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06-13-2021, 07:46 AM | #16631 |
Warrior of Delusions!
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Kamen Rider X - Episodes 22-25:
So we open with the "Historical Villains" arc, where we get a new main villain, and a new design. I don't know if the writing team was just out of Ancient Greek mythology, or this was always planned. In any case, we open with #1 - The Terrible Giant! King Dark Appears! This is the best episode of Kamen Rider X so far. Not because of King Dark - he's interesting certainly, being a giant animatronic puppet villain, but because of Genghis Khan Condor. Who is also a vampire who can spit fire. The plot just has so many twists to it - a couple stumbling across King Dark's random cave hideout, theh girl being turned into a vampire by "the reincarnated monster form of Genghis Khan!, that girl turning out to be Chiko and Mako's best friend because of course, them being turned into vampires, Keisuke not figuring out what's happened to them until they turn Tachibana in a vampire too, Keisuke being bitten and vampirised... except: Keisuke, is, of course, immune to vampire viruses. He then detonates Genghis Khandor. I cannot get to you how much I enjoyed this episode. It's a pure 70's rollercoaster. Showa forever. 23 - King Dark! The Demon's Invention Surprise! A plot arc! Some scientist working for GOD, because apparently they're the number one recruiter for post-grad STEM in Japan at this point, is trying to hide his new invention from them because they'd use it for evil. Keisuke has to protect the dude's kid from GOD, so this one is a more predictable affair. Toad Goemon is fine, but I'm not Japaneese, I don't have the cultural background to be able to say if this is as bizarre as Genghis Khandor. My experience with Goemon is, uh... It's all going quite well, the scientist is saved, Keisuke has Part One of the blueprints, right up until the scientist gets a Tomahawk in the back. Oh dear. Episode 24 - Revenge Demon Geronimo! The Silent Attack! So, uhh, Salamander Geronimo here has a squad of "Native American" archers to fire upon children. He has war drum backing. He makes the war cry, you know the one. It's not what you would call a sensitive treatment of a minority group. And the episode itself isn't the strongest. It's the first in a plot arc of GOD and Keisuke trying to find the 8 missing pieces to the now deceased scientist's Energy Converter. Some kid has it, Keisuke has to protect the kid, there's nothing super notable. Except at the end, where, after Salamander Geronimo's explosion (Is Geronimo seen as a villain by history? I'm British, this is 100% not my area of expertise), the part is swiped away, by a beetle! GOD gets a victory! Episode 25 - The Mysterious Thief, Rhinoceros Beetle Lupin! Part 2 of the map is sent to some very weird scientist who tattoos it on a pair of children's backs with his Alpha Ray Machine. Because why not? The villain this time is Lupin, who was totally a real person, and he doesn't do much heisting, mainly just going for GOD's usual tactic of kidnapping children. A decent episode.
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06-14-2021, 03:49 AM | #16632 |
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Kamen Rider Gaim watch
The Helheim Saga Episode 20: The Invasion Begins with the End of the World Written by: Gen Urobuchi, Directed by: Hidenori Ishida As Kouta is following Takatora, he clarifies that he's looking for his missing friend Yuuya Sumii, of which Takatora is going to tell, but is (...again) interrupted by a nearby Inves, who both Riders henshin to take care of them, with Gaim running first and Zangetsu walking slowly before following suit, likely showing how Gaim is eager to get this over with while Zangetsu is someone disillusioned with this. Meanwhile Sid warns Ryoma that he can expose their secrets, but Ryoma is at ease knowing that Kaito doesn't fight for what's right. After Gaim and Zangetsu's fight, the exposition begins, which is done in the 1 dialogue through 2 screens, as both Kouta and Kaito receives mostly similar information; Takatora goes on to ramble about how it's not known yet if Helheim is another planet or parallel world, which got continued by Ryoma clarifying that Yggdrasill is established to solve those mysteries, putting a megacorp front behind their research foundation basis due to their growth. As Kaito questions him to take over the city, he explains about how the cracks appear mostly in Zawame City. Kaito also notices about the tree from the shrine being the one used as the artificial crack, which Ryoma explains as an anomaly for Helheim seed to grow as a single tree, where the tree became an object for worship, but takes over the tree anyway for their research benefit, and further enrages Kaito to remind them about the lives that got ruined for it (tsundere move right there, to be concerned about those screwed over, which would equal "the weak" in his eyes). Ryoma takes Kaito to chat somewhere else, and maintains his politeness, but him nonchalantly taking the sacred tree away shows that like Yggdrasill, his politeness is a front to cover up his rotten nature. Despite the threat from Kaito, Ryoma remains unflappable and polite, as he's confident that Kaito attacking him won't get him closer to take revenge on Yggdrasill, and he turns back Kaito's declaration of not knowing anything about him as Kaito not knowing anything about Yggdrasill either, and persuades him to re-evaluate his hatred as he reveals Yggdrasill's true aim. Returning back to Kouta and Takatora, receiving the same information about Yggdrasill taking over the city, however Takatora explains the reason differently that the reason is the fate of humanity depends on it, and shows Kouta the ruins of a civilization he previously showed to Micchy. Kouta receives the awful truth that, not only Hase, Inves are the result of any humans or animals who had eaten the Helheim fruit. From the 2 differing exposition here, it's shown that Takatora is a better person than Ryoma, that the former arguably shares the same ideals as Kouta to have humanity's best interests, just that he's ruthless and extreme in his pursuit of his goals, while Ryoma is research-oriented to find a place that would spawn the most cracks. Going to Ryoma and Kaito again, though with different reasons to take over the city, Ryoma's continuation is the same to explain about the forest that took over the world, comparing it with Yggdrasill's process to take over the city, which is continued by Takatora explaining about how the plants spread very quickly and taint the soil, killing the other plants. Ryoma elaborates further about it introducing a new life form, displacing the native life and converting the ecosystem, almost making dandelion extinct. Ryoma shows a contained Helheim fruit