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10-07-2021, 07:35 AM | #16831 |
Reiei
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 3,691
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If you found the beginning pretty eh, I'm so sorry for when the 5-horned-best-suit-rider shows up.
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10-07-2021, 02:25 PM | #16832 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
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Kamen Rider W(atch)
Foundation X Arc Episode 45-46: What K Needs K stands for King, Kazoku ("Family"), Kyōhu ("Fear"), and Kyoko (Todoroki). Written by: Riku Sanjo, Directed by: Satoshi Morota /The Devil's Tail Shotaro laments as Gaia Memory-related crimes don't slow down, and that Fuuto Tower needs to be rebuilt (actually your chance Miyabi... use the 2.0 version in place of the old one), due to the events of Memories of Fate movie (the TV doesn't air this). As Shotaro continues to talk about something fearsome that creeps on him, turns out that actually it's not his thoughts, but him... talking to himself, as a girl in cowgirl-like attire, named Kyouko Todoroki, warns him off. He refers to Shotaro as city boy... when he's the one who blends into the environment better than her (albeit Shotaro's always on retro style). Kyouko is rather aggressive too, shoving Shotaro away rather directly or with her bullwhip to enter, until she realizes that he's one of the detectives in Narumi Detective Agency by asking if she's a customer. Though of course, that'd mean.. even severe one for Shotaro that he's tied up and is dragged around by Kyouko to the office. She reveals that she's a curator for a museum, which explains why she'd have country-themed outfit. The museum does refer to the Sonozaki's organization Museum, where Kyouko's case is for the Agency to help her favorite patron Ryubee, as he loses something important at one of the excavation sites, which is refered to Evil Tail in the flashback. So yeah, there'd be interesting dilemma, to get a client, but with a case that'd help their enemy, and it's shown in Akiko refusing it and trying to warn something, but Shotaro would instead accept it. Akiko's warning got literally shut by Kyouko. As Akiko questions Shotaro, he accepts due to being a chance to find Ryubee's secrets. Like before, Akiko's significantly more cooperative now compared to the very beginning, to just question his decision instead of throwing her chief position around. Her heart is in the right place, but there's surely still room of improvements, slapping Shotaro with slipper is unnecessary if she can do that instead. As Ryubee is training and petting Mick, and is in better mood than usual, as Wakana notes that Ryubee is unusually sentimental, similar of what Wakana teases Saeko before. Wakana treats her situation of turning into Earth's clerc as marrying with Earth. No one can ever marry Wakana as she's a popular idol when her standards are that high.... As Mick's assigned to get the Evil Tail, it's told here how Ryubee gets his occupation, he excavated meteories and then dug up numerous rare fossils and artifacts in that site as well, buying the surrounding properties to make it his personal residence. Shotaro and Kyouko climbs down to the Museum base, with Shotaro complimenting on Kyouko's skills. However Akiko follows after them, and she'd fail spectacularly, landing on Shotaro. I guess Akiko's only good at climbing up rather than climbing down. Akiko brings up her chief status again to ignore Shotaro's warning to wait, albeit it's not about throwing her weight around. The real one being in charge however, is Kyouko, who whips both to remind them that it's a precious excavation site, and both submit to her. Another one with slapstick quirk like Bitou before. Shotaro is surprised of the huge space below the estate, but also notes that Phillip will find out about the place long ago without the restriction on the Gaia Library. To help for their directions, something really bizzare happens, with Akiko using her slippers not for whacking others, but for... dowsing rods, dubbed "Dowsing Slippers", to the other's disbelief, while Akiko claims a total lie that she's always serious. Though still, as usual, her bizzare antics somehow forward their mission as Shotaro finds the Evil Tail by digging in the spot Akiko's slipper points to (and the slipper moves by itself like a compass), but they're cornered by Smilodon shortly after. Meanwhile Phillip, though at first failed as usual to look up for Museum in Gaia Library, is suddenly successful, finding a book about himself titled Raito Sonozaki, but Phillip's too scared to read it (another proof that he's human). It's revealed that the reason is due to Wakana disabling the security, and mocks him for being a scaredy-cat. So Wakana apparently has more control than Phillip in Gaia Library to access the security which Phillip so far can't. Phillip is well-known for his intellect, but will Wakana become as smart? She did claim before that she now can gain every information... Phillip had a dilemma between reading the book or not to learn more about his family, but Shotaro asks him to henshin against Smilodon. W realizes that Smilodon is also after Evil Tail, as assigned by Ryubee, and manages to hold it in his hand. Like before, Xtreme Memory hands off the Evil Tail from Smilodon before W upgrades into Xtreme, using Prism Sword to fire a green sword wave. Kyouko retrieves the Evil Tail, however Smilodon apparently gets an upgrade that he's too fast for even Xtreme. Terror then makes an appearence, insisting for them to hand over the Evil Tail for Gaia Impact. I don't know if Kyouko knows about Ryubee's true nature before, but her tone seems surprised about the director being that monstrosity. Ryubee seems to be more tolerant of those who'd fail a mission like Smilodon, compared to traitors. Kazu talks about how the Museum had made their move with Gaia Impact and excusing everyone but Ryubee and Wakana at the estate to Saeko. Saeko rushes off to do something, while Kazu warns her to not be reckless, and there's a hint of his feelings to her to talk about the shock he'll feel when she's hurt, done in his usual emotionless manner, though Saeko ignores him. Well of course, the only man she ever love so far is Isaka, she didn't even love her previous husbands. The cast intends to open the Evil Tail, but Kyouko still abides to her duty, insisting for others to not be rough as it can be fragile. Akiko reveals further to her that Ryubee distributes the Gaia Memories to the city. Shotaro even got angered by describing him as sacrificing his family for his own agenda, with Phillip hearing it as his son. Though Phillip accepts the hard truth, just that he's still scared to read his book. As a real partner, Shotaro tolerates him for a story that he can't get through in easily. However, while they're focusing on Phillip, Kyouko escapes. Kyouko approaches Ryubee, as he talks about his overall motive, that he's driven by how many species, the ones who he keep at Museum, has been extinct now, and that he feels humanity will face the same fate with their current path, thus he wants to secure humanity's future by uniting them with Earth. Gotta praise that it's interesting that the Museum isn't only a random unrelated job to cover his acts, but it's a driving factor for his motive too. So he's a well-intentioned extremist, as there are many better ways to ensure humanity's survival than uniting them with Earth, or especially unleashing superpowers that can accelerate humanity's extermination, and his root of his motivation is interesting one, still I'd want to see more of his work towards achieving his goal. Ryubee asks for Kyouko to give the Evil Tail, but the heroes managed to track her down, insisting for her to not do that. Ryubee however, is able to use the Terror power even on human form, making Shotaro tremble, claiming that Shotaro never did anything against the fact that Ryubee's the head of the Museum, due to his body subconsciously avoiding coming near to his estate out of fear. Terui learns that Terror's power is amplifying someone's fear, so it seems that Ryubee is right about Shotaro, still shaking even as Ryubee leaves, while Terui henshins into Accel to chase after Smilodon. Phillip reads his book that narrates about him being the first son to Ryubee and Fumine as Wakana is 4 and Saeko is 13. Both older sisters have "bad numbers" for their age when Raito was born, probably explains Sonozaki in a nutshell. He then gets Mick at age 3, then at age 5 Ryubee discovers the contact to Earth's consciousness, with a research team named "the fountain", and then Raito.... falls inside a hole. Phillip did fear about the truth