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04-06-2024, 08:10 PM | #601 |
I have a problematic type
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I like the change to three-parters for the cartoon. It gives the stories more room to breathe and to be a little more complicated than what we normally saw on the original series.
I'm pretty indifferent on the new opening theme. It's definitely not WBX, but it's not something I feel like I'd rather skip. It's honestly kind of forgettable. The ending theme, though... oh man, do I love that song. I'm normally not into jazz, but that sound is such a perfect match for this show and I really love the dancing animation that goes along with it. Absolute 10/10. |
04-06-2024, 08:23 PM | #602 |
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Quote:
I'm pretty indifferent on the new opening theme. It's definitely not WBX, but it's not something I feel like I'd rather skip. It's honestly kind of forgettable. The ending theme, though... oh man, do I love that song. I'm normally not into jazz, but that sound is such a perfect match for this show and I really love the dancing animation that goes along with it. Absolute 10/10.
I'm not crazy about either song, really? I like the visuals for both the opening and the closing, but neither song is really doing it for me yet. Maybe after a few more episodes!
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04-07-2024, 07:46 PM | #603 |
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FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 3 - “BEWARE OF T - THE MASKED DEFENDER”
I guess the easiest way to differentiate the continuation of W with the original series to give Shotaro an arc instead of Philip? Shotaro’s character arc on W… I mean, it was very much the supplementary story to Philip’s amnesia. It’s there in fits and starts, but him becoming a more confident and capable version of himself… it’s not a goal, like Philip’s quest for his missing memories is. Shotaro goes through a few discrete stories of failure and self-discovery, but they aren’t really in service of some underdeveloped aspect of his character, or some crucial piece of information that changes how we view him. They’re just good short stories that test his attributes, and solidify his resolve. They’re not really anything that pushes him permanently (or even longer than past a second episode) out of his comfort zone. So, yeah, give him a new partner that’s also a love interest! (A million W fanfics suddenly cry out in anger.) Tokime is a character that’s specifically here to show a new side of Shotaro, and that’s a really good idea. Every time Shotaro’s had a potential love interest on W – as Philip points out to Akiko – they did not last very long. Now Tokime’s hanging around past the point where she’d traditionally leave Shotaro’s life for good, and it’s making things refreshingly weird. We get to see the apartment Shotaro apparently owns! (I honestly just assumed he slept in that little alcove off to the side of the office?) Shotaro has to deal with an apprentice-slash-partner-slash-femme fatale! Shotaro I guess sleeps entirely in his suit and hat inside a sleeping bag! This is all very cool and new! That’s the absolute end of the episode, but it’s just the start of how refreshing and entertaining this wrap-up to our inaugural mystery was. The ability to stretch out a mystery into three parts not only gave us a middle section that was able to take its time with the character beats, but now we get a concluding chapter that’s a 10-minute long fight/chase scene with the Road Dopant – showcasing the visual inventiveness of the animation team – followed by a several minute long denouement where we not only find out the bizarre ways Tokime’s “powers” work (man, come on, a fishing line, get outta here with that) but an entire extra Dopant culprit! Having Chuuta be a Dopant basically turns this into an advanced version of Kamen Rider W’s normal conclusions, and that’s incredibly fun. It’s not strictly necessary, and the episode would’ve been fine if he’d just been some lovestruck dope that simped off back to the farmland, but this episode delves deeper than that. From the first episode, we thought we were in a story about a man who was in love with something that was more dangerous than he realized, and we actually were – but not how we thought. Chuuta’s addiction to a USB drug metaphor breaks Shotaro’s heart, since that’s the part of Fuuto he’s dedicated himself to eradicating. Chuuta came to Fuuto as a farmboy, and left it a Memory addict. It’s an incredibly sweet moment in the show, to see Shotaro not only break down this guy’s bullshit facade, but also beg him not to let addiction ruin his life any more than it already has. To truly be the start of a new run of Kamen Rider W, you need to have a definitive half-boiled Shotaro moment, and this one was perfect. I really, really liked how this all wrapped up. The action was high-octane and propulsive (W-G-X, the new version of W-B-X, as the chase music!), the mystery resolution was layered and surprising, and the character work was consistently strong. (I love that Akiko hired Tokime to be Shotaro’s assistant and then forgot to tell him. Akiko! Still my favorite member of Team Double!) While part of me has some slight trepidation about trading out Akiko for Tokime in the role of Partner That Actually Goes Outside With Shotaro, I have hopes the change will create a dynamic that’s as weird and different as this episode ended up. Great conclusion to a solid three-parter!
