Let's rant about Riders.
 

Start an off-topic Rider rant that doesn't fit anywhere else. Maybe about a character or a story arc you didn't like, or maybe something you liked. Let's make this long!

I'll start, I don't like Fourze, AT ALL. There's not much of an overall plot to go with the two episode arcs, making them feel really repetitive with nothing to really look forward to. The characters are also bland. They're really just high school stereotypes, I don't know why people are attached to them so much. The minimal character development that went into the side characters didn't flesh them out, just made them go from against Gentaro to with Gentaro, there really shouldn't have been that many side characters. I can't even remember the names of any of them, save Gentaro and Ryo, without looking them up. They should've cut Tomoko, J and Yuki. Also, they should've cut some of Hayami's screen time for someone else (like the Scorpion Zodiarts or the big bad), since his development went nowhere. It's been a long time since I've watched Fourze so I may have missed some things and feel free to correct me, I'm open to debate and others' opinions :)

If all those characters got cut, there wouldn't be a supporting cast, which in turn would make Gentaro less convincing as his current god of friendship status. With 'not much of a plot' I have to disagree. The plot is very straightforward, yes, but it's still there. Zodiarts try making more Horoscopes to achieve their goal. 'They're high-school stereotypes' Well duh, it's about high-school. I don't remember Fourze enough to counter everything, but I'd say it's still all around rather good.

Something I've never gotten is why Kabuto has so many people that dislike it. I mean sure it has its faults and I can see how certain parts of it would bother other people even if I liked them, but I always felt like it got a disproportionate amount of flack and there are much worse seasons.

Gentaro made a lot of friends during the mini episode arcs and I think it was enough to make him god of friendship. Also, just because they're in high school doesn't mean the characters have to be word-by-word stereotypes, they could've mixed it up. About the plot, I just feel it could've been more fleshed out.

I'm planning on watching Kabuto soon, people mostly complain about the main right? Well people who don't like Kabuto's main but they also don't like Takumei and I liked Takumei. Maybe because I relate to narcissists... :o

Japan loves stereotypes. Hell, their view of America is sports iirc
It takes a while for the story to go anywhere and Tendou's flaws are near nonexistent

Well I mean yeah, I get all of that but the way some people talk about it it might as well be the devil incarnate, which is just weird to me when it does have a fair share of good attributes. I also find that Kagami is a good foil to Tendou's Mary Sue powers and there are other seasons that take even longer to get going. I guess what I'm trying to say is I get why people dislike it but why THAT much?

Actually, I'd like to rant about Ghost. Takeru is boring as fuck, he doesn't take advantage of his ghostly abilities, nor does he actively hunt Eyecons in the beginning. There were 40 days in between 2 episodes, in which Takeru did NOTHING. It gets WORSE with him. He got Mugen by forming a bond with a few Eyecons, not all of them, which is stupid as he only bonded with his own Eyecons, not Makoto's nor Alain's. Takeru's also been resurrected 3 times, and he currently has ALL the Eyecons around him. Can't he just borrow Specter's and Necrom's? They have other options for combat, and it's not like only dead people can use the Ghost Driver. Makoto's also gotten very boring. He's also dumb as fuck, his reason for hunting Eyecons was to resurrect his sister, that's fine. Saionji was OBVIOUSLY not to be trusted, even pointed out by Kanon. "Durrr okay mister I'll trust you!" And Makoto's explanation for not having Alain resurrect Kanon? "You wouldn't understand". Makoto also got Houdini for no apparent reason, as there was next to no difference between Specter wanting to use Houdine in multiple situations. Can't even bother looking up how the Deep stuff is going. Onari's literally only character trait is 'camera close up while yelling and making funny faces', which is fucking annoying, especially as Onari's backstory could help redeem him or show character development. Kanon's character is 'ONIICHAN ONIICHAN HELP ME' though to be fair, she gave Alain a bit of character development. The WORST thing about Ghost though? The missed potential and lack of explanation. WHY didn't Makoto go to Alain to resurrect Kanon? WHY did Necrom's Eyecons stick with Alain? WHERE did the Necrom Eyecon come from? WHY did the Eyecons ditch Takeru and then decide "nah fam you're aight" WHY did Takeru think 'Oh, Makoto's getting his ass handed to him, I don't feel like helping my childhood friend' in that scenario? The missed potential lies in lots of stuff. Newton Damashii, you'd think a design like that would make Takeru do more than just point at things. Ghost's fighting style in his Drive cameos was so awesome, yet they ditched it. Newton and Himiko's conflict was interesting, why can't we have more conflicts between ideals of the Eyecons? Houdini was hyped up as a Specter's Super mode, yet he very rarely fights with it. Necrom was actually very well executed as a villain, theme that sent a shiver down your spine, immortality so that he couldn't be beaten, etc. Javert was hyped up, but all he does is 'FITE MEEEEEEH' and then get his ass handed to him by the new super mode! I can't remember any other problems I have, but this alone should be more than enough to show why I hate Ghost

Decade. Why

I expected walls of text on this from you. Somewhat disappointed :p

I'm considering it, but I don't have the strength of will. Perhaps later, I'll give you the rant you deserve.

