ep 22, and so far there's yet to be any more information on that

I started watching Kamen Rider Ryuki thanks to the official Toei channel on Youtube then I'm resuming watching it in a less official manner.

It's one of those few Heisei Riders I never watched (Ryuki,Hibiki,Kiva,Den-o,W,OOO,Fourze)

I think the premises are interesting, but I'm having a hard time with some stuff Shinji actually did on Episode 5-6.

I'm okay with the fact that he can be a bit naive, but for christ sake...he is supposed to be a journalist. A journalist is supposed to be analytical of his surroundings. Telling everything to Scissors was one heck of a mistake everyone would have seen coming a miles away.

I don't know what to expect from this series, but as far as I understand it....it's just a Rider War.

I'm not too fond of that theme in Kamen Rider. x)

What Rider shows are episodes with an over all end game objective? I plan to see them first earliest to current?

Finally saw the Kamen Rider Eternal movie. And uh...

Well...

Didn't like it very much! Infact I dare say it almost made me dislike Daido more than "redeem" him as the movie seemed to have wanted to do.

Also the guy who ended up using the Luna Memory in A to Z is extremely obnoxious, jesus.

Yeah, I think the main issue is that they show he was already going to destroy Fuuto BEFORE he went nuts. If they had him decide upon it as part of his snap, then the plot might be stronger.

As for Luna, well he did give me something for a Facebook group that specialises in out of context Tokusatsu shots (“My breasts are bigger”)

Well there is that, but the main issue is... he was already nuts from the getgo. Like, the movie wants us to buy into the idea that the reborn Daido was a good person until his failure to save the prisoners made him snap, but from minute one of the story, he's already acting the exact same way he did in A to Z, and his desire to save the Psychics is more born out of his already assigned mission of killing the Eyes Dopant rather than out of any sort of benevolence.

Literally nothing in this movie made any of the NEVER Soldiers at all sympathetic, nor was the movie really all that entertaining in its own right, making the entire thing a pointless watch.

In which Kamen Rider series has the worst side characters.
I nominate Wizard Shunpei is the worst.

I couldn't even finish the Eternal movie. I felt no attachment towards Daido, I just couldn't bring myself to care about him and his goals. I honestly have no clue why Eternal is such a popular character

About halfway through my first watch of Ghost and I don’t get the hate. Sure it has occasional obnoxious acts by side characters and Yurusen is a bit childish but I’m entertained so far. Not favorite but ok.

The Eternal movie is one of the first Kamen Rider things I ever saw! It's also the only W thing I've seen, and honestly by the sounds of it, it benefited from that.

I can't speak for the fanbase as a whole, obviously, but for me? I did like Daido in A to Z, as I felt he was an entertaining villain, and his backstory there actually made him alot more pitiable than the one provided in Eternal; That of a sweet kid who ended up as a crazy zombie, implying a similar fate for the rest of the NEVER soldiers. This movie REALLY could've capitalized on that, but for some odd reason decided not to.

Honestly? Yes. Having zero context probably would make it a bit more enjoyable as a simple action flick.

That said, go watch W, it's a great season.

I'll add it to the list. Gotta catch up with Saber first. And probably finish X, kinda stalled out 18 episodes in there. And then I think I had vague plans to do Fourze. But maybe after that I'll do W!

Very opinionated here but I think you've set yourself up for an amazing slate of shows there. X is easily one of my favourite Ultras and Fourze and W... maybe I'm biased because they were some of my first Riders, but they're part of what I'd consider one of Rider's highest points. You've got a lot to look forward to!

As much as I'm glad to have hyped you up by proxy, I gotta admit that I don't mean *Ultraman* X, I mean this dork:

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...760&height=427

... OH!

I wish I could say anything but I don't know that guy yet :lol

He's my attempt to truck with Showa, and he's decent! I think there are worse choices for a first attempt to crack Showa.

Glad to hear it! My first attempts were ZO, J and Amazon... so a little eclectic lol

I've done the Showa/Heisei movie trilogy ages ago (and the ZX special!), but I guess doing a whole series feels like a bigger achievement. The strange plots, the fight scenes, the constant children-in-peril, all done in 25 minute chunks building to a climax where it's probably gonna be the Great Leader again.

Amazon, though, I've also heard good things about. People on the whole seem to like him!

X is probably my favorite of the 70s Rider shows. It has some really good villains and was the first Rider show to really experiment with serialized storytelling. Don't try to make a drinking game out of Chiko and Mako getting transformed by monsters, though; your liver will not be happy.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...760&height=427
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...760&height=427
It's already begun.

My first Showa Rider was the very first episode of the original, but only the first episode. After that I found half of Amazon and watched that, have yet to finish it though. I saw the ZO and J, along with a few clips from Stronger, but other than what I've mentioned, not a complete series yet.

