[barnstenchfartface]

So while I'm watching episode 8 of Stronger, I start thinking: man, this show would be so much better if Tackle was a teenage sidekick. Her weakness, general inefficiency, tendency to get captured, and the complete disrespect she gets from Shigeru would all be much more palatable if she was just a teenage sidekick of some sort. It's unbecoming for a grown woman and superhero partner, but teenage sidekicks are chumps. I mean, it wouldn't make it perfect, but it'd make more sense. But no.

Then I realized, I didn't actually know if Tackle was an adult. I knew Shigeru's actor was in his twenties, but I had only been assuming Yuriko's was too. So I checked and wouldn't you know it, while Araki Shigeru was 26 when he played Stronger, Okada Kyouko was only 16 when she started playing Tackle. While the Rider's ages don't always match up exactly to their actor's, they are usually very close. So there we go. A teenage sidekick is she. Shigeru is ten years her senior, so I guess him being kind of a smartass makes sense.

Of course, this actually makes his occasional criminal negligence and physical abuse seem even worse, but eh. I'd already confirmed the dude is a huge jerkass. It's a unique personality for a main Rider though, so it's cool. In any case, this makes my perception of Stronger somewhat more positive. Pretty alright thus far.

On the other hand, looking this stuff up led me to find out that both actors have passed away by now, which is pretty sad. Especially in the case of Okada, who died tragically young just a little over a decade after Stronger ended. :(

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by barnstenchfartface

On the other hand, looking this stuff up led me to find out that both actors have passed away by now, which is pretty sad. Especially in the case of Okada, who died tragically young just a little over a decade after Stronger ended.

Yeah, that was pretty sad. Takehisa Yamaguchi, the guy who played Riderman, also died around the same time.

[Battlizer MK II]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwami

I haven’t decided on what to watch next yet, but I have Kabuto ready to go and I do enjoy the shows designs so maybe I try that. I do know that Blade is a huge fan-favorite, but I want to save this one after Faiz. Just so I can remind myself there’s some light at the end of the tunnel when I have to make myself watch Faiz. I’m really afraid of Faiz. It looks so bad.

Faiz isn't that bad, imo. I went in expecting to hate it more cause everyone said it was. I do understand what people's problem with it is, so don't take my word for it, though lol

[Matrixbeast]

Faiz is so far the only series I haven't been able to finish (That wasn't airing at the time)
If you like casts of intolerable characters because it somehow, in some weird world, feels more "Real," then you may get a kick out of Faiz.

[ZeoRangerV]

Watched Kamen Rider J earlier and thoroughly enjoyed it, by far and large my favourite of the three 90s movies. While I found Shin (and to a lesser extent) ZO overblown and way too underdeveloped for their running times, J balanced it out perfectly by going for a much simpler story. The characters are wafer thin and could all be summed up succinctly with a single sentence each, but I didn't come out of the movie feeling like I needed to know anything more about them. I could just sit back and enjoy all the wonderful visual effects and fights it had to offer.

[Suzu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by barnstenchfartface

On the other hand, looking this stuff up led me to find out that both actors have passed away by now, which is pretty sad. Especially in the case of Okada, who died tragically young just a little over a decade after Stronger ended.

Some sad Trivia: All three leads in Stronger (including Tachibana here) died of lung diseases. Tackle had severe asthma, Stronger suffered from pneumonia and Tachibana died of lung cancer

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZeoRangerV

Watched Kamen Rider J earlier and thoroughly enjoyed it, by far and large my favourite of the three 90s movies. While I found Shin (and to a lesser extent) ZO overblown and way too underdeveloped for their running times, J balanced it out perfectly by going for a much simpler story. The characters are wafer thin and could all be summed up succinctly with a single sentence each, but I didn't come out of the movie feeling like I needed to know anything more about them. I could just sit back and enjoy all the wonderful visual effects and fights it had to offer.

That's pretty much where I'm at on J, too.

[barnstenchfartface]

Stronger, episode 9.

Man, what an episode.

The plot in this one was as ridiculous as it was horrible. It's not the first time one of these organizations has tried to mind control people into killing children, but still, always a treat when they do. And they even turned it around at the end! And it even featured one of my favorite Showa things. There really isn't anything like a good old fashioned Shocker-style crucifixion. Man it's been a while since I saw one of those. Hilarious.

