I finished Fourze's summer movie not too long ago and started watching its Hyper Battle Video that also serves as minor crossover between Fourze and Amazon, mostly for shits and giggles, and that special is so freaking hilarious. I also should be able to finish this Kamen Rider series very soon. Will be probably watch Blade next.

Just finished episode 30 of Stronger, which marks the end of Black Satan and the rise of the Delza Army.

In regards to the former, bringing back Mister Titan as Hundred-Eyes Titan was a great move, albeit it still contained the general annoyance of General Shadow mucking everything up. Not just for Black Satan, but for my enjoyment as well.

Because again, I just really loved Titan as a villain, and I fondly think about some alternate universe where we got him as a sort of legendary rival to Stronger like how Ambassador Hell is to Ichigo. As it's when Titan unfortunately dies for real that my enjoyment of the arc as a whole went down pretty hard.

Now, to give the show some credit, it does actually tie in somewhat nicely with how the Delza Army is introduced. Why was General Shadow always screwing up Black Satan's' plans? He wanted the Delza Army to take over and, lo and behold, said army is full of backstabbing douchebags. The whole fighting with honor thing was just a ruse.

But I unfortunately still don't fully buy into it because really, there's no good reason why Great Leader wouldn't have just had Shadow executed multiple times over by that point. Shadow's' constant boasts about him being the one to personally end Stronger also go totally nowhere and are seemingly forgotten about come the second half of the show, so what gives? Was that all just elaborate ploy too? Which is another thing: Shadow takes credit for alot of what happened, but most of the stuff involving Stronger's' fight against Black Satan contain completely incidental things that in no way would have any sort of influence from Shadow.

Well whatever. The Delza Army is here and, yeah, I can definitely see why some would prefer this part of the show. Like I noted earlier, Backstabbing becomes a sort of central theme of the story from this point onward, and there actually a surprisingly serialized plot from here on out, despite the plot itself being rather simplistic. And maybe it's just me, but the general atmosphere of the show also improves, weirdly? The show takes itself slightly more seriously from here on which helps to keep me drawn in.

Ignoring how Shadow is involved, the only other real downside I see is the couple of times they try to make the claim that the Delza Army is far more dangerous than Black Satan when, like, the threat level is basically the same from what I can tell? Not a huge deal, just something that's very noticeable.

Oh and, of course, you probably have a good idea as to why I felt the need to stop and post after episode 30.

I've already talked about how I felt Yuriko wasn't exactly treated well for a good chunk of the show's' run, what with her definitive victories being able to be counted on one hand. And episode 30 marks the point where, unfortunately, she dies, no two ways about it. Which really sucked for me as problematic elements of the 70s aside, I did rather like her as a character. Tackle and Tachibana made a surprisingly good team!

But, I gotta give it to the show runners on one aspect, and that being that, at the very least, they let Tackle go out like a warrior; Managing to fight through slowly dying of poison and even managing to take out a Cyber Demon that even Stronger had been struggling with up to that point. Plus, won't lie, I definitely felt for Yuriko during the scenes where she made her promise with Shigeru and then after the fight where she passes on. There was an effort to this last episode that I totally won't discredit.

So... yeah, I'm on the last leg of Stronger now, and while I currently have mixed feelings in regards to the first half vs the second half, I am overall optimistic.

This is one of the most memorable Showa Rider episodes I've watched. It's tragic that, unlike Jo who is fully committed to the lonely Kamen Rider lifestyle, Misaki still dreams of a normal life after the fighting is all over, but being a remodified human means having to fight as long as you live, so the only way out of that cursed life was by death. It's also a shame that this is Toei's official reason for why Tackle isn't labeled a Rider (unofficial reason being "girl"), an outdated concept by modern standards. Nevertheless, this is still a little victory for Misaki, that she chose to reject the slow helpless death by poison that Dr. Kate dealt her, in favor of a heroic sacrifice that saved the day and became a legacy for Jo to continue fighting as well.

It would've been preferable if this was saved for the final arc, since it's not like Stronger has any other recurring female characters to take her place. Judged on its own merits though, this episode is full of genuine emotion and gave us one last lighthearted scene between Jo, Misaki and Tachibana before the trio is broken forever.

