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Quick down the line of my impressions so far - Ex-Aid: Owns. Goofy as hell, knows it, owns it, and gives the main villain a bicycle with neon green and pink tires. I've watched up to episode 8 so far (please send help I cannot stop marathoning these) and while I'm not a fan of how unrealistic these doctors are - hi I've seen a lot of grey's anatomy and even they make a token effort at making their doctors, doctors. An intern is not going to be a full pediatrician, a doctor refusing to treat a patient is wrong, and so on - but once I let go of that and embraced everything else, the show took off. I love how every single one of the riders is a jerk in some special way, and I love how already we're getting into development for that - Dr Serious had a tragic backstory and might be on the autism spectrum. (I might be reading too far into this, but the way he seems to have trouble handling emotions/expressing affection towards his loved ones reads as a mental illness to me, and if it's ever made canon I will be over the moon) The liar has made it a compulsion thanks to his tragic past - and, well, I expect more drama out of this series as soon as I get back to watching it. Also, yes, I lost it when one of the riders just spontaneously turned into a bike. Let me tell you, jumping from Kuuga to Ex-Aid is an incredible time warp.  Liveman: Watched one episode, tentatively interested in more - I'm still working on my tolerance levels for older toku, and while the mech design and animation is genuinely better than the mech design in Zyuohger, oof at the naivete of "we'll build a starship through a college project on an island." I know that silliness is a part of Toku - hell, from Shotaro Ishinomori, the father of the genre - but that was hard to take in stride when it's paired with war-zone levels of violence, complete with that initial cold-blooded murder. ...Eh, I'm probably taking it too seriously. I'm working on that, there's a lot of stuff to like in the earlier shows that I want to get at. (Looking at you, Space Sheriff Gavan! Saw five minutes of its first episode, resolved to come back when I finish a Sentai show.) Ultraseven - Still can't do more than one episode of this per day, give or take. I like it, but the very episodic X-Files esque atmosphere keeps me from marathoning it, particularly when it pulls out episodes that are rough to watch such as the Pegassus episode. I knew Ultraseven wasn't as morally black or white as other shows, but dang. I can't help but feel that a Hollywood take on that episode would feature Dan and crew making a daring rescue of everyone in the city before blowing it up, complete with the agent helping them pull off the rescue. Not...what we got. Wow. Kyuranger - still adorable, can't really knock it even if we're now stuck on Earth again. Slowly catching up with it - it's my main sentai show right now before I focus on Liveman, or Zyuohger, not sure which yet. To be perfectly blunt, this kind of silliness for prolonged periods of time kind of grates on my nerves, and doubling it with Ex Aid is, whoof. It's with Ultraseven in that I'm not marathoning it, just steadily plowing through while I give Kamen Rider my full attention and love. Which leads me to my final episode tonight: Agito. I love this. It's got Kuuga's style but it's definitely a new thing, it's serious (as serious as a show in the genre can be), and it's me, I love amnesiac heroes and delving into self-discovery as a plot. I actually have to sleep instead of spending all of my free time forever watching it, but I can kind of guess that I'll wind up marathoning Agito while slowly picking through everything else as I plow along. It's got everything I love: Shin Megami Tensei-esque monster designs, a cyborg-esque Rider, murder mysteries, angelic implications, and the protagonists are A+ cute! ... phew! Long story short, getting into toku was like stepping into a black hole, where I can't stop giving every show curious looks and a first episode test, and then I wake up hours later wondering where all of my free time went, chanting "No fear, no pain" over and over again. Thanks for all the tips and advice on where to start, thread! 
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Apr 29, 2017 11:17
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Agito is such a favorite of mine. There's something so earnestly dorky about everyone. Also, someone please just give Ryo a hug? Buy him a candy bar? The boy has it so rough.
