|
Community Links |
Members List |
Search Forums |
Advanced Search |
Go to Page... |
|
Thread Tools |
10-21-2019, 05:32 PM | #51 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Neat! What made you start at Kuuga, rather than a more current series?
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
10-21-2019, 10:26 PM | #52 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
MASKED RIDER KUUGA EPISODES 7 - 8
There're two stories in this two-parter, an investigative thing with Ichijou and (barely, barely) Sakurako, and an emotional thing with Godai and a Sad Girl. They intertwine at the end in the only way they could, with a monster exploding, but the journey to get there was a little rough. Some of it's down to how isolated the stakes are in each story. Ichijou is trying to track down a Killer Bee, to stop a string of deaths. (So many deaths! Nearly Showa-level civilian casualties!) Meanwhile, a girl is sad that her dad is dead (All Dads Are Dead) and no one really cares as much as she does. (To be fair, Jean was being a bit of an asshole. Read the room, Jean!) There's probably a way to get those stories connected earlier on, or a way to thematically link the Killer Bee problem to the All Dads Are Dead problem, but Kuuga decides to just keep them siloed. Ichijou tracks down the Killer Bee on his own, while Godai tracks down the Sad Girl on his own. They literally run into each other on the beach to end the story. Godai's more-or-less wrapped up the Sad Girl story, then he wraps up the Killer Bee story. It's not even like one solution helps him with the other problem, there's nothing that connects the one story to the other. It's just two stories strung out across two episodes. Weird. Weird choice. Each story is... collectively, they're okay at best, but it's definitely got some ups and downs as individual plots. If you turn your brain off, you'll coast through them, but they're only mildly diverting. The first Killer Bee/Kuuga fight has some fun moments, and a new form is always a plus, but there's only maybe five minutes of Kuuga across these episodes. The finale is about a minute, maybe? That leaves Godai with, honestly, a nothing plot about a Sad Girl. She's sad, then she runs off, then we get to see in excruciating detail as Godai checks everywhere in Japan for her, then he finds her, then he tells her her dad wouldn't want her to be sad, and then she isn't? The end? It's so, so far to go for absolutely no nuance. Godai's a fun character, and he's charming in his puppy-dog enthusiasm, but there's just nothing there for a story. The Ichijou plot, as always it seems, is the tighter story, with more engaging a-to-b-to-c plotting. Things happen, there's danger, Ichijou 90% saves the day, it's solid. It's a solid, if basic, story. Forgettable. These episodes... eh. If they fully committed to Ichijou (and remembered Sakurako existed), I'd enjoy it. If they found a way to make Godai more active and integral, I'd enjoy it. Having just enough Godai to take away Ichijou's successes and not enough to make Godai matter, it's not a great mix. The way scenes work but stories don't, that's a bummer.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 03-20-2023 at 10:50 PM.. |
10-22-2019, 04:15 AM | #53 |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 462
|
I watched the pre-Kiva series in a weird order and not all in one go a long time ago and Kuuga I actually finished last in summer 2012, I did really like Kuuga a lot though. I do kind of miss the feel of Kuuga-Kabuto and Kiva tbh, today's shows just mostly aren't as dark as the 2000s.
|
10-22-2019, 08:41 AM | #54 |
天心の英雄たち
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Maryland
Posts: 939
|
yeah that's why I liked Amazons (show) and The First and The Next movies. There was a darker horror element to them.
Even 'W' (the show) had some surprisingly dark moments. ...then again,.. Build had some dark episodes too. I guess a bit of darkness is just part of the Kamen Rider universe. Which is fine with me. Definitely without doubt though.... Amazons is the darkest of them all. I don't want to post any spoilers but there's one scene that is one of the most twisted scenes I've seen in a movie. |
10-22-2019, 09:00 AM | #55 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 320
|
Personally speaking, I prefer Kamen Rider now.
While not as overtly dark as in the 2000s, it still has a lot of dark subject matter, just tackled better than a lot of murder and violence for seeming shock value, and that coming from someone who loved Faiz. We have monsters that are allegories for depression and drug use, eldritch abominations from a different planet that try to consume everything, a virus that can erase you from existence, take your face and walk around with it all while you can't do anything to stop it, human experimentation, comatose people so you can more or less harvest their organs, being drowned out of the blue, suffocate in your car thanks to dirt falling attop of you. Kamen Rider has still a lot of dark tones, they are just, in my opinion, handled better than just senseless violence and murder. I'd argue, with them pushing these themes more into the background they can do far more with them. |
10-22-2019, 09:58 AM | #56 |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2019
Posts: 462
|
This might be an embarrassing confession: I haven't got round to watching Amazons yet! I keep falling behind with a lot of shows, don't ask me about Garo since 2015 because I haven't got a clue!
|
10-22-2019, 10:06 AM | #57 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
|
As someone who much prefers the tone of something like OOO or Drive or Zero-One; I must admit I lament that it seems like nothing with the tone of Kuuga or Agito can be done again? It seems something allowed them to go a lot harder in the past than they do now, and it's a shame that it seems like that can't be done now.
