ACE WEEK SPECIAL!

Eyyy, its the last day of Ace Week, and for this week I felt like I should do something a little special. So I thought to myself, "What Rider characters could easily qualify as being Asexual?" A tricky question, considering there's like, no way any of the writers intended for any given character to be Ace. But despite that, after talking with a few other about the idea, a few characters came up: Terui(Accel), Philip(Double), Ryotaro(Den-O), but I personally felt none of them quite matched up to what I was looking for.

So failing that I thought, "What Rider shows celebrate platonic love?" This didn't really help much since like, damn near all of them do. But, yet again, I asked around, got some input, and it was decided. So today I wanna talk about Kamen Rider Agito, and the relationship between Shoichi and Hikawa!

The dynamic between these two was one of the highlights of Agito for me, and I felt like this was best emphasized in Episode 34, "Summoning Souls to Meet."


Now, I'm not about to talk about this episode in its entirety considering that the episode's' focus isn't exactly the interplay between these two characters. No, I'm here to talk about the scene I screencapped in and of itself, which is one of my favorite scenes in all of Rider as well as one of the funniest.

The set up is that after a fight with the El of Water, Shoichi is wounded and needs to rest for awhile in order to recover. As such, Mana asks Hikawa to take care of him, in which Hikawa does not at all hesitate in doing. Sweet enough, but with his protection Hikawa brings a gift! A box of strawberries.


Turns out that no, it's not that Shoichi doesn't like strawberries, he just likes them a rather specific way. Hikawa's' reaction is priceless.


But, he still does. Even when Shoichi asks him to them smash the strawberries into mush, Hikawa still does his best attempt at that without a single complaint. Hikawa, being Hikawa, of course can't do it properly, so Shoichi attempts it himself, only to fail due to his injury. All while the two tease eachother a little, but it's still clear that they appreciate the company and that they are about one another. It's a scene that's funny, sweet, and I feel really captures the sort of dynamic that these two share.

So, what about you all? Are there any particular platonic love/friendship moments in Rider that stick out to all of you?

Emu and Kiriya in Ex-Aid. Sure, he's not around for half the story, but the pair of them hav the least toxic work relationship of the entire gang.

On something that's more me choosing a platonic love side of something where it could have been more explicit, Haruto/Koyomi? Idk, maybe it's how one of them is a homonculus, and the other is an emotionally repressed ex-footballer, but idk.

Loved the dynamic between Shoichi and Hikawa. Easily one of Agito’s major highlights. Only 12 episodes to go and I will be finished with this series which I got to say, it really does get better after each episode and I can see why this is considered as Inuoe’s best work as a head writer since Jetman.

Kiriya is Emu's gay uncle and you cant convince me otherwise.

I myself definitely saw their relationship as platonic. It's clear they deeply care for one another, but I never saw any of their interactions as romantic. So yeah, checks out.

Well, after putting it off for two months, I finally sat down to make a start on Revice.

So far, not the best start.

While monsters coming from humans is nothing new, the way it’s done here kind of misses the main draw of it. Namely, getting to know why the person came to create it. We barely know anything about the FENIX guy who tried and failed to become this show’s protagonist and we know even less about the crook the Deadmans capture. Is he alive? We’ll probably never know.

And talking of the Deadmans, I have to wonder why a group that are some weird mix of Japanese and Mexican have an English name. What’s next in their cultural mishmash? And is Vice somehow connected, or are demons living in your head a normal thing in this world?

And as for the ending, I get that the mum in the hospital is meant to show there’ll be consequences this season, but the fact she was on life support, let alone in the hospital at all, was laughable, considering all she suffered was a scratch to her arm. Was the scratch infected? Also, the episode has Ikki giving up the belt and the next episode seems like he’s going to still say no. I hope this ends soon, otherwise it’ll get annoying.

Though I do like Vice though. He seems cool.

Just finished episode 42 of Agito. Only nine more to go and then it's onward to Ryuki.

I also watched the second episode of Skyrider and the first episode of Super-1.

