Well there is a staff turnover after episode 30, with episode 28 being the last to be written by the old guy.

Deja vu! So Hibiki was the most infamous case, but not the first. What was the reason for Blade's staff change?

No idea. Though considering I can’t dig up anything on the original writer, it was probably a breakdown.

I believe Blade was also doing badly like Hibiki was

I watched the first two episodes of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid on YouTube while going through my Halloween marathon and the premise of the series combining video games with doctors as well as its world-building looks very interesting even though the Rider suits are going to take some getting used to.

I'd think ep. 48 still do have some loose ends, like Wakana and her Claydoll Xtreme powers, still thinking that she's the possibly strongest Dopant in the whole series, above Terror and Utopia too, thus ep. 49 needs to be done to tie in some loose ends.

OK, obviously I know that wall of text is frowned upon and I'm in tough choice for that, but the reason I'm doing that is I want to give fair focus on most part of the series, instead of just focusing like on, like, for example the fighting part (and neglect other parts a tokusatsu series cover), or being fixated on certain characters only. I talk about everyone as much as I can, and also want to touch little things from the episodes.

If you want the parts of only my thoughts, then (yeah I know still long, I just gave several choice):

1. Geez, what a poor attitude display overall from Shotaro at this period. Of course Phillip's demise naturally is going to leave a lasting impact to Shotaro big time (he openly cried about it), but Shotaro had pretty poor coping mechanism here, the "lashing out in anger" type. Shotaro does have occassional meanness in his tryhard(-boiled) flick of pretending to be cool or such, but.... he did that, in greater scale of meanness than what's ever seen from him for outright petty reasons as in not getting the cat food he needed; which is like when a bratty child's needs is neglected.
   
2. Another change is displayed from Terui that, at first he hated Fuuto, but now he'd stand against Wakana's declaration that Fuuto isn't filthy, but it's her mind that is twisted, and he henshins to Accel to prevent her harming Fuuto. Though, Shotaro still had to keep Accel in check, as Terui's going directly attacking Wakana as human. So it seems that Terui's change is becoming more altruistic, but still had a bit of his pragmatic ways, resorting to force to stop certain threats. It's probably similar to later Banjou from Build after he becomes Cross-Z, where he'd escalate the war with Touto's army against Hokuto to end it in ep. 20 to Sento's dismay.
   
3. I'd think the appropriate payback (or applying the lesson from the mistake) from Shotaro would be (dunno if Akiko learned in side media or such) him revealing to Akiko that her dad had died long ago.
   
4. It's good to finally see a familial moment of Shroud with her child other than Phillip, but I think the episode is misguided if that's meant to be a good advice, as Shroud learned about the errors of her ways in ep. 44, unlike Kirihiko or Ryubee. "do what you think is right" is a deadly combination when it's paired with self-righteous people, such as radical believers, they can cause big harm while having a "with us or against us" mentality, ruling out the possibility that they've gone wrong.
   
5. While EXE's Anomalocaris didn't fought at his prefered environment, Cockroach didn't make use of any of his super speed to gain advantage, is it intentional to show that they're just greenhorns who are unable to use the Memories' powers effectively? Because KR tends to underutilize character's powers in later appearence.
   
6. While the worker is actually evil, but still at the beginning Shotaro lashes out at him for the wrong reasons.
   
7. The scene is of course, meant to be the family finally being at peace after being screwed up, and Shroud's last contribution of redemption with her advice to Wakana leading for the unstoppable Claydoll Xtreme to not resurface again, saving Phillip, and her regaining happiness. But dunno if the scene would be probably glamorizing the family too much regardless of their action at the series (I do know that this isn't the only villain farewell being done on that way), especially Saeko's. This is probably proving Phillip's claims to be true that the Memories are the culprit of the family being evil, but Saeko abused Wakana due to Ryubee's abuse to her, it's not seen (in main series) when did Saeko became Taboo, but at least she should be inherently evil Memory or not if she didn't turn into Taboo at young age (Wakana still as child).
   
8. I also personally think Ex-Aid handled the similarly talked about revival (of Poppy and Parado) scene better, as it's inevitable when True Ending movie comes, and personally if they didn't get revived, I'd actually question the series from that, as Bugster has shown to possess immortality due to reviving before from Graphite. Best explanation is about how Gaia-related deaths don't make them totally disappear but contain them in the data; Earth memories... similar again to Ex-Aid's Game Overs?

My concern isn't so much tone as much as it is how things are playing out in general. Even if Ghost were as dark as say, Amazonz, I'd still probably have the same criticisms that I do.

