|
Community Links |
Members List |
Search Forums |
Advanced Search |
Go to Page... |
|
Thread Tools |
06-27-2021, 12:50 PM | #701 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,410
|
This was kind of a weird one for me and a lot of it boils down to pacing and some odd tonal shifts.
For a start, I will absolutely agree that Shima is basically just the worst at this point. His management style is completely arbitrary in regards to who's currently allowed to use IXA (anyone but Megumi, apparently) and the Taiga stuff implies that a good portion of the show's current problems is at least partially his fault. On the '86 side, it really feels like the show doesn't have its heart here anymore. There are still some developments with Otoya, Maya, and Yuri, but they feel like more of an afterthought as the show has put most of its energy into the '08 story right now. There's an energy and spark that '86 used to have that really feels lost now. As for Wataru, I really do like what the show is doing with him now in regards to his pulling back, which is a bit ironic since I've always complained about him sulking in his tub whenever life gets even slightly challenging. It does work here, though, because he is going through a massive amount of shit and it totally tracks that he would try to wall himself off again. What doesn't work for me is that the show uses Wataru's trauma to set up a slapstick routine where his friends run through a series of Home Alone style traps - including a freaking swinging log - when they try to get into his house. It just seems so out of place to make this the big joke scene for the episode. And then we jumped immediately from Nago getting his ass kicked by McCauley Kurenai to his triumphant return as IXA with absolutely no transition, which is jarring. Also more than a bit anticlimactic, given that Nago reclaims IXA just so he can get smacked down even harder by the same enemies that took out Kengo. Not a bad episode, but one that definitely had some issues for me. At least we're probably done with Kengo's stupid "hit the IXA Knuckle against the boot" transformation sequence. |
06-27-2021, 12:51 PM | #702 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 2,481
|
Quote:
I really loved it in context? Like, it's so on-theme for this show for Taiga to dedicate himself to loving his brother, while also coming at it from a very hierarchical, self-aggrandizing way. He's absolutely going to save his brother from this misguided notion that humanity is worth protecting, and he's going to care for his brother the way he would a cherished, valuable underling. Taiga a hundred percent means what he's saying, but it doesn't mean what Wataru would think it means.
__________________
|
06-27-2021, 01:15 PM | #703 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
On the '86 side, it really feels like the show doesn't have its heart here anymore. There are still some developments with Otoya, Maya, and Yuri, but they feel like more of an afterthought as the show has put most of its energy into the '08 story right now. There's an energy and spark that '86 used to have that really feels lost now.
Quote:
As for Wataru, I really do like what the show is doing with him now in regards to his pulling back, which is a bit ironic since I've always complained about him sulking in his tub whenever life gets even slightly challenging. It does work here, though, because he is going through a massive amount of shit and it totally tracks that he would try to wall himself off again. What doesn't work for me is that the show uses Wataru's trauma to set up a slapstick routine where his friends run through a series of Home Alone style traps - including a freaking swinging log - when they try to get into his house. It just seems so out of place to make this the big joke scene for the episode.
That's not a far-off interpretation! Taiga can definitely come off like a non-comedic Tsurugi.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
06-27-2021, 09:17 PM | #704 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 41 - "LULLABY: RELEASE THE HEART”
When I describe Inoue's work on Kamen Rider as being "accidentally progressive”, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis is pretty much what I'm talking about. Like, maybe it's the Pride Month talking, but this whole Otoya/Maya story could easily be read as a story about finding love wherever you want, regardless of society's expectations. Similarly, Wataru's story could easily be read as a story about gender fluidity, and the rejection of binary labels in favor of defining yourself as Yourself. These are stories where characters opt out of impossible choices that don't reflect their truths, instead finding solace in the knowledge that they're following their heart. They love themselves, and that's better than pleasing someone else. I mostly don't care if I'm reading too much into this episode. I love it, that Inoue's work has these sorts of interpretations available to it. One of his big theses is that Labels Are Dumb, and combining that with his usual passions like Self-Actualization and Systems Don't Care About You gives us these episodes that have some heartwarmingly queer interpretations. It's the sort of story that allows characters to define themselves according to their own feelings, rather than mold themselves into an unwanted shape. Having this sort of big-tent humanism randomly pop up in the same episode where Saga has a flying saucer fleet and Jiro in Garulu Form fails to murder Otoya while they're both bathing, it's such a pleasant surprise. I will always be grateful to Inoue for crafting something I'm able to find such positivity in, even if it's by accident. It takes a minute to reveal itself, though, which honestly just makes it all the more rewarding. Shima's abysmal leadership causes Kengo to realize that he's been trying to hurt Wataru as a way of covering for his own self-loathing, and I'm not even sure if that's a point in Shima's favor or not. (He basically tells Nago that his leadership style is belittling his employees until they get better or quit, so that dude can just