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03-18-2024, 08:20 AM | #431 |
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Neat! I recognized Neon's mom, but the rest were new to me. Thanks!
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03-18-2024, 09:23 AM | #432 |
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I'd say so far, this is the most unexpected twist W did in Dopant cases so far, though I don't know if it's necessary (probably only for how Rui's name means tear drop, which she had when begging for Uesugi here), it's practically just swapping roles, that it's Uesugi who turned Satoru and the girls into gems instead of Rui, it's Uesugi who beats up others as Dopant instead of Rui, it's Uesugi who wrecks the pinwheels instead of Rui, it's Uesugi who had the twisted mindset of destroying things he cares about instead of Rui, while on the opposite case, it's Rui who wants to stop Uesugi and not the other way around etc.
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03-18-2024, 12:40 PM | #433 |
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KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 43 - “THE O CYCLE - ELDERLY DETECTIVE”
It helps that the Dopant Dilemma is both straight-forward in its consequences – a kid got turned into an old lady; that's bad – and absurd in its context. Like, there’s just this scumbag selling aged revenge? And he’s just at some table under a bridge? It’s such a flavorful antagonist that almost anything that would come out of it would be an improvement over last story, and it’s all the right mix of seedy and horrifying. This guy doesn’t care about anything, so everyone’s at risk. The Old Dopant is like a Terror Dopant that’s also sort of short-sighted and lazy, which is the perfect level of threat for a W two-parter. Quote:
And the story with the little kid… like, it’s a solid problem to solve to begin with, but it gets so much better when it sprawls out into this story of stage moms and traumatized children, because it’s looping in the larger story of this episode, which is the collateral damage that comes from selfishness and rage. Both of the little girls are getting victimized by this story: Miyu, for getting turned into a granny; and Kumi, for witnessing her mother’s villainy. Whatever Kumi’s mom thinks she’s getting out of this, the consequences make it all too horrible to be comfortable with, and bound to cause bigger problems down the road. This thing’s about people putting into motion revenge, and how uncontrollable that ends up being.
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Shroud’s a ridiculous character, whose single-minded devotion to killing Ryuube through hate AND ONLY HATE is so tiresome that even Philip can’t help but roll his eyes at her continued insistence that Shotaro isn’t hateful enough to be part of Double. She’s a dumb character, and she’d need to be at least 20% less theatrical to come back into the range of feeling like a real character you could take seriously. Luckily, this episode correctly decides that Saeko is maybe the best Sonozaki going right now, and gives her the task of selling Shroud’s Machiavellian bonafides, which almost instantly makes Shroud weirdly compelling. The idea that Shroud has ulterior motives is self-evident – her name is Shroud – but the idea that she’s been creating monsters specifically to build more furious heroes is… it’s pretty great? It’s the best possible motivation for an opposing force in a noir-inflected Kamen Rider show, to have her be just as monstrous as Ryuube, but In A Good Way Maybe Question Mark. She’s unconcerned with anything other than getting her revenge, and little things like “enabling Isaka’s serial killing” are just the cost of getting the job done. Sometimes little kids have to get turned into old ladies, and sometimes a young detective’s family has to get flash-frozen.
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The steadiness of that theme of collateral damage makes sure that there’s no fat on this thing – every single scene is helping tell the same story, and it’s a great story. (Saeko and Terui in a scene is CHEF’S KISS.) Assured storytelling in a compelling package, from bell to bell. It’s so great to see this show be this good, this close to the end.
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DIE-A MEMORIES
-This thing is also SO FUNNY. The old man gags with Shotaro are a blast, turning Makura into a reliable source of laughs, but the FangJoker fight is, like, peak Takaiwa. Nothing is more fun to me than that dude playing two different roles through two different halves of his body. Crazy to think that a tense fight scene can still find room for such a clever bit of physical comedy. Quote:
-We’re also seven episodes from the end of the series, so it’s time to remind everyone that Akiko has a huge crush on Terui. While that’s rarely my favorite thing (she is her most childlike when she’s trying to get Terui’s attention, and it’s just sort of creepy), I like how this episode continues to subtly imply that it’s more reciprocal than Akiko thinks. The bit where Akiko has a picture of them together, and Terui’s like Don’t Question Me… I mean, he’s just being bashful! He likes the Chief! I don’t know if this was ever going to be show where they got real romantic about it – god knows those two ain’t the characters for it – but I like how the steady accrual of small details actually makes their relationship feel like it comes from someplace other than the clear blue sky.
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It was clever how Uesugi used a smoke and mirrors trick to conceal his identity and frame Rui as Jewel instead. I enjoyed seeing the twist play out for sure, with Shoutarou accusing the real culprit on the boat and Accel Trial saving the victims. I think it's better this way as well, showing how Shoutarou's claim that Jinno's faith in humanity isn't always misplaced, as Rui was only acting in coerced compliance with good intentions and thus the only real villain here is Uesugi.