I don't dislike Kabuto, but I've found that - for me, at least - it was intensely forgettable. Most of the time if I'm thinking about the 00s Rider show my brain goes "Okay, so we had Hibiki and then Den-O... no wait, there was that other one in there, too: whatchamcallit." It's really weird because I actually enjoyed Kabuto a lot at the time and found Tendou's assholishness to be incredibly entertaining.

Anyway, for my own rant:

Toei needs to get their heads out of their asses and finally give us a proper female secondary or tertiary Rider. Someone who's around for most of the show and contributes as much to the plot and action as a G3, Garren, Necrom, etc. A female Rider who can hold her own in a fight using proper martial arts with no cutesy sound effects or "adorable" clumsiness. One who has her own suit that isn't repainted or repurposed from a male costume and isn't full of "girly" features (so no pink, no pastels, and no schoolgirl costume elements). One who doesn't fucking die by the end of the series. Seriously, Toei, it's 20-goddamn-16; it's about time you stopped pretending that women can't be heroes.

You don't need walls of text, just ONORE DECADE!

I never got why males got big heavy armor and the girls got small skimpy armor. Both are equally capable of fighting so both should be able to wear the same amount of armor, also females don't have to wear skirts with EVERYTHING.

I don't think a pink female Rider should be an issue. We had Raia and we're getting Ex-aid. And as a woman, I don't think the 'It's 2016' thing works here. Japan is still strict with gender roles. It's like demanding a married gay couple in the next KR, because gay marriage is illegal in Japan

I thought it was hamburgers,busty blondes wearing 3 sizes too small bikini tops and cowboys.:p

I don't remember the busty blondes tbh

It's mostly in anime and video games.

Aw yeah, time for some conflicting opinions!

I really really really like Fourze, so I'll admit my perspective is hardly objective, but complaining about the characters being stereotypes is completely missing the point! I hear people who didn't like Fourze say this particular complaint all the time and it really annoys me.

The whole series is about high school and friendship and stuff like that so they deliberately made the side characters a group of archetypes as part of "don't judge a book by its cover" sort of message. Shun and Miu, for example, are very stock "popular kid" characters who appear to be total a-holes only to turn out to be perfectly nice people. Even Gentarou dresses like a stereotypical Japanese delinquent straight out of a million other shows and movies.

I can give you that they aren't particularly deep characters, but when is anybody in Rider, really? The characters don't go through a ton of change, but their relationships do, and that's what the show was about. Kengo is the best example, since over the course of the show he goes from outright disliking Gentarou to having a rocky but understanding friendship and by the end of the show they're basically best pals, and it all happens in a surprisingly gradual, realistic way for such an over-the-top show.

Yeah, but Tendou doesn't have the hidden depths that Takumi has. Takumi is a guy who's a jerk to people because relationships kind of scare him, whereas Tendou is just a giant d*** the whole show, and not even the other characters know what his deal is.

It's no big deal though, everyone knows Kagami's the real hero here.

Because it used to get pretty hyped up? I wasn't actually around when it was airing or anything, but I used to see people talk about how totally cool and awesome and stylish Kabuto was a lot, and I figure people who watched the show hearing all that were disappointed to find out how mediocre a lot the writing can be, sweet slo-mo fights be damned.

Okay, so even I'm not crazy enough to respond to all of that but let me see if I can't clear a few things up.

A.He was having a bit of an existential crisis at the time and I think the idea was they believed he'd end up on the side of good.
B.Who cares?! No but seriously, the same place as all the other Ganma crap. They built it. Igor even has his own knockoff version.
C.He was having a bit of an existential crisis at the time and I think the idea was they didn't want him using their power until he got his crap back together.
D.CG is expensive, just ask GataKiriBa.
E.The point is that for how cool and in control they look, they're both kind of losers who need to do some growing up. Alain obviously did, and Javert has gotten a couple pep talks from the apparently useless Onari.

Because Tsukasa is one of the most fun protagonists in Kamen Rider and any amount of aborted plot-lines and watered-down parodies of way better shows makes it all worth it.


*Whew!* I think that's enough for now. If I'm being too positive for anybody, just ask me about Gaim. Or The Next. I know that's a cheap shot, but really, f*** that movie.