go completely to hell.) It leads to a truly beautiful scene of Kengo trying to mend fences with Wataru, telling him that Kengo only sees him as a human, and would it be okay if they were bros again. It. Is. So. Lovely. It immediately made me forget the last however many episodes of Kengo being a dismissive prick, because him and Wataru are bros. They are. And you can see it on Wataru's face! He is smiling through the tears... as he tells Kengo no. No, they can't be bros, because Wataru can't live as a human. He has to tell Taiga no as well, in the very next scene. No, he can't join the Fangires. He's saying no to everyone, because they want him to ignore a part of himself. He can't be the human that his friends need, and he can't be the Fangire that his family needs. He's locked himself away from the world because it's full of people who want him to conform to their idea of him. And then he gets a visit from his mom, in a dream, and it's perfect. She's doing that perfect Kiva thing of letting someone else pass along Otoya's advice to Wataru. Otoya was in love with a Fangire, but he never cared about that label. He didn't love a Fangire; he loved Maya. He loved her soul, and he knew that she loved his soul. The specifics, the way society viewed that love, he couldn't have cared less. And that acceptance, that ability to see past the nonsense of systems to find the truth of a person, that's what made Maya realize that she was really in love with Otoya. So when she sees her son unable to fit into either the Fangire world or the human world, and how worthless that makes him feel, she imparts that wisdom of his father. Wataru isn't human or Fangire: he's Wataru. Live in the world, and be true to yourself. Don't let anyone make you be anything you don't want to be, and don't let anyone make you feel less than yourself for not adhering to their labels. It's a pep talk that's a million times better than it seemed like it was going to be, because it just side-steps the tokusatsu dilemma in favor of something universal and sensitive. Wataru just needs to stop caring about what the world wants him to be, and find strength in being what he wants to be. It's just a really beautiful episode. I loved how it wrapped in the Otoya story in such a thoughtful way. We're hitting the end of the show, and this episode clears the air enough to let our heroes fight for what they believe in. Otoya's seen his monster buddies all get turned into roleplay items by King, so he's ready to fight. Wataru's back to believing in himself, and that means opposing Taiga. This feels like a well-earned level-up for our heroes, and it's clearly arriving just when they need it most. Brilliant episode. Inoue forever.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 10-03-2023 at 10:49 PM.. |
06-27-2021, 09:37 PM | #705 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,410
|
Quote:
Yeah, the 2008 stuff is constantly adding new wrinkles and twists, while the 1986 stuff is mostly just finding ways to delay its climax until it can match up with 2008. It's like the show realized that it ran through the '86 story faster than the '08 story, and now it has to either devote very little time to Otoya/Yuri/Maya/King, or just keep running the same plot for a few weeks.
|
06-28-2021, 10:05 AM | #706 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
|
Quote:
KAMEN RIDER KIVA EPISODE 39 - “SHOUT: TARGETED BROTHER”
Inoue’s answer is frequently that you can’t think at that scale, or you’ll go crazy. You can’t think about your actions as something that would sway a society. You need to be true to yourself, just like everybody else, and hope that something positive will come from your example. Trying to control or destroy systems is a sucker’s bet. Living your life as a good person, and finding some way to wring a little happiness out of the endeavour, that’s the best any of us can ask for. It’s a smaller-scale look at heroism, and a more pragmatic one than I assume most tokusatsu fans are looking for. It’s acknowledging that the world is a series of interlocking systems that one person isn’t going to alter, but a caring society can incrementally improve through individual actions. We make ourselves better, and then we make each other better, and then we make society better. That’s it. That’s all we can really do. Though for pragmatic? Well you only said that it improves through individual action, but you didn't elaborate on what kind of action. AFAIK I think what pragmatic means is when you'll constantly dirty your hands to get the job done, which'd put them into morally questionable territory. I actually feel that a good number of tokusatsu fans would look for this kind of hero instead, and partly that happens because some can dumb down heroism as merely killing baddies (monsters mostly, but can apply to humans too) or sacrificing yourself (and ignoring what they've done in the past), while true those are some part of heroism, that's a way too broad take of heroism; I want for KR to be used to point out that heroism is not merely about that (but of course free to add characters of any alignment, albeit someone's fault had to be portrayed as in the wrong). And actually it'd take into account for what you said here about smaller-scale individual actions, as for 'no one can think at that scale', it's true that not everyone is an unstoppable powerhouse, or even a fighter or super scientist. Quote:
It starts with Wataru, who is as sweet as ever. While he’s initially mopey about his new Fangire heritage, his mother (or a vision of his mother?!?!) reminds him that his culture isn’t more important than his identity. He’s a human, and a Fangire, and the son of Otoya, and the son of Maya, and a Fangire prince, and a Kamen Rider. But all of that is incidental, things he didn’t ask for or couldn’t choose. He’s Wataru, and that’s the part that matters. To fall back on the old Inoue Tautology that we’re probably an episode away from someone actually saying, Wataru Is Wataru. He doesn’t become any more or less that based on new information. He can still be who he wants to be, no matter the new circumstances.