EDIT: Speaking of Ryuki, the series itself is now available to watch on the Shout Factory TV streaming app.

I'm now up to the penultimate episode of Agito and I'm already have issues with this and a little bit of the previous one that comes across as rather facepalm worthy. A shame really. The show was doing so well up to this point too.

Hiromi was supposed to die there, so kinda understandable we barely get to know him at the first episode. He was supposed to sacrificial for the stakes, I suppose.

Julio and Aguilera are of spanish origin. Ortega, too, but weirdly it is spelled Orteca here. Probably a pun on Orca...? They are called the Deadman because they are based on Day Of The Dead.


She was hit somewhere in the head by the Deadman, and almost eaten by Vice. Being hit on the head would already realistically put her a few weeks in the hospital, it wasn't shown there was injury on the head, but that was the implication of it.

Watched the final episode of Agito last night and it is a pretty decent finale for the most part. Definitely better than the last couple of episodes and it's very good to hear the Believe Yourself insert song again after its very long absence. While I do get what they are going for, I can still make do without the really unnecessary subplot during the show's endgame. All in all, I really enjoyed this series and I loved all four of its Riders.

Apologies for the double post......again.

I’m currently watching, well re-watching, the first two episodes of Kamen Rider Ryuki through Shout Factory TV’s streaming app and I got to say that the picture quality on here is great, gorgeous even. The episodes that comes afterwards would certainly be interesting to see and the first couple of them seem better than I remembered.

What Unecessary subplot you talking about?

Well in this case, the implication wasn’t that clear.

Anyway, as the week’s gone on, I’ve gone through the next 4 episodes (which means I’ll be going through my brief thoughts on them here.

Episode 2: I’m glad that Ikki deciding to quit didn’t last long at all. But I’m not keen on the two monsters in the second episode thing. It worked in the last two shows because the episodes focused on the debut of the second rider and didn’t try to make us feel for two characters who are diametrically opposed at once. This would’ve worked better either as a two-parter or an episode and its sequel.

Episode 3: We get a little more focus on Daiji as he gradually slips into “obviously going to become a bad guy” territory. And they’re tying way too hard to sell that the Mammoth is Den-O based, with the seemingly random train rail attack. Though I do like the subversion that the obvious Deadmans victim WASN’T the victim this time.

Episode 4: This is probably the best episode so far. It answers some questions as to why the Vistamps incorporate those 10 specific Riders, why the Deadmans are going around stamping people (though it does pose the question of why the captain’s tried to kill him in the first episode) and what Julio and Olteca actually are. We also get a hint at some stakes, with Ikki’s picture going the way of Marty McFly’s. My main gripe is that in this week’s victim conflict, neither side came off as particularly sympathetic. The mum is forcing one daughter into a career at a young age, while spurning her other one, while said other one is willingly collaborating with a cult dedicated to destroying humanity. Though at least they didn’t shoehorn in a scene where they forgive each other.

Episode 5: I have to agree with Aguilera when she says the YouTube guy is totally unworthy. And I have to admit, the new guy looks intimidating. Though it remains (for me) to be seen if he’s the guy who got demoted in the first scene (are we sure FENIX’s President isn’t the real bad guy?) or Daiji, who as mentioned, has been going through the kind of insanity that only ends in one becoming a super villain. Also not too keen on the fact that all of Revice’s genomes but 1 are ready to go at a moments notice (remember when Ghost and Zi-O spaced out the search for their form change items?)

I’m now up to episode 7 of Ryuki. I also watched the second episode of Super-1 and just started on the first episode of Zi-O. Planning to watch the second episode of the latter and then more Ryuki after that.

Once again, I seriously apologize for the double post.

I'm currently watching the second episode of Zi-O and it’s another Kamen Rider series that does start off rather promising and I already liked its soundtrack and the general concept of the series seems to be pretty interesting.

Aaaaaaannnnnnnnddddddd, I just realize I have now managed to watch at least one episode of every Kamen Rider series from both the Showa and the Heisei eras. :D

That is a very great idea! I have actually done that with Sentai very recently and plan to do it with Kamen Rider!

