[VagueDoctor]

Popping into this thread after 2-years to share some opinions I have. It's pretty neat to go back and read everything and see how opinions have changed over nearly a decade.

My opinions are kind of basic:

- Wizard is a good show, and I think that a lot of criticism it receives comes from the expectations of a very serialized show. When you look at it like it's a character driven more slice-of-life esque show with a plot occurring in the background, it's far more enjoyable.

- Wasn't a big fan of Shin Kamen Rider, honestly. Love the visuals and the vibe, but plot-wise I don't like it. Pacing feels pretty off, some of the characters (imo) feel like Evangelion archetypes that are a bit one-note (and it doesn't help by the pacing). I'm more of an Ichigo fan than a Nigou fan, so my disdain for the plot might be helped by that. Personally, it also doesn't help that I think Takeshi Hongo as a character is devalued slightly with the altercations to his family history.

It's a good movie, but I also don't like it... if that's possible. It's also like 1% adaptation of the show and 99% adaptation of the Ishinomori manga, which I also have some mixed feelings on but have grown to appreciate in recent times.

- Kuuga is a good series. I like it, but it's definitely not flawless. A lot of the interwoven plots with the characters happen around Godai and Godai doesn't get much of a chance to be challenged or develop as a person. He's static and perhaps that's the point, but I wish that the dynamics he had with his side-cast were more interesting and centred around him.

- Kuuga did not need to be as many episodes as it was. It has the Showa staple of filler and I wish we knew more about the Gurongi.

- Fourze has to be the consistent Heisei show (imo) with it's momentum and quality regarding it's plot. It also set too high of a bar for me going forward because of how amazingly Amanogawa High was used as a set piece for the entire show. It never felt stale and it has exceptional utilization of its side-cast; many shows can learn from this.

- Gotchard, while good, feels like the second half is almost an entirely different show. Many plot beats (Houtaro's father) were dropped after giving us bombshells of revelations like an Ichinose family lineage of alchemists, the whole 'evil alchemical society' feels really pushed back, and Legend is fine, but Legend should have simply been a Decade form.

- Gotchard would've been better if Rinne Kudo was the protagonist instead of Houtaro. Granted, I still like Houtaro, but I think Reiyo Matsumoto is a great actor when given the right material and her being the face of Gotchard going forward is a good step in the right direction.

- The series really should lean more into sci-fi again. I want to see riders that have more in common with Kabuto, Faiz, and Blade then I do with those that have fantasy themes.

- The Ex-Aid trilogy is fine. It's not bad (not as bad as Mighty Novel X which I hope is never made canon), but the Brave/Snipe movie is so contradictory to the character arcs of both of them that I can't help to feel as if someone swapped their names for half the script.

- Kuroto Dan is definitely a top 3 antagonist for the franchise, because they actually make him pretty multi-faceted outside of the whole meme shtick he has. Adding onto this, I think his characterization is actually really consistent between pre-Shin Kuroto Dan and post-Shin Kuroto Dan.

- The franchise is great and I'm glad it's being more experimental. We need more interior sets and diverse exterior sets, however. I'll always remember stuff like Faiz fighting in a school more than a random street no matter how flashy said fight actually is.