[SPLIT LIP]

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Originally Posted by Locke

Even Rinko, a female detective (which is not something easy to achieve in such a male dominated career), is portrayed as a ditzy damsel in distress and it really, really pisses me off. I find her characterisation quite insulting.

It just reminds me how, honestly, kind of fucking awesome Akiko was.

Yeah she had her damsel moments, yeah she was bouncy and squeaky and shit, but she actually racked up a lot of victories, and she was the boss. She gave Shotaro shit all the time for, like, being in debt and shit. If anything her cutesy bouncy routine was a front for her "I'll kick your ass"-ivity. She's the only token female hanger-on in every series I've seen who's first instinct when seeing a monster is to give it shit for being an asshole and smacking it on the head. It also helps that she didn't become Shotaro's love-interest, which I seriously expected. Yeah she fell in love with Ryu, but she earned her stripes in my eyes well before that. Besides, everyone deserves to find someone and be happy. It wasn't the defining aspect of her character.

I think only Hana is, obviously, more badass... until she became a child. She kicked ass. But most other series I've watched don't fare as well, like Hina perma-puppydog-eyes the hug machine from OOO being a total load on the plot, or Mana from Agito. "Soocheekuh". Yeah, that's about all there is to her. Also the weirdly distant and annoying lump of human being taht was... the girl from Kabuto. Never got her name, doubt it would've been important.

Black weirdly has no female lead. Yeah, there's female characters, but no constant supporting... anyone. Except BattleHopper. Is BattleHopper a girl?

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Sorry, I phrased that poorly, real heroes aren't useless and flawed but the way media writes 'real' heroes is by giving them flaws and having them regularly fail. It apparently makes them more human or some shit, for me it just makes them uninteresting to watch. I don't want my superheroes to have marriage problems or drug addictions, I come to these genres for escapism.

This I get.

[Locke]

With the way you wrote that, it almost makes me want to pick W back up, but I just could not get into that series.

[KRX]

I did not like Akiko at all. I found her unbearable and annoying.

... I think that may have been the point.

[Matrixbeast]

Woah. Someone else who liked Akiko?
Sweet.
I loved her. Her voice was annoying, yeah, but her actions more than made up for it. The Sweets arc was what made me truly value her as a character.

[SPLIT LIP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

With the way you wrote that, it almost makes me want to pick W back up, but I just could not get into that series.

It's really good. I'm not sure where you left off, but I recently started re-watching it with a friend who's started it and while I still like it, there's a lot of growing the series has to do. The monsters are sillier looking, the plots more abstract, more CGI and gimmickry. Not bad at all, but the series streamline's very quickly. Without spoiling in case you do decide, the only things I'm not a huge fan of are Accel early on. He's a very typical secondary rider. Angsty, brooding, clashes with the main character. He's mellows fairly quickly, especially once his first arc is complete, and they have fun with his rigidness later on.

[ZeoRangerV]

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Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

Woah. Someone else who liked Akiko?
Sweet.
I loved her. Her voice was annoying, yeah, but her actions more than made up for it. The Sweets arc was what made me truly value her as a character.

I hated her when I first started the series, but as it went on I came to appreciate her as a character a lot.

[Locke]

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Originally Posted by SPLIT LIP

It's really good. I'm not sure where you left off, but I recently started re-watching it with a friend who's started it and while I still like it, there's a lot of growing the series has to do. The monsters are sillier looking, the plots more abstract, more CGI and gimmickry. Not bad at all, but the series streamline's very quickly. Without spoiling in case you do decide, the only things I'm not a huge fan of are Accel early on. He's a very typical secondary rider. Angsty, brooding, clashes with the main character. He's mellows fairly quickly, especially once his first arc is complete, and they have fun with his rigidness later on.

I was on like episode 13 - 14, the big bad just revealed himself if I remember correctly with like some weird killer shadow, it all looked very silly, even for Toku.

