It's definitely not going to be a show that's built to your tastes, as I understand them? None of the main cast are quite meant to be people you'd want to hang out with, and the whole game show theming means it's also deliberately emphasizing its artificial nature in a way that probably goes against the usual sense of atmosphere you tend to look for?

There's reasons it's doing all the stuff it does, of course, but based on all the opinions I've seen you express on these shows over the years, it's tough to imagine Geats will do much to win you over unless you really actively try to approach it on its own terms. Not that I want to presume too much. Feel free to tell me I'm way off-base and you actually meant it's boring because Ace is just way *too* likable and endearing way too fast!

I'm currently nine episodes in, and I frankly don't give a crap about literally anyone in the cast.

And the main reason why is that this show decided to pull the same sort of storytelling technique that Build did(which I also didn't like): Shove a load of drama right upfront without letting the viewer know who in the heck anyone in the cast even is first.

I mean, you aren't wrong, but here's the thing:

At its core, this is a Death Game show. Most of the characters being awful and/or selfish people kinda comes with the territory, I get that.

But that doesn't mean you can't still have them be interesting or well developed, ya know? Like, Micchy from Gaim is a pretty trash dude, but I atleast got him to a degree, and his arc overall made sense and he atleast had his relationship with Kota going for him.

With the cast of Geats I just like don't care. At all.

To me Ace honestly just comes across as a poor man's' Haruto from Wizard.

And believe me, I'm doing my best to try and jive with whatever the show presents me. It's not like I'm trying to pretend this show is some deep examination of society/capitalism/the gaming industry or whatever.

I just don't understand the thought process of "here's a character's' entire life story upfront." Especially in a show with nearly 50 episodes to utilize. Like, call me a douchebag if you want, but, if I don't get to know a character even a little bit, I kinda just don't care. Every time a character in Geats makes some grand speech I just sorta roll my eyes because I know next to nothing about them other than the trauma they're currently dumping on me.

For comparison's' sake, I'm also currently watching GARO: Versus Road, which in the same span of time as Geats right now has managed to do way more in terms of literally everything. And that's including having characters who I'm interested in seeing the stories of.

I would argue that Ace remained a side character, performing purely technical functions of the MC: get the most forms, be the strongest, defeat the main threat. In most dramatic conflicts, he always managed to find himself out of work.

Haha, yeah.

I mean, Win seems like he'd be a pretty chill dude to hang with after Ace inspired him to pursue his rockstar career once more. Too bad he gets his head blown off and then seldom appears after the second arc.

Then how do you feel about Neon, who has the clear and honest desire of true love? Her situation is revealed as early as Episode 3, so it should be easier to relate to her struggle than any of the other main characters, by seeing what she lacks in her life and her motivation for joining DGP.

I recall the first time Ace seriously functioned as a viewer perspective was at the end of the first arc, when he learned from Buffa about the importance of being reckless. And the last time was at the end of Desire Royale.

Congrats on your 2300th post!

Guess it's expected for you to say this, as even you think something's off with Ikki heroism-wise unlike Hiromi in Revice, but though the first arc didn't show much yet, I always didn't like everyone (players) being lumped together as similarly awful (though yes Ace is Tendou/Tsukasa level in assholery and Michinaga is a major dickhead who'd become one of the villains for majority of the show). Yeah, this is what many Geats haters demonize the characters for and condemn the show for straying from Kamen Rider spirit by this, but having a desire shouldn't be inherently bad, one can both be a good person while wanting their dreams to come true, it's not an either/or situation. The DGP isn't like the Rider War where depraved people (at least on surface) are the ones deliberately chosen so they'd murder each other faster, where it just picks random humans to participate.

So you don't hate Geats eh, considering your opinion on Gaim (battle royale series produced by Takebe too, and I feel Geats is Gaim and Ex-Aid mixed, same writer and producer). And those who really love lighthearted shows such as Ghost, Saber, and Gotchard tend to hate shows like Geats (well you didn't hate dark shows but still). And about an irony, now you're not defending something unpopular, but the opposite in getting one that doesn't vibe with a popular show to 'follow the crowd' instead ~

Guess your thing is slower-paced stuff considering Kuuga and W. True too that Gaim and Ex-Aid had the beginning not setting up big things, which'd sit better with you, but for others, it can be the 'underwhelming' part of the show where they started to kick in in ep. 14 and 12 respectively. And that some can feel W rushed plot points at the finale due to mostly touching upon 2-parters throughout the whole show.

