[Powerman293]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarsHottentot

Ah, yeah - that's right! Reused that plot in the Kamen Rider Baron Gaiden.

Baron Gaiden was okay, cool to get a little bit of Kaito backstory and an explanation for his thirst for the golden fruit, but everything else was kinda eh.

[MarsHottentot]

Okay, so I'm entering into Ghost. On episode four and my early assessment remains - this is a straight up kid's show that telegraphs everything, leaves nothing to the imagination and tries it's level best to be a live action anime. This being the case, I can tell already that it's going to run the risk of boring me to tears, even watching it within that context. We'll see, I'll post my honest thoughts occasionally.

[KyoryuGreen]

Amazon Episode 21: You don't realize how helpful Mole was until he's gone. Though great use of Amazon's knowledge and skills like normal. Also, shows how much he's improved with his speech from the early episodes. Continued to enjoy the series and this one was definitely a bit more emotional with using the kid of the possessed father as part of the story. Garanda is heartless right now and I can't wait to see Amazon defeat them.

[KyoryuGreen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarsHottentot

Okay, so I'm entering into Ghost. On episode four and my early assessment remains - this is a straight up kid's show that telegraphs everything, leaves nothing to the imagination and tries it's level best to be a live action anime. This being the case, I can tell already that it's going to run the risk of boring me to tears, even watching it within that context. We'll see, I'll post my honest thoughts occasionally.

I personally loved Ghost and thought it was a great show. There are a lot of things that you don't see coming. That being said it is a bit slow in the beginning.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarsHottentot

Okay, so I'm entering into Ghost. On episode four and my early assessment remains - this is a straight up kid's show that telegraphs everything, leaves nothing to the imagination and tries it's level best to be a live action anime. This being the case, I can tell already that it's going to run the risk of boring me to tears, even watching it within that context. We'll see, I'll post my honest thoughts occasionally.

You are not wrong in your assessment.

[KyoryuGreen]

Amazon Episode 22: Damn Tobei almost fucked up and got Tokyo destroyed, He's glad that didn't happen though. That was a fun episode especially with the Beastman being a Momonga. That was not one I was expecting, the this one and the last one being the weird ones have been the most serious ones so far. Momonga Beastman dropping bombs was crazy. I loved Amazon tracking Momonga and being able to counter him well; also the fighting is amazing and the Amazon Kick is awesome too. I can't wait for the final two episodes here. Such a great series.

[MarsHottentot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KyoryuGreen

I personally loved Ghost and thought it was a great show. There are a lot of things that you don't see coming. That being said it is a bit slow in the beginning.

I'm not going to denigrate anyone's enjoyment of it and find it unlikely that I'll outright hate the show, I might just never finish it. I don't find it slow, I find it simple, it actually runs like a traditional American kid's show in that respect; absolutely lacking in nuance. That's not necessarily a bad thing as young children have trouble with processing abstract concepts. However, for an adult, it takes some real dedication to roll with a show that, by design, "shows it's cards". I do watch this stuff contextually so, there's fair amount of that I can deal with. I have heard the writing gets pretty sloppy - that's going to be the hard part for me to get through.

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarsHottentot

Okay, so I'm entering into Ghost. On episode four and my early assessment remains - this is a straight up kid's show that telegraphs everything, leaves nothing to the imagination and tries it's level best to be a live action anime.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarsHottentot

I don't find it slow, I find it simple, it actually runs like a traditional American kid's show in that respect; absolutely lacking in nuance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KyoryuGreen

There are a lot of things that you don't see coming. That being said it is a bit slow in the beginning.

Yeah, I love Ghost's first arc, but the show rapidly starts growing out of its more explicitly "kiddy" elements after it abandons the Dragonball plot, and even just once Specter shows up. Or maybe it'd be more accurate to say it supplements them? The point is, if your complaint is that it's too simple, the stories get more complex. I personally found Ghost to be a kids' show that totally avoided the usual pitfall of being patronizing. It's explicitly a rather lighthearted series, but it gets heavy when it needs to and was FULL of nuance in my mind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

You are not wrong in your assessment.

[Kiwami]

Open your eyes for the next Faiz!

…

Yeah I’d rather not, but I did it anyways. First 10 episodes down. And after the first 4 it became less of a task, it actually feels like I’m watching something worthwhile now.

