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05-16-2021, 03:50 AM | #16561 |
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I've resumed watching Kamen Rider Ryuki and I'm currently at episode 20.
I have a couple of things to say about my feelings on this series so far and perhaps some of you could explain to me why I feel that way. This is not a rant in any means and I'm sorry if this feels like it's a really long post x) So let's start with the protag, Shinji Kido. A naive and happy-go-lucky guy. I don't have much against this except there was one time he got duped into revealing Yui Kanzaki and Akiyama Ren's location and identity. I found that move dumb but I gave it a bit of credit because Shinji Kido was new to this Rider World and you can see that he doesn't want to fight and I was hoping this would help the character grow a bit....and we're seeing a change during those first few episodes where Asakura(so far I like that PoS x) ) was introduced but here's the thing : We had to wait more than 13 episodes to see some kind of growth into Shinji. The fact that he got duped again with Zolda was a bit much but it was interesting to see the main character breaking down as early on in the series. I actually like the dynamic he has with Reiko, it kind of works. As for his dynamic with Kanzaki's sister and Akiyama, it instantly clicked to me but I also felt frustrated because the guy actually need those two and I felt like something...or someone was missing. (I'll talk about that someone later) The second Rider and Kanzaki Yui are way more interesting to me than Shinji for the moment. It's like Shinji is just here because they needed someone to witness all these events, some guy completely neutral. Still about Shinji : I don't get it...is he going to stay bad at fighting during all the series or is it about to change? Because some fighting choregraphy felt sluggish and slow with him. Ah, but we'll have to talk a little bit about the Kanzaki family. One of the first thing that Shinji told Kanzaki Yui was that he was going to only fight monsters to show her that her brother isn't an insanely huge piece of trash and I wanted to believe Shinji, thinking that all this was for a good reason, and the more Yui digs up, the more you grow to hate Kanzaki Shirou. Also the couple of interactions she has with people working on the project told her that it was basically all her fault and that things wouldn't have happened if she didn't exist at all. ( Did I get that right?) I really like the fact that despite her not being a Rider in the slightest, it's a simple human without power that makes the plot actually move. What is Kanzaki Shirou's real goal? Why does he act like a dick and gives a card deck to a sociopath? I don't get his main goal and to be honest I can't get a read on him ( no, no spoiler please, it's just some retorical questions I'm asking to myself) When Zolda was introduced, it was...Well, I liked the guy instantly. Nothing is said, you know that the guy wants eternal life but you ignore why. He acts like a jerk and seems to only care about himself but I can't help liking him and his tandem with Gorou. He seems to genuinely care about Gorou aside from him being some kind of butler x) Their dynamic works and I can't wait to see how he is evolving. All throughout the episodes he's been in, you can actually see him evolve a bit, it's a slow burn, but you see him evolving...at least faster than Shinji x) You also trivially learn that he is going to die. I guess he has some illness or something. Now...Kamen Rider Gai : Not much to say, I hate this PoS, I'm glad he's gone. I hated his arc and honestly I think I was meant to hate him. It was funny to see Shimada hacking his computer to show him that she wasn't just a second rate computer engineer. Ok so : Asakura : The guy's a sociopath, he likes to hurt and kill people, he finds a lot of stuff to be "vexing" and in order to not be vexed anymore, he has to...well kill people XD From what little I'm seeing, I actually like him quite a lot. It's the antagonist you love to love because he is that piece of human garbage that does bad things for his own pleasure. He seems to be chaotic at first, but him manipulating Gai shows that he is clever. It's time to talk about the character that changed a little bit of the dynamic between Shinji and Akiyama and it's Miyuki Tezuka. We don't know much about him for the moment other than the fact that he kinda do accurate predictions. It's weird, but I instantly liked the guy and the dynamic that he kind of instablished by appearing. It just works and it's crazy. It's funny to see a fellow Rider being against all this killing THAT much, he is trying to change the outcome of what's happening and I like that. And that despite wanting the same thing in appearance as Shinji, the way it's done is different. Miyuki seems like a completely different character than Shinji despite both being pacifists guys. Unfortunately, as much as I like him, being a pacifist kind of trigger a HUGE red flag over his head. I know deep in my guts....that this guy is gonna die. And let's finish with Batm...Akiyama Ren. Another character I like despite some tropes being overused in Kamen