[DreadBringer]

A bit late, but I wouldn't want to miss a series breakdown.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

By emphasizing the ordinary, and how powerless cops with handguns are up against these Ghouls, it makes it feel all the more special when the extraordinary hero busts in to clean up the mess.

This'd be the most Kuuga-related stuff that is said here, about the cops being powerless to monsters. Though shows like this or Ultraman as a franchise seems to try to have the humans not dependent to supernatural force as a message, the audience still often feel that they're useless with generally the tokusatsu henshin hero being the ones who save the day. For Kuuga I completely understand how everyone plays a part in saving the day though, and it's a show where people don't deem those cast as useless.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I bring this all up because Shinkenger began with an awesome scene where a fiery red hero expertly fights through a group of the series' main goons over the opening credits, all set to the theme song, and evidently they knew when an idea was good enough to use again.

The less common already experienced Rider since start compared to the newcomers stumbling upon the power and learning them.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It's basically the coolest guy you're ever gonna see. It might seem like I'm going nuts with the pictures, and maybe I am, but what's even more nuts is how much of this I'm still leaving out, like the perfect zoom-in reaction shot from Rinko.

You mean the hottest guy eh? If there's a weird part among the bad guys in the firearms-immune monsters, then there's also a weird part among the good guys to balance it out.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The sense of composure, of precision, of style, of a hero who almost seems unbeatable, all that stuff is pretty critical to the overall identity of Wizard as a character, and thus the appeal of Wizard as a show.

Mooks generally won't put up much of a fight.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Rinko's earnest desire to protect people makes her easy to like, and even though Haruto is almost obnoxiously committed to the cool guy shtick the whole time they're talking, you can get the sense there's a lot more to him than he's letting on.

Though Rinko does genuinely have noble intentions in joining a noble force to protect the innocent, being inspired by her dad, while the reason is understandable, she's a bit antagonistic to arrest Haruto for having superpowers and treating him like a genuine criminal, which is rather a dick move. Haruto's carefree attitude does make Rinko think it's all easy for him, which to me it also seems as if he'd be due to his superpowers compared to the struggling civilians, but as he says, it's his grit that allows him to obtain those magical powers. I do feel that it seems people overlook this aspect of a less liked show, where I do feel the drama.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The fight against Minotauros is plenty of fun in own right, placing more emphasis on showing off Wizard's magic than his stunts, bringing in two more Styles right away, and finishing with a nifty Rider Kick you unfortunately won't get to see that much after this, but, honestly, what I really want to talk about from this episode is what comes immediately after all that.

Sorry but his Rider Kick isn't my cup of tea. For as much styling and fanfare, the attack to me is just underwhelming kick imbued with energy. I prefer another flaming kick like Ryuki's Final Vent where his styling, to me is more spectacular while not padding it out, and also there's good coordination of Rider-monster teamwork of the Rider delivering the kick and the monster giving the flame.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The connection to actual engagement rings, and all the imagery that comes with that, it might seem arbitrary at first, or like just another playful bit of theming, but it's *extremely* meaningful to the kind of hero this show wants to portray.

Great explanation about the ring motif and Haruto's job, or specifically, him promising stuff for the one he helps. With the ring limiting Haruto's fighting styles to be about more kicks.