that it'll take over those who eat it to carry on their seeds, and alerts that Earth is the next planet for Helheim to take over. As Kouta is in disbelief of the revelation, walking on the fossilized living room as a result of Helheim actions, Takatora clarifies that this is the evil without reason he's talking about, refering to organism trying to reproduce and survive, estimating that Earth's time is 10 years left. Meanwhile, as the only Rider available, Knuckle is the one fighting off Inves in the city, though his inexperience gets him overwhelmed (in contrast to his debut before? seems inconsistent), albeit Peko finally uses his catapaulting for good, to attack the Inves, buying time for Knuckle to finish off the Inves with Walnut Sparking, throwing a walnut-shaped blasts at the monster. I'd wish his finisher is related to cracking walnuts though, like the fruit slash in Orange Charge for example. As there's a victim of the Inves attack with infection there, Oren and Jonouchi appears to turn the public against him again with the usual claim of the Beat Riders not using Inves as only propaganda, and true to form, despite the success of previous events, doesn't mean it'll go completely smoothly, as the Inves attacks are simply unforgettable, and mob mentality exists, as they seemingly agree with Oren's words, before being interrupted by more Inves, as he henshins to Bravo and shows off his experience by defeating them in much quicker way than Knuckle did. Ryugen is fighting some Inves with the Kurokage Troopers, which also shows his improved close combat skills, and after that, he seems to be a part of Yggdrasill for real to have the workers burn the Inves plants like what he saw at ep. 9. As Micchy returns to the Gaim hangout place, there's Mai training dancers, which includes the dancers from other teams albeit only female ones. So with all the leaders of the current team either quitting (randomly for Jonouchi) or killed, Mai acts the leader for the whole Beat Riders teams from now. Seeing this, Micchy further vows to be secretive to "keep them happy", which of course is a misguided and a short-term thinking. Though Mai wants passionate and serious dancers, she won't force Micchy to practice as he looks tired (which Micchy brushes off, likely applying his secretive policy to himself too), and that there are no Inves Game for him to handle anymore. Speaking of Micchy being secretive, I guess Takatora has that aspect too in him, as Kouta is puzzled of why Yggdrasill is so secretive of their knowledge to the public, which Takatora explains as another part of his realist views, refering to other humans as the information Yggdrasill had will cause mass panic and turn them violent for their own defense, ending civilization without Helheim interference, Yggdrasill (Takatora) fulfilling his own prophecy unwittingly. He believes that people would still hold on their petty grudges even in the face of extinction, which is continued by Ryoma talking about how humans have caused something like war and racial tension, and thinks it's impossible for them to work together against Helheim, which Kaito agrees. And thus Takatora claims Yggdrasill's the only one who got this. Though while all of those did happen, it's still a generalization in general, and the Yggdrasill itself is also run by humans, which shows hypocrisy, as there are no implications that Yggdrasill workers are wiser and less susceptible to evil than normal people are, especially that Takatora has recruited rotten people like Ryoma and sid, and even then Takatora himself believes in the end justifies the means, which is also a dark trait. Kouta however objects, in his idealism way that if they're going to die humans would do the opposite to prevent that which is not fighting each other and likely come together, of which Takatora explains further about how a rotten individual can ruin hundreds of noble efforts, like what he thinks will happen if government gets their hand on Yggdrasill's research. While Kouta is naive here to rule out the possibilities of humans doing evil stuff, and that Takatora makes a good point here for the potential danger...does he realize that even in Yggdrasill, there's exactly that moment too, in his co-workers? As pointed out by Yoko that Sid hardly shows loyalty to Takatora, when they talk about the possible future that Yggdrasill's rest in Takatora's hands like how the world's rest in Yggdrasill's hand. Sid is only concerned about who plucks the forbidden fruit, with the power of Genesis Driver. For the one that is similar to Micchy's Takatora also argues that it's pointless for others to know about the truth, as they'd be powerless to do anything against it, and only cower in despair, robbing their happiness, like how Micchy wants for his friends (and himself) to keep being happy. As other Inves come in the ruins, from the revelation of their origins, Gaim can't bring himself to hurt any of them, while Zangetsu detonates the rest. After Kaito hears the explanation from Ryoma, he persuades him to help Yggdrasill's cause. Kaito however, kicks a chair away and reveals a disturbing side of his own, that the information only serves to fuel his social darwinism more, continuing from how he sees lies and deception before as weak, that means he'd content for that kind of world to be destroyed, including treating the invasion as even a good thing to divide who is strong enough to fight and who is weak enough to be exterminated, while crushing the Helheim fruit Ryoma contained. Not only Kaito, but Ryoma, Yoko, and Sid reveal that all of them think in the same way as Kaito, and are even more excited to work together with Kaito and fulfill their ambitions, confirming about how each of them are insane (and more similarity between Yoko and Kaito), and the ones that Takatora should actually watch out for...
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06-14-2021, 10:12 AM | #16633 |
Warrior of Delusions!
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I did it. I watched the most infamous Kamen Rider X episode there is.
And I was honestly disappointed? The problem with the current run of episodes is that there's not that many ways for "GOD and Keisuke fight over the missing blueprints" to go, so once the initial shock of, well, his entire design concept wears off, the episode is fairly standard. It's not bad by any means, with Keisuke and the gang having some initiative for once in combatting GOD, and Kamen Rider X kicking the arse of goons in Nazi costumes makes for good karma, the episode never elevates itself in a way, say, Genghis Khandor does. It's then followed by a recap show for the last two series where V3 shows up and they fight returning monsters. No-one questions how Tachibana knows so much about the Kamen Riders because he's just that cool. Also, it has this image. I am... disturbed.
