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06-24-2023, 09:49 PM | #561 |
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KAMEN RIDER JEANNE & KAMEN RIDER AGUILERA WITH GIRLS REMIX - EPISODE 2
Solid second episode, with an increase in Legend Riders (Kanon! SAWA!!!), action (Reika and Sakura just brutalizing a platoon of guards), and emotion. I ended up liking this episode more than the first, mostly for how nicely the focus stayed on the fight Hana and Sakura are having. It’s both a minor error – Sakura misspoke, rather than purposefully insulted Hana – and majorly indicative of the imbalance within their relationship. Hana’s lost everything, and built her world around her girlfriend. The organization she’s in is because Sakura’s there; the goals she has are the ones Sakura taught her. Hana’s life is a testament to her love for Sakura. But Sakura… she’s got more than Hana in her life. Weekend is part of her journey to improve herself. Her family is still a huge part of her life. Even her karate training is something that’s just for her. Sakura’s got a rich, vibrant life, while Hana is mostly existing in Sakura’s orbit. It’s easy to feel like things are tenuous when you need someone more than you think they need you. So, yeah, easy to see why Sakura’s casual mention of Hana’s “real” family would feel like a dismissal of everything Hana feels for Sakura. Hana thought Sakura was her real family, and now it sounds like Sakura’s diminishing what they mean to each other. But it’s a misunderstanding, and swiftly resolved once the two of them talk it out. This isn’t a massive arc that sprawls over a few months of a show, it’s a TTFC special: We’re only ever a couple Acts from getting closure. It’s a sweet story, though, and one that’s refreshing in its need to make Sakura tell Hana how she feels. We’d gotten plenty of Revice subplots about Hana’s feelings, so it’s nice to have one where Sakura has to make things right with her long-suffering girlfriend. Beyond that, it was nice to see all these Legend Riders take on an enemy base? We’re not really utilizing Girls Remix as a team in any big thematic way – they’re mostly just here to be a fun sideshow – but I will never say no to Poppy internet-teleporting into a security room and leveling guards, or Izu rapidly sidestepping thugs into unconsciousness. Even Akiko gets in on the fun, refusing to let her role as leader of Girls Renix keep her on the sidelines, and immediately needing to be bailed out by the returning Kanon and Sawa. Kanon’s a fun inclusion, after her Saber tie-in stuff, but the real surprise for me is Sawa’s role. She’s the one who hired Akiko, which is a perfect way to rope in one of my favorite Build characters, and a hilariously unintentional payoff to this image: (More appropriately, I like the deep-cut callback of Akiko wondering why Sawa looks so familiar, which is a good gag about the actor playing a different character in the Accel V-Cin.) Yeah, this episode was a lot more fun than the last one, and I liked the last one just fine. Sakamoto does his traditional Holy Shit action stuff in several of the fights, and the overall tone of emotional vulnerability and freely-given support makes for a compelling Revice-style story. Almost exactly what I could’ve hoped for.
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06-25-2023, 02:38 AM | #562 |
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I mean, the most I have to ask about this is how the hell Hana still has a demon to take over her body (and desaturate the Rider suit while she’s at it), given the whole crux of her redemption was Sakura destroying her demon. Granted, you could say that she was just lying in wait to reawaken at some point, but Hiromi’s case indicates that being separated from your host involuntarily and then exploded is a pretty final end for your demon. But confusing origins aside, I love her hair. No, I don’t know why.
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06-25-2023, 11:09 AM | #563 |
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Quote:
I mean, the most I have to ask about this is how the hell Hana still has a demon to take over her body (and desaturate the Rider suit while she?s at it), given the whole crux of her redemption was Sakura destroying her demon. Granted, you could say that she was just lying in wait to reawaken at some point, but Hiromi?s case indicates that being separated from your host involuntarily and then exploded is a pretty final end for your demon. But confusing origins aside, I love her hair. No, I don?t know why.
