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Daiji and George both did it better.
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I just finished the main show for Geats, and I'll post some more fuller thoughts later, but for now, just know that the show very much was not for me, and that all the final arc achieved was remind of other shows I've seen that have tackled alot of aspects of Geats' story way better such as Samurai Flamenco and Legend Heroes.
Not a fan. Not a fan at all. |
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The next one I plan to watch, however, is Kamen Rider X. |
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Love his setup henshin. Fun fact, Ryo Hayami who played Keisuke Jin/Kamen Rider X has a son who auditioned for supposedly Shoichi/Kamen Rider Agito but was dropped because Toei seemed to have a policy at the time where children of those who portrayed toku heroes are prohibited from playing toku heroes. And rightfully so, Hayami was apparently disappointed his son didn't get the part because of said policy. But I guess it's no longer in effect anymore considering Maito Fujioka got to play his dad's iconic role before Wingman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgOUE7EJOMI |
Even if the policy were still in effect, could you imagine the uproar that'd happen if it came out that Hongo's' son had auditioned but was denied due to said policy? Would not have been a good look for Toei, I imagine.
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That said, while it wasn't O'Shea Jackson Jr. levels of greatness, it did bring a smile to my face that Fujioka's son was Hongo in that movie. I loved how he tried to make his voice a bit raspy and booming in an attempt to emulate his father's portrayal of Hongo back in the 70s. |
Is this policy really cancelled, or is it just an exception made? After all, this is a minor role in the film dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the franchise. Plus, Maito doesn't play a new rider, but the same one as his father, which is a good metaphor for continuity. In short, I would wait until something like this happened again for someone else before making similar conclusions.
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Watched Kamen Rider Gotchard: The Future Daybreak. Well, this film will appeal to everyone who thought there wasn’t enough drama in Gotchard. There's plenty of it here. Moreover, this explains why there is less of it in the main show. In general, the film is well thought out. Daybreak and his Chemises turned orange not just because of a different timeline, but because they were so affected by the grief of loss. Geryon became a Dorado rider because he had absorbed a lot of human suffering during 20 years of world destruction.The identity of Daybreak's Alchemist will also be revealed and will turn out to be so obvious that one can only be surprised how it was not figured out earlier.
Daybreak's fate is also quite clear. Despair sometimes brings out the worst in good people, but first destroys the best in them. Future Houtarou continues to be a hero, fight evil and save the defenseless, but he has lost his optimism and hope. Not without the intervention of Geryon, who destroyed everyone close to him, because of which Houtarō stopped relying on others and lost his main strength: the support of his friends. And only the intervention of his younger self from another timeline helped him become himself again. And although the main focus is on the two Hotaro, the rest of the characters also received enough attention and do not seem superfluous. Rinne inspires riders like a heroine and fights like a rider herself.And finally gets the opportunity to ride a bike. Spanner gets the opportunity to see the worst version of himself and defeat it. Legend appears to be a more subdued version of his former self. And thanks to him, we get Tsukasa’s cameo! Who said Inouye wouldn't appear in the franchise again? Kajiki, while seemingly gimmicky, brings the necessary ridiculousness to keep the film from feeling completely different from the main show.And the battle between Renge and Sabimaru against the Dreads is incredibly funny. It was so strange to see the UFO suit right on the actor! And Minato and Kyoko were in charge of the science part of the victory and got a romantic moment during the credits. It was also nice to see the Sisters already clearly on the side of good.I also liked that the civilian girl helps not with words of support or the creation of a new toy, but by literally shooting at the villain and allowing Majada to seize the initiative in battle. I liked the Gavv cameo. It felt somehow retro, I immediately remembered the first appearance of OOO and Fourze. I'll take this opportunity to say that I'm looking forward to his winter film. The crossover between Gotchard and Gavv should be awesome. Shouma, who has lived most of his life locked up, is probably the only main rider for whom Houtarou can truly become more than just a nominal senpai. Especially considering that Gotchard has experience defeating the gothic evil scientist. Also, the interaction between Chemies and Gochizo will be very interesting to watch. There's not much to say about the villains. Geryon is still the same, except perhaps even more powerful and self-confident.The masks are pure evil with the faces of familiar characters. Although I must mention the actor Minato: he clearly enjoyed playing the crazy scoundrel. I will also note Geryon in the form of the Three-Eyed Demon. Perhaps due to the fact that he used both a suit and a CGI model, he turned out to be more impressive than most similar antagonists. I even remembered Ultraman during the final battle. But