I’m currently up to episode 16 of Ryuki.

Finally got around to rewatching some of Ryuki with Shout's subs to see how the quality is, and after seeing the first six episodes in full, plus skimming around a few particular episodes afterwards, I have to say, their track record is still holding!

These are great subs, without a doubt. I don't think Ryuki's existing fansubs were totally awful to begin with, so it's not the massive upgrade a show like Kuuga got, but all the same, it's great to see another one of the shows that made me a Rider fan to begin with get such a fantastic official translation.

I was thinking of all these little critiques as I was watching them, but eventually I realized, "man, if I even have time to worry about stuff that's this small potatoes, that's really just proving how good a job they did." I think the biggest objective mistake I caught was Shinji's famous "it broke!" line in the first episode not being subbed at all? Outside of that, it's mostly stuff where I felt the lines could've been handled differently... but, while I can't explain this part very well, I could also tell every time that it wasn't a result of the translators not understanding the meaning of the dialogue or anything. I get the impression it's all very conscious, and crucially, not a word of it was inaccurate, which is always the thing I'm most concerned about.

And then, outside of the dialogue, you've got touches like all the insert themes having their lyrics translated on-screen, which is an extremely exciting precedent for Shout to be setting. Again, it's not done halfheartedly, either; even songs that only get used once get the full treatment, and they paid attention to when the songs are edited differently or use a different verse depending on the episode.

It's a very thorough job, and I will still gladly wait for Kamen Rider shows to get official releases at the current sluggish pace they are if they're seriously always going to be this genuinely high quality. As always, the biggest problem I have with Shout's releases is simply that they aren't more readily available to fans outside of North America. In the case that isn't an issue for you, however, this is a great time to start (re)watching Ryuki.

So in other words, you want them to do 555 as soon as possible, right?

Great to hear! I'd heard general good things about the subs but I'm glad to see that their delaying this release to make it better clearly paid off into an excellent job. I have to wonder if it's the inserts that caused the delay? It would make sense and if so I'm very into that. VERY curious if 01's inserts will get the treatment, especially Find A New Life.

ALSO, thing I'm most curious about -- is Ouja still vexed?

In regards to the subtitles done by Shout Factory, I thought they did a great job translating the series and it honestly made me glad that I actually waited on watching Ryuki until the official subs were released. Not sure if I’ll be able to enjoy the show as much if I’m stuck with TV-Nihon’s through Kissasian.

Let me put it this way: I'd probably make the time to watch that entire show all over again ASAP if they did.

(Un?)fortunately, he's now pissed off instead. I guess going forward, it'll be up to existing fans to ensure the legends of weird and memorable TV-Nihon translations are passed on to new people getting into Kamen Rider. As long as we don't forget, hope will never be acute! :p

Kamen Rider Blade Q1

I've been putting this show off for a long time, for some reason. The last new old Rider show I watched was Ryuki, which was like 3-4 years ago now, while Build was airing. Maybe it's just that I haven't heard anything about Blade other than bench and kara miso soup, nothing was really standing out to me to in the intimidating presence of all the other Riders to choose from, but I had to get here eventually. So I have finally decided to start my quest to end the Heisei Era!

So what do I think of the first 12 episodes that I have currently watched? It's a very weird show, but definitely captures a lot of what is entertaining about Heisei Phase 1, with the exciting character drama and plot twists. This head writer, Imai Shoji, I'm mostly enjoying his style so far, although it's still too early to judge. I'm also told he mysteriously leaves halfway through, making his work with Toei a short portfolio, like a dazzling flash of lightning that appears and fades quickly in the night sky. A recurring theme in the show seems to be betrayal, suspicion and the importance of trust. I was surprised to see that BOARD pretty much becomes defunct immediately and from there it delves in to this crazy conspiracy revolving around the Rider System, the Undead and the lore of humanity's divine source.