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06-14-2021, 11:23 AM | #16634 |
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Kamen Rider Gaim watch
The Helheim Saga Episode 21: Yggdrasill's Secret Written by: Gen Urobuchi, Directed by: Hidenori Ishida As Kouta processes the information he got from Takatora, Micchy approaches him, pretending to be concerned about their plan by asking Kaito, who got separated with Kouta. Kouta reports to Micchy that he had talked with Zangetsu, with Micchy acting surprised, but Kouta didn't get his name, and told him about the horrific information he had received in place of finding out about Yuuya. After that, Kouta notices that Micchy is not that surprised, which he excuses as processing the information, but the audience would know that Micchy is being secretive even to Kouta. Micchy also directly reveals his end justifies the means belief to Kouta that he feels what Yggdrasill is doing is justified if it's meant to save humanity. Kouta objects about using horrible methods, but Micchy again tries to manipulate Kouta into agreeing with him, pointing out about how by keeping secrets, Mai is still smiling until now, using their close friend to get to Kouta's appeal, but Kouta's someone who cares about the strangers too, not only certain person like Micchy is. He further puts a front about how they have to keep protecting the city if people are blind to the danger, but he justifies his secret keeping as he thinks people need little peace in their heart. Well, this will actually bite back anyone involved in worse way, considering that he joined Yggdrasill to protect its secrets. Like Kouta above for being open, Mai reports to the others in Team Gaim hangout placefor the smaller information she has got, that the cracks were the source of the coming Inves. Being open about the information proves to have potential benefit here as Peko plans to show the crack to Oren as a real proof of the real source of the Inves attacks, especially that the Inves attack has been worse and Oren keeps spreading the misinformation. Zack is being optimistic that he points out he's not the only Armored Rider, there's also Micchy and Kouta (and for some reason he puts his faith on Micchy more to help...starting with "I'm sure" before pointing out Kouta), with Peko also adding up Kaito who he misses. But overall, Zack seems like a totally different person after Kaito left the team, he became one of the only Rider with little to no negative traits just like Kouta, though I can feel that his change feels sudden that he's instantly this after Kaito left the team, albeit probably it started earlier when he stops cheating after Kaito reprimands him. Micchy confronts Takatora about how he spills a part of Yggdrasill's secrets to Kouta. This is already the first step of the irony regarding the reason of Micchy joining Yggdrasill, only for Takatora to reveal them to Kouta, for now, the ruins part. This also shows the opposite of Micchy and Takatora, as while Micchy tries to influence Kouta in a bad way for his own benefits (which he proclaims as the benefit for), Takatora is actually moved by Kouta for his anger towards evil, albeit Takatora puts a front in Micchy that he's kidding and assures him that he won't tell outsider about his other projects like System Scalar and Project Ark. But it's undeniable that Kouta really did make an impact to him, as he makes him contemplating his choices, and he claims to Sid he told him those information to break him, so Takatora would not have doubts anymore about what he's doing. The capability to stop for a second and watch the consequences of your actions midway is a step towards redemption, and to improve yourself or others, but as for now Takatora still believes in ruthless efficiency to get the job done, but tries to shake off Kouta's influence to him. Kaito explores the ruins like Kouta and Takatora did before to find a clue about something he holds in his hand, which seems to be a piece of paper. He got interrupted by Inves midway and henshins to Baron to fight them. Ryoma and Yoko notes Kaito's activities, which means he considers their offer to him, and Ryoma is using this as a scheme against Takatora, that their options are limited with him watching, indicating a plan to overthrow him. Sid's patience with Kouta has reached its limits, and he asks for Ryoma's permission to finish him off. Sid finally gets what he wants as Ryoma suggests pushing the Genesis Core to its limits will give more data, complete with a sinister smile from Sid. Later on, Yoko approaches Kaito, who confirms that they successfully convinced Kaito to explore with the piece of paper they gave him, with Yoko further claiming he'll get what he wants after his task. Yoko also had taken an interest to Kaito to touch his face seductively, claiming that her type is people with power and ambitious one, wanting to see how far they can go. This shows Yoko's similar social darwinist persona like Kaito, but apparently this part is what people dislike about how Yoko only pulling a bodyguard duty to others, well this is just established, will talk about it when in unravels more. Hearing both of the Kureshima's purpose to keep secrets, Kouta decides to ask Akira in their dinner, pretending that she's in Takatora's proposed situation of the world ending. Akira's someone who would rather to know about the news, as she has full control of her life to face the hardships head on, proving Takatora's generalization wrong. The Inves attack is also clearly public now, and Takatora revealing only some info like it coming from a portal is the same for now won't hurt more compared to using Beat Riders as scapegoats. And as Kouta asks in a pretending way, Akira thought it's him overreacting for not getting a job. At Drupers, Kouta further asks Bando about hiding things. Bando gives what I think is the best insight, as it's not just black-and-white stuff; the situation depends, as you cannot carelessly tell a truth like, a terminally sick patient's time left (something that Ex-Aid would show to cause negative consequence), but Bando also tells about how someone who instruct others to keep secrets are not trustworthy, as secrets hold a lot of power and those who know can make those who don't do whatever they want, especially when using it for evil. What Bando said indirectly refers to Micchy, further clue about how sinister he actually is, and likely Kouta realizes this too with his dejected reaction. Zack calls Kouta right after that, reporting about how there's an Inves attack but they're doing human criminal action which is stealing money. Zack also notices that those Inves are controlled by Locks. Kouta calls Micchy for further help. The Inves is revealed to be used by actual criminals, who notes that it's easy to commit crimes with Inves on their side, seen as they breeze through the cops that try to stop them. Those 3 come into the criminals' hideout, and despite the criminal's boast, Kouta, Mitsuzane, and Zack kicked the 2 criminal's ass in fight. This is fully expected as Kouta has been able to keep up with the Inves and even Riders for a while in his human form, of course human opponents wouldn't mean squat. The criminals resort to sic their Inves on the Riders, both Micchy and Zack holds the Inves off to let Kouta escape and catch the criminals. As Sid distracts Kouta in his way, the criminals are actually Sid's plan, to preserve Yggdrasill's reputation and secret by having people keep using Lockseeds. It's shown too that Sid won't care about the mayhem criminals can cause with their new power, giving birth to supervillains, contradicting Yggdrasill's agenda to protect people. As Kouta calls him out, of course someone with no noble traits like Sid clarifies that what they want to protect is the secret itself. He also goes on to boast that Yggdrasill's ring is a Scalar System that can nuke the whole city if needed, complete with a demonstration of its usage creating explosion all over Zawame City (spectacle! but also horror!). Kouta's objections turns him to be someone officially considered Yggdrasill's enemy, as both henshin into Rider. As a New Generation Rider, Sigurd knocks Gaim out of his transformation, but Kouta uses Gaim Jimber Lemon Arms (I don't know why he didn't do it from the beginning though), and with equal power but Gaim's better skills, he can beat Sigurd, also making use of tactics like using oil drum as a cover. Gaim uses Jimber Lemon Arms' Burai Kick, a kick version of his Rider Shooting finisher to revert Sigurd into human form, with priceless look as he legitimately lost to a "kid" despite having killing intent, and also trying to crush Gaim's ideals by blaming him as giving false hope to people. Not only Sid that is pushed to his limits of his animosity to Gaim, Gaim's patience is at limits as well, as he attempts to attack Sid further after that, but Ryugen, after detonating the Inves with Knuckle and found a new partner with him, he bails Sid out by distracting Gaim with in Inves, but keeps himself on Gaim's good graces as he sneaks out to help Gaim, thinking Micchy's being a help. It's also revealed at the end where the paper Kaito is holding is a picture of a red monstrous figure.
