[DreamSword]

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Originally Posted by Mesnick

Here, you need to understand the very essence of Rintaro's character. He grew up in Sword of Logos. This organization is his home, family, work, and interests. Therefore, at first, he doesn't question orders, and then continues to follow them.

I do understand all of that. It doesn't change how he continues to insist how much Touma means to him despite his actions speaking the total opposite. If he had spent the entire arc solely feeling conflicted or thinking things over, that'd be one thing, but he doesn't. Until the last leg he very much goes for "attack first, never ask questions." If anything, his supposedly deep bond with Touma should make him the first person to have doubts, not the last.

[quote]As for friendship, the real criticism of the first part of the show was that friendship is built on nothing, and therefore can't be strong. Therefore, its disintegration and subsequent rebirth are precisely the process of strengthening.

Their friendship was built upon all that they had been going through at the time. Ontop of their shared relationship with Kento. Another thing that majorly bothered me about the start of the traitor arc was that from the very start, it's clear that everything Touma did for everyone meant basically nothing to anyone in the guild, given that they attack him before he even talks about there being a traitor, not after.

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Plus, what friends never quarrel?

There's a difference between an argument and "I'm going to arrest you without even bothering to hear what you have to say."

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Also: how come Ren didn't get anything? He has Desast and independence, and that's clearly more than there was at the beginning.

It's not that Ren got nothing. It's that he got very little in comparison to everyone else. All of his stuff is mainly just setup for the next arc.

[Fish Sandwich]

Still quite happy to see these getting subbed alongside the actual show.

This one is also just straight up awesome? Whatever B-team I assume put this thing together is probably going places in the future. Literally the only job they had was "show NOX transforming", and they made it something surprisingly stylish and atmospheric that's looped into the world of the show to a level that even allows it to acknowledge the encroaching moral ambiguity of the dynamic between the "good" guys and the "bad" guys, demonstrating clearly how the current status quo of ZEZTZ differs from the one it started out with. Pretty darn impressive in my book!

[GoldenXtreme]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Why the actual heck is this such a compelling short story in the Zeztz universe...? The shift from a CODE briefing for their Agents on NOX's powers to NOX hijacking the facility and switching to his own perspective where CODE is the villains? So good, and it even gets to show off his conflicted feelings on having to fight Baku and Kureha. Plus, the way he records a video for future as if expecting he won't be living for much longer? I've learned more about Odaka in a few minutes than roughly 10 episodes of the show would give me.

[GuardianAngel87]

After weeks, if not months, of meandering, I am officially finished with Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. Sure, there's still the movies that took place afterwards but I am honestly going to take a break from anything related to that series for a while, Kamen Rider-wise and instead, either start watching Kamen Rider Build or do a rewatch of Kamen Rider Fourze or even start watching Revice or Gavv for the first time.

[DreamSword]

As I've reached 40 episodes of Kamen Rider Saber, I've been thinking a bit about why this show caused a bit of a stir back when it aired. And complaints about pacing aside, I think I might've gotten an idea.

To put it as simply as I can, I feel like one's' enjoyment of Saber very much depends on how willing they are in taking Saber's' claims at face value.

Because, really, the show does kinda just expect you to roll with whatever it says.

The biggest example for me, I think, is the moment where Kento takes the near fatal blow for Ren. Sure, we're told that Kento sees Ren as a dear friend, but up until that point there was nothing to really indicate that. Ren has a crush on Kento and respects him as a swordsman, but that's not the same as Kento having any sort of bond with Ren.

And it's not until a bit later on that we get even a single scene of the two bonding via flashback, whether it be via the Sword of Logos Saga or the main show itself. And really, a big establishing character moment like that isn't something that should be left to any sort of mystery; the scenes of them together really should been shown at some point during arcs 1 or 2. Kento's' sacrifice is something you build towards; not a kick off for any sort of questions.

Not helping in this is that, me personally, I'm not exactly in love with alot of this cast? Arc 1 showed some promise, but characters either quickly faded into the background(Oogami), went down a path I didn't care for(Rintaro), or became outright annoying to me(Logos).

Really, at this point I'm essentially watching the show solely for Ren and Desast. And while every scene featuring the two is a definite highlight, they're not exactly prominent enough to be carrying the show for me. And that's not to say I'm outright dreading Saber or anything, I think the show is overall "fine" but I can't help but feel like there's some alternate version of this show that I really could end of loving(mainly seen via Arc 1), but it's not what we got. So now I'm just sorta waiting for the show to end, which is rather unfortunate for me as I really did wanna be one of this show's' defenders.

