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

So with two of the three groups for GAVV having put out the V-Cinema, I thought I’d watch it. As probably the biggest GAVV-anti on the net, I wasn’t expecting much.

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find I actually liked this. We’ve got a bad guy trio who are interesting foils for the Granuto Hunters, with their big bad being probably one of the best kinds of villain: One who has understandable motives, but the way he goes about it stops you from sympathising with him 100%. And what they ended up doing with Lizel is definitely a lot more interesting than what I expected them to do with her. And the new Gochizos is quite blatantly played by a DX toy (even down to having a visible battery slot in some shots), but it looked cute enough to look past. And he produces one thing the main GAVV toyline didn’t give me: a decent sounding jingle (or should that be Par-fect?)

If you cannot tell, I am keeping thsi spoiler free for those who aren’t using Anon or IzuSubs.

I also watched Guilty Parfait. It's a great movie, fulfilling all its objectives well. It's the same old Gavv, skillfully combining laughter and cruelty, brightness and darkness. And unlike Invaders of the House of Snacks, there's no parallel world here, but a direct continuation of the show's events.
And while each character gets their moment, the focus is on Hanto (it's no wonder he's the one who gets the special form). Granute's organ transplant is taking its toll, and he has to choose between life and power. And even though the writers solved the problem with script magic in the end, you really care about Hanto and understand what he's going through.
Liesel also has an important and unexpected role in this film. I remember many people had a decidedly negative attitude toward her, expecting something terrible to happen. In reality, Liesel suffers from loneliness, and that's precisely why, contrary to her father's assumptions, she never gets rid of Jeebh. Whether Bocca truly didn't understand his daughter or deliberately turned a blind eye to avoid admitting he was a bad father, we'll never know. Fathers are generally the most mysterious characters in Gavv. However, what's important here isn't the motive, but the consequences. Who claimed that Komura doesn't give villains redemption? I'm also flattered that Junko-san agrees with my opinion that juniors should be allowed to make mistakes. As I wrote several years ago: it's foolish to judge a schoolchild and a character who has lived for thousands of years by the same criteria. I also like that Liesel's habit of mixing sweets is finally being appreciated. It may be unsightly, but it really does taste better that way.
The trio of villains is also very well-thought-out and well-acted.
Guguna is the most expected and obvious of them all. In any rehab, there's someone who refuses to heal themselves and will encourage others to return to the crooked path. His human ally is frightening with his realistic perversion. Scenes with him are more reminiscent of thrillers about maniacs, even if they're few and far between. Izik, on the other hand, is Bocca's enemy, determined to satisfy his vengeance at any cost. And while I think such a cool design could have been better utilized, the appearance creates the necessary menace, so I don't mind it too much.
I also like that the show raises a very important theme: even those who don't want to be saved need to be saved. Perhaps they are the ones most of all.
Because we value freedom and diversity so much these days that we sometimes ignore obviously destructive behavior. (Remember, for example, the episode with Sachika and the artist. How many comments were written in his defense?
But if he hadn't realized he was wrong, next time instead of a bucket of paint, he could have splashed acetone on someone) But stopping a tragedy is much better than dealing with its consequences. Incidentally, the film also understands the other extreme, once voiced by Kamen Rider Baron, who, while calling for the protection of the weak, denied them a voice. Which led him nowhere. No, here those who refuse to be saved are talked to, persuaded, and compromises are sought (even if sometimes obviously magical ones). And while it may be a difficult and thankless path, it is the only correct one.
I also want to say a few words about the technical details. There's nothing wrong with Zeztz's action sequences; they're varied, inventive, and have their own unique style. But how I admire Gavv's approach! Every barrel in the shot is used in some way. And the battle on the high beam between Valen and Izik! And their fight with the beams! And the moment with the cape, like a friendly reproach from the suit actors to the costume designers for the awkward design. Simply magnificent!
In conclusion, I can say that, as always, Guilty Parfait is a nearly flawless film. But I liked Trio of Deep Sin and Graduations more, even though it's much easier to find flaws in them. Still, they felt like a step forward and an expansion of the show's world, whereas Guilty Parfait feels more like the last few episodes that didn't get enough airtime. Still, I highly recommend everyone watch this movie.
https://tokuzl.net/wp-content/upload...arfait-01.webp

I've finished the main course for Kamen Rider Saber.

If you want the short version of my opinion on it, it's that, unfortunately, I don't see the magic in it that many others do.

Do I think the show is out and out horrible? No, but it made alot of decisions, both character and plot-wise, that just really didn't gel with me. Act 1 showed promise, but after that things nosedived without any real big recovery.

What cemented it in my eyes was a moment in episode 44, wherein every Swordsman is gathered in a grand "Everyone's here, united" sort of moment, and it was therein that I realized "Wow, I don't care about most of these people." And that's a very damning sign for how I tend to approach these shows.