reason, and that was for a good reason that he's utterly shocked to learn that he may've potentially died young, with unknown means on how he got to grow up now. The book/truth is as scary as he imagined. Meanwhile even the super fast Accel Trial was unable to keep up with the present Smilodon. Shotaro, meanwhile, just watches the fight without doing anything, due to being catatonic. Emotion manipulation is rather powerful in KR franchise, due to the fighters only being strong when they're in KR form, it's very vulnerable for Shotaro to stand still in middle of battle as he's a normal human outside of Rider form. Phillip, who at first is terrified about the book to approach Shotaro, instead tries to snap him out of it, fortunately succeeded as both henshin to W. Both of the protagonists undergo extreme fear, but I guess Shotaro's one is more severe here. Phillip shows his non-pragmatic intellect again to point out that their mistake is fighting Smilodon as he's a human... and with CycloneMetal, W decides to instead pet Smilodon, with flashbacks of Ryubee doing it, using Metal Shaft in place of a spoon, which worked, thus leaving Smilodon open to CycloneMetal's Maximum Drive with a Stag Beetle, Metal Stag Break, creating a projection of a mandible with a green wind to bind Smilodon, breaking Smilodon's driver and reverting him back to Mick. Phillip explains further that Mick's pose is when he got a special food to eat, and assures him that he won't become a Dopant anymore. Still wondering if an animal becoming one would have their Dopant actions in control (thus making Mick an evil animal), though probably the parrot with Quetzalcoatlus indicates they're not in control, but then again Smilodon was sentient enough to track down Evil Tail before... Phillip tells Shotaro that he read the book, as Terror appears to congratulate his son for understanding his purpose, to create a Gaia Impact along with Evil Tail. Shotaro's extreme fear however, resurfaces, despite Phillip's warning that they should henshin again. Accel boasts about his unique physiology against Terror's ability, but Terror also boasts that he's more than just mental attacks, showing his another ability to turn himself into his advanced form Terror Dragon that is house-sized, similar to Dopants such as T-Rex or Quetzalcoatlus before. I guess that's also the main reason Isaka needs Quetzalcoatlus. Its sheer size is enough to deal with Trial's super speed, chewing him repeatedly. I guess Kyouko really doesn't know about her director's true nature, as she's devastated upon the reveal, while she's the one who's dragged now, by Wakana, capturing her as a sneak-thief. Kyouko has some physical prowess before, so she'd try to break free, albeit she ends up knocked down. Wakana again tries to yank Phillip away from the heroes, like at ep. 39-40, but of course to help Museum's cause instead of running away now. Phillip reacts to the horrific truth with denial, but both Sonozakis remind that it's a fact, Phillip died 12 years ago, with a flashback of him falling to the hole, but also making green light emerge from the hole. /The Last Supper Wakana further explains that current Raito isn't human, but a collection of data, needed to fulfill human's destiny. Meanwhile, it's shown that the Terror Dragon is a separate part from Terror, being the part of his headdress, returning to spit out the bloodied Terui. Shotaro henshins with Phillip despite his catatonic state, into Xtreme, but the battle goes like the worst he expected, Terror simply blasts Xtreme into a wall, then uses his liquid attack to revert W back to Shotaro and Phillip. It's currently the worst scenario possible for the heroes, with Shotaro further cowering in fear due to Terror's mental attack, Phillip being taken by Wakana, and Terui being severely injured. Which are later shown in Shotaro covering himself in a coat as if he got a fever, and Terui being bandaged on bed, with Akiko and Kyouko taking care of them respectively (to note, Akiko takes care of Shotaro here, not Terui). Kazu gives a letter to Saeko, apparently from her father, which Kazu assumes as a declaration of victory, but Saeko just crumples it. Suddenly Jinno and Makura in traditional outfits barged in to throw a summertime party, where the former is concerned about Shotaro being potentially sick, while the latter as usual teases about bad moments happening to him like turning into old man before. Shotaro then hysterically freaks out, as Kyouko blames herself. So she's not a backstabber for her escape previously, but just didn't know better. Phillip wakes up in Sonozaki's estate, being invited for a dinner with Ryubee and Wakana for Wakana's departure.... with Saeko and Fumine/Shroud joining in too. How will Shroud eat if she keeps her mask all the time and refuses to remove them? Phillip uses this chance to insist the Sonozakis to stop fighting, but of course, the 'cold child' Saeko will only dismiss Raito due to him being dead now, and refers to the family as inherently twisted thus it's not obligated to reconcile. Well you're one of the main factor to make the family twisted... Wakana really shows her drastic change to equally, albeit deserved, trash talk her as well that Saeko is 'dead' to the family as well due to her jealousy and interfering in the family's affair. Still Saeko would boast about her 'superiority' if given a chance, less so in last arc due to her suffering more. Ryubee sort of agrees with Phillip that the dinner is a chance for Saeko and Fumine to repent to Wakana as she's going to gain godlike power. Well that's an obvious favoritism to put Wakana in higher regard, it won't help Saeko's cause at all, her suspicion to her father is blatantly true here. And invetivably, both sisters fight as Claydoll and R Nazca respectively. Fumine leaves (so there won't be a display of her current face...) as she accepts defeat. And as Phillip begs for her mother, she'd consider Phillip as a family of Shotaro, and refers to Shotaro as trump card as well, who Ryubee laughed upon. That's the reason why Shotaro assumes the role of Joker, he's a wild card whose presence screwed with a lot of people's plans. Meanwhile, Kyouko sneaks to steal something from the Evil Tail. As the sisters' fight continues to outside, Claydoll gains the upper hand, like before it's stronger as Xtreme even when not assuming the upgraded form, though Saeko is the tenacious type, prefering to die rather than being under Wakana's shadow. Claydoll continues her onslaught, blasting R Nazca with a fireball, then assumes her Xtreme form to land on R Nazca, the equivalent of stomping for a being with no legs. R Nazca reverts back to Saeko, with the Nazca Memory destroyed, who retreats as Claydoll revels in her victory (but not offing her). The first time a Dopant is shown to perform a Memory Break. In his panicked situation, Shotaro got a call (as Akiko conveyed) from Phillip, giving him farewell as Phillip's potentially going to be used as a sacrifice for Wakana, though Phillip encourages Shotaro that he won't be gone as long as, a throwback where he refers himself as a devil that Shotaro had to ride with, with Wakana smirking as she watches Phillip making the call. Like usual, now Wakana seems to revel on Phillip's misery. There's a hint of Wakana being possessive even before she turns into Museum caretaker, to run away with Phillip in isolation, but now, that aspect is taken to a darker version, to outright emotionally abuse him now, not taking into account of Phillip's other relationship or obligations, treating him only as a means for her and Museum, along with her abruptly snatching away her phone from Phillip's hands, teasing him regarding his last words... which actually proves how human Phillip is even when he's a data, Phillip is Phillip. For the dark personality to be based off the original one, this'd imply about Wakana suffering the Gaia Memory influence, . Shotaro's still in funk, despite Akiko's warning about the current situation, but he'd still only freaking out without doing actual action as in his state. Meanwhile, Kyouko comes, successfully stealing the Evil Tail from its box, again with Akiko acknowledging her skills on stealth as she had experienced it before, and Akiko tries to use that as a way to cheer up Shotaro. Kyouko isn't evil as a (former) Ryubee underline; individuals aren't group, she didn't know but as she knew she didn't only mope for it but also acted around it, particularly as she has several important skills. Which the Sonozakis are still unaware of, as Claydoll tries to enact Gaia Ritual with the Evil Tail (the box), along with more explanations to Phillip as Ryubee talks to him about the gathered data of the Dopant citizens in a control station, Ryubee seeing