The first couple of episodes, to be precise until the gang arrives in Tokyo, are really bad IMO. I mean there’s some good stuff, like all Orphenoch things are okay in my book, even though they are kinda super edgy tragedy, but the protagonists are super annoying. Mostly because Takumi and Mari do nothing but argue all the freaking time, it’s so bad. And then there’s Keitaro who feels like a one-off character, and is also annoying. I was really skeptical when it became clear he would stay.

The action scenes feel weird too. Like I’m glad they’re there, but it feels out of place. Kinda like a bad horror movie where the two monsters needlessly battle each other to the death at the end.

That being said, once they go to Tokyo, once they open the cleaning shop the setup for a more traditional Rider story is there and the show finally achieves a place where I can watch and be like "This… this is something". It’s not great or anything but it’s there. The characters finally come out of their shells, there are some great scenes like Takumi finally admitting what’s the deal with him when he thinks he’s about to die, and the Orphenoch characters are really interesting. Kaido is my favorite, he’s great. Maybe because he immediately got a focus episode which was awesome, but I think he brings a dynamic to the Orphenoch side of characters which shakes things up a bit. And Keitaro settles down and becomes more of a character himself than a talking doll, especially since he now comes in contact with Yuka.

This is what I feel is good about Faiz: The fights take a backseat, the characters are allowed to experience unique events and you have enough runtime to show two groups of people and develop them. Our cleaning maids and the newborn Orphenoch. I feel like that’s a good way to handle things since the enemy immediately has a face. With Rider it’s often kinda "Battle MOTW’s until episode 30 then we introduce the bad guy who was just standing around the entire time but we knew nothing about him", with Faiz the Orphenoch are immediately in the focus and develop and grow alongside the human characters. Okay, there’s still Smart Brain and the president, they will suffer the same fate in that they do vague shadowy stuff now and only directly impact the show latter, but at least we have some bad guys to watch.

I currently feel like I enjoy Faiz for all the wrong reasons: I enjoy it once it feels like Kamen Rider, once I break it down to a basic formula and forget most of the curveballs this show throws at you. Because there are a lot. There’s the whole tragedy thing for example, which is like I get it it’s a drama, but damn. Shit’s real. Or unreal rather.

So what do I like about the show? First off, suit designs are top-notch. Faiz himself looks great, love the look of the suit, love the gimmicks, and I love how they keep the glowing effects on. The Orphenoch aren’t bad either, I like the animal human hybrid suits. Yeah color-wise they are lame, but it’s intentional and I can get behind it from a story perspective.

I like the characters, currently. It can go down the drain very soon and I kinda feel it will, but currently the characters are likeable and do something worth watching. They develop and they face obstacles. That goes for both the humans and the "rogue" Orphenoch.

I like where the setup is going. Or rather what I think it’ll be going, it probably won’t. But Smart Brains seems interesting, there’s some witchcraft going on (class room underground and stuff) and there are more Riders on the way.

What do I dislike? Mostly the random scenes with police and stuff, because it feels like lazy build-up, but also some gags that don’t work, and the complete lack of anything funny. I know I seem like I hate the comedy characters but this show also lacks funny interaction between the cast. And it’s not like they aren’t trying, Keitaro attempts to do comedy, but it’s just not working. Most times when there’s nothing important to talk about the cast kinda seems like they read their lines from the paper, it’s a bit weird.

That plays into my next concern: The tragedy aspect. We all know what this show does, I heard about it before watching it, and after experiencing some of it I agree: It’s too grimdark. You might think Gaim does some hardcore stuff, and people who watched Agito know what the Angels do to their victims, but with Faiz they bring it down to a human level which is even more depressing. Like, the episodes with Yuka before she turned? Damn. Same with what happened to Kiba and Kaido. It’s on the brink of being too much drama for me.

And the action – this is weird because I talked about how I like it when they take time with the characters instead of fighting and how I love the suits, but the action is really not good. It’s short and boring. Punch and kick a dude, finisher, that’s it. There’s no finesse to it, no style. The Faiz gear itself can impress since it’s so well done, but the fights themselves are not good. Like this is one of the rare times where the fights are the "Let’s get this over with"-part for me. I hope it gets better; maybe the other Riders can do something about this.

Anyways, there you have it, I’m watching this now. I will finish it. Currently it’s enjoyable to some degree, but man I hope it stays that way. And just to push Fish Sandwich’s buttons a bit, I think it’s better than Ghost so far

[GoldenXtreme]

Oh man Kiwami's taking on Faiz. Faiz has so, so many objective problems, but it managed to hit a lot of good notes for me, making it one of my favorites. Stylistically, I think it has a lot in common with Blade ironically.