[Locke]

So I've began to Final Directors Cut episode of OOO. And w-wait...was that...a satisfying conclusion to a Kamen Rider series?!

The show fucking did it, the show made me care about Ankh. Not only did Ankh have character development, but it finally made sense of why Ankh meant so much to Eiji, it was never about some kind of bromance, it was about what Ankh gave Eiji the power to do.

Plus his complete form is cool and seeing him fight side by side with Eiji was pretty satisfying after he had to grapple with his own fragility throughout the series. And although the homosexual overtones are slightly distracting, them becoming one was extremely satisfying as well.

Uva had a great episode as well, his complete form was subtle, but not as bland as Mezul's or just down right shit like Cazali's, plus at least he did some damage unlike Mezul or Gamel. And although the fight was brief, his clash with the Super Cell Eiji was fucking awesome. I also liked that although he knew he would go out of control on Core medals, he was never satisfied, constantly shouting he could take more even when he knew he couldn't. Gluttony would have been a better name for these things.

I was also really impressed by the climactic action sequence, Fourze and Kuuga felt like they ended more on an anti-climax than any kind of climax, so the fact that not only was this a climax in the first place, it was as big and epic as any movie climax and that is awesome.

Overall OOO wasn't bad but my main criticism with OOO is that none of it really seemed to have been...thought out.

The mythology in the first fifteen or so episodes is so garbled and eventually contradicted to such an extent that you may as well skip those episodes entirely, and if you think 'wait, what about the Combos introduced there?' well don't worry about that, the combos are crucial to the show for the first half granted but as soon as MMPR Eiji happens they're basically reduced to useless cameos, some forms are barely used and the ones that are used the most still only get about three proper fights. Hell some of the individual medals are barely used let alone the combos. And people complain about all of Kuuga's forms!

Then of course are the Greed themselves, you would assume that a larger number of enemies will mean you can bring them into the fray earlier and still have something left for the finale but NOPE, they all do nothing for about forty five episodes and then spend five episodes dying. I think they may well be some of the worst Toku villains ever.

However, it's also...kinda hard to hate this series. Whereas Ichijou kept me going through Kuuga and made it bearable, having so many awesome characters in this - pretty much everyone was enjoyable in this minus the Greed - with some brilliant character focus and pacing, being a huge fan of great characters and the fact that they were so near flawlessly realised was a huge plus for me, especially as most Kamen Rider I have experienced so far has had much bigger casts than they can handle, reducing a majority of the characters as so flat and uninteresting there isn't even enough to them to even dislike them, so the fact this show handles characters so fucking well is especially impressive. I just wish they hadn't bothered with the Full Medal Alchemist bollocks and just made it a character drama, it would have suited the writers so much better.

Plus, Kuuga really taught me to not take Toku action for granted, and so it was pleasant just how good our main Riders were and how well made the action sequences were.

So overall, yeah if you're a big character fan, who actually wants a Rider series with a satisfying ending then this is pretty much the perfect show for you.

Is that Shogun movie any good?

[Matrixbeast]

Wow. The last thing I'd ever expect to hear from you was that you cared about Ankh
That's one hell of a surprise.

Anyway, I certainly enjoyed OOO's climax, but I was really quite curious, since, after Uva turned into the spaceship thing, it became primarily CG.

And OOO Wonderful (The movie you're talking about) is alright. Fairly decent. Introduces a new combo for OOO and has a pretty cool climax (There's one scene that makes no sense, but other than that, it's a decent movie for KR standards).

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

Overall OOO wasn't bad but my main criticism with OOO is that none of it really seemed to have been...thought out.

It's been my understanding that OOO was pretty heavily modified from the original storyline that it was going to have. For a long time there were persistent rumors that Date was going to die and be resurrected as a "homonculus" and that an evil black Greed named... something, I don't really remember - would be appearing to become the main villain. A lot of these ideas are referenced in the OOO portion of Movie War Core but never make it onto the series itself. I've always assumed that Date's popularity both on the show and behind the scenes led to some of these changes - it certainly kept the hand over of Birth to Gotou from happening when it was originally supposed to.

Quote:

Is that Shogun movie any good?

It's okay. It's not particularly terrible, but it isn't fairly memorable either.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

Wow. The last thing I'd ever expect to hear from you was that you cared about Ankh
That's one hell of a surprise.