them as less than just experiments, as Phillip states. Phillip is assigned to act as the program to regulate the process of the gathered informations flying from the fountain to Wakana, as Phillip also had achieved Xtreme form. So that's the reason of both Phillip and Wakana having Xtreme as super forms, and good to have more explanation about the purpose of the Museum's schemes by turning the Fuuto citizens into Dopant, which is the one that builds up Wakana as Earth's cleric, living Gaia Memory factory. Ryubee then pushes Raito on the fountain, the place he fell 12 year ago that killed his human body. For some reason, this part brings MCU Thanos to my mind, not merely for the sacrificing your child by throwing them from heights for your endgoal, but also for having 2 sisters as a child where one of them got horribly mistreated, as well as an endgoal involving an eradication for a good portion of humanity to prevent their extinction. For KR comparison though, this'd remind me of Masamune; other than both operating in a businessman-like way, the plan probably converts all of the humanity into data like what Masamune intends with Kamen Rider Chronicle, but of course Masamune has no noble intentions, only being a control freak to all of the human lives. Though he does have sadness in their 2nd parting, it still doesn't change the fact that he willingly sacrificed him for power. ignoring Phillip's plea for him to see reason. The collection of data beams through the fountain through Claydoll like a geyser, assuming her Xtreme form again. After Ryubee goes upstairs to the place Claydoll is, Shotaro and Akiko arrive at the ritual site, confronting Ryubee about the Evil Tail, revealed to be simply a brush that Ryubee found when excavating, with Sonozaki family writing their names on it, acting as sort of their good luck charm, instead of something supernatural like Gaia Progressor. Though Shotaro realizes the metaphorical meaning behind something "mundane", Ryubee using Evil Tail in Gaia Impact symbolizes about how Ryubee had lost his ways, would sacrifice his family for his ambitions in Gaia Impact like what he did previously to Phillip, the opposite of how Evil Tail is meant to symbolize the family's happiness and unity, but it scares himself, thus he'd use the Evil Tail as a substitute of the sacrificed family, which'd mean even Ryubee has his own afraids. Ryubee loses his cool and denies the claim, and changes into Terror Dopant to inflict mental attacks again. The resolution is the encouraging words type though, as Shotaro remembers Phillip's last words where it'd mean he'd never be cracked if Phillip sees him as a partner, and henshins into W, and at the same time, the henshin makes Claydoll go haywire, as Phillip's consciousness is pulled by force to Shotaro's body. This is another part of Phillip's intellect, taking Shroud's words as his last-ditch strategy, reminding Terror about W's transformation system. W's 2-in-1 system comes out real handy this time, it'll take Phillip back even after he's absorbed to Claydoll, making Claydoll bug out. I guess Phillip's words was more than 'strength from within' and resolve thing, but it also means to trust in your partner, who has known intellect, and that by trusting others things can work on your favor in unexpected ways, as well as how this is an example about Shotaro's presence derailing other's plans, by being the one to pull Phillip as his W partner, so Shotaro isn't just blindly bravely rushing into things to show that he can't crack. Though it also shows that mental state can be as crucial too as power or such, as the rather... basic and habitual solution (just henshin into W like every episode) is delayed for this long due to Shotaro's mental breakdown, which'd mean Kyouko was doing crucial stuff with her sneaky ability too, likely the Evil Tail being stolen is what gives Shotaro his hopes back. Meanwhile, Terui tries to get up even in his current condition. W is still at base and thus is overwhelmed by Terror, and as Terror unleashes Terror Dragon, W is assisted by the good ol' smilarly-sized machine RevolGarry, brought out by base Accel in BikeForm, equipped with Gunner A, as he had to improvise after the fragile speedster Trial is not enough, by using the physically stronger base Accel, but with BikeMode and equipments to compensate for Trial's maneuvers. Accel now lo longer cares about his puppet status, he'd work with what's given to him to strike evil, of course, the one who treats others as puppets forget to see them as individuals that can strike back. Terror Dragon bites Gunner A, so Accel has to use other equipment... HardBoilder's attachments such as its Turbuler Unit, making him AccelTurbuler to fly against the dragon. W is still beaten by Dragon-less Terror, but now W takes away Phillip's body as well from Claydoll via Xtreme Memory, to upgrade himself to W Xtreme. As Xtreme, W handles the Dragon-less Terror without much problem (and Prism Bicker as well), while Accel handles Terror Dragon with his humanoid mode wielding Engine Blade as well as Turbuler's afterburns, but still with the Turbuler Unit to maneuver around. Both Riders use their respective Maximum Drives, W's Double Xtreme to Terror, and AccelTurbuler Phoenix to Terror Dragon, where Accel pierces through his target while covered in flames forming the A letter. Terror is thrown in front of his mansion as Terror Dragon crashes right in the mansion, setting it on fire as Terror Memory finally breaks. The penultimate fight is a mixed bag that Terror's fight feels anticlimatic, I already heard about it being refered as such, but it's even more one-sided than I thought, or that Dragon-less Terror is meant to be only superior to base W, but not to W Xtreme, as well as being unable to create the fear-inducing ooze (wasted chance to show off Accel's physiology, but of course main character deals with main treat while relegating the secondaries as assist...). But the fight also reinforces the series theme that you'd have to work together and trust each other, shown in how Terror is unstoppable one-on-one, but is easy with teamwork; other than W's Shotaro and Phillip, the cast also had Accel to deal with Terror Dragon, leaving Terror to be stuck on the nerfed Dragon-less Terror, otherwise Xtreme had to struggle with 2 powerful Dopants at once. As the fire spreads throughout the whole mansion, Phillip tries to reach out to it albeit Shotaro stopped him due to the danger, leaving them with no choice but to run away. Phillip claims that the Sonozaki's evil is caused by Gaia Memory influence. Still would like for Phillip to try to use Gaia Library to find a cure for Gaia Memory's influence or something, or it's only can be done by Memory Break.. The statement probably holds a truth as shown by the Evil Tail, and is probably the closest explanation to Ryubee turning into someone who is abusive to his family for his ambition. So I guess the evil can surface in various different way from the Gaia Memory influence, like Ryubee still having a noble goal but turns into an extremist, but Saeko is a cold unfeeling vengeful manipulative... psycho that uses anyone as stepping stone for her, etc. Ryubee goes back to his crumbling mansion, he saw a projection of Wakana, which means there's a sliver of hope in his plans, so he'd stay there and die without regrets, while doing an evil laugh, but is also remembering his time with his family. I guess the Gaia Memory influence slightly wears off of him, which is what Shotaro (claims to, but the other cast agrees on the claim) made up to Kyouko to make her feel better later. But he's still clearly insane though currently, other than just letting himself die, but is also deluded that he moves as if he's dancing with his daughter albeit there's none. I'd say Ryubee does have good acting that he feels charismatic and intimidating (non-Terror) fitting of a mob boss, and has an interesting driving motive related to his Museum business, but would like for his work on the plan to be displayed more, or talk more about extinction, rather than mostly just revealing about others playing into his hands, albeit this episode had a bit of more explanation, as well as, similar to Kirihiko before, would see more of his well-intentioned plan being tested by others, where it was only by Phillip's vague reasoning and Shotaro's Evil Tail scene here (Ryubee only had 1 objection line of denying Shotaro's claim of what he caught about Evil Tail). For the other family, Saeko and Shroud witness their home's destruction as well, with Saeko apparently falling to her knees, and for Wakana, Shotaro notes that there are no signs of her body in the mansion... due to Kazu taking her body away, which means the case is still not over.
