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02-08-2022, 05:47 PM | #441 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
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Plus, as people who hate Ghost will be happy to tell you, Takeru in general is in top form here. Even on a rewatch, I found myself struck by just how much respect Yuuya Takahashi's script has for a show he didn't have anything to do with. It's not just that Takeru is cool. It's not even just that he has good scenes of bonding with Emu. It's that basically Emu's entire character arc in the movie is about his frustration that he isn't anywhere near as cool as Takeru, this dude who keeps throwing himself in front of explosions to protect the people he cares about even at the cost of his own life. ...Which he almost loses, again... but like most times this happens to Takeru, it works way better for the narrative than it's given credit for. I really dig how all throughout the movie, people are telling Takeru not to push himself too much, building up to that ending, because it conveys this idea that like, Takeru was always working that hard, back in his show. That he gives more than he even has to give. It's neat. This movie goes out of its way to treat all the Riders in it like proper superstars, and it's kind of no wonder Emu feels a little insecure! Which, considering this is a movie from early in his show, makes plenty of sense as the focus for him, too! Lots of real neat things about this movie! In general, Sakamoto seems to love bringing back people from previous things he's worked on when he has the chance. Just as an example from Ex-Aid, even, Lazer's debut in episode 4 had Ultraman Ginga as the patient of the week, and then we just had Ultraman Victory in two episodes of Revice by him only a couple weeks back!
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02-08-2022, 06:17 PM | #442 |
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Takahashi only supervised this script (what exactly that means, I’m not sure). The writer was Minato Takano (who also wrote a vast majority of Ex-Aid’s spin offs, plus the MCH two-parter and Project: Thouser special for Zero-One).
As for the movie, I think it’s got an alright plot and the form changing fight is cool, but I don’t really have any strong feelings for it. But I do have something to talk about regarding the next instalment in this review section) Last edited by Androzani84; 02-08-2022 at 06:20 PM.. |
02-08-2022, 06:37 PM | #443 |
The Immortal King Tasty
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The credits of the movie seem to disagree? Although I suppose it would explain why Takeru is so good in this if Takano was ghostwriting it.
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02-08-2022, 08:05 PM | #444 |
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I rewatch this one periodically and always have a great time with it - it's super fun and treats all of its guest stars well and it treats its main cast well and then there's the added bonus of every time Emu angsts about being Bad At His Day Job I get to shout at the screen that he is, in fact, bad at his day job. Emu. Sweetie. Takeru is in there clearly in shock and starting to decompensate - look at his vitals! Look at them! This is literally your job! - and instead of trying to fix it you are engaged in an inner monologue about how you are bad at your job. I cannot tell if the writers did this on purpose, I really can't, but oh my god. It's either brilliant or the most hilarious coincidence I have ever seen in Kamen Rider.
...I think I need to go watch it again, |
02-08-2022, 10:10 PM | #445 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Should be working, but I can check back in on this thread for a minute.
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Probably the part that has stuck with me the longest has to do with one of the villains. As a Sakamoto film, we obviously get an attractive badass woman as one of the bad guys, someone who he can film doing flips and kicks in slow motion. For this movie he went with an actress named Chihiro Yamamoto, who?s actually a very talented tai chi competitor. After this movie, she would also go on to star as Laiha, one of the main characters in Ultraman Geed.
There're an awful lot of non-suit fights in this movie, which I'm of two minds on. On the one hand, they all look great. Seeing Emu do a handspring backflip is a nice reminder that he's only a clutz when he's not in fight. But, on the other hand, there were at least two point s in the movie where I was like Wait Can Emu Not Henshin Either? Like, you're fighting mad scientists with genocidal designs! And superpowers! It's okay to just Henshin into your superpowered form! You don't need to wait until your ass is 85% kicked! Quote:
I really dig how all throughout the movie, people are telling Takeru not to push himself too much, building up to that ending, because it conveys this idea that like, Takeru was always working that hard, back in his show. That he gives more than he even has to give. It's neat. This movie goes out of its way to treat all the Riders in it like proper superstars, and it's kind of no wonder Emu feels a little insecure! Which, considering this is a movie from early in his show, makes plenty of sense as the focus for him, too! Lots of real neat things about this movie!
Like, Emu wouldn't value Space God Powers or Crime-Stopping. He wants to bring people hope, true, but not as much as he wants people to get the chance to live. Someone who'll risk everything - including his own life - to ensure that other people get to stay alive; to ensure that they can make their lives happier? That's what both Emu and Takeru want! I'm looking forward to this Thursday! Quote:
I rewatch this one periodically and always have a great time with it - it's super fun and treats all of its guest stars well and it treats its main cast well and then there's the added bonus of every time Emu angsts about being Bad At His Day Job I get to shout at the screen that he is, in fact, bad at his day job. Emu. Sweetie. Takeru is in there clearly in shock and starting to decompensate - look at his vitals! Look at them! This is literally your job! - and instead of trying to fix it you are engaged in an inner monologue about how you are bad at your job. I cannot tell if the writers did this on purpose, I really can't, but oh my god. It's either brilliant or the most hilarious coincidence I have ever seen in Kamen Rider.
