Kamen Rider Ghost Episode 2- "Shocking! The King of Inventions" Discussion
 

14 Eyecons to find, and 98 days to go. Where can Takeru start on his quest???

A LOT of dialogue in the first half, but otherwise seems decent. Looks like Ghost's breakneck pacing is here to stay for a little while, and honestly I'm fine with that. I'd rather have jam-packed fast paced single stories than slow and boring two-parters.

Well, that was something.

Waiting for subs, but i can say the music was excellent. I'd get an OST album if they put it on US itunes

My hope is that there is a tone shift after ten eps or so, sort of like Gaim. When the characters got stuck in Yggdrassil, we got in-door Henshins and fights between rider and human troops. It went away from "monster of the week" into the main story. When that happened, the henshin sequences seemed more abbreviated, and alot of the call-outs were reduced as well. It was, drama, quick henshin, then armored fights. That really sold the stakes to me in Gaim.

I hope they pull off something similar here. Lots of Wizard level engrish for all the toy commercial moments

Ereki Hirameki Hatsuemi-Oh!

The show seems to be working like Wizard did at the start, and by that I mean getting the main forms/elements out of the way fast, which is not a bad idea overall since it will let them focus more on the overall story as it continues which Wizard attempted, but Drive overall did better with less filler.

Enjoying it so far.

The battles for this series seems really beautiful. Honestly I can feel a Wizard vibe from these first episodes, but it seems Ghost will have much more power-ups, while Wizard had just the 4 elements and some variations of them ( and obviously Infinity)

Wizards secondary rider had more personality

I hope they avoid that with this series

Okay, Takeru's friends can definitely be annoying. They aren't always in full-on goofball mode, though, which I really appreciate after some of the comic relief we've had in the last few years.

I thought it was a good episode overall, even if the whole ghost iguana thing came right the fuck out of nowhere. That was some Kiva-tier random bullshitness. I also found it interesting that this was just a one-parter. I wonder if Ghost is going to be more episodic like this. I can live with that. That was what Drive was billed as at first but never really followed up on. It could be fun to have a show that's got more done-in-one episodes.

Subs are up at OT

We learned a few things about Ganma and ghosts - they can touch humans' minds and "inspire" them. Not mind control, it appears, but a strong nudge in certain directions.

Ganma aim to open up "Ganma Portals" or something. Not sure where they lead, presumably for evil to enter the human realm.

Ghost can shut them down with energy balls projected from his belt called "Optic Orbs." He kicks/sends them at the portal and they explode.

The iguana ship is called Captain Ghost. It belongs to the tiny ghost. No explanation where the bike came from but they can link up.

Heroic Eyecons are generated by the belt, once the spirit appears and he draws the eye icon, and there is a person and item with a strong connection to the heroic spirit summon its appearance

Ghost detroys the Ganma' by stealing its electricity powers and using them against it. Edison would be proud.

Also, I still have absolutely no idea why Captain Ghost becomes an Iguana. Like... literally what? I wonder if an explanation even exists...

Obviously we won't know until we have a bigger sample size, but I'm pretty sure that was just because the Ganma had electric powers. Neurons and electricity and all. He was influencing the scientist's brain through electricity, not some ghostly Ganma powers. Pretty sure.

Seriously though, they didn't say anything about the Ghostriker in episode one, and in this one no one says anything about the Iguana. The Rider Machines so far are a true mystery.

Makes one wonder how they'll handle the Hoodie, especially considering...

But yeahhh, definitely hope we get some explanation as to what's going on with all that some time.

Pretty good episode now that I can fully understand it (so much dialogue). I appreciate that Edison was credited for perfecting the lightbulb and not inventing it, I liked the Ganma, fights were cool, Iguana Ghostriker nonsensical as it is is still pretty great, etc. Pretty enjoyable stuff.

Also Over-Time fixed their Driver sound translations, so that's good. I may just end up watching OT, it was the weird Batchiri/GanGanminaa things that were most offputting for me about the first episode.

Also, that op. Not really what I was expecting visuals-wise, but I like it. If they keep adding Parka Ghosts to that flying sequence it might end up looking pretty cool later on, I like enough as it is actually. I wonder how they're gonna work Specter in though.

Looking forward to seeing Robin Hood in action next week.

Watched it with subs.

First of all, I really enjoyed the episode. Takeru still struggles with his fate which I find interesting, since most Kamen Riders would just accept their fate after the first episode or so. I mean, we had the rather comedic follow-up with Gaim and the struggles were in the future, not the past. And Drive… well he was Drive from the first time he transformed. Nothing really changed about him with becoming a Rider. And Wizard was just Wizard all the time, and he was always more concerned about Koyomi’s fate than his own.

Although I don’t believe Takeru will doubt himself further down the road, he seems to have made his mind up now, it was still nice having a follow-up to what happened in episode 1. I mean he died, and I like how they show him a little bit in despair now in episode 2.

