[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

I think another reason OOO isn't clicking is most of these opening fourteen episodes have been filler. Rather than making filler arcs and plot arcs, they kind of blend the two together so you have to force yourself through pointless stories about characters of the week we're never with long enough to give a fuck about to actually get to the stuff that matters. It's funny OOO gets away with this but Wizard gets shit for it.

The changing medal count creates a greater illusion of story progression.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

The changing medal count creates a greater illusion of story progression.

Honestly new Medals has basically been the only progression so far. Whenever it seems Ankh is developing as a character...he comes full circle, the Greed just kinda stand around and get kicked around the curb by Eiji and Happy Birthday and the gang also just kinda sit around but rather than getting beaten up they just overact.

I can't tell whether I like Eiji as a character or just appreciate that he is the only thing in the series so far with any sense of depth and forward motion.

[SPLIT LIP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

I haven't really liked any of the characters in the week in OOO either, they aren't unlikeable I just don't care about them.

Better than wanting to punch the face off of every single chump on Wizard.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPLIT LIP

Better than wanting to punch the face off of every single chump on Wizard.

That is a fair point. I guess it wouldn't be such a problem but since I feel so emotionally invested in Fourze, I go into OOO and I'm assaulted by all these characters of the week who just dump their problems on the audience and the show expects me to care?

I guess it was never a problem for me with Wizard because I had nothing to compare it to at the time and I was watching very different kind of shows alongside it.

Honestly if Wizard wasn't my first Japanese Rider series I'd probably be much harsher on it.

Fourze 19 - Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuki~chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan :3 at least we know why all the robots are food related now.

That said episodes 18 and 19 are pretty dumb. Why is no one questioning Ryusei? Is the gang really that thick? I actually think I lost some respect for the protagonists here. I just really hate plots like this, the whole way it played out was so clichéd. I was one hundred percent on Kengo's side in this.

Also is that Running Coach like Beast's brother or something? Haha.

[Matrixbeast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

That is a fair point. I guess it wouldn't be such a problem but since I feel so emotionally invested in Fourze, I go into OOO and I'm assaulted by all these characters of the week who just dump their problems on the audience and the show expects me to care?

There's a difference between caring for a character and a show trying to make a character relatable.
You don't have to care for or even like the character, but holding it against the show for making an attempt to make the characters even remotely redeemable or likable, as opposed to Wizard's actively trying to make the worst people alive the characters of the week? That's rather mean spirited.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

There's a difference between caring for a character and a show trying to make a character relatable.
You don't have to care for or even like the character, but holding it against the show for making an attempt to make the characters even remotely redeemable or likable, as opposed to Wizard's actively trying to make the worst people alive the characters of the week? That's rather mean spirited.

I'm not denying that Wizard got it wrong but OOO doesn't even make the characters relatable in my mind. I just have 0 investment in this series, it's crawling along and giving me no reason to give a damn.

That said episode fifteen of OOO was actually a lot of fun, the episode mixed up the action a lot, Cazali looks like he's actually shaping up to the series first good villain and yay RaToraTah!

So OOO 16 finally provides OOO with a focused episode that pencils in the story and builds on the universe of the show, thank God. Still I'm not entirely on any of it yet. So wait, 800 years ago some dudes made some magic medals and for whatever reason they got left with nine each time and then the medals decided they wanted to be alive? 800 years later they've evolved into monsters? Whuuuuu?

As far as Kamen Rider CGI goes, Mezul's out of control form looked pretty good and it was pretty epic to see GataKiriBa go against that giant monster, this form has really grown on me. Plus Shingo's sister sure looked hot in her Christmas Dress haha.

As for Birth, eh, there is nothing really wrong with the design but he does look sorta like a lost VR Trooper. But a sort of rejected VR Trooper, all tacky and knock off looking. You know sorta how the fake Power Rangers look in Poundland? Powerwise though that huge cannon was pretty awesome. Kinda bummed it wasn't Gotou though.

[Locke]

Fourze 20: Seeing Meteor and Fourze do their limit breaks together was...AWESOME! Same with Meteor using the Electric Switch, he made better use of it in one fight than Gen has through the whole show, that upgrade form really is rubbish for Fourze. At least he gets a new and badass upgrade...Magnet States!

I also love how Ryusei basically says what the audience is thinking, "what a crappy team." I know right?! Gen was lovable until episode 18, then he just went full retard and the team fell apart with him. At least it was all happy by the end, awww.

I like how the episode addressed other things, like why nothing has really come of the fact that the highschool has daily monster attacks, it's little details like this, little extra bits of effort that really end up charming me.

[Kamen Rider Meteor]

So....I am 8 episodes into Kuuga.

My reviews on things tend to be really shallow as i am very easy to please. My biggest complaint so far is that not once has the thought of Godai maybe taking 5 seconds to hang out with his Cop friend in a field somewhere and maybe try to figure out what the hell he is capable of while transformed. Every time he turns into Kuuga he turns a different color and it becomes a series of trial and error while getting his ass handed to him.

The positives - The monsters are vicious as hell! and the smoke that comes off Kuuga's foot after a rider kick. That is super bad ass.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Meteor

So....I am 8 episodes into Kuuga.

My reviews on things tend to be really shallow as i am very easy to please. My biggest complaint so far is that not once has the thought of Godai maybe taking 5 seconds to hang out with his Cop friend in a field somewhere and maybe try to figure out what the hell he is capable of while transformed. Every time he turns into Kuuga he turns a different color and it becomes a series of trial and error while getting his ass handed to him.

The positives - The monsters are vicious as hell! and the smoke that comes off Kuuga's foot after a rider kick. That is super bad ass.

I literally just finished this series...and I really didn't like it. The first ten or so episodes are pretty solid, Ichijou is one of my all time favourite characters (not just toku I mean ALL TIME), it was very well written and had some great villains.

It was after the first ten or so episodes where the series took a direction really not for me, the series got darker and darker and I just felt the series was much too grim for a toku show, I wasn't a big fan of the whole Grongi language business either. Plus I personally found the acting and action all pretty terrible as well.

There are some great moments dotted around those last forty or so episodes though, the fight with the Porcupine dude was great and the villains get some cool developments powerwise towards the end of the series but meh.

[Megabattimus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Meteor

So....I am 8 episodes into Kuuga.

My reviews on things tend to be really shallow as i am very easy to please. My biggest complaint so far is that not once has the thought of Godai maybe taking 5 seconds to hang out with his Cop friend in a field somewhere and maybe try to figure out what the hell he is capable of while transformed. Every time he turns into Kuuga he turns a different color and it becomes a series of trial and error while getting his ass handed to him.

The positives - The monsters are vicious as hell! and the smoke that comes off Kuuga's foot after a rider kick. That is super bad ass.

The thing is, he doesn't really have time to do that. The Grongi aren't just gonna take a holiday while Godai figures out what he can do. And really, the trial and error thing isn't a bad thing to me. It really hammers home the fact that Godai is very inexperienced and that he is fallible; you can beat him, he just refuses to go down. He gets better at fighting as he goes along and gains slightly more control over his powers (until they get way too strong for him that he's creating MASSIVE explosions when he kills Grongi and has to fight them in unpopulated areas just so he doesn't accidentally kill anyone), which to me is more fun to watch than the "Guy who gets Rider powers and is immediately awesome".

Kuuga is my favourite Rider show (for reasons stated here: http://www.tokunation.com/showpost.p...postcount=4792), so I'm glad you're watching it and I hope you enjoy it more than some people.