"Ultra Cyclone!" :cry

Saving it for the final bit probably would've been overall better, but I also get why putting it here helps to serve as more pathos/motivation for Shigeru, and there's definitely some solid potential in terms of follow-up. I do really hope that Shigeru honors the promise he made in some way come the show's' end. It'd be a total waste of all the efforts that the episode went to give Tackle a proper send-off otherwise.

Fun fact; Tackle was originally pitched as a Kamen Rider before it was turned down by the network, and had the show gone on longer (I believe they initially wanted the usual ~50 run) there were plans to resurrect her as a Kamen Rider with a slightly altered design, mostly covering her up to the same degree as usual Riders (you can find concept art for this online). It seems a lot of her deal was toned down by the network so I appreciate what they were able to get through despite that. I very much consider her to be Kamen Rider

If the SIC toy of Kamen Rider Tackle is any indication, I think the design would've been pretty cool to see! And yeah, I know it's debated on whether she qualifies or not, but I agree that she's just as worthy of the title as any other hero in the franchise.

I hadn't heard about the idea for reviving Tackle before, but sure enough a quick look online showed it to me. I imagine they wanted to give her a proper "Rider" form not only as a form of character development, but also so they could have a different suit actor while transformed, given her actor's asthma problems. Too bad the idea fell through, it sounds like it would have been quite interesting.

I am now down to the final two episodes of Kamen Rider Fourze and depending on said finale, Fourze may have officially made it as another of my top favorite seasons of Kamen Rider right alongside W, OOO, Dragon Knight and a few others.

EDIT: Just finished Fourze's two-part finale and, like OOO, it is one of the best finale arcs in all of Kamen Rider.

I have finished Kamen Rider Stronger.

I'll be real, the ending left me pretty disappointed. I get that the show got cut short and all, but I feel that's not much of an excuse.

Rather than continuing alot of the character stuff that this second part of the show did a decent job at setting up, it instead just focuses on the inherent coolness of getting all of the past Showa Riders back together.

Ya know, granted, that IS cool and all, especially since they're all out-of-suit appearances unlike in Skyrider, it really didn't make for the best pacing or character work in regards to, well, everything. Like, Delza was actually Great Leader the whole time? But he was also the leader of Black Satan? How?

And I would've forgiven alot of it too if I had gotten the final scene that I wanted. I was really hoping that the last scene of the show would've been Shigeru out on a vacation, some place nice and warm, as a way to honor Yuriko. But alas, it's just a montage with the focus on how the Kamen Riders will always be around to be our heroes, as per the bog standard.

But, regardless of that, as well as some other decisions that I either didn't agree with or were confused by, I still had an overall decent time with Stronger. Like with most the rest of Showa, it's overall just sort of meant to be simplistic fun, and I'm almost always down for that. It's not Peak Showa for me -- that award still goes to Super-1, but for what the show is, I did enjoy its action and most of its characters. So it's a net positive overall.

The next Rider show I plan to watch is actually Revice, as I plan to follow along with Die's' thread on it when that happens in a few weeks. Should be fun. If nothing else I dig the aesthetic of it atleast.

To be fair though, late Revice has the trend of "everything about it was good except the main series itself". :lol But dunno about the recent ones.

I thought Hiromi was one of the Revice characters who is universally liked, but wonder what'd be your reason to not be really interested with him.

As of today, I finally started watching Kamen Rider Blade.

He's aight to me, that's about it.

Hope you enjoy it, it's a good one.

I think this actually adds to the unsettling mysteriousness of Great Leader, the way he can assume an unknown number of vastly different forms, possibly at the same time.

Due to Stronger being only the second Showa season I watched after Amazon, these crossover episodes were a pretty big deal for me at the time, as my first time seeing Rider 1, 2, V3, Riderman and X out of suit.

While I mostly liked how General Shadow was a cunning villain, I was a little disappointed when he basically just gave up on his schemes after the rest of Delza Army turned against him.

Shame this final arc didn't completely land for you, but I'm glad you were able to enjoy it for what it was.

I love the aesthetic of Revice as well! The show on the other hand, uh.... Well I'll tell you the same thing I told Die: Good luck.

Sounds pretty accurate.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/7c09fb55...e61cc8d0fa.gif

I mean, I get that aspect, given that he's the Big Bad of almost all of Showa and all, but like, if he's both Black Satan and Delza, why would he lead a coup against himself? Just makes no sense...