Second, as I expected, the whole Tesla/Edision-drama is completely made up. Never is the name Tesla spoken, and Edison is never quoted as the inventor of electricity. They just call him the one who brought the light bulb into people’s homes, no one says he invented it or made a major breakthrough in electricity. And he’s also just quoted for being the “king of inventors”, which is heavily glorified, but not wrong. The dude really did invent a lot of stuff.

In fact the Ganma which has design elements of Tesla is the one who gives the inventor his ideas, who in turn just continues to fangirl Edison without questioning where his ideas came from, which is a nice hint to history.

So I would advise everyone who had problems with the Tesla/Edison-thing to just watch the episode and chill out, it’s not as bad as people made it up to be.

But back to the episode: The monk is definitely our source of comedic moments, not Yurusen, and while he is loud and straight forward, he isn’t as bad as the SCU from Drive. In fact if they give him some spotlight (maybe an episode where he’s the one who has contacts to a heroic spirit) I think I could really like this dude.

Akari isn’t bad either; she’s nice and clashes with the monk due to her scientific approaches which makes for some good laughs. I really liked the scene at the end where she’s completely beaten up but still picks up a fight with the monk.

Action-wise this episode didn’t have much. I like the more cinematic henshin, but that was mostly it for the episode. The whole CGI-war with the Iguana-bike was kinda bad and not worth watching.

Also, the ship comes out of nowhere, same as the bike (I know it transformers from Takeru’s regular bike, but still), yet the preview made us believe Takeru uses the boat to sail around the world and the bike is actually a dead horse. The ship-thing might have been completely cut and is now only in the show to sell toys, which is a damn shame, but I really hate that the bike is just there.

A Battlehopper-like bike which has its own head and will would really fit the show, kinda sad that it’s not happening apparently.

Still a good episode though, the pacing was much better, and I see this show really working with the MOTW-format now that the show has established most of the characters. I just hope it won’t turn repetitive like Wizard; the villains definitely need some spotlight instead of just lurking in the dark. But Drive handled that well, with the generals only appearing in the background for the first few episodes but really going into the action soon after.

It would have been a nice nod if the Denki Ganma's evolution item was a Tesla coil or something, but I think it's actually just a radio wave receiver. Maybe there's still some Tesla influence in there, but I think that's mostly just a loose connection people are making with little actual evidence or truth behind it.

It was another really enjoyable episode. Like with the first one I am not completely over the moon about it but it keeps me entertained for half an hour. The characters are likeable and I still enjoy the visuals. The Iguana cannot leave soon enough though :lol

I'm liking Takeru a lot.

For a while, I thought he was going to be Watareu 2.0, but so far his reaction to everything seems the most realistic at least compared to most main Riders.

Decent episode. Onari has the possibility to be very annoying. Let's hope they don't screw him up. Akari is okay. Takeru being in more control of his emotions to stay visible is nice, too.

Something I quite enjoy about the fights is that, because they're ghosts, they just travel through everything but walls. I enjoy that since most fights in industrialized areas like that tend to be kicking gas cans and tripping over everything. Very annoying.

Episode was nothing special to me, honestly, though. Captain Ghost shows right the fuck out of nowhere (Whose putting money down on 3 appearances max through the series? Do I hear 4?).

I've only seen the first episode. How did they change the Driver translations for ep 2?

Instead of "Get ready people" and "Get hyped people" (or however that went) for the Driver and Saber standbys, they went with "Watch here" and "Watch this."

The "villains" are interesting so far if they even are the main villains, in Drive the main villain was not revealed before quite late, but we still heard about him during the show to build him up, and the characters we believed where the main villains ended up being characters we did not want to die.

So far the show is pretty interesting to me, I am thirsty for more villain scenes.

I'm curious if the teleporter will play into a later plot.

It wasn't one. It was built to open a Garmma hole.

What did everyone think of the opening theme? I don't really like it.

Still wonder if it'll play a role.

It was not as instantaneously catchy as "surprise drive" before it, maybe it will grow on me but for now meh.

I like it. I'm not immediately blown away by it, but neither was I with Surprise Drive and I ended up loving it and listening to it on the bus all the time.

Would be cool if they remember it, but I don’t really expect it. Maybe a future machine will work similarly and that’s your clue since you know who originally built it, but for a bigger plot? Don’t think so.

I thought it was okay. It fits the feel of the show, so it'll probably grow on me. For some reason when I first saw it, it felt like I was watching an anime opening.

I'm not going to say it's awful or the worst song ever, but I'm definitely not a fan. When I first heard it I hoped it would work better with the actual visuals of the opening, but it really didn't.

Count me in on that :lol

It sounds a lot like your typical run of the mill anime opening. Like I heard a thousand times on shows like Naruto. Its not bad but I'm not really a fan of the song.

I really didn't like this episode. Could just be growing pains, but it was super obnoxious. Everything's so blunt and immature and I can't find myself able to tolerate... anyone in it except maybe the old man.

Please could everyone just... stop screaming please? Please stop screaming...

