But...they implied that the original Wataru used to be there, because Garuru had a line saying "If only that man were here" I assumed that he was talking about the original Wataru.

They were talking about Wataru's dad.

And Decade can just get away with killing a Fangire that did nothing wrong in a society that accepts Fangires as citizens.

Right? He basicallyu commits murder and everyone just glosses over it.

I'm still bitter over that!

Oh...

You mean Rook? If so, then yeah, and one of the Checkmate Four no less.

From now on, if someone asks if they should watch Decade, we should just say "Yes. The Hibiki Episodes, Ignore the Rest. It'll just piss you off."

So my friends and I do Sentai/Rider night, and tonight we watched the first two episode of W which was really awesome, I love the two main characters. Now we're watching Den-O right now.

Update: I enjoyed Den-O it was really good.

Watching episode 13 of Kabuto, specifically the begining where Kabuto and Drake are fighting, and even Tendou's fighting style is Troll-Fu. It's mostly carefully timed dodges, where he just steps out of the way and (basically) slaps a fool upside the head.

Well not to spark any Kuuga/Agito debates, however I watched the first episode of Agito and loved it a whole lot more than Kuuga. I didn't find Agito slow at all and I liked a lot of the characters, the mystery, the villains and the story. I'm more intrigued with it.

Yeah, the mystery was what always drew me to Agito. There's a lot of questions that the series throws at you right away and you just want to keep watching until you find the answers.

Unfortunately the questions keep coming with more frequency than answers.

And the early episodes are the best, because everything's still being revealed and showcased. Stuff actually happens at a reasonable pace. It's only when the episodes just become a routine of asking questions, unknowns murdering people and Agito running off to fight them with that same old fight music does the series slow down.

EDIT: Also this has nothing to do with the plot of the show, but the new intro for episodes 36+ suuuucks Agito's theme song is one of the best KR theme songs IMO, and they replaced it with this weird nonsense. The show deffinately lost it's grandios feel with that move.

EDIT 2: Okay now the show is actually frustrating me. G3/Hikawa/I forget his name I think is acting like a complete idiot thinking Kino is the Agito who saved him. He knows there's more than one Agito, he's told people there's more than one. His theory, the theory that is true, is that the Unknowns are killing people who may become Agito. So WHY does he not consider there to be more than one Agito? It's idiot plot syndrome and it pisses me off.

Ugh, I'm so close to finishing Agito. Just five eps away, I'm rolling through 45 as we speak, but this show is SO SLOW. Every scene feels drawn out and a chore to sit through. This show is 50% silence, but that silence exists soley in the gaps in dialogue. And there's things that are just not syncing up. Like how Homo said "every person shows supernatural powers before becoming Agito." Actually, no, nobody has. Yes there have been supernatural people, and the idea is they will someday become Agito, but none of the Agito we've seen have had supernatral powers, so you can't say that. You can't say something that's not actually proven. And he keeps saying Agito is more of a threat than the unknowns. Why nobody has tossed this guy into the squirrel farm is anybody's guess, because he's gone from "jerk who's at least multi sided with a sympathetic past" to "idiot" in no time. The "Overlord" is annoying. In fact I dare say most of this show is annoying. If it's not the same three pieces of music played again and again it's the high-pitched screeching of any supernatural moment, someone screaming for no fucking reason whatsoGoddamnever, eye-killing filters or dizzying visuals during flashbacks or moments where we're supposed to, I dunno what it's trying to do.

I really gave this show my best, I wante dto like it so bad, but it's just not the "masterpiece" people said it was. It's mood-swings, bizzare comedy (alright I get it, wide-angle lenses are funny ahahaha), non-characters, bad-acting (Really just a problem with Mana) annoying cinematic decisions and pretentious plot make me say it may be one of the weakest of the shows I've watched. Again, people have called it a "masterpiece" and it obviously thinks it is one. But it's not, and all it's little filters and pauses mid-sentence and pretentious storylines about God and humanity is just proof of it's lack of focus. It's throwing shit at a canvas and calling it art.