Sorry I ate up this much of a page!

oh my fucking god I want to die I swear, I meant Newton not Necrom

So? Houdini didn't have wings at the ending of his debut fli-er...fight. Just have Specter only use the wings when necessary and have him fight without them, like Hyper Kabuto's HCU mode, or TaJaDor's wings. Boom, Houdini gets used for actual fights and the CGI then goes into the explosions

Oh, okay then.

B. Yurusen just kind of had it? I honestly have no clue. Maybe that should've been the mystery Shinnosuke had to solve in that episode. It's not entirely outside of reason for it to just be there though, even if it is weird.

D. I mean, I guess you could do that. Honestly, I can kind of empathize with this one.

Ghost has been the kind of show that likes to forget whatever forms aren't the hip new thing at the moment. I don't think it hurts it too bad, because it makes enough sense within the context of the show, but I get a little sad every time an entire episode goes by without Ore Damashii showing up.

It feels almost like the writer wanted to do an Ultraman Gaia kind of thing where Ghost gets a new form and that's just what he looks like from that point on, but then Toei was all like "but we're putting Ore on all the lunch-boxes!" so they tokenly have it show up every now and then.

Props for turning it into a plot-point with Grateful though, that was a really good episode.

This bugs me. Takeru being a protagonist obligatory has to go 'SAEF DAH HOOMINS CUZ EETS RAIGHT N DED IS WRUNG' when he finds out a human could be killed for an Eyecon, yet Newton coming out of nowhere means 'SAEF DAH HOOMINS CUZ EETS RAIGHT N DED IS WRUNG but this is okay because the guy who died for it borrowed sugar and never gave it back'

No, it doesn't. The show suffers from it because it's clearly trying to create it's own plot (Decade being a destroyer, but not destroying the AU worlds is causing more damage, Tsukasa's and Kaito's past being tied together, and Tsukasa's amnesia as a whole, Kivala, etc).

They had a clear goal that all would've culminated in a big movie finale. Instead, we got scenes to a movie that never happened, at it was hastily wrapped up in a Movie War or whatever. Too much time was wasted on half baked excuses to use old suits that they haven't trashed (Not just the Rider suits, but the old monster suits) to build up to something that never came.

psst...I think this was sarcastic

You see, I get why that's annoying but your problem here is you're confusing the plot with the toy advertising. The reason why Newton is just there is because it was in the Drive movie, and the reason it was in the Drive movie is that it was sold with Shift Next.

I know that's kind of unsatisfying, to just look at it from a meta perspective like that, but that's what it comes down to. 'Tis the curse of your show being a glorified marketing vehicle.

At most, I was being, like 5% sarcastic, actually, and I'll explain why.

See, all of that there, that's pretty much dead on, and I completely agree with it. But because I came into the fandom after-the-fact, hearing people say how frustrating it was, I just kind of take for granted how terrible Decade is.

I don't know why, but I find myself unable to get worked up about Decade, even though I should hate it. I find myself way more focused on the positives.

The destination may have sucked, but I think the journey there was a lot of fun, and really, isn't that what Decade was all about? No, it wasn't, because the jumbled writing kind of turns the themes of the show into a weird blur, but that's not the point I'm making.

Decade was a lot of wasted potential, but I don't find myself wishing it were any different. At the very least, it's an interesting conversation-piece.

I'm aware Toei cares more about toys than shows, but a good show explains where stuff comes from, ESPECIALLY if it possibly contradicts something the main character stands for. (Hopper brothers are also guilty of this)

Decade apparently has one of the best things any Rider could do. Show how NOT to do an anniversary

Saban should have watched it.:lol

My naive heart is still waiting for 'Power Rider' and the Power Rangers Samurai crossover footage being used

Oh yeah, absolutely they should've been bothered to at least handwave it or something, but that's just how Ghost is. It's full of niggling little flaws that'll keep it from ever being a favorite of mine, but I think there's a lot of good to it that shines through.

See you joke about that, but that's exactly what I like about it.

It's kind of terrible, tons of plot-threads go nowhere, the characters don't develop for more than two episodes and there's a general feeling that nobody at Toei had any clue what they were doing that whole year but all of that is what makes it Decade.

It could've been the greatest show ever and that would be cool and all, but it wasn't and all those problems are what makes it so interesting.

Decade was the first Rider series I watched as it aired, so I experienced that particular ride with a lot of others simultaneously.
Other than a few snippets of Couga, Kabuto, Den-O, and Kiva that I saw at random, Decade was also the first Rider series that I watched from start to finish with no breaks or gaps.
It holds a special place in my heart for not only being my first Rider series to complete, but also for actually angering me. However, a lot of this was after the fact, because, like a jackass, I felt "Maybe the movie this series teased might make it all worth it" so I waited, and Double's higher quality was good enough to not make me write off Kamen Rider forever.