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06-15-2021, 03:54 PM | #16635 |
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Watched the first two episodes of Kamen Rider OOO on YouTube today and the show is already off on a very enjoyable start. Before that, I also watched the first two episodes of Kamen Rider Kiva which is also already on a very interesting start plus first two episodes of Kamen Rider Decade and the first two episodes of Kamen Rider Black RX on which I rather liked from what I'm seeing so far for both of those shows.
Last edited by GuardianAngel87; 06-17-2021 at 05:24 PM.. |
06-15-2021, 04:04 PM | #16636 |
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Kamen Rider Gaim watch
The Helheim Saga Episode 22: The Truth of One-Seventh Written by: Gen Urobuchi, Directed by: Osamu Kaneda As Kouta is confused about Yggdrasill's methods to "heep humanity safe" by nuking the city if their secret is spilled out, Micchy points out that Sid is only messing with his head. Kouta declares that Sid's messing wouldn't make Sid gain anything, as this is the irony where despite Sid trying to crush Kouta's ideals, it only strengthens Kouta's resolve instead. Mai calls Kouta to inform him about a crack that is small, opens slowly, and is embedded on a bridge, which Ryoma remarks as a crack that they can't hide. The Yggdrasill plans to use a defense system front in the bridge with keep out sign, but of course this is their ploy to keep the Helheim stuff unknown to the public. They also contemplate to activate the Scalar System, and there's a feud between Ryoma and Takatora, that the former taunts the latter's choice to push the button or not as he's the one tasked to make the biggest choices. Kouta and Micchy came to the bridge only to find it being sealed now (btw where's Mai by then?). As Kouta thinks Yggdrasill is going to nuke the city if an Inves come through as they can't cover it up, he plans to take care of the crack from the inside of Helheim Forest again to prevent the Inves coming out of the crack and likely Yggdrasill nuking the city. This shows that while Kouta isn't the genius one like Micchy and has some naivety, he's still insightful in general. At the Helheim Forest, Kaito is seen putting several wrapped stuff across it. Kouta and Micchy came across him and asks to lend them a hand, which is a surprise to them that Kaito knows about the Scalar System too, which he got from Ryoma. Kaito instead opts to use the forest as a means to gain more power, as he notices both Zawame City and Yggdrasill cower in fear beneath Helheim, which would mean Helheim is the stronger one to Kaito, which would be more ideal for him to implement his social darwinist views, leaving them and reminding those 2 to be hurry. Kouta and Micchy finally find the crack on the bridge from the Helheim side, which is guarded by Marika and a bunch of Kurokage Troopers. I wonder though how they can navigate towards the Helheim without any map, GPS, or any other directions... As there are Inves swarming the area, other than the Yggdrasill Riders fighting them off, they also had electricity to destroy the Inves that are going to the crack like the headquarters' defense system. Kouta comes to the area followed by Micchy, and is greeted by Ryoma, still maintaining his polite front, but confirms that he'll destroy the Zawame City if an Inves manages to get out, but tries to exhaust his options there to prevent that. Ryoma proposes a truce here to help each other preventing that, which Kouta begrudgingly agrees. For this situation, though the ones defending are despicable being like Ryoma, working together here for this once is something that can't be rejected by heroes too, as this will definitely benefit them too to protect, like before how Ryoma assists Gaim Suika Arms cleaning the Inves in Yggdrasill's roof, though Micchy opts to protect the city (specifically, Mai and his team) instead and leaves. As this is a 'truce' between enemies, bickering shortly happens as Marika doubts about trusting Kouta, and Kouta is pissed at Ryoma's behavior to sit pretending to be busy as he's "forced" by Takatora (refering to him as terrible boss) to create a device to close the cracks faster. Ryoma however, reveals a surprise here as his research is almost complete, which is the previously mentioned Project Ark by mass producing Sengoku Drivers. Ryoma however cuts their conversation to send Kouta fighting off the Inves in that area. Marika here utilizes more of her close combat skills which is nice as she's an expert fighter as human, and Gaim tries the Cherry Energy Lockseed he got from Sid, turning him into Gaim Jimber Cherry Arms. As Lemon gives more strength, Cherry gives more speed, flashing through hordes of Inves, destroying them, with Ryoma praising Gaim as adaptable. Ryoma explains further about Project Ark that it's to distribute the power of Sengoku Drivers to wide part of humanity so that they can survive in Helheim Forest without becoming Inves if it takes over the Earth. And true to its biblical namesake, Project Ark is overall a plan to save chosen few of humanity, but leave the rest be killed (rather than them becoming Inves), which means as Ryoma can produce at most billion belts, as per the episode title, it'll only save 1/7th of humanity, leaving the rest to be doomed. Kouta calls him out for this plan, and notices that Ryoma is completely calm telling about this, emphasizing how sociopathic Ryoma is, and further boasts about Yggdrasill being the leading company and have no shortage of solution. Wrong... if they have no shortage of solution, they should be able to use non-extremist way to save humanity. Marika reacts violently again to this with the excuse of fighting off Inves for the city's sake. Micchy informs his team that there's a new open stage underground, and he insists them to check them out now, to their confusion. As Takatora looks over the button for Scalar System, it's revealed that Micchy lies to the other Team Gaim members other than Kouta, as he leads them to Yggdrasill's underground shelter, likely pretending to be heroic in front of Kouta again, as he seems to prefer Yggdrasill complete their plans, like-minded with him to keep the secret, as long as his source of joy can be safe. As he's being secretive of the situation, he makes up more excuses like him might be mistaken, and as they plan to head back, he claims that the elevator is damaged to keep them there, all while they're bewildered by the panicking people there. You feel it Micchy... keeping secrets will only make things harder in the long run, like searching out white lies here. The crack is finally closed, and Ryoma praises his crew, including Kouta. However Kouta quickly thinks of his next plan, by stealing an Energy Lockseed from Yoko, catching her off guard, and while Yoko flips him over, Kouta successfully stole it from her. This moment although can be considered a badass one for Kouta