I think the reason people call this the best Rider series is simply because it's subject matter is more mature. I.e. it's not toy-selly or focuses on clearcut villains and heroes, and I'm sure some would call it a study on religion. It is far from, in fact I'd even go so far as to say it's not even that mature. Just because it shows more death and has more sitting and talking and a God-allegory doesn't make it mature. It makes it a very boring and snobbish show.

At least Agito has cool designs?

Eh, I like Agito Ground, Gills and G3-X. Another Agito is kind of cool as well, but Agito's other forms are either less-appealing spins of Ground or in the case of Burning and Shining, kind of muddled and inconhesive. Also Exceed Gills may be one of the dumbest looking riders ever. Hey, let's put flapping rubber shit all over the most active character and pretend they're spikes as they wave around with every little motion! I guess because this is older they hadn't mastered the method of moving in a way thet doesn't out your costume as being a unitard covered in rubber and foam.

Eh, fair is fair. and yeah Exceed Gills (while on paper looks cool) does look ridiculous in motion.

Sounds like Agito suffers from the exact same problem Evangelion did.
"Let's go from a monster of the week series to a constant existential discussion as we throw religious symbolism all over the place in a case of one writer/director getting way too much freedom to do what he wants while he believes he's being 'deep' and 'complex'."

Finished Black. I still want to know why the Japanese have this obsession with making their enemy rulers some giant immobile object. Anyway, a great ending to a great series, but there are definitely things I do think the series really could have fixed. Kotaro, as bad ass as he is, is just a one dimensional character in the long run. He does not grow at all throughout the show as once he accepts who he is in like episode 3, he is the exact same person in episode 51. The Gorgom priests are pretty much useless until Shadow Moon comes into play. They could have used a back story or something to develop them so they had a purpose. At least they weren't as pointless as the likes of Kara, Mara, and Road Sector though. The series did not need either of them in it and nothing would have changed, especially Kara and Mara. I also would have had Shadow Moon appear much sooner in the series, and had him spend time as Nobuhiko for more than just a few seconds towards the very end of the show. Also, the constant clips need to go. While I know the show did come out long before, it has what I call these days as Gundam SEED Destiny syndrome, where they feel the need to show us the same flashback clips 30 times every other episode.

Despite those issues, the show is a fun ride with some really great fights, amazing Kaijin designs, and good characters. As I said, nitpicks aside, Kotaro is pretty badass when it comes down to being a rider, I just wished he had as much development as future riders such as Wataru, Shinichi, and Kenzaki. The music is well done, usually fits the mood, and the story, as drawn out as it is, is enjoyable.

Black is one of my favorite series, albeit not my absolute favorite for the reasons mentioned above, and it is definitely one that is not for everyone. Overall, I give it a 4/5.

Split, while I disagree on some of your things towards Agito, I definitely agree it is not a masterpiece. The "final battle" is what slightly ruins the show for me.

Again let me reiterate before anyone takes it the wrong way, but while I think Agito is a weak series, I'm not trying to say you shouldn't like it or have no reason to. I, personally, find it underwhelming and kind of hard to watch. I'm 45 episodes in and can't think of a single, memorable moment or character.

You... you aren't nice.

*loves Evangelion*

Agito is about an Overload of Light giving mankind the power of evolution so man can defeat their creator, the Overlord of Darkness. It's all layed out in one episode and it's about as pretentious as a Transformers cartoon. Why don't you actually watch the show before comparing it to Evangelion garbage.

PS SPLIT LIP, did you watch Kuuga before Agito? I'm curious because Kuuga is a lot slower than Agito.

Agito in two words: Extreme Creationism. :lol

I will admit that's a cool idea. Although this realization came far too late, or rather it is really the only major revelation of the entire series. A fifty episode series.

Agito would have done splendidly if it was thirty episodes, not fifty. It, quite simply, does not have enough plot for it's total runtime. As such there's a lot of verbal padding, a lot of characters going around in circles, a lot of just wasted time one way or another.

Well, that's kind of not true.