As for the journey, it actually soured as I watched more series, such as OG Blade's actions when he returns, or the just poor AU worlds being really, really dull compared to all the possibilities they had.

To me, not only was Decade wasted potential, but it was also insulting.

I see it as the opposite. In hindsight, it could've never been great. The first half of the series was a string of loosely tied vignettes about visiting the first 9 Heisei riders, and the latter half was just a train wreck of pointless alternate worlds with very little significant plot occurrences beyond Diend going "Blah blah past blah blah sea cucumber" before disappearing and giving the viewer nothing.
The best Decade could've done was to just possibly have a satisfying end, something to explain what the hell was going on.

In terms of conversation, all it offers is "What could have been," but Decade isn't anything special. Damn near every Kamen Rider can spur a topic of "What could have been" in terms of execution.

Isn't that still a wall of text?

See, this is really fun becasue you talking about Decade sounds exactly like me talking about Gaim.

I actually started watching Kamen Rider during OOO's run, and got around to watching Decade before it was over, and I really think that made all the difference.

I thought for a little bit that I might hold off on it until I'd seen at least most of the previous Hesei shows, but in retrospect I'm really glad I didn't wait. Ryuki was the first show I completed, and I still remember getting to the Ryuki episodes and being like "what the hell, Ryuki was nothing like this! It's not even vaguely similar!"

But because I'd only seen a couple of episodes of Kuuga besides that at the time, I was able to approach the other Hesei worlds for what they were, rather than what they should've been, and that's an attitude that about sums up my opinion on the whole show.

I also still remember watching the end of Movie War 2010 and just thinking a nice flat "what.' at the end, so if anything, I'm a bit more positive about Decade now than I was at the time.

I'd take that a step further and say any show can spur a topic of "what could have been".

Which is maybe why I'm so lax about Decade? Like you said, it basically could have never been great in the first place, and maybe that's actually what I should've said in the first place, because that goes more to the point I was getting at.

Any show can get you talking about how "they should have done this," but with Decade I'm completely content with what they did. Even with shows I like way more (like Ghost), there's stuff I'd change, but Decade is all the better in my eyes for being kind of garbage.

I know that sounds like a backhanded compliment, but I really mean it.

Decade was my first series that was before W, yet I hated it regardless. Granted, in retrospective, I dislike it further for screwing with Blade nowadays, but still.

That is literally word for word for what I would've said, do I know you? :p

Ya do know I suppose.

Also, I'm surprised people haven't said anything about Drive, most people here REALLY hated the first half iirc

Other than "Why doesn't anybody notice Shinnosuke is Drive?!" and "Why did they forget Shinnosuke was the protagonist?!", I don't really remember people having too many specific complaints. Just a general feeling of "Why the f*** isn't this Gaim?!", moreso than outright hatred.

You know, I didn't even realize this as I was typing it, but those all would've been really great episode titles for Drive.

A complaint I remember seeing was that it was VERY lighthearted and that the Shiftcars were way to silly, especially Dream Vegas and Deka Truck or whatever it was called

See, that what I mean though, those are weaksauce complaints that people wouldn't even make if they weren't going through withdrawal from how much they liked Gaim. Nitpicks at best.

"Very lighthearted" isn't a grievance, it's just a description of the show, and it's not even a particularly appropriate one at that. Sure, it's got a lot of comedy, but the threats are always real, and there are some serious moments even very early on, and that differentiates it from being straight-up "lighthearted".

The Shift Cars are a matter of personal taste, though. I thought they were what the little gadget dudes in W and the like wish they were. I think it's really cool they bothered to humanize glorified Hot-Wheels cars with actual personalities but without going overboard and making them talk or something stupid like that.

Like, having your protagonist find himself relating to a toy car's story of how he also lost his crime-fighting buddy and is really mopey about it? Total genius, in my book.

If you want some legit complaints on Drive's rocky beginning....
-The Type Wild & Type Technic debut Episodes, or at least their method of being obtained, SUCKED, with Technic being worse than Wild(at least Wild's had the redeeming factor of at least having a small lesson of faith in humanity)
-The Special Crimes Unit were all pretty much annoying & pointless, until they actually started up giving them each focus Episodes
-There were TOO MANY Shift Cars, and new Shift Cars which were returning from missions around the world would come up at the most convenient times as a deus ex machina to solve certain situations

This is probably a little trivial, but I really, really hate the Gaim suit designs. I think they look awful.