Even things wherein I liked the idea, I felt the execution lacked. Probably the biggest example being that, as much as I liked Ren and Desast's' story, and the lesson that what works for everyone else won't necessarily work for you, the setup in how it all came about felt rather forced to me, and Desast dying meant that one of the few characters I cared about was now just gone.

I guess fittingly enough, it feels alot like Ghost in that one's enjoyment of Saber seems to very heavily depend on how quickly they get emotionally invested, and the show just kinda never hit any sort of high point for me in that regard. So even bigger moments like in the finale really just made me go "Sure" at best. No disrespect to those who love the show; it just wasn't really for me at the end of the day, and I give it a 2/6.

Still gotta get through the post show content though. Might post about those, might not. We'll see.

I would never say that Saber is one of my favorite shows, but I do think it got better as it went along. I thought it was going to be as bad as Ghost at first, but it eventually ended up being kinda okay.

I actually like Ghost a little bit better, because it atleast has stuff like Alain and episode 38.

I just watched Guilty Parfait!

A Gavv-anti, huh. I guess you could say you're a.... Bitter Gavv. :p

Like, when Izik told Hanto to keep out of Granute business, it's that kind of willful ignorance of the bigger picture that keeps people like him from seeing the suffering they bring to others. Furthermore, torturing someone to death is a disproportionate sadistic evil compared to the merciful assassination Bocca gave his father, so Izik forfeit his right to take revenge when he became worse than the offender.

I hope Lakia fans don't take this the wrong way, I like the guy, but man, it was great to return to the original dynamic of Shouma and Hanto that carried the first half of the show!

Not like Liselle saw the error of her ways, since she never admitted her or Bocca doing anything wrong, but I suppose her debt of gratitude will have to do for now. That's how redemption started for Ankh. I mentioned before that I wanted to see Liselle and Sachika interact, due to their mutual desire to make someone else happy (for opposing reasons), so I was excitedly surprised to see their shared focus in a movie I'd expected to be mostly about Hanto. Sachika in general got so little in the final arc, so I'm satisfied with what she got here.

Zeztz has some cool stuff like the Prison Nightmare fight and Plasma debut, but yeah, Gavv sweeps when it comes to creative fast-paced fight scenes to a level I've never seen in Rider before. I hope the choreographer will return someday.

Agreed. This was a wonderful dessert to cleanse the bitter aftertaste of the final arc.

Personally, I think Saber has higher highs and lower lows, while Ghost is consistently good which makes it a more enjoyable experience overall.

Found out ZEZTZ was on YouTube so started watching it. Was going to wait until I caught up to say anything, but just gotta shout out episode 8. Not sure if they had a special crew on this or it was tied into some event or something, but they really went all out in this episode. Crazy camera angles, elaborate transitions and edits, unique transformations, using the dreams and the powers of the Nightmare way more in the action sequence, just a great time.

I have felt kinda mediocre on this show as it is kinda paint by numbers in a lot of ways, but episode 8 really made me want to watch more. Although I am a sucker for the strikingly beautiful female detective / agent with a harsh bob like haircut trope.

I also have to say while I am here, Zeztz might rank amongst my least favourite Rider designs. The suit is too baggy in places and too tight in others. The padding looks weird. The helmet is too small. Not having any armour or the driver on the waist to break up the suit makes it look like pajamas. And I see the vision, the sequences where they dim the lights and have all the chevrons and lines on the suit glow, you can see it is a really good design on paper, but it is either executed poorly or just can't translate well to live action and might have looked better on paper.

Tonight I finished watching the rest of the bonus material for Saber!

I'll do my best to keep my thoughts about each one brief, as I have a suspicion that my feelings on them won't match up with most.

Special Chapter: A pretty fun crossover with Twokaiser! This plus Superhero Chronicles really does tempt me to watch Zenkaiger if I ever give Sentai a second chance.

Final Stage: I felt that the overall story of this one was pretty weak, but everything else about the show made the experience rather fun! It also introduced what is hands down my favorite form for Saber himself.

Sabela & Durandal: It was... fine, I guess? I'm not down with the Sabela and Durandal ship, but for what the special was, it wasn't bad. Though I'm not exactly sure how necessary it was? Would've rather had a bonus episode focused on any other the other Swordsmen, frankly.

Anime Shorts: Just like with Zero-One, these were all a really fun time! Each one gave me a good laugh, and the episode focused around the Megid Trio made we really wish we'd gotten to see them act like this in the main show. Also funny that Zooous's actor can't speak English, despite him being born in the US. Also, skateboarding Sophia is a sick idea. Someone make a Tony Hawk mod!

Trio of Deep Sin: I'm well aware that I'm in the minority here, but I actually didn't like this movie at all. The plot made no sense, and I felt basically nothing for any of the new characters introduced. Add in a handful of shots that make it seem like the movie is going for some sort of "deep" symbolism that is very much flying way over my head and I just couldn't get into this one. I suppose I could see it working for people who really love the main trio of Saber, though.

