[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I thought the little story they were telling with him and Takeru was cute enough. It's this thing about caring about someone enough to let them care for you. It's... yeah, cute. It didn't feel definitively Shinkenger, even though I couldn't begin to tell you what a definitive Shinkenger story would look like. This just felt, like, way too minor to be a reflection of the series' themes. Was it? Did it seem tied into what Shinkenger as a series was talking about?

CATWHOWALKS: Jii's sacrifices and his relationship to Takeru are very much a running theme of the show and eventually ties into the main plot toward the end. They are supposed to be merely servant/master, but Jii has raised Takaru since childhood and clearly there's more of a father/son thing going on, as well as a team dad thing, that very much is not suppose to be there for a proper servant. That conflict of Jii's two roles is very much part of Shinkenger, although it rarely comes into the forefront this much. This is one of two brilliant ways they crossed over the two shows in a way the makes sense. The other is something the monster does that I'll bring up later.

E̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶G̶a̶i̶m̶ ̶b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶T̶o̶Q̶g̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶r̶o̶s̶s̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶T̶V̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶a̶i̶r̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶e̶p̶i̶s̶o̶d̶e̶s̶.̶ I'd be more vocal in voicing criticism for bad adaptation more than about a show that probably doesn't suit with some of the audience's taste in how it handles character or such (like probably the less quirky ones), but I also don't follow Sentai (but know about the series obviously and knew more in form of Power Rangers when small), so can't say much about this,
t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶e̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶e̶n̶g̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶g̶u̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶ ̶I̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶e̶a̶d̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶w̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶c̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶y̶e̶t̶.̶ but probably I'd think the same as catwhowalks if I don't feel like the adaptation is faithful enough (Decade resorts to alternate universe and version of characters probably due to Joe Odagiri. so not real adaptation except for Den-O, albeit there are same actors like Hibiki and Missing Ace one), albeit crossovers usually have this problem of being more bare-bones, and prioritize what if a media gets paired with other media. So so far from the info here Takeru and Jii had father/son dynamic, and I can look more for it but probably won't spoil myself. But Die considers a probably harmonic dynamic as interesting here... BTW, I did explain to you about mooks before, but disposable army on hero side will be called red shirts (or fodders still work too, the term is a bit degrading though) as mook refers to bad guy ones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

CATWHOWALKS: VERY much so. None of that is present in any other series, but is if anything much stronger in the Shinkenger series proper than it is here. The kuros are, I believe, based on traditional Japanese stage hands and are dressed like them. They are all of the stage acting as living green screen special effects and ignored by the audience. Their dress is also the source of the traditional ninja outfit, since one sneaky playwright fooled the audience by making one of the stage hands that the audience always ignored actually be a ninja within the play who suddenly assassinated a character.
A lot of the rest is based in Samurai dramas.
It's a VERY Japanese show, in other words.
In fact, every single character in the show has a family vs duty arc at some point. Well, all but the sixth ranger.

Sentai is well known for overly introductory scene of turning into their Sentai forms (still iirc, but I know full well of Power Rangers having that), though I'm not really into it, but it's probably for personal reasons such as the moment where any other toku like KR is mistaken as Power Rangers... o̶r̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶c̶l̶a̶s̶s̶m̶a̶t̶e̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶a̶f̶f̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶K̶R̶ ̶s̶e̶r̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶R̶i̶d̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶f̶i̶g̶h̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶e̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶(̶i̶n̶s̶t̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶g̶e̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶g̶l̶u̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶S̶e̶n̶t̶a̶i̶)̶. Not about the traditional parts though (albeit not a traditional person too), keep it as much as they want to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Yeah, it's a story that uses the absence of Riders to attack Tsukasa's sense of self-worth. Tsukasa is the one going through different worlds to help Riders achieve their potential, and then here's this world with no Riders and someone else stepped up. A lot of Tsukasa's identity is wrapped up in being Kamen Rider Decade, so he's uniquely vulnerable to an attack on his Rider personality. I thought this story had a very Kobayashi way of grounding Tsukasa's character a little more in the people around him, rather than his mission. The bonds of friendship are... not exactly something this show has really foregrounded, and it's nice (if unexpected) to have an arc about what Natsumi feels for Tsukasa, and how Tsukasa's heroism is about more than his powers.

CATWHOWALKS: And the Sentai are uniquely suited to that role. They are all about teamwork and relationships and they don't need riders to win. It's a perfect framework to tell this particular story, even though most people would expect a more typical crossover.
Which makes me appreciate more that they stripped down the Shinkengers to their bare minimum. They didn't need the giant mechs or the large cast of villains, or the script magic, because this is a Decade story, not a Shinkenger one, and those things would just distract from that.

There are ego characters who'd want to be the only one for Riders.. and here Tsukasa's ego is due to the Riders not being there. So Tsukasa's ego is requiring other Riders to make himself look like the best Rider among them? It does feel weird for people in-universe if there are a world without Riders, if the world is like Decade's. Though the optimistic view of world without Riders can be that there are no monsters to threaten them, worlds are better off without superpowers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DIE: For sure. It's also the story that helped me figure out what Narutaki is for? Thematically?
As a villain, he's been an incredibly thin one. He just shows up, tells everyone Decade's a jerk, sometimes there's a giant monster, ONORE DECADE, rinse, repeat. He's a one-note villain.
But then there's this story about no one but Natsumi seeing Tsukasa, trying to understand him, and it clicked for me.
Tsukasa is the Passive Fan. He's a viewer of Kamen Rider, someone who works through shows and then moves on.
Kaitou is the Transformative Fan. He pulls out what he wants from shows: themes, merch, ships. He's okay breaking it, because he is after something that means more to him than the packaged narrative.
Narutaki is the Bad-Faith Critic. He looks at Kamen Rider as a franchise and sees violence, aggression, relentless marketing. Kamen Rider is Bad For Children. He's not willing to understand Tsukasa's gentleness, or sadness, because that would conflict with the assumption he already made. If this show is about the wonder and glory of Kamen Rider, its villain has to be someone who refuses to engage with it honestly.

