[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The Phoenix spotlight episodes of Wizard! I'll bring them up forever!

Yes, I think it's safe to say that there will be no finale for you... mentioning those episodes!

They really are pretty great though.

Just like Ghost's first stretch, in my opinion, and we probably already talked about this a bit before, but, man, those first dozen episodes are real special to me.

It's like, I agree with basically all your points about what makes a Rider show better (the fights as punctuation thing! That's great!), and even that Ghost wasn't doing some of that early on.

But I just find so much to love in there anyway? The way the show drills into Takeru's insecurities, whether it's through the intense fights with Specter, or the scenes with him talking to Akari where the show knows to slow down a bit. The character growth, and the great payoffs like him getting the Beethoven Eyecon. The magic hugs! Those are so great! And with a single, very important exception, you can only get that from the first arc. I also don't know if part if this is the difference between watching the show weekly, and plowing through it in a month or two, but honestly I'd say Ghost did a good job giving the Eyecons significance right away. Multiple forms tended to be used in one fight scene, so none of them fell out of use, and narratively, the show effectively capitalized on their importance to enhance the story on occasion through beats like Specter just straight up jacking one of the hero's forms for several episodes, underlining his early status as the "better" Ghost. Actually, Makoto's development throughout the first arc in general is a huge high point for me. Such a payoff when he finally fights alongside Takeru.

I just don't know, man. I love Ghost, and the initial stretch is no exception. It might actually be my favorite overall chunk of it, even.