I'm already finding a lot to relate to in the characters and their own personal problems. Like Kenzaki's backstory with his failure to protect his parents and hating how others patronize him, saying he couldn't have done anything. That just makes it worse! Feeling useless sucks and that's the big driving force for the protagonist. He's pretty balanced, with respect and admiration for others like Tachibana and Hirose, but doesn't take kindly to having his altruism exploited. At worst, he's got a short temper. It's intriguing to learn more about this Fusion Compatibility, since anger being used to grow stronger reminds me of Build's Hazard Levels. I'm curious to see how this show deals with the connection between emotional state and the power to fight.

Moving on to the Secondary Rider, I haven't heard the Kara Miso song in action yet, but Tachibana seems like the kind of guy you want to punch and hug at the same time. Like Kenzaki, he hates being used. Unlike Kenzaki, he's taking that hatred out on the world and indulging in self-destructive behavior, to the point where even his apparent impending death turns out to be just a physical hallucination of his fear being used against him as a side effect of the Rider System. Did I mention that he claims to have eaten a jigsaw piece out of fear of his girlfriend finishing a puzzle of them together? He's a source of a lot of black comedy from just how dramatically terrible his life and mental state has become, but I can't help but want to sympathize with him as well.

It's hard to get a handle on Hajime. He's needlessly antagonistic to virtually everybody but has a soft spot for kids and mothers, which is his most honorable redeeming factor. I feel like he's just putting up a front to make others leave him alone, something Kenzaki is more than glad to oblige, but deep down, he seems to want recognition for his heroism and to be accepted by humanity. It reminds me of Keisuke's first arc in Kamen Rider X, where he's suffering from the lonely mission of fighting to protect people while they ostracize him for being perceived as less than human. However, I think Hajime would help his cause if he was a little warmer and open to people, but I guess the main problem is that he doesn't fully understand human emotions yet. I want to see how he interacts with Tachibana, since they've only passed each other by once so far.

Team Blade consists of Kenzaki and his two friends. Hirose continues to provide TACCOM support to Kenzaki in battle following the destruction of BOARD base. She's very helpful and earnest, looks similar to Koyomi and carries her own heavy burden of responsibility for her father's part in unsealing the Undead. However, I feel like she's misguided in agreeing with Kanasuma's belief that unlocking the secret to immortality would somehow be a good thing for humanity. When has playing God ever not screwed over humanity? Go watch a movie! Fortunately, she seems to be realizing gradually that this is not the blessing she thought it might be. Kotarou is less useful, but he's letting them live under his roof in exchange for a scoop on Kamen Riders and even though he's a little too much sometimes, I enjoy how he lampshades the absurdity of every situation.

Fun Fact:

Did you know that there are three different Aikawas in this show?! There's Aikawa Hajime, the heart Rider with a hidden heart. Aikawa Shou, the head writer who's going to replace Imai. And Aikawa Nanase, the singer of the awesome OP, Blade Brave! Not long ago, I was pointing out all the Inoues working for Toei, but I'm guessing Aikawa was a popular surname in 2004? Hajime and Nanase share their first kanji, but Shou's is different. Their second kanji are all the same though.

Oh most definitely. The sheer level of out there that the first half of Blade can reach is the exact thing that kept me hooked, and I was so sad to see it go come the second half. A shame the guy hasn't done much more stuff; He knew how to keep my attention if nothing else.

This is not only my favorite aspect of Kenzaki, but also what made him my favorite character in the show. He emphasizes a lesson that I wish alot more protagonists in general did: Be kind, but don't be a sucker.

He 100% totally ate that puzzle piece and you can't convince me otherwise.

Did you watch with EXCITE!subs or some other subs? I feel like watching it with the former heightens the experience. I did watch it in a filipino dub back in the day and then EXCITE! later and it was the best weird 12 episode I've seen back then. He~Shin!

The more I hear about it, the more it sounds like Hibiki, but a totally different kind of surreal novelty. Imai's kind of like Inoue in that way, he leaves a strong impression, leaves you feeling something no matter what! There are no meh moments in Blade so far, the plot is being driven naturally by the character interaction and development in the foreground and it's also reminding me of all the mysterious conspiracy stuff in early Build, which is strong praise from me. I hope it can maintain this level of quality, at least until the staff change. Not sure what to expect after that. Something else I forgot to mention, I enjoy the surprising number of rarely seen fight locations that keep showing up, like the snowy mountain and Isaka's dimly lit lab.

