Just managed to finish Wizard right before the start of the new year.

Decided to watch Gotchard on a whim and got caught up in a week, I'm surprised how much fun I had with it, very much feels like the Kamen Rider I watched back when I first got into the series a decade ago, very nostalgic in that regard and although I generally don't care about CG fests like Wild Forms, there's some real creativity done in terms of fights, like X Rex Gotchard writhing like a crocodile with ClothoDread in his 'jaw'. Overall it's been... Whimsical, which to be quite frank, I desperately needed at the moment

Congrats! What are your overall thoughts about the show?

Wizard is a pretty decent and even somewhat enjoyable, albeit flawed, series all things considered.

I have officially started on watching Kamen Rider Gaim today.

Enjoy, that show is a hell of a ride (pun intended).

The first episode of the Faiz movie promo webseries has been subbed. It's short and I don't know who half of the characters are, but it was still a lot of fun. It's obviously more of a comedic thing, but Takumi and Mari still feel spot-on and I love this version of Kusaka who's more of just an asshole dad than a creepy sociopath.

Watched some more Gaim for the last several days (also watched the crossover movie with Wizard) and I'm already up to episode 16 and things are definitely more interesting after each episode.

As of a couple of days ago, I am now officially halfway through Kamen Rider Gaim.

So around the point where everyone but Mai has realized it's not a show about street dancing anymore?

Yep, pretty much. I have been throughly enjoying what I am seeing with this show so far.

Currently making a very slight detour from Gaim by re-watching the series's own very fun and enjoyable crossover special with ToQger which kind of makes me want to watch the latter series again at some point.

Yes, I remember this crossover. These two shows work together much better than I might think.

I watched Regained Paradise. What can I say. First things first: thank you for avoiding Ankh and Grid Eiji's sex for a decade of OOO. On the good side: if you wanted to see Inouye go off on a tear and familiar actors twenty years later, you'll get it. It is also very interesting that the saving gimmick is an old toy, and not a new one. This smacks of ludism, but the film is clearly not aimed at new fans. And while you watch all the content of Faiz and with Faiz, in any case you will feel like an old man. Also the final scene at the table was cute.
My main problem: the film doesn’t feel like Faiz, or even like Kamen Rider. It seems (especially towards the end) like Japanese meat trash. Moreover, not like the Amazons or the Black Sun, but something like the “Squad of Mutant Girls”. This is close to Inoue, a similar theme was seen in his Cutie Hanny, but Faiz still needs a little more tact. Although he is the creator, he knows better, so this is just my opinion.
Another problem: the old actors looked very tired on camera. Kaido tried hard and Kusaka was pleased with grimaces in the end, but the rest played the script as if after a shift at a factory. I even caught myself thinking that following the newcomers who only appear in this film and, for the most part, die in it is much more interesting to me than the returning actors. And due to their frequent appearance in the franchise, it didn’t have the same effect as with OOO.
I would also like to note separately that the film does not yet have a good translation, so my viewing was brightened up by the subtitles, where Kusaka was called Saka, Mari was Marisa and Marinade, and Takumi was a craftsman dog. Considering that the film disappointed me, this is rather a plus.
As a result, I advise you to watch and draw your own conclusions. Still, Inouye is contradictory because everyone perceives his work differently. I will say that I liked the detective web series about a goldfish more.
P.S. Seriously, Toei should just take the scripts for the anniversary films and extra web content and swap them around. Then there will be no effect that the commemoration is celebrated.

https://tokuzilla.net/wp-content/upl...egained-01.jpg

Watched several more episodes of Gaim and I am already up to the start of the Helheim Invasion arc.

Finishing up the 36th episode of Gaim and this show is fast approaching to be another favorite Kamen Rider series of mine, perhaps being among my Top 5 even. I should be able to finish Gaim some time this upcoming week or the week after that at the very latest with the remaining eleven episodes and its summer movie being unaccounted for.

[Checks time since last post on Fourze]
[6 months ago]

Time really does get away from you sometimes, huh? I watched the individual episodes for this way back, then got busy, kept myself to Geats, have been catching up on Gotchard, writing a PhD thesis, but there's once again time in my life for Kamen Rider Fourze! Wonder what fun adventures will happen to our teenage friends today!

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 31 and 32 - Director's Cut

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...744&height=418

Oh yeah.