If even the worst kind of people can get redemption and become 'chill' later like Heure, then I guess what qualifies for "you'd want to hang out with" should be the ones that are good right off the bat. Win gleefully wanted to perform DGP's dirty work initially.

The reception can be like this.

Thanks.
I rewatched Revice: Mystery because the show was released in my native language. The translation itself is quite high quality, Hiromi’s phrase is translated even better than into English. But since the voice acting is single-voiced and female, some phrases sound faded (this is especially true for jingles, which do not stand out at all in tone or volume), while others sound like a parody. Overall, it's the same cool little detective story with a lot of fan service. I liked it, so I downloaded Taisen Z in the same voice acting.
https://artworks.thetvdb.com/banners...8a068d14d8.jpg

Unfortunately, "boo hoo I don't have a boyfriend" isn't at the top of my list of things that I find engaging. Especially since she has all the money in the world and could easily just buy her way out of most of her problems.

The only time I can recall just a setup working for me was in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and this show sure as heck ain't on that level right now.

It's less that I want a slow burn and more that I want there to be an actual journey like, at all.

I think Sh Ranger was referring to Neon's relationship with her mother. But I?ll talk about this a little later, when all the ins and outs are revealed. And, again, most children with tyrant parents are not popular bloggers. And the example of Britney Spears and other similar celebrities does not apply here, because they were initially made dependent on their family by contracts, which is not the case with Neon.

Money cannot buy love though and actually makes it harder for the wealthy and famous to find love, due to others seeing them as an asset, rather than a person. Furthermore, Neon's desire of true love isn't specifically romantic. Like Mesnick said above, she's in an abusive relationship with Irumi, who loves her but in a toxic unhealthy way that prioritizes Neon's security over her need for freedom and individuality. So Neon doesn't receive healthy familial, romantic or platonic love, which is why she's willing to risk her life to obtain it and why she values her connection with Sara, who actually treats her as a person. The recent movie, Smile 2, also talks about these themes.

Sure, but you know what it can buy? A plane ticket to the opposite end of the country. A new phone that doesn't have her mom's' tracker in it. A bodyguard that's better than the Johnny Test duo. The list goes on.

Getting rid of the abusive mother is a heck of a lot easier when you're loaded.

She herself claims the opposite when she reveals her desire to Keiwa. And given that we've been spurned on the premise before(hi Accel movie), I'm not putting very much faith in it being anything other than a desire for romance.

But hey, if I'm wrong come the end of the show then I will gladly eat my words.

Wasn't her dad down with the Desire Grand Prix people likely even before the show? A plane ticket and new phone ain't gonna help if your dad has enough connections with people who have advanced tech to get mom and the two bodyguards a Rick Sanchez portal gun or equivalent. :lolol

boy that all sounds like something not talked about in the first nine episodes

I mean, you're free to draw that conclusion if you want, but if you read that post closely enough, you'll notice I don't actually express any particular personal opinions on Geats anywhere in there.

I'm sorry, did not catch the part you were still early in the show. So sorry about that.

It's fine. I don't care about spoilers 'that" much. I'd rather go without, sure. But eh.

There's the detail, and then there's the context, ya know? I'm sure I'll hit it soon enough.

Thank you.

Dunno if you're the type to condemn the rich and have "eat the rich" mentality, in insisting that if you're rich, you gotta have little to no problems because of money. Thus you can't ever be in a bad place or feel a predicament/struggle over anything as any of their problems should be trivial, due to money. You'd be wrong no matter what if you're rich, if you're happy then you're hoarding wealth, but if you're unhappy, then you're ungrateful.... what'd be something actually acceptable for them to do, if one is rich?

Not being loved correctly including abuse and neglect can produce childhood trauma, making one unsure if anyone's love is genuine and seek ways to validate it through obvious signs. For riches, no amount of money would ever make one genuinely love you; familial, platonic, or romantic - buying them out gets them to chase for your money, not you yourself. In her case, if it's something romantic, getting a spouse arranged (which Irumi does) or paid to marry you, is definitely not true love, they don't properly know you.... let alone love you. True love is when one genuinely loves you, for being you, unconditionally, not for ulterior motives like how loaded you are, or how popular, for instance.

As Neon already met Sara in the early part of the series, do you think that Neon actually had received her goal of getting true love this early, from Sara (furthermore, also Ace and Keiwa helping her zombie problems), and thus she actually shouldn't have the need to play DGP and/or further try to obtain true love anymore? People claim that if she gets her true love already, there'd be no reason for her to be involved in the story anymore.