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Apr 29, 2017 11:55
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StrixNebulosa posted:Ultraseven - Still can't do more than one episode of this per day, give or take. I like it, but the very episodic X-Files esque atmosphere keeps me from marathoning it, particularly when it pulls out episodes that are rough to watch such as the Pegassus episode. I knew Ultraseven wasn't as morally black or white as other shows, but dang. I can't help but feel that a Hollywood take on that episode would feature Dan and crew making a daring rescue of everyone in the city before blowing it up, complete with the agent helping them pull off the rescue. Not...what we got. Wow. Yeah that's going to happen a...few more times. One giant difference between Ishinomori and Tsuburaya, is how they lived through WWII. Ishinomori was a child and thus has a kind of very childish view on things. Nazis are Evil Super Villains, as embodied by Shocker, humanity is very good and needs to be corrupted otherwise to reach Shocker's level. There's a bit more depth within the actual reasons why Shocker continues, notably in the manga, but Shocker itself is as flat evil as you can get. Which is fine and great. Tsuburaya was a grown man working in the film industry when WWII happened. To him, it was never that black and white and could never be that black and white. He was burned by his own country, he was burned by America, he was witness to all kinds of poo poo. You're about to reach an episode with the alien Metron- the moral of that episode, and how the narrator cheerfully explains it, is kind of soul crushing. I canot wait for your reaction to it. There are a few episodes also where humanity is just straight up in the wrong. They are the actual bad guys. And I don't mean some rear end in a top hat general who refuses to listen to our heroes- I mean Dan has to stand by and witness as his human friends, our heroes who we have grown to love, do very ugly, human things. And then he has to deal with the consequences. UltraSeven isn't an incredibly dark show, but it is a very mature one. You can have UltraSeven fighting invincible car eating giant robots and trying to figure out how to stop it before it smashes a hospital, and you can also have the moral dilemma of figuring out which species to side with when both have entirely legitimate grievances and neither are willing or able to compromise. The only thing that holds Seven back is that it was made in 1967, but that also is one of its huge strengths. There is an episode later on that is a straight up commentary on the Cuban Missile Crisis from Japan's point of view. It works so well because the Cuban Missile Crisis was in 1962. That's even more recent for commentary than the original Godzilla.
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Apr 29, 2017 15:30
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Burkion posted:The other group is really good to be fair. Agreed, I honestly didn't even know they were HK subs until it was mentioned earlier in this thread. I remember the HK subs for Hurricanger not being that bad either.
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Apr 29, 2017 15:52
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Burkion posted:Yeah that's going to happen a...few more times. Has ultraseven ever been officially released? I'd love to own it on disc.
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Apr 29, 2017 16:26
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Cricken_Nigfops posted:Has ultraseven ever been officially released? I'd love to own it on disc. Shout Factory released it and the original Ultraman on DVD a while back, not sure if they're still in print but they are avalible for streaming on their website.
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Apr 29, 2017 16:35
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Cricken_Nigfops posted:Has ultraseven ever been officially released? I'd love to own it on disc. It has, actually. Shout Factory released it a few years ago and I believe it should still be in stock. You can kind of thank it for the current Sentai releases- UltraSeven was Shout Factory's first tokusatsu release and it did really well despite the rights nightmare that is Showa Ultraman anywhere outside of Japan. It is! https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Seven-Complete-Shoji-Nakayama/dp/B0096W46VW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493480003&sr=8-1&keywords=UltraSeven I could go on about UltraSeven. My love for Bioman may have gotten me my avatar, but it's nothing compared to my love of UltraSeven.
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Apr 29, 2017 16:40
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Burkion posted:It has, actually. Shout Factory released it a few years ago and I believe it should still be in stock. You can kind of thank it for the current Sentai releases- UltraSeven was Shout Factory's first tokusatsu release and it did really well despite the rights nightmare that is Showa Ultraman anywhere outside of Japan. Yeah, it's your description of it that really made me want to watch it all the way through. When I was a young, dumb kid, they were showing it on USA and I never really could get into it, because it seemed like a boring version of inframan. But now I'm old enough to really appreciate the metaconcept of it, and I really want to see it, especially compared to Ishinomori's works.