fooling a highly trained fighter, this can not sit well with some people (including me a bit) that for them this can be Yoko being shafted to have her being unable to stop a human stealing something from her, despite her being established as expert fighter. Gaim fights off numerous Kurokage Troopers in his way, but what makes this one more impressive here is that he only uses his fists or blunt weapons (borrowing Kagematsu) to dispatch them. Gaim's plan is to wreck the control room so that Yggdrasill can't use Scalar System anymore as Takatora confronts him, informing him that he had known Project Ark too, to Takatora's dismay, protesting about Ryoma's decision. Takatora henshins into Zangetsu Shin, while Gaim upgrades into Jimber Lemon Arms. The Scalar System is a part of Project Ark, as Zangetsu claims he's ready to kill 200000 people in Zawame City, and collects 30000 times killcount further in the next 10 years totaling to 6 billion. Though Zangetsu has the humanity best interest in his mind, Gaim points out that there's nothing good to create a future from mass bloodshed. Zangetsu however normalizes sacrifices, justifies his acts of experimens on Beat Riders and Hase's death as a way to bring hope to humanity. Gaim points out that his extremism will only bring despair to humanity instead, which would be true as obviously there would be horror in extremism and humanity would hope not to be caught to the extremism of Yggdrasill. However, though Gaim gain the upper hand on their fight, Zangetsu resorts to reveal the irony, that despite Gaim's objection to sacrifices, Gaim himself isn't above sacrifice, that he's only here fighting off Yggdrasill because of a sacrifice, as both de-henshin into human, Takatora reveals the already revealed moment before in ep. 14 to Kouta, which is Yuuya turning into Inves for eating Helheim Fruit, and him being the first monster that Kouta killed. Takatora for now clearly wins in his ideals as the person that is against sacrifices turns out to need sacrifice to function too, normalizes sacrifices again using Kouta's actions as necessary for him need to fight in that situation and bringing hope for his survival and the others being saved by that action, while Kouta is obviously devastated at this reveal, falling to his knees, mentally shutting down. It's for sure traumatizing to find out that you're the cause of death for your friend, let alone about how you're indirectly contradicting all your ideals from that, it can also feel like everything you said won't be credible anymore. And once again the irony of Micchy's attempts to keep the Yggdrasill's secrets safe, only for more of them to be revealed to Kouta, for both Project Ark and Yuuya's death.
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06-16-2021, 03:31 PM | #16637 |
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Kamen Rider Gaim watch
The Helheim Saga Episode 23: Now Depart for the Front Line! Kachidoki Arms! Written by: Gen Urobuchi, Directed by: Osamu Kaneda It's shown that Kaito's reason to put several wrapped stuff is to lure the figure on the picture out. The figure is described by Ryoma as sapient being, and evolved from their extinction, and the first time it's canonically refered as Overlords. As those 3 are the only ones to know about them, they talk about seemingly their true goal, which is to obtain forbidden fruit and the power of a god it contains. Takatora watches Kouta from a distance in Yggdrasill HQ, and while Sid questions about his decision to let Kouta escape, like before, Takatora claims he's confident that he's turned into a husk now, as his agenda to break him instead. Ryoma 'apologizes' to Micchy for spilling out their plans to Kouta, Though Micchy finally sees the brighter side of this, which is to "teach" Kouta about the harsh reality. In addition of Micchy's control freak nature to think he's in the right for his intelligence and writing off Kouta as idiotic, Micchy truly is a Kureshima brother for aiming to do the same for Kouta like Takatora. Micchy also accuses Ryoma to betray Takatora for using Kaito to fulfill his agenda, as Micchy spills out about Takatora's weakness for putting trust in least trustworthy people, being someone who had low opinion of his older brother. Kouta visits a place where Yuuya is last seen in real world, and Mai comes across him. Mai informs him that the dance goes well with the teams working together, and that more audiences had come to see their performance. Well I'm a bit confused here, previously there's an attempt to discredit the Beat Riders by Oren and Jonouchi again and they seem to succeed doing that, but here it's claimed that the Beat Riders are doing well, or is it both now complete with debate between Beat Riders being guilty or not? She asks for Kouta to dance with them again. Kouta, being guilty that he killed one of them, feels low about himself and feels he doesn't have the right to do that. But as an open and honest person, Kouta almost reveals what happened to Yuuya to her, before Micchy greets him, and takes Kouta elsewhere. As Micchy reveals he had seen the video about Yuuya when they infiltrated Yggdrasill, though it sends Kouta into despair, Kouta would prefer to be told about it as he calls out Micchy for not doing so. I mean... Micchy was together with Kouta when Micchy shuts down the computer that plays the Yuuya video, so it's clear that Micchy hides it from Kouta right in front of their eyes with the excuse of them being spotted. As Kouta now knows that Micchy keeps the info secret even from him too even if both of them infiltrated Yggdrasill together, there are more conflict between the 2 here as Micchy claims he wants Kouta to be happy no matter what, with Kouta calling out about it being unfair to Yuuya's memory, and curses himself that he wasn't insightful enough to realize it when Hase turned into Inves. Kouta laments about him being terrible, but again, Micchy uses Mai as an excuse to justify Kouta's actions, that he saved her by killing Yuuya, and insists him to keep the truth away from her, as like to Kouta, he wants her to be 'happy' and not blaming herself or such for what happened to Yuuya, with Kouta insisting to tell her and that he points out it's his fault. Again, Mai is someone beloved to Kouta, but Kouta doesn't exclusively care for her, so Micchy's logic wouldn't apply to Kouta, unlike Micchy, who is more blatant here that he only cares about Mai and Kouta, that he even brushes off the fact that Yuuya died with little regard to him because she's safe for that, and his decisions are Mai-centric, only being concerned about what the truth will do to Mai. Kouta points out that it means they're lying to her. Micchy successfully creates a dilemma in Kouta though as he claims that truth is a weapon used by people to others for their own ambitions, which also can be true, especially if it's half-truth, but again this is a negative-bias assumption, but also can