Superhero Chronicles is still a great movie atleast.

[Mesnick]

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

The biggest example for me, I think, is the moment where Kento takes the near fatal blow for Ren. Sure, we're told that Kento sees Ren as a dear friend, but up until that point there was nothing to really indicate that. Ren has a crush on Kento and respects him as a swordsman, but that's not the same as Kento having any sort of bond with Ren.

Well, I think it's wrong to interpret Kento's self-sacrifice specifically in relation to Ren. Self-sacrifice is main part of Kento's character, further reinforced by guilt over his father's betrayal. So Kento would have done the same for any other swordsman.

[DreamSword]

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Originally Posted by Mesnick

Well, I think it's wrong to interpret Kento's self-sacrifice specifically in relation to Ren. Self-sacrifice is main part of Kento's character, further reinforced by guilt over his father's betrayal. So Kento would have done the same for any other swordsman.

Possibly, but on the other hand, when Ren asks Kento why Kento did that, Kento's' response is to call Ren a dear friend. This in turn makes claim towards a connection that the show hadn't put any sort of effort establishing beforehand.

[Mesnick]

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

Possibly, but on the other hand, when Ren asks Kento why Kento did that, Kento's' response is to call Ren a dear friend. This in turn makes claim towards a connection that the show hadn't put any sort of effort establishing beforehand.

Then again, I think he'd say this to any other swordsman from the Northern Base. Perhaps worded slightly differently for the veterans. Sure, Kento likes Ren and maybe even treats him another than others, but still not as much as Ren had dreamed.

[Sh Ranger]

Gavan Infinity starts tomorrow, so I just watched Candy House Invaders!

Taorin's world is such a warm and friendly place, showing that humans and Granutes can live in harmony after all. While Gotchard's movie was set in a dystopia, Gavv's movie shows us a miraculous utopia and that gives the anomaly Shouma a strong determination to protect what he once had failed to. The premise alone is totally fresh and fitting for a Gavv movie and I think Komura's dramatic writing is really at its zenith here. Of course, there is an evil force, Caries, threatening this world and by traveling through the magic door dimension, he had already succeeded in making another world fall to decay.

As a Rider System, Caries has to be one of the creepiest and I have to respect the macabre creativity of whoever came up with that idea. If not for the PG-rated discretion cuts, this would be something out of Amazons. Artificial Gavv clones are made and raised in isolation from the world and once they reach emotional maturity, they have their Gavvs fatally ripped out of them, bloody skin still attached, so Caries can have a henshin device and he goes through them like Shouma goes through Gochizous. A bunch of kid clones are even blown up offscreen as Shouma and Taorin were about to go rescue them, like, that's crazy!

While Shouma doesn't have a doppelganger in this world, since the circumstances for Michiru's and Bouche's marriage never occurred, he does have a heroic counterpart in Taorin, who even has a similar hairstyle, albeit not the gluttony for snacks. This makes sense, as coming from a candy house, Taorin wasn't forced to live on grass soup, so his diet is better adjusted. Also explains why his Gochizous don't come out as easily as they do for Shouma. Taorin's emotions caused his Gavv to level up and grant him the power to fight alongside our Red Gavv, but tragically, Caries defeated him and harvested his Gavv to obtain his Final Form.

However, our Red Gavv also uses the power of Taorin, his last Gochizou, to obtain his Extra Final Form. I've said it before somewhere, but Hexenheim is easily my favorite form of Gavv! The pink, blue and purple work together deliciously. The fact that his fight scene is so spectacular is the wafer on the candy roof, that whole scene of him and Caries fighting down a tall building through various obstacles as the scenery decays around them, damn, I totally loved that. One of the best summer movie climaxes for sure!

Overall, I think this has managed to surpass Future Daybreak as my new favorite summer movie of Reiwa Rider! There are much bigger Gavv fans out there than me, so take it from me, this is peak Gavv right here. I do feel like the Zeztz cameo was unnecessary, considering how the alternate Hanto was the only guy who saw him and I doubt he'll ever be relevant to any future work and it's not like Movie Wars a thing anymore anyway, but hey, Bandai's got to sell their merchandise, right. There were no ChocoGummy scenes either, but I understand that the focus needed to be on Shouma's friendship with Taorin and that allowed the dramatic moments to land effectively.

[Mesnick]

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Gavan Infinity starts tomorrow, so I just watched Candy House Invaders!

This is a very impressive movie. The moment with the Stomatch family was so cool.