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Apr 29, 2017 16:49
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One very important thing to know is that UltraSeven, and Ultraman before him, are not at all like the toku heroes that would come later. What we really refer to as Tokusatsu, as in Japanese super heroes, and the most common traits and things that you can spot in them, started in 1971 with Return of Ultraman and Kamen Rider. Those two competing with one another, adding new things to the genre, really defined what Toku would become. It's really interesting to see what toku was like before Rider showed up and changed the game with posing and calling your attacks. Also, one fun thing- what likely didn't help you when you were younger, the English dub of UltraSeven is actually a gag dub. It's presented very seriously, the voice actors tend to give very good performances, but they'll often throw in really ridiculous things, including batant sexism that wasn't there before, or odd lines like "As a democrat, I always carry my luggage" It's kind of an amazing thing and I have a fondness for the dub, though it doesn't hold a candle to the atmosphere of the original for very obvious reasons. One absolute titan of a youtuber is painstakingly taking the dub audio and putting it over the DVD or Bluray raws and it's kind of glorious. To both link to that and to one of my favorite fights in the entire show, just for the sheer style of it, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI_mmSTuYQE&t=1197s I loving love the way this fight looks and works. It is pure class start to finish. I love Kamen Rider a lot, but Kamen Rider has never had a fight that just looked this GOOD. Especially owing to how the fight goes. It's more like a classic Samurai duel. This ranks up there for me for one of the best moments in Toku and most striking in the franchise. Ultraman Max would revisit this episode and this fight in particular, the imagery of it, in one of his episodes. It's why UltraSeven is canon to Ultraman Max- that episode in Max is a straight up sequel to this one. The entire episode is a treat in Japanese, too especially the ending moral. So in both the dub and the Japanese version, the plot of the episode is some very intelligent aliens, the Metrons, have placed contaminated cigarettes in choice locations that make you become absolutely psychotic after you smoke them. Not just get really angry, but go absolutely psycho. You will beat some one to death, or pick up a nearby rifle and go on a shooting spree, or purposely suicide bomb your plane into the ocean if you're a pilot. Just some really twisted poo poo. And everyone is shown smoking in the episode, ramping up the tension about who could be affected next. The Metrons were doing a test run and were planning to seed their cigarettes across the world so that they wouldn't have to do anything. The human race would wipe itself out and they could claim the planet for raw materials after. The Ultra Garrison puts an end to it, have their awesome final fight, and as the sun sets the narrator, cheerful as can be, addresses the children in the audience. See the key difference between the Dub and Sub is that in the Dub, it's just presented as is. In the Sub, there's an added layer. This plan, the Metrons reveal, will only work because of the shared unity and trust in the human race. This was set in the future after all, and the Ultra Garrison is a UN funded military group. The whole world is united against the threat of alien invaders. The narrator thus informs the children not to worry- A plan like this could never happen in your world! Because you have no unity between nations. Because there isn't an implicit peace between people. Sweet dreams kids, the cold war looms ever larger!
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Apr 29, 2017 18:09
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Greekonomics posted:It's probably still early, but I remember that one member posted in progress images of it on his Twitter. Rock hard
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Apr 29, 2017 18:19
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Burkion posted:One very important thing to know is that UltraSeven, and Ultraman before him, are not at all like the toku heroes that would come later. That fight reminds me very much of the one in Kamen Rider Kabuto, probably because it also took place after the setting sun...only without the message, just two cool dudes fightin'
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Apr 29, 2017 21:21
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BENGHAZI 2 posted:Rock hard hell, same
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Apr 30, 2017 04:30
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Cricken_Nigfops posted:That fight reminds me very much of the one in Kamen Rider Kabuto, probably because it also took place after the setting sun...only without the message, just two cool dudes fightin' Yeah. Seven has influenced a lot of Japanese pop culture. From Dragon Ball to Berserk to One Punch Man to Pokemon, you can find either references, cameos or shout outs everywhere. Hell, in Hajime No Ippou, his theme song is used by one of the main characters, and starts playing every time he does really awesome poo poo. Just out of goddamn nowhere. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJQLQK7tsUc I did not edit this, this is how it aired. This is exactly how the episode goes. Needless to say, Ultraman and UltraSeven also had a fair bit of influence on Kamen Rider, including more specific shout outs here and there. Though Kamen Rider's rivalry with Return of Ultraman helped define both franchises going into the future, and set the stage for what tokustasu would be from then on. Ishinomori originally wanted Kamen Rider to be able to grow giant like Ultraman, but they simply did not have the expertise or budget to pull it off, so they focused on motorcycles and human sized stunts instead. This is why Kamen Rider Ichigo, in his crossover with Ultraman, does grow giant size, and why Kamen Rider J grows giant size. To fulfill that original idea. Though personally I'm glad they weren't able to make Kamen Rider go giant, just because it helped cement Kamen Rider's unique identity.