While Tachibana is the one I enjoy the most, certainly Kenzaki is the one whom I most relate to and probably also my favorite, being the least dysfunctional of the three Riders who have appeared so far (pending Leangle), while having a productive self-motivated deep sense of responsibility to help others driven by his failure in the past. His intolerance for others' unnecessary rudeness like Hajime's is good to see as well. He understands the value of surrounding him with people who care about him and wants to end meaningless confrontations quickly so he can focus on what's important. Although those two are still fighting in Zi-O on the Day of Oma, so it looks like certain things like mocking humanity can escalate his anger to the extreme, which appears to be the catalyst for increasing his Fusion Compatibility.

If anybody else said it, I would've thought they were joking. But Tachibana.... Yeah, I can believe that. I like the way Sayoko cheerfully tells him he can keep the piece, as if getting it back was ever an option worth considering. :lol

I'm watching it with TV-Nihon.

Which means....

I was just in time to understand that reference!

I don't memorize anything, but yeah Kenzaki's the broken, non-functional, messed-up kind of protagonist, and there'd be more about that in Die's thread of Blade, but can't remember which pages (early on the series though). His notable reaction to Tachibana's betrayal is also one of them. I don't know if his muffled speech (learn about Ondul) is... a sign of his brokenness :p Though if you appreciate the first part of Blade well, of course the series should be a blast considering the 2nd half, as some thinks the series picked up at 2nd half.

There's a long debate on who's the secondary Rider of Blade, Tachibana or Hajime. So you're going with the former here. Tachibana's a secondary Rider that is normally amicable with the primary, something that is out of the norm at that time (and soon will be again), but I still don't know about how Tachibana turned hostile too to Kenzaki in his self-destructive phase at the first half of the series, despite their relationship before. Tachibana seems to show self-fulfilling prophecy, that your fear can make it real, but if you don't fear, you can expect much better outcome than you think.

The antagonism probably can have a reason for one to do, but yeah doesn't mean it turns into something not-asshole. There can be other, more straightforward way to tell others to leave one alone. Once again this is about how both morality pets are terrible people, the insanely insolent Amane which is a thing that softens Hajime, despite that Amane puts everyone down in Hajime's favor (which can potentially stroke Hajime's ego further), and Hajime being the only one that can make Amane tone down of course.

Though Hirose also can also be a tough and irritable type in that. Her responsibility for her father, there can be those who'd view that as her being "non-functional" and that responsibility for someone just because they're family can feel alien, what do you think about that? And otherwise yeah being immortal isn't all pretty, and that's a lesson also certain other KR series have. Kotarou is an in-universe KR enthusiast.... I guess he predates George in that? Though of course otherwise Kotarou is not a morally dubious individual, probably if George wants to make his own story, Kotaro does it in more civilized, harmless way by just writing, albeit he can behave annoying and dismissive of personal space as seen in his first scenes. He'd realize that he's useless though...

As well as to break the notion that being a doormat is necessarily a part of being kind (and no, not about "know when to be kind or when to be asshole, be balanced", the asshole part is there still). Kindness is actually also about standing against wrongdoings (and not make light of them), dealing with what's bad in front of you. You care about other's well-beings, so by that you should prevent others committing bad deeds to people. Small ones too like how being rude (Hajime) is wrong and that you should point them out to those people.

And being a doormat doesn't necessarily mean being kind either, someone can obey others' command to do evil deeds without much problem, like for example Tooru from W. Though yeah roles like protagonist has no relation to your morality, protagonist =/= hero, antagonist =/= villain. Protagonist only means main character and there can be villain protagonists.

One more... the Undead being defeated by absorbed into the cards also reminds me of Build with the absorbing monsters into the bottles.

