White can work if it's properly accented. Gold is a great accent for white. Lots of colours are good accents for white. But Eternal's design makes no sense. It has no focus or purpose. Is he supposed to look sophistacted and clean with that white? Practical and military-esque with the Maximum Drive slots looking like pouches? Exciting and stylish with the flames? Or dark and evil with his black, billowing cape? He's really a list of don'ts for character design. He's cluttered with conflicting aethetics and poor colourscheme. (white and black in even doses accented by metallic blue and yellow eyes?)

If Eternal ditched the Maximum Drive slots, turned the cape white (with some internal colour like gold or blue) swapped the flame cuffs for regular coloured ones and dialed back the crest... he'd still look meh, but he'd be salvagable. Especially if they ditched his stupid Sonic eyes and went for regular eyes, maybe smaller and angled slightly.

It... really stings that Eternal got a whole movie and not Skull.

I mean, Skull is sleek and suave and Eternal is... a loser.

So...a white W suit?

To start. If they wanted a cool looking white rider they could have done so much better than what they did.

While true, I don't think the overall look of Eternal is all that bad tbqh. Certain aspects, especially the flames, are kinda eh...but the overall silhouette isn't all that bad.

Anyways, about to start episode 18 of Ryuki, which is quickly starting to rival W as my favorite Rider series I've seen to date. There are a lot of interesting characters, I love all of the different riders and their designs. It's got a nice, dark mood and feel to it (though at least at this point it isn't near as dark as some have said it was, then again I'm not even halfway through yet), the theme song and opening are fantastic as well (though I do think my favorite is still W Boiled Extreme).

I think this series also more than any of the others I have watched feels like a show intended for an older audience. Like I honestly can't imagine kids tuning in on Saturday morning to watch this, it seems like something that would be on at night for an older crowd.

Do you even know what the hell the term emo means?

Secondly, Kiva has this thing called CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

He is not the same person at the end of the series as he started out to be. That is something many series seem to lack with the main hero at times. Many times they are a hero at the beginning and still a hero in the end no matter what.

Thank you!

This.

speaking of which, episodes 37 and 38 of Kiva

Everyone's identity is revealed! and Wataru finally got to see his mom. I found it weird how a few episodes ago she was saying how she wanted to see him, and now she's pushing him away, andTaiga...you do NOT grip your mother's throat like that! The Zanbat sword was pretty cool, interesting how Jirou, Riki, and the kid had to combine since apparently the sword is so powerful that it can possess the user. I found it weird how king just got angry and threw it into the wall...what does that accomplish? Speaking of king, Dark Kiva has appeared! and I finally know what "zetsemuts tiemu da" means. How did Jirou inexplicably know who he was? Speaking of Jirou...poor guy got a beatdown. Other than that, he had some good moments. I liked the moment he had with Wataru; telling him that he needs to face reality. 1986 wasn't as eventful as 2008 in these past 2 episodes. I did enjoy these episodes quite a bit, despite their minor flaws. Bring on the next episode!

Zanvat is a beast. There's a reason it needs a power limiter. It's one of the most powerful rider weapons out there being used by a very powerful rider.

Can you really consider Kiva so powerful if he can't use the sword without the limiter or losing himself?

Well considering he has to go straight to his final form for the tail end of the series, for every fight, because his villains are just that powerful, yes. The sword itself was only controllable by the previous King who was himself incredibly powerful. With out the limiter the left over dark influence of King would make him evil.

Don't you think that would be the point where Kiva would clench the status as "Powerful" though? Using the sword that was only controllable by the previously evil king without limiting the power?

If Kiva was a series about watching Wataru's evolution from antisocial wimp to great hero and King, wouldn't truly controlling the sword be the epitome of his growth, then?

Kiva is strong, no doubt. But I'm hesitant to call him "Very powerful" when he's still using safeties.

Up to episode 20 of Ryuki.

