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09-04-2019, 06:42 AM | #15541 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
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So I know the next of the movies in this line-up I've set up for myself would be I'm Born, but to be honest I didn't really feel like it. There are so many movies featuring the Den-O cast and I figured since I'm watching these for my own nostalgia's sake, I'd pick one that has a little more resonance with me, so I instead decided to watch Farewell Kamen Rider Den-O: The Final Countdown! The last appearance of Ryotaro (as I know him) and the first appearance of New Den-O, Kotaro.
Now, I can't really claim Final Countdown is this super special movie compared to I'm Born. They're both fairly standard Rider movies featuring a never-before-seen threat showing up that are then promptly dealt with by the end. Shiro does have a more interesting backstory and motivation compared to the likes of Gaoh, though not by much. The big draw of the movie is naturally just seeing the Denliner crew be themselves, alongside following the shiny new, um, New Den-O. Kotaro's arc in this movie is a very standard thing, but I found it perfectly satisfying for his character growth in just a few scenes. We don't learn anything about Teddy but I guess that's because they knew he was going to be in more movies ahead of time. The big action pieces are maybe a little less bombastic than these movies usually offer, but they're still plenty of fun. Seeing absolutely everyone transform like some big sentai reunion was great and I didn't care at all whether it made sense or not. The whole film might not necessarily feel like the big Den-O finale it claims to be, but the satisfying story alongside the themes of moving on and trusting in the future make it a fine send-off nonetheless. ...Not that this actually was the end of Den-O but whatever. Much like Kabuto's movie, King of Hell's Castle distills a lot of what I remember about Kiva into a one-hour package. It's just that I have a lot less affection towards these characters, and also a lot of what I remember includes 'shockingly easy-access time travel', 'Megumi and Yuri getting sidelined', and 'melodrama that is not nearly as effective as it thinks it is'. But! It also included plenty of showing off Kiva's unique and awesome style in terms of visuals, sound and action. That Mummy Legendora is wonderfully creepy, and our two(!) movie exclusive Riders are each novel in their own way. Speaking of Rey though, his whole subplot (if you can call it that) with Nago isn't just under-developed, it's barely there. Normally I just let that thing slide because these movies are all about introducing one-off ideas that are dealt with before the movie ends, but this one felt particularly egregious in how it's talked about in one short scene and then never touched on again even up until the end where they fight. The climax is CGI nonsense of the highest caliber. Kiva turns into a bird made of PS2 graphics, flies through the city to play Starfox with Arc, and then combines with Castle Doran to turn into a gigantic flaming Kiva to do a rider kick. I don't even know if I'd describe any of it as objectively good, but I don't think I'm going to forget it anytime soon. Last edited by FreshToku; 09-04-2019 at 08:57 AM.. |
09-04-2019, 07:17 AM | #15542 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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There's something about New Den-O that I just... love so much. Looking beyond even his design - which to me, beats out even Sword Form to get into my top 5 Rider designs - there's things about his character and the way he's the Den-Liner crew's legacy that really endear me to him. I love too that it's intentionally vague what time period he's from, and the way he learns his lessons isn't in a "future kids are too arrogant, they need to go back to the old way" rubbish. There's not a massive amount of character to him, but I guess like Zi-O's future riders; there's so much about him that makes me want to see MORE of him. It helps that after this he became a staple of the Den-Liner crew in their movies, even including Den-O X OOO; and he feels right at home.
King of Hell's Castle gets points with me for having the one cool Kiva Rider. Kamen Rider Arc has a sleek, effective design; is inexplicity a giant; and his belt's henshin sound is "go to hell" accompanied by the face of it flying off. Part of me wants to beg for a Seihou of him but I know that I'd be inevitably disappointed by his size. I think he also almost killed Otoya, because damn, as if I didn't like Arc enough. Also why on earth is Rey based on a polar bear of all things, that's always confused the hell out of me Last edited by Kurona; 09-04-2019 at 07:22 AM.. |
09-04-2019, 07:38 AM | #15543 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
|
Quote:
King of Hell's Castle gets points with me for having the one cool Kiva Rider. Kamen Rider Arc has a sleek, effective design; is inexplicity a giant; and his belt's henshin sound is "go to hell" accompanied by the face of it flying off. Part of me wants to beg for a Seihou of him but I know that I'd be inevitably disappointed by his size. I think he also almost killed Otoya, because damn, as if I didn't like Arc enough.