be learned for good by Kouta, with Bando's words before to not quickly tell the truth in some situations like to terminally ill patient. The pictured Overlord finally picks the wrapped stuff Kaito left, and it turns out to be a dictionary and a tablet with drawings. Kaito is right there that his bait is successful, and it's revealed that the Overlord speaks in their own language, like the Grongi from Kuuga. As the Overlord drops the tablet and rips the dictionary, Kaito henshins to Baron and fights him. Their fight is later shown in DJ Sagara's speech to Kouta, with Baron getting overwhelmed as expected, both of him in Banana Arms and then Mango Arms, due to his sword and the ability to control plants. I feel like they show off the overwhelming power in someone better with Duke/Ryoma though, knocking out Baron with little effort, while Baron still lasts for a while against the Overlord. At Drupers, Kouta is thinking about Micchy's words to leave the task of dealing with Helheim and Yggdrasill to him as he has suffered enough, promising to protect everyone (Takatora had seen through the lip-service though). And then Alternative Mai appears before him, with Kouta suddenly being in Team Gaim garage (I looked up further and this is the term for their place) again, warning him to not turn back from his fate, but forgive himself or retreat. It turns out to be a dream, as Kouta wakes up, still in Drupers, and DJ Sagara appears before him, as Kouta contemplates that he's doing something no different that what Yggdrasill is doing, questioning his purpose to fight and if he actually protects, as sacrificing others means only being biased to certain people. DJ Sagara points out that fighting and protecting is an oxymoron from the start, which is true as fighting would mean although someone else is protected, someone else will suffer beneath the power of the fighter. He points out that power is only good for destroying. As Kouta objects to the idea of destroying others, DJ Sagara acts as a mentor (and seemingly not poisonous like Micchy's) for Kouta here as the idea of destroying can be used for good, like instead of destroying other beings, Kouta can change the world by destroying the world's harsh reality of needing sacrifices to create hope, and also remarks Yggdrasill as weak for following the said harsh reality without trying to change it, at least for those with noble goals like Takatora, but also disproving Ryoma's claims of having no shortage of solutions. DJ Sagara talks about how Kaito is stronger than Yggdrasill as he gives up everything to obtain power, though he can end up dying instead, but he reaches out for the power to change the world, like what he suggests to Kouta. DJ Sagara introduces the Overlords to Kouta, informing him that there are few humans in that civilizaiton who obtained transcendent power, describing them as being able to control plants and "lazy rulers" due to neglecting the world Helheim has taken over, and points out about how Ryoma only cares about his ambitions above humanity as he already knew about Overlords but kept that to himself. DJ Sagara is hinting something supernatural as he gives Kouta another help, by creating a Kachidoki Lockseed for him, as well as a Dandeliner Lockseed. He suddenly disappears, as Bando is confused about Kouta's state. Kouta bails out, paying for his food, and it's revealed from Iyo that Kouta has never paid before, still betting 12000 yen after paying 1000 yen. While this is small, this is still a bad thing for Kouta to not pay, likely from Bando giving him too much leeway. And for power being only destructive, I think it can genuinely help actually, like Kouta tried at the first part of Gaim in his work (like delivering food with Jimber Cherry's speed or lifting heavy loads), but they had to be properly controlled to not cause destruction instead, again like Kouta did in that part. Kouta henshins to Gaim and activates Dandeliner, doing his next plan to destroy the Scalar System to break the despair, trying to implement its destructive nature into destroying figuratively, so he can still do good to others even if it's not protecting, by destroying the insane method Yggdrasill had. Takatora is informed that Gaim flies into the Yggdrasill rooftop with Dandeliner, and is pissed off by his foolishness to never learn. At rooftop, Gaim changes into Kachidoki Arms, the super form of Gaim with Shogun motif. The form that has bulky design, often considered better than the final form design wise, and even wishes for it to be the actual final form. And true the form had spectacular debut here, spectacle-wise, as the bulkiness isn't only for show, with Kachidoki Arms tanking the bombardment from the Kurokage Troopers without any scratch, and with DJ Gun (as DJ Sagara is the creator), resembling Tanegashima rifle, with all of its 3 modes that can be changed by scratching the DJ Table, including Low with cannon-like bursts, Medium with shotgun-like blasts, and High with machine gun-like firing speeds. Ryoma watches the fight, and he loses his cool as he's livid about a Lockseed he doesn't know. This trait seems to be carried over by Kuroto in Ex-Aid later, for the possessiveness of their creations, and later tasks Micchy to investigate who helps Kouta from the shadows. For this, Alternative Mai approaches DJ Sagara, questioning his decision to bring him back to the battle, and DJ Sagara identifies her as Woman of the Beginning, explaining about how he can't see the future but knows what it means to choose someone, claiming her as obsessed with Gaim. Woman of the Beginning objects that it's not his decision to choose, but DJ Sagara reaffirms that his goal is to see who grabs the forbidden fruit. With DJ Sagara knowing her identity, he's presented as even more influental here, even above Yggdrasill, along with his supernatural abilities here. Zangetsu Shin confronts Kachidoki Arms, who reminds him about Yuuya's sacrifice, but Gaim states that he had moved on from Yuuya, admitting his sins and asking him to watch over him before. Though yeah it's terrible for him to unknowingly kill Yuuya, it already happened and he had to move forward, while also uses that past to learn from mistakes. Unlike the fodder Kurokage Troopers, Zangetsu Shin can put up a fight with Kachidoki Arms, and seemingly even gains an upper hand as he shoots Gaim down to the building, but Gaim uses Dandeliner to destroy the Scalar Systems by shooting it. Honestly I feel though the fight with Kurokage Troopers is an enjoyable spectacle, its debut against Zangetsu Shin didn't really live up to the power increase for Kachidoki, compared to the final form debut, though I don't know how much Gaim holds back or him deliberately planning to (he wasn't KOed by Zangetsu Shin's attack). Gaim also makes a nice comeback to the extremist Rider that, as he cannot hide the evidence anymore, Zangetsu's the one needs to step up to be more serious fighting off the Inves.