Rider. The Secondary dark and broody Rider with a girlfriend that is dying/died. The famous Secondary Rider that is acting like a complete Tsundere. "I'm not helping you because you're my friend or anything" But you know what? It...works....In the narrative it works and him joining Asakura to learn how to suppress his emotions to be able to kill the other riders to save his girlfriend is not dumb at all. (but overused) Here's what I mean : yeah, doing that, as a person, is completely idiotic, but in his case totally understandable, and that works. It works because he will inevitably revert back to being a good guy, and he will open up. Being not quite at the half of the series, I only have a few things to say : I hate Rider Wars because they are omnipresent throughout the Heisei Era. There were too many Rider Wars that I've watched so of course I would grow tired of watching this but oddly enough, I'm not tired of watching Ryuki it just works and I feel that the slow building helps making you care about the characters. I also find interesting the fact that Ryuki still hasn't had any upgrade when in other series after this one...the Primary Rider had at least two other forms. I can't help but feel that the main writer (I haven't found who that was) on Ryuki might have worked on something else because I recognize the "failure of communication" between characters and....and I don't know how I feel about it...It bothers me. Last edited by Yarlick; 05-16-2021 at 03:56 AM.. |
05-16-2021, 11:43 AM | #16562 |
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The main writer for Ryuki was Kobayashi, who also did Den-O, OOO, and Amazons. Inoue, who wrote Agito, Faiz and Kiva wrote a lot of episodes of Ryuki also, which is who you might be thinking of
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05-16-2021, 12:03 PM | #16563 |
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Ryuki is definitely one of those cases where it feels like there's two head writers instead of one just for how much Inoue done for the show and the directions each writer pulls it in. Not to mention, of course, that Inoue wrote all extra material for the show (the movie, the special, the rider time miniseries)
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05-16-2021, 02:54 PM | #16564 |
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So yeah...Inoue was in...That's who I was thinking about x).
That's what I thought, the episodes that bothered me are the ones he wrote. |
05-16-2021, 03:28 PM | #16565 |
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Quote:
I've resumed watching Kamen Rider Ryuki and I'm currently at episode 20.
I have a couple of things to say about my feelings on this series so far and perhaps some of you could explain to me why I feel that way. This is not a rant in any means and I'm sorry if this feels like it's a really long post x) Of course both Shinji and Tezuka being pacifists can give them different character, it's wrong notion for people to think that "pacifist good guys only have that as their sole character trait", I feel like it's audience issue, claiming them as only having one entire character trait, but they overlook the personality/traits that are present on those characters. Like there are those who are goofy, fun-loving, or more calm and straight-man type, or having personal trauma/emotional issues (but of course not venting it to others) and is fighting through them, etc. Also because Ryuki is filled with many morally ambiguous to morally bankrupt character, I have to remind you here that Yui is also another one of pacifists guys like those 2, she also can't stand the suffering to others the war is causing and is working towards stopping it. Kitaoka and Goro do have equal relationship, they aren't merely master and servant, but are outright friends and partners. Caring only for certain person (those that matter to you) is still a lesser form of selfish though, the other person he acts like a jerk to are still people. Goro has contrast between his thug-like appearence and gentle demeanor, and he can serve as morality pet for Kitaoka. The other one Kitaoka cares is someone who suffers illness like him, the one that pushed him to helping Yukari by paying her mom's surgeon. Gai is meant to be hated yeah, he's the most irredeemable villain in the series along with Ouja, and I think the brain type to Ouja's brawn. And Asakura and Kitaoka are also arch enemies. Ren being the brooding tsundere bad boy secondary Rider is as much of the primary Rider being pacifist guys do-gooder, it's shaping to be the franchise's formula most of the time (I mean if people complain about the main Rider being generic but neglects the secondary one). Ren is a jerk compared to his only 2 friends (or 3 if you count Tezuka) who are pacifists guys and is frequently called out by Shinji or Yui (the only one he has soft spot for, other than Eri, as for now) for his behaviors, or "therapy session" by Tezuka, but he himself has clear limit on his bad traits to show disapproval to Kitaoka's bad traits, calling him worst of humanity despite best of profession, and disgust to Asakura's methods, despite him being driven to win the war (and thus have to murder others).