A while back, I saw discussion about character growth in Kamen Rider, and whether or not you can have a good protagonist who stays the same, beginning to end. And, arguably, Gentarou fits that perfecly. In 30 episodes, he's still the same guy, loudly talking about his own version of friendship, learning maybe a couple of lessons but still running at problems head first. But it works, because while he may not change, everyone around him does.

And what better time to talk about it than the one where he straight-up dies on screen?

This is arguably more of a Ryuseii episode than a Gentarou one, because it's all about his choices. His choice to betray the KRC club, right after becoming properly accepted all of one story ago - and that's important. It's how we know he's not just doing this on a whim. This isn't the Ryuseii of Episode 16, it's one who on some level does appreciate the gang, and yet he still goes through with murder, because it's his best friend's own life on the line. But he's not a cold-blooded killer, as much as he sometimes pretends to be. His breakdown in the second-half, when he realises Jiro might not be getting better, and Gentarou is still dead and won't be coming back short of some toy-infused miracle, to make his last stand because even if it doesn't redeem him, it's still the right thing to do, it all lands really well.

The other side of the coin is Kengo. Again, he's come a long way since Episode 1. Episode 1 Kengo would've berated Gentarou's corpse, called him a moron for not seeing how obvious Meteor couldn't be trusted, and taken the opportunity to find a better user for Fourze. But Kengo knows Gentarou is more than the stubborn idiot he appears to be at first glance, and he wants his idiot back, damn it. There's some plot stuff that goes down with Tachibana, and of course the Meteor identity reveal, but it's all a little buried under the main line of Gentarou's death and Cosmic States.

Our villain, the Aries Zodiart, it's honestly kinda funny how non-threatening he is. The debut of Fourze's final form is basically against an amateur dramatist, one Fourze was basically clowning on with Magnet States before Ryuseii got in the way, he is not the world-damning threat I'm used to with these. But that's fine - his sleep power is threatening enough, the short scene where he almost mercs Principal Tachibana is nice, and while there's maybe too much time devoted to the mystery of Not-Anamogawa High that could be spent on our main cast, he works as a slightly tough MOTW.

And finally, the new suit. I realised something while watching this - the base Fourze and Meteor suits looks great. Every upgrade, somehow, is a let down, and honestly I've never been the biggest Cosmic States fan? The rocket sword is fine, if very obviously a toy, but the Decade Complete chestplate and electric blue colour scheme, right after the blue Meteor Storm, is an odd choice. Nice debut fight though, guarantee we're gonna see that Switch mixing power used maybe once more before they forget all about it.

I think this is a lesson in sequel escalatio writ large. I think Kamen Rider Die said in his W thread a couple days back (I have nothing to say I ain't watched Double) how Kamen Rider stories can bounce between whacky interpersonal hijinks, and big doomsday end of the world stuff... except I think Fourze just never bothers with the latter. It keeps itself limited to the school, or in this case a slightly different school, and while obviously Aries needs taking care of, there's a scale here other shows would instantly try to break out of. It's an interesting flavour of Rider, is all.

I've started my watch of Gaim; Current up through episode 11 including the HBV, the Wizard crossover movie, and Gaiden: Duke.

And so far my opinion is... eh?

Like, I don't dislike it, but for all the hype surrounding this show I just don't really feel any strong feelings towards it one way or another. I don't even so much as have a favorite character as of yet.

If nothing else, it has been interesting seeing just how influential Gaim has been ever since it aired, as many other shows cribbed certain aspects of it, such as the weirdly paced early episodes, the constantly new toys/forms, and, in something I consider a detriment, going for big dramatic swings way too early.

The worst case of this is Mitchy, who, while I don't dislike him as a character, immediately gets jettisoned into a dramatically framed family arc before I even had so much of an idea as to who the guy was, thus resulting in me not really caring. To say that it gave me dreaded flashbacks to Build would be a little bit of an understatement.

One thing that I can give the show though is that, unlike Build, it atleast knows how to crack a smile every so often, with comedic beats that are actually pretty solid and not annoying nor put in at points that completely destroy the overall tone of the episode/story at a given moment. The atmosphere has actually been rather nicely balanced for the most part. Pair that with some decent action bits and I can't really say that I feel like my time is being wasted.

So yeah, I don't feel like it's anything great so far, but it's not as though the show is any sort of chore to get through either.