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The most complete non-wiki encyclopedias for Kamen Rider series (currently only found Ryuki and OOO's). Last edited by DreadBringer; 06-17-2021 at 05:42 AM.. |
06-17-2021, 10:56 AM | #16638 |
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 900
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I’ve watched the first two episodes of Kamen Rider W the other day and I can already see why this series, along with OOO and Den-O, is considered as a solid recommendation for those that want to get into the Kamen Rider franchise for the first time. Thank you to everyone that recommended this series and a few others to me. I greatly appreciated it.
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06-17-2021, 11:56 AM | #16639 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Welcome!! I'm glad you liked it (I THINK I'm one of the people that recommended it to you? Will be very embarrassing if I wasn't), it's one I watched a while ago so I'd need to go back to but it still sticks out as a favourite of mine; just a really solid series with many wonderful moments
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06-17-2021, 01:30 PM | #16640 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
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Kamen Rider Gaim watch
The Overlord Saga Episode 24: The New Formidable Enemy: Overlord Written by: Gen Urobuchi, Directed by: Hidenori Ishida The fight between Baron and the Overlord continues, as Baron is still overwhelmed, but tries to use Punish Mash, Sparking version. The Overlord still counters it with its other power to turn itself into a crimson mist, allowing him to float around and pass attacks. It's also able to be used offensively, which wrecks the place and Baron around. The Overlord kicks away Mango Arms' weapon, and then teleports to finish him off. Marika arrives and shoots the Overlord, which is blocked by blue shockwaves, and also deflects Marika's Sonic Volley. Marika reminds Baron that his purpose is to collect data and he can beat the Overlord later, but Kaito insists to fight as it's the easiest way, while harming himself by punching a tree and scratching his fist on it (not censored on my TV, yay, though it made me wince), earns exasperation from her. I guess this is a proof about Kaito not being in Yggdrasill cause, but excuses his actions as benefical for Yggdrasill, but to fulfill his own agenda for power. Above a tree, there's another Overlord, colored green. In Team Gaim's garage, Micchy is doing arts and crafts with Mai, and as this is Micchy we're talking about and it's only those 2, it's surrounded with flowery effects and romantic sound effects. While the intend is obviously to show Micchy's simping for Mai, I don't think it's implemented well here. It should be done exclusively in Micchy's perspective, but the scene is instead implemented like normal including the flower effects, with the effects suddenly gone (without cuts) when it moves into a more serious conversation. Mai laments about Kouta's hero complex again, to help others without putting thoughts to himself, which got teased by (likely secretly jealous) Micchy as her constantly worrying about him. So apparently Kouta still haven't changed in Mai's eyes, but Mai's not pissed off about this unlike at the earlier part of Gaim, only getting tsundere type denial but also without the animosity, just flustered. I wonder if it's her characterization not fully defined yet at that early part. Though the point of this was about Micchy being similarly worried and assured her that he'll keep an eye on him like stopping him from doing dangerous stuff. At Yggdrasill school, Micchy interacts with his previous rival, who remarks that Micchy's not in school for long time, who tells him that he had more important matter in life. As said student feels regret treating Micchy as rival (so treating others as rival is the best affection he can show, this guy's just stock shonen rival like Kaito!), while Micchy tests him to predict the rival what he'll be 10 years ahead, and if he can control his fate. Looking down on his peers, he claims that he can't, and that the most important thing in life is power to give and take away, which he notes to himself as influence. Another part of showing how Kaito and Micchy are foils to each other, in this case, both are power-hungry and selfish, but Kaito wants physical power, while Micchy wants power in form of influence and manipulation. Though while Micchy is a dark character, this is a good reminder to be implemented in life that, there are more in it than just doing academics at school. Kouta is exercising at a rooftop (not dancing, I mean that's a physical work too), to try out the Peach Lockseed, which he expected to grant him enhanced power or speed (complete with the abrupt imaginary scene of him getting those powers) but is neither. As he suddenly is able to hear multiple voice even with nobody around at the rooftop, he realizes that he got super senses. Like how the Overlords have Grongi vibe, this part also has Kuuga Pegasus form vibe to gain super senses. He also notices Micchy who he hears via his Jimber Peach Arms power, and calls him out from the distance to join him in the rooftop. With his newfound super senses, Kouta suggests to use a new plan to save the world aside from Yggdrasill's extremism, which is to track down Overlords, who are Helheim's bosses and can control the plants. Micchy is surprised about Kouta knowing this, which Kouta says DJ Sagara told him. As Micchy is bewildered, Kouta talks about how DJ Sagara has been helping him recently, which makes him think DJ Sagara isn't actually Yggdrasill's dog. But due to DJ Sagara's alignment with Yggdrasill, Micchy points out that it can be him using Kouta instead, which Kouta acknowledges as a possibility, but explains the reason that he wants to find out why others want to use him (if they actually do), and for Yuuya's death (which Micchy brings up as the result of him getting used), he cannot back down anymore and had to maximize the chance to contribute more in doing good, like how he becomes more powerful with Kachidoki Arms, despite it being given by someone suspicious like DJ Sagara. Micchy is likely starting to crack a bit that he points out that Kouta never listens to him, and warns him that he may regret this path, but Kouta believes in him enough to warn him, unaware that Micchy plans to make him suffer more, or that the friendly conversation