[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

The restaurant thing is actually a throwback to the Showa era, where many of the Riders hung out at some kind of dining establishment. Several of the early ones were run by the same guy, even. It's one of those iconic Rider elements like the belt or the motorcycle. The Showa vs. Heisei movie even did a scroll past cartoon versions of each show's restaurant during its end credits.

SHOWA! I should've known...

Quote:

Originally Posted by NGW

Haven't followed the entire conversation, and I don't post here in general as much as I used to (my signature is also woefully out of date and I am too lazy to change it).

Hibiki is one of my all time favorite shows, definitely in my top 5 for Kamen Rider (probably 2nd to Ryuki). Hibiki himself is my favorite lead rider (Zolda is my favorite rider overall, character-wise) and his relationship with Asumu is just incredible. While I do agree the show was at its best overall during the first 29 episodes/prior to the infamous production changes, I will defend the latter portion of the series as some of the absolute strongest moments in the season occur during it.

I'd post more of my thoughts but I don't want to spoil things (from either half of the show), plus it's been a while since I've watched it and I am too tired and lazy to dig through my old posts from my own initial watch of the series.

Shounen Yo is also, hands down, my favorite toku related song bar none.

Really, really hope you end up loving it as much as me and Switchblade do.

I'm definitely loving parts of it! The character-based storytelling is incredibly addictive, to a degree that's making me less tolerant of the weaker monster storytelling. Speaking of which...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I really liked the fight scene in this one for what it's worth. Between the location and all the composite shots to get Hibiki fighting a giant, it felt very particular to this show's style. Obviously it didn't come out perfect in terms of the effects, but you can see how much they were experimenting with what a Rider fight scene could even be. I definitely don't remember seeing Faiz or Ryuki throwing down with a big hairy guy in a river.

I've never been fond of Kamen Rider shows doing CG fights in lieu of two or more guys in suits pushing each other around, preferably in a quarry or under a bridge, so this is going to be a Don't Fix What Ain't Broken situation for me and Hibiki. (And I'm saying this as a dude who came into the franchise on Ex-Aid.) It's nice that they wanted to try some new things, but it being a combination of not what I want out of Kamen Rider fights, alongside just generally not having the budget to execute those ideas well... I don't feel like giving them Points For Trying is as fulfilling as actually having solid fights that I enjoy watching?

Maybe this is different for folks that are more/equally into the Sentai or Ultra aesthetic, where I assume there's more fights like Hibiki's had in 2 and 4? Giant monsters and huge size differentials? For me, I want to see more fights like what he's having with Douji and Hime, and less of him running from/after a giant monster until he Drum Solos it into oblivion.