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What are you watching? Other Toku Series Edition
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04-23-2016, 08:54 PM
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Phantom Stranger
Neppu Yarou.
Join Date: May 2014
Location: TN
Posts: 951
So I finally watched all of Winspector and deced to do a "little" review for it. The first thing I'll start with is that Winspector's structure is very unique in that it doesn't really have a big bad or over arching plot, and it honestly works out really well for the series because of it. It makes episodes feel like there's more of a clean break between each one(with the obvious exception of multiparters) This helps to a lot even when binge watching, because it means if one episode's tone is drastically different from another, it isn't as jarring as it would be with an overarching plot. It also keeps things fresh by having different issues arise, it could be anything from a drug ring, to what is basically plant 42 from Resident Evil, to former Government officials coming together to try and remove "undesirables" from Japan's population. Winspector certainly does not lack variety when it comes to plots. It can be light-hearted, funny(if sometimes unintentionally), serious. And even with that method of story telling, there are still episodes with some character development. I wouldn't necessarily call all of them ideal, but they're not bad either and usually entertaining in their own right if nothing else.
To focus on villains for a bit, again Winspector has a wide range. If there are similarities its that there are quite a few sympathetic roles. The series does a fantastic job having more than just that, from outright malicious villains, lost causes, pure greed, crime syndicates, black market dealers, etc. But even more than that, they're good an giving all of those diversity. Particularly with sympathetic roles, which a lot of writers have trouble doing more than one type (see Sam Rami's Spider-man 1 and 2)
It's not just a tragic cause that varies in tragedy or circumstance, its how they react to being a victim of circumstance. A man in debt to load sharks and commits crimes to help pay it off so his family can come out of hiding- is not on the same level a man who lost his daughter, went mad as a result, and tries to destroy all technology in Japan with a murderbot. Both are sympathetic in their own ways, but on completely different levels in how they act and how far they're willing to go. We get a smörgåsbord of problems and people with different backgrounds that I normally don't see in Toku...or other mediums for that matter. Winspector reminds us that a lot of these people are human too, were perhaps even rational at some point and aren't beyond saving, which we often forget.
As for the heroes, Fire has become one of my favorite characters in anything. At his core, Ryoma is someone that deeply cares about protecting and saving people, regardless of how much danger he puts himself into. There's an episode where the focus is mainly on Ryoma just wanting to endure the stress of the suit longer than the allotted 5 minutes, even if it was just 30 seconds, because that's 30 more seconds to save people. He'll save everyone, criminals and innocents alike, which is something I wish was more prevalent today for heroes(though mainly in the west).
Bikel and Walter are also fantastic. Bikel definitely brings the humor to the show in being a bit slapsticky and hot headed. I do think there was a bit of a biased towards Bikel, because it seems like he got more focus than Walter ever did. Granted that might be because Walter's character type is very by the books and more level headed of the two, so Bikel was just more fun to write for. But I still think it's a shame I can only recall one ep. that focuses on Walter, and it wasn't even an origin story. Although I guess the plus side is Walter was never mindcontrolled as often as Bikel was.
Demitasse was also a fun character, one that really took me by surprise. I originally thought he would end up being an annoying ass, like some sort of smart ass Japanese sounding Orko meant to mess with already establish characters the audience enjoys, which wouldn't be funny at all. But he ended up being a funny enjoyable ass. His voice gets refined (for the better) after a couple of appearances and him shit talking (mainly to Bikel) is damn funny. He's also useful to the team, so he actually has a use beyond comedy. I kinda want a 1:1 toy of him.
Junko is also character I enjoy, she's a good asset to the team, but I really wish more was done with her. She is by in large a badass, carrying a freaking Automag as her main weapon, chasing people down on foot or in a car. I wish she had her own CrossTector so she could be featured more often with bigger threats. But alas, only Ryoma has one.
Hisako is equally enjoyable if for different reasons. She's featured a lot but not always working with Winspector, she's usually running her coffee shop. She has a specialized role in which she is only called when they need her. Getting photos of people, trailing suspects, going undercover, etc. She's less active than Juko is because of that, but has be shown to just as capable when taking down suspects.
Finally, we come to Masaki. I love Masaki. Guy just has a great charisma and presence about him. Like, yeah, this is someone I want to be the big one in command. They even have him go out into the field when things get bad, or get into danger when the need arises(seriously, check out 32, he's freaking awesome in it). I'm really glad Hiroshi Miyauchi returned for Solbrain, I have a feeling that's going to make the transition a lot easier.
If I do make a large criticism of Winspector its that sometimes people who should clearly be arrested- aren't. Funnily enough that doesn't happen early on. In fact I was rather surprised and appreciated that people who still did illegal things- even if they're not the main bad guy or their crimes not as serious, still got arrested. That sort of slowly stops around the mid-late 20s. Partly because they stop having people like that, but when they do it also gets swept under the rug. Two examples come to mind that bug me. One ep. involves a Girl who's father is murdered in a drug deal gone bad(which he just accidentally got caught into) and she knows the guy behind the murder, but there's not a lot of evidence and the guy is well respected. Anyway, at one point she actually comes running after the guy with a knife, saying that she's gonna kill him. That is attempted murder and yet she is never arrested.
Another example is when a boy witnesses a Hit&Run and notices the driver is the son of a teacher from a highly prestigious school. The boy's mother makes him not tell the police anything and she blackmails the teacher. That woman is never arrested for extortion or withholding information from the police, and you could probably make an argument for child endangerment since the whole extortion thing caused got her son to be kidnapped.
Now, at the end of the day those are both really good episodes. But while the majority is still good, those are huge issues with them. You don't get off for attempted murder or extortion, those aren't things you let slide.
Other than that there's not too much I can think of. Very, very rarely you might get mood whiplash if you binge, but it's usually very few and far between. Also the last few episodes preceding the final two parter have a noticeable drop in quality. Not that they're bad persay. I still enjoy them, but they have issues that shouldn't be there that late into the series. In one episode, Ryoma pulls a teleport ability out of fucking nowhere, in another ep. he has freaking limited telepathy. It's plot convenience playhouse. If it makes the issue at hand resolved quickly, they shove it in there. Ep. 47 is also a little questionable with some of it's stuff, though better than the previous two. I think the writers were running of of ideas and needed filler until the last two, which lead to lazy endings for the eps leading up to it. Because of that, I'm thankful that Winspector ended when it did, and on a high note at that.
The series isn't perfect but damn is it close for me. There are quite a few episode contenders for hight points. I thought 31 and 32 would be my top episode picks...but 38 seems close too. I truly love this series and I cannot recommend it enough. There is maybe like 6 episodes I don't care for all that much and most of them aren't even that bad. There's like three or four I could go without seeing again. It's very rare for me to say that about any series. I can get into the double digits for others like Maskman and Abaranger, both of which I really enjoy and do recommend, but still have a lot of episodes I can do without. The only advice I will give to new viewers is that the early episodes do tend to be a bit silly and have some odd moments(though I personally find them enjoyable in weird way because of this. Who doesn't like store bought rubber snakes?). But that should not be enough to detour anyone from enjoying this largely fantastic series. I'm looking forward to Solbrain. Hell, maybe this will inspire a sub group to sub other MH series like Jiraya and Spielban. Or perhaps something else entirely, like Gridman. (please?) Whatever the future holds for Toku subs, I'm glad that Winspector is complete, because it is certainly one of the most deserving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Matrixbeast
Is there a batch torrent for Winspector, or will I have to grab them one at a time?
There's a batch currently in the works, which should be out any day now.
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