[Thessair]

I obviously don't go into deep reviews like some of the others, so here are my impressions of the first four episodes of Faiz. (I stopped to watch a bunch of Hurricaneger episodes.)

Well, the suit design isn't bad and it makes me want the glow stage figure and AutoVajin is neat, but nothing has happened that made me care about the characters or the story yet. In fact, I'm not even sure there is a story yet. Hitomi Kurihara has been one of the few interesting spots so far, but that may just be some nostalgia for the more coherent tale of Ryuki. I can understand the criticisms other folks have leveled against the show, but I intend to slog through.

[Locke]

I'm 19 episodes in and the story hasn't started yet and the characters haven't developed either.

[Locke]

Hey look, it's Shinken Pink!

I find Eternal Returns difficult to put into words, because on one level I enjoyed this a lot. NEVER are a cool bunch of characters with actors that have great chemistry with one another, and having them get a chance to fight without those shitty Dopant suits is about as much as I could ask from a prequel to A to Z.

But on the other hand...why does this exist? Eternal was a cool suit but it's hardly in this film, so I can only assume Katsumi was extremely popular in Japan...but why? I was done with NEVER by the end of A to Z, I honestly had no interest in finding out more about them. I mean sure it turns out to be actually pretty interesting, but I just don't get how we got here in the first place.

The other problematic aspect is how much this doesn't feel like a W film. Accel's film dramatically changed the tone and style of W but it still felt firmly grounded in W's universe. Since this film centres around NEVER, a movie creation which was only ever bookended into the show, before the film shifts to focus on another super soldier programme funded by Foundation X named 'Quarks' who were never in the show - although it's sorta implied it's the explanation for Utopia's floaty business - we only move further away from the feel of the core material. The fact that the main villain is a Dopant feels more like a toke gesture than anything else. You could easily just be watching some Japanese action flick and not a W film. And there is a problem there.

That isn't even discussing the way Eternal is used in this film. In A to Z the Memory had a singular purpose, so the fact it was able to create such an elaborate Rider that didn't relate to the powers of the Memory was bad enough. But this film brings up notions of destiny, with a suggestion that Gaia Memories have a conciousness and ultimately decide who they want to work with. Not only is this stupid, and doesn't gel with anything in the actual show but it directly contradicts pretty much everything A to Z set up about Memories.

[SPLIT LIP]

Eternal Returns stunk. You hit the nail on the head when you said it feels totally disconnected from W.

And yes, the way it "elaborated" on Gaia Memories felt totally against A to Z, in that it took a subtle esoteric concept, and just overdid it.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SPLIT LIP

Eternal Returns stunk. You hit the nail on the head when you said it feels totally disconnected from W.

And yes, the way it "elaborated" on Gaia Memories felt totally against A to Z, in that it took a subtle esoteric concept, and just overdid it.

They made the process of using Memories some kind of existential thing, when in A to Z it was almost entirely scientific, within the rules of Ws universe. It was dumb.

[SPLIT LIP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

They made the process of using Memories some kind of existential thing, when in A to Z it was almost entirely scientific, within the rules of Ws universe. It was dumb.

Yeah. The "genetic match" thing was kind of a big point, but acted more like it was "guided" by it's draw to a person's genetics, verses seeking the people out like lost pets looking for whoever they liked. Like you said, it made sense within W's universe of sticks filled with knowledge turning people into monsters and armoured heroes.

Y'know, I almost wish we actually knew what Shotaro's compatibility with Joker was, considering it "found" him immediately.

[Locke]

Anyway, with that movie out of the way, is that me officially done with W now?

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

Anyway, with that movie out of the way, is that me officially done with W now?

Shotaro and Phillip are in Movie Wars Megamax, but it's more of an extended cameo. Still, they get more screentime than Eiji got in Ultimatum.

Personally, I liked the Eternal movie a lot. It was fun, it had good action, and oh dear lord, Minase Yashiro. But yeah, it does feel pretty divorced from the rest of W and kind of superfluous.

But Minase Yashiro.

[SPLIT LIP]

Shotaro and hilip also cameo in "Let's go Kamen Riders."

But yeah, until the Showa vs. Heisei movie comes out, that's all of W.

[Locke]

Minase Yashiro! When she's chained up and sweaty in her tank top, she can kill me with her thighs any day~

Kinda sad it's all over for W but also sort of relieved? Although the opening half or so of W is where W is trying to find itself, I actually liked it a lot more.

At that point the Sonozaki's were still credible villains, and most importantly - and ironically I suppose - W is one show almost the most suited out of any other to have a case of the week structure so I felt it really hurt the pacing when they dropped that angle (yet with so many other shows, I wish they had!), and only further hurt the pacing when they tried to bring the cases back as bookends for more important arcs.

When W "found itself" it turned out I didn't actually really like that person.