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04-24-2023, 07:08 PM | #121 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
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Tsubasa/MagiYellow in Magiranger, Jin/Beet Buster in Go-Busters and Hoshi Minato in Kyuranger, as the older male, Mizuki Saiba, previously Kakihara in the Yodonna specials (and as a recurring guest role beforehand in Kiramager) as the sole female and Tetsuji Sakibara, who was previously Spada/Kajiki Yellow in Kyuranger (there?s a lot of Kyuranger alumnus in later Revice media, owing to the producer having worked on that show. Heck, we already have one, since the guy voicing Vice was the narrator/mecha voice for that show) as the younger male. Those facts are being shared so I can segue into this.
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04-24-2023, 07:38 PM | #122 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
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Hey!
Only I'm allowed to make DreamSword-esque hot takes, thank you! My favorite character in the show right now is Vice, afterall! Anyway, my overall thoughts on this one are pretty much the same as that of the previous one: I like alot of the concepts and ideas being thrown down; I just wish I were at all more invested in Daiji beforehand. There are two Line Texts this episode. The first is a very basic "Let's fight to get Daiji back!" The second one, however... If nothing else, I am glad that this whole scenario is causing a bit of self reflection on the part of Ikki, though if I recall right, this is the first episode that puts any sort of emphasis on him being "nosy." Which isn't exactly what I'd call a guy with no real agency, but hey, I guess. When it comes to the Daiji/Kagero dynamic, I kinda just count them as Daiji and Goth Daiji, really. Given how different the dynamic between them and the one between Ikki and Vice is, it's really hard for my mind to separate both Daiji and Kagero into entirely different characters, so I kinda more see Kagero as an extreme emotional state for Daiji rather than a separate entity. As for whether or not it makes me like the character more... eh. I at this point in the show have no strong feelings one way or another. But hey, if he's your guy, more power to you, Die-ji.
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04-24-2023, 09:02 PM | #123 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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If nothing else, I am glad that this whole scenario is causing a bit of self reflection on the part of Ikki, though if I recall right, this is the first episode that puts any sort of emphasis on him being "nosy." Which isn't exactly what I'd call a guy with no real agency, but hey, I guess.
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04-24-2023, 09:06 PM | #124 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,433
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I'm trying to remember where I was at with Revice at this point. I think I was generally enjoying it but it hadn't really grabbed me yet. I know that I was still having a really hard time reading George and whether I was supposed to find him vaguely sinister or not.
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04-24-2023, 09:08 PM | #125 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,458
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04-24-2023, 10:09 PM | #126 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
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KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 10 - “AN OLDER AND YOUNGER BROTHER, BELIEVING FROM THE HEART”
Huh. Didn’t really connect with this one! Not… not entirely sure why? I mostly don’t get what Ikki and Daiji were supposed to have learned from this? Ikki’s rally in the second half is built around having faith in Daiji. Vice says that Ikki was just paying lip-service to his belief in Daiji, and it’s not until Vice’s pep talk that Ikki truly believes in Daiji’s strength. Except I’m not sure how Ikki’s behaving any differently? He spent all of last episode shouting DAIJI to a point that Vice ended up parodying, and he starts this episode begging for Daiji to put an end to Kagerou’s rampage. The only thing Ikki does differently at the end is tell Kagerou that Daiji’s strong, and I guess that’s it? That’s the lesson for Ikki? To be more verbally supportive of his brother? And Daiji doesn’t seem to learn anything; he just accepts his brother’s fawning praise and becomes a Kamen Rider because of it. The lesson, I guess, is to compliment dangerously jealous people, and put yourself beneath them until they stop trying to