What are you watching? (Kamen Rider Edition)

barnstenchfartface · 03-07-2017, 05:03 AM

When I finished Skyrider on Thrusday I said I'd post my thoughts on it "later, when I have more time." I guess by that I meant the following Tuesday at 2 am.

So, Skyrider.

I think that the most remarkable thing about Skyrider is how very unremarkable it really is. It's a super bland show. It doesn't have anything other Showa Riders don't do better or more interestingly. It doesn't have an interesting premise.* It has no interesting characters. It has no compelling stories. It had the chance to tell one in its last three or four episodes, but chickened out halfway through. I guess Kamen Rider just wasn't ready for moral complexity until Black came along. Oh well.

*I say it didn't have an interesting premise, but it's more like Skyrider had no premise at all. That's the other notable thing about it. This show never really had any idea what it wanted to be. Befitting its initial premise as a reboot of the franchise, it pretty much started off as "the original show, except with paragliders instead of bikes. he still has a bike though." But that apparently didn't pan out, so it then started to transition, dropped off everything from that early part, and just became, like...a really nondescript Showa series. Even more so than it already was anyway. There was just...nothing notable about it. No cool villain generals. No interesting protagonists. Like, one fun supporting character. I'll get to him later. There just wasn't much at all to make it stand out. And then...

And then old Riders started to show up. Which is like, not a negative, exactly. This sort of thing was not uncommon in the Showa era. Stronger famously had all the Riders up to that point show up in its final arc, and I loved that shit. But Stronger was a fine show on its own, and since they managed to get all the actors back it felt like a really big, cool event for what looked to be the end of Rider at the time.

With Skyrider it felt like they brought in all these old Riders to make up for the series' own lack of character. And they only got a couple of returning actors, so it wasn't that notable even when they all got together. The climax of the series has all eight Riders, but most of them just show up out of nowhere for no reason. Hayato and Shigeru were the only ones to appear out of suit for the last good chunk of the series.

And again, I mean, not a negative. Hell, I enjoyed seeing Shigeru again, I like Stronger. It's just...Skyrider. If only you could have been more interesting on your own.

Speaking of not knowing what it wanted to be, at some point the series pulled out something about Skyrider having "99 Techniques" right out of their rectums. So like, I actually watched the first 34 episodes of it last Spring-ish, and then the last 20 over the past however-long-it's-been since the rest of it got subs (four months? my word). He pulled the 99 Technique thing a bunch in those 20 episodes. Have literally no recollection of it being a thing in the first 34. I assume it's something they started doing after his upgrade, but again. Completely out of god damn nowhere.

Didn't stop them from completely dropping it for the last half dozen episodes or so though. 99 my foot.

Oh, and you know how his name is Skyrider? How he can fly? How that's the only thing that makes him distinct from other Riders? I mean, it's pretty obvious where I'm going with this, but, you wanna guess how much flying he did in the back end of the show? Because it's not a lot. Seriously, just lowball it. You'll probably get it pretty close. There was even one episode where a kappa monster was literally just flying around in his magic shell, and instead of chasing him with his own flight powers, he just...used his bike. Hey, he's Skyrider, not LivesUpToHisNamerider.

There was also this thing he used to do a lot in the early parts of the show, the Rider Break, where he rams his bike through walls and shit. It was more or less his Thing, and it was pretty cool. He also never does it again after a certain point. Until KyoryuGreen mentioned it in another thread the other day, I'd actually completely forgotten that was a thing he ever did. He actually did it one last time in episode 52, 53? Around there. It must have been the first time he did it in like 20 episodes. I was super flabbergasted.

Skyrider at its start was a completely different show from what it was at its end. But at neither time was it that interesting.

...and I say that, but I guess it's not necessarily true. For two reasons. One being that even if they failed to commit to the one twist that would have made the show actually interesting, the last three episodes were still pretty good.

And the other, well...what else but the great GanGan G? I actually rather grew to like this big ol' goofball. Not as much as I did Mogura or my beloved General Shadow, but he's a fun character. He definitely made an otherwise bland show more entertaining, at least for the duration of his brief appearances. He joins the list of Showa characters I wish would (but know never will) get figuarts or something.

Anyway....Skyrider. I'd give rate it with like 45/99 Techniques or thereabouts. Probably way more than he used in the show, come to think of it...

....ended up writing a lot more than I thought , but eh. What the hell.

Switchblade · 03-07-2017, 07:49 AM

I need to finish Skyrider. I have a bunch of unfinished tokusatsu series sitting around that I really need to get around to polishing off and Skyrider is near the top of that list.

Annuga · 03-07-2017, 07:53 AM

Just finished Agito 35. Honestly, the show's got a LOT better, and G3-X is one of the best suits now that I think about it. I don't like how Burning and eventually Shining lose their practical effects for Agito's crest

barnstenchfartface · 03-08-2017, 07:45 PM

Hot damn. Episode 22 of Super-1 was actually really, really good. And tragic. Did a very good job of making a more interesting character out of Megaal and further vilifying the Dogma. Pretty good.

