[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

So this is a thing that you run into with Japanese media sometimes. I'm not even remotely into anime, but I know enough about the current state of the medium to know that this shit pops up with alarming frequency there. I don't know if Shinobi pulls the "not blood siblings" card, but at least you can be grateful that she's 17 and not 12.

I have seen enough toku to not be too shocked when an older brother pulls a patronizing/paternalistic/infantilizing move of treating his teenage sister as both Too Pure For This World, and also But She's So Kawaii. (Like, Makoto from Ghost kept his sister in his pocket for a dozen episodes. This is not my first Creepy Sibling Relationship rodeo!) So, yeah, cultural differences or whatever. But gross is still gross, and this was gross.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

And yeah, Episode 1 is pretty solid! The sibling love triangle is weird, moreso because Rentaro seems to think it's a good idea, but ignoring that, I like it. Could it work as a full Rider series? There's some concepts here you could expand on - Mr Toad Scroll, the evil Ninja Business empire, why Iroha is in Kiriko-territory of not being a Rider despite being obviously skilled - but that's not really the point. As much as the kayfabe of this being the totally real 2022 show is uphelp (again, theme music goes hard), as a web special, it does a good job of telling its own story in the short runtime, establishing the characters, and creating a unique world that I could see happening.

Yeah, the smartest thing this first Shinobi episode does is treat it like it's the 15th Shinobi episode. Just throwing us into not only a world that is completely bonkers (and I say that having watched Gaim), but an ensemble that treats Icchy's debut appearance as We Are All Sick Of This Guy. Super funny stuff!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

Also, another thing I found in my downloads folder - back in 2020, during Lockdown 1, I took a crack at doing an English version of the Shinobi theme. It's based on a mix of Earthy and KRWiki's subs, modified to fit the flow, and I might record myself singing it and upload it at some point? I'd do it for the Episode 3, but I'm away at my first physics conference starting tomorrow (very exciting, time to learn how becoming a physics ninja can stop global warming), so it'll be late, but that was a very cute surprise from past me.

Oh, awesome! I look forward to it!

And have fun at your physics conference! Even if you can't get into the track on Ninja Climate Science, maybe you can at least hit a roundtable during lunch and learn to do a Vortex Finish? Fingers crossed!