[GoldenXtreme]

I do not think Ghost is good, but I think there are a surprising amount of aspects of the show that have a lot of merit. Alain and his arc were very good, my only real issue with it is how he gets sidelined after it finishes. I actually think Akari and Onari are really excellent supporting characters. Cubi is perfect and he should have been around more. It is an odd show where I definitely think it is bad and even mockable, but I don't really have any resentment towards it?

[Kurona]

I think it got a bit too much hate, which I think is also to do with it being the season that's on at the time -- it can make flaws of a season stand out way more if it's The show on for the whole year that everyone's talking about and etc. I feel this way about other seasons like Zi-O, Saber and Revice; when they're something you can go back to on your own they're really not that bad.

I think Ghost was a fine season, not incredible but had strong thematic pulls and didn't have much that was offensively bad aside from the stuff with Takeru and Makoto's dads (which were mostly in the movies anyway). I came away from a rewatch really liking it but feeling it could have been done a fair bit better

[Byg42]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DH21965

Ghost was just TERRIBLE. There?s a reason fans dislike the wasted potential of the season. It?s okay to like Bad, but the show is easily the worst Rider show even Decade is better

This statement comes off as kinda disrepectful to me. Like it insinuates that people don't actually like Ghost for any legitimate or personal reason, that they only like it in a guilty pleasure "haha it's bad" kinda way.

[AkibaSilver]

Ghost was, and arguably still is, over-hated because fans of anything love having an easy punching bag for jokes. I think Saber has overtaken it a little by virtue of being more recent, but it's still there.

And fwiw, I'm by no means a Ghost-uberfan, but Alain's arc is great, it has some great suits, Takeru is a gem of a protagonist, and it gave us "I AM EDISON." There's plenty to talk about and discuss, even in the context of why something didn't work. Nothing is more dishartening to new (or older) posters than wanting to talk about something only to be hit with sneering derision.

[Anonymcat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

Ghost was, and arguably still is, over-hated because fans of anything love having an easy punching bag for jokes. I think Saber has overtaken it a little by virtue of being more recent, but it's still there

Eh, i think Saber actually has overall better reception than Ghost, i remember that in chinese tokusatsu rank Saber manage to slip into top 3 and over here at my place, i see more people saying Revice is worse than Saber but that's a topic for another time.

Ghost is dissapointing but tbh, i still like it overall.
Sure the show run out of gas too soon, but the moment it deliver something it manage to do it pretty well like everyone favorite Alain arc and Akari as a heroine, seriously she is better than even most of female rider and that's saying something.

I also really like all the form because hoodie is cool and Grateful was amazing super form, i mean summoning the forms (granted is not really form but it's close) you use before to fight alongside you? Hell yeah!

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

Well, what are some positives?

Yukari Taki was in an episode.

The Necrom Driver voice.

Um.

It wasn't longer than the average Rider series.

...

There was part of the series where Alain didn't wear a lime green fishnet poncho.

That's all I got.

[gashatfreak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonymcat

Eh, i think Saber actually has overall better reception than Ghost, i remember that in chinese tokusatsu rank Saber manage to slip into top 3 and over here at my place, i see more people saying Revice is worse than Saber but that's a topic for another time.

I think Saber gets a bit more leeway due to being developed during the COVID pandemic (not that it's fully behind us but still).

Revice, well, writing certainly went a bit downhill after a while but i thought it was still pretty decent. The hate is a bit unwarranted IMO. Kind of wished they did Daiji a bit better though.

Ghost's writer has certainly improved, although I think it's safe to say that his writing style is not exactly suited for the four cour format.

[MKDremare]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DH21965

Ghost was just TERRIBLE. There?s a reason fans dislike the wasted potential of the season. It?s okay to like Bad, but the show is easily the worst Rider show even Decade is better

"Ghost isn't nearly as bad as people say it is, and here's some reasons why-"

"WOW TRASH TASTE, SO BAD. PEOPLE ONLY LIKE IT FOR A GUILTY PLEASURE"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

This statement comes off as kinda disrepectful to me. Like it insinuates that people don't actually like Ghost for any legitimate or personal reason, that they only like it in a guilty pleasure "haha it's bad" kinda way.

That is exactly it. It's not hard to look for positives in a piece of media. Difficult, yes, impossible, no. Even shows that I watched personally but gave up on like the She-Ra reboot or the 'Rise of the TMNT' sound like they have some positive things going on with them.