My main dislike for the series was the action scenes didn't really fit with the style of show the rest of the series was going with, meaning I was never really convinced by W as a Rider and as if the show knew it didn't work as a whole unit, it seemed to put a lot more emphasis on the drama than the action which resulted in poor plotting, clunky fight sequences and some of the worst CGI I have ever seen.

It would have been fine as a Japanese Supernatural Drama show but I thought this was supposed to be a Japanese Superhero show? It barely felt like it.

[SPLIT LIP]

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Originally Posted by KRX

I did not like Akiko at all. I found her unbearable and annoying.

... I think that may have been the point.

You're on the list.

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Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

Woah. Someone else who liked Akiko?
Sweet.
I loved her. Her voice was annoying, yeah, but her actions more than made up for it. The Sweets arc was what made me truly value her as a character.

You're not though.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to start an Akiko fanclub or tatoo her face on my buttcrack. Just that as leading ladies go, she was a cut above the normal "Oh I'm only relevant to the story is the most basic of ways and never get involved in monster business unless I'm in danger watch me stand here and look worried all teh fuckign time."

[KRX]

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Originally Posted by SPLIT LIP

You're on the list.

I will admit, I think the writers intended for Akiko to be obnoxious and annoying, so we could better sympathize with Shoutarou. However, she did grow to be less annoying as the series progressed, and her interactions with Ryuu at the beginning of Kamen Rider W Returns: Accel was sweet, but I still found her annoying (although the scene where she realized that Philip was asked to play a girl instead of her was hilarious).

[SPLIT LIP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

I was on like episode 13 - 14, the big bad just revealed himself if I remember correctly with like some weird killer shadow, it all looked very silly, even for Toku.

No it wasn't.

Seriously, be honest, a "killer shadow" isn't anywhere close to the regular silliness of Toku. Also it wasn't a killer shadow. If anything it was like fear gas. (the big bad is the terror dopant, and he releases that stuff to, well, cause fear in his enemies)

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My main dislike for the series was the action scenes didn't really fit with the style of show the rest of the series was going with, meaning I was never really convinced by W as a Rider and as if the show knew it didn't work as a whole unit, it seemed to put a lot more emphasis on the drama than the action which resulted in poor plotting, clunky fight sequences and some of the worst CGI I have ever seen.

CGI aside (because yeah, W had some terrible early CGI, mostly because of how much it was used. Something I've come to realise carried over from Decade it seems) that's a complete crock of bull. W's fights scenes are awesome. The actual martial arts verses FX attacks is awesome, and the two are blended really well. The fights also happen logically and fit in with the plot.

In just about every KR series I've watched there's been a certain disconnect between the fight scenes and drama. Den-O and Agito had this pretty prominently. The heroes are always far away from the enemy or action literally until it's time to fight, with Den-O literally being dropped off and Agito having nothing at all to do with the plot until he needed to fight. W actually had the heroes be in the plot. The investigation side of things meant that the heroes were always mixed right in with the enemy and their motives, rather than gardening half the episode or lazing around in a trian car or diner.

I'm not saying you have to like it, but your reasons for disliking it are pretty flimsy, especially when you compare it to other toku, which just kind of makes your arguement fall apart when W does all these Toku tropes better than how they usually are.

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It would have been fine as a Japanese Supernatural Drama show but I thought this was supposed to be a Japanese Superhero show? It barely felt like it.

Really, because how is saving lives and fighting monsters not superhero stuff?

Again, since you want to, compared to past series W's more of a superhero than most. Specifically, he's a very Batman-style superhero. He fully focuses on the enemy and problem, devoting all his effort to it and being almost constantly "on the trail," instead of just standing around talking about the problem, or not, until it's time to fight.

You know how in Power Rangers the Rangers would spend most of their unmorphed time at school or their lives or stuff, only really dealing with the monster when it's time to morph and fight? That's how a lot of KR series seem to me. When not fighting the hero is dealing wth his own problems and his own life, not working to defeat the enemy the whole time like in W. There is no disconnect, no forgettable subplot while we wait for the next fight each episode. W's always fighting dopants, even when he's not. That's more superhero to me than a coffee break or tomatos for sure.