[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Nothing to say about this episode. I’m going to be spending the time reading through someone’s OC Kamen Rider and try to find out what makes them so much more difficult to create than OC Sentai.

You mean as a character or as a design? For me, I understand characters better as I write them in different scenarios but designing a Rider seems daunting since they're so much more complex than Sentai and you have to figure out how the Driver and gimmicks work and how they factor in the story.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The big thing is the Makamou in this episode, which… look, I get budgets. I get the technology of the time. I get that not every monster in a series can be the best. But holy shit did the giant slug in this story look unforgivably janky. The camerawork that gets used to make it seem massive is laughably cheesy, while the puppet head has a level of sophistication approaching, but not touching, Mystery Science Theatre 3000. It’s bad. I’m sure someone out there will defend it as So Bad It’s Good, or call it “charming” for its deficiencies, but, no. No. This monster looks like garbage, and it’s shot in a way that makes it hot garbage. Ridiculously lame finale to this story’s monster plot, all the more glaring for how great everything ahead of it was.

Honestly, I feel like you're kind of hard on the Makamou in general. I agree that they're not the most interesting characters but as things for the hero to beat up, I think they're pretty cool to look at and an effective way to show off the Oni's fighting styles. If my recollection is correct, you weren't too thrilled about the Elasmotherium Orphenoch either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I mean, I love that they’ve concluded the Asumu Chokes plot in such a decisive way. After episodes where it wasn’t clear what was going on with Asumu, we get confirmation that his multiple choke jobs lead to him having such self-loathing that he couldn’t face Hibiki. Midori tells Asumu that Hibiki famously choked back when he was Asumu’s age, and that’s what put him on the path to being an Oni. It’s information that allows Asumu to move beyond his shame, and vow to be more assertive/useful/ambulatory/articulated in the future. The end.

As much as the show is mostly Shounen's story, I think it was necessary to hear at least a little of Hibiki's backstory by Episode 12. I would totally watch a prequel about Hibiki's journey from middle school to becoming Hibiki.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I adore the idea of the previous iterations of the disc animals being origami animals. That… I like that so much better than disc animals. Disc animals are a downgrade!

Origami are a lot easier to produce for sure but they lack the intelligence, resilience and functionality of the Disc Animals.