[MaskedRiderAsakura]

Count me in that minority that loved both seasons for Amazons. Not because of the gore or edginess or mature feel, but because of the kind of story they were trying to tell.


Season 2 was interesting to me in that it's basically a deconstruction of the whole concept of Kamen Rider. Most series, we may get a character who isn't entirely human who's trying desperately to hold onto their humanity, and ultimately, they succeed. Look at any of the Showa Riders, or Faiz, or Chalice. But Chihiro, on the other hand, is totally fucked. He's only just barely holding onto that side of him, but the plot lets it be known that he's basically a ticking time bomb that's ready to go off at any given moment. And he finally does. And even when he tries to come back from it, he's already caused so much death that everyone else deems him too dangerous to be left alive. And that's beautifully tragic.

I think where it lost people was simple: the love story bogged down the rest of the season. It's a love story where the literal basis of it is that it's entirely one-sided and that the characters involved have no chemistry together (due to one of them being, you know, dead.). On top of that, Chihiro is given a very flimsy reason for falling in love with her, so the entire thing just feels forced. And that being the main thing that causes him to go berserk just brings down the rest of the story.