|
Community Links |
Members List |
Search Forums |
Advanced Search |
Go to Page... |
|
Thread Tools |
02-12-2022, 03:50 PM | #471 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,592
|
I feel like there are many reasons as to why we see Emu grow more tired in his later appearances. And this is one of the major ones because god did he not deserve any of the shit he went through.
...this special is a thing. The most I can remember is slightly popping off when Foundation X was revealed to be the main bad guy behind it all. But then I remember it not going anywhere and then I slightly remember realizing "Wait was this supposed to hint at them utilizing Bugster tech in Heisei Gen Final?" and am like "Okay I guess." Yeah that's all I can really say besides, wow, this was the first TTFC Special, and this is what we started with... |
02-12-2022, 03:51 PM | #472 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,554
|
I mostly remember this for a gag dub that, among other jokes, had Hiro’s nurses dying from internal injuries and lack of screen time, Hiro’s award that he initially sets off to receive being for “worst catchphrase” and the Foundation X man at the end succinctly summing up the twist “This goes nowhere”.
|
02-12-2022, 03:52 PM | #473 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: World of Ataru
Posts: 857
|
So I guess your skipping over Gorider then. Also the scene where Asakura is eating the raw mackerel is a reference to Changerion who's main character is played by the same actor. Also Inoue wrote it. And shockingly this isn't written by Inoue. Apparantly Ouja is Hiiro actor favorite Rider.
__________________
|
02-12-2022, 03:52 PM | #474 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
|
Quote:
For the very first ever Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club special, I just don't understand why they went with something that limits its own appeal this much? The best theory I've got is that they were actively trying to do a "you won't see THIS kind of thing on Sunday mornings!" approach, but honestly, even putting aside the issue of how much Asakura clashes with Ex-Aid's world and tone, seeing him here doesn't at all give me the same feeling I get from him in Ryuki? I can't totally put my finger on it, but nothing about his appearance in this satisfied me as someone immensely fond of that show and its characters. And then as an Ex-Aid story, it's just a zero nuance version of Hiiro's basic arc (to the point that, as you mention, it comes off as weirdly toxic), and I checked out at the exact same moment you did. The nicest thing I can say about Emu getting beat up the way he does here is that it's the thing that made me actively conscious of how often the poor guy is always getting physically abused (on top of constantly being put through the emotional wringer, no less), and that ended up being one of the many different things that really endeared me to the character. You just want to give him a hug after seeing stuff like this, you know?
__________________
|
02-12-2022, 04:32 PM | #475 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
The most I can remember is slightly popping off when Foundation X was revealed to be the main bad guy behind it all. But then I remember it not going anywhere and then I slightly remember realizing "Wait was this supposed to hint at them utilizing Bugster tech in Heisei Gen Final?" and am like "Okay I guess."
Quote:
I mostly remember this for a gag dub that, among other jokes, had Hiro?s nurses dying from internal injuries and lack of screen time, Hiro?s award that he initially sets off to receive being for ?worst catchphrase? and the Foundation X man at the end succinctly summing up the twist ?This goes nowhere?.
Quote:
So I guess your skipping over Gorider then. Also the scene where Asakura is eating the raw mackerel is a reference to Changerion who's main character is played by the same actor. Also Inoue wrote it. And shockingly this isn't written by Inoue. Apparantly Ouja is Hiiro actor favorite Rider.
Quote:
For the very first ever Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club special, I just don't understand why they went with something that limits its own appeal this much? The best theory I've got is that they were actively trying to do a "you won't see THIS kind of thing on Sunday mornings!" approach, but honestly, even putting aside the issue of how much Asakura clashes with Ex-Aid's world and tone, seeing him here doesn't at all give me the same feeling I get from him in Ryuki? I can't totally put my finger on it, but nothing about his appearance in this satisfied me as someone immensely fond of that show and its characters. And then as an Ex-Aid story, it's just a zero nuance version of Hiiro's basic arc (to the point that, as you mention, it comes off as weirdly toxic), and I checked out at the exact same moment you did.
And, yeah, some of why it doesn't work is because of Asakura's steadfast refusal to engage with the premise of Ex-Aid. Say what you will about his intransigence (harsh, but hopefully fair) on Ryuki, but that dude was a game day player. He was always ready to TATAKAE. Here, while he's terrorizing nurses and humiliating doctors, he 100% does not care about the Gashat he's supposed to be... stealing? Defeating? Just plain getting killed by to Collect Data? (It's not clear what the villain scheme even is, which is another problem!) He doesn't want to be a part of whatever story is being told, which is nearly the exact opposite of the way he helped propel the plot in Ryuki.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
02-12-2022, 05:18 PM | #476 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,091
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
02-14-2022, 10:27 PM | #477 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
KAMEN SENTAI GORIDER - MAZE 1: EMU IS DEAD?