It is in character. In the original series, after all of Shocker?s executives were killed, he moved into business with Geldam and had the remaining Shocker members hunted down and killed.

You absolutely can't fault him for an unwillingness to diversify.

Thanks. I am up to the 10th episode of Blade and I got to say, the show looks to be pretty good so far.


Ah, yes. One of several memes that made Blade pretty famous among the fandom especially considering good old Tachibana-san (who may or may not have apparently betrayed BOARD). ;)

Tachibana is full of memetic moments all throughout the show. Hope you get a great kick out of him!

I think this will be of interest to many: https://tokuzilla.net/watch/special-...o-augment.html
Just please no spoilers until the subs come out.

...


I get the feeling I might know what some of you are thinking right now.

"Haha, funny April Fool's' joke DS. But we all know Saban's' Masked Rider is trash and you can't seriously be comparing it to Kamen Rider Black Sun."

In which I'll respond with one very basic question: Is it really that clear cut? Afterall, how many of you have seen both shows, let alone Masked Rider in and of its own right? And if you have, do you even remember it clearly?

Heck, I'll flat out admit that originally, the review I'm about to share did actually start off as a total joke. I went into MR with the full intent to mock it, and then proceed to write this review in the most ironic way I possibly could. The show had such a bad reputation, it had to be incredibly easy to do, right?

But then I saw the first episode, and then the second, and then the third... and what I ended up getting was a show that, while I wouldn't so much as call it an underrated classic or anything, had a surprising amount of heart put into it. It had some genuinely funny comedy, heartwarming moments, and a surprisingly decent amount of character development and consideration for the script.

That, combined with the quote from Shirakura got me to seriously consider: Does Masked Rider actually have any sort of leg up on Black Sun? Afterall, he felt the need to specifically call out this show from nearly two decades ago, and confidently at that. So is there actually a sort of discussion to be had on how the show from Saban adapts elements of Kamen Rider Black RX VS how Amazon reimagined elements from Kamen Rider Black?

Well, my mission today is to get to the bottom of that. As such, I present to you all:


Let's get started.

Action and Visual Flair

One running theme that's going to become apparent throughout almost this entire review is how BS at first glance would seem to dominate in every category, but as you look beneath the surface of both it and MS, a legitimate argument can be made over which show handles what it has in a more satisfying way.

Kamen Rider Black Sun is a show made very recently, and as such has the inherent advantage of higher budget, better technology, and many more effective filming techniques having been discovered since the 80s, which is when the tokusatsu that it's rebooting(Black) debuted. And given the type of show that Black Sun is, there is alot more focus on the drama of its plot rather than the action of your usual Kamen Rider fair. Thus almost every action scene is more quick, to the point, and alot gorier in order to appeal to an older audience.

So that's gotta mean it's overall better than the visuals of Saban's' Masked Rider, you know? Afterall, the show cribs stock footage from Kamen Rider Black RX, so you can't really count it as they're not putting any effort into their own scenes, right?


Actually, no. Even if you don't want to give Saban credit for using the footage from Black RX(which in itself is pretty fun to watch most of the time), there was actually a surprising amount of consideration put into how to utilize said footage. Making sure to match Kotaro's' outfits, filming specific transitional scenes so the plot of the given episode would make sense, making sure to mostly use footage where the Japanese actor's' face was obscured whenever they had to use a scene where Kotaro wasn't transformed, etc.

Sure, it wasn't always the most seamless, especially when they'd dip into footage for ZO and J, but it's easy to see that consideration was put into making things line up as smoothly as they possibly could. And what little original action scenes they did film(mostly the times Dex would fight untransformed) were choreographed in such a way as to give its target audience something to smile about.

If you ask me this actually makes the section kind of a tough call. Do you side with the more modern, movie-like aesthetic of BS, or do you admire the effort MS went through to utilize what they were given? Me personally, at the end of the day, I side with which I found more visually stimulating and interesting to watch, as that's sort of the entire point of visuals, you know?

You can say I'm cheating or that I'm biased if you want, but at the end of the day, my eyeballs were far more intrigued by the antics going on with the American show. Both the original and the reused footage.

Plus, if I really felt that the reuse of footage were an outright cheat, then that would mean there's no good justification for Kamen Rider Black Sun recreating the opening of Kamen Rider Black, music and all, shot for shot, now is there?


Point goes to Saban's' Masked Rider.