I'm in the camp that Philip should've stayed dead; Atleast for the ending of the season proper. Teach kids about handling loss and letting Shotaro find a way to move forward in his life.

It would be nice if Takeru ever actually acknowledged his father's' own soul though. It's only ever brought up, like, once, towards the start of the Second First Act. Like yeah the stakes are there, but considering Takeru's' dad isn't someone I'm particularly attached to, it rings a tad hallow.

The only thing I'll warn you about is when it comes to the first episode: No, you did not infact open the second episode by mistake

Me, watching Blade Episode One the first time: "Hang on, what the hell is happening?"

Me, watching Blade Episode One the second time: "Oh cool, this all makes sense... wait, no, what the hell is hapening?"

I decided to watch Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue again as part of my Halloween marathon just for something different and a part of me for some reason wanted to add something Toku-related as part of said marathon for this year.

Nice. Do you plan on watching Kamen Rider Black as a follow-up to that?

I'm not sure since I have other things to watch. Might do that for next year.

All I do know is that I will get to Kamen Rider Black before next Halloween and if there are a few episodes that will make for good viewings for the holiday, I will watch those for a second time and hopefully I'll be more well-versed into the franchise by this point and time and yes, Kamen Rider Black is on my KR shows to watch list.

I see. :rock:

Up to episode 21 of Zero-One and it's alright.
A lot of the episodes kind of just slide on by due to how formulaic it is (Even after the villain switch). Arguably, it's gotten even worse since the Humagears are turning corrupt far more easily. I get that the Ark has something to do with that, but it honestly seems like just shoving a Humagear will turn them into a Magia now.

As far as villains go, I think Horobi is more interesting than Thouser, but that might just be because Thouser and Zaia feel like Namba Heavy Industries except Namba actually fights for himself. Horobi is standard "Kill all humans" villain fare, but I like his style :lol

Episode 21 featured a teaser for a new form for Zero-One, and good god do I hope it's a lasting one. Shining Hopper and Shining Assault Hopper take Zero-One's nice and clean design and fuck it up so bad.

Yeah the Job Arc really pushes formulaic to its limits since the first episode of each competition is usually "Here's the job set up, oh no the humans are awful, and now the Humagear is a Magia, time for Thouser to neuter Zero-One further and Jacking Break"

Now imagine going through that weekly.

And well... while the Job Arc has some nice moments and parts in it... I still think it's the weakest part of Zero-One.

Thinking about it, yeah. I can quickly see this being an incredibly tedious series of episodes to watch on a weekly basis. Without being able to just binge through them, sitting through a literal month of the same episode with a mildly different skin could be probably be the dropping point for me.

So, we got the Zero-One Driver, the Shotriser, the Forceriser, the Zetsumeriser, the Raidriser, the Thousandriver, and now the Slashriser.
Any more fuckin transformation devices this show wants to use? Good god, I get not wanting to pull a Ryuki and have everyone use a variation on the same belt, but damn. I think the last show that had most everyone use a different belt was Kiva, I think?

"Oh, but the Zetsumeriser and Raidrider turn you into monsters, not riders"
Shut up.

Anyway, this show is moving in all directions with, what, 3 antagonists (4 if you count the Ark and Horobi separately). Despite that, they still decided to have the fucking contest continue? Bruh, it's been 10 episodes, with a thankful respite with Jin's return, but it's still not done?

Also, Vulcan is pretty bad at being a cop (Is he even a cop? He works for AIMS, which is owned by Zaia, right? So...Does he have any jurisdiction?). Who confronts the criminal with the one piece of incriminating evidence?

I think in the case of Zero-One, the multi-belt works just fine. We're in a company weapons arms race after all. (inb4 "Kamen Riders are not weapons!!!")

And, mandatory "Job arc is the worst part of Zero-One."

Fuwa isn't a cop per se?? AIMs is a cross between a private military and a SWAT team? Something like that.

I think it would fit better if there were a stronger reason. Zero-One Driver was developed by Hiden, and, what, literally everything else except the Forceriser and Zetsumeriser was developed by Zaia?

And it seems this arc's disappointment is a universal truth :lol

And I didn't think Fuwa was a cop, since he worked for a special unit funded by a private company. A lot of his actions and mannerisms (As well as working closely with police on some occasions) just made me wonder if he had any actual "Power", legally.

You see, the real gimmick collectible toys of Zero-One were the belts all along!