Ex-Aid's a series about realizing that control is an illusion, and that the world doesn't exist to service your narrative. Unlike the hard-fought empathy of Ryuki, or the better-than-the-sum-of-our-parts teamwork of Den-O, Ex-Aid works as a story that allows for both individual heroism and communal sacrifice. It's not about subsuming yourself into a team, or making friends, or even valuing other perspectives. It's about tempering your goals with an acknowledgement of your limits, and harnessing other people's skills to create your own conditions for victory. It's teamwork as pragmatism, rather than anything grandiose or idealistic. That's why I think Gorider is my favorite Legend Rider project of the Ex-Aid era. It's basically just Celebrity Ex-Aid, which is plenty. The themes in this three-parter veer a little bit from the Egotistical Doctors With Formative Traumas basis of the TV show, into realms a tad more spiritual, but this is still a three-parter full of untrusting jerks who can barely stop trying to kill each other long enough to scheme for dominance. It still feels like Ex-Aid, even with only a fraction of the TV show's regular cast. This first episode is largely spent introducing our new, limited-series cast, so it makes sense to start with Emu. He's already deep into his run on this game, so there's a ton of disorientation to his introduction, but it's still Emu. He's baffled, but he's eternally trying to marshal Type A dickheads into something productive, mostly through his disarming naivete. He doesn't get a ton of quality bits; partially because he spends the first episode reacting to other, more forceful/famous characters, and partially because he can't explain how he knows so much new information. We can't really invest fully in Emu's stakes, because from minute one we've had information withheld from us. It serves to create an environment full of mystery, but with not enough stability to feel fair. I mean, it doesn't help that the first person Emu meets is Kaoru Kino, aka Another Agito. (I super love that this special has him refer to himself as Kamen Rider Another Agito, for maybe the first time ever? It's a gloriously stupid name for a character, doubly so if he calls himself that.) If you immediately need to establish that Emu is going to have to play peacemaker/therapist/conscience to yet another group of violent superpowered weirdos with god complexes, who better to spar with Ex-Aid than the man who debuted with DOUBLE SURGERIES? And, yep, Kino spends about two minutes being suspicious of another hero before he tries to murder him, so glad Kino's back. He's really perfect as the dude that takes Emu's aforementioned disarming naivete as a gigantic red flag, since to him, every sweet boy with superpowers is probably a rival waiting to be discovered. Emu's the odd man out, since he's the only member of the team who isn't dead. Well, there is one other teammate who isn't dead, technically... Kazuma Kenzaki, also known as Kamen Rider Blade But With Jack Form's Helmet! There's too much to avoid talking about with Kenzaki, because it's better left for the eventual reveal, but it's nice to see the actor again. He's not, uh, playing Kenzaki, not really, so that's a bit of a bummer. It's the counterpoint to Emu's role in the narrative (naturally...), where he's subtly steering people towards conflict. It all makes sense for the end of the mini-series, but it mostly leaves a performance that's leveraging the iconography of Kamen Rider Blade (smartly!) without really giving us Kamen Rider Blade. Not a problem with these two! It's Yoko Minato, Kamen Rider Marika, and Kaito Kumon, Kamen Rider Baron! They are still a weirdly compelling and weirdly toxic pairing! Unlike Kino's aggressive investigation and Kenzaki's curious buy-in to this story's parameters, Team Baron here just... sort of hangs out? There's a melancholy to their reunion that instantly sets them up as the characters I'm most intrigued by. Kaito doesn't give a shit about what brought him and Marika back from the dead, which isn't hugely surprising (Kaito is a very incurious warlord, historically), but he also doesn't seem to be jockeying for control. It's the start of a new arc for the two of them, and you can feel it in their brief scene of exploring the grounds of the park. It's a Kaito who doesn't want to vie for power anymore, and a Marika who's trying to define herself beyond Lieutenant. There's a ton of potential here, and it almost makes them my favorite thing in this episode. My favorite thing is always going to be Kiriya Kujo, Kamen Rider Lazer. My favorite character on Ex-Aid, and he shows off why in this episode. He's the last to show up, but he instantly snaps this story into focus, pulling together the strands of the mystery with foreboding (as befits Ex-Aid's resident detective) and charm (the way he teases Emu about Emu getting possibly murdered!), and propelling us into our first big cliffhanger: Is Emu secretly the mastermind of this bizarre purgatory? Kino seems convinced, and that dude never misjudges people. We're also at the end of our first episode out of three, so, yeah, I think Kino's natural distrust of other people, and his sense of self-righteousness, has gotten this thing sewn up! We'll find out for sure in the next episode!
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 10-12-2023 at 11:02 PM.. |
02-14-2022, 11:11 PM | #478 |
Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: World of Ataru
Posts: 857
|
My only complaint I have with this special it's called Kamen Sentai Gorider. Yet there no Sentai characters whatsoever this was purely 100% Kamen Rider story. Especially since I felt Sentai always get the short end of the stick for anniversary and crossovers. There plenty of dead Sentai characters they could pulled for this too. Not that I dislike or wasn't edcited to see any of the returning Riders we do get back. Especiallt Kino getting hear him say "Kamen Rider Another Agito" makes this whole thing worth it.
__________________
|
02-14-2022, 11:23 PM | #479 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
My only complaint I have with this special it's called Kamen Sentai Gorider. Yet there no Sentai characters whatsoever this was purely 100% Kamen Rider story. Especially since I felt Sentai always get the short end of the stick for anniversary and crossovers. There plenty of dead Sentai characters they could pulled for this too. Not that I dislike or wasn't edcited to see any of the returning Riders we do get back. Especiallt Kino getting hear him say "Kamen Rider Another Agito" makes this whole thing worth it.
Not a problem for me - on any level - but there's not really much here for the Sentai fans, hones-- WAIT EMU RIDES A TRAIN THIS EPISODE WAS A THOUSAND PERCENT A SENTAI STORY THE TRAIN GETS INTRODUCED SECOND
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 02-24-2022 at 09:18 PM.. |
02-14-2022, 11:49 PM | #480 |
Reiei
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 3,691
|
I love polarizing decision that they made a whole all-new Another Agito suit for this movie, but still couldn't be be bothered to fix Blade.
|
|
TokuNation News & Rumors |
Kakuranger: 30 Years After |
ToyRise RyuKenDo |
Alternative Cut of "Day Of The Dumpster" Released |
Shodo SUPER Kyoryuger Teaser |
Figuarts/Seihou GRIDMAN |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:53 PM.
|