murder you? It’s a conclusion that does just about nothing to address the overall dilemma of the Kagerou storyline: that Daiji’s unresolved envy coalesced into a monster that lived out Daiji’s secret desire of humiliating and murdering his brother. None of that is resolved in this exciting victory for Daiji, because all that happened is that Ikki said Daiji You’re So Much Cooler And More Awesome Than Me. This… this was not solely an Ikki problem! This was at least equally an Ikki and Daiji problem, but Daiji just waits in Kagerou’s head until Evil’s weakened by unearned compliments and Daiji heroically busts out. It’s like the show is burying the dilemma in the same way Daiji buried his resentment, and that’s sort of a terrible conclusion to frame as a win? If I squint, I can sort of see what the show’s after. Ikki’s failure was in assuming Daiji was too weak to win on his own. Daiji’s failure was in assuming he needed Ikki to save him. It’s only when Ikki tells Kagerou that Daiji can win whenever he wants, that Daiji’s able to see the strength he’s always had. Sure, y’know: okay. But that doesn’t even touch the weird rivalry between Daiji and Ikki, it just says Oh Daiji Doesn’t Need To Be Jealous Because He And Ikki Have The Same Power Now. That’s awful! That’s a win that requires no actual introspection or contrition from Daiji! The show is doing nothing to examine the root cause of this problem! It’s like if a kid’s jealous of another kid’s toy and throws a tantrum, so you buy him the same toy. That is not addressing how unhealthy the kid’s jealousy is, and it’s doing nothing to stop it from happening all over again when there’s some other toy the kid wants. Horrible! Horrible moral! And yet, there’s a competency to this episode that won’t let me write it off. I liked the Live suit’s debut, and the corresponding explosive fight scene. I liked the adorable family dinner at the end. I liked Aguilera going off to the underpass to flirt with Sakura. I liked all of the stuff with Vice as an attentive and helpful friend to Ikki. I liked Hiromi (not so) secretly being super emotionally invested in his soldiers. I liked the pace and structure of the episode, even if I didn’t care for how it chose to conclude this storyline. It’s… y’know, it’s not the best feeling, this disconnection from a big, emotional finale, but at least the way they told this not-great moral was pretty good? Weird! Weird way to feel after a big episode!
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04-24-2023, 10:21 PM | #127 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
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It's a weird episode in how exactly they solve the Kagerou problem.
But like you said, the stuff surrounding said solving the problem is all pretty solid. There's a bunch of fun bits here, Hiromi actually being a big softie despite his hard cold demeanor, Sakura and Aguilera's little meeting, Vice's fourth wall breaking at the beginning actually coming into play in how he exactly told Ikki that Daiji was okay. Also Live! A lot of people don't like the Live suit? And I mean if you had to follow up Evil I get it. But I enjoy it, he has this like battle priest-style to him and he uses a gun! But also I have to say that the transformation setup into Live is the most hilariously long one I've seen in Rider for a while. Like, you stamp the pad, set the stamp in, flip it from blade to gun mode, draw it out then Henshin. It's needlessly complicated yet I kind of adore it? Speaking of stuff I found funny. The pacing when it comes to the big confrontation at the end, mostly at the beginning. You have Hiromi starting up his transformation only to cut to an entirely different scene with the Demons jingle just ending immediately. It's such a weird awkward cut, especially since I'm pretty sure during broadcasting... there was no commercial break between those two scenes. Also we get our 10th Genome this week, Brachio! Which is a Zi-O form because... idk I guess? I think the thing I like about this suit is how bulky and almost Oma it feels in shape, especially with the extra long watch strap going down the middle. |
04-24-2023, 11:28 PM | #128 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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I think my favorite touch was that Vice was a Time Mazine? Was I seeing that right?
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04-25-2023, 12:50 AM | #129 |
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Forgot to post before.
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KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 9 - “KAGEROU RUNS RAMPANT! THE IGARASHI BROTHERS… TORN APART!?”
