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05-12-2022, 11:53 AM | #1041 |
Warrior of Delusions!
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Wait, you dont know either?
Posts: 5,825
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I was personally very hyped to see Aqua come back. Megamax was my first ever Rider thing, and, yeah he's an unusual choice, but that's part of the fun!
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05-12-2022, 12:48 PM | #1042 |
Kaiju or Hero?
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Even I Don't Know Anymore.
Posts: 1,397
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I haven't seen the Bill Gates special, so onto the next episode!
Aqua's back! And with a fresh pair of boxers to boot! It's such a nice callback to Megamax and the bonds he forged with Eiji, and kind of works in this story about time travel, and just nice to see him again regardless. So now we have our big bad, Another Decade. It's a great detail to have Zi-O face a villainous version of the previous Heisei Celebration Rider, but he seems more in line with DiEnd in terms of his powers. It would have been funny if when Swartz became a Rider, his visor would be in English. Another Drive is cool, gotta finish the Another Rider dex before the show ends, and a nice little side story with the other Time Jackers. Overall, the final arc is off to a slightly messy start. Boy, it's been a while, hopefully I didn't get ahead of myself in post. |
05-12-2022, 01:05 PM | #1043 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Though I'd think the part of how Sougo acknowledged Heure and Ora's crimes aren't done well here with him lacking the proper ferocity to point that out (only that part, before trying to help Heure later). It's more of a passing moment, but there's probably something a bit similar in Tsukuyomi protecting Heure as well from Another Drive (a.k.a Ora)?
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While I agree with the consensus in this thread that Swartz is kind of meh as a final villain, Another Decade is definitely a big deal! Remember when I mentioned how Another Decade couldn't exist back in the Ghost arc, since the Time Jackers can't trace Tsukasa's origin? Well, turns out another way to make Another Rider is just to take the power from the Rider, as Swartz accomplished in the Another Zi-O II arc. So now Another Decade exists! Probably the most dangerous paradox in the show. It also means that Tsukasa's involvement here is an actual case of "This is all Decade's fault!", since him merely staying away would've prevented Swartz from obtaining that power.
It's only weird in that Drive Type Next would be a more logical Legend Rider for the Drive Ridewatch story; Aqua's still fun to see! Except for his weird genie pants! I really hate those!
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05-12-2022, 01:08 PM | #1044 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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My favorite running gag in this series is Team Zi-O's incredulity at any out-of-context Heisei Rider callback, so I was thrilled to see Tsukuyomi's baffled reaction to Aqua staring wistfully at a pair of boxer shorts to psyche himself up and Henshin. He's such a weird dude!
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05-12-2022, 02:58 PM | #1045 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,570
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Normally I usually only have my one post but um...
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05-12-2022, 03:32 PM | #1046 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,393
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05-12-2022, 07:45 PM | #1047 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 45 - “2019 - ETERNAL PARTY”
It is darkly funny to me that the only reason we learn any information about Swartz’z plot is because Tsukasa shows up to investigate. Like, that’s sort of cute, how bad Team Zi-O is at some basic superheroic investigation, but it’s also sort of everything wrong with the Swartz plot in this story. Even setting aside that we’re in an Everything Falls Apart episode, our heroes have been almost exclusively reactive for the longest time. What precisely Swartz wants and how he plans to get it are total question marks, and no one in this story besides a special guest star seem to have any thoughts on how to find out. Without a plan of attack from our heroes or an enunciated scheme from our villain, we get some good emotional beats and solid fight scenes and cool cameos that never seem to add up to forward momentum, which is incredibly ironic for the Another Drive story. If I watched this episode in isolation, I’d’ve thought there were at least a dozen episodes left to go, not four. And it’s a shame, because I generally enjoy a good Everything Falls Apart episode. There’s basic character conflict stuff that’s been papered over with exciting adventures and vows of support, so it’s time for those arguments to get out in the open. The big one is, naturally, the one between Sougo and Geiz. It’s their incompatible worldviews, which become more relevant the closer we get to a finale. Geiz doesn’t believe people can change, because he’s seen real horrors. When someone shows you who they really are, you don’t need to risk your safety to ask follow-up questions. You protect innocents, and you destroy monsters. Sougo’s someone he can get behind because Oma Zi-O doesn’t exist yet; it’s a paradox that allows Geiz to have his friendship while still feeling like a dedicated soldier. It’s a stubbornness that normally comes off as a hilarious pessimism, until Sougo starts to see it as a depressing lack of empathy. Watching Geiz tell Heure that he’s a villain, the end, no forgiveness, get out… it’s like nothing Sougo ever did made any impact on Geiz. Sougo’s been fighting monsters to give everyone a chance to build a better future for themselves, while Geiz has just been fighting monsters. When Geiz throws Oma Zi-O’s destruction of the future back in Sougo’s face, it’s clear that these two aren’t on the same page, if they ever were. Since we’re in the middle part of a three-parter (at a minimum!), this plot is left nicely open-ended. While Tsukuyomi is still openly conflicted about the Time Orphans’ value to Sougo’s development and/or defeating Swartz, Geiz’z feelings are left a bit more ambiguous. To me, he reads as embarrassed by his lack of emotional growth, and how he’s let Sougo down. He’s not built for protecting people, or seeing the good in people. He’s