The timing is also pretty appropriate--right as I was complaining about Skyrider falling to make Admiral Demon interesting, I get to the episode in which Super-1 shows how it's done.

According to the preview the Dogma Kingdom is being defeated next episode, which is...unexpected, but logical. I didn't know Super-1 was one of those series that changed villain organizations midway...as I said, this episode was great for the Dogma, but otherwise the organization hasn't been that notable. Hopefully the Jin Dogma are more interesting. Fingers crossed.

Switchblade · 03-08-2017, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Annuga

Just finished Agito 35. Honestly, the show's got a LOT better, and G3-X is one of the best suits now that I think about it. I don't like how Burning and eventually Shining lose their practical effects for Agito's crest

G3-X is one of the greatest Rider suits of all time.

barnstenchfartface · 03-09-2017, 03:56 AM

Hahahaaaaaa. Oh Kivat-bat, you jokester.

Ok so I originally planned to have that be my entire post, but watching this Hyper Battle Video has forced me to reconsider my previous opinions. Indeed, perhaps...perhaps Kiva is amazing after all. For, after all, it gave us....

IXAcise. Holy fucking shit. Words can not describe my feelings watching this unfold. I haven't laughed so hard...Just. My god. "Ixacise! Ore wa tadashii!"

Just too perfect. God do I love joke-mode 753.

And Wataru's friggin face!

Oh my god. Having to suffer through 48 episodes of this show truly was worth it for this moment.

So the part that actually involved a battle was pretty boring, but up til that point...pure gold. Nothing less.

And of course, the real punchline of this whole "you too can be Kiva" thing is that in the show proper if a normal human kid tried to, they'd actually just die.

GoseiWonder · 03-09-2017, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barnstenchfartface

Hahahaaaaaa. Oh Kivat-bat, you jokester.

Ok so I originally planned to have that be my entire post, but watching this Hyper Battle Video has forced me to reconsider my previous opinions. Indeed, perhaps...perhaps Kiva is amazing after all. For, after all, it gave us....

IXAcise. Holy fucking shit. Words can not describe my feelings watching this unfold. I haven't laughed so hard...Just. My god. "Ixacise! Ore wa tadashii!"

Just too perfect. God do I love joke-mode 753.

And Wataru's friggin face!

Oh my god. Having to suffer through 48 episodes of this show truly was worth it for this moment.

So the part that actually involved a battle was pretty boring, but up til that point...pure gold. Nothing less.

And of course, the real punchline of this whole "you too can be Kiva" thing is that in the show proper if a normal human kid tried to, they'd actually just die.

barnstenchfartface · 03-09-2017, 03:40 PM

And the good times keep on coming.

Episode 23 of Super-1 was actually awesome. Not as good as the previous one perhaps (needed more time at the end to address the events from the hero's side...maybe next episode?) but still a really strong end to this part of Super-1's story. Was not expecting them to do what they did with the Silent Fist masters, but it is appropriate--particularly Benkei's poetic fate.

Jin Dogma looks like it has a bunch of odd characters in the upper echelons. Hopefully they're entertaining.

Annuga · 03-09-2017, 03:44 PM

Currently at Agito 42
I...Don't like how Shining was handled. Just out of nowhere Burning evolves with solar power. Considering the episode ends with El of the water curbstomping everyone but Shouichi gets back up and activates Burning, wouldn't THAT be a better time to have a debut for Shining? But Exceed Gills fuck yes I love that suit and the monstrous style

Fish Sandwich · 03-09-2017, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Annuga

Currently at Agito 42
I...Don't like how Shining was handled. Just out of nowhere Burning evolves with solar power.

Shining debuted in the special that aired between 35 and 36 (I think that's right?). Outside of that it's kind of crap though, so you might as well just pretend it came out of nowhere.