Well, it's a common belief that the first episodes of Gaim are uninteresting/unsuccessful/preparatory. Personally, I agree with this your characterization of them:
My main complaints about the show can only be explained after watching it in full, so I?ll say nothing for now.

But here it?s interesting that you praise the action. I watched Gaim after Wizard and for me the fight scenes at first were a huge disappointment. To be honest, my recollection is that the good action started only after the appearance of the Energy Riders, but I may be wrong.

I mean yeah, Wizard's' choreography is alot better, but I'm doing my best to go by the show's' own merits. Otherwise alot of Rider stunts would be letdowns via comparison.

Getting ready to watch Kamen Rider X from early 70's...hope it will be decent

I really think X deserves more attention than he gets. The show just had the misfortune of being caught between V3, which due to its direct connection to the original still feels like the start of the franchise, and the absolutely insane Amazon, so it feels a little boring at times. Plus, the name is not at all memorable. But this is the first rider with his own weapon, and the plot there is, if not smarter, then at least more thoughtful than that of most of his peers.

It?s probably my favorite of the original five.

I think I'll wait for higher quality subs to upload before I watch this.

There was a Director's Cut?!

Now that you mention it, I think it's a little weird how there's a white Primary Rider and a black Secondary Rider, yet both of them have blue Final Forms. Maybe that's supposed to be symbolic of their friendship or something.

Interesting how you guys decided to watch at the same time.

I recall people often praised it for the edge, but I personally thought it was gratuitous in execution. Even before the start, I heard that Urobuchi already had a reputation for this and it was worse than I imagined. If I had to name a favorite character, it's probably Zack (Kaito's SIC) or Mai, since pretty much everybody else is an a**hole.

Agreed. He's a terrible human being.

The first 9 episodes were painfully slow for me. Way too much time spent on setting and exposition with an unimaginative delivery.

While I haven't watched the OG Kamen Rider, I think X isn't quite as good as other 70s seasons. The important word here is "quite" though. I'd still totally recommend X to anybody who wants more Showa Rider. The second half is much better than the first and the theme song is pretty catchy. There's a lot more to enjoy about this show than only the Starfish Hitler meme. The name may sound simple, but it's also a clever pun: X -> Greek letter Chi -> Kai -> Ocean.

Part of me imagines it's blue for the night sky, but that could be a reach.

Funnily enough, I started watching Gaim a few weeks ago and I am currently down to the show’s final ten episodes. Still haven’t any of its Gaiden films yet.

Now up through episode 23 of Gaim, including Gaiden Zangetsu and Gaiden Baron.

I will say that I have definitely liked this second chunk more than the first, though it's still not anything super amazing or perfect.

There are a few bits that I personally don't care for, such as Pierre's' unneeded antagonism, Kota not entirely dealing with the truth behind Yuya, and the odd logic behind torching Zawame City if a single Inves got through the crack in the bridge.

But, I do consider all of those things relatively minor. One big compliment I can give the show is that it has a rather good handle on its atmosphere, never once introducing different tones at ill-placed times. The gradual escalation of the stakes of the plot have been solid too.

Even more important than that is that this arc has gotten me a bit more into the cast than the first one did. Infact, to my surprise my current favorite character is actually Mai, who's just a delight to be around, with episode 18 in particular being my current favorite episode in Gaim. The street dancing routines themselves might not be all too great, but it's an aspect of the show that I wish was retained throughout the whole show instead of getting gradually phased out.

The Gaiden specials were also alot of fun. Was not expecting Takatora's' dad to be Terror Dad from W, and I really did feel for him in terms of the backstory introduced in that special. On the other end of things, I was not expecting Baron's' special to be Gaim's' version of the most (in)famous two-parter of Blade, with it being ever bit as fun too.

So, yeah. Gaim is picking up. Nothing close to being one of my favorites, but it is a show I'm starting to enjoy more, and I hope that upswing continues.

Up to episode 43 of Gaim now with 4 episodes to go after that. I might be able to finish this series this weekend after all.

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 33 & 34 - "Chaos in Old Kyoto" and "Sky Hole Counter Offensive"

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...b93a57a535165&

So remember last time I made my point about them not leaving the school and how that keeps things grounded? Well, here's the school trip episode where we go to Kyoto, and I'm not huge on how it turns out. This being the episode where they Horoscopes decide to move the plot along, there's a big disconnect between introducing a whole new enforcer (He's a lion! He's some random tough guy! That's it!) and the student of the week plot about her falling for Gentarou and wanting him to stop fighting and enjoy himself. Throw in a little "Kengou learns about his past" and it's got good individual elements, but a haphazard plot overall that doesn't have much of a need to go to Kyoto.