a grim executioner from the future, and he feels like that’s where he should’ve stayed. This is an episode that maybe doesn’t do a great job on furthering its series arc – Swartz’z stuff is just a Shrug Emoji with a single-feather earring – but really works as a discussion about the difficulty of honestly examining your past in order to articulate a better future. Characters like Heure and Sougo take big risks to become better people, while characters like Ora and Geiz succumb to the gravity of their pasts. Even Sougo’s school friend from (I think) the Ex-Aid story shows up to touch on this theme, where he’d rather be trapped in a fantasy world than deal with his disappointment in the real world. (I mean, it’s not a great metaphor: Swartz kidnaps and brainwashes the guy, he’s not exactly an example of Informed Consent.) This is a series that wants to talk about how we need to work to make our best futures possible, so it’s nice to have a late-stage episode that shows how difficult of a lesson that can be for our heroes to apply personally. Especially when it gets you murdered! Yeah, Heure dies in this one, probably. (Deaths are ambiguous on most Kamen Rider shows, doubly so for a time-travel show with multiple timelines.) Even though I didn’t guess that Another Drive was the Paradox Roidmude (another movie villain!!!), I still correctly surmised that Ora would gladly turn on Heure if it ensured her survival. I imagine most folks won’t care too much, since the Time Jackers rarely felt like three-dimensional characters, but I thought the last couple episodes did a lot to make Heure feel like a character who deserved the chance that Sougo was offering. Seeing him get cut down by what he thought was a friend, all because she couldn’t see a way where they could be more than the villains they were… like, that’s a nicely poignant death scene. I liked a lot of pieces of this episode? It’s darker, which feels appropriate for an episode full of Dark Riders. Eternal’s back, and that’s always fun. (He’s also responsible for Surprise Drive, helping to tie together the Drive elements.) I always liked Aqua’s fluid fighting style. I’m a sucker for Tsukasa just going The Rules Never Apply To Me, and then jumping ahead in the story to solve the mystery. It’s a good middle episode of a three-parter. It just doesn’t quite feel like we’re in the endgame? I feel like you could’ve done this exact story ten episodes ago, which is the last thing I want to feel as the show is winding down. Good stuff, but there’s an inescapable lack of momentum.
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05-12-2022, 08:09 PM | #1048 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,570
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Eternal showing up was cool, as was his quick duel against Aqua too. It's neat to have like movie Rider face movie Rider. Swartz is still there. Oh also I thought it was cute and clever that the Paradox Roidmude was Another Drive. Like it's not hinted at but it's still neat given he's technically a movie Rider as well and this was basically their way to get past not having Dark Drive's suit.
Anyway Uhr! Uh, despite not really caring about his attempted redemption, I did actually feel something in his death. Which is good because he had something to him! I mean... listen, I got more of a reaction out of this death than the Remocon and Engine Bros in Build... so I consider that a win! We've got Eternal's Movie theme, Decade's preview theme, Aqua related BGM and Future Guardian this time for the BGM Swaps. Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 46 Preview: |
05-12-2022, 09:21 PM | #1049 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Eternal showing up was cool, as was his quick duel against Aqua too. It's neat to have like movie Rider face movie Rider. Swartz is still there. Oh also I thought it was cute and clever that the Paradox Roidmude was Another Drive. Like it's not hinted at but it's still neat given he's technically a movie Rider as well and this was basically their way to get past not having Dark Drive's suit.
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05-12-2022, 10:58 PM | #1050 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Michigan
Posts: 4,393
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This was a case of too little too late for me with Heure. The foundation for him being the one decent Time Jacker who could change and develop was laid out during the Kikai arc... only for them to do absolutely nothing with it all the way until now, which ends up just feeling as though they just needed a way to get the villains out of the way. In the end the only thing I felt was disappointment.
Know what was almost never disappointing though? The case of Kamen Rider W! In what might be my last entry on the bit I've been doing all throughout the thread, I actually had to think pretty hard on this one, since I like alot of the W cast pretty much equally. After alot of consideration though, I came to a conclusion that kinda surprised even me: Yeah, didn't think I would at first, but I've decided that Shotaro Hidari is my favorite of the season. What ended up being the deciding factor is that, well, as "simple" as Shotaro's' character is in comparison to others such as Philip and Terui, it also never got messed up in any way for me? And yes, I preface all this with these interpretations being very much a "me" thing. I really dug Terui's' tale about revenge and his dynamic with the cast as a whole, and for a majority of the show I saw him as great Asexual representation, but then the "romance" with Akiko got pulled out of nowhere and killed that entire vibe right off. Meanwhile with Philip, he was always fun to watch and the way in which he slowly became the main character over the course of the show was really cool to me, and I felt his arc was fully realized perfectly with the penultimate episode. And then that got yanked away immediately. But Shotaro? From start to finish I never once felt he was annoying, or out of character, or that his potential or arc was wasted. He was always fun to watch, had a great balance of strengths and weaknesses, and his relationship with Philip, whether one decides to interpret it as romantic or platonic, was always done wonderfully. In short, the phrase "beauty in simplicity" exists for a reason, and it's something I wish Zi-O had kinda kept in mind over the course of its run.
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Last edited by DreamSword; 05-13-2022 at 10:55 AM.. |
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