even though Geryon has become much stronger, against two Hotaro, supported by two Rinnes and two sets of Chemies, he has no chance. I also want to note the darkness of this film. If the ruins of Tokyo and the CGI tombstones looked a little unconvincing, the scene in the cell even made me feel a little uneasy. Seriously, anyone who easily enrolls Gotchard in a fun, light-hearted show should take their blinders off. The action is good, varied, bright and interesting. Rinne’s fights were especially successful, in my opinion. I also liked the moment when Hotaro lends her the X-Calibur. Seriously, this is a case where you can give all the toys to the main character, because he will share them anyway. To sum it up, maybe not the best film in the franchise, but definitely worthy. Vibrant and varied action is combined with strong emotional moments.The plot is slightly accelerated, but this does not harm its thoughtfulness. And time travel is described better and smarter than in the shows dedicated to it. So I recommend it to everyone. P.S. Also from this film we learned that trains for time travel are created using alchemy. Very interesting. https://tokuzilla.net/wp-content/upl...aybreak-01.jpg |
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And it's in that review that I spell out pretty much every issue I had with Geats while watching it. But, if you don't feel like reading a super huge post, and also don't want any spoilers when it comes to Versus Road, I'll try to type up a short version here. Basically, outside of just finding it really boring to sit through, I just felt that Geats got really, really pretentious the farther it went on. It became clear that it was less concerned about being a story and more about sticking it to the audience. Like, do I agree with the people who go into media just wanting to enjoy drama and suffering and not much else? No, but in the end that's their right and they aren't harming anyone in doing so. People are allowed to indulge in their media however they want. And to dictate otherwise is not only a dick move, it's also really stupid. It's massively hypocritical in its presentation too, because you have characters constantly talking about how all audiences care about is dramatic suffering, while in turn expecting you to care about the very character drama they themselves implement. Combine that with the same sorts of lines being repeated over and over again for like 20 episodes and the line towards the end of "Oh lots of people like happy endings too!" rings incredibly hallow. The entire show was just honestly a chore for me to sit through. On every level. |
Having said that, I think a show that rebukes its viewers can work. At least in books I saw how this technique works. But this requires a certain level of skill and at the same time frivolity, which is not observed in Geats.
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The Desire Grand Prix isn't a drama show though, it’s a game show. The participants are real. Hence their fans and supporters, or rather the bad seeds among them, are our worlds idol supporters and pop-star worshippers. Not j-drama fans.
What we watch is fake drama, we know and enjoy that. These people want real drama; they want to see real people suffer. That’s the stuff Geats criticizes, how people forget that participants in public events or performances are real people too. How they are pushed into extreme situations over and over again like playthings to eventually break for entertainment purposes. At least that’s how I understood it. Being a Kamen Rider in their universe just means idol in ours. Feeling aggravated as a Kamen Rider fan about that feels to me like you’re missing the point. You're getting irritated by the analogy itself rather then what it points at. |
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Honestly, I don't think Geats' final arc was cleanly executed either, but I'm also not going to waste energy on being offended by the show's criticism of me as one of the audience, since I already know I'm flawed. I always watch these shows with a critical mind, so I'd be a hypocrite and a narcissist if I didn't at least allow them to return the favor. When I think of pretentious and offensive, I'll think of Revice way before I think of Geats. |
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Plus, the cases where a celebrity is actually harassed by fans is a tiny percentage. The main role in their misfortunes is played by producers and labels with their slave contracts. And this part really turned out to be very crumpled, because even the main villain is so incomprehensible that it is very difficult to hate him seriously. And considering that Geats was created by people who are part of this industry, it is clearly a matter of shifting responsibility. That is, the real world is not “The Squid Game”. There is no need to pretend that the audience and the organizers of the show are the same people. Also, it`s not like the problematic aspects of fandom are really revealed. Where is the persecution, where is the cancellation, where is the shipping in the end? Almost every other media that raised this topic did so much more boldly and brazenly. Besides, I?m not sure that the person who forced Guy Amatsu to apologize so much and talk about Akari and Neon six times in two episodes is so strong in implicit subtext. |