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04-07-2024, 08:03 PM | #604 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
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Location: Michigan
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The most important detail retained from the original W? Shotaro still henpecks when using his typewriter.
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04-07-2024, 08:16 PM | #605 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
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And so we get to the end of the Road Arc, honestly a pretty fun conclusion. While I don't mind 3D Animation for Tokusatsu-related anime (since I feel 3D animation can be done decently well nowadays) it is nice to see some hand drawn 2D action.
Luna Joker being one of the first form changes we see was real clever. In live action it was fairly floppy and kind of janky. Here they're able to animate it with cool fluid and dynamic movements. Cyclone Joker actually incorporating the cyclone effect more consistently is honestly the best. And to cap it all off we get a sequel to the original's OP Theme as an Insert Song set to a real cool chase. Honestly though the most shocking revelation to me is still that Shotaro owns an apartment. Especially after W hit us with such wonderful lines as "he's got nowhere to go but here" in regards to Shotaro. I do love that he's got it decked out all noir-like though. That big nerd. The three-parter formula also basically allows us to have a heavier and longer ending to the arcs, letting us decompress for a bit longer compared to usual since we're able to stretch things out a bit longer. As for Manga differences... there's actually a decent few. -While the anime did add a few nuances to the fight, the major added part was the actual bike chase. W goes straight for a memory break after they enter the Shadow Futo. -While the anime was very up front about confronting Chuuta from minute one of cutting to the detective agency, the manga did it a bit differently. The way it's framed is like the ending of a usual W Episode with Shotaro at his desk, Chuuta comes in to collect his bag and then notices something's wrong and Shotaro hits him with the "We know you're a Gaia Memory user" while revealing he had the Toadstool Memory before Chuuta arrived. A few actions are rearranged differently but oddly enough, Terui makes an appearance with Makura and Jinno here unlike in the anime where he's absent. -So the ending fight of Heat Metal was actually cut rather short (likely due to them extending the Road Fight) but there are some fun things here. The Dopant being fought against was Cockroach Dopant which was stealing jewels. It's mentioned that the Memory is one of the easier ones to mass produce. And instead of a sudden cut from the sky to a park, W has to use Luna Metal to save the guy from falling. |
04-07-2024, 09:05 PM | #606 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,431
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Adding a new character to a show is always a gamble. They can feel like they're taking a lot of attention away from the existing characters and if they don't work they can really disrupt the entire show and how the cast interacts with each other. A situation like this, where we're revisiting a series and its characters years later and all of a sudden we have this major new character added into the mix. All that said, I think Tokime is fantastic and feels like she just slots into the ensemble perfectly.
There are elements of her that are familiar: the show itself points out the obvious parallels to Philip's backstory and her role in the field puts her into Akiko's traditional role, but she doesn't feel like she's muscling in on either of them in terms of her team dynamics. Obviously, the main focus here is how she and Shotaro interact as she's designed to be a love interest for him. I absolutely love their dynamic. Shotaro's whole thing is that he's built his life around a specific brand of performative masculinity and everyone else in his life is constantly calling him out on it. Tokime isn't fooled by this because, live everyone else, she can immediately see through it. She doesn't tease him over it, though; she plays along with it in a way that absolutely flusters him. He's the dog that caught the car and has no idea what to do with it. I forget exactly how their dynamic evolves over the course of the series, but I know that it remained one of my favorite parts of the cartoon. |
04-07-2024, 10:05 PM | #607 |
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Quote:
Quote:
Luna Joker being one of the first form changes we see was real clever. In live action it was fairly floppy and kind of janky. Here they're able to animate it with cool fluid and dynamic movements. Cyclone Joker actually incorporating the cyclone effect more consistently is honestly the best.
Quote:
Honestly though the most shocking revelation to me is still that Shotaro owns an apartment. Especially after W hit us with such wonderful lines as "he's got nowhere to go but here" in regards to Shotaro. I do love that he's got it decked out all noir-like though. That big nerd.
I think Tokime works well here because, like, where else could you go with the cast as is? They've never really wanted to evolve the core trio in any sort of risky way, so adding a new character with baggage is the only way do it. She doesn't distract from Akiko or Philip, because those characters already had their individual evolutions; Shotaro arguably didn't. (I also sincerely love that married lady Akiko is like Why Don't You Sleep With Her and Shotaro is sputtering and scandalized. AKIKO! My favorite!)