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03-18-2024, 09:11 PM | #434 |
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KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 44 - “THE O CYCLE - SHROUD’S CONFESSION”
So, first thing’s first: Shroud just completely abandons her two daughters to a life of USB drug metaphor enmonstering, right? Like, her whole tearful confession to Terui is that Ryuube stole her son, and she was forced to become Shroud in order to wage a multi-year shadow war to destroy her husband, but… she definitely walks out on those two crying little girls, right? Because we see her do it? On camera? Just, walks out the door? And no one involved in listening to this confession bothers to flag that up as being sort of monstrous, and hilariously hypocritical? We all saw that? Okay, cool. Putting aside the sort of half-assed way this show decides to try and redeem Shroud after a season of machinations (I love how she’s just like I’ll Stop Helping Altogether – you can’t still make cool weapons without shitting all over Shotaro or aiding and abetting serial killers?), this was a pretty fun episode with a terrific moral center. It’s ballsy to land the episode’s dismissal of revenge as just a way of not processing your own anger on TERUI, but that’s pretty much why it works at all. This story needs a guy who’s walked that path to not only reject it once and for all (since he’s got Shroud to thank for Isaka getting the Weather Memory), but also finally understand that you’ll never fill a hole inside yourself with hatred, but you might be able to with love. It’s a very sweet message for Terui to sell. I like how this one… it’s just about needing one person to stop a cycle of hatred and vengeance, and it sort of doesn’t even matter who. Just be the person that forgives, and let that form a counter-reaction to all the spreading hatred and pain of revenge; collateral kindness. Terui could try and kill Shroud, but who’s that going to make happy? And who might he inadvertently hurt if he does it – Philip, probably? Shroud’s spent years on all of her dumb schemes, and it didn’t get her anything other than isolation and rage. Maybe trying to solve these problems with love is worth a shot. With all the time spent on Shroud’s redemption and Terui’s humanity, there really isn’t a ton else to talk about from this one. The fight scenes continue to be a delight, as Takaiwa incorporates a bunch of Old Guy body language to the usual CycloneJoker repertoire, and the Old Dopant makes for a fun, sleazy foe. This one’s basically all Terui becoming a real part of Team Double by fighting for Shotaro and Philip’s version of heroism, while finally and definitively closing the door on revenge as a way of dealing with pain. (I mean, it helps that he already killed the guy who killed his family, but I don’t want to ruin the moment.) And it’s all the better for its tight focus on a compelling story, and an admirable moral. Perfect two-parter! — DIE-A MEMORIES -Foundation X pays the Museum with a check? From a checkbook? Does… does Ryuube need to go to the bank to deposit a check for mad science? What’s on the subject line, “Villainy”? -It is still amazing to me that Shroud couldn’t spare one line of dialogue about her other two kids. Nope! She loves RAITO, the end!
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03-18-2024, 09:37 PM | #435 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
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Okay now this is the two-parter in which I remember Terui rocking a blue jacket, the Liar Dopant two-parter definitely threw me off. Regardless, I definitely enjoyed my time with these and they definitely felt quicker to get through than the Jewel Episodes. It's a solid story with a very bold premise it wants to execute given just, the messy nature of the Sonozaki's in general. Especially since while the victim/Dopant of the week stuff is nice, it's very much set dressing given we're towards the end of the show here.
Shroud is still an amusing character to me, and while her backstory finally being unveiled adds some depth, it definitely just makes her more comical. Just on the obvious pointing out of her abandoning her daughters instead of you know, taking them with her (granted that would've still turned out terribly). Or moreover on how Terui is like "You really didn't want this to happen, you've still got a nice spot in you" when connecting the flowers at the grave and Shroud's spot. Which is more amusing given her more dangerous tricks which involve exploding mountains to make boulders rain down or lighting stuff on fire. Or having a repaint of the Trigger/Skull Magnum that totally would have been sold on P-Bandai had this show aired in this day and age. The Shroud Magnum and Bomb Memory are so intriguing because I nearly forgot about them. But here they are, they exist, and I'm pretty sure they only existed for these episodes? Speaking of merchandise alongside the era of which things came out, CycloneAccelXtreme. For something that only has a few frames in one episode to its name, they pushed it a lot compared to a lot of other Riders before/after it. It had Video Game appearances where it wielded the Engine Blade, pretty sure the old Ganbaride Cards had an instance of that suit on there too. But of course, there's also the S.H. Figuarts of it that they decided to do which is very much the biggest win I think this form can get. It's very compelling. |
03-18-2024, 10:15 PM | #436 |
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Shroud is still an amusing character to me, and while her backstory finally being unveiled adds some depth, it definitely just makes her more comical. Just on the obvious pointing out of her abandoning her daughters instead of you know, taking them with her (granted that would've still turned out terribly). Or moreover on how Terui is like "You really didn't want this to happen, you've still got a nice spot in you" when connecting the flowers at the grave and Shroud's spot. Which is more amusing given her more dangerous tricks which involve exploding mountains to make boulders rain down or lighting stuff on fire.
(I did this all for Raito!!! > Leaves Raito in a warehouse without saying a word to him)
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03-18-2024, 10:35 PM | #437 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
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Speaking of, I am surprised it took this long (22 episode gap!) for Leave All Behind to play again. You'd think they'd play it during his fight with Isaka, but oh well. |
03-18-2024, 10:37 PM | #438 |
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okay but now he's really left ALL behind
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03-19-2024, 03:39 AM | #439 |
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This two-parter is great, but then you realises that both stage moms admitted to aiding and abetting a criminal in this two-parter. Surely that’s grounds for jail time? (And also, why didn’t the second one to use him just ask Old to revert her daughter to the correct age?)
Also, apparently Ryu was chosen to be Accel because he’s immune to Terror’s mental attacks through sheer lack of charisma. Yet back in the 20s, we got two consecutive two-parters where Ryu fell before much weaker mental attacks (Liar and Puppeteer). And like how Phillip being a relative explains why the Sonozakis had Nazca lying around, Shroud being Ryubee’s wife explains why she just had Weather on her to give to Isaka (the Memory was even coloured silver, contrasted to the Terror Memory being gold) Last edited by Androzani84; 03-19-2024 at 06:02 AM.. |
03-19-2024, 08:47 AM | #440 |
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Also, I'm assuming the Old Dopant is such a sleazy jerk that he's only in this to ruin lives, not fix things, so he'd probably only offer to curse someone else.
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