Also insert: (The real Metal Cluster Hopper was the friends we made along the way)

Yeah, remember when I said this was hell to watch weekly? And that was with the botched debut of Metal Cluster because I don't care if it's a scary walking murder machine. Gai got to look good and embarrass Aruto again for like the 6th week in a row. But yeah like...

I usually never consider dropping Rider, that Job Competition Arc was the closest I've ever gotten to dropping Rider.

For me the competition arc is still the strongest 01 ever got until the V-cins and some of the strongest material Kamen Rider had put out in a while despite some obvious massive flaws (the pacing, the inelegant transition to fights, yaiba). Just a lot of great stuff going on here and something very unique we just never get to see in this series by making perfect use of 01's setting

You left out my least favorite part: Arturo spends five minutes hugging the out of control Humagear and screaming its name in an attempt to calm it down.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUmnfnGUEAAzGpQ.jpg

I watched this episode last night, but I just remembered this moment and how much I loved it :lol

Anyway, something small that I noticed that bugs me about Aruto is that he doesn't seem to have any friends. Yeah, Humagears are his family and all that, but still. Failing or successful, you'd think a comedian would be able to make some friends.

So...Yua. At what point am I allowed to admit that I don't care about her? Like, clearly they're trying to do...Something with her and her possibly being mind controlled, but when she's been a total puppet with no agenda of her own for 17 episodes straight who just gets mild headaches when she hears the word tool, I've long since lost interest in her being a hero.
Hell, Fuwa even gave her an out. "Don't worry, Gai has us both under mind control. I get it now" or whatever, and her response is to deny that, and that everything she did was of her own volition? Girl, that was the wrong answer.

I think in general Takahashi is not great with character writing. Fuwa somehow got off well but the journeys of most characters in 01 just don't work well, and I'd fail to tell you anything about Brave and Snipe beyond base character traits. Yaiba is all of that in focus

I forgot where, I think it's the HBV, but I think there is a line where Aruto mentions he used to be in a comedy duo with a friend. But said partner left after Aruto's awful jokes were too much.

So uh yeah, not many friends! In fact as sad as it is to say, Fuwa's probably like Aruto's first real friend.

Thinking about that bit where Aruto lost a comedic partner, and in the same sentence he states how he felt like he was behind the times, it's not really far fetched for what he does later in the show when dealing with issues about those closest to him. Already he was panicking when Izu was damaged by Jin early on.

So, Ark has revived, and over the past few episodes, Gai has handily gotten his ass beaten in every fight he's participated in.
This does bring a smile to my face.

Learning about Fuwa's past was a fun little twist about how apparently mundane he was. I'm glad it didn't change who he was on a fundamental level.

As an aside, I really miss how unique Metal Cluster Hopper was when it was controlled by the Ark. Not only in how savage it was with using the grasshoppers in shredding enemies, but also doing stuff like making metal copies to briefly fight (Aruto did that once, but still. Shit was cool. Should be doing it more), or just making a straight up cloud of grasshoppers. Once Aruto got it under control, it was just making his sword bigger and floating shields, with an occasional mini-swarm to act as a small attack.

On a whim, I watched the first two episodes of the original Kamen Rider series on YouTube and it already looks pretty interesting so far especially for something that’s made all the way back on 1971. I also watched the first episode of Kamen Rider Build and I’m already liking what I’m seeing especially the main Rider of this series.

And before anyone ask, yes, I am aware that the original series is available to watch on Tubi and Shout Factory TV apps and I am planning to watch the episodes through that sometime next year after finishing Agito and Ryuki while watching some other shows like W, OOO, Ryusoulger, and Kiramager in between.

I'm watching the original too because I thought I'd just watch a couple of long series for a change, it's interesting to see the evolution of it, I kind of like the ending theme and you could say some bits reminded me a bit of Jon Pertwee Doctor Who, which is cool!

Okay, so I'm at Zero-One's penultimate episode, so a couple things.
First, dick move to introduce a character in a fucking side special. Who the fuck is As, why does she look identical to Izu, and what is up with the Ark Progrise Key?

From how it seems to be presenting it, As only looks identical to Izu so she can better manipulate Aruto. If that's the case, that's a shit reason, but whatever. I'm just more upset that there's some "Episode 35.5" that I missed that introduced her...Oh well. I'm on episode 44 now, so I just kinda dealt with it :lol

Anyway, a mild thing that irks me is that Horobi walks around everywhere with a sword, but his main weapon when he transforms is a bow. I know it's bladed, but still.

