[barnstenchfartface]

I finished Dragon Knight yesterdayish. Very strange last act. Not bad, I'd even say it was one of the strongest parts of the show (dropping the bookstore helped). But very strange. I know comparing it to the Japanese shows doesn't make much sense, but, the way they handle the eponymous character in those last 9 episodes is something I just could not have expected.

A lot of my criticisms still stand, and I have some other new ones, but I don't really feel like going into it too much.

But I'll whine about the ending a little.

The fact that they had the actors for all the Riders at the end and didn't do anything with it bothers me. Also, the whole ploy about needing to get a mirror into the base is dumb. They drove there. We've seen countless times that the Riders are fully capable of traveling through cars. Cars is how most of them got to the mirror they brought in. Literally the dumbest thing.

I already didn't really like Maya, but turning the last episode into a clip show from her perspective didn't help things. And just, Jesus, what a marathon of off-hand cheap feeling happy endings (And Ebulon brought back the Earth Riders and he wiped their memories and he cured Kit's dad and Adam got to quit and his girlfriend din't care about all the shit he did I guess and surprise Kit is DK again and I plagiarized their adventures to get famous and now I'm boning Pryce and HE CURED CHRIS'S ASTHMA )

The asthma thing really got to me. It's just...stupid.

And maybe if they hadn't wasted most of the episode on recapping shit that had literally just happened they could have fleshed out some of these developments.

But, eh, it was still good. Goodish. My nitpicking and whining makes me sound a lot more displeased with it than I actually am. I'll continue to commend their use of original footage and their vision for the show, even if wasn't executed as best as it could have been.

And now I can focus all my attention to Hibiki.

It's good, but the special effects definitely leave something to be desired. I mean, it is from 2005, and Kamen Rider doesn't have the best CG in any case, but still. I applaud them for being more ambitious with their monsters, but...like, the scene with the crab in episode 6 was...well, lacking.

Everything else about the show is good. Pretty unique take on doing Kamen Rider, but it's a welcome reprieve from the usual. It's only been a few episodes, but I feel like the central characters they've introduced have been established decently, and I enjoy them.

The opening and ending are still great. I love love love the little changes and different takes they seem to do with them. Really great stuff.