[Kamen Rider Lucha]

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Originally Posted by Locke

Well there wasn't extreme violence, religious iconography or psychedelics in the first episode, let alone the later ones. it's just baffling, because I literally have no idea what you're talking about, it's like you watched an entirely different show.

I guess it's all a matter of perspective, but...

I thought the opening sequence was pretty horrific and violent, with that science team being essentially slaughtered and kid's dad getting wrapped up in those gross tentacles. The monster fights are so much more destructive and violent than those in sentai, and it's especially disturbing because they start to address the ramifications of Mikazuki's and the Watermelon Idom's urban rampage.

The Mikazuki cockpit has the kid in lotus position framed by all sorts of Buddhist imagery. Even if the content is not overtly religious, the design certainly invokes Eastern religious iconography.

I think psychedelia suffuses Amemiya's entire design aesthetic. Generalissimo's weird shared consciousness mission control center is pretty psychedelic. Eastern religious imagery often overlaps with psychedelia, so the Mikazuki cockpit reminds me of that. All the CGI imagery that happens when Mikazuki catches the kid as he's falling. The psychedelia is definitely the most subjective of all of this, but I think it's a pretty clear influence on Amemiya's style.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Lucha

I guess it's all a matter of perspective, but...

I thought the opening sequence was pretty horrific and violent, with that science team being essentially slaughtered and kid's dad getting wrapped up in those gross tentacles. The monster fights are so much more destructive and violent than those in sentai, and it's especially disturbing because they start to address the ramifications of Mikazuki's and the Watermelon Idom's urban rampage.

The Mikazuki cockpit has the kid in lotus position framed by all sorts of Buddhist imagery. Even if the content is not overtly religious, the design certainly invokes Eastern religious iconography.

I think psychedelia suffuses Amemiya's entire design aesthetic. Generalissimo's weird shared consciousness mission control center is pretty psychedelic. Eastern religious imagery often overlaps with psychedelia, so the Mikazuki cockpit reminds me of that. All the CGI imagery that happens when Mikazuki catches the kid as he's falling. The psychedelia is definitely the most subjective of all of this, but I think it's a pretty clear influence on Amemiya's style.

I guess it's testament to just how desensitized to violence I am, as I found that tentacle scene hilarious. It was so rubbery and silly. And come on, you can't say the fights are worse than sentai. Even as a kid I often questioned why the Mighty Morphin Rangers seemed to have no regard for human life, as their robot regularly fell backwards and levelled whole city blocks. Sure they never drew attention to that, but the fact that Mikazuki does, is a GOOD thing in my eyes.

I never even really noticed the religious imagery. So I dunno on this one. I'd still rather them being influenced by religious imagery, and that is where it stops, as opposed to when Japan uses religious iconography as a cheap way of trying to appear more meaningful than they actually are.

And that psychedelia thing, erm, okay on that one. I got nothing, never seen someone have that kind of reaction.

[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

I guess it's testament to just how desensitized to violence I am, as I found that tentacle scene hilarious. It was so rubbery and silly. And come on, you can't say the fights are worse than sentai. Even as a kid I often questioned why the Mighty Morphin Rangers seemed to have no regard for human life, as their robot regularly fell backwards and levelled whole city blocks. Sure they never drew attention to that, but the fact that Mikazuki does, is a GOOD thing in my eyes.

Totally. I think addressing the ramifications of the death and destruction instead of just glossing over it is a really good thing. It's... wait for it... sophisticated.

I didn't say Mikazuki episode one failed at everything. Just more often than it succeeded.

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I never even really noticed the religious imagery. So I dunno on this one. I'd still rather them being influenced by religious imagery, and that is where it stops, as opposed to when Japan uses religious iconography as a cheap way of trying to appear more meaningful than they actually are.

Agreed. I'm actually surprised when you say that this never got foregrounded. I thought for sure they were gonna go for some on-the-nose religious allegory later on.

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And that psychedelia thing, erm, okay on that one. I got nothing, never seen someone have that kind of reaction.

Like I said, this is subjective, but it's pretty clear to me. Setting aside my own experiences, look at the art and imagery most commonly associated with hallucinogenics. It shares a lot of similarities with Amemiya's aesthetic -- they are pretty inescapable, to my eye.