Calling him amicable might be giving him a little too much credit. Certainly, the backstory shows him to be a better person and acting as a helpful sempai to Kenzaki, but this self-destructive phase has him going to extreme lengths to seal Undead out of his fear and now it looks like he's addicted to some kind of anti-fear plants Isaka used to experiment on him, making him betray Kenzaki for real. This guy can't catch a break. Some lyrics from Blade Brave stand out to me, "the sin of ignorance and the trap of knowing too much", they sound very relevant to his character arc at this point, with how he deludes himself that his fear isn't a problem and sucks at taking advice.

For the other morality pet, are you referring to Haruka or Jin (not those guys from Amazons, haha)? Other than encouraging Amane's disrespect to Kotarou, Haruka seems to be mostly a good person who just wants to help Hajime work out his problems. Not really the best mother or big sister though, however, she does sometimes reprimand Amane's coldness to patrons. But yeah, I can see how being around Amane might have contributed to Hajime's rudeness, since those human emotions are being imprinted on him.

I think it makes sense for her to feel responsible for her father's mistake. That was also Gou's motivation for destroying Roidmudes, to erase his father's crime from existence and protect his sister from the truth that their father was a monster. But for Hirose, her father wasn't evil but merely misguided for using extreme methods to save his wife. Having the Rider System in advance is also preferable to being unprepared in the event that the Undead returned unexpectedly on their own. Even so, I can't blame Hirose for feeling that way, but maybe she should share that responsibility with others who are willing to help, instead of carrying it all alone.

They do have that enthusiasm in common, although Kotarou considers himself to be a non-fiction science writer and talks about Kamen Riders the same way someone might talk about cryptids, whereas George is a lot more fanatical and wants to add his own vision to the story, rather than merely reporting on it. Other than that shared trait, I think George is a much more charismatic and useful character though, with how he makes every scene a performance and has a major effect on the plot.

Misunderstanding I guess, I think I was refering to Amane being morality pet to Hajime, and Hajime being morality pet to Amane. It's like Nico-Taiga situation. Good for you though to not sweep Amane's behavior under the rug though and acknowledge that Haruka isn't the best mother, even if she's good-natured on outside (forgot what's your reaction to Keiko from Faiz or such, and I got hard time for criticizing her behavior there.... but man similar too as here; Keitaro's such a horrible parent there even with his kindness, spoiling the child isn't the way to raise them).

I think to talk about being useful, it's kinda unfair to criticize people who aren't scientists to be not as useful as scientists. Fictional intellectuals are on par with superpowers in general, if someone's not physically fit and able, the other main way to shine is being a scientist, they're as valuable as fighters in toku as they can create anything, they're typically the one with greatest contributions ("most useful") in any character role, like protagonists such as Sento, antagonists such as Ryoma, or heroines like Akari.

I don't like when people add swearing in subtitles, I get it's tricky to find an English equivalent sometimes but it just comes off to me as a bit immature and desperate to be taken seriously. Yeah, it wasn't polite language that the character said but they didn't actually swear, it's always tricky to find a comparison with toku but if back in the day you were watching Byker Grove characters wouldn't suddenly come out with a load of expletives!

^ I don't know. Normally, I would agree but I honestly thought it made sense with Asakura's character. Not to mention that being pissed off comes across as more natural-sounding than being "vexed" to me.

Anyway, speaking of Ryuki, I’m now up to episode 24 of the series and I am already very close to its halfway point especially since I am finding the show to be very enjoyable so far.

Also, just out of curiosity, does anybody here know which episodes of Ryuki are written by Yasuko Kobayashi and which ones are done by Toshiki Inoue? At least, I'll be halfway through the series before the end of this year.

Personally, I feel the best way to translate the line would be "It annoyed me" but I will always have a special place in my heart for "It vexed me."

Watched the Revice movie earlier today. It’s a pretty good preview for the show itself (beside a weird subplot with a pair trying to evict Ikki), in spite of having some signs that not every factor was finalised (for one thing, Olteca seems like more of a major presence and like the Phase 2 Deadman monsters, he never detransforms). Would definitely recommend.

