[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

Well there wasn't extreme violence, religious iconography or psychedelics in the first episode, let alone the later ones. it's just baffling, because I literally have no idea what you're talking about, it's like you watched an entirely different show.

I guess it's all a matter of perspective, but...

I thought the opening sequence was pretty horrific and violent, with that science team being essentially slaughtered and kid's dad getting wrapped up in those gross tentacles. The monster fights are so much more destructive and violent than those in sentai, and it's especially disturbing because they start to address the ramifications of Mikazuki's and the Watermelon Idom's urban rampage.

The Mikazuki cockpit has the kid in lotus position framed by all sorts of Buddhist imagery. Even if the content is not overtly religious, the design certainly invokes Eastern religious iconography.

I think psychedelia suffuses Amemiya's entire design aesthetic. Generalissimo's weird shared consciousness mission control center is pretty psychedelic. Eastern religious imagery often overlaps with psychedelia, so the Mikazuki cockpit reminds me of that. All the CGI imagery that happens when Mikazuki catches the kid as he's falling. The psychedelia is definitely the most subjective of all of this, but I think it's a pretty clear influence on Amemiya's style.