I do plan to get around to them at some point, but I don't have all the time in the world, especially with every other show I'm watching.

If I counted every show I haven't finished or just watched episode one of I could be here a while! :lol

Even though it's the only Showa show I've finished I got into Black easy enough, certain shows like the original,Black etc do stand out anyway and I never really had any bias against either Showa or Heisei on the whole, although the one thing I do definitely prefer these days is that the 2002 onwards opening themes are not just the name of the show which is personally a bit more my cup of tea, but tbh I'm probably more a fan of strictly Kuuga to Kiva than actually the whole of Heisei!

Just want to throw out quick first impression thoughts that Kamen Rider Zero One: RealxTime (thanks to over-time for subbing) is maybe the nicest-looking toku movie I've watched... ever? Like, in terms of spectacle, before this movie I'd say the most to impress me before would either be Gaia Memories of Fate or Surprise Future, but I think RealxTime might honestly blow both out of the water.

Helps that it was nice, mostly simple story with plenty of actually really sweet and good character moments!

It was definitely a nice-looking movie, even if nothing else. 01 always has style

Having a lot of fun with the original Kamen Rider, but I'm confused -- I thought we wouldn't see this guy for another three years? :p

https://i.imgur.com/VfGMSWx.jpeg

Watched Decade ep 1 because they uploaded it
Kinda disappointment I've heard so much bad about it, the first episode has me absolutely hooked and I don't even like moral greys.

A lot of Decade's infamy comes from the later episodes, the ending, and the way the show handles all of its long-running mysteries.

Tsukasa is just OK to me, I could watch him sometimes and other times he could come across a bit not actually all that but most of the highlights for me were not the actual 00s tribute episodes, and of course the final scene was disappointing, whereas I might have a bit more guilt in criticising something like Den-O or W that at least a bit more people like!

Soo I've just watched Kamen Rider Zero-One: REAL×TIME.

I must admit that some stuff bugged me a bit but I had a really good time watching this movie.

Every characters from the series had a purpose.

I noticed that they changed the way some humagears talk by adding some kind of sound reverberation (notably Izu before she is gaining the memories of the previous Izu, and Shesta). That was actually a nice touch.

Izu being Zero Two is kind of a way to make the suit have more action scenes to it.
Damn, that made me actually justify buying a Zero-Two Figuarts, I'm weak.
Was it a man in the suit?

The use of Metal Cluster Hopper, even if it was only for a bit was quite nice to see and still shows that it's still a pretty powerful form.


ES/S or whatever he is called was an interesting...guy and I at first was afraid that it would be a one dimensional villain. Ok, his justification isn't much, but it works.

Now, those things that bothers me, but I guess I can just shut up and believe in magic :

How the hell did previous Izu's memories got backed-up by Zea? I thought there was no possible back-up for Izu...
Can someone explain that plot point to me please?


The final villain of the movie isn't that great though, it felt like this guy and those people wanting to destroy the world were hikikomori. Maybe I'm trying to make too much sense of this x)

Also, about Azu :
She's here...and...no one cares?
I mean, aside from her interaction with Horobi, there was nothing more than that.
Does that mean she's in the Metsuboujinrai movie?

So yeah, I liked it, I was afraid at the beginning that it would be like the Faiz movie just because of the fight in the stadium x).

For the people who watched it, what were your thought?

Yes, Satoshi Fujita, who regularly plays Valkyrie and currently Kenzan.

Not quite sure on this one, however, Izu's memory USB data stick was basically the Zero-Two key, so there you go.

Ye those dudes were pretty much weirdos. Guess Toei needed a throwaway villain for Aruto and Izu to fight that's not Esu.

Horobi was pretty much the only one who noticed Azu. Of course he didn't attack her so we can have the MBJR movie. She's, well, she got a role in that movie.

Aaaaand I just watched the Metsuboujinran movie and...hu...
I'm afraid I got mixed feelings about this.

Azu got wiped out pretty quickly.
The new "villain" is kind of the same as what Gai was at one point.
All that english...uuuurk it's so cringe.

And...basically, all the Metsuboujinrai members die...

...ok?

I think I should have waited before watching this movie. I should have waited for the Valkyrie and Vulcan movie.

Been going through Saber again the past couple of days, mostly because I do need to catch up aside from watching important snippets here and there alongside watching the Raw's live each week, but also I figure a refresher would do well. This is also a bit self-indulgent because I have writing ideas and refreshing myself on early Saber would be beneficial to me. Especially since I'm switching to TV-Nihon due to Genm Corp having yet to update any further.

So right now I've done Episodes 1-9, alongside the Swordsman Chronicles for Buster/Slash and Kenzan.