...I think I need to go watch it again, Emu is the most emotionally healthy doctor in this movie because he's fine saying how much he wants his patients to survive and be happy. Hiiro and Taiga spend most of the film trying to one-up each other in a Worst Bedside Manner competition, while Kiriya's just, like, excited about a new and deadly pathogen to investigate. Emu's literally the only Ex-Aid Rider who grieves at the capture of their patient (Hiiro straight-up uses him as bait), and that's pretty great? I've always enjoyed how every Rider on Kamen Rider Ex-Aid exists on a spectrum that spans from Control to Service - which are the two guiding attributes of literally every character on the show - and this movie does a great job at keeping them all differentiated.
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02-09-2022, 08:44 PM | #446 |
Kaiju or Hero?
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Even I Don't Know Anymore.
Posts: 1,398
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Hey, it's the movie where Japan decided to make Pixels, but better!
You would normally not expect a movie with the subtitle Vs. Dr. Pacman to be anything but a joke, and yet, this is one of my favorite Kamen Rider movies. I've never seen Ghost, but once again, I didn't need to since this movie is more rooted in Ex-Aid more than anything else, so I was able to keep up with this movie very well. But as many people have come to acknowledge, Ghost has some amazing suits, and the one he gets during the final fight is probably one of my favorites next to Grateful, Mugen, and Ryoma, to name a few. Even if the way he gets the form is, as somebody put it, the power of bollocks. Also, there's Raiha (one of Ultraman Geed's heroine)! But honestly, the villains and how they fit in work well with Ex-Aid's season yet also not a requirement to the main story, in how they touch up on the Bugster Virus, while leaving the major developments to the show proper. Even if the Pacman motif was only for the first half, I find it funny how there's swarms of Pacmen eating people, then merge into a giant one, whose ultimate weakness is Ghost! This movie is pure genius in how that works out, not only making it fitting for Ex-Aid's Videogame theme, but being able to tie in Ghost to fit in, despite how far from similar they are, just makes this a *chef's kiss*. Of course, I can't forget Wizard, who just works wonderfully, albeit slightly shoehorned, and Drive, whose season I have yet to watch, but had fun seeing him here regardless. Gaim sort of just shows up, but I can't deny it was funny seeing him be the one to bring Belt-San to Drive. This movie didn't need to bring them in, but I am absolutely happy they did, this trilogy of movies was a great way to send-off Heisei and welcome Reiwa. This was one of the first Kamen Rider movies I heard about when I was only getting into the franchise, even if I had no idea why these characters being together was such a big deal, I was excited to get into this, and grateful I got to see this along with the other movies that followed, but that'll be for another time. |
02-09-2022, 11:56 PM | #447 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Stripped of context, it's completely absurd. It's a nurse thanking Pac-Man. But with the context of nearly an hour of superhero adventure... I mean, it's still mostly absurd, but it's also genuinely touching: one video game character thanking another video game character, Asuna/Poppy quietly acknowledging the way Pac-Man overcame his reprogramming to defend humanity, just like her. It's touching, honestly. Good film! Glad you enjoyed it, too!