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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; 05-16-2021 at 03:37 PM.. |
05-16-2021, 05:14 PM | #16566 |
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Well yeah, that rider kick in civilian form was pretty impressive x)
I'm past Episode 25 now, and yeah, I knew that Tezuka would die. What I like in the series so far is that there isn't some black vs white stuff. It's nuanced. The fact that you have morally grey characters and some that are clearly corrupted remind me of some video games I played. (Hello Drakengard) Also, yeah I wrote about Shinji and Tezuka being pacifists, but of course they are different personality-wise, I just couldn't find the right words to say that. As for Yui, I really like the fact that she is trying to do something to stop that war even though she seems powerless. I may do another long post when I'm closer to the 40th episode, I think that some things will have changed. |
05-25-2021, 06:40 AM | #16567 |
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Alright so, Kamen Rider Gaim has aired on my TV channel (with dubbing). And thus I decided to watch it, and share my thoughts about it here. I writing here as I don't know if I would be consistent on my write-ups here, either in time or content, or if I would be able to keep up as watching on TV can be harder to follow, like if there are loud noises surrounding me to hear the character's dialogues (although of course internet sources can always be opened), no pauses/rewinds, or if certain part isn't translated. There likely won't be screencaps here as I watched on TV. But as usual no spoilers if responding to my posts here.
There's several things that I already know long before watching the series (the basic stuff and/or the Rider form) and those I never knew at all, purposely done to avoid spoilers, as this is one of the plot-driven Kamen Rider series out there. The Beat Riders Saga Episode 1: Transform! The Orange from the Sky!? So the episode opens with a war sequence of Gaim and Baron, representing Glory and Burden respectively, each leading their respective armies, with their formation shaped on their fruit representation respectively. Gaim seems to represent the past with him riding a horse to charge into battle and has purely biological army, while Baron seems to represent the future with him riding a bike, which is modern equivalent of riding a horse (oh well, Gaim there's still a Kamen Rider, he rides something even if it's a horse and is masked!) his army, at least flying ones, filled with Suika Arms. Though talking about battle... the "past" one can be more benefical to have purely biological fighters which can have denser tissues than mechanical ones (it's fiction species either biological or mechanical tho so take this with a grain of salt). The narration talks about how lives are bound to fate and destiny is predetermined and inevitable, with Zangetsu and Ryugen in their grape formation, as well as a blonde woman witnessing their war and a flower on her head blown away, for this time like Japanese networking sites did at that time, I'll refer to her as Alternative Mai. I've always felt that Alternative Mai's hair doesn't feel right on her body, seems like a poorly placed wig. And for how fate is inescapable, it's not entirely true, and it also, like Gaim and Baron's army formation, how destiny can be defied or not is also a difference between ancient society and modern society, where the war sequence seems to purely represent the past as war is something in the past and is considered integral aspects of the cosmic order. And then the opening, with zippers as transition. The "just live more" lyrics has a menacing, monstrous-like voice. The human part of the opening has Team Gaim and Team Baron dancing, or the humans with their Rider reflections (or in Mai's case, Alternative Mai) fighting it out at certain points, representing the duality of someone that they're more than what you see. There's also several scenes of the Riders in human form like Kouta getting locked up by the fence.... which ironically, didn't make use of the Lockseeds to make it unaccessable (they're tangled, but in the wires. I probably will be able to get into the meaning of the intro at later part of the series. Jumping to the present time of the setting in Zawame City, there's the debut of the main Rider Kouta Kazuraba, whose scene is made as a homage to Yusuke Godai's first scene in Kuuga. It involves Kouta helping out a kid, even when he's on his way to deliver food, who is, again like Yusuke's, lost, by convincing him to take action and not just standing still and crying (well, convincing the kid to take action is good and should be done, but showing emotions itself isn't bad and shouldn't be stopped Kouta, if you show emotions but still take action that's strength), using (something that would take stage in certain later Rider series) game analogy of seeing the struggles as challenges to overcome. But by using game analogy, help is needed if able, as games would provide you tutorial when starting, Kouta nicely lives up to this by helping. It clearly establishes Kouta as a morally upright toku hero, albeit I'd like to see the process of finding the child's mom more detailedly, highlighting which challenges they should overcome instead of jumping to the scene where the child is reunited with the mom. The next scene is about the dancing part of Gaim, the Beat Riders, which shows Team Gaim performing a free-spirited dance, of which 2 of them are introduced as major characters, Mitsuzane "Micchy" Kureshima and the appropriately named Mai Takatsukasa ("Mai" is the kanji for "dance"). However a rival team, Team Baron, is a rough team which forces Team Gaim to let them take the stage by force. Mai however doesn't back down, even feels able to take on the goons alone despite Micchy's protests to call Yuya, and instead challenges them into a rising phenomenon called Inves Game, a mon battle in similar vein as media such as Digimon. I've seen some teasing of series that centered around mon battle to never have anything settled directly, but using mon battle instead... but even series that has fighting isn't free from this like Gaim here with Inves Game, which is used to settle disputes between Beat Riders! DJ Sagara acts as the host for these battles, and speaks in exaggerated and goofy accent, and explains about the Inves Game, mainly as it's pivotal for the reputation of the Beat Riders teams. The Normal Battle type Inves Game between Mai and Zack (the Team Baron member) seems to be evenly matched, but Team Baron's shown to be a dirty team that would resort to anything to win, namely with Peko shooting a rock at Mai's hand, showing a dangerous part of the Inves Game where dropped Lockseed makes the summoned Inves break out into the real world. Kouta Kazuraba sends the Inves back causing Team Gaim to be disqualified since their Inves was returned before the match was over, forcing Kouta to intervene by ramming the Inves to send it back to the Helheim Forest. A rather incredible action from human, but It also establishes another game's rule where those who calls of their Inves first loses, which in this case made Team Baron win by default. The other Team Gaim members are overjoyed of Kouta's return, including Yuya (where later they lament why Kouta quit), but not for Mai, who knows Kouta for longer time and chastises him for apparently downplaying Beat Riders as childish and his naivety, which becomes a driving force for Kouta to contemplate, about he should change himself to become more mature and responsible, conversating with his older sister Akira Kazuraba, which describes what maturity is and seems to consider Kouta as one just for taking care things by himself, but admits that there's a room for improvement within Kouta's, and acknowledges that growth can be slow. Kouta also exhibits the fear of growing up here, to be parted away from everything someone used to care about in the past. I'd want to know about the balance between maturity and passion from here. The tokusatsu stuff for this episode is kickstarted by Yuya, after going to Drupers (who has G̶o̶r̶o̶ ̶Y̶u̶r̶a̶ Kiyojiro Bando as owner w̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶o̶r̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶b̶i̶r̶t̶h̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶t̶o̶d̶a̶y̶) to discuss stuff with Lock Dealer Sid, who messages Kouta about something interesting he found, which is Sengoku Driver, and that brings Kouta to Mai again, who had different hairstyle and seems calmed down compared to her previous scene to Kouta, which from Yuya's discovery, and that their location was in front of Helheim Forest portal, draws curiousity from Kouta to explore the Helheim Forest, going beyond what's provided by it where others play Inves Game, where Mai follows suit to keep guard of him, and...aha...curiousity (almost) killed the cat applies here, both of them had to hide or run from the horrific parts of that era, each one taking parts to tug the other into safety, but they finally discover the Sengoku Driver along that the fruits there are the Lockseeds. Kouta attempts to distract the Investo keep Mai safe, and as a dancer, possesses some good acrobatic skills to run away from the Inves for a while until there's a dead end. Gaim also doesn't back off from showing the brutaility of the Inves, that his beatdown to Kouta causes a blood from the mouth. Until Kouta decides to try on the Lockseed and Sengoku Driver, and although this isn't the supposed type to begin your main hero, he's the learning type as he doesn't know anything about the Riders before, and thus has to learn about making use of