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Toxic fanaticism is a very old thing, and although the Internet has made it louder, it is hardly more dangerous. This hardly affected Sato Ryuga?s career: after Geats, he already managed to play in two shows, and he also has a singing career. Plus, if we accept that the message about the toxicity of the audience in Geats is the main one (although I?m sure it wasn?t even in the original script), then we can turn on the conspiracy theorist and assume that the hate posts are fake, written incognito by Toei employees. But, taking this opportunity, I would like to slightly justify the fictional viewers who hated Neon. They, as fans, had reasons to be offended. Let's just follow Neon's entire journey up to this point and treat her journey like that of a reality show participant. Her first time in the spotlight is during a zombie game. The player who is recognized as the weakest and has been bitten, thanks to his perseverance, wins and moves on. Viewers love such stories and only inveterate cynics will lament their unreality. Next, in a card game, she finds herself paired with the best player, Ace. For now, this is perceived as just luck, but let?s make a note for memory. As a result, Neon makes it to the finals, but does not become the champion. In principle, the audience should have no complaints about her performance in her first DGP. But not to further ones. Already in the second DGP it is introduced into the game later and immediately with a powerful buckle. She doesn't even have to run after Beat to some point on the map, Neon gets the buckle even before entering the game. We, as viewers of Kamen Rider Geats, know the reasons, but how should it be perceived by viewers of DGP. Here I will pause to repeat again: reality TV is staged and this is common knowledge. These shows have scripts and cast actors. The ?Survivor? contestants, who eat cockroaches on camera out of hunger after they shut down, sit down to dinner instead with the film crew. The audience knows this and is willing to turn a blind eye to such things until injustice occurs. It seems that the sent actor receives immunity and someone else is kicked out instead. So after her effective appearance, Neon should have been perceived by the audience as a DPP employee, like Win. But still she was not hated. Now let's move on to DezaStar. Not only does Neon turn out to be the same DezaStar, but the participant who finds out about this voluntarily sacrifices herself for her. The audience apparently became completely convinced that DGP was deliberately pushing her towards victory. But, nevertheless, there is no hate yet. And here is the revelation of Beroba. Not only does this confirm Neon's connection to the DGP, but it also reveals her artificial origins.Moreover, she is conceived as ?her father?s ideal daughter.? And this is an extremely vague idea. What if, in his eyes, the ideal daughter is the winner of the DGP? That's why they give vent to their anger. Because, for them, other participants have no chance at all compared to Neon. And this deprives the reality show of its main trump card - competition.As I wrote above, the audience of such projects is ready to deal with injustice, but only as long as there remains an element of unpredictability in the project. And when the winner is known from the beginning, that?s when it starts to boil. Well, considering that things didn?t go beyond one scene with offensive comments, the anger of ordinary fans is not something serious even in the distorting mirror of Geats? world. As well as the anger of the VIPs, which was shown in the show itself. |
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Like, sure, I'm the (in)famous Decade hater, but atleast that show had a character I genuinely liked in Diend. I cannot say the same for Geats. Quote:
And yes, intentional or not, the show IS condescending to the very people watching it. Various scenes of characters in universe watching the exact same scenes we are, and constant dialogue like this: https://i.imgur.com/lpb4sav.png Make it very clear that the show is talking about us, the actual real life viewers of Kamen Rider Geats itself. Also, if you wanna get technical, the Desire Grand Prix is a reality TV show in-universe(Arc 2 being the most blatant about it). Not that it changes anything other than make me roll my eyes even harder. Quote:
It'd be different if the show had a balanced viewpoint from the start or if it made it clear that it was talking about a vocal minority or people who were terminally online specifically, but it doesn't. It takes until the last few episodes before we get even one single line about "Oh, not everyone watches TV for suffering!" which after a year's' worth of TV comes across less like a counterpoint and more like an attempt at getting out of jail free. Quote:
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For sure, it would be an impressive yet disturbing commitment to the meta if Toei or even Satou's agency had actually faked some of those death threats as a publicity stunt. Quote:
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For us its scripted actors doing acting, for them it’s real people fighting for their life. The context is what matters. I guess I can see how one could come to this concussion, but I don’t think that was the point the show tried to make. Yes you’re watching a show that tells you an audience watching the same thing you do is despicable. But you are not that exact audience because you don’t exist in that universe. You can and should take lessons from it regardless but you don't need to feel offended. |
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As for the attitude towards Keiwa, I think it reflects the attitude of real viewers towards him. That is why these letters make me suspicious: Keiwa was accused of being boring from the very beginning. And that is why his transformation into a villain disappointed so many, because he remained just as boring, but at the same time lost his only positive quality. |