The pacing sure is something during these first set of episodes huh? Admittedly I do feel like we land somewhere in Episode 5 though the hyper fast pacing of some of these episodes can be a bit off. But also I mean that first sentence in both a negative and fascinating way. Like the pacing can get super fast and insane at times. There's just some things they set up, like the fact that we see Yuri show up and he'll be skulking around for at least nine or so episodes before his proper introduction as a character. It's just... so interesting to see.

Also just the way they introduce things, like you get Kento but suddenly Ogami shows up as the focus. Or the slow burn into meeting Daishinji before his debut as Slash. The fact that we meet Reika as early as Episode 9 and we've yet to figure out her whole deal and we won't for a bit. If there's something that Saber is definitely intriguing about and just fascinating to look at, it's the fact that despite it's rapid fire pacing, there's a lot of slow burn stuff going on.

Touma while nothing too special yet, is very relatable as I am a fanfic author, and so his struggles as an author just speak to me. Rintaro is just a joy to see after years of antagonistic and rough around the edges Secondary Riders. Kento is such an interesting guy who likes to just shut himself off and fall into bad habits continually while saying he'll ask for help but will keep ignoring it. Ogami is just... I love him a lot, I'm glad we've gotten a good dad Rider out of the gate and he's just so lively. I also enjoy Daishinji, mostly in his movements that evoke his shy nature, and also just his passion at maintaining swords. And then there's Ren...

Yeah I'll be real I've yet to see any positives with Ren and this is on a rewatch. His whole "Strength is Justice, Justice is Strength" motto is interesting but it just feels like words he's throwing out. Nothing more. Honestly the most interesting part and the dude who stole the show from him in his own Swordsman Chronicle was Desast. Like Ren's pretty meh to me, but Desast taking an interest in him and trying to get Ren to go along with him? Now that bumps him up from meh to okay with me.

So honestly so far there's only been two real weak points for me, Episode 3's back half, it probably has the most egregious back to back transformation and form change footage we've seen I felt. Like I get why exactly they went heavy on Unreal Engine and just the Stock/Green Screen footage, big sickie and all, but I feel like that's the worst it's gotten. Thankfully I feel like we've avoided that when it comes to later episodes. And then just Ren in general when he's not with Desast.

Anyway I hope you all don't mind this late night ramble. Tomorrow I'm likely going to continue and maybe if I do enough I'll get through the rest of the first arc. Or at least finish up to Episode 15 and the Swordsman Chronicles.

Alright so I suppose I should get into this since I basically finished the first arc of Saber.

So over the past two days I dealt with Saber Episode's 10-15, The Theatrical Special, alongside the final two Swordsman Chronicles.

Saber Theatrical Special: Not much to say on this since it's one of my most recent watches other than realizing that Bacht is such a weird spelling that I didn't realize it sooner until I watched Tv-Nihon's subs which spelled it as Bahato. Which makes sense given well, that's how they pronounce his name.

Episode's 10-15: Now while I don't have much to say on 10, and not much has really changed in like my time going through this short stretch. I do sort of want to commend Saber for portraying... well, war. Starting from Episode 11 we get into our finale for the First Quarter, it's very hectic, everyone's running around, there's no time to think, people are getting power ups and advantages left and right. There's just a lot happening and I kind of like that?

Like there's no real time frame, just a lot of slow moments, and maybe at most this whole battle takes place in the span of like two days. It's kind of crazy and really sells the idea that these two factions are at war, the constant fighting while hurt, continually pushing themselves further despite the risks. I don't know why but like watching these episodes in like bursts/binges, really helps the experience than watching weekly.

Jaou Dragon still has one of the best looks and best jingles in all of Saber. Dragonic Knight was really good in it's debut still, I really enjoyed it and I have to relent and agree about a lot of the things said in the Controversial Rider Opinion's thread when we were discussing about upgrades. Mostly because... King Lion Dai Senki is actually good, like in build-up, in debut, how it's used. Like yeah I'll continued to joke about how it's just:

Rintaro: Daishinji I want the new toy
Daishinji: Alright, I put it in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.

But like Fish had mentioned, it's absolutely fitting that Rintaro gets an upgrade that's basically the fruits of the Sword of Logos' technology prowess. Not to mention like Deepsea had said, it ties in well to his "The Organization is my family" that's basically was put into prominence in Episode 11. So yeah, I actually like King Lion Dai Senki now.

Espada's and Blades' Swordsman Chronicles: I really loved these a lot, say what you will about them like, putting these things that add important and expanded stuff in side content. But I'm glad these are here. It really feels like these specials were primarily along the thought line of, "These episodes are too bloated but we want to get this out in some way". And so that was the primary reason they did these, I mostly say this after watching the final two since they really do compliment the episodes they're attached to. Those being Episode's 13 and 15.

I had never actually gotten to watching either of these during the initial run and I'm so glad I did watch them now. If anything this honestly further cements Rintaro as one of my favorites from the cast, he's just... he's so great. It's hard to really describe why but I just love him.