I'm still diligently working my way through Fourze again, and while I've been keeping to myself about it like I said I would – yes, keeping to myself about how every arc in this show's first quarter has been absolute solid gold on every front, be it action, comedy, drama, or the raw emotion present throughout – I do feel there was a moment so cool in episode 14 that I really can't help but share it here. It's from the back half of the two-parter about the person who was the first monster of the week coming back. It's directed by Hidenori Ishida, who I immediately thought was a great choice, because his focus on atmosphere meshes well with the plot needing to convey the complex feelings of someone lusting after something they know is bad for them. But then it got even better, because this scene came along:

https://i.imgur.com/WWMwEkH.png

Gentarou is made more vulnerable than ever at the worst possible time. He's completely at the mercy of the Scorpion Zodiarts, the toughest foe he's faced in the series so far, who steps uncomfortably close just to really rub it in...

https://i.imgur.com/iYwunhD.png

The cramped room the scene takes place in has been darkly lit this entire time, because that makes the scene that much spookier. Then the next shot comes along.

https://i.imgur.com/0g2T5c0.png

Man that's some hardcore s***. The abrupt shift in lighting here is exactly the sort of thing that makes me love Ishida so much. It doesn't make sense if you consider it from a super literal in-universe perspective, but the way it enhances the feeling of the scene for the viewer draws you into the world in a way simple logic never could.

(Also, Aesir's subs for this show aren't half bad, either!)

As a teacher, I can relate to this. We've all had that one student.

Despite holding off on most of my Kamen Rider and Sentai viewings due to the holidays, I did manage to watch the first two episodes of Zero-One as well as the first episode of Saber. Considering re-watching a few one-off Christmas episodes from a few seasons of the latter franchise though and maybe watch that one and done Christmas episode from Kamen Rider Wizard for the first time as part of my Christmas marathon this year. If I can, I'll continue where I left off on Ryuki a day after Christmas since I'm still hoping to at least finish that series before the end of this year. If not, I will at least be a little more than halfway through it.

Damn it! Another double post.

Watched the second episode of Saber some time ago and for something different and since it's the holidays I decided to watch episode 16 of Kamen Rider Wizard for the first time.

I was about to say, isnt the scorpio zodiart a high schooler?

This is actually somewhat late, but I finally saw the Zero-One Movie: Real X Time, back on Saturday and only just now have the time to write about it.

This movie has lots of great action scenes, transformation sequences, and honestly felt great seeing the Zero-One cast again. Something I'm glad they carried over from the early episodes of Zero-One, while certainly very CG focused, do provide some fun dynamic scenes, which is always welcome in every Kamen Rider movie.

As much as I enjoyed the action, the story felt a little lackluster for such a hyped up leadup (to the movie's release). The setup was good, having S plotting the world's destruction to create a paradise, as if to challenge God, with a countdown to increase the pressure, only to reveal his true intentions, which wasn't bad, but the problem is that after Hell Rising Hopper shows up and trounces Eden, a random weenie (is that Ignis from Ultraman Trigger?) becomes the final boss. What bothers me about that is that it's just a random weenie and not someone like a close subordinate or second-in-command, making it feel random and less impactful.

Again, lots of great Rider action, and just great to see all of Zero-One's Riders again. I get to see my boy, Vulcan blasting everything, Jin flying kicking the Gorilla, Horobi seeing Kimetsu-No-Yaiba's Demon Slayers as the hot new fashion (I kind of prefer his old look), 1000% Thouser interrogation, and Valkyrie's not getting the business end in this movie! Heck, even some of the minor Humagears and Ikazuchi (that's a big truck for one motorcycle) and Naki get to appear. but falls short at the end, though the wedding scene was a nice way to end it.

Anyway, I'm going to hopefully make time for some other Toku movies, with Metsubojinrai, Ryusoulger, and Ultraman Taiga's movies before or after Christmas.

No, she was Gentarou's homeroom teacher.

Ooooh, okay, that makes more(?) sense.