A couple of days ago, I have finished rewatching Kamen Rider Dragon Knight before the end of what is now considered as last year. I am also down to the final 13 episodes of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and hopefully finally get around to finishing that particular series this time in the near future.

I watched Kamen Rider Vram: Route Stomach and was slightly disappointed. Recent years have set a very high standard for films about tertiary riders, but this one doesn't even reach the level of the earlier V-Cinema films. Essentially, it's just a small special, telling an alternative story. However, if you look at the project without high expectations, and simply as an advertisement for the coffee-noir form, then it's the best thing you could do. The drama is strong, the plot moves quickly, and the battles, as always in Gavv, are magnificent. Although, I have a feeling this special will appeal more to Nyelv fans than to Vram fans.
In short, it’s not a waste of time, but it’s not necessary to watch it either.
https://tokuzilla.net/wp-content/upl...tomach-01.webp

Route Stomach isn't a standalone V-Cinema film.

It's a TTFC Special advertised as an alternate way things could have gone during a pivotal time in Gavv. Granted from what I skimmed of the raw, I didn't really see the point of it? But who knows how I'll see it with subs.

That said I'm waiting for GeoSubs to get to this before watching it like I did with the Summer Movie. But the ending to the big fight is the most "Yugioh Duelist Kingdom Rules" thing I've seen in Rider and I can't help but respect it for that.

I didn't even know this was a thing, so I also just watched it. There's the intriguing premise of Nyelve lamenting his death and imagining an alternative scenario where he was a more effective mastermind, but it doesn't even address the critical point of whether or not he would've actually succeeded in defeating Bocca. Focusing on his blunder with Lakia seems tangential. It's a favorable scenario for Dente and Kenji though!

I agree. The potential of the "alternative" hasn't been fully realized, but it's precisely how the final situation will change that's most interesting.

Okay, so I started watching the Wizard x Sentai x Space-Sheriff crossover movie. I am not sure why, but it's got to be the only special so far that I haven't been able to finish. Perhaps, it's because of my unfamiliarity with the running Sentai at that time and Space-Sheriff.

On one hand, it's the last piece of Wizard media I have yet to complete. On the other? Feels like there's too much going on and nothing enthralling. I'm like... half-way through?

It's not a bad film per se to any degree; I hold low expectations given the nature of these crossover events. Still, one word can describe it: jumbled.

In my opinion, this film is clearly better than its Super Hero Taisen predecessor, but the complaint about it being a bit chaotic is certainly justified. And I always found it odd that Haruto, after playing a significant role in the beginning, disappears only to return for the final battle. But in terms of fan service, it's certainly a joy.

I have watched episodes 38-40 of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid today.

I've now watched up through episode 34 of Saber, and thus have finished its second arc.

The short version of my opinion is that I felt the first arc was better.

This arc was the polar opposite of the one that came before it in alot of ways. The pacing is way slower, which to some might be seen as the biggest positive, but to me it was more of a detriment.

Arc 1's' pacing meant that the show was always steadily moving towards some goal or idea, whereas arc 2's' pacing has the show come to a grinding halt, which made the thing feel like a total drag alot of times. Sure, arc 1 had certain episodes that probably would've benefit from being made into a 2-parter, but I felt like arc 1 had alot of episode pairs that could've(and should've) easily just been oneoff. Like the discovering of separating a person and a Megid. "You never asked!" just made me roll my eyes.

And when it comes to characters, sure, arc 1 didn't give most characters a whole lot, but the attention was alot more equally spread overall. When it comes to arc 2, certain characters either get shafted(Ren gets next to nothing in comparison to everyone else), or the way in which they're handled really rubs me the wrong way. I know this won't be a popular take, but I felt next to nothing when it came to Rintaro's' arc here.

Arguably, the biggest disappointment for me when it came to this arc was how it handled the oath of friendship that happened in arc 1 between Touma, Rintaro, and Kento. While it's not direct, the events that transpire in arc 2 essentially mean that the oath was next to nothing in the eyes of Rintaro and Kento. Especially Rintaro. The contrived ways in which the plot has Touma and Rintaro never properly talking and especially Rintaro attacking Touma on sight really wore on me. This was a situation wherein I couldn't stand the plot suddenly taking the stance of the three's' friendship needing to earned, because it already was back in arc 1!

At first, the way Saber began had me very interested in where it was going, and now I'm almost totally out of it. I don't think the show itself is out and out horrible, and arc 2 did have some solid moments and character stuff that I did enjoy(mostly from Yuri), but man, my drive towards this show has lowered by alot, and I feel like this last third of the show is really gonna make it or break it for me. And that's not even counting post-show stuff.