With that idealistic confidence, he decides to forge ahead with a new mission: unite the worlds of Fangires and humans. It’s a great plan with only a single, minor flaw. Namely, literally no one on the show but Wataru wants that to happen. Quote:
Shima’s happy to look past Wataru’s Fangire blood, since Otoya’s blood is also in Wataru’s veins. (It is sort of insane to me that no one in the last ten months told Shima that Wataru’s last name was Kurenai. It was not a secret! Boss knew it! It’s definitely come up before! Maybe Shima was just too focused on the deep consideration he was giving to picking IXA’s bearer to bother to ask?) But the second Wataru’s like Maybe I’ll Use My Power To Unite Our Two Cultures, Shima is picturing the crosshairs on Wataru’s forehead.
Taiga, pleased to finally have a brother, hugs Wataru close as he offers him the chance to enslave and devour humanity as a Fangire. When Wataru is aghast at Taiga’s offer, and defends humanity, Taiga basically laughs in his face. He’s already trying to figure out how to draw out the Fightin' Fangire Spirit from Wataru’s weak human exterior. And Mio! Mio, who Wataru has been trying to protect, also hugs Wataru as she destroys his soul. She’s as happy as we’ve ever seen her, because Wataru’s new identity as a Fangire prince is going to help both of them. He just needs to kill Taiga, become King, and everything will work out for them. Easy peasy, Zanvat swingy. The Mio one hits the hardest, but they’re all pretty demoralizing. (I super duper love how the Mio/Wataru part is played by her like a lucky break, and by him like a terminal prognosis.) It’s everyone opting for a world of violence and cruelty, and they’ll kill the sweet boy fighting for love. Even Mio is basically killing the part of Wataru that she fell in love with. It’s this entire show looking at Wataru’s hope for everyone getting along, and then deciding the only thing they agree on is that he’s wrong. Quote:
There’s a little hope, though? Megumi and Nago, of all people, refuse to follow Shima’s orders, buying Kiva a little time in his fight with IXA. (We are so far from the days of Kengo’s friendship with Wataru that the show doesn’t even hint at there being any conflict or hesitancy in Kengo. He’s totally okay murdering Wataru now!) That also falls apart - because it is that kind of episode - as Bishop unlocks Wataru’s Fightin’ Fangire Spirit, complete with a cool stained-glass mask piece that the Emperor Form Seihou doesn’t even come with so I’m cancelling my preorder at site sponsor Tokullectibles. It’s a huge, ugly rebuttal to Wataru’s hopes, and I’m into it. I’m into this show challenging Wataru’s idealism, and really stacking the deck against him. He wants to change the world, but the world isn’t built to be changed. But he was able to change Megumi and Nago - by accident, by being himself - and maybe that’s a good start.
__________________
The most complete non-wiki encyclopedias for Kamen Rider series (currently only found Ryuki and OOO's). Last edited by DreadBringer; 06-28-2021 at 10:14 AM.. |
06-28-2021, 11:43 AM | #707 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
Though for pragmatic? Well you only said that it improves through individual action, but you didn't elaborate on what kind of action. AFAIK I think what pragmatic means is when you'll constantly dirty your hands to get the job done, which'd put them into morally questionable territory.
Quote:
Dunno, actually, this was a part that I glanced about Wataru, that he wants peace between humans and Fangires. but this would reaffirm my stance of Wataru being not a personal-driven person like most other lead Riders. Wanting peace between humans and Fangires is the type of goal that is the "justice, empathy, support" kind, and I think, despite what you said above, this is the 'thinking at big scale' kind of goal?