Also, thought we were totally losing Tachibana at the end in exchange for Leo-breaker, glad he's sticking around as the Deus Ex Machina to rush out all 12 zodiac signs before the show is up. What would we do without him!

Oh right, that girl. Couldn't stand her.

Yeah, neither can I.

She's not the worst, but I feel most other Fourze episodes would find a way to tie her more elegantly into the emotional structure of the plot. Only here, the villain plan is very "We need to do this for unspecified plot reasons", so there's not a great narrative pay-off to it all. The photo with her and Gentarou at the end is cute, and there's a couple of mildly funny moments, but could definitely work better. I can see a Fourze episode where it works, but this needed to either commit to that, or scrap it for progressing the lore arc.

Granted, part of that is the Horoscopes plan being incredibly dull, with no real reason to care. They're not threatening anyone imminently, there's no emotional stakes, they're just comitting petty vandalism!

One of my biggest issues with Fourze is that it takes forever for Gamou to reveal what his plan is and by the time he does it just feels like a complete ass pull.

Well, I should be noted that in Kuuga, in most episodes the human plot does not intersect with Grongi's actions at all. Personally, I liked that they got out of school, plus I can't imagine a Japanese school show without a trip to Kyoto. I wonder where schoolchildren originally living in Kyoto go? I agree that Leo is boring, but the show needs an enemy to counter Meteor on a martial arts level.

I'm in two minds of it. On the one hand, he's basically been a Showa-era villain the entire time, sitting on his egg chair and biding his time wth no clear plan beyond "Make more Zodiarts idk". On the other, after watching Zero-One, Saber and Geats in the last few years, having one overaching villain and not bouncing between a bunch of infighting villains is nice. I'll let you know when I'm inevitably disappointed with his evil plan.

That's cool and all, but I'm not watching Kuuga, and Fourze is usually better at making sure there's some coherence between the MOTW and the human story. What works in one show isn't going to work transplanted wholesale to another., especially without Kuuga's investigative aspects.

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 35 and 36 - "Monster Live on Air" & "Our Last Performance"

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...176c1f3fefd57&

I was originally going to open this with a fake Krusty the Clown quote about JK episodes being death, but this one was a lot better than expected. Not perfect, and JK willingly teaming up with a Zodiarts at this point in the series is a choice, but I think the emotions involved mostly justifies it. I remember what it felt like finishing school and moving to uni, and wondering if friendships would last, and how people drifted apart, and this episode is getting at that. Because JK isn't wrong - the KRC is important now, but will it last? Is it wrong to look forward to the future? It's similar to the Shun/Mio episodes previously. There's also something here about familial expectations that isn't super explored, and I like the detail/implication that JK doesn't use his full name because of that family issue. It's more than what I expected to get (JK uses it cause he thinks it's cool (It's not)). The basic music biopic structure works well enough, and a lot of that is hinged on JK having that pre-existing friendship with Capricorn. In his head, he's not selling out to the Zodiarts, he's just defaulting back to older friends. The fact he's even apologetic to Gentarou about leaving the KRC is more than the JK of 30 episodes ago would have ever done. It's still weasel behaviour, don't get me wrong, and not realising the Zodiart's power might be cursed is genius level behaviour, but he's 16.

Relevant to like three messages ago, there's some lore stuff here, as the show remembers to have an overarching plot, and Gamou's looking for the Core Swtch, whatever that is (I was online during 2012, I think I know but won't say). They seem to be building to a rivalry between Meteor and Leo, which is fine, Ryuusei needs something new to do after Jiro came back to life. I'm finding myself in a bind, because generally here, the MOTW stories are way better than any lore, but the longer they keep putting off developing any lore, the less satisfying it's going to end up being. So I wait and see.

And finally, it's incredibly funny that all it takes for the Cosmic Switch to give up is JK breaking up with Gentarou in the politest way possible.

Also I went on the Wiki to see when I should check out the HBV and got spoiled on a reveal I didn't know by the first line of an episode synopsis, what a useful well-put together website.

That's a Fandom Wikia for you.

Yes, this is a very funny thing, only possible on a show so heavily focused on the power of friendship.

I relate to this pain.