is the means for Micchy to report to Ryoma not long after... I guess for here, Micchy again makes a good point (even if it's for his selfish agenda), about how enjoying help for others who is manipulating them means that you only succeed in short term, like about how before, being Armored Rider means you can protect people from Inves, but in the long-term, it helps Yggdrasill collect data to advance their plan like New Generation Riders. Kouta's open nature here is also for once, disadvantageous, it's used against him here by Micchy to secretly help Yggdrasill.... so I guess Micchy should thank Kouta for not listening to him for this once. But then again, it can be the villains overestimating their manipulation, that Kouta's usage of the power they give to him can backfire to them, especially with him being aware of the possibility of being manipulated by DJ Sagara. Micchy reports to Ryoma about DJ Sagara helping Kouta, by creating Kachidoki Lockseed and giving him his card and Genesis Core. As a narcissistic bastard, Ryoma claims others, especially "internet celebrity" can't create Lockseeds without his knowledge, and Takatora remarks that DJ Sagara isn't a part of object. Micchy spills out Kouta's plan to hunt down Overlords, with unknown reasons. It's shown in Helheim that the green Overlord actually learns human language, which it thought as interesting, while the red Overlord focuses on training. DJ Sagara then appears between them in astral projection, and more about him is revealed as he also can speak Overlord language (to the red one), while speaking human language (to the green one), reminding them to not let their guard down. Yggdrasill now wonders who DJ Sagara actually is, but Ryoma insists them to focus on Kouta, likely stop giving leeways to him for his increased power and knowledge of the Overlords. Ryoma also gives Sid another Cherry Lockseed, and him planning to use his own Lockseed with an 'S' logo. Ryoma's arrogance blinds up to let himself use an outside source (collecting Kachidoki's data again) as a room of improvement... Mai is practicing dancing alone as Kaito appears besides her. Kaito, likely out of touch of what the Beat Riders are now, wonders why she's still dancing after the misery Beat Riders had. She confirms it, along with Zack and Peko too, along with the dance teams being together now, and informs that they got audience to see their dance albeit not as popular as the Inves Game era, likely something Kaito missed, or pessimistic for her campaign to win back the people before. Mai thinks of the new change as fun, and tries to invite Kaito back to dancing for the fun. Kaito declines as he's dead set on a new goal, making dance pointless now. So Mai's not really restricting the dance for someone serious here if she's happy about how fun it is and invites someone not really into dance back. Knowing Kaito's true aim, Mai warns him, coming from her desire to make others happy, about how power can had a price, like being at the top can make him lonely due to having no one left around making him the saddest person. Though like Micchy's warning to Kouta, Mai's warning a different type of person (with him claiming himself they had different idea of strength), that as he's a social darwinist, it's natural for him that weaklings wouldn't last long, which means him being separated from other weaklings is always expected as he's "the strong". But despite the claim of their idea of strength as different, Kaito indirectly brings up what Mai suggests as strength in ep. 8, where if Mai can overcome unimaginable power that puts her to despair and still dance, then he'd consider her strong, which would mean Kaito approves Mai's idea of strength suggested to him before and make them not so different, but it shook Mai's confidence a bit, feeling that Kouta can deal with Kaito better. Gaim arrives in Helheim and starts his plan to track down Overlords using Jimber Peach Arms, which succeeded for him hearing Overlord languages, but is stopped by Sigurd. He uses the Lockseed with 'S' logo, which is called Sid Lockseed (LockSid?) to summon 3 automated Suika Arms. Gaim uses Kachidoki Arms, which is able to take one of the Suika Arms out when they operate in Gyro Mode. Sid makes them switch to Odama Mode, which resists DJ Gun's firepower better, and launches them to Gaim. Kachidoki Arms' flag attached in his back is also can be used as weapon here to repel the rolling Suika Arms. Sid is enraged by Kachidoki's durability and switches them to Yoroi Mode, to fight Gaim head on with its weapons. Kachidoki Arms reveal his other ability which is to combine with Musou Saber, forming Taiken Mode, which is using the weapon as a sword, and destroys both of the Suika Arms with it. While the debut of Kachidoki Arms had good spectacle, I think his fight against 3 Suika Arms here showcases its power better. Yuuya's death also impacted Gaim here to try harder not creating unnecessary bloodshed as he left Sigurd despite the opportunity to finish him off, unlike before at ep. 21, to focus on his more important goal, bailing out with Jimber Cherry Arms' speed. Gaim with Jimnber Peach Arms arrives at the ruins and finally meets an Overlord, the green one, who remarks that human language is simple. Gaim realizes that they can talk, but he also got ambushed by the red Overlord, still speaking in Overlord language. Gaim being Gaim, he came to reason with them and points out that he doesn't want to fight, even trying to insist the green Overlord telling him that. But the green Overlord thinks that it's bored after staying in the forest for very long time, and decides to use the Riders as her toys to satisfy her boredom, and with the Overlord's loud voice, it brings up another Kuuga reference, where like Pegasus Form, Jimber Peach Arms experiencing sensory overload, forcing him to de-henshin, and the green Overlord hanging Kouta with their plant control, before leaving him with teleportation insisting him to be more fun toy, letting Kouta drop. For the Kuuga references here, I like that here, an option to reason with the talking monster is tried here, something which Kuuga didn't (of course you need to be safe from monster attacks, which is only Yusuke for him being an organic Rider), but I still have to say that Kouta's too optimistic here, while moral alignment doesn't depend on your species, where do you get that monsters can be more reasonable than humans running big corporations?
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