I think Wataru generally wants to make things better for everyone (he's a sweet boy), but that "everyone" didn't include Fangires until he saw himself as part of their culture. I more meant that is was surprising that Nago would go against orders so blatantly to protect Kiva. That's a pretty big deal for Nago!
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
06-28-2021, 04:02 PM | #708 |
Standing By
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,089
|
Kiva Emperor vs the Sagarc fleet is one of the most memorable fights in the show for me, due to how Saga just casually summons them out of nowhere and it's a good way to show that Wataru is back by seeing him bisect Mother Sagarc with Zanvat Sword!
It's good to see Kengo back to his original self as well, after realizing he was lying to himself and he needed to be a better friend to Wataru.
__________________
心 と 刃 Last edited by Sh Ranger; 06-28-2021 at 04:09 PM.. |
06-28-2021, 05:20 PM | #709 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
|
Hey, I hope you all aren't tired of melancholic tracks from Kiva yet, because today I'm starting off with yet another one, played here throughout Wataru's conversations with Kengo and Taiga. The show seriously has like a million of these, and they're all so good!
And perhaps more exciting than usual for Die, next up is Maya's theme, which is naturally part ominous, part beautiful, and entirely captivating. Works surprisingly well for a scene where she's cheering her son up, to boot. You know, it's funny that you should mention this, because now that I think about it, it was almost exactly a year ago you were saying this about Faiz: Quote:
Anyway, yeah, I'm a Faiz fan, too, so it probably goes without saying themes like this tend to really resonate with me. (渡は渡だもの) I don't remember much about my initial reaction to this episode, but I definitely quite liked what I caught of it looking back through. Such as! - It's a good episode for Wataru, but it's maybe a great one for Otoya? It's a big showcase for his biggest positive quality (that's also the root of lots of his negative ones), which is how he's truly got as open a heart as a person could have. It's not even only with Maya here; the episode makes a whole point out of how the Arms Monsters can't bring themselves to follow King's orders and kill Otoya because he's just too dang nice to them. It's utter insanity for Otoya to look at Jirou like he's an old pal by this point, but because it's Otoya, you can almost believe it. - One little touch that I find helps bring that across a lot is how Jirou ends that scene in the bath crying while still in his monster form, and Otoya doesn't really react to anything but the crying. It's definitely only shot that way for the sake of the audience, because it's funnier if it's still a scary werewolf monster bawling his eyes out, which is one of many great Ishida touches here (see also; Riki's cartoonishly large hammer), but even if it's probably not meant to be taken super literally, I like the implications there all the same. - You mention Wataru telling Taiga no after Kengo in "the very next scene", but one other extremely cool bit of Ishida magic that I don't want undersold is how both those conversations are the same scene, with Taiga seamlessly reacting to something Wataru says to Kengo in the middle (the music doesn't even stop), which, combined with the change in lighting, really smoothly communicates to the viewer that Wataru is having this conversation twice without needing to waste time actually showing two extremely similar scenes. Just a real clever way to show those exchanges. - Maya reacting to Yuri threatening to destroy the Bloody Rose if she doesn't fight her by just going "you're not being very cute today" is such a perfect moment for both of those characters. ...And that oughta do it! I will say one big missed opportunity is that the scene in 40 where Kiva saves Nago and Kengo before walking off saying he's done forever totally should've made it a point to not use Emperor Form. It would've made Wataru transforming directly into it here that much more impactful (he's breaking the metaphorical chains again), even though it's not the first time that's happened anyway.
__________________
|
06-28-2021, 06:06 PM | #710 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
|
Quote:
Quote:
Only Inoue shows for Pride Month, now! It's a tradition! Quote:
Quote:
I will say one big missed opportunity is that the scene in 40 where Kiva saves Nago and Kengo before walking off saying he's done forever totally should've made it a point to not use Emperor Form. It would've made Wataru transforming directly into it here that much more impactful (he's breaking the metaphorical chains again), even though it's not the first time that's happened anyway.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! |
|
TokuNation News & Rumors |
SH Figuarts BoonBoomger Red |
Hasbro Licenses Power Rangers Toys to Playmates Toys |
Discotek Media Licenses Mobile Cop Jiban |
What's going on with CSM? |
Ultraman Arc Trailer |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:31 PM.
|