[Kurona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

He's not an ant this time around, but I have to say, I've always loved the Ganma for unabashedly Showa they are. The monsters of the week are goofy and out-there, the foot soldiers are featureless and utterly non-threatening, they've all got belts... it's great stuff! Machine Gun Ganma here even has smoke coming out of bullet holes represented by cheap tissue paper glued to his body, which is the kind of insanely unconvincing way to accomplish that effect I'd expect out of 70's tokusatsu. Like, it's so unconvincing I never even knew that's what it was supposed to be until reading about it years later. It probably doesn't sound like I'm praising the show anymore, but I seriously wouldn't have that any other way. This isn't a gritty, realistic murder mystery show like Kuuga or Agito, you know? The silliness of a lot of the early Ghost monster suits fits the overall vibe of the show perfectly.

Would I be taking my newfound appreciation of Ghost too far if I said the Ganma rate as some of my favourite MOTWs in all of Rider?

It certainly helps that like the W to Wizard stretch, Ghost leans a lot more heavily into MOTW formulas than the more heavy serialisation we've seen almost entirely since Gaim and so we actually do have a lot of MOTWs going on here and in the spotlight, but I just love a lot of these designs. Two things I really like seeing in an enemy faction is advanced mooks and a mirror of the hero's power, and that's exactly what the Ganma do; they're mooks that kinda use their own damashii and they go crazy with it! It's a simple thing but the designs are so fun and outlandish and, while I didn't think so before you said it; I think you nailed it when you said Showa. It brings a lot of weirdness back into this franchise and I appreciate that a lot.