Then again, it might also be that a lot of writers realised that there wasn't much to be done with that tone, and that a lot more can be done with newer writing styles. It's definitely not as if the ability to do some dark and serious shit has gone away as evidenced by Gaim and Build, but they're certainly a lot brighter and fun than stuff like Faiz and I feel it works out more. |
10-22-2019, 11:43 AM | #58 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
|
I'm pretty sure if something on the level of Kuuga or Agito aired on present day's children programming block, it'd get banned and axed in no time.
That said, a lot of the recent Rider shows have had plenty of darker or mature moments, they just have a lot of fun and levity to go along with it too. Of course, neither dark or lighthearted moments are always executed perfectly, but I think any year-long show that only ever has one tone set in stone would be a lot less compelling than what we've been getting. |
10-22-2019, 11:45 AM | #59 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
I watched the pre-Kiva series in a weird order and not all in one go a long time ago and Kuuga I actually finished last in summer 2012, I did really like Kuuga a lot though. I do kind of miss the feel of Kuuga-Kabuto and Kiva tbh, today's shows just mostly aren't as dark as the 2000s.
Quote:
yeah that's why I liked Amazons (show) and The First and The Next movies. There was a darker horror element to them.
Even 'W' (the show) had some surprisingly dark moments. ...then again,.. Build had some dark episodes too. I guess a bit of darkness is just part of the Kamen Rider universe. Which is fine with me. Definitely without doubt though.... Amazons is the darkest of them all. I don't want to post any spoilers but there's one scene that is one of the most twisted scenes I've seen in a movie. Quote:
Quote:
Personally speaking, I prefer Kamen Rider now.
While not as overtly dark as in the 2000s, it still has a lot of dark subject matter, just tackled better than a lot of murder and violence for seeming shock value, and that coming from someone who loved Faiz. We have monsters that are allegories for depression and drug use, eldritch abominations from a different planet that try to consume everything, a virus that can erase you from existence, take your face and walk around with it all while you can't do anything to stop it, human experimentation, comatose people so you can more or less harvest their organs, being drowned out of the blue, suffocate in your car thanks to dirt falling attop of you. Kamen Rider has still a lot of dark tones, they are just, in my opinion, handled better than just senseless violence and murder. I'd argue, with them pushing these themes more into the background they can do far more with them. Quote:
As someone who much prefers the tone of something like OOO or Drive or Zero-One; I must admit I lament that it seems like nothing with the tone of Kuuga or Agito can be done again? It seems something allowed them to go a lot harder in the past than they do now, and it's a shame that it seems like that can't be done now.
Then again, it might also be that a lot of writers realised that there wasn't much to be done with that tone, and that a lot more can be done with newer writing styles. It's definitely not as if the ability to do some dark and serious shit has gone away as evidenced by Gaim and Build, but they're certainly a lot brighter and fun than stuff like Faiz and I feel it works out more. Shows like Build excel at telling a lot of different kinds of stories: sad stories, happy stories, funny stories, horror stories, action stories, etc. That flexibility in conception gives them so many more colors to paint with, rather than the monochrome of Dark. I'm trying to meet Kuuga on its own terms, and not judge it for what it isn't trying to do, but it's definitely not trying to do what I like in Kamen Rider shows.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
10-22-2019, 01:22 PM | #60 |
Member
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 320
|
Quote:
Sticking to one level, "very serious sci-fi horror show", narratively, it's death. It creates a kind of suffocating self-seriousness, which will always sit uneasily next to the monster suits and form changes and Kamen Rider trappings. A full year of that type of show, I mean, shit, even Amazons only did 13 episodes in a season. I'm curious how/if Kuuga keeps it up all series.
Shows like Build excel at telling a lot of different kinds of stories: sad stories, happy stories, funny stories, horror stories, action stories, etc. That flexibility in conception gives them so many more colors to paint with, rather than the monochrome of Dark. I'm trying to meet Kuuga on its own terms, and not judge it for what it isn't trying to do, but it's definitely not trying to do what I like in Kamen Rider shows. As violent and dark as Agito, for example, can get, it has a lot more to balance out the bad things, moments, not so much episodes, but there is just a stronger optimistic tone and message buried beneath it that makes it easier to stomach for me. Aka, it feels the show wants to tell a hopeful message told through the darkness, one Kuuga just didn't nail for me as much with its more grounded story and tone. |
|
TokuNation News & Rumors |
ToyRise RyuKenDo |
Alternative Cut of "Day Of The Dumpster" Released |
Shodo SUPER Kyoryuger Teaser |
Figuarts/Seihou GRIDMAN |
SH Figuarts BoonBoomger Red |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:26 PM.
|