And that's about it. Did any of these specials radically change my overall feelings about Saber? No, but I don't exactly regret watching any of them, nor do I regret watching the show as a whole. It might not've been for me, but personally knowing a handful of people who it did really work for? Well, the show must've done something right, yeah?

But, I feel it's time for a break when it comes to binging Rider. Whenever I feel up for it again, I'll be watching V3 via the Discotek blu-ray.

Even the ending song and Ren with a mustache?

Hell yeah, you should totally watch Zenkaiger! I hope you will appreciate Juran almost as much as I do.

Ultimate Bahamut is pretty awesome!

The most popular opinion in Saber.

What, you didn't even care about that good girl Lucky?

It's a good song, but part of me begrudges the name for tricking me in to thinking Mei would become a Swordsman, haha. And yeah, Ren and Ryouga both have cool moustaches.

Well, considering Shizuka became Kiwa-la 17 years after the show ended, I wouldn't rule out that possibility in the future. Although Asuka Kawazu is currently filming a lot, so don't count on her appearing in tokusatsu much anytime soon.

I shrug.

The movie getting rid of Lucky was kinda my final straw on the movie, haha.

I just inexplicably made a bit of a detour of my Dynaman rewatch and start (re)watching the first two episodes of Kamen Rider Revice.

I loved the first episode of Reviсe. The way they showed us exactly why Ikki had to transform, unlike the other characters. However, they still ended up becoming riders, which ruined the original idea.

And now I find myself watching the first episode of Kamen Rider Gavv for the first time. I really don't know why though.

If you want, then why not taste?

Just caught up on Zeztz.

I think I like Zeztz?

But I don’t know why I like Zeztz.

Let us do a TL;DR up top: I think Kamen Rider Zeztz is an ugly looking suit, in an otherwise functional, yet quite formless, Rider entry, that feels like just another one, rather than one with any real inspiration.

It overcomes a sluggish start, and is arguably at its very best early on when it starts settling into the two part Nightmare story rotation. Technically, it is after this point where the 'real show' begins, but Zeztz lost so much of what made it grow on me as it pivoted into yet another predictable Rider battle royale.

It hits every beat you’d expect from a modern Rider show, but that’s almost the problem. The whole show just feels sorta… safe? Like it is more focused on meeting its modern Rider obligations, than it is really stopping for a moment and actually saying something.

And I know, I saw that preview at the end of this latest episode, it looks like the story is about to take a really sharp, crazy, turn, but I can't really review it on that basis because that hasn't happened yet and while it may end up making the back half of the show more enjoyable, it doesn't retroactively fix the problems in the first half. For me, anyway.

I actually started watching it around launch when I found out it would be on YouTube for free, but I really didn’t like the opening few episodes and bounced off. I came back months later when I saw how much praise this show was getting on socials and gave it another go.

I still think the first seven or so episodes (not a pun) probably could have been condensed down to a couple of episodes and an email, but the show really grabbed me around episode 8 when it felt like it really started to find an identity for itself, leaning into the dream aspects and delivering some really cool action scenes.

Then somewhere along the way, the show lost me again, and I probably would have fallen off again but I kinda figured I was in for a penny at this point so kept going. I know some people will like the later developments of Zeztz, the more serious tone, the more defined stakes, the inclusion of new Riders and forms, but I think this is where Zeztz loses its identity again.

It is basically Kamen Rider 101 at this point to softly onboard you, and then massively ramp everything up, and the show can start "for real" and so like copying that formula is fine I guess, but can you not like maybe... do something with it? I dunno.

Maybe this would have all been fine if hitting all these familiar beats in such a predictable order made Zeztz feel like some kind of greatest hits, but it doesn’t really feel like that either, it just feels very… functional. Like what is uniquely Zeztz?

I think a part of the problem is I felt like a lot of the characters were fairly flat, each with a couple of identifying beats and not much fleshing out beyond that. You’d never find me asking for a Rider show to slow down, but while I think the core of the dynamic between all all the characters is quite pleasant, I wouldn’t have minded more focus on developing these relationships earlier on to give some of the later developments more punch. It is a very charming and likeable cast, so that makes this easier to swallow, but is also probably also part of the reason at the same time that I wish we had more breathing room to just spend more time with these characters.

I think I am going to make a start on Gavv next as I see that has been getting great reviews, and will then carry on watching Zeztz weekly.

Honestly, if you didn't like the safety of Zeztz and prefer a dynamic-paced story, I'm not sure Gavv is for you. It's very uneven paced, and the characters interact with each other as if they were made of glass. At the same time, Gavv's strong point is that it takes typical rider's types and tropes and makes them felt real, so maybe I'm wrong and it's just the show for you. Ultimately, the choice is yours, of course, but I just wanted to warn you just in case.

I have watched three episodes so far between Zeztz episodes as I've been planning what to watch next, and I definitely liked these opening episodes more than Zeztz opening trio. Gavv is quite formulaic so far for sure, but it has great vibes, and I love Gavv's forms and abilities.