Probably yeah at first glance Narutaki can be one-note, as someone who just opposes the main protagonist (the ones who oppose protagonist doesn't necessarily mean villain, they're antagonists for sure, but there are hero antagonists too; not talking about the kind who had good intentions but do bad stuff for it BTW, which'd still be a villain, but anti-villain kind), but I thought something that can seem like one-note is compensated by the delivery of their character, such as Evolt's (who is the 'human hating, world destroying' kind) confidence and style (albeit many thinks Blood Stalk is better). Not about someone who had complex planning for their schemes, but Narutaki's hamminess made him a memetic material like Kuroto, though other than meme don't hear much about Narutaki talk (hear more about "ONORE DIKEIDO" than he himself even his name).. I even thought at first that the old man who says onore dickeido is only a minor victim of Decade's when he's a major character) I can't talk about this further, but Zi-O shows what'd happen for a Narutaki without the delivery.

I did say before that Narutaki is a radical believer that is so much focused on Decade that he overlooks everything. Also, other than blaming Decade even when there's Diend, Narutaki like you said, justifies all manner of evil, forgetting the fact that he himself has committed bad stuff in his vendetta against Decade. About Narutaki being bad-faith critic(or moral guardian?), I don't know if I'd fully submit to that interpretation, as Narutaki's focused on hating Decade only, but not any other Riders (though he probably had interpretation that way outside). If Narutaki had vendetta to every single Riders or superpowered being that fights, then that yeah it'd be fully about him against violence, aggression, and relentless marketing and overlooking the other stuff (but there are people who'd actually support those, like if people bash a hero for being a pacifist and wanting to see them brutally beating up any bad guys or such), or that's just more overt bad-faith critic portrayal of him. Natsumi as usual shows the difference between a jerk (still not innocent, but more like neutral) and an outright evil person in Tsukasa.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

CATWHOWALKS: To be fair, the squid origame is a priceless antique, powerful battle mecha, and sentimental symbol of friendship. It's a treasure in virtually every possible meaning of the word, to put it another way. Of course he want it to stupid levels.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I thought it was, like, their Yurusen. It's actually worth something?

CATWHOWALKS: The origami turn into giant war machines, and the squid is part of the sixth ranger's personal mecha. He can't fight giant monsters without it.
Kaito just halved their combat potential, essentially.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: I also cannot believe this story didn't have a giant monster in it. When Another Diend (or whatever) was squaring off against the entire combined cast, I figured that was when he'd get giant-sized. Nope!

At least you'd admit that Kaitou is a giant pain in the ass even if he's considered as hilarious. Still afraid (not about people here) about how a hilarious nasty behavior can be justified in order to perpetuate that behavior for one's amusement (u̶n̶t̶i̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶h̶i̶t̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶h̶a̶v̶i̶o̶r̶).... like what radical believers do above but for selfish reasons (w̶a̶n̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶u̶r̶n̶). Kaitou did something that should earn him jail time, like what Inoue talks about Tsukasa's action against Yashiro in Kuuga's revisit. Of course thieves are naturally, wanting to steal something valuable due who "who wouldn't want that?" and uses quick way to get it regardless of others. Still probably Kaitou rejects the dictatorianship of Junichi for selfish reason (of letting assholes be assholes), so he can continue with their bad behavior freely and not think anything about it, and make others believe it's not happening and sweep it under the rug! The benefit of acting unethically (and fundamental of thieves), without paying any price in terms of being punished for acting unethically.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

CATWHOWALKS: And it's centuries old and was a childhood gift from Takeru. So yes, it's worth something.
That was the lore issue I mentioned.
In Shinkenger the monsters reincarnate into giant form when they die. It's called Second Life and they have no control over it. It just happens. I was irritated that they never even made up an excuse why it didn't happen here. It's part of their biology!
I understand that having a giant monster battle would disrupt the narrative, but it still feels strange. Am I wrong, or is this the only Sentai/Rider crossover that lacks one in some form?

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Every crossover I can remember had one. It's... sort of the main Sentai thing? That the heroes get in a combined mecha to punch a giant monster in the face?

That's a main Sentai thing yeah, the defeated monster turning into a giant for a mecha to fight with, the Power Rangers version usually call them Megazords. AFAIK the one who turned into a giant (from Power Rangers I've seen) is the main villain who sends the monsters to Earth, chanting a spell to do so, but it seems that there are no main villains to act like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DIE: And speaking of Gross As Hell, we are about to move onto four straight episodes of SHOWA, a thing I do not truck with. My misery will be other people's delight, though, as we land first in the World Of Black/Black RX! Shadow Moon's here and everything, a thing that will hopefully either be cool to me, or will be explained by someone else as to why I should think it's cool. Either way, I am partially terrified as we continue our Journey through Decade!

Just hope that you'd probably accept and consider those explanations, as from what I know the "processing all art differently, and that there are no wrong answers" or generally the "we're all entitled to our opinoins" can be used by several I've met (not in Tokunation) to jump into conclusion for a series they don't know much (like probably forms an opinion from jumping into bandwagon or such), just ignore any explanations given to them, and chastise anyone who explains as "not respecting other's opinion" and that they should "stop oppressing them/trying to change their mind".

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Honestly, the whole arc for me feels kind of throwaway. It's not as bad as, say, hijacking an episode of Gaim to advertise a Kikaider movie that no one will remember existed, but it doesn't feel like it adds anything significant to the show.

How about the soccer movie one? Though the movie's still about Kamen Rider.