the power. Even if you possess athletic physique, knowledge is required to get ahead in battles. How Gaim learns his power, personally to me, relates to me when is thrown into situation unprepared being confused of what to do, and brings the tension for Gaim that he had to learn his powers in the nick of time, before the beatdown from Inves becomes too severe, from him wearing the belt, activating the Lockseed, assuming the Orange Arms as his power, and making use of his weapons, first separately using Musou Saber and Daidaimaru, until he discovers that it can be combined to form a naginata. It's like Kouta's game analogy before... only that without the tutorial to help you out, or tiny bit of help from Alternative Mai who tells him to put the Lockseed into the naginata to perform a finisher, which IMO, for base form is pretty good and blends well into the fruit motif, to trap the Inves into a giant orange projection, and cut the fruit, with Inves being cut too in the process. But Alternative Mai also gives a stern warning into Kouta that he can't turn back.... Kouta's back jacket also had a picture that resembles Gaim Orange Arms' samurai mode, where the half-moon crest and 1 missing eye identifies the samurai as Date Masamune, which is also the motif of Gaim Orange Arms himself to get 1 eyepiece, unlike most other Riders which had 2 eyepieces. Other things that is touched upon in this episode is Kaito Kumon's brief appearence, which shows him as a social darwinist who has "survival of the fittest" type of mindset, and is a ruthless type to do anything he can to win. The Inves Game being recognized as widespread appeal even to Kouta here. And a commercial from Yggdrasill Company that shows various fruits that is used by Armored Riders (the Yggdrasill Company has a dope building design to be shaped like a tree... albeit it won't act go green like actual trees as building.. but the complex design may show how advanced the company is).
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The most complete non-wiki encyclopedias for Kamen Rider series (currently only found Ryuki and OOO's). |
05-25-2021, 07:10 AM | #16568 |
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One little touch I love about Gaim’s first episode is the music during the fight with the Byakko Inves. It’s not triumphant or heroic, it’s just sad and lamentful, as if this shouldn’t be happening. I have no idea how much of the plot the composer knew in advance, but it’s a nice touch.
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05-25-2021, 09:53 AM | #16569 |
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I said I was doing another post concerning Ryuki when I'll have watched at least 40 episodes...well just finished watching the last episode and I have mixed feelings about it.
So...we actually learn that Kanzaki Yui was in fact dead. Still, that means it's not Shiro that died? That means the guy is actually alive? From what I understand Kanzaki Shiro fused with his mirror World version. Were the both of them dead all along? In the end, this war that was supposed to be to save Yui was useless since she still disappears. Shinji Kido died protecting a young girl and...kinda made Ren change. Anyway...I couldn't see any other way for Shinji. I mean, he wanted to fight for Yui, then stopped fighting for Yui aswell and in the end is final wish is to close off the mirror world just as he has been wanting since the very start. That punk Toujou dies an "heroic" death, I wanted him to have an horrible death. Even though I didn't like the "rich kid", I think his death is kinda tragic. Kitaoka, my boy, dies from his illness, as expected. As for Asakura, his death is also fitting. Ren get his wish and I wonder if "Ryuki" being the protagonist wasn't some kind of red herring as he never truly evolves in his way of doing this. Ren does change a lot though, you can't help but think he is the true protagonist. One thing I don't like, and that I hate as a "Kamen Rider trope" : Going back through time to erase any of the events that happened in the series, rendering watching it completely meaningless. Goshdarnit...why do this? When you can just resurrect people and be done with it? Am I missing something or what? I feel like this isn't Shiro's first attempt at saving his sister. Isn't there some kind of time loop? I liked a lot of things in Ryuki, but I completely hate these kind of endings. I also didn't like that some Riders were introduced near the end just to get killed off. So yeah I really don't know how I feel about Ryuki. I guess I like it. Am I the only one feeling that way? Last edited by Yarlick; 05-25-2021 at 10:41 AM.. |
05-25-2021, 11:09 AM | #16570 |
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With Kira Mage Ranger in and started the Rider shows might be
next month.
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