Switching subjects...Y'all really tryin to redeem Thouser like that, huh? Abusive dad and a robot puppy backstory? I mean, the puppies (Both past and present) are cute, but c'mon. With all the shit the guy has done, you gotta try harder if you want me to like him at this point.
Gentoku/Rogue he is not.

Yeah, it's weird. He only uses the sword briefly in Reiwa:TFG to wound Geiz.


Yes. And it's still one of my favorite episodes :lol

https://scontent.fmnl4-1.fna.fbcdn.n...45&oe=6192259D

Yeah it's pretty sloppy.

The best aspect of it is honestly that everyone could care less about Gai's turn to good guy and simply tolerate him instead of acting buddy buddy with him. Helps sell that they aren't willing to truly forgive him. So that helps out a lot in post-dog Gai for me.

I'm not gonna front. Thouser (The dog) is cute, and the transformation sequence (Complete with Thouser dancing and Ark tapping his arm and waiting) was adorable.
But I'm not gonna just sit here and say that I still don't want to watch Gai get shot in the chest a couple dozen more times like in Izu's prediction :lol

I do enjoy that Yua and Fuwa barely give him an inch during his "Redemption." Taking every chance to call him out on basically ruining the world. I think part of what makes it disappointing is that even if they barely accept his apology, they still trust him.

I've said before the way there is rushed, but also it really doesn't feel odd to have Thouser acting as an ally in later materials. I suppose it helps I already loved Gai all the way during his debut, but Thouser becomes his a lot more fun to watch acting as the "Captain" of the other human riders, as Fuwa puts it in the final stage.


I don't know, for me it's just impossible to not love Gai.

Edit: Completing the MCH and Thouser team up was how different Gai's inflections were in his tone. Sounding a little more heroic, especially when he jacked Ark.

I totally get that it's rushed, and it's fair to like the guy. Hell, I've warmed to him after feeling that the only way he'd be redeemed is being dropped into a pool of molten metal :lol

I just wish this redemption arc could've come sooner than the endgame. Like, make me feel for the guy like I did for Gentoku.

Gai basically starts 99% of all the problems of the show, but I do kind of feel like those problems were only made worse by other individuals? I think the biggest one is in 35. Where ZAIA attempts to storm the MBJR base. On my rewatch of it (after knowing what happened in the V-Cinemas), I was kinda on Gai's side on this one.

Yes, Gai causes the Ark to go berserk and get MBJR formed, but 35 had him go out of his way to attempt to dismantle it. Many of the conflicts stemming from 35 onwards was because Aruto basically blocked Gai from taking down MBJR and possibly the Ark as well.

That issue I suppose can be chalked up to Ohmori basically not knowing what to do with Gai. IIRC, him overhearing people's dislike over Gai is what made him have Gai just utterly losing each fight he was in the later parts of the show, thinking would be more satisfied to just see him weekly messing with the cast and then losing. Which was, not really what people wanted out of Gai.

The thing about Gai is people don't actually forgive him afterwards. Hard to hate on him when pretty much everyone in the show already does.

I might be in the minority here from how you speak, granted I know plenty of other people who were just like me.

But Gai getting his ass kicked finally and losing constantly is absolutely what I wanted. And the catharsis after the Job Arc felt, oh so very good.

I meant in the way that it gets extremely repetitive. The job arc having Gai style on everyone weekly being succeeded by Gai just being styled on by everyone weekly and not feeling like the show was actually moving until 35. I'm sure people were glad to see Gai get his ass handed, but from what I could tell, people really didn't want to see Gai still be the main antagonist when we were in the 30s already.

Me literally an hour ago: Harping on Gai and his poor handling
Me watching the finale: Giggling like an idiot with Gai and his Thouser patrol

As a whole, I feel like Gai was just handled poorly. He was the new toy on the shelves, so they shill him. I get that. After that grace period though, I felt they didn't know what to do.
A perfectionist who basically had control of every piece on the board, it would've been better to show him as more fallible and vulnerable when his plans fail. But no, they opted to literally power creep him. He lost not because of his arrogance or hubris, but rather because other characters around him got stronger. Zero-One's Metal Cluster, Vulcan's Rampage Bullet, the various powers Ark granted other characters. It was only after the string of loses via power level did he lose emotionally, which is backwards of how it's supposed to work.

Gai was written sloppily and it honestly felt like they handled him from episode to episode, rather than as a full arc.

Anyway, just finished Zero-One. It was an okay show. Decent start, adequate middle, a slog that was the job arc, and a strong ending. Don't like the cliffhanger ending, nor do I like As and her sudden importance, either.