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06-25-2023, 02:06 PM | #564 |
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KAMEN RIDER JEANNE & KAMEN RIDER AGUILERA WITH GIRLS REMIX - EPISODE 1
But women? God, the number of the stories that center a female perspective, or value a woman’s story? Minuscule in comparison, and that’s counting the ones that are so misguided as to make me shout an Ikki-esque I’M BOILING OVER at whatever stupidly patronizing resolution is put forward. This franchise has carved out some great female characters, and memorable arcs for them, but they exist in such weird, siloed isolation. Pathos and passion, floating in a sea of testosterone. So to learn that there’d be a TTFC series that starred Akiko from W, Poppy from Ex-Aid, guest-starred Rinko from Wizard, and co-starred a bunch of new women I was sure to love – spoiler, I absolutely did – was an incredibly exciting development. Yeah, it’s a TTFC thing, instead of an actual TV series; and yeah, it was bound to disappoint my fevered imaginings of high production values and insightful commentary about how a woman’s narrative has to conform to a man’s perspective; but just the fact that it existed was enough to have me waiting for the day I’d get to experience it. And we did it, gang. We got to the point where I’d get to watch Girls Remix. The “damsel in distress” trope is only harmful when that aspect of the character is all there is to the character. If the writers take into accout for their backstory, feelings, struggles, and development, that doesn't mean she’s a faceless prop just being used for male empowerment. she’s still a person who happens to not fight. People come in all shapes, sizes, temperaments, and ideologies. Personally I'd rather try to not look into the character's gender, including not giving over appreciation to those fulfilling the bare minimum (e.g. fighting there), as if this kind of approval just puts different standards regarding writing females, either higher or lower. Quote:
Best bit, by far, was watching all the energy of Poppy, Sakura, Izu, and Reika play off of each other. Them talking about how they came up with their Henshins? Glorious. Worth the wait, if I only got that. I knew Rinko was a cameo, and that Valkyrie was voice-only, so I’m not disappointed that they weren’t in the rest of the episode. (God, how I wish they were! Akiko's fun, but can you imagine Akiko playing off of Yua?!) But that little scene of female friendship, where it’s these characters from shows where they never had another woman to talk to, let alone talk to them about Kamen Rider stuff? That’s… I just feel like that’s too unique to squander in the middle of an episode, and then surround it with a mystery procedural about trying to get Hana inducted into her third cult.
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And, like, I get it: This is a Jeanne and Aguilera series, with Legend Riders. It’s The Mystery, but the Ladies Night edition. We’re not really here to tell a story about Akiko or Reika or Poppy, we’re here to explore Hana’s thoughts on family, and Sakura’s inability to patch things up with a pissed-off girlfriend. (Most relatable moment: A perplexed Sakura trying way too hard to be upbeat to defuse the tension, and her girlfriend getting more pissed-off at how fake it is. I have been there, Sakura!) It’s all sort of dumb, the mysterious sister/family that Hana never mentioned before, or why/how that sister found her in the first place, but it’s easy to forgive those plot concerns when you’ve only got 15 minutes or so to kick off your story. (In the same boat is How Did Akiko Find These Women And Why.) The special foregrounds the Hana/Sakura relationship at the expense of its Legend Riders, but at least I like the Hana/Sakura relationship. This special could’ve been about way worse things than that.
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06-25-2023, 02:47 PM | #565 |
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I mean, Mei's not a Kamen Rider and Koyomi is dead, so I think they made the right choices here.
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06-25-2023, 02:51 PM | #566 |
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About Aguilera brushing off Sakura constantly, kinda felt like Jiko in Revice doing that to Ikki IMO. Didn't really understand what makes her so pissed, albeit Sakura didn't do well in defusing it, and others don't know them and their problems as well. I guessed it's because of the Sakura breaking promise thing to save her, but dunno. This special is actually where Aguilera's shown helping civilians, of which of course it's her rumored sister Yuriko.
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06-25-2023, 02:54 PM | #567 |
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Personally I'd rather try to not look into the character's gender, including not giving over appreciation to those fulfilling the bare minimum (e.g. fighting there), as if this kind of approval just puts different standards regarding writing females, either higher or lower.