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And one big part of the context that you seem to be omitting is that Geats' narrative very heavily leans on meta commentary, especially in its later stages. It's not just in terms of the audience either, but also the various talks about the proper way to handle a TV show(such as the first Game Master's' "boringly straight-forward" show getting replaced by the Among Us stuff), the roles Producers take in these sorts of things, etc. To ignore that aspect is to ignore a major part of the show, and I frankly see no reason to make any exception to the audience aspect, especially when we get scenes like in the summer movie where Ziin literally looks at the screen and talks to us, the audience watching. And if you wanna argue "oh well that's the summer movie" do note that it was also written by Takahashi and follows many of the things set up in the TV show proper. If you're able to look past it, that's fine. Great, even, because it allows you to have your own fun with the show despite Geats itself trying to dictate a "proper" way of doing it. But to claim that there's no basis for it or to think that the show is trying to 100% literal? I dunno, that just does not seem at all likely to me, and it's an aspect that I frankly just got tired of as the same sorts of lines kept getting repeated over and over again over like 30 episodes. I'm not here to say no one should like the show. I'm just explaining the reasoning for why I don't. |
Rewatched Super Hero Taisen Z, now in voice acting. Well, it was very nice to return to this film. In my opinion, this is the best of the Taisens, even if it is not particularly difficult to earn this title. Diverse, impressive and beautiful action, good interaction of characters, competently mixed lore and even if Sentai play supporting roles in this crossover Yoko and Gai, this is fully compensated. Of course, the film is by no means perfect.Its very premise ignores the existence of the MagiRangers. Many of the fights are simply forced. Most of the heroes and almost all of the villains are little more than familiar costumes for a bigger fight. Adding the Space Siblings and a future Inazuman to an already convoluted story about the Wizard, the Gobusters, and the updated Space Sheriffs unnecessarily overloads an already huge cast of characters. The fact that Haruto, who was the center of attention, along with Geki (who is the new Gavan), disappears after the first act, only to return for the final battle played by a stand-in, also does not help the perception of this story too much. However, all these shortcomings are nitpicks that I did not pay attention to, enjoying watching. Many familiar and not yet familiar heroes unite in crazy motley teams in order to defeat the Space Shocker led by Shadow Moon and the evil sorcerer Raider - this is something I would happily watch for three hours straight. In any case, this is clearly a better way to conduct a crossover than by pitting the heroes against each other or organizing a competition between them. So this is one of those films that I will gladly rewatch in a couple of years, when I get to know a few more of its participants better. And now I will continue watching the films translated by Wizard in the Magic Land.
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I watched Gotchard Final Stage Rainbow Graduation. Overall, it's a pretty typical Final Stage show, but with more soul and effort put into the production. The atmosphere and emotions are felt one hundred percent, the music is catchy and always on topic. A separate plus is the live performance of the opening (I hope this will become a tradition). Of course, Chemies was really missing, but this is already the limitation of live performance. I would like to separately praise the use of Legend. Here it is directly opposite to Daybreak.If in the summer movie Kaguya's personality was perceived as muted, then here his self-praise and complete lack of connection with everything that is happening is shown ironically, but without going over to mockery. So, if the Legend is used wisely and appropriately in the future, then I am not against further appearances of this character. Although projects focused on him do not appeal to me too much.
As for Final Stage, I recommend it to anyone who liked Gotchard. Although, perhaps, they don’t need my recommendation. https://tokuzilla.net/wp-content/upl...l-stage-01.jpg |
It has been a while but I am finally back to watching Kamen Rider Decade and I am already, more or less, halfway through the series. Once I am finished with nearly everything related to this series, I am planning to rewatch W and possibly OOO as well along with Dragon Knight and after all that is said and done, I am going to finally start watching Ghost since I have been meaning to do so for quite some time although I am also seriously tempted to watch Revice.
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I watched Gotchanime. This was very cute and funny. I liked the idea of high school mysteries, which made this collection of humorous shorts more plot-driven than its counterparts in other shows. And also the fact that they chose to diversify the initial joke with Hopper. Overall a fun time.
https://tokuzilla.net/wp-content/upl...igh-school.jpg |
Watched a sort of crossover movie between Den-O and Decade as well as episodes 16-17 of the latter series as of last night and just finished watching episodes 18 and 19 today. I think after watching a couple more two-parter arcs, I will make a slight detour from Decade and might rewatch Samurai Sentai Shinkenger at least up to a very certain point before eventually coming back to it considering that these two shows did have an actual crossover.