Music and Atmosphere

Music is sort of an odd one to talk about for me, in that I didn't find either show's' score to be all that memorable or notable.

Black Sun has a score that might as well not even exist outside of its opening and ending themes, and Masked Rider, due to its low budget, had about six songs original to it, and sometimes even borrowed music from Power Rangers to compensate.

So I guess what it comes down to is, how do those theme songs hold up against each other, and how do they contribute to the overall tones of the show that they're attached to overall?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r41R0BKosVw

I'll admit, BS actually does great here, as the opening theme really does let you know straight away that you're watching a show that's trying to take itself incredibly seriously, and "Did you see the sunrise" is an incredibly good song that was wisely placed as the ending theme despite how easy it would be to use as an opener.

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

MS however has a theme song that is rather divisive, and it's easy to see why, but at the same time, I also get what Saban was going for with it? I'm not a fan of the vocals, but I understand wanting the song to sound like a sort of tribal chant to not only distinguish the show from PR, but to also sell how the Masked Rider powers in the show's' setting are inhereted; Passed down since the days of old on the planet Edenoi.

Unfortunately, it has the double-edged sword of not really fitting the tone of the show as a whole, and the song itself works way better as an insert theme than one that preps you for the kind of story you're about to experience. Let's just say that the idea of a tribal theme song would be done much better years later with a different toku franchise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTHBOsctK0A

Okay, so it's clear that Kamen Rider Black Sun takes the lead with its musical budget, but does that mean it wins in terms of its overall atmosphere?

Actually, no. Because you see, atmosphere isn't just engrossing drama that makes your heart drop. It comes in all sorts of different flavors. Sure, the adult-aimed Amazon toku does its job in being very dour and dramatic, but Saban's' Masked Rider's' aim: To be something fun and uplifting for kids, is achieved as well. It has the sort of warm and wholesome feel that many shows don't actually capture all too well anymore, almost as if those who make these shows try to avoid it.

So if you're talking atmosphere specifically, the two are actually very even! But in the end, that means that the music is the deciding factor, and as such, I gotta give it up.

Point goes to Black Sun.

Plot, Messages, and Themes

Politics.

It's a big debate on whether or not politics have any place in entertainment, but whether you're for or against it, there's no denying that BS dives headfirst into a political landscape that's sure to be divisive.

I myself do not like talking about politics in general, and that, combined with how extensive political discussion is against the rules of the board that this is being written for, means that I'll be doing my best to not get into it too much. But given the very nature of the story itself, I do feel the need to point out that, regardless of one's' political leaning, it seems like this show was outright designed to just stir controversy for the sake of it, rather than have any sort of concrete point.

Because what starts off like a "simple" story about prejudice and the cycle of violence and hatred that erupts from it slowly turns into a insane diatribe about how in the end, we're all monsters and how true peace will only be attained when the "enemy"(whoever that is) is gotten rid of. By violent force if necessary.


Combine that with a bunch of moments that parallel real life to the point of being tasteless, as well as the show being outright advertised as controversial in its trailers and I honestly think that rather than have any sort of theme, moral, or idea that it wanted to cling to, Kamen Rider Black Sun instead just wanted to grab everyone's' attention via attacking them personally, which, while certainly a great strategy for viewership in the short term, more often than not makes your tale become more and more forgotten about the longer time goes on.

People generally don't like to be antagonized, and that's exactly what Black Sun does to its audience. Very directly, infact.

Even putting all that aside, the overall plot of the show really doesn't make any sense once you start to break it down. Sure, there's stuff that's blatantly meant to be allegorical, but even despite that you still need to have the internal logic of your story and its characters make sense. The main issue is inconsistency without much, if any, explanation. Stuff like how the King Stones actually work, whether or not the Creation King is actually sentient, and how Kaijin biology actually works are all flip-flopped on, made even worse by all of those aspects being presented as important plot points.

In essence, BS doesn't really have much of a point or even clear idea to focus on, yet it pretends that it does, which is incredibly frustrating to see play out to say the absolute least.

But hey, I could see someone making the argument that the subject matter that Kamen Rider Black Sun tackles is incredibly complex, and as such it's inherently much more thought provoking, and as such better, than anything some cheesey kids show from the 90s would have to offer, right?

My response is that you get off your high horse.