One of the big thesis statements of this show is that, by ignoring the parts of ourselves we dislike, we’re actually empowering them. The solution to inner turmoil and negative thinking is to draw that stuff out into the open, confront it, and find some way to make peace with it. Ikki and Vice are the hopeful outcome that prove the thesis, what with their Kamen Ridering for justice and family and busybodying and so forth, but Daiji and Kagerou are the cautionary tale that do the same. Daiji thought he could refuse to acknowledge his envy and resentment towards his older brother, but all that did was create a vengeful jealousy monster with naturally-occurring makeup and no particular strategy. Rather than accept his own emotional shortcomings – along with, uh, his psychological and physical ones; Daiji’s… not bringing a lot to the table yet – Daiji clamped down on his darker impulses until it was too late to address them. In lieu of self-examination and counseling, now he’s got a death sentence from Fenix and a brother who may end up Rider Kicking him out of a possession and into the afterlife. Quote:
And yet… god, Kagerou’s not much to talk about in the moment to moment of this show? He’s just a walking Stamp Story: causing chaos, getting beat, wandering off, repeat. Beyond emotionally torturing Ikki – which is, admittedly, his entire stated goal – he’s not really elevating the narrative structurally. Thematically, yes, absolutely, see above. But the shape of this episode isn’t especially appealing, even compared to some of the lackluster prior installments. It’s honestly, I think, down to how unimpressive the actor’s performance is for Kagerou. It’s just one-note, and that note is He Smiles Too Much. There’s no charisma or menace to Kagerou, no sense of anything lurking under the surface. When he breaks everything down for Ikki at the end – that Ikki’s positive qualities created a raging envy in Daiji – it’s the most animated and expressive the character has been to date… but it’s all under the Evil mask. This should’ve been the scene where Kagerou’s motivation blossomed into something complicated and tragic, but it’s all delivered as a jab at Revi from Evil, not an emotional bombshell from one brother to another. Kagerou never quite feels as threatening as an unhinged, resentful Daiji should be, and the Evil plots match that uninspired performance.
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But it still works, because of how much the episode centers on the Igarashis’ response to Evil’s (repetitive, generic) activities. The whole point of the episode is about how a family solves problems internally, and how we need to see every part of the people we love in order to best care for each other. Ikki’s unable to stop Kagerou because he can’t see past his brother’s face, but even when he does, he can’t forget that Kagerou comes from something deep inside Daiji; Daiji isn’t possessed by some outside force, Kagerou literally came from inside him. The terror of Kagerou for the Igarashi family isn’t that Daiji’s trapped, it’s that Kagerou is the part of Daiji he never wanted anyone to see. When Ikki’s tasked with bringing Daiji home, it’s not because of Revi or Vice or stamps or Drivers, it’s because Ikki’s always been the one who most understood Daiji, even when no one else did. The problem in this one… it’s not a Kamen Rider problem, and that’s why the cliffhanger is Ikki trying to solve it as one: a cliffhanger only works if it’s making things worse. The solution isn’t to defeat Kagerou, it’s to save Daiji. Those are two different things.
So even with Kagerou revealing his identity to others, there's still can be conflict and drama present among the family, with Ikki being assigned to finish off Daiji by George and Wakabayashi, with Hiromi encouraging Ikki to do that too (as Hiromi who deals the finish blow). George is able to be dubious and suspicious here, even without him shoving the order into Ikki, assigning him to finish off Daiji in his usual goofy, sleazy way, even if Ikki objects. This'd also reveal another shrewd quality of George (which Wakabayashi also notes) that he's also the type who places scientific research above anything else (along with spy cameras), he doesn't care about the user's morality, only giving Drivers to those he deems suitable, which is how he gives Kagerou the Driver. Said Wakabayashi seems to have some questionable morals himself (but not ambiguously evil ones like George), he seems to be the pragmatic type who'd use any kind of method to get the job done and encourages others to do the same, being onboard with the orders to finish off Kagerou without any hesitation, as well as ignoring what's going through with Daiji/Kagerou, and that's probably how he berates others for being swayed by emotions, which is actually about him celebrating cold detached traits, and that he places Fenix's reputation above everything else. Not much to talk about Hiromi character wise here, other than how he's also cooperative with others like Ikki, another good trait, but I'd like to see how'd he deal the finishing blow. Hiromi's really taking the Showa part, where his new form Mogura Genomix resembles Amazon.
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04-25-2023, 12:54 AM | #130 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,433
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Quote:
It?s like if a kid?s jealous of another kid?s toy and throws a tantrum, so you buy him the same toy. That is not addressing how unhealthy the kid?s jealousy is, and it?s doing nothing to stop it from happening all over again when there?s some other toy the kid wants. Horrible! Horrible moral!
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