PTSD from the first few episodes of Drive huh?

I am not saying no to this.

Though honestly, if this show ditched the near-constant barrage of screaming and shrill voices, and gave Takeru some personality besides a stock catchphrase like "I believe in myself!" then this show could be something.

Onari definitely needs to be toned down soon.

You did watch episode 2 though, right?

Don't really know where you're coming from with the screaming-part, I mean the monk does it but I didn’t really notice much more screaming. The professor did it, but that was him being crazy and it really didn’t bother me as much.

And Takeru had his moments in this episode, especially the part where he sees the other teens and says "I was just like them, a week ago...", I thought that was pretty cool. I didn’t expect this; I just thought he goes to badass Rider like everyone else after episode 1.

Okay, he’ll go it from next episode onwards, but still a nice touch.

I liked it
Can't wait to see how they'll do Robin Hood next week though. I mean.....he might not even have necessarily existed! He's disappeared into legend and might have just been a story! Quick research shows you he may have even been just an alias used by multiple different outlaws to mask their own identities.

Come on toei, let's see what you got

I have to agree, honestly.
I still enjoyed it for what it was, but I think I enjoy the Rider and the show separately from each other. I've become kind of immune to the gags and comic relief for some reason.

The thing with Akari and Onari is so contrived as comic relief. I'd respect Akari a lot more if she tried to learn the science of the supernatural instead of sticking her fingers in her ears and insisting that it has to be some trickery; meanwhile Onari is just way too generically enthusiastic and excitable. He's like Kyu from Drive all over again. Or Yuki from Fourze, Akiko from Double, Rinko and Shunpei from Wizard...
Always shouting about their favorite thing and getting into silly arguments.

More specific to this episode, it also felt rushed and pretty much completely uninteresting. The mad scientist guy was totally hammy and cheesy, and the way they handled the story really felt like two episodes squeezed into one with the way the scientist essentially starts screaming his regrets as soon as the Ganma Hole thing opens, and then there's some scene at the end tossed in with him saying he's sorry and he didn't know what he was doing/getting into blah blah blah.

But in that way it also feels the same as the early episodes of most other series, especially Fourze and Drive. Not that that excuses a, well, boring, uncreative plot, but still.

That'd be a great idea, and would actually feel like a legitimate reason for Onari and them to squabble, since her instance that it's somehow scientific would be understandably frustrating. (especially since she'd have some credibility what with the Ghost Driver being technology harnessing so-called mystic powers)

Everyone and everything is so immediately surface-level. If you've seen a half second of thee characters you've seen all they have to offer in these first two episodes.

And I hated it back then, too. :lol (funny how Gaim didn't really have that archtype... neither did OOO really)

"I didn't notice much screaming aside from those two prominent characters that scream almost non-stop whenever they're on screen." :lol Seriously, dude?

They scream, the girl screams, and while the seriously-is-this-for-babies-or-something?-puppet and MOW didn't scream, their voices are so shrill and high-pitched they're just as annoying.

Meh this episode was nothing special.

I don't like the opening one bit, nor the shot of where he transformed in that lab. I like it more when the rider is actually there and the armor comes from around at that moment.

The characters have little to like for them, the monk is annoying, the girl needs to just shut up and Takeru is just kind of there.

The action was okay, but I don't really like the ghosts dancing to Ghost. Plus it felt like it was trying to mix to many styles of action at once.

Overall, a pretty forgettable episode.

The characters need time to grow before we judge them and the show in my opinion, hell even Beast in Wizard eventually had some development, though the massive amount of filler in the series made it a bit to late in the end.

Either way the first arc with the characters getting used to the situation and changing their perspectives and methods to assist the main character will give us a better picture on the overall future of the show.

The comic relief characters now will potentially change drastically as the show moves on, and it seems Akari at least is in denial about the situation because she cares for the main character, and that shows in ep 2 at least.

Overall they need their own spotlight episodes before they will change, just like characters in previous shows, we just have to wait and judge later.

Just look at the drastic changes in Gaim and some of Drives characters as the shows moved on, Mach in Drive was a great example of a character who faked his overall attitude in order to do everything on his own due to very personal reasons we later hear about.

With the mugging, obnoxious side characters, puppet, silly old man and dancing cartoony ghost... hoodies, this really feels like it's aimed at a younger audience. Kamen Rider's always intended for children in a sizable respect, but this is approaching toddler-level entertainment. Odd that the main character dies five minutes in, but then again Japan does treat death as a more natural regard, rather than something that must never be a reality to children like American cartoons. Plus, he's not really dead, he just has wacky ghost powers.

Also I'm pretty dissapointed, as prepared as I was for this eventuality, that it's a MOW gimmick item fetch-quest. Hopefully that's short-lived or spaced out, since there's only 14 eyecons left.

How much time is the problem.

Also, my issue with the characters isn't the developement, but the fact that the characters are awful people. Unless they completely change into different personalities (which would make these ones pointless) "developement" isn't going to help if I can't stand who they are as people.