Here, you need to understand the very essence of Rintaro's character. He grew up in Sword of Logos. This organization is his home, family, work, and interests. Therefore, at first, he doesn't question orders, and then continues to follow them. As for friendship, the real criticism of the first part of the show was that friendship is built on nothing, and therefore can't be strong. Therefore, its disintegration and subsequent rebirth are precisely the process of strengthening. Plus, what friends never quarrel?
Also: how come Ren didn't get anything? He has Desast and independence, and that's clearly more than there was at the beginning.

I do understand all of that. It doesn't change how he continues to insist how much Touma means to him despite his actions speaking the total opposite. If he had spent the entire arc solely feeling conflicted or thinking things over, that'd be one thing, but he doesn't. Until the last leg he very much goes for "attack first, never ask questions." If anything, his supposedly deep bond with Touma should make him the first person to have doubts, not the last.

[quote]As for friendship, the real criticism of the first part of the show was that friendship is built on nothing, and therefore can't be strong. Therefore, its disintegration and subsequent rebirth are precisely the process of strengthening.

Their friendship was built upon all that they had been going through at the time. Ontop of their shared relationship with Kento. Another thing that majorly bothered me about the start of the traitor arc was that from the very start, it's clear that everything Touma did for everyone meant basically nothing to anyone in the guild, given that they attack him before he even talks about there being a traitor, not after.

There's a difference between an argument and "I'm going to arrest you without even bothering to hear what you have to say."

It's not that Ren got nothing. It's that he got very little in comparison to everyone else. All of his stuff is mainly just setup for the next arc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG_UnfGzL1s

Still quite happy to see these getting subbed alongside the actual show.

This one is also just straight up awesome? Whatever B-team I assume put this thing together is probably going places in the future. Literally the only job they had was "show NOX transforming", and they made it something surprisingly stylish and atmospheric that's looped into the world of the show to a level that even allows it to acknowledge the encroaching moral ambiguity of the dynamic between the "good" guys and the "bad" guys, demonstrating clearly how the current status quo of ZEZTZ differs from the one it started out with. Pretty darn impressive in my book!

Why the actual heck is this such a compelling short story in the Zeztz universe...? The shift from a CODE briefing for their Agents on NOX's powers to NOX hijacking the facility and switching to his own perspective where CODE is the villains? So good, and it even gets to show off his conflicted feelings on having to fight Baku and Kureha. Plus, the way he records a video for future as if expecting he won't be living for much longer? I've learned more about Odaka in a few minutes than roughly 10 episodes of the show would give me.

After weeks, if not months, of meandering, I am officially finished with Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. Sure, there's still the movies that took place afterwards but I am honestly going to take a break from anything related to that series for a while, Kamen Rider-wise and instead, either start watching Kamen Rider Build or do a rewatch of Kamen Rider Fourze or even start watching Revice or Gavv for the first time.

As I've reached 40 episodes of Kamen Rider Saber, I've been thinking a bit about why this show caused a bit of a stir back when it aired. And complaints about pacing aside, I think I might've gotten an idea.

To put it as simply as I can, I feel like one's' enjoyment of Saber very much depends on how willing they are in taking Saber's' claims at face value.

Because, really, the show does kinda just expect you to roll with whatever it says.

The biggest example for me, I think, is the moment where Kento takes the near fatal blow for Ren. Sure, we're told that Kento sees Ren as a dear friend, but up until that point there was nothing to really indicate that. Ren has a crush on Kento and respects him as a swordsman, but that's not the same as Kento having any sort of bond with Ren.

And it's not until a bit later on that we get even a single scene of the two bonding via flashback, whether it be via the Sword of Logos Saga or the main show itself. And really, a big establishing character moment like that isn't something that should be left to any sort of mystery; the scenes of them together really should been shown at some point during arcs 1 or 2. Kento's' sacrifice is something you build towards; not a kick off for any sort of questions.

Not helping in this is that, me personally, I'm not exactly in love with alot of this cast? Arc 1 showed some promise, but characters either quickly faded into the background(Oogami), went down a path I didn't care for(Rintaro), or became outright annoying to me(Logos).

Really, at this point I'm essentially watching the show solely for Ren and Desast. And while every scene featuring the two is a definite highlight, they're not exactly prominent enough to be carrying the show for me. And that's not to say I'm outright dreading Saber or anything, I think the show is overall "fine" but I can't help but feel like there's some alternate version of this show that I really could end of loving(mainly seen via Arc 1), but it's not what we got. So now I'm just sorta waiting for the show to end, which is rather unfortunate for me as I really did wanna be one of this show's' defenders.

Superhero Chronicles is still a great movie atleast.

Well, I think it's wrong to interpret Kento's self-sacrifice specifically in relation to Ren. Self-sacrifice is main part of Kento's character, further reinforced by guilt over his father's betrayal. So Kento would have done the same for any other swordsman.