Speaking of hilarious, can I just say, jeeeesus the mantis kikaijin design in this episode is one of the worst things I've ever seen. "A mantis with SKULLS FOR EYES" sounds like a wet dream considering how much I love ridiculous shit, but seeing it in the suit it's so completely terrible. A+ shitty Showa kaijins in this season. Truly a delight.

And I realize those things I just said sound super sarcastic, but I mean them. Showa crucifixions and crappy costumes are endorsed by the barstench fartface party. Fun stuff.

Anyway, I kind of feel like Mister Titan should have figured out by now that the bike squad is like, literally the most ineffective thing you can throw at Stronger. It's always just five minutes of random bike-fu involving Stronger just crashing the crap out of the mooks, and it's sad. I guess it's good as a distraction/filler, which is ultimately its only purpose, to keep Shigeru out of the action, but still. Learn to spice up your hate life, Mister Titan.

Definitely works though, there really wasn't a whole lot of Shigeru in this one. It really kind of felt like a Yuriko and Tachibana episode, which would be nice, except they don't really do anything more than usual. And speaking of learning, they established a while ago that even people who don't know about Black Satan know that if someone's walking around with a black mark on their ear, they're trouble. You'd think an ear inspection would be the way out heroes introduce themselves by now. But no. Let's just trust that dragonfly eating priest. Seems like a good idea.

Also, I really love how these Showa episodes just refuse to acknowledge that anything bad may have happened by the end. Sure, the mayor of the town died, and I'm like 99% sure in the time it took Yuriko to stop the band at least a handful of children were murdered. But hey. It sure is a peaceful, happy ending!

Man, I really liked this episode. I don't even know.

[Kiwami]

I’ve watched the first 13 episodes of Kabuto and I enjoy it. Tendou is not easily likable, but I enjoy the character just because of what a huge dick he is most of the time, even when he does something nice.

The setup is interesting although the Worm isn’t really identifiable or interesting as an enemy since they just act like monsters. Monsters which could work very well in horror movie to be fair, and that’s what I like about them. Their designs aren’t too corny and they are a considerable threat to anyone without a Zecter, even the larva ones.

But then there’s Zect, and even if they battle the Worm they seem to be the real enemies here, as they don’t hesitate to eliminate people who are in their way, sacrifice innocents for their benefit or manipulate the media. So yeah, I’m definitely interested to see what’s going on with this.

And having the destroyed city of Shibuya as a tie between the characters is kinda nice, especially now Hiyori remembers someone wearing a Rider belt during the commotion.

Kagami is a likable little goofball, and I’m surprised how much development he already got. There’s the thing with his brother, his struggles with Zect and his short-lived identity as TheBee. He’s definitely the character people can easily identify and struggle with and I like that. And yes, I know he gets his own Zecter later on and I do look forward to that.

What I probably like most about Kabuto so far are the suits and the action scenes. The suits are downright gorgeous; I love how techy they are yet feature distinctive insect characteristics. I love how they start in a pupated form and hatch out of it to combat advanced worms. The suits hit all the buttons for me; I love all of them so far.

With the action scenes, they are well done even though the CG is really horrible most of the time. But the show is rather old now, so it can’t be helped. And it’s not like CG got any better in Rider anyways, it’s always horrible. But the way they use the Clock Up in beautiful environments is really cool. Making the rain stop in mid air or have cherry blossoms stop their fall from the trees. Very nice to look at, even with the terrible CG.

So I definitely keep watching.

[novahyou]

Update on Blade:

I just finished watching episode 30 and I'm feeling a bit anxious regarding the consensus that the 2nd half of the series with the staff change (regarded by western fans like some of the best heisei has to offer) will live up to its "fame". This has got to be the worst two part episode I've seen so far in the few Rider shows I watched: the acting of the female villain plus the other guest actors was cringeworthy and the shenanigans with Chalice almost derail the character.

I seriously hope episode 31 goes back to being like the first 20 episodes, despite the majority thinking they are weak. While I agree they present many flaws, at least I liked the mystery and the creepy atmosphere the show had going on for it. Hopefully the final third of the show answers many of the questions presented and give Kenzaki more backstory.