Also why on earth is Rey based on a polar bear of all things, that's always confused the hell out of me Also I'm fairly certain that since all of Kiva and his forms are based on various monsters, then Rey in turn has to be based on the Abominable Snowman/a Yeti. That's conjecture on my part but I'd honestly be shocked if that wasn't the intention. |
09-04-2019, 07:58 AM | #15544 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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It reminds me of an Igor sort of relationship. The dignified evil mastermind and his snivelling assistant. Probably appropriate with the Horror theme
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09-04-2019, 09:09 AM | #15545 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Decided out of the blue to rewatch the Drive movie today. It's a little better than I remember, though it might help that it's now been a while since I watched Drive - I believe it was my 5th or 6th Rider I finished, damn - so it's naturally got a bit of 'nostalgia' attached to it that it didn't on my first run. A bit like the series, it doesn't reach my top tier; but it's still very solid and has a great emotional core.
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09-06-2019, 02:38 AM | #15546 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
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So the thing about Kamen Rider Decade is that I treat it and all it's related media as something akin to high-budget fan-fiction featuring any and all cool scenes the writers can come up that all revolve around a bunch of OCs visiting past characters. I absolutely do not consider that an insult by the way, but I also do not consider it at all inaccurate. All Riders Vs Dai-Shocker is pretty much more of that.
The story is very weak, and Tsukasa's character arc where he does bad things and then gets wrecked for it feels simultaneously like too much but also not delved-into enough. Somebody just thought that scenes like Tsukasa sitting on Shocker's throne, or him crying in the rain would be really cool, and you know what? I agree. I should have questions regarding his backstory, or why Shadow Moon is his butler, but it's Decade and I just rolled with it. That's not me excusing the weak plot though, I'm just personally saying that I was already conditioned not to mind going in. I was here for fun and dumb action scenes, and that's what I got. There have since then been a lot of movies where they just bring all the Rider suits they have lying around for fanservice and then include them all for one giant mindless climax. As the first of these type of movies, I thought it was alright. I hardly felt the 'Riders never die!' message was warranted here, but it didn't feel utterly soulless like some later taisen movies would. This movie is also the first time we have the Rider from the next series making an appearance! Though to be honest, no matter how much I might enjoy the cameos themselves, there's no denying that these scenes started out very intrusive and became slightly less so as time went on. Still, W getting to beat on Shadow Moon is cute when I remember that Shotaro's actor being a fan of Black as a kid. I don't want to make it sound like I think the story and character stuff was a complete write-off in this film though. I do like Tsukasa's evil ploy and following moment of crisis, and the stuff with his little sister was sweet. It's just nothing that blew me away or made me see the character in a new light. Anyhow, it's finally Neo-Heisei time with W Forever: A to Z / The Gaia Memories of Fate. I had it in my mind that it was just a 'standard' Rider movie, but I clearly forgot a lot more than I realised because wow did I love this one! There is such a big upgrade from the show budget effects to the big screen, it's incredible. I have to imagine the only reason it's more obvious with this movie than other recent ones is simultaneously because the show budgets are higher than ten years ago, and because the recent movies are more prone to using CGI. Either way, all the action in this movie is top-notch. That bike chase early on might be my favourite Rider Riding action ever? The story was plenty decent too. I remember I used to think how Philip believing Maria might be his mother was an odd plot point, like... why not just ask if you're not sure? But when they play it more as him seeing his mother in her since he's never had a family, I came around to it much easier. And his big moment in the end where he declares the difference between NEVER and him is great. Speaking of NEVER, Eternal is an edgelord and admittedly isn't that much deeper than your typical movie villain, but I'm not surprise he became a favourite of many. He and his T2-using Dopant henchman are just very strikingly cool, on top of him being