Possibly, but on the other hand, when Ren asks Kento why Kento did that, Kento's' response is to call Ren a dear friend. This in turn makes claim towards a connection that the show hadn't put any sort of effort establishing beforehand.

Then again, I think he'd say this to any other swordsman from the Northern Base. Perhaps worded slightly differently for the veterans. Sure, Kento likes Ren and maybe even treats him another than others, but still not as much as Ren had dreamed.

Gavan Infinity starts tomorrow, so I just watched Candy House Invaders!

Taorin's world is such a warm and friendly place, showing that humans and Granutes can live in harmony after all. While Gotchard's movie was set in a dystopia, Gavv's movie shows us a miraculous utopia and that gives the anomaly Shouma a strong determination to protect what he once had failed to. The premise alone is totally fresh and fitting for a Gavv movie and I think Komura's dramatic writing is really at its zenith here. Of course, there is an evil force, Caries, threatening this world and by traveling through the magic door dimension, he had already succeeded in making another world fall to decay.

As a Rider System, Caries has to be one of the creepiest and I have to respect the macabre creativity of whoever came up with that idea. If not for the PG-rated discretion cuts, this would be something out of Amazons. Artificial Gavv clones are made and raised in isolation from the world and once they reach emotional maturity, they have their Gavvs fatally ripped out of them, bloody skin still attached, so Caries can have a henshin device and he goes through them like Shouma goes through Gochizous. A bunch of kid clones are even blown up offscreen as Shouma and Taorin were about to go rescue them, like, that's crazy!

While Shouma doesn't have a doppelganger in this world, since the circumstances for Michiru's and Bouche's marriage never occurred, he does have a heroic counterpart in Taorin, who even has a similar hairstyle, albeit not the gluttony for snacks. This makes sense, as coming from a candy house, Taorin wasn't forced to live on grass soup, so his diet is better adjusted. Also explains why his Gochizous don't come out as easily as they do for Shouma. Taorin's emotions caused his Gavv to level up and grant him the power to fight alongside our Red Gavv, but tragically, Caries defeated him and harvested his Gavv to obtain his Final Form.

However, our Red Gavv also uses the power of Taorin, his last Gochizou, to obtain his Extra Final Form. I've said it before somewhere, but Hexenheim is easily my favorite form of Gavv! The pink, blue and purple work together deliciously. The fact that his fight scene is so spectacular is the wafer on the candy roof, that whole scene of him and Caries fighting down a tall building through various obstacles as the scenery decays around them, damn, I totally loved that. One of the best summer movie climaxes for sure!

Overall, I think this has managed to surpass Future Daybreak as my new favorite summer movie of Reiwa Rider! There are much bigger Gavv fans out there than me, so take it from me, this is peak Gavv right here. I do feel like the Zeztz cameo was unnecessary, considering how the alternate Hanto was the only guy who saw him and I doubt he'll ever be relevant to any future work and it's not like Movie Wars a thing anymore anyway, but hey, Bandai's got to sell their merchandise, right. There were no ChocoGummy scenes either, but I understand that the focus needed to be on Shouma's friendship with Taorin and that allowed the dramatic moments to land effectively.

This is a very impressive movie. The moment with the Stomatch family was so cool.

I watched Kamen Rider Eins with Girls Remix. It's a wonderful action film, managing to show a lot (and many things) in just half an hour. In fact, Kamen Rider Eins itself looks great! It's funny how the hair growing from under the helmet turned out to be a feature rather than a bug. It's also great that the story elements from the original Kamen Rider don't feel like a boring carbon copy, but are woven into the larger plot and enhance the character. So I really hope it won't be forgotten and that it truly is a beginning.
Also, the battle between Majade and Muza was fantastic.
I never thought Girls Remix would deliver the best version of the showdown between the mystical and technical riders. Overall, the special features a ton of interesting battles, both transformed and non-transformed. And the limited CGI looks pretty good. And the girls are increasingly using toys from their show. Sara got a Ninja buckle! Now I'm waiting for her to appear with Bujin in the next special. But seriously, I hope they decide to make original toys for Girls Remix.
I was also pleased to see Nadeshiko and Izu appear, even if they weren't fully present in the show. And Ozawa's presence means she'll likely appear in the upcoming Agito movie as well.
Overall, it's action-packed, atmospheric, and gripping. A little funny, a little sad. I recommend it to all fans and anyone who just wants to watch something engaging and not too long.
https://tokuzilla.net/wp-content/upl...-remix-01.webp
P.S. Also, the presence of Angela Mei among the actresses makes it clear that Toei's accusations of racism over Maya Imamori's dismissal are unfounded. That is to say, don't get me wrong: racism may still be connected to her dismissal, it just doesn't originate with Toei.
https://tokuzilla.net/wp-content/upl...-remix-02.webp