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10-09-2021, 02:31 PM | #16833 |
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Kamen Rider W(atch)
Foundation X Arc Episode 47-48: The Abandoned U U stands for Utopia (Dopant) and Union. Written by: Riku Sanjo, Directed by: Hidenori Ishida The final 2-parter of W, that some treat as series finale, with the next one being mixed bag.... /A Request From Phillip Mick now resides in the Narumi Detective Agency, reuniting Phillip with at least one of his family member, due to Shotaro making use of his skill of finding lost pets. As usual Akiko doesn't think much of Shotaro capability-wise (not his well-being), so this'd be an unusual thing for her to praise Shotaro's pet skills, but still claiming that he sucks against other people. Well Terui is definitely worse dealing with other people (then again there's the ep. 25-26 for Akiko to praise his plan...), probably until ep. 44. Phillip thanks Shotaro and Akiko for retrieving Mick, and openly shows his happiness to them. After Phillip's hand is in process to dissolve into data, which Phillip hides, Phillip goes back to his formal ways shortly, to make a request for both of them to save Wakana, to their puzzlement (the mansion's destruction), as Phillip claims Wakana's still living. Well in reality, Ryubee's the only perished one, others too still live. Phillip turning into a free client of Narumi Detective Agency? As there are no actual clients in this 2-parter. Well Shotaro does note that it's the first/last time Phillip asks for his help. The story then moves into a factory called Charming Raven, which manufactures the Gaia Memories, where Kazu's female superior Neon Ulsland talks about how Foundation X cuts their funding to the Museum, as well as their funding a provincial fighting force called NEVER, which employs immortal soldiers, thus they need a new project to invest. Like Phillip, Kazu also reveals about something not being dead yet, in his case it's the Museum, as he still had the trump card for Gaia Impact, if they can re-activate Wakana's now-cellularly fused Claydoll Memory, as well as grooming a new leader for Museum. Though, timed with a stopwatch, their conversation ends as Neon has another appointment. For W's plethora of bad women, even Foundation X also has one.. While getting a spa treatment, Watcherman suspects Saeko as the one most likely taking Wakana before the mansion's destruction. He informs her current activity as well; becoming a rider... as in bike racing in a racetrack. Her hotness (while racing by herself) is what made her activity well-known... On her way to challenge the Healing Princess, another battle with her sister? While racing, she even mumbles to prove herself not inferior to Wakana, but now her chance seems to be ruined as her father is gone, and Wakana too. The track she's racing in is Twin Ring Motegi... I wonder if the track is purposely chosen to fit the series theme; 2-in-1, and Motegi has a road course and an oval, making it a 2-in-1 track, the reason of it getting a 'Twin' moniker. Saeko would race in the road course part, where Shotaro and Terui make an entrance with HardBoilder and Diablossa respectively. Saeko would spout her usual trash-talk, claiming that it's unbelievable for an idiot like Shotaro to beat Ryubee. Phillip and Akiko is there as well, questioning Saeko as in where she took Wakana, which is a news to her that Wakana's alive. The real Wakana abducter, Kazu, is there as well, what a series of coincidence? Chiding Saeko for leaving without telling him, he attempts to take her back. Now Saeko would feel like she's treated as a commodity by Kazu, as she protests that she can go anywhere she wants. Now the heroes learn about the ones operating behind the scene Foundation X through Kazu (and Saeko), who intends to complete Museum's Gaia Impact with Saeko, as well as revealing that he took Wakana (for that). Kazu reveals his Utopia Memory as well, a golden one to Saeko's shock. It's the villain's take of the most safe transformation, as Utopia's sheer power causes everyone around him to levitate and get pushed away. Utopia has a golden design and a cane as a weapon. Terui henshins into Accel to fight Utopia, but Phillip refuses, as he reveals that the next henshin will destroy his body, revealing his dissolving hand, thus they have to save it for rescuing Wakana. Utopia displays sort of like upgraded version of Weather's, Accel's arch enemy, trapping him in a tornado with lightnings. Utopia then defeats Accel by a telekinesis, reverting him back to Terui. Ryubee himself is brought up by Saeko after this, claiming to Phillip that he's spinning in his grave right now, before Utopia uses telekinesis to take Saeko away, distracting the heroes by creating an earthquake (with fissures) and disappears behind a smoke. Kazu introduces Saeko to Neon, and the series reveals a bit about Kazu's intention, to eliminate everyone with low compartibility (and Kazu got 98%) to Gaia Memories to purify humanity, by turning Wakana into a data and installing her on one of Foundation X's satellites. So he has a survival of the fittest mentality, and for those who are wondering, the aftermath of this kind of endgoal will be seen in Gaim later, in Roshuo; the surviving species turns into warmongering bastards, with the strong gleefully slaughtering the weak and the weak becoming backstabbing cowards; this can likely happen with Gaia Memories on the survivors if they're provided. Kazu successfully convinces Neon this way to fund him before she has another appointment, and then gives Saeko her Taboo Memory back. Phillip is using Gaia Library to track down Wakana's location, and Saeko's previous words gave him a crucial keyword "grave" (due to Ryubee actually never being buried), and it's revealed that the location is Charming Raven, which has "grave" there as a part of its name, bolded. Shotaro's still in denial for a good reason, but Phillip explains that his data body starts fragmenting into nothing as a part of the planet's memory, from the moment he's fused with Wakana. So even if Shotaro did save Phillip and foiled Ryubee, the latter still had a noticeable impact of the heroes, with Phillip's current state due to Ryubee's plan before, as he enters the fountain. Ryubee's plan is likely to succeed via Kazu. Shotaro still throws a hissy fit, and goes to confront Shroud, who confirms that Phillip's dying without any way to save him. She reveals as well that she hired Sokichi to save Raito, and notes that Shotaro made Raito more than just an entity made of data now. For Shotaro being a wild card, it's not all good though, as he screwed up Sokichi's plan to rescue Phillip, which eventually cost Sokichi his life, which he claims as his responsibility to save Phillip, as a duty left to him by Sokichi. Ignoring much of Shotaro's tantrum, Shroud only tasks for him to made Raito smile in his last moments (and as he said before, he'd have no regrets if they can save Wakana). Shotaro's still mad, but luckily Shroud can teleport to escape. As Shotaro returns to the office, another party is thrown there by Akiko, to celebrate Phillip "going to school overseas", so that Phillip can enjoy his last times, shown in a shot of Phillip smiling afterwards. I guess for this part Akiko understands Phillip better than Shotaro, and Phillip considers her very close to him too. Akiko assigns Phillip to make a speech, of which he does reveal a part of his true self to the non-Riders, he admits that he was never interested in human relationships, refering himself as little devil for that, but due to Shotaro "bringing him to Fuuto", he now loves the city and the party participants there, getting cheers. The lighthearted situation still doesn't convince Shotaro, who spaces out, dismissing Phillip's present to him. The party lasts all night with the participants staying over on the office's mess (well as Akiko threw the party, she better not blame anyone else for that...). That day the Riders and Akiko are ready to assault the Charming Raven. Shotaro and Terui takes out the guards and/or the Masquerade Dopants on their way as humans. There won't be a part where Akiko uses her slipper to whack away deserving ones... though Phillip also participates little in the combat (and he's seen fending off Old Dopant's attacks before). Terui stays behind as Accel to fight off more Masquierade Dopants, though this time, they don't seem to be killed (vanishing into a black mist) like before. As the other heroes reach