03-07-2017, 05:03 AM	#14291
barnstenchfartface Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 2,934	When I finished Skyrider on Thrusday I said I'd post my thoughts on it "later, when I have more time." I guess by that I meant the following Tuesday at 2 am. So, Skyrider. I think that the most remarkable thing about Skyrider is how very unremarkable it really is. It's a super bland show. It doesn't have anything other Showa Riders don't do better or more interestingly. It doesn't have an interesting premise.* It has no interesting characters. It has no compelling stories. It had the chance to tell one in its last three or four episodes, but chickened out halfway through. I guess Kamen Rider just wasn't ready for moral complexity until Black came along. Oh well. I say it didn't have an interesting premise, but it's more like Skyrider had no premise at all. That's the other notable thing about it. This show never really had any idea what it wanted to be. Befitting its initial premise as a reboot of the franchise, it pretty much started off as "the original show, except with paragliders instead of bikes. he still has a bike though." But that apparently didn't pan out, so it then started to transition, dropped off everything from that early part, and just became, like...a really nondescript Showa series. Even more so than it already was anyway. There was just...nothing notable about it. No cool villain generals. No interesting protagonists. Like, one* fun supporting character. I'll get to him later. There just wasn't much at all to make it stand out. And then... And then old Riders started to show up. Which is like, not a negative, exactly. This sort of thing was not uncommon in the Showa era. Stronger famously had all the Riders up to that point show up in its final arc, and I loved that shit. But Stronger was a fine show on its own, and since they managed to get all the actors back it felt like a really big, cool event for what looked to be the end of Rider at the time. With Skyrider it felt like they brought in all these old Riders to make up for the series' own lack of character. And they only got a couple of returning actors, so it wasn't that notable even when they all got together. The climax of the series has all eight Riders, but most of them just show up out of nowhere for no reason. Hayato and Shigeru were the only ones to appear out of suit for the last good chunk of the series. And again, I mean, not a negative. Hell, I enjoyed seeing Shigeru again, I like Stronger. It's just...Skyrider. If only you could have been more interesting on your own. Speaking of not knowing what it wanted to be, at some point the series pulled out something about Skyrider having "99 Techniques" right out of their rectums. So like, I actually watched the first 34 episodes of it last Spring-ish, and then the last 20 over the past however-long-it's-been since the rest of it got subs (four months? my word). He pulled the 99 Technique thing a bunch in those 20 episodes. Have literally no recollection of it being a thing in the first 34. I assume it's something they started doing after his upgrade, but again. Completely out of god damn nowhere. Didn't stop them from completely dropping it for the last half dozen episodes or so though. 99 my foot. Oh, and you know how his name is Skyrider? How he can fly? How that's the only thing that makes him distinct from other Riders? I mean, it's pretty obvious where I'm going with this, but, you wanna guess how much flying he did in the back end of the show? Because it's not a lot. Seriously, just lowball it. You'll probably get it pretty close. There was even one episode where a kappa monster was literally just flying around in his magic shell, and instead of chasing him with his own flight powers, he just...used his bike. Hey, he's Skyrider, not LivesUpToHisNamerider. There was also this thing he used to do a lot in the early parts of the show, the Rider Break, where he rams his bike through walls and shit. It was more or less his Thing, and it was pretty cool. He also never does it again after a certain point. Until KyoryuGreen mentioned it in another thread the other day, I'd actually completely forgotten that was a thing he ever did. He actually did it one last time in episode 52, 53? Around there. It must have been the first time he did it in like 20 episodes. I was super flabbergasted. Skyrider at its start was a completely different show from what it was at its end. But at neither time was it that interesting. ...and I say that, but I guess it's not necessarily true. For two reasons. One being that even if they failed to commit to the one twist that would have made the show actually interesting, the last three episodes were still pretty good. And the other, well...what else but the great GanGan G? I actually rather grew to like this big ol' goofball. Not as much as I did Mogura or my beloved General Shadow, but he's a fun character. He definitely made an otherwise bland show more entertaining, at least for the duration of his brief appearances. He joins the list of Showa characters I wish would (but know never will) get figuarts or something. Anyway....Skyrider. I'd give rate it with like 45/99 Techniques or thereabouts. Probably way more than he used in the show, come to think of it... ....ended up writing a lot more than I thought , but eh. What the hell. Last edited by barnstenchfartface; 03-07-2017 at 05:10 AM..

03-07-2017, 07:53 AM	#14293
Annuga Avi by @CSarracenian Join Date: Jul 2016 Posts: 4,227	Just finished Agito 35. Honestly, the show's got a LOT better, and G3-X is one of the best suits now that I think about it. I don't like how Burning and eventually Shining lose their practical effects for Agito's crest __________________

03-09-2017, 03:44 PM	#14299
Annuga Avi by @CSarracenian Join Date: Jul 2016 Posts: 4,227	Currently at Agito 42 I...Don't like how Shining was handled. Just out of nowhere Burning evolves with solar power. Considering the episode ends with El of the water curbstomping everyone but Shouichi gets back up and activates Burning, wouldn't THAT be a better time to have a debut for Shining? But Exceed Gills fuck yes I love that suit and the monstrous style __________________

03-09-2017, 07:10 PM	#14300
Fish Sandwich The Immortal King Tasty Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Every diner you've ever been to. Posts: 4,020	Quote: Originally Posted by Annuga Currently at Agito 42 I...Don't like how Shining was handled. Just out of nowhere Burning evolves with solar power. Shining debuted in the special that aired between 35 and 36 (I think that's right?). Outside of that it's kind of crap though, so you might as well just pretend it came out of nowhere. __________________