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I watched the Geats anime. Well, after the promotional first episode, the rest turned out to be much funnier. Especially those about kindergarten. I liked the variety, and the uptempo Geats musical theme, oddly enough, sounds much more suitable for an action show.
https://tokuzilla.net/wp-content/upl...and-prix-2.jpg |
Watched Outsiders. What can I say? It wasn't terrible, but still far from good. I'll start with the positives. I like that the show plays with the idea that trying to stop the Apocalypse leads to it. Not new, but better than Endgame MCU, where morality forces the heroes to confront the main villain, and the writers do not dare to voice a single argument against his completely idiotic plan. They also correctly showed the role of AI as a tool. Garen and Yuto decided to deliberately destroy people long before Zein was included, so it’s not “artificial intelligence has gone crazy,” but people did another deadly thing against their own kind. Also Sakurai Yuto. When I hear Den-O described as a "light-hearted, comedy show," I always have two thoughts:
1) You didn't watch the original show, but only the post-content focused on the Imagins; 2) You don’t give a damn about the secondary rider and the main character’s sister. At least. That is, Den-O is a story where the villain destroyed the world before the show even started. Therefore, I am glad that I am not the only one who remembers/notices its tragedy and that it was remembered in such an unusual project. Also it was great to see riders opting out of Desire Royale. Lots of different characters interacting with each other. Kuroto in All Mighty X was very funny. The musical theme is amazing, I listen to it all the time when away from the show. And now about the cons. The main one is, of course, the lengthiness. The show ran for more than two years and the final battle scene, for all its diversity and uniqueness, was clearly not worth such a long wait. Next comes the moral. At the end, we were told in plain text that evil saved the world from a perverted sense of justice. The plot doesn't exactly work for that. That is, the use of evil riders would be justified if Zein took away the powers of the good ones and hunted the villains. But in the show itself, he comes for George, who is a positive character, and Gai, who uses a destructive AI that takes control of him to save the world. That is, it does the same thing as Zein carriers! And only then do the rest appear, more suitable as enemies, the Outsiders. As a result, at the end of the show, the revival of Orphenoch and Asakura will continue their bloodbath, and Tenjuro Banno turned into a disembodied computer ghost who clearly won’t give up trying to find a body. And this is in the best case, if the crooked path does not lead the other characters in the wrong direction again. Plus, I know that there are many who love the idea that the fanatical desire to bring justice is worse than true evil. But this is not true. You can talk as much as you like about the dangers of prejudice, but fairy tales teach us good and evil from childhood. And when someone commits crimes for a good purpose, most often there is still a very obvious selfish motive behind it. Not a single revolutionary, overthrowing a corrupt government, intends to go to prison under the new government. But the persistence with which the topic of “harmful justice” is promoted in the media is alarming. Again, in the ending, Tsumuri, Ziin and Beroba literally praise evil. Once again, just in case: I’m not saying that the desire to punish scoundrels cannot lead to sad consequences, but the percentage of crimes committed because of it is negligible compared to other motives. But the attention is unjustifiably great. I also think it should be taken into account that The Outsiders is a Takahashi fanfic that is heavily based on three of his shows: Ex-Yid, Zero-One, and Geats. From all the others, he borrows characters, which he uses with varying degrees of success. And if Asakura and Desast turned out to be bright and colorful, then the role and motives of Tachibana raise nothing but questions. That is, it seems that the only thing taken from the character is that he is a suspicious guy, capable of doing things for which he will later repent. The screenwriter somehow didn’t think about the fact that 20 years have passed since the time of Blade and Garen should become wiser (which happened to him already in the second third of the original show). Also, Evolt is just a deception, because here it is a clone performed by another actor. Which is justified, because there is no place for the original version in the local plot. Other disadvantages: Beroba is alive, which means the only result of all Geats is the acquisition of divinity by Eis. They forgot about Banno. Also in this show there are characters Zein and Ziin. Maybe it's a small thing, but it annoyed me. Overall, the completed project is watchable and, in its own way, interesting. But, first of all, this is an adaptation of fan fiction based on the KR franchise, so be prepared for a lot of fan service and a plot that you shouldn’t think too deeply about. Then you can enjoy it. https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ea/47/8c/e...4e901e65e8.jpg |
I am now four episodes away from finishing up on Decade. I am planning to rewatch Kamen Rider W after this.
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Just finished watching Kamen Rider Decade and the show's ending is just, yeah....
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