Wakana, they notice a monitoring device on her, which Kazu explains as something calculating how close she is to triggering Gaia Impact, currently at 43%. As Phillip calls Kazu out on using Wakana as a software, he only compliments Phillip's insight, showing his coldness and ruthlessness to utterly lack empathy or dismiss other's concerns. He turns into Utopia, and between the W people, it's reversed; now Phillip asks for Shotaro to henshin, only for him to refuse, hesitating to put the Joker Memory on the Double Driver. Unfortunately, his hesitation leads to Utopia taking Wakana away, though there's Accel to fight him. Utopia still gains upper hand on Accel with his telekinesis cane combat, giving him a magician-vibe. Accel upgrades to Trial, but unlike with Weather, Utopia can keep up (still with the cane), and Utopia takes both Accel and Wakana skywards (bursting through the roof), and he uses a brutal move on Accel, slamming him into one of the factory's steels, reverting him to base Accel. Utopia explains about his overall power; ability to grant wishes and absorbing the aspirations and ambitions of others, and demonstrates it by setting Accel on fire, which continues even to Terui as human. Shotaro still refuses to henshin, and as Wakana's power level is rising, he resorts into taking the Utopia Dopant as human, who obviously gets thrown around like a ragdoll, with Phillip pleading him to stop. Phillip's reaction actually even helped Kazu somewhat, as his consciousness synchronizes with Wakana's due to the foiled Gaia Impact, making his grief triggering something in Wakana as well. Thus Kazu finds a new solution to awaken Wakana, by provoking Phillip further such as killing Shotaro in front of him. This shows further that Phillip is human despite being a data, though unfortunately it's used to the villain's advantage... /Eternal Partners Phillip's anguish of seeing Shotaro beaten up has increased Wakana's output to 72%. Shotaro starts to hold the Joker Memory, but still hesitates. But for all of that, they're saved by... Saeko of all people as Taboo Dopant, insisting for Raito to take Wakana and run. Saeko however saves them due to her personal vendetta against Kazu. Kazu really inadvertently screwed himself up, being rather pushy in his love to Saeko, as well as giving her Taboo Memory back, is what foils him here, despite that it'll favor Saeko's current enemies (and other family members). Though surprisingly, despite Kazu turning back into human, Taboo's attacks didn't kill him.... or damage his white clothes in that matter, despite the fire still burning on him like Terui just before, due to Kazu being one of those who took the NEVER case, which means he's a revived artificial soldier. I guess other than Foundation X-arc Wakana (regarding Gaia Library), Kazu is an evil counterpart to Phillip, seen on their previous conversation regarding Wakana's state, as both have died but got resurrected (more on Kazu's in his stint as Eternal), and is a mostly emotionless smartass, but Phillip is clearly very human, at worst cold, tactless, and pragmatic, while Kazu goes on outright ruthless, merciless, and callous territory. Even with Taboo's interference though, all still fail as Kazu turns back into Utopia, using telekinesis to deflect Taboo's shots and take back Wakana from a distance. After taking Terui to a hospital, Phillip notes that Terui's resistance to mental attacks (against Utopia's emotion drain) made the situation better for him than it should. Though Phillip is still currently safe for now, he directly calls out Shotaro for refusing to henshin, not only endangering Wakana, but also Terui as well. Shotaro is to blame here for focusing more on Phillip and rather neglecting others here, though probably in his defense, as the henshin is their last, it's unknown too at this point if W can take on Utopia as well. Akiko decides to hand those 2 a ball and talk it out as she goes back to the office. Shotaro still can't accept the hard fact of Phillip's demise, dismissing Phillip's pleas of his last wish. Phillip acknowledges Shotaro's kindness (then I guess his mess here is more like a mistake like for example trusting the wrong person), but now requests him to promise to protect Fuuto alone after his demise. Shotaro got calmed down, though he claims he won't be able to fulfill that, not being alone in protecting Fuuto. They got a call from... Kazu, despite the caller ID showing Jinno's, who reveals that Wakana's now at the Foundation's astronomy research labs, and asks for Phillip's "cooperation" to rise her output from her current 78%. As Phillip obviously rejects, Utopia decides to give a glimpse of what's his planned utopia, which'd mean him attacking all the casts like Queen, Elizabeth, Santa-chan, Watcherman, Makura, and Jinno (which how he got his phone), turning them into faceless, lifeless husks, and with Utopia's ability to project the visions of Utopia's attacks on Phillip's friends directly on his head, freaking him out. I guess that's the part of him taking out the one who doesn't fit in his ideal world (high Gaia Memory compartibility). Utopia now targets Akiko as well, claiming that he's on a place with spinning seagulls on the roof.... which'd mean the Narumi Detective Agency. They rushed to the Agency, only to find Akiko unconscious and faceless, sending Phillip into tears which by now, awakens Wakana. As Phillip blames himself, now after seeing more misery from the other friends, Shotaro finally realizes that his focus on Phillip dooms others, realizing the error on his ways as protecting his happiness (or for him, won't let any people cry) was more important than protecting his life, and now obeys Shroud's wish to make Phillip smile instead, in line with his hatred of seeing others cry, and for now it's Phillip. He apologizes to Phillip, then takes Sokichi's hat to jump into battle. In Wakana's side, she saw a vision of Ryubee talking about the planet's outcry which he hears, and her as well which leads for her becoming the Earth's cleric, before disappearing. Next, there's Phillip who says he can't save her anymore due to her decision, before disappearing as well, finally waking her up... besides Saeko, but for now, she warns about Kazu's plan to execute worldwide Gaia Impact using Claydoll's power via satellite. Wakana accuses of Saeko helping Kazu's case to manipulate Ryubee's cause. Well, she didn't know any better due to being unconscious, Kazu is actually the reason Saeko, sort of, helped the heroes in favor of an enemy she apparently hates more. Kazu arrives to ask Saeko to fulfill his promise of returning his love to him, which now Saeko realizes that Kazu is sincere. Kazu acknowledges in-universe that he's emotionless thus people have a hard time reading his feelings, and his love to her is even shown in Kazu forgiving her aiding his enemies. Though even Kazu has limits of his emotionless, he now cracks at Saeko's rejection of him, which she explains due to him underestimating Sonozaki family; she's the type to refuse help from others, wanting to prove herself to Ryubee which'd mean no one else has to help her in beating Wakana. If Wakana's defeat takes a lot of Kazu's work, it likely won't convince Ryubee that Saeko's the superior one. Saeko embodies the opposite of this series' theme, and didn't realize that the idiot beat Ryubee due to helping each other. Saeko would urge for Wakana to run to her surprise, before Saeko's captured again by Kazu, transforming into Taboo on the way, but of course, it won't be enough to take Utopia down, as she's killed for good by a choke. Saeko realizes that she's pathetic to actually die for saving someone she hates so much, though I guess in her smile the hatred had a limit like her reaction to Isaka's experiment on her before or that her hate for Kazu overrides that, or she's just laughing at the irony. Nevertheless Shotaro appreciates her effort as he closes her eyes and vows to take her place. Currently Wakana's output reaches 98%, as Shotaro arrives in the Foundation lab. Wakana's original personality seems to resurface as she can only call for Shotaro in distress, though probably not all of them as she's still fully commited to her father's cause when waking up before. Utopia mocks Shotaro for confronting him without W... but Shotaro proves him wrong as W-B-X plays, by utilizing his good-ol detective combat skills, avoiding Utopia's attacks, albeit he got hit by the hurricane. Later Shotaro would stop Utopia's punch (or emotion