Mei would've been able to resolve the problem too quickly, that's why she's not here.
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06-25-2023, 11:27 PM | #568 |
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KAMEN RIDER JEANNE & KAMEN RIDER AGUILERA WITH GIRLS REMIX - EPISODE 3
Ha ha, sure, okay! EVERYONE’S INVITED! While there’s a heartfelt story here about Hana trying to save a lost and brainwashed woman in the same way that Sakura once saved her, and it’s genuinely good, I sort of can’t care too much about it. This is 100% my failing, and not the show’s. Show’s good! Show did a good job telling a different kind of story about Hana and Sakura! It’s just… all of the fan service, you guys. Sakamoto had my goddamn number on this one. Like, Tsukuyomi alone showing up would make this thrilling for me. Everyone’s favorite overworked Time Mom, showing up late to a team-up because most likely Geiz did something colossally dumb, was a detail I had thankfully forgotten about in the year or so since this thing debuted. I love that she doesn’t completely know what’s going on or why she’s supposed to be there, but she showed up because she probably just wants to hang out with some ladies away from her Time Kids. This is like the Kamen Rider equivalent of a book club; instead of wine, it’s monster detonations. But then we also get Kamen Rider Poppy tickling downed foes, and Kamen Rider Zero-Two artfully dodging attacks, and Kamen Rider Sabela slicing up dudes, and Kamen Rider Tsukuyomi Time Jacking a phalanx of mooks straight to Hell. We get Sawa kicking the kind of ass that only trained spies are capable of, Akiko stumbling through a successful defense, and Kanon reminding us all that her relationship with her brother Makoto has not grown even slightly more normal since the conclusion of their Saber adventure. And Lovekov finally shows up! And gets to launch a special attack with Aguilera on her back! And then the big fight with the final boss happens to Cherry-ish, the best song in all of Revice! It’s all perfect. It’s so beautiful and perfect. I normally loathe the end of a Legend Rider event, where all the old suits get trotted out for one more Rider Kick, because it’s all empty celebration, or quantity over quality. I don’t need to be reminded of the rich history of Kamen Rider every single summer, you know? But this one… god, I don’t know if it’s sincerely different, for being a focus on characters that never get invited back for the big reunion events, or if it’s just so special to me that I can’t view it critically. I love these generally-ignored characters, and I love that they got to be in one big adventure all their own. This ended up being as delightful as I ever could’ve hoped. I wish this had been a full series, but I will always be thankful for what little I was given. Take it from these two:
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06-26-2023, 02:47 AM | #569 |
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So I think we can agree, given that most of Black Satan are orphans led by an unemployed woman, that the real villain of this story is society.
There’s also some fun details with the poses everyone does during the end credits. Sakura does Ikki’s pose. Reika does a pose Angela Mei made up with the help of Ken Shonozaki (Ryoga) (video here https://twitter.com/saber_toei/statu...97821271470083) Poppy does Emu’s “no continues” pose, followed by Kuroto’s Dangerous Z,oboe pose. Is does the “Aruto ja naito” gesture. Sawa starts along the same lines by doing Sento’s “laws of victory” pose, followed by Misora’s “Mii-tan pose”. She then goes mega by doing the salute from Ultraman Ginga S (the first Toku series in which the actress had a major role) Kanon does Makoto and Alain’s transformation poses, but with the arm positions inverted. Tsukuyomi does Sougo’s “I think I can do this” pose and Geiz’s combat pose. And Rinko does Haruto’s “Now, it’s showtime” pose. Talking of Tsukuyomi, I have my own tale explaining what she was up to before showing up, written a few months ago as a quick tie-in to International Woman’s Day The Right Woman at the Right Time As for the special… well it was fairly average, but was slightly better than the run of episodes that preceded it. |
06-26-2023, 11:24 AM | #570 |
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Those are very fun details that I didn't completely catch! Thanks!
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