Ghost isn't perfect. I don't think there really is any 'perfect' media. What people will like won't be the same for others. But Ghost isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. The suit designs are great, the actors do a great job with what they're given, and the Alain arc is by far one of the best story arcs in a show ever.

[TF RyuShin]

Man, a Ghost's discussion can still pop up here and there in these past couple of years, huh? I will say in retrospect Ghost isn't as bad as many people will say. For me, it was a bit frustrating in my experience watching Ghost. It was a series, up until the recent Zero-One, where I could think of plenty of ways for the show to shine and maximize its infinite potential. Some of them are:

- Grateful SHOULD have been the Final Form for Ghost. I know Fish said Mugen was the perfect Final Form for Ghost thematically in the series. But I just wish Grateful, the culmination of the show's gimmick, was the perfect end for Ghost's power-up. It would be a pleasant surprise to have Takeru donned a new driver to access a Final Form not unlike Aruto.

- Takeru is a weird character as protagonist. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Takeru in the series runtime. However, it struck me why Takeru was better utilized in the post-series media. Takeru is more like a beacon character, a character that let people shine and propel them to the next level. It was a great feature of him that worked well with his juniors outside of the series. However that was a bit detrimental in his own series because that let other characters shine TOO much that made Takeru was having a hard time to be the central of the series. Many people will remember Ghost because of how strong Alain, Makoto and Akari were in the series. But only a few people will say : "Takeru was the biggest selling point in Ghost".

- The villains are not so exceptional... The best villain I could pick for the series was Igor and Javert. Remember how they used Takaiwa as Gyro for less than 5 episodes? Or do you still remember Saionji? Even with Adel as the main villain of the series, it was bit of chore to see him on screen. He was the perfect anti-thesis and the perfect villain in the series for Takeru and the others. But I don't think they really maximize the usage of Adel. Most of the times he was just plotting for the next 4/5 episodes before start doing something. There was also Demia Project which had overstayed its welcome as a plot for the villain in the series.

- I'm still quite peeved off on how the show handled Mugen's emotional attacks and Takeru's growing emotion in the series. I dislike how even with Mugen's appearance in the series, the show kept doing two-parter episodes with random VoW. There are 7 emotion in Mugen's finishers! Takeru also HAS 7 close friends! Rather than wasting time with unnecessary random person, they could have just given more spotlight to our main casts. If they want to use random people, they could make it link back to our casts, like with Shibuya and his mother. Poor my boy Narita... He was robbed the spotlight that he should have gotten. It would pleasantly to see not only Takeru grew his emotions but his friends also grew even better with him.

Well there's more criticism that I could make for Ghost. In spite of that, I still don't regret watching Ghost in its airing. There were still plenty of positive in the series. Alain, Akari and Makoto were the central positive in Ghost and I hardly find people argue with that. Onari, Shibuya and Narita were all a pretty nice addition to the series; a bit over-the-top but the series would have been less sweeter without them. Takeru's relationship with his Eyecons Heroes, especially Musashi, was honestly a blast to see. In addition, when the show REALLY put a huge emphasize on its characters, instead of the plot, they really stick the landing with flying colours.

If I would rate Ghost would be 6/10. Need a lot of improvement here and there to maximize its potential. It was a bit frustrating to see those potentials not be utilized to its peak. However, for what the show had done, I thought it was still a good piece of media. I must also thank you Ghost for giving Fukuda some experience in writing as series that gave birth to the AMAZING Saber in the later years.

[gashatfreak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TF RyuShin

- Grateful SHOULD have been the Final Form for Ghost. I know Fish said Mugen was the perfect Final Form for Ghost thematically in the series. But I just wish Grateful, the culmination of the show's gimmick, was the perfect end for Ghost's power-up. It would be a pleasant surprise to have Takeru donned a new driver to access a Final Form not unlike Aruto.

Concerning this, I perfectly understand the concept of wanting the final form to be a culmination of everything it came before. In terms of design, however, it made sense for Mugen to be the final form; each form represents a different stage of a Buddhist funeral, specifically a Japanese Buddhist funeral:

Mugen (shroud)
Grateful (hearse/altar)
Toucon (cremation)
Ore (bones)

The forms reflect Takeru coming back to life. Also, in Buddhist funerals, there is usually an altar that is decorated with photos of the deceased. I'm not an expert, but I think Grateful Damashii's icons are supposed to reflect this? Like, it's not invoking Takeru, but the altar imagery is still there.

Ghost is a show with Buddhist themes after all, so some things might fly over the heads of those who grew up in a Western culture. Doesn't really excuse some of the glaring plot holes in the show though.