drain) by using Sokichi's hat as a shield. While teamwork is an important thing, it's also important to try to be independent, when you got to be separated or such.... or the teamwork is done not by Phillip, but by the Memory Gadgets, which binds Utopia (as Utopia's probably distracted by Shotaro using Sokichi's hat) as one of the Gadgets damage the machinery while Shotaro takes Wakana away. I myself kinda forget that Memory Gadgets can be a formidable asset in combat, like Fang fending off Phillip before he henshins as FangJoker before. This is Utopia's weakness, that obviously he can't drain the abilities of non-living beings, like Sokichi's hat or the mechanical Gadgets. The Gadgets then destroy the lab, creating a huge explosion that engulfs Utopia as Shotaro takes Wakana outside and Xtreme Memory carries Phillip into the place. Still though an overall awesome scene, would like to see more of Xtreme Memory taking on Utopia, as it makes the most sense to fend him off as it can fend off some of the most powerful Dopants before. Phillip fully praises Shotaro for his accomplishment here, and indeed, Shotaro still didn't use W, but he's trying to fulfill Phillip's promise of protecting Fuuto alone. Didn't watch it, but this'd be probably similar to Ultraman Taro's finale, a mere human taking on the final threat (albeit Alien Valky isn't leagues above other monster; still a giant though) and takes advantage of the surrounding environment's explosions to take them down. Except obviously, Utopia survived. Uttering all of his catchphrases at once, Shotaro and Phillip performs their apparently last henshin together, and like against Terror before, he fights Utopia uses his fists alone and gains the upper hand. Utopia tries to absorb W's emotions... but it instead overloads him, due to Phillip last emotions on his resolve to save Wakana which'd be too much for his body to handle. I guess W purposely let Utopia absorb W's emotions for that, and Phillip being human is an advantage for once here. Utopia uses a Rider Kick-like attack, while W counters with Double Prism Xtreme Maximum Drive which W obviously wins, and the Prism version of Double Xtreme extends the initial drop kick into bicycle kicks. Or probably that's the reason W wins, it has more attack than single dropkick. Probably in a similar vein of how in Ryuki 13 Riders Ouja got through Scissors' Guard Vent. Double Prism Xtreme ironically is relegated into W's Rider Art on Super Climax Heroes game (where Double Xtreme is the regular finisher). Like Terror before, Utopia's final battle is an anticlimatic one, though I'd say the Utopia one is probably done worse than Terror's (not talking about Utopia being overloaded though), as like what often happens in KR, Utopia didn't use much of his varied power against W, only fistfights. It's better for Terror before as his main 2 powers are fear ooze and Terror Dragon. Utopia should try using ranged attacks too, though the explanation can be the usual "villain underestimates the hero", still not utilizing powers enough happens many times in KR for both sides. The partnership motif.. it's also probably done in simpler way as simple usual Xtreme henshin, or probably Shotaro's hesitation was meant as the only thing that drags Utopia this long... Kazu starts to count his sins... but apparently he thinks if loving (Saeko, perhaps) can qualify. Which means Kazu doesn't even seem to think that his atrocities were wrong, and as he attempts to re-use Utopia, it dropped to the ground, breaking it. Though Phillip here had some resemblance to Yui in late-Ryuki, as in androgynous-looking companion who had died long ago as a child but got revived through the gimmick of respective series, and is in process of dying again where the main protagonist is desperate on saving them to the point of making mistakes until they realize the error in their ways... Kazu was the one that had his dying similar to Ryuki's body dissolve in Mirror World (as Phillip dissolves into green data), as he does after failing to re-use Utopia, which leads for Neon to cut their funding on Gaia Memories. For Kazu, so far in the main series what's known about him is that he's in-universe acknowledged as emotionless, and he had survival of the fittest mentality in his version of Gaia Impact, but still there can be more to get to know from him (the main series one so far), like his sudden love to Saeko (from his earlier appearence, not just now), or the reason to groom the Sonozaki sisters against Ryubee (probably due to their Gaia Impact vision being different?), etc. The following scene had the Shotaro and Phillip's farewell, which is done really well particularly on the atmosphere, where acoustic Cyclone Effect plays, with Shotaro struggling to cancel their henshin with Phillip and Xtreme Memory fading away, while for the first time, shown to be openly crying, despite his denial, followed by everyone feeling similarly. And then Shotaro finally opens Phillip's gift, which reveals a Lost Driver and Phillip's research book, written with Phillip's last note, and continues to cry with the tears dropping on the book.
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10-10-2021, 09:40 PM | #16834 |
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Currently up through episode 36(+the Rider Soul specials) of Ghost, and comparing this chunk to the first chunk I watched... it has its ups and downs.
For one, the pacing has definitely gotten alot better. Even when a given episode isn't a two-parter, the episode atleast feel as though they were drafted that way, rather than in the first arc where almost every episode felt like two episodes cut and glued together. Character arcs have also gotten a bit more involving. We get a few more highlights on Takeru's' flaws as a person, the Ganma get a nice expansion in characters like Cubi(bring him back), and we also get who I consider the true Secondary Rider of Ghost, Alain. And the overall theming of the show... while I admittedly know very little about Buddhism, in terms of the values of life and trying to achieve unity through empathy? Yeah, the show is certainly trying on that front, even if I feel the execution is a little sloppy in some regards. But on the other hand... The plot in and of itself isn't all that engaging for me. Not offensively terrible by any stretch, but it's rather hard for me to get invested considering how blatantly toyetic alot of aspects are. And not in the good way. For example, much as I like Alain as a character, I am most definitely not a fan of how every time it seemed like he was going to have a big moment, it would get immediately cut off by Makoto hogging the spotlight with Deep Specter. There's also the bit that everyone memes about: Takeru dying repeatedly. Like, yeah, I get what the show was gunning for in terms of that, but that's the sort of thing that you get away with like, once. Twice if you're really good. And since this so far has not been a show that's super resonated with me, I just kinda feel apathetic about the whole thing. In the end, my overall feelings about the show haven't really changed. I still just think it's okay so far. I can say this though: I've been liking alot more than I have Decade. Speaking of which, Ghost having his own version of Decade Complete was about the last thing I expected, but atleast it looks cool.
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10-10-2021, 09:45 PM | #16835 |
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I would say don't worry he'll get sidelined very soon, but goddamn Makoto getting extremely sidelined is one thing I disliked in the show.
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10-10-2021, 09:47 PM | #16836 |
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The weird thing is, Makoto has kinda already been sidelined? Like, he hasn't really even done much of anything other than die and then get a power up after Kanon was brought back, which makes it double weird/as blatant of a toy promotion when he cuts in on Alain's' big moments.
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10-11-2021, 06:03 AM | #16837 |
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Quote:
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And the overall theming of the show... while I admittedly know very little about Buddhism, in terms of the values of life and trying to achieve unity through empathy? Yeah, the show is certainly trying on that front, even if I feel the execution is a little sloppy in some regards.