Okay, maybe that's a bit direct, but here's what I'm getting at: Making something more complicated than what it needs to be is almost never a good thing. The term "beauty in simplicity" exists for a reason. Is Saban's Masked Rider an incredibly simple show, especially by comparison? Yes, but that's not a weakness. Infact, I'd argue that it's the show's' biggest strength!


It's your very average monster-of-the-week toku show designed as something fun for families to watch together, and in that respect, it succeeds! Sure, it's nothing psychologically introspective, but for the morals it tries to teach to kids, it never comes across as a double standard, or demeaning, or talking down to those who watch it. Each episode has a clear point that it wants to make, and it makes sure that you know and understand where it's coming from alongside some fun superhero action to go with it.

Thus, Masked Rider never once feels confused in what it's talking about, nor does it ever broach any sort of subject matter designed to make those watching it feel bad about themselves. The worst it has is a character that some viewers might find annoying. It's lighthearted, heartwarming, and generally just a fun, simple plot to experience. And really, for a medium that's more often than not designed for escapism, that's really all one can ask for alot of times.

BS can morally posture and talk about how people suck all it wants, but that very rarely ever makes for engaging or entertaining television. MS meanwhile, invites everyone to come and have a fun ride along with it, which I find much more pleasing.

Point goes to MS.

Characters

I'll say it outright: I found almost none of the major characters in Black Sun to be particularly likable. And what few I did were killed off, which is in no way a method of which to keep me attached to the story you're telling.

Many character motivations don't even make any sense. The biggest example to me being that, upon the "reveal" that the death of the Creation King would be the slow death of the Kaijin as a species, the only justification given is a statement amount to "Yeah but that's equality" which greatly confuses me, to say the absolute least. But it's apparently enough justification for our heroes!

The supporting cast meanwhile is entirely unmemorable, which is a stark contrast to Masked Rider, actually. Masked Rider's' characters, while not exactly complex, are all very likable if not memorable. Helped by the small cast size overall as well as some surprisingly good character development for alot of them. Is it alot of sitcom tropes that we've seen time and time again? Sure, but they're handled well enough, and atleast the characters themselves are consistent and never act out of their established characters like how they very often do in Black Sun.

Heck, even if you're one of the people who can't stand Ferbus, people sure as heck still remember him all these years later, now don't they? And at the very least, Ferbus didn't stare directly at the screen and call me a monster for daring to watch a tv show for the sake of entertainment like how Aoi does.

But hey, maybe you don't care about any of that. Afterall, the big appeal to any superhero show for many is, well, the title hero. And as such, let's compare Kotaro of BS with Dex of MS. Their personalities, their development, their importance to the story, and, given the nature of both shows being reinterpretations/reimaginings, how they compare to the original Kotaro of Kamen Rider Black and Black RX fame.

On paper, it's easy to see what the reboot version of Kotaro is supposed to be: A man who's become so broken down by the world that he's lost all agency in life. And it's only when meeting a young girl full of hope who he comes to see as a surrogate daughter that his vigor is renewed and rises up to be the hero the world needs, because that trope sure as heck hasn't been done to death at this point(see: Logan, The Last of Us, The Walking Dead, etc).


But then not only does it turn out that not only does much of Kotaro's' motivation come from his left over frustrations of an old love of his, but that he's not actually the main character. Instead the main character is actually Aoi, a young activist girl who is frankly, not actually equipped to properly handle the complexities involved in the sort of situation that she's gotten herself in.

Now, I'm not here to debate on whether or not this is some sort of brilliant point that the story is making or whatever. I'm more upset that the title character is infact not the main focal point despite all evidence to the contrary. Advertising for the show would lead one to believe that the show would extensively focus on the duality between Kotaro and his broth Nobuhiko, but it doesn't. It's all about Aoi who not only isn't Black Sun, but isn't at all an engaging character.

Have I experienced stories where this sort of thing has worked? Sure, but it was incredibly messy with BS; Not at all helped by just how unlikable I found everyone, whether it be their acting, how their arcs went, or just via the sheer lack of any sort of redeeming qualities.


Masked Rider, meanwhile, surprised me with just how much great development Dex and the people of his home planet got. Dex begins as an awkward loner who doesn't at all get Earthlings and their culture. Taking many statements incredibly literally, thinking that the way people on TV talk is how people in real life commonly interact, and many a joke or expression just flying way over his head.