I was maybe getting ahead, but where I'm coming from was perhaps the claim there that Ace is too likable and endearing when Ace can rub people the wrong way and turn people off the show. The reply there also seems defensive rather than continuing the criticism like explaining about game show nature part, though dunno if it's about playing devil's advocate, admittedly.

As Neon continues to engage in DGP, it is obvious that she does not consider Sara to be love. So there are two explanations here:
1) Neon has no idea what love is and even having found it, he does not understand it;
2) Don't confuse friendship with love, even platonic. These are different feelings and different types of relationships that are not interchangeable.

Not what I was getting at but hey, go off, king.

Until Irumi starts canceling credit cards, then Neon would have to rely on her success as an internet celebrity, which is another thing that always gets her caught. Neon is a sheltered girl with little practical experience, so she wouldn't adjust to living on the run like that. She's clearly skilled at escaping, but not staying escaped.

Oh yeah, I guess this premise does sound pretty similar to Returns Accel, at least on the surface. However, before a romance can bloom, a knight in shining armor must firstly save the princess from the tower, right? A best friend or sibling would become that knight if their loved one was in distress, like Ryouga in Sabela & Durandal. It's fair that you have the romantic expectation though, based on the way this cliche often goes. I'll leave you to see how it turns out.

Basically this. Neon vaguely understands that Sara is a very important person to her, but not yet aware enough to see her as true love. I guess DGP would help with Neon's abusive family problems though, since Sara wouldn't have much power to oppose the Kurama Zaibatsu.

It'd already be too late by then assuming Neon actually puts any sort of effort into getting out of dodge.

Of which she states she has 10 million active subs, and uh, that's a whole lot of personal income. And I refuse to believe she doesn't take donations or subscriptions, either.

Based on what's been shown, the only other thing she'd have to do is just stop streaming her escape efforts and she'd basically be set.

So yeah, no, I'm still not buying any of this.

I saw Geats x Revice Battle Royale!

Wasn't wild about it, but I'll give them a point for having the Ryuki riders just... Take care of themselves at the end. Asakura and Ryuuga were threatening enough, though not quite on their usual level.

Could've been worse/10.

I am now up to episode 16 of Geats. I still find everything about it to be really boring.

Meanwhile, I liked the Revice crossover movie, mostly. It was basically carried entirely by the Revice cast for me, as the character interactions they had were all great. The Ryuki cameos were fun too, even if they didn't make much in the way of sense.

Still don't see the appeal of any of the Geats cast, however.

Well I marathoned Black Sun in a watch party today.

I'm gonna have to sit with that one for a bit.

Black Sun was so mid, and just felt so soulless and needlessly down.

That's a funny statement, considering how much controversy this show provoked when it first aired. For me, the Black Sun is a rider analogous to BvS, which is either adored or hated. Objectively, the only difference from the Amazons is that they decided to add politics and social problems to the bloodshed.

Black Sun I will always respect for properly shitting on the government, or rather the fascist rich assholes who run it.

Very Ishinomori, and in retrospect the perfect fit for the anniversary.

Yes, but in fact, such criticism also benefits the government. This is a suggestion designed for those who are negatively inclined towards the ruling system and therefore are not subject to direct propaganda. Actually, that`s why movies criticizing the authorities, and sometimes even directly showing their crimes, are not prohibited and are even released by completely legal, successful film studios, and not by a handful of oppositionists. Moreover, if you look into it, it turns out that some of these films are government orders. Such open criticism without showing ways to solve problems gives rise to either apathy or false hope that the system will change if a good man is put in charge instead of a bad man.
Returning to the Black Sun, the juvenile terrorists in the end caused many commentators to scream much more indignation than the vicious retired politicians, so he clearly fits the criteria I described above. And this may not even necessarily be done intentionally: success breeds imitation and there will always be those who sincerely do what others are paid to do.

I also think Black Sun was middling. It does so much right and so much wrong that for me the good and bad managed to basically cancel each other out instead of actually being divisive. It's nice that they were allowed to release something so intense and politically driven, even if it didn't turn out as well as it could have though. I seriously doubt anything like it will happen again any time soon, since I get the impression the reception wasn't as positive as they were hoping.

Some of the new forms were disappointing. Fever Boost is basically redundant with poor CGI and Command is a clustery mess with colors that rip off Mighty Brothers XX.