very quotable. I consider Kamen Rider Joker to be the first big movie Rider form among the 'regular' Summer/Fall movies (no, I'm not counting Xtreme with gold down the middle)... Well, unless we're counting Rising Kuuga Ultimate, but I'm not gonna. Anyway, it's funny how when you have a Rider that's all about being two different halves, that just having one component makes it feel very novel. Plus, while Philip is having big emotional scenes, Shotaro gets to be a hero on his own to save his partner. Good stuff. I loved the little cameos from the various side-characters and also one-off victim-of-the-weeks too. I didn't recognise all of them, but the fact that I recognised any of them probably goes to show just how much still that this show left an impression on me. I don't have much more to say than that it's just a really solid, really decent, and really good-looking movie. I have a feeling that's probably going to be the gist of what I have to say about most if not all the moves going forward though. Last edited by FreshToku; 09-06-2019 at 02:52 AM.. |
09-13-2019, 06:36 AM | #15547 |
Warrior of Delusions!
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Wait, you dont know either?
Posts: 5,825
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Blade episode something or other - the lov story between a kid and his magic teleporting spider belt continues, much to my amusement. Also, a knock off Stronger has arrived for Tachibana to have a plot with.
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Check out my occasional ramblings! https://akibamusings.blogspot.com/
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09-13-2019, 08:40 PM | #15548 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 2,934
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Been watching some Final Stages. Ex-Aid's was fun, though not much else. First one I watched so it was definitely some sort of experience. Not bad though, missed the characters so that was also good. They definitely put Kuroto to good use
Then I watched Gaim, it definitely existed. Just got done watching Build's though, and man, that was great. There's a lot of redundancy and sillyness to it, which was about expected, but it also felt like it tried to be a proper, serious compliment to the final story. I actually think it helps bridge the transition to the new world extremely well. The V-cinema already messed with all of that already, to be fair, but if it hadn't then this FS would definitely have helped assuage a few qualms I had with it. I don't even know if it was actually written by Muto or anything, it's definitely not watertight canon-compatible, but it really felt true to the characters and was a pretty nice farewell. Also, it's funny as hell. I don't know if it's just because I haven't really watched the Build cast in so long, but they just work so well together and the gags just land. Every character gets the chance to just be fun and funny and good, it's great. |
09-14-2019, 05:57 AM | #15549 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,550
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Quote:
Been watching some Final Stages. Ex-Aid's was fun, though not much else. First one I watched so it was definitely some sort of experience. Not bad though, missed the characters so that was also good. They definitely put Kuroto to good use
Then I watched Gaim, it definitely existed. Just got done watching Build's though, and man, that was great. There's a lot of redundancy and sillyness to it, which was about expected, but it also felt like it tried to be a proper, serious compliment to the final story. I actually think it helps bridge the transition to the new world extremely well. The V-cinema already messed with all of that already, to be fair, but if it hadn't then this FS would definitely have helped assuage a few qualms I had with it. I don't even know if it was actually written by Muto or anything, it's definitely not watertight canon-compatible, but it really felt true to the characters and was a pretty nice farewell. Also, it's funny as hell. I don't know if it's just because I haven't really watched the Build cast in so long, but they just work so well together and the gags just land. Every character gets the chance to just be fun and funny and good, it's great. |
09-14-2019, 06:18 AM | #15550 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 2,934
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The ones for Gaim, Ex-Aid and Build can be found on Nyaa and probably other torrenting sites. There’s some other Final Stages that seem to be up there but nine of them have subs and don’t appear to have anyone seeding them either...
The Drive one should also be available somewhere, subbed I think, but I don’t know the source. |
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