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10-11-2021, 08:41 AM | #16838 |
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Kamen Rider W(atch)
Foundation X Arc Episode 49: Goodbye to the E E stands for Energy (Dopant) and Ending. Written by: Riku Sanjo, Directed by: Hidenori Ishida /A Bouquet of Justice to This City Shotaro is currently giving the third degree to a pet shop worker due to not fulfilling his request of giving Mick the cat food he needed. Santa-chan, the actual owner of the stop, mediates the situation a bit, and for the irony to the worker, Santa-chan introduces Shotaro as the city's symbol and can save people from any situation... when the worker got hostility from Shotaro instead... It's revealed that the episode is set 1 year after Phillip's disappearence and the reconstruction of Fuuto Tower. Shotaro is still coping about the loss of Phillip, feeling unable to face him despite also needing him by his side, an instance shown where Shotaro showed some concern about Wakana, only to be brushed off, for no legitimate reason, with Shotaro remembering Phillip's plea to not tell the situation to her as Wakana degrades Shotaro as Raito's dog again. Meanwhile, after leaving the pet shop, a kid follows him, and Shotaro knew it to turn around and ask the kid. The kid, named Akira Aoyama, like expected, hires the Agency to help him find his sister Yui, portrayed by an actress with the same name Yui Koike of Gokaiger, as he claims he's useless without her. And that ticks Shotaro off, and he went full ham on the kid, outright forcing him to be hard-boiled to claim the kid as embarassing and that he has to face it himself as a man. Akira, however, has some wit to talk back that... nobody's perfect, and as a kid he's still not fully mature and had to rely on others. Shotaro gets even more pissed off and roughly pulls Akira away to do the investigation. Geez, what a poor attitude display overall from Shotaro at this period. Of course Phillip's demise naturally is going to leave a lasting impact to Shotaro big time (he openly cried about it), but Shotaro had pretty poor coping mechanism here, the "lashing out in anger" type. Shotaro does have occassional meanness in his tryhard(-boiled) flick of pretending to be cool or such, but.... he did that, in greater scale of meanness than what's ever seen from him for outright petty reasons as in not getting the cat food he needed; which is like when a bratty child's needs is neglected. And for Akira, even Terui was able to rein in his usual hostility (to question), against kids at the end of ep. 36... but Shotaro didn't here. Even Akiko also tries to warn Shotaro for being overboard here. Queen and Elizabeth inform Shotaro that Yui gets caught up with a gang named EXE, a group of kids who buys Gaia Memories, with a boss called Energy. Still missing Phillip, now Shotaro's behavior is more of a gag instead, using the informations as keywords to tell him with... and attempts to call him as a force of habit. Shotaro and Akira goes to the hanging spot of EXE, where one of the members Shiro Endou gloats about using their hostage as an advantage... Yui. It's also revealed that Yui's the one who sold the gang the Gaia Memories, which she admits to Akira as a chance to get a high price value. EXE reveals their goal to become Museum's successor by gathering all the remaining Memories. Well, it's clearly a reharsh of the ep. 17-18 2-parter, about youths meddling around with Gaia Memories, but with additional information of the series' end (Museum's demise). Another one of the members try to fight Shotaro as an Anomalocaris Dopant, where Shotaro reveals his Lost Driver, slotting only the Joker Memory inside (albeit falls into old habit again of calling Phillip), to turn him into Kamen Rider Joker, which is like W but all-black. Joker handles Anomalocaris without much trouble, an experienced detective against a youth abusing his power, and as a homage to Black (which is re-aired on my TV at the time W airs last episode), uses Rider Punch to finish off that EXE member, albeit with purple energy instead of orange. Learning that Shotaro is a Kamen Rider and that he seemingly backed up his hard-boiled speech before, Akira runs away which is stopped by Shotaro, who now admits that he's not strong too like Akira, that he too can't do much by himself, only hanging on. I guess by now Shotaro's usual self has resurfaced, or even further development to acknowledge his shortcomings, and what Sokichi taught that nobody's perfect. Shotaro then heads back to the Agency. Next is a flashback scene after Utopia's defeat, but honestly the episode didn't distinguish this scene enough as a flashback to other usual scenes... Shotaro gets a call from Jinno and Makura in the hospital Wakana's in that Wakana, to their disbelief, is on a rampage, taking down several officers. It's a reveal to Terui as well that she retains her Dopant powers as human. Wakana still plans to purify this filthy city with her powers. Another change is displayed from Terui that, at first he hated Fuuto, but now he'd stand against Wakana's declaration that Fuuto isn't filthy, but it's her mind that is twisted, and he henshins to Accel to prevent her harming Fuuto. Though, Shotaro still had to keep Accel in check, as Terui's going directly attacking Wakana as human. So it seems that Terui's change is becoming more altruistic, but still had a bit of his pragmatic ways, resorting to force to stop certain threats. It's probably similar to later Banjou from Build after he becomes Cross-Z, where he'd escalate the war with Touto's army against Hokuto to end it in ep. 20 to Sento's dismay. Shotaro outright says it out loud in front of Wakana that Phillip's life will be on vain if Wakana dies right there, and as Wakana demands him to tell him, Shotaro confesses a hard truth to others for the first time (in series) that Phillip's gone to save her. Wakana shoved him back and backs away, while vanishing into data as well (teleporting away instead of death like Phillip though). As Shotaro returns to the office, he suddenly hears Phillip's voice, temporarily making Shotaro happy, only to find him nowhere. The audience would probably know better though as there's a Memory Gadget that can emulate people's sound, Frog Pod, which is obviously used to emulate Phillip's voice here. Happened due to Akiko telling Akira about Phillip, probably wanting to show more to him using Frog Pod... or a really misguided attempt in cheering Shotaro up. Either way it's a big mistake from her, as giving (intentionally or not) a pleasant-sounding lie is only a false hope and the truth will be discovered sooner or later, where she apologizes and even asks for Shotaro to hit her with the slipper. Obviously Shotaro would get even more depressed from this, though he copes with it better compared to lashing to others before; he just leaves sulking out without hitting her with the slipper or even yell at her (which she also asked). I'd think the appropriate payback (or applying the lesson from the mistake) from Shotaro would be (dunno if Akiko learned in side media or such) him revealing to Akiko that her dad had died long ago. Shotaro got a bit of a payback from Akira to declare him being uncool for sulking to his gone partner, though he relents after Akiko reveals that Phillip didn't go overseas, but practically died, as well as comparing Phillip being as important to Shotaro as Yui to Akira. Akira thinks back about Shotaro's words of him not being strong and hanging on. Before that Akiko would also hit herself with the slipper (it's more like a facepalm but by putting her slipper in her forehead instead of your palm). As Shotaro is unable to erase the Charming Raven writing on the whiteboard, Akira gets a message from EXE to force him coming into their headquarters. Wakana visits Shroud to make her awaken her power, performing Gaia Impact, as in what the flashback has shown. Yeah, at this point Wakana's still the same self from her at the beginning of Foundation X Arc, from her still planning to continue Gaia Impact at the absence of both Ryubee and Kazu. As well as her hostile and bratty reaction to Shotaro saving her at the beginning. Shroud gives her a simple answer of looking it up in G̶o̶o̶g̶l̶e̶ Gaia Library. Wakana is surprised at Shroud cooperating with her, but Shroud assures her that they're a family, and urges Wakana to do what Wakana thinks is right. It's good to finally see a familial moment of Shroud with her child other than Phillip, but I think the episode is misguided if that's meant to be a good advice, as Shroud learned about the errors of her ways in ep. 44, unlike Kirihiko or Ryubee. "do what you think is right" is a deadly combination when it's paired with self-righteous people, such as radical believers, they can cause big harm while having a "with us or against us" mentality, ruling out the possibility that they've gone wrong. Turns out that it's Shroud's last words to Wakana, as she died immediately after probably due to her injuries, but apparently holding Ryubee in higher regard now as she longs to be with him at death. Akira complies to the request, visiting EXE alone without telling anyone. Now it's Yui's turn to aid Akira by insisting Endou to stop, which Endou will if Yui tells