I disliked this movie and I would go as far to say it's my second least favorite Movie War only above Super Movie War Genesis. It was carried by the Revice cast precisely due to them hijacking Geats' third and Kinoshita mostly writing with only minor input from Takahashi. The whole plot only happens due to the Igarashi parents randomly deciding to have another kid after 19 years. Vice immediately goes back to being dead despite Ace having the ability to revive him using the Desire Card. The only interesting part was Kaima's story, which doesn't get much focus.

Not even Win and Sara?

I would actually argue the opposite. Geats is the one who ultimate takes center stage for the latter two thirds of the film, to the point that he's the one who takes down the final boss despite arguably having the least amount of input in that fight. And the Geats cast being able to put up any sort of fight against the Revice cast felt rather forced since it's still their show at the end of the day.

People in real life often do the same. Like, granted, it's probably not a good thing in terms of health issues and whatnot, but it happens.

I agree that that was dumb. If Ikki using the card was off the table for some reason, then atleast having Ace write "A world where Vice gets to live." would've at the very least helped the idea of "Ace is secretly a good guy deep down" that Geats keeps trying to push to little effect.

I have no idea who Win is. Lemme look that up.

Okay, Punkjack. He was alot more entertaining when he was silent and just punching people. That was like the only thing in Geats so far that got a laugh out of me.

I also called bull when it was revealed that Ace didn't actually shoot him, given that up to that point Ace had no issues in directly screwing over other Riders even if it wasn't the Buffa method of literally attacking them.

And Sara has barely been in the show, mostly just being a standard older sister character for Keiwa. She's inoffensive, sure, but not exactly interesting.

The Geats cast get most of the action highlights, but for me, it still feels like a Revice movie featuring Geats and Ryuki.

Especially when your cursed bloodline makes you a target for devils! Yukimi claims this is just the Igarashis' problem to deal with, but the baby getting abducted and used as a power source for evil is a problem for humanity. So Kinoshita introduced a baby out of nowhere since he needed a plot device to instigate the conflict. GoGo V/Lightspeed Rescue did it better.

Makes Ace look stupid as well, which is definitely the opposite of what they want us to think. It totally undermines Revice's whole importance of family thing, having Ikki and especially Vice be so weirdly nonchalant about whether Vice lives or dies. Would Ikki be like that for his siblings or parents?

Punkjack hitting Morio was an ad-lib by suit actor Tsutamune, which I think makes that even more humorous for Morio's actor showing genuine light pain.

I think Geats not shooting Punkjack is fair, since it was clear at that point that the game was rigged by Giroli and we can't exactly count Punkjack as a player when he's brainwashed. Ace may play dirty, but it's never shown that he would use unprovoked force against non-players/unwilling participants.

She has a bigger role in the second half, so hopefully you'll feel stronger about her then. Inoffensive is already the most praise you've given to a character in this show, so that's something at least.

It had more than a few hiccups and I'm still trying to put together my thoughts on it, but overall that was some Quality Television/Kamen Rider.

Definitely needed another pass or two around the writer's room just to make everything a bit more cohesive though.

I am now up through episode 24 of Geats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVuDYvEe12Y

This video perfectly captures the energy I've had for every single episode up to now.

For anyone curious, SHOUT has uploaded the entirety of the official subs for Ryuki up onto YouTube for free.

Now up through episode 32 of Geats, and while the show continues to do everything in its power to make sure that I can never be invested in it, I will say that the Tycoon Meets Shinobi special was a pleasant surprise in just how much of a total opposite approach it took to the usual Geats affair.

Izanagi both as a song and an opening offers far more visual and auditory stimulation than what Trust Last ever will, the action involves actual physical stunt work that's solidly choreographed and isn't just CGI being thrown all over the place, seeing ZX's' actor return was a great treat, and the episode itself had every character being interesting if not outright likable.

And it's all in what can be summed up as a 30 minute, ninja themed shitpost. It's simple, it's fun, and it's never up its own ass. All things that Geats isn't.

I especially like the part where Sara performs Neon's dance to distract Amakusa. :lol

I was really enjoying Gavv, unfortunately theres no place to stream it anymore so I guess I'm not watching tokusatsu until another streaming site pops up. Complete BS.

That was a fun little bit yeah, and the special was probably the most that I've at all liked Sara throughout the whole show.

Because I just finished episode 38, and while this stretch is the most involved she's ever been, it's less for her own sake or even Keiwa's', but moreso for even more focus on Neon who I'm frankly never going to come around on.

Like, I honestly think this might be the first Kamen Rider show I've seen where I literally do not care about anyone in the cast, and it's every bit as impressive as it is sad.

Four more episodes and you'll make it past where I dropped off.