[GoseiWonder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

Was it the Takoyaki Fued 2 parter?

[novahyou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoseiWonder

Was it the Takoyaki Fued 2 parter?

Yep. That one. I want to forget it ASAP but perhaps I gave it too much importance because I knew of the problems behind the scenes and I was afraid the show was going to take this direction from now on.

[barnstenchfartface]

Yeah, that two parter is strange, but far from representative of the rest of the show. Don't worry too much about it.

[EpsilonX]

Just started episode 14 of the original series, the one where the second rider shows up. Been digging this series so far, but I REALLY haven't enjoyed the past 3 episodes where they've been phasing Hongo out. Hopefully this makes up for that.

Edit: Definitely better. I don't really like the way they wrote Hongo out (why couldn't they send the new guy overseas and just have Hongo stay in Japan? I get why they did it, because he got hurt, but it didn't really make all that much sense plot-wise. Oh well) but the new Rider seems like an interesting character so far. I dig how his suit is more colorful.

By far my favorite part of the episode though was the blatant racism. The goons were all wearing luchador masks, and the villain used a cactus as a sword? I can't handle it lol

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EpsilonX

Just started episode 14 of the original series, the one where the second rider shows up. Been digging this series so far, but I REALLY haven't enjoyed the past 3 episodes where they've been phasing Hongo out. Hopefully this makes up for that.

Edit: Definitely better. I don't really like the way they wrote Hongo out (why couldn't they send the new guy overseas and just have Hongo stay in Japan? I get why they did it, because he got hurt, but it didn't really make all that much sense plot-wise. Oh well) but the new Rider seems like an interesting character so far. I dig how his suit is more colorful.

The episodes after Fujioka's accident are pretty awkward, yeah. The show was basically trying to figure out how they were going to handle the main character being absent. Their was no way to really put the show on pause given it aired weekly, so there are a few episodes where they try out different approaches to moving forward. The episodes with Ruriko and Taki doing the legwork and Kamen Rider just showing up already transformed were an early attempt to compensate, but ultimately it was decided that they needed a new character. Ichimonji was always meant to be temporary, though, and the actor basically took it on as a part-time job (you'll notice that Taki gets most of the un-transformed fight scenes and Ichimonji only shows up occasionally for his first several episodes - he does get more integrated eventually).

As for why he stays in Japan while Hongo goes abroad, well it's a lot cheaper to have the action set in Japan instead of to travel around the world. Especially for a fairly low budget kids' show.

Quote:

By far my favorite part of the episode though was the blatant racism. The goons were all wearing luchador masks, and the villain used a cactus as a sword? I can't handle it lol

Get used to the masks, they become standard Shocker mook attire from here on out.

[EpsilonX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

The episodes with Ruriko and Taki doing the legwork and Kamen Rider just showing up already transformed were an early attempt to compensate, but ultimately it was decided that they needed a new character.

I was hoping that Taki would end up becoming the next Rider because of this. He showed up when Hongo started disappearing and was doing a lot of fighting. It made perfect sense. Then you have random camera dude show up and become the next Rider...it's okay though, I like him.

Quote:

As for why he stays in Japan while Hongo goes abroad, well it's a lot cheaper to have the action set in Japan instead of to travel around the world. Especially for a fairly low budget kids' show.

I'm not really doubting the production reasons, rather the in-universe explanation. If Hongo knew this other guy was a Rider as well, why not just send him abroad? Unless of course Hongo felt more confident doing it himself. But then he's placing the safety of his friends in the hands of somebody he barely knows? Whatever, I guess it doesn't matter in the long run.

Quote:

Get used to the masks, they become standard Shocker mook attire from here on out.

Crap.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EpsilonX

I'm not really doubting the production reasons, rather the in-universe explanation. If Hongo knew this other guy was a Rider as well, why not just send him abroad? Unless of course Hongo felt more confident doing it himself. But then he's placing the safety of his friends in the hands of somebody he barely knows? Whatever, I guess it doesn't matter in the long run.

"I was away fighting evil in _____," was the Showa era's default explanation for what all the other Riders were doing during whichever show was currently airing. Any time you see an episode where a monster specifically references the bad deeds he's been doing in another country, it's a very safe bet that you're going to see a previous Rider show up.

[CybermanWorf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

So this the reason for changing to Kabuto related avatars, well then as one of my rider series I put in to a sort of mixed tier I am going to definitely responding to this.

Tendou is definetly different to most kamen protagonist, I classify it as the secondary rider being the primary character with Kagami being the primary rider archetype as the secondary rider, Kagami is great but then I am fairly biased here.

The worm are definitely good villain and really keep a sort of horror movie vibe to them which was cool but looking back so do you quite a few older heisei monsters and Zech are interesting bunch of characters.

I would agree with you on the suit design and use of effects for Kabuto being top notch, there are things I disagree with about Kabuto but that is for later discussion in the plot.

Also because most conversation about rider end around this topic, glad you are still finding ways to avoid Faiz.

[EpsilonX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

"I was away fighting evil in _____," was the Showa era's default explanation for what all the other Riders were doing during whichever show was currently airing. Any time you see an episode where a monster specifically references the bad deeds he's been doing in another country, it's a very safe bet that you're going to see a previous Rider show up.

Well, at least it became a trope lol.

[barnstenchfartface]

Stronger episode 13

Damn, Mister Titan's power level is over 9000.

His intelligence level, on the other hand, seems rather lacking, seeing as how he didn't seem to register "hey my only weakness is water, it'd probably be a good idea to have my final match on the shore!" as a really dumb ass decision.