Damn Ouja is badass! Also first non-civilian death we've had in some time, I kinda expected Gai to stick around a bit longer than this, I figured it was gonna be Zolda that was taken out at this point. Glad I was wrong on that though.

Things are heating up.

Oh and question, the "Episode Final" special and "13 Riders" movie...do I need to watch them?

Plot consistency on Kiva. lol.

Conversely, he might just go straight to ultimate form because he's too much of a wuss to rely on his normal forms when he can just spam Emperor.

Or, you know, he just used Emperor form because the suit actor hated the Kiva form suit. :p

Personally, I've always ranked Kiva as a pretty mid-tier Rider, power-wise. Next to the real powerhouses - Kuuga, Agito, OOO - he's not that strong. But I'd still rank him above some of the lower level guys - Ryuki, Hibiki, Den-O. In a lot of ways, he always came off as a watered down Kuuga/Agito hybrid.

Don't get me wrong. In the grand power scheme it goes down like this for me:

Kuuga or Agito
OOO
Decade
Kiva

That still puts Kiva leaps and bounds ahead of Ichigo through Den-O & W, Fourze, and Wizard. I think being top 5 is pretty powerful.

I really wouldn't rank Kiva above Kabuto.
And no, I'm not just saying that because "LOL CLOCK UP."
Tendou is just too efficient at fighting, relying on telegraphed moves to dodge and counter (And with a sword, you're always telegraphing your swing). Hell, his Rider Kick was acknowledged as a counter kick.
And then, when things do get hairy, he has the aforementioned Clock Up as an instant "Get out of fuck up free" card.

I'd actually also rank Kabuto, and Wizard over Kiva, maybe even Blade. And if we're bringing in Showa guys I'd add at least V3 and Black RX (Biorider was fucking hax).

Finally got around to watching the Fourze movie. I loved the hell out of it, but it was ridiculously fast paced. The choreography in it was incredible though, some of the flashiest fight sequences I've seen in a while. The 12 Horoscope battle was incredible, and Meteor Fusion States was a lot better on screen then I was hoping.

Even Wizard stood out really well. I don't if it was just because they weren't quite sure how they were writing him or what, but there definitely felt something different about his character. I really like that Gen is the reason he took the title of Kamen Rider.

Finally finished Faiz. I don't know how to put those black spoiler thingy (sorry I'm an ignoramus!) so I'll just say SPOILERS BELOW. Though most of you probably have seen Faiz but for the benefit of those who hadn't and wish to see the show I'll be mentioning some spoilers.

I think I know now why most people have a problem with Faiz. The ending, well its a cliffhanger of sorts. The King was still alive, badly injured but still alive. Saeko who was empowered by the King is still there, so it wasn't a definitive ending. Then you got Takumi who's probably gonna turn to dust anytime soon.

I think another one that bothers people is the complete 360 in Yuji's personality towards the end. I guess you could say it was because of what happened to Yuka but still it was a drastic change of personality.

At any rate I like the show, not as much as Ryuki, but I found it decent enough. The cast of characters wasn't that strong, I mean Takumi wasn't my favorite character at all, unlike how I found Kuuga's Godai or Ryuki's Shinji whom you just want to root for, Takumi on the other hand you can't say what his motivations were. Its like he's the hero because he can wear the belt. Anyway Kusaka was a great antagonist in the show I liked how he was handled. Mari was a good secondary character Keitaro on the other hand was just there. The Orphenoc trio of Yuji, Yuka and Kaido I liked a lot. Oh and Saeko, damn thats one hot woman. I mean she's not even you're usual Toku Hottie who shows a lot of skin in fact she's pretty covered most of the time but that doesn't stop her from being hot (now I miss that Kamen Rider Babe thread we had, what happened to that?).

Of the four Kamen Rider shows I have finished I would rank Faiz
1. Ryuki
2. Kuuga
3. Agito
4. Faiz

Now just need to watch the Paradise Lost movie then off to Blade. I think its a good show with its card theme.