But over time, he grows to love the world he was sent to protect and the people on it, his inherent awkardness becomes something that he purposefully harnesses for his own sense of humor, and ontop of all that, he's someone who can't stand to see injustice and won't hesitate to jump in to help those in needs, whether it be from a monster attack or simply needing help with some menial task like getting better at an arcade game to stick it to a bully.

So I ask you, which one sounds like they more embody the spirit of the original Kotaro of Black/RX?


Ontop of that, the world building of Dex and his people of Edenoi is surprisingly good, unlike that of the Kaijin in Black Sun. Dex's' people evolved from insects, and as such not only can they talk to them, but being compared to insects or aspects of them is seen as a great honor, things such as bug spray make them sick, and jobs that we see as incredibly normal, such as exterminators, are seen as horrifying by Dex. Heck, even his uncle, Count Dregon, the big bad of the show, gets a surprising amount of humanization in the episode detailing an old Edenoi folktale, which is way more than I can say about any of the antagonists of BS.

So, yes, turns out that the simplistic kids show designed to sell toys and give families a giggle has more robust and better developed characters than the "sophisticated" show aimed at adults that wants to be taken seriously.

It's no contest. The final point goes to Masked Rider.

Final Thoughts

Look, I don't care if you think that Kamen Rider Black Sun has some deep, important message that everyone needs to hear or not, that's not what this is about. This is about its internal structure as a story and whether or not I feel it's an overall enjoyable sit. Which, well, I don't think it is. It's pretentious, boring, and is another contributor to the misguided belief that in order for a story to be properly adult-oriented, it needs to be a dreary, nihilistic story full of unlikable nothing characters that cribs off of something pre-existing.

If a moral point or a critique of the government or whatever angle they were shooting for was all it took in order to make an engrossing story, then I don't think other entries in the franchise such as Kamen Rider Ghost would get nearly as many complaints that they do. And unfortunately for Black Sun, I find it to have some of the worst plot structure and character work that I've seen in the franchise so far -- And I've seen the majority of it by this point. Even if you remove its status as a reboot, it doesn't stand on its own two legs very well.

Saban's' Masked Rider, however, has no such hangups. It knows what it wants to be: An inviting show for everyone to enjoy. And while I'm not about to sit here and make the claim that it's some sort of underrated classic that everyone should go watch right this minute, I will say that it surprisingly had alot more to it than what alot of people say. Its reputation is in the toilet, and unfairly so. There's a surprising amount of genuine heart put into this "dumb little kids show" from the 90s, to the point that I never regretting watching a single episode, regardless of the "~objective~" qualities of it.

In short, Kamen Rider Black Sun tells you that everyone's a monster, including you, and that you always will be as long as there's injustice in the world. Whereas Saban's' Masked Rider tells you that despite what hardships might come in life, you can always rise up to overcome, and reach a better tomorrow.

Which message is the one that you'd rather be widespread?

To me, the answer is obvious. The winner is Saban's' Masked Rider.

Excellent review!

I have officially started my rewatch of Ryuki! And no, this is not a joke.

Funny you should mention Ryuki since I just got Shout Factory’s Blu-Ray set of this series via Amazon two days ago. Definitely need to re-watch Ryuki and Episode Final through that set at some point.

That is good timing! I hope you enjoy it. Having completed the Heisei Rider Era last year, I've learned to appreciate how much this show redefined what it means to be a Rider for the modern audience, which makes it responsible for a lot of the things that made me fall in love with the franchise. I like how the meaning of Kamen Rider is a point in-universe as well, with Ren and Shinji challenging each other's ideas about what they should be fighting for.

Thank you!

I love Ryuki, and I do so hope that you enjoy it just as much the second time around.

Ryuki is the first show to feature evil Riders. While Faiz may be the first show to feature good monsters (CMIIW).

The nerve of you, forgetting Mole Beastman from Amazon. Can't believe the disrespect. Does Amazon tomodachi mean nothing to you?

Yeah, I said CMIIW. Sorry for that as I didn't follow showa yet.

Also the Whale dude from Kamen Rider Black.

That one Masked Rider episode DreamSword mentioned where Dex takes driver's ed is one of my favorites because of how they used the Black RX footage. It's not seamless like DreamSword said but it was cool to see the staff at the time putting effort to try to match the details. Definitely a must-watch episode on its own.