[Locke]

So I just watched the first episode of Zubat.

Man this show is GOOD, it blitzes along at a ridiculously fast pace which is at times to its detriment, but this was obviously the inspiration for W and it feels years ahead of its time because of that. This is basically Begin's Night at a fraction of the length, and involves Shotaro dying rather than the Chief.

The violence is extreme, badassary is dailed up to the eleven, it has more melodrama than your average Eastenders episode and it's gloriously silly.

[KyoryuGreen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

So I just watched the first episode of Zubat.

Man this show is GOOD, it blitzes along at a ridiculously fast pace which is at times to its detriment, but this was obviously the inspiration for W and it feels years ahead of its time because of that. This is basically Begin's Night at a fraction of the length, and involves Shotaro dying rather than the Chief.

The violence is extreme, badassary is dailed up to the eleven, it has more melodrama than your average Eastenders episode and it's gloriously silly.

Intriguing I was thinking of watching this myself.

[Locke]

Zubat 02. So it's basically exactly the same episode again, they've just redressed the scenes? Hell Hayakawa even POINTS OUT the similarities.

Hayakawa is the embodiment of badass, in such a gloriously tongue in cheek fashion and is basically my main reason for watching. He's an arrogant, cocky shit who plays his own theme song on a guitar, has no issues with murdering the villains and rides a fucking horse. Zu-BAT!

[Boshusan]

Finally finished watching Uchuu Keiji Sharivan. It continues the exact same formula set in last third of Uchuu Keiji Gavan, with better FX (in the fisrt 2/3 of Gavan they were testing stuff: sometimes the MOTW went giant, sometimes the soundtracks felt out of context, the laser blade became a neon, etc.).

It's a very formulaic show, but it's got a nice arc covering 8~10 episodes dispatched here and there about Den origins and the Iga crystal.

On some occasions, regulars from Gavan are special guests, which is nice, except from Kojiro who is still a regular for comedic purpose, which is...often creepy, as he's a 35~40 old single dude spending most of his time hanging out with the kids of Den's boss. The final episode is really badass as Gavan come to give a hand to Sharivan. It works very well, I think they should have spent more episodes working as a duo.

As opposed to the end of Gavan where Sharivan was introduced as Gavan replacement, there is no introduction of Shaider in the end. Den leave the Earth to go revive the Iga planet with the Iga crystal, bringing with him the Iga descendants - some commandos and a harem of battling high school girls - leaving Lili alone on Earth. Jerkass.

[KyoryuGreen]

So for Locke, GARO Episode 1: I enjoyed it so far, I liked the action that was really awesome, and I like that there is an actual suit for the Armor not just CGI. It felt a bit slow to me so I'm hoping it picks up the pace. Kouga is pretty badass, reminds me of Ryou/Gills from Kamen Rider Agito. I'm going to give it another episode to see if I'm going to watch it now or watch another series. Though I want to see the actor I like from Faiz who is in this.

[Locke]

I love GARO's out of suit action, I'm so so on the in suit action. There are suited fights which are just so grandiose you can't help but adore them but early in the series they feel really tacked on like Megazord fights and then later in the show the use of CGI over practical effects is so gratuitous it's almost unbearable. As the show goes along though, the out of suit action just gets more and more epic even if the use of plastic props, and wires/green screens only becomes more noticeable as the quality of the rips gets better and better.

GARO's pacing isn't perfect either, admittedly. There is more filler than you'd really want from a series so short, and the climax of the season is a visual treat but pretty much shits on the rest of the season storywise for the sake of pseudo sequel baiting for the much more action packed, but incredibly dumb sequel series.

But when an episode is good in GARO, it's GOOD. I've personally not seen a toku show with better character focus than what you get in GARO, Kouga's arc across the series especially is wonderful. He's easily my favourite toku protagonist, aside from characters like Haruto from Wizard and Alata from Goseiger.

[Aoi Kurenai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

Zubat 02. So it's basically exactly the same episode again, they've just redressed the scenes? Hell Hayakawa even POINTS OUT the similarities.

The show starts becoming a little more original soon enough. Five is my favorite of the early episodes due to its historical context (huge drug problem in Japan at the time) and Shotaro Ishinomori himself plays a character in episode 9.