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02-10-2022, 10:20 PM | #448 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Originally posted to "Kamen Rider Die rewatches Kamen Rider Ex-Aid movies" on September 1st, 2019:
KAMEN RIDER EX-AID MOVIES: COLORFUL MANS VERSUS COLORFUL TEENS - THE SPRING MOVIE Hey, so, can I tell you a secret? I don't want the TokuNation board to know about this, so we're in a total "this stays between you and me" situation. Cool? Okay. I don't think I care about Sentai. Like, at all. I'm not really sure how it works on these boards. Is everyone into everything, Rider and Sentai alike? Are there Rider-only fans and Sentai-only fans? I honestly have no idea. Going on a Toku board and saying "I don't think I care about Sentai" may be like saying "I don't like vowels". Like, nonsense. Insanity. I mean, I never grew up with Power Rangers, so maybe that's part of it? I assume most North American Sentai fans got into the franchise as kids through Power Rangers, then transitioned to the pure, uncut, medical-grade Japanese Sentai programs. Is that right? 'Cause, yeah, for me, I never had that introductory stage. Power Rangers and Sentai, I just never got into. And it feels like, after getting hooked on Kamen Rider, that I shouldn't have a huge problem getting into Super Sentai. They're so similar in so many fundamental ways. They're like dialects of the same language. But, for real, I'm just never that interested in them. Some of it is, and I don't want to get reported to the mods for this, that it feels like the Sentai parts I've seen (crossover episodes, spring movies) are just really, really childish. Like, the casts seem like they got body-swapped with precocious theater kids. Everything is very Big and Broad and Shouted Out To The Back Rows. The problems and drama seem very goofy and wacky, geared around a child's conception of the world. And, I came in to Kamen Rider through Ex-Aid, the show about a bright pink motorcycle man who fights video game disease monsters. I'm not looking for verisimilitude here. But these various colorful teenagers seem like they are one commercial break away from telling me that drugs aren't cool, but studying is. Am I missing some key way to view Sentai? Am I just watching the worst introductions to the franchise possible? Help me out here. Someday, I'm going to run out of Heisei Rider shows to watch for the first time (I ain't doing Showa, too corny for me), and 40-whatever years of Sentai might fill that void in my life. I'm not saying that me and Sentai are enemies forever. There may come a day when I want to love Sentai. (Like, 2021. Not soon.) If every other Rider fan is a Sentai fan, I don't want to be, like, persona non tokusatsu. I want to figure this shit out. All of that is a long-winded way of saying that a) I don't generally love the yearly-ish Rider/Sentai crossover movies, and b) I don't really love this one in particular. First, Rider/Sentai movies are so weirdly constructed, at least the bunch I've seen. Rather than the Rider fall movies that feature two main Riders at least, and possibly two full casts, the crossover movies seem to be built around Who From The Last Few Years Is Available and Who Can We Spare From The Current Shows. Like, the Fourze/Go-Busters one? The main Rider characters are Hina from OOO and Diend from Decade! There's some fun to the randomness of the cast, but it's to the detriment of a cohesive story. I never get the feeling that a story was constructed, with a clear thematic goal, and then a cast was hired to support that goal. Instead, it's like 75% of the asks came back No, so they cobbled together something for the 25% who said Yes. It's not that you can't tell a story like that, but it's very difficult to tell a good story. The most you can do is distract people with a lot of costumes. And there are so many costumes in this movie. Not the most, but what feels like the most often. Every few minutes (of a ninety-minute movie) there's another batch of colorful suits, kicking and punching and exploding. The action is, it's not great. There are some interesting uses of the expanded movie budget in the camerawork, specifically in the increased verticality of the fights and the longer chase shots. But the fights themselves mostly don't seem choreographed to tell a story, they're just there to fill time. It's like watching someone play Street Fighter for a while. That can be fun to watch, but it's not a story. Maybe I'd care more about those costumes if I knew all the franchises? Maybe. It doesn't help that, not only do I not really know Sentai (although I recognized Amu from the Ghost/Animal Teens Super-Hero Dance Program crossover), but the Rider appearances were from shows I haven't watched yet, like Den-O and (I had to look this up) Ryuki. For the flashy, nostalgia guest appearances, there's nothing in there for me. I've only got the story to enjoy, and it felt real thin. It's mostly a pile of superhero fights until Shocker shows up, then a heartfelt speech, and it all wraps up at Kamen Rider Quarry. There aren't a lot of moves in it, and the Shocker stuff just feels like it's there to have a villain to punch. Making the story driver/endangered victim a child who sort-of didn't care if the world ended was, uh, a way to go? Hard to muster sympathy for a sick child who would rather just destroy the world because he's bored. I mean, it's a sick kid, and maybe he's on the spectrum, but he was also the character in the story I cared the least about. It definitely made parts of the story drag. There was some stuff I enjoyed, though. I didn't hate it, I just thought it was only okay. The core of the story was, surprisingly, about Brave. He's a tough character to focus on, because he is basically a dick. And that's his most interesting attribute! Hiiro doesn't hugely change or grow in this movie, but his dedication to being the best doctor evolves a bit with his grudging acceptance that Emu is only mostly a failure as a doctor, and maybe viewing his patients as more than a sack of organs he can show his dominance on is a valid choice on rare occasions. Progress! Also, I'm loving the movie trend (2 for 2) of Taiga being introduced walking into frame and just humiliating a group of enemies. It is canon that he spends a lot of time following around Emu, and while we're meant to think it's so he can collect Gashats, I'm choosing to believe it's so he can get sick burns in on foes. Like, he's behind a pillar, waiting for the best moment when he can walk in and drop some comeback on a Bugster or Sentai or whatever. He's up all night dreaming about it. That is my headcanon, and now you are welcome to it. Quote:
A few quick notes! -That whole I'll Be Done With Watch Threads By 2021... god, the optimism of that! There was a point a couple months ago when I thought I'd be done with these threads before Revice ended, and I just don't see that happening. My project management skills are abysmal. I can only hope that Zero-One's CEO superhero can teach me how to get things done in a more expedient and reliable manner. I look forward to finding out in May Or June Or September of this year! -Nice to see Zolda and the Den-O crew, now that I've watched those shows, but it doesn't drastically improve the film. They're in-jokes, and the movie doesn't sink or swim on the audience getting the joke. It certainly doesn't help that Kitaoka only gets a couple lines, and the Goriders as a team barely factor into the plot. In my mind, I guess I built it up as something that was clearly important - vital, maybe - to the overall success of the story, and If Only I Had The Context, you know? Unfortunately, it's really super minor, and (if anything) sort of a missed opportunity. -Ex-Aid's storytelling, as a series, is about Mitigation Of Ego. It's a show where heroes and villains alike discover that they aren't flawless demigods; they aren't even the main characters of the story. Real life doesn't have Main Characters, and we could all stand to live with more humility. Realizing that we can't do everything ourselves, and we need to lean on others to be our best selves, that's sort of the perfect thematic substrate for a Sentai/Rider film? Ex-Aid's about letting other people in, and finding common ground with people you may not even like. This isn't a perfect film, but it has a much more natural flow to it than previous Taisen flicks. -Ex-Aid's storytelling, as a series, is also about Needlessly Escalating Situations, as witnessed by Taiga showing up specifically to pick a fight with six Kyurangers (or, 12% of the full Kyuranger team) when Emu is frantically trying to calm everyone down. Much like the solid thematic work of Ex-Aid allows for some natural team-up energy, the solid character work of territorial dickheads like Taiga and Hiiro very easily give logical weight to the Superheroes Fight Superheroes part of the crossover film. -Eito still doesn't 100% work for me (no backstory/family, sort of just comes off as Hiiro's Failure instead of a character), but I did appreciate how this movie tried to work inside Ex-Aid's themes. Hiiro having to own up to his earlier failure instead of literally hiding it away, Eito needing to allow other people to care for im, that's all solid Ex-Aid stuff. The problem for me this time was that there's so much other shit in the way. I liked a lot of the action and guest appearances, but the throughline on this film is Hiiro and Eito, but they're maybe a third of the movie's runtime. There's an entire digression with Emu fighting the Debuting Amazon Riders, and you could cut that whole fight without damaging the narrative. The writing wants to do this small story about Hiiro's tragic past, but then it also has to justify Every Rider And Ranger Suit, plus an explosive finale at Kamen Rider Quarry. I don't think those two goals fit well in one movie. -I sort of love how Bandai Namco shoved in their classic video game brands to this movie and Heisei Generations. They're so half-assed (Xevious and Galaxian matter for maybe twenty-five minutes of this story, if that), and yet they're also the exact right energy to start an Ex-Aid movie off on. It's goofy as hell and perfectly in keeping with the rules of Ex-Aid's world. -okay but why was agito's final form burning instead of shining
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Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on KamenRiderDie.com! Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 02-24-2022 at 09:14 PM.. |
02-10-2022, 10:28 PM | #449 |
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Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: World of Ataru
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This might be the Taisen movie I'm most dissapointed in? ( I mean there all pretry questionable quality)
But yhe entire premise of Ex-Aid forming a superhero team in order go into a tournment fighther is genuinley one the best idea the Taisen movie ever had in order to mitigate the hero vs hero conflict in these movies. And we just skip over most of the tournment. Like seriosuly if you watch any of the trailers that wad main selling point of the movie. Like with Heisei vs Showa the whole generational battle was at the forefront of the movie. Or Taisen GP had a big race at the very end. But this we skip over it especially since there alot of fun teams they made for this movie we never saw in action.
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02-10-2022, 10:33 PM | #450 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,601
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This is probably my favorite of the Taisen Movies next to Z but even then that's a low bar.
I think what makes me fine with heroes fighting each other this time around is it's clearly video game avatar's that act like them. So there's not much frustration of "Why?" Favorite bit though was Maximum Mighty X fighting alongside the Kyuranger Mecha. Like that's the stuff I love seeing, the way the Riders and Sentai mix themselves up. It's why I really loved when we got Tridoron Shurikenjin in 3 GP. Anyway the most significant story I have of this movie is how I first watched it. Basically someone managed to get a full cam rip of the movie from a theater before it left. And judging by how clear it was in video and audio, there was like, no one else in the theater. So basically I watched the raw via camrip and that was a magical experience. Probably the biggest memory I have out of the whole movie tbh. |
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