Watched Revice Forward - Kamen Rider Live & Evil & Demons. In my opinion, Sh Ranger was too hard on this film. Yes, this is a fairly standard tokusatsu action movie that will quickly be forgotten, but at the same time, all its elements are quite functional. You care about the characters, Hiromi looks great as the main character with Daiji and Kagero as support. Very good fights, including non-transformed ones. Lots of returning actors from the show. The song at the end is good. New forms... Power-up Demons is predictable, but not bad. Marvelous Live and Evil in pink colors look strange, but justified by the plot. At the heart of this is a story about an agent who was set up and I even had parallels with Accel`s film. Although still Live & Evil & Demons is not so good. It is clear that he looks losing against the background of the Trio of Deep Sin, which raised the bar very high for Rider`s V-cinema. But also do not forget that before this Zero-One: Others dropped this bar very low. So Revice Forward is a kind of return to normal and deserves to be watched.

The interactions between Daiji, Kagerou and Hiromi were enough to keep me watching until the end and I don't regret watching it or anything. I mean, judging it as a standalone movie, sure, it's fine, in a basic kind of way. But my main problem is that it's very detached from Revice. Like, the main thing tying it to the show was the exciting premise of "Hiromi's devil appears?!", but the reveal made him irrelevant as well.

Well, I actually liked 01hers, as it continued the focus on the conflict between humans and HumaGears, had lasting consequences for the characters and story, gave some closure to the show and even set up Gai's mission in Outsiders. For Revice, pretty much everything after Episode 46 feels like filler. So, if I ranked Reiwa V-Cinemas, it would probably be Trio of Deep Sin > 01hers > Forward.

In my opinion, everything after the 25th episode of Revice was filler, because the debutant writer did not cope with the plot. But even aside from how 01hers completely ignored the Fuwa`s family and how Yaiba was haunted by the ghost of a girl who died through no fault of her own, these films, especially the second part, do not cope with the most banal and obligatory part of tokusatsu - action. It seems that all the main Toei stuntmen were busy and filmed with whom they could and how they could. So for me, these films are at the very bottom of the V-cinema list, even without reference to Reiwa.

Yeah, it's an enjoyable episode not only in terms of its own story, but also in playing technicals with it and seeing how they handled the stock footage. Good stuff!

I'm slowly but surely making my may through Kamen Rider Blade and I just finished its 16th episode today.

Decided to take a break from watching Kamen Rider Blade for a little while and rewatch Kamen Rider Ryuki through my copy of the series on Blu-Ray as well as the Episode Final movie. I am even planning to rewatch Dragon Knight after that.

I just finished the second disc of my copy of the Kamen Rider Ryuki Blu-Ray set not too long ago. I even managed to watch episodes 17-21 of Kamen Rider Blade the other day.

Well, I myself asked not to spoil, but still watched the first twenty minutes of Shin Kamen Rider. What can I say? Impressions are controversial. On the one hand: a very good repetition of scenes from the original show, while in a modern, more dynamic and intriguing presentation. Truly expensive and high-quality special effects. Creepy villain, interesting camera work.
On the other hand, the excessive gore makes the show far more vulgar than previous films in the Tire series. You may have different opinions on the previous adult Showa remakes of the series, but at least there bloodlust serves the purpose of showing the cruelty of the world and setting the atmosphere. Here, immediately after the brutal murder of the Shocker fighters and the shocking revelation of Takeshi's true appearance, awkward jokes in the style of Shin Ultraman begin. This makes the film look not like a tokusatsu, but like a Japanese trash body horror, but at the same time without the madness and cheapness inherent in this genre. And in general, from careful copying, in some places the film looks not so much like a remake, but like an unfunny parody of the original show. Also, some scenes would have been better filmed live. Obviously, the budget allowed, so it was not worth relying on CGI so much.
It is too early to compare with the First, but it seems to me that for a good remake Kamen Rider, his director should be a modern Shotaro Ishinomori. And not Anno, not Inoue do not fit this definition. However, I have nothing against their attempts. Maybe next time Sakamoto will try?

I'm not sure this is entirely fair as the gorey aspects to me at least come from how both the Ishinomori manga and Kamen Rider Spirits showed the Riders being strong enough to beat people to a bloody pulp. It also kind of serves to point to the 'loss of humanity' theming Showa riders often had, having such unbelievable strength that you're a killing machine