him about the Memory that he wants, which she does, as the Memory, Ocean, is located on Akira's bag, as well as giving the siblings a proper reunite. and a chance for Yui to tug Akira away (despite Akira's objection at her giving Endou Ocean Memory). Being surrounded by the EXE as a whole along with one turning into Cockroach Dopant, the siblings are lucky that Akiko accomplished something, by placing the tracking device on Akira's shoe so they can follow after him (it's not planned by Akira, as he asks how did Shotaro know). Shotaro now praises Akira for hanging on instead, which Akira now sees it as what it takes to be hard-boiled (not being shaken by a situation) while not being perfect, and returned the favor, now seeing Shotaro hanging on as a cool stuff about him. Finally making peace with each other, they had a gesture of friendship by pointing at each other. Shotaro henshins into Joker to fight Cockroach, while Terui takes down another EXE gang member as human. As expected with him as a cop via training (his female counterpart Aya before also had shown peak human combat skills) and that it's shown before too in ep. 48 in Charming Raven raid. Joker uses his Rider Kick to Cockroach to defeat it, as another Black homage. While EXE's Anomalocaris didn't fought at his prefered environment, Cockroach didn't make use of any of his super speed to gain advantage, is it intentional to show that they're just greenhorns who are unable to use the Memories' powers effectively? Because KR tends to underutilize character's powers in later appearence. Unfortunately for Endou, who Joker presumes as Energy, holds his hand and KOed him with a flick before he uses his acquired Ocean Memory, not getting a proper chance to use Ocean Memory as Joker destroys it, with Terui arresting the rest of the EXE. With the case seemingly over, Yui praises Akira for his bravery, and he claims he's learning to be hard-boiled. They're at peace now, so Shotaro playfully puts Akira in a headlock for this. But it's not over, the pet shop worker before confronts Shotaro (which he notices), and reveals that he's the actual Energy Dopant, as well as the EXE's actual leader, with the motive of surprassing the city's symbol as the strongest in the city. Shotaro shields the others from Energy's attack, and falls into the ground, seemingly died. While the worker is actually evil, but still at the beginning Shotaro lashes out at him for the wrong reasons. The worker seemingly succeeded, but turns out that Xtreme Memory shielded Shotaro, albeit both are knocked to the ground, and to everyone's surprise, both in and out of universe Xtreme Memory releases Phillip's body as well, greeting Shotaro in a casual way, and revealing that Wakana gave him her body a year ago with flashback, that turns out that it's Wakana's version of Gaia Impact, done in Gaia Library, doing that due to the duty of Sonozaki family being changing the world, but handing the position to Phillip instead by reviving him as he has the kindness required for it. Not only Wakana, there are another Sonozaki family members in the Gaia Library as well, each giving him encouragement to protect Fuuto, with Saeko turning stern instead of ruthless, Ryubee only having warmth on his son, and Shroud, well, she had seen the light before this. Each of the family bids farewell to him with Saeko even hugging Wakana as they disappear into data within Earth's memory. The scene is of course, meant to be the family finally being at peace after being screwed up, and Shroud's last contribution of redemption with her advice to Wakana leading for the unstoppable Claydoll Xtreme to not resurface again, saving Phillip, and her regaining happiness. But dunno if the scene would be probably glamorizing the family too much regardless of their action at the series (I do know that this isn't the only villain farewell being done on that way), especially Saeko's. This is probably proving Phillip's claims to be true that the Memories are the culprit of the family being evil, but Saeko abused Wakana due to Ryubee's abuse to her, it's not seen (in main series) when did Saeko became Taboo, but at least she should be inherently evil Memory or not if she didn't turn into Taboo at young age (Wakana still as child). And the scene of Phillip being revived is controversial as well after going through the emotional impact and the lesson to be learned from it, which can be seen as undoing it, while there'd be those who'd prefer the cast not being stuck on depression as well as tolerating the revival due to another loss coming from it in Wakana's life. I also personally think Ex-Aid handled the similarly talked about revival (of Poppy and Parado) scene better, as it's inevitable when True Ending movie comes, and personally if they didn't get revived, I'd actually question the series from that, as Bugster has shown to possess immortality due to reviving before from Graphite. The series at ep. 48 still do have some loose ends, like Wakana and her Claydoll Xtreme powers, still thinking that she's the possibly strongest Dopant in the whole series, above Terror and Utopia too, thus ep. 49 needs to be done to tie in some loose ends, Wakana is "taken down" by talking her out instead which Shroud did, but still another version of Gaia Impact by reviving Phillip wasn't really touched upon or is revealed to be able to be done before, it seems to be made up for the sake of keeping the partners together. Best explanation is about how Gaia-related deaths don't make them totally disappear but contain them in the data; Earth memories... similar again to Ex-Aid's Game Overs? The restoration seems to take long time if Phillip can only watch over Shotaro before his body is back like now, and he tells Akira he had learned about him, again in a more relaxed manner, while praising him for what he did. Shotaro glomps into Phillip, again teasing that he's still not hard-boiled, with Akiko continuing that he's half-boiled expert. Though Shotaro still objects, everyone laughs instead in that situation, including Terui, until the worker interrupts them and demands their attention, turning into Energy Dopant once again, giving the partners a chance to reunite in battle as W, thrashing Energy with each of W's basic forms CycloneJoker, LunaTrigger, and HeatMetal, finishing him off with Joker Extreme while asking him to count his sins as usual. I've seen LunaJoker's Maximum Drive in W's finisher video, but watching through all of W, I guess it's actually never done in the main series.
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The most complete non-wiki encyclopedias for Kamen Rider series (currently only found Ryuki and OOO's). |
10-11-2021, 08:48 AM | #16839 |
Reiei
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 3,691
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Never really did like W's episode 49, mostly cuz I'm a bittersweet lover and 48 was just chef's kiss of an ending. I think having Shotaro go around as Joker instead of W is neat idea of him being his own man. If there's one thing Kamen Rider Taisen did right was having Shotaro be that. Or maybe it's just cuz I'm a big fan of the Joker suit and sometimes think it looks better than W proper.
Also, uhh, not trying to be rude, but I would actually like to read your thoughts on these episodes instead of thesemassive text walls of the entire episode. |
10-11-2021, 10:07 AM | #16840 |
Standing By
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,100
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Quote:
/Eternal Partners
The following scene had the Shotaro and Phillip's farewell, which is done really well particularly on the atmosphere, where acoustic Cyclone Effect plays, with Shotaro struggling to cancel their henshin with Phillip and Xtreme Memory fading away, while for the first time, shown to be openly crying, despite his denial, followed by everyone feeling similarly. And then Shotaro finally opens Phillip's gift, which reveals a Lost Driver and Phillip's research book, written with Phillip's last note, and continues to cry with the tears dropping on the book. Quote:
Quote:
There's also the bit that everyone memes about: Takeru dying repeatedly. Like, yeah, I get what the show was gunning for in terms of that, but that's the sort of thing that you get away with like, once. Twice if you're really good. And since this so far has not been a show that's super resonated with me, I just kinda feel apathetic about the whole thing.
EDIT: You should probably ignore the last paragraph of that post. It's a spoiler. Quote:
Never really did like W's episode 49, mostly cuz I'm a bittersweet lover and 48 was just chef's kiss of an ending. I think having Shotaro go around as Joker instead of W is neat idea of him being his own man. If there's one thing Kamen Rider Taisen did right was having Shotaro be that. Or maybe it's just cuz I'm a big fan of the Joker suit and sometimes think it looks better than W proper.
Quote:
.... Anyway, guys, I'm thinking of finally starting Kamen Rider Blade next month to complete the Heisei Era. Any advice or production tips I should know about?
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心 と 刃 Last edited by Sh Ranger; 10-11-2021 at 10:50 AM.. |
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