Yep, that's pretty much most people's complaint with 555. The ending is a huge mess and the lack of resolution for, well, anything can't help but leave a really bad taste in your mouth.

Have fun with Blade next, it starts kind of slow but it's a great show.

There is no point in watching them until after the series. Neither one of them are canon. However, make sure you watch the 13 Riders special with Ending B.

They're just alternate endings/retellings of the series. So they really are best to watch after having seen the whole thing. That way you can compare them to how the show actually played out. Technically speaking they're the "original" versions of the story that didn't end up how Shiro Kanzaki wanted them to so he rest the universe a couple of times.

I'd say Episode Final is worth watching if for no other reason than Femme is the best movie Rider ever.

Episode 27 of Agito was probably one of the best child-centric episodes of any kind of show like this.

I had to look that up. That's the one with Ryo and the runaway kid?

Yeah, that one. It's a good episode.

Honestly, I see nothing to support this outside of it being fan speculation.

I haven't seen them in a while, but doesn't he end each one with a narration over it being wrong?

Not the movie. Maybe the special, as I haven't ever seen that thing subbed.

That sounds about right for 13 Riders. It's been awhile since I saw it, though - it's not all that great, even if it is the only place to see Verde.

Watching Kamen Rider Black right now, very cool stuff.

13 riders actually has Kanzaki say that to the viewer. This is what could have happened or some such. They're alternate timelines that he reset until he got an outcome he was satisfied with, AKA the TV series.

I've decided to watch Kuuga. So we'll see how that goes.

Yes, Black is one of my favorite series, and Kotaro himself is my favorite rider of all time. I must admit, the first time I saw Black I had a hard time getting into it at first because of how different the formula is compared to the modern Rider series, as it was the first Showa rider series I had ever watched.

:thumb:

:thumb:

Yeah, definitely Black is awesome, and Kotaro is great. It's aged beautifully too, massively stylish and atmospheric. I'd like to see the current shows go for such a cinematic style look.

This and I still think the costumes used in this series for the MOTW have yet to be trump in any rider show. The Gorgom beasts just look so realistic.

I watched Kamen Rider OOO x Kamen Rider Fourze Movie War Mega Max last night.

It was awesome.

It's been a really long time since I finished W and OOO, it was really great to see those casts again. Plus, the movie was just bugnuts insane. I really had a lot of fun with it.
Evil Future Rider was pretty great, I really liked the design and would totally buy a Figuarts of that guy. The fighting of the OOO portion, in particular, was really great. Lots of unsuited fighting for Eiji and Ankh, it was all very impressive.

The Fourze portion was also fun, it felt about like a regular episode. And I now find myself wanting to pick up the Virgo and Nadeshiko Figuarts.

In the finale, I found it amusing and pandering (in a good way) that we got to see the 3 primary and CJX forms of W, and that OOO went through all of his Combos as well.

Rockets States still looks kinda silly/ugly, the Super TaToBa suit looks merely okay, but the design looks really great in toy form. I'm disappointed that W didn't feature more prominently, and kinda disappointed they didn't get a special movie form, but ah well.

All in all, I felt it was a really strong movie, probably one of the best Rider movies I've seen.

Megamax is in my opinion the best modern rider film we've had so far.

I would agree, but I personally enjoyed Fourze's movie to be stronger. A tad confusing at figuring out where it occurs in universe, but still superior.

I watched the Fourze movie. Like most of the Rider summer movies, this was okay. It was about 15 minutes too long and the action was hard to follow. I also felt the plot was very predictable as I knew who the real villains were going to be right from the get go. It was all pretty much cookie cutter, however, the worst part was how friggin whiny Gentaro was in this movie. He was crying every time something did not go his way, which really got on my nerves.

I also have to say, I do not know what it is, but I had to turn my receiver up to -8.5 just to be able to hear the audio whereas normally, I only need to put them somewhere from -15.0 to -12.0. Nevertheless, the one problem I have about fansubs of movies if you lose out on the 5.1 audio, especially when it is from a Blu-Ray with HD audio.