[DreamSword]

Episode 3: Dash! Beast King!

I had a really hard time choosing a screencap for this episode.

It's one of those things where, on its face, the plot is simple: Kenji gains access to his own animal companion, Brave Leon, and he has trouble taming it.

But like, there's so much going on at the same time in terms of characterization, events that almost seem random, and the whole villain scheme of kidnapping the townfolk via putting them on a giant moving Monopoly piece.

To put it in the most direct way I can, this episode is an absolute shitpost. The kind of thing I absolutely adore in stuff like Tokusatsu and anime. If someone had told me that Inoue wrote this one, I'd believe them, because this episode of Ryukendo had serious Changerion vibes.

As such, I dare not spoil all of the great stuff that goes on in this one, and highly recommend people view it as coldly as possible. All I will say is that for just how over the top the episode is, I really did appreciate alot of the more subdued and subtle beats it had too. There's alot of great character work here, and it's only aided by the wackiness, not hindered.

A+ episode.

[Enchilada645]

This aired in 2006... we have a blue sword wielding hero and a red secondary hero who has a gun... they have a spinning gimmick holder...

Eh close enough, welcome back Kamen Rider Blade.

That realization 3 episodes in aside, yeah the best I can articulate my thoughts on this episode was I felt like I was watching a shitpost (affectionate).

If there's one thing that this show nailed was showcasing a rather low energy standard day for the folks at SHOT while they try to deal with whatever disturbances there are. It's even reflected in the music where a lot of the time during the chase sequences or action scenes there's a rather relaxed OST piece playing.

[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Eh close enough, welcome back Kamen Rider Blade.

Exactly what I first thought when Ryukendo was announced back in the days.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

I have no idea who any of those people are!

My bad. Shogo Yamaguchi who plays Ryukendo played Ultraman Tiga's son in a spinoff movie thing that is set years after Ultraman Tiga. Hiroko Sato who plays Kaori the florist in Ryukendo later played the police detective Kuuga is allied with in Kamen Rider Decade.

[Sunred]

sorry double post.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

This aired in 2006... we have a blue sword wielding hero and a red secondary hero who has a gun... they have a spinning gimmick holder...

Eh close enough, welcome back Kamen Rider Blade.

Probably not a coincidence, is the thing. Takara is known for very blatantly taking inspiration from other popular works. The Brave series was inspired by Transformers, Zoids was inspired by Gundam, and now we have Ryukendo, which is very much taking notes from other Toku, Kamen Rider especially.

[DreamSword]

Episode 4: Frozen Armament! Aqua Ryukendo!

One of the things that makes the story of Getter Robo so interesting is how, despite it being one of the first super robot stories ever written, it manages to showcase a rather dramatic deconstruction of the trope known as "serial escalation." The idea that the heroes must get continuously stronger.

I bring this up because, surprisingly, for a show that's made it a point to introduce a new toy with every episode, the plot of this episode follows the same general idea. Only it's full of wacky comedy rather than being played for drama and only drama like how Getter tends to do. Both sides of the Akebono conflict are trying harder and harder to get rid of eachother, and the townsfolk are the ones caught in the crossfire.

And while a plot that heavy sounding mixed with the sort of hijinks that Ryukendo has now made itself known for might sound like a recipe for disaster, I found the overall tone of the episode to be surprisingly well handled.

The angle they go for essentially being that Kenji is ignorant of the greater threat going on, and is simply focusing on what's immediately infront of him. Played for alot of comedy, sure, but the climax especially doesn't shy away from the potential consequences. Ones that, thankfully, the rest of SHOT and the local public services are ready to try and handle.

There was also a solid bit of world building here too. Not only in terms of introducing a couple more locales, but also elaborating on how the Demons tend to cause mischief and what exactly the Canon of Light is, even if SHOT themselves don't fully understand it.

This was just a rather fun and interesting episode all around. I dug it.

[ZeroWolf]

To be fair to Takara regarding the Brave series, that was their attempt to replace Transformers when they realised the toyline was going down (they still gave it a better shot than Hasbro did, as at least Japan got three more animated series out of compared to the American seasons). Plus they even got to reuse several transformer toy molds they had lying around still!

Regarding this series though, I've never even heard of it till you started covering it yet the designs seem so familiar to me. Looks like a fun show though!

[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZeroWolf

To be fair to Takara regarding the Brave series, that was their attempt to replace Transformers when they realised the toyline was going down (they still gave it a better shot than Hasbro did, as at least Japan got three more animated series out of compared to the American seasons). Plus they even got to reuse several transformer toy molds they had lying around still!

Regarding this series though, I've never even heard of it till you started covering it yet the designs seem so familiar to me. Looks like a fun show though!

The show has the charm of a gotochi hero, or local hero (the toku heroes that rep their prefecture in Japan), but with the budget of a typical toku hero show. The studio that created this went on to do Tomica Hero Rescue Force and Tomica Hero Rescue Fire for TV Tokyo iirc. I think it's worth a watch.

[Enchilada645]

There's a very casual vibe to the way situations and battles are handled in this show and I really like it.

I admittedly don't have much to say other than it's another solid one.

I did like the joke of trying to figure out whatAqua Mode would be good for and Ryukendo in those sequences is still normal and only has a sash on that just labels him as Aqua Mode.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunred

The show has the charm of a gotochi hero, or local hero (the toku heroes that rep their prefecture in Japan), but with the budget of a typical toku hero show.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

There's a very casual vibe to the way situations and battles are handled in this show and I really like it.

Huh, that really does sum up the vibes, now that you mention it.