I mean, seriously, this show has the cinematography of a 90's rock music video. The filters, angles, weird thing where they do it like a slow-mo at, like, ten frames per second, the director probably thought he was doing great. But in reality it's just a visually distracting show, and all the screaming is obviously an attempt at drama that's not very dramatic when it's all everyone ever seems to do.

It is very pretentious in that it clearly believes it's being "artistic" or "dramatic" but it's very hollow.

Dude be careful someone might burn your house down if you start saying that.

Nah, couldn't find it in English. :( But if it's slower, I'm kind of glad I didn't?

I could, yeah.
But I need to finish the rest of my "To watch" list first.

Wait, are we still talking about Agito or Boogiepop Phantom? :p

Decade: Episode 6


Ryuki's World.

It was ok. I didn't really get the whole Rider judgement system...what's the Rider's significance in Ryuki? Do they fight to become judges there too or...what? The shark guy has an interesting design...a bit more complex than the other Ryuki Riders, but it's still cool. I think he's the true culprit. I still don't get how Tsukasa knows who's world it is by just arriving there, or why that Kivat left Narutaki...speaking of whom...I forgot to mention this when i posted my thoughts on episode 5. That dude is a creep...is it just me...or what he having an orgasm when that Kivat kissed his finger? I don't know...maybe I have a dirty mind or something. Yuuske was good as usual. I don't get how they thought Natsumi was the murderer...the fork had no signs that it was thrusted into a person's neck.

Watched Kamen Rider Kiva Episode 1 today, and really enjoyed that, intrigued with both storylines and the villains in it. Wataru is fun too and like the gothic feel too it.

Just finished Episode Final, which is by far and large my least favourite thing in Ryuki. It wasn't awful, but a lot of it really dragged and I felt far less emotionally invested in what was going on. Miho was annoying, Ryuga was cliché, the mirror monsters all turned in Vehicons, the ending was frustrating, Ouja went out like a bitch and Zolda just...stopped.

Femme's design was pretty cool though I guess. And she had a bitchin' swan.

Femme is the most throwaway character in that whole continuity, right after Scissors. Under NO circumstances should that nobody have ever been able to take out Ouja . Never.

I loved Miho. She's hands down my favorite movie Rider ever.

I liked Femme but hated Miho. I'm torn :lol

The more I watch Kabuto, the more I absolutely hate Drake. He has no depth, he has no personality aside from being a manwhore. There are so many chances to explore why he's protecting Gon. Why he was wandering the wastes when he first appeared. It doesn't help that his Rider Form is bland as wet toast.

I watched the Agito World arc of Decade.

It was, interesting. I liked that so much of the focus was on Yuuske, cuz I do like the guy.
The stuff with Gills suddenly becoming Agito out of nowhere confused me, but I guess that's because I don't know anything at all about Agito?

Tsukasa was a dick in the Blade World story arc, but here he was suddenly a pretty cool guy, being that his main motivation was to help Yuuske.


I also liked that Tsukasa is trying to interfere with Kaito's plans. I don't think I care for either character over the other.

DiEnd's design is just bad. Decade's has grown on me a bit, I don't think his helmet looks as bad as DiEnd's, but it's still not a great design. I like when he turns into a Rider I like, such as Kiva or Ryuki.

Den-O World arc is next.

It came out of nowhere because Decade made it up. Gills and Agito are two completely different characters and Decade's knock off is some lame Fusion Dance version of them.

PS I would've liked Yuuske's part in it if he didn't have his own powers.

I'm still so bummed that we never got an Agito/Kuuga team-up in those episodes. :(

That too! Those two were destined to meet and joint forces, but it's only ever in large groups that they're ever seen together.

Yeah, I wanted to see Agito in action, and I got it for like 19.2 seconds. Even better had it been Agito and Kuuga.

Sweet!

I thought Kivat was interesting in the first ep since he's a little cartoony flying bat thing but he's not the comedy relief.

Told ya dude. Drake is the most useless character in Kabuto and TheBee is the most useless rider system in Kabuto.