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Apr 30, 2017 04:41
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I'm doing my absolute best to take Ex-Aid seriously. e: Burkion posted:Yeah. Seven has influenced a lot of Japanese pop culture. From Dragon Ball to Berserk to One Punch Man to Pokemon, you can find either references, cameos or shout outs everywhere. Holy cow, I only read the manga and didn't know they added that in there. That makes the bear scene even better!
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Apr 30, 2017 04:43
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StrixNebulosa posted:Also, yes, I lost it when one of the riders just spontaneously turned into a bike. Let me tell you, jumping from Kuuga to Ex-Aid is an incredible time warp.
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Apr 30, 2017 06:05
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Okay, I have a serious question: do doctors in Japan not have to take the Hippocratic oath? Do they not get taught to save all lives, then send them to the cops afterwards? Because we have here two licensed doctors - even if one had his license revoked - who work(ed) in a hospital, who perform non-magical Kamen Rider operations, who are real doctors - and they're out and out telling Emu that no, they're no interested in saving lives. In fact, instead of saving the literally dozens of people in danger, they're more interested in interrogating Emu about his past and then leaving. I don't, I don't understand. I know it's being played up for drama, but this is so jarringly out of place it's hard to swallow.
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Apr 30, 2017 12:09
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Hiiro and Taiga are assholes.
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Apr 30, 2017 13:55
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StrixNebulosa posted:Okay, I have a serious question: do doctors in Japan not have to take the Hippocratic oath? Do they not get taught to save all lives, then send them to the cops afterwards? How do you feel about cancer
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Apr 30, 2017 13:58
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Coq au Nandos posted:How do you feel about cancer It's bad and the sooner a cure can be found and cheaply produced for everyone the better. Why is this a relevant question?
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Apr 30, 2017 14:25
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StrixNebulosa posted:It's bad and the sooner a cure can be found and cheaply produced for everyone the better. No reason
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Apr 30, 2017 14:29
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Coq au Nandos posted:How do you feel about cancer He makes pretty good puns.
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Apr 30, 2017 17:28
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Oh boy People are not prepared for the wild ride
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Apr 30, 2017 17:54
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StrixNebulosa posted:Okay, I have a serious question: do doctors in Japan not have to take the Hippocratic oath? Do they not get taught to save all lives, then send them to the cops afterwards? I mean, saying the Hippocratic Oath doesn't bind a doctor to its terms. It's just a symbolic thing that's up to a doctor's own ethics to whether they follow it or not.
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Apr 30, 2017 18:45
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I've felt the same way watching a limited amount of Ex-Aid. Some of these guys seem like they should be working a private practice instead of working in a hospital with their "not my problem" attitudes. It's like the writers are trying to just have all the doctor stereotypes on television at once, and it's five pounds of formula in a two pound bag.
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Apr 30, 2017 19:23
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The doctor thing is completely secondary to the video game theme, or at least it's lesser in some ways, so the way they treat it is really hampered by a) vidya gams and b) the need to convey a simple plot to small children. In that light I can see why they'd stretch what a doctor is/does to the limit, but at the same time it's gonna really grate on people and I don't begrudge them that either.
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Apr 30, 2017 20:43
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They're not real doctors, they're escaped General Hospital characters.
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Apr 30, 2017 20:46
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They certainly escaped from somewhere.
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Apr 30, 2017 21:22
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Please, let us know how you feel when you get to the Mighty Brothers XX premiere
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May 1, 2017 01:51
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Ignis posted:Please, let us know how you feel when you get to the Mighty Brothers XX premiere I'm afraid this is going to have to wait a little bit because I am furious at how they killed off my favorite character and googling for spoilers indicates that he's still dead.  Call me nuts but I think it's a mark of a writer being a coward when they kill off a character when it isn't 100% essential to the plot. We now will never get to see him develop and have a friendship with Emu, we'll never get to see him tell another lie, and god knows if Emu will ever get to ride a motorcycle ever again. It's just, argh! I hate it when characters die for shock value! ** Yes I know he died so the writers wouldn't have to reveal information so spoiler-tastic they wouldn't even show it to the audience but god-drat it, put him in a coma at that point!