Anyway, I certainly enjoyed OOO's climax, but I was really quite curious, since, after Uva turned into the spaceship thing, it became primarily CG.

And OOO Wonderful (The movie you're talking about) is alright. Fairly decent. Introduces a new combo for OOO and has a pretty cool climax (There's one scene that makes no sense, but other than that, it's a decent movie for KR standards).

I'm as surprised as you are, I'd complain that it took the last two episodes for his character to do anything but it clicked into place so beautifully I wasn't complaining at all. In the end I was glad he died, not because I wanted the nuisance gone, but it truly felt like his character had become complete. That doesn't happen a lot.

I thought the CGI for Uva's spaceship form and the general destruction and chaos honestly wasn't that bad, where the CGI fell down in OOO was when it tried to integrate it into none CGI footage like when MMPR flew around or right before Ankh stretched out his wings or whatever that shit looked fucking terrible.

I'll check that film out then!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

It's been my understanding that OOO was pretty heavily modified from the original storyline that it was going to have. For a long time there were persistent rumors that Date was going to die and be resurrected as a "homonculus" and that an evil black Greed named... something, I don't really remember - would be appearing to become the main villain. A lot of these ideas are referenced in the OOO portion of Movie War Core but never make it onto the series itself. I've always assumed that Date's popularity both on the show and behind the scenes led to some of these changes - it certainly kept the hand over of Birth to Gotou from happening when it was originally supposed to.

That would explain a lot, as there is a huge disconnect between the first and second halves of the series. In tone, in focus, in mythology, that is why I feel that the first fifteen or so episodes could be completely thrown out near enough with no issues. I guess I preferred their new plan to their original one.

[SPLIT LIP]

Also now you can watch Megamax, which mixes post-series OOO and just-before Meteor Fourze into action packed don't stand in front of OOO unless you want to be obliterated.

OOO Wonderful may not be super wonderful, but there's cool bits like a pretty nifty new combo and a sweet final battle that I don't want to spoil.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPLIT LIP

Also now you can watch Megamax, which mixes post-series OOO and just-before Meteor Fourze into action packed don't stand in front of OOO unless you want to be obliterated.

I've got that and the Shogun film downloaded! I plan to give them a review properly on my blog like I did the Fourze film, then I'll do a summary of the review in this thread.

[Locke]

So Black 03.

The only real criticism I have right now is there isn't enough character focus, the plot is a lot more coherent than anything in OOO or Blade but apparently Black is battling with his loss of humanity or whatever the narrator says but we barely see him out of the suit.

Luckily the in suit stuff is great, the action scenes are fantastic, Black actually saves people, he doesn't just kill the monster - although I am still of the age that can develop photosensitive epilepsy so every time he morphs or uses his kick or punch I shit my pants and I love the little horror touches.

[SPLIT LIP]

Don't worry, Black gets a lot of out of suit badassery.

Dude's a commando.

[Locke]

So Blade 07, wow so this show is really built around the Rider and the Body? This is like the Rider show I've been searching for. It's also pretty cool to have a main rider fuelled by Rage and Hatred, I know they are 'evil' traits but it makes a nice change. I mean Eiji had the most depth so far really but even he had a tendency to smile his way goofily through things, rather than truly losing his shit, until right at the end.

You know it's weird but I think I appreciate these shows slightly more now I'm an adult, weird enough. Tachibana's limitations brought on simply by fear and worries would seem pathetic as a child - at least his form of fear and worry but as I am now a graduate with an unclear future, old enough to start having actual fears around the body and all the rest I really appreciated this aspect of his character.

The Undead this week had a really cool design as well

Also is that a young Doctor Maki?

[Battlizer]

Blade 36

Haha, Mutsuki gets his ass kicked. And because of losing the Chalice card to Joker...it appears to have returned Hajime back to his normal self. Yeesh...all that talk previously about Leangle being the Ultimate Rider? AAaaaaaahahahahaha! He seems to barely be able to fight without resorting to summoning an Undead to do his work for him. And the Tiger Undead's Undead form looks pretty cool.

Kenzaki reaffirming what it means to him to be a hero is nice and all, but I wasn't all that invested in early his plot this episode. King form is still awesome though. They ended that plot surprisingly early, though. So King form...is the cause of Hajime's Joker form emerging. Huh.