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04-08-2024, 02:54 AM | #608 |
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So here is the point Bandai announced a new set of CSM Gaia Memories to go with the previous CSM W Driver ver. 1.5 (which was reissued with said Memories for those who missed/ignored it the first time). Among other changes, the de-transformation now requires you to press the button on the Memories rather than removing them from the belt, you can change what finisher sound the Memory produces by holding down the button, and Cyclone and Joker have secondary “Lost Driver” modes which shorten their transformation sounds. And since the anime is using soundalikes, it means that Bandai doesn’t have to worry about not including voice lines because the actors are too expensive.
And as another example of the Dopant designs not needing to be made into suits, we meet our big bad the Aurora Dopant, who has no neck (his face just floats on purple smoke). Speaking of which… Special Guest Alert! Aurora’s VA is Daisuke Endo, better known as (one of) the titular character from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. But within the world of Tokusatsu, he was New Den-O’s Imagin partner Teddy within Kamen Rider and the narrator, equipment voice and movie theme singer for Ultraman Taiga. Next time: a takedown of toxic gamers in the form of another unpronounceable prehistoric creature Dopant. Last edited by Androzani84; 04-08-2024 at 05:51 PM.. |
04-08-2024, 05:11 PM | #609 |
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That's the CSM Double Driver I bought! Definitely a little easier to preorder the reissue than track down and import the original. For that alone, I'm glad this show exists.
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04-08-2024, 08:57 PM | #610 |
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FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 4 - “THE TERRIBLE M - WINGS OF DEATH”
Here’s a Delusion Diary for you: “What If Team Double Didn’t Work?” Tokime is officially part of the group, which means it is time for everything to start breaking down in ways both funny and sad. Unlike Kamen Rider W, that introduced a dynamic that never truly broke down or seemed untenable, Tokime instantly feels both superfluous and distracting. She wants desperately to be included, yet she doesn’t seem to have a role that isn’t ably filled by someone that knows Shotaro better and works more naturally with him. (Even Akiko! That’s how bad things are going with Tokime!!!) Literally her first day on the job is one where she antagonizes Philip into a funk, and nearly gets Shotaro killed due to amnesia machinations. Not exactly winning material for the ol’ CV! Luckily, all of that makes this story, from the character side of things, incredibly entertaining. While Shotaro and Philip have always bickered, they’ve always been partners; brothers, even. Tokime’s an interloper with a mysterious past, and she doesn’t get anywhere near the slack that the rest of the team affords each other. (Feel free to speculate that Philip’s jealous of Tokime romantically – not my read, but I wouldn’t fight you on it.) There’s genuine tension throughout the episode, as Tokime rants about Philip, Philip rants about Tokime, and Shotaro listens to two identical sets of complaints. While it’s a funny joke, it also highlights the legitimate question of Tokime’s place on the team: Don’t we already have an amnesiac partner for Shotaro that’s too blunt and lacking in social niceties? It leads to a story that keeps Shotaro playing peacemaker, badly, as Tokime’s inexperience and Philip’s impatience make everything just a couple times harder than it normally would be. Shotaro’s trying to help another partner with a mysterious past that everyone else is weirded out by, but Philip’s never had a partner with a mysterious past that everyone else is weirded out by. Philip’s trying to deal with himself, and that’s new terrain for him. (Literally the one novel experience that he doesn’t enjoy!) I’m maybe making this sound like it’s a tortured drama of Inoue-esque miscommunication and thinly-veiled resentments – which it still is! – but it’s also a very funny mystery where a programmer/cosplayer/idol is being hunted by the mysterious prehistoric bug Non-Genius Gamer M (where is Nico when we need her) amidst frustrating development cycles and a cadre of cosmeticians that try to assuage a very flighty young woman into doing about three too many full-time jobs. It’s a bonkers case for the Narumi Detective Agency, so the character conflicts always have this frothy hilarity to pivot back towards when things get too awkward and tense. A very watchable balance of tight character work and absolutely nuts investigative action. I’m really glad that we’re delving so quickly into how a trio becomes a quartet, and I like that everyone’s a little at fault for things starting so poorly. Philip treats Tokime like a lab rat, Tokime doesn’t believe in forgiveness I guess, Akiko hired someone without actually seeing if she could get along with the rest of the staff, and Shotaro 100% neglected to loop Tokime in on how to do her job. It’s a mixture of forgetfulness and inconsiderateness, and it’s as dangerous to Team Double’s effectiveness as getting X’d in the back. (Shout out to Takumi’s good friend X, showing up in the post-credits short!) Great start to the next case.
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