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May 1, 2017 08:56
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm afraid this is going to have to wait a little bit because I am furious at how they killed off my favorite character and googling for spoilers indicates that he's still dead. Your response more than justifies the writer's decision to do what they did, it takes the gloves off and tells you that your expectations for the show are going to need some slight adjusting. EX-AID is a wild rollercoaster and you haven't even gone through the first corkscrew yet. Also, Merry Christmas!
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May 1, 2017 13:14
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I'm also not sure how you'd define "essential" because that character's death changes a lot, and it would have been very different if he hadn't died. As far as I'm concerned his death was essential, especially in Dan's eyes since he could have greatly delayed of even stopped Dan's plans. I mean when you talk about deaths that aren't essential, I'm thinking more along the lines of if the head doctor at CR got killed. He hasn't played any major role in the plot and killing him off wouldn't accomplish anything, it'd just be something they did just because.
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May 1, 2017 15:42
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Don't watch any Ex-Aid specials, because like 90% of them do the thing of "what if that character came back???" and it basically removes all of the emotional impact of that scene.
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May 1, 2017 15:50
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StrixNebulosa posted:I'm afraid this is going to have to wait a little bit because I am furious at how they killed off my favorite character and googling for spoilers indicates that he's still dead. Yeah but now you've seen the second best suit design in Ex-Aid so far. DANGER DANGER GENOCIDE DEATH TO CRISIS Also the start of the slide into "Dan is the best/worst character in the world"
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May 1, 2017 17:10
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The Deleter posted:Don't watch any Ex-Aid specials, because like 90% of them do the thing of "what if that character came back???" and it basically removes all of the emotional impact of that scene. As far as I know none of the Ex-Aid specials do this. The only thing that's close is the GoRider special and that doesn't count because he's still dead, which is why he's hanging out with Another Agito, Kaito and Minato, and Dan who are also dead. On another note, the new Kyuranger combo looks about as mobile as Samurai Ha-Oh.
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May 1, 2017 18:50
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TheLastRoboKy posted:Your response more than justifies the writer's decision to do what they did, it takes the gloves off and tells you that your expectations for the show are going to need some slight adjusting. EX-AID is a wild rollercoaster and you haven't even gone through the first corkscrew yet. I guess it's really a matter of taste - I didn't even tear up when my favorite died, as the show hasn't gotten me that invested - whereas I did tear up several times in Kuuga just out of worry for my favorites. So ultimately my reaction is more shock and anger, as I just... I hate it when characters die. Especially ones I like. I wanted to see more of his arc more than I wanted to watch Emu being sad. (As I really don't like Emu? I would honestly take Hiiro or Taiga as the central character over him as they're more interesting.) That all said, sleeping on it (and having a wisdom teeth surgery) have led me to a place where I'll keep watching because hell why not. Fingers crossed it gives me reasons to become even slightly invested again! e: New favorite Hiiro steps in to keep me interested in the show. "Our battle is with this one!" Good level-headed man. e2: Also agreed, new villain design is incredible. Probably the best villain design I've seen yet in the franchise, outside of Kuuga's final boss. StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 23:49 on May 1, 2017 |
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May 1, 2017 22:33
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Nyaa is kill, dunno how/if that impacts toku beyond "go to the OT etc. site"
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May 2, 2017 03:53
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Motto posted:Nyaa is kill, dunno how/if that impacts toku beyond "go to the OT etc. site" Apparently older/rarer Ultraman stuff is going to be even harder to find. The Space Sheriff Gavan Blu-ray subs are a test of googlefu. Lord help me if I want to watch anything old that can't be streamed. Just when I got into toku, too! < >e: At least some of the older Sentai shows are getting DVD sets. I would give a lot for a Kuuga set, too. StrixNebulosa fucked around with this message at 04:04 on May 2, 2017 |
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May 2, 2017 03:56
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How Dead Is Nyaa? Like, just gone salt the Earth everything's to the wind? Or just down
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May 2, 2017 04:03
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Burkion posted:How http://over-ti.me/tldr/memoriam-likely-fallen/ So dead over-time's moving, as is OZC and others.
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May 2, 2017 04:05
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Part of me will miss seeing Products That Are Disgusting In Nature ads that bypass my adblock. Ah well. Kyurangers was super good this week. Can't believe how well they're pulling off Red. Minor complaint is that Blue just kinda feels like he exists solely for minor interactions or to further Red's arc.
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May 2, 2017 04:17
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