[BrokenDreams]

I liked this episode quite a bit. While I am a little skeptical still about the ED, I'm hoping that for more serious episodes, they'll forego showing it like they've cut the OP in previous seasons.

While the pacing it a bit much, I feel like it's more comparable to other Rider series openers as opposed to Ghost's. Ghost's first episode's pacing was horrible, it moved so fast that by the end I wasn't even sure what happened. So this one reminds me more of other Rider series' premieres. There's a lot to fit into the first episode, so the pacing is a little off, but the same could be said for a lot of Riders.

For some of the criticisms, the kid actors are nothing new. Not a huge part of the show, but it's almost like a semi-running thing to have kids in premieres. Most notably with Ex-Aid. Speaking of... the CG henshins I doubt will be long lasting. Ex-Aid had these too, but they were eventually mostly abandoned as the series progressed and if they were used, it was often cut down to be as fast as a normal non-stock henshin.

I see some people complaining about Touma being too good a swordsman already. I can kinda see why that's annoying, but also that is literally every Rider ever. Period. How many Riders were non-fighters or didn't have some sort of fighting in their background, yet somehow put up super convincing fights in their opening episodes? Emu, for example, literally somehow understands how to fight and use power ups in reality out of nowhere and use them to overpower Salty. Yes he's a gamer and a doctor, but he barely takes a hit in his first battle. Most times, the stumbling initial fight, is usually the only time they stumble in one. After that, they're suddenly a lot more adept at fighting monsters.

I found this to be a perfectly acceptable opening episode, especially in light of Ghost being not so good. As for the head writer, I think we need to note that he wrote LESS than half of Ghost, and the episodes he wrote tend to be the better ones. He also wrote the Specter movie, which I thought was pretty damn good. And while I don't think Ghost is a good series, and it's probably one of my least favorites, I'm willing to give this guy's writing another chance. If you're on the fence about watching the show, I'd recommend giving it a try. Not every writer's work will turn out good, the same thing can be applied to game developers or movie directors.

tl;dr Pretty decent opener. I have a few concerns, but I'm willing to let the show develop and air more than one episode before deciding whether or not to watch it.