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I don't have the energy for a full review at the moment, but I just finished Agito, and when the writer isn't being a complete dumbo, it's a good show. The characters are immensely charming, the main riders are great, and the suit designs were on-point. That said the show wanted to spend most of its time being immensely stupid / mysterious for no reason, and instead of a finale it went out of its way to make me explode with rage. Introducing two female characters for the sole purpose of using them to create angst for Ryou and/or to resolve angst for Shouichi and Shouichi-2 is the first offense. Having Houjou AND the police brass decide that no, they're sorry, they actually condone the murder of civilians and will go out of their way to make sure civilians are murdered, by using the reasoning that they're "different and dangerous" - keep in mind that psychic abilities are often used as a code for mentally ill / queer / equally ostracized people - so they basically said to me, a mentally ill queer person, that I deserve to die - well! gently caress them! I know the intent of that was to say that Agito are an alien threat blah blah blah, no, damnit, no. You've been displaying Agito powers as randomly chosen psychic powers that manifest into turning into a suited rider, given all of the Riders themes of dealing with ostracization and accepting themselves, excuse me, the sudden decision to have the brass become murderers is horrifying and awful and I did not enjoy it in the slightest. ... Okay Hikawa coming back with Ozawa was cool, but that's it, that was cheap drama that you shoe-horned in. Additionally I would have appreciated it if the main villain was even slightly better developed - I know they're supposed to be a confused alien deity, but ehhhhnnnnnnn. (Also I wasn't invested in Shouichi-2 at all so him getting nice closure was kind of an asspull.) Okay, apparently I have enough energy to be mad at Agito for things. But. Hikawa was consistently an amazing character, and his chemistry with everyone was fantastic. The sequence where he found out about Shouichi being the main rider was incredible! Ozawa, best character hands down. I'm happy she got a normal life her way. Ryou, best rider, I hope he and his dog have a good time working at garages and growing to be the best possible mentor for troubled teens they can be. He's the Rider I was most invested in, so him getting a happy ending was most important to me.  Houjou was fun to hate for most of the series and I would've had him down as a favorite character up until he concluded that it's okay to murder people who are different, at which point he became the most realistic villain in a toku show that I've seen yet. May he rot in peace somewhere. And uhh, oh right, the other people. They were okay. So in conclusion, Agito was saved for my by having some spectacular sequences, by having some truly lovable characters, and so on and so forth. drat, though, did it try to destroy itself in the end. I don't think I'll be back for a rewatch. Bonus meta idea: I think the structure of the show itself would've been improved if it had shown episode 42 (the one where everything on the Akatsuki was revealed) first in the series. Keeping that central element secret for most of the show made seeing the people from the boat annoyingly mysterious, not compelling, and I felt nothing but relieved when certain characters died/otherwise got out of the plot. (Kino excepted, he finally became a decent character in his final eps) Agito suffered a lot for being super mysterious and teasing answers, then refusing them - and then it went and crammed everything into a string of episodes that worked as a finale (before the tacked on "a month later" stuff) - but a rushed one. I would have enjoyed Agito more if I had spent the series watching amnesiac Shouichi run into these people I like and want to survive - and then the horror as they die, one by one. That's my personal taste in horror standing out, but I wish... I wish Agito had been better. It had the seeds of something great, and it feels like it squandered it for Yet Another Plotline Where Houjou Tries To Take Down Ozawa and Hikawa. Anyways I'm not watching Faiz or Kiva until I'm ready to be angry for most of the show again. Apparently miscommunication is a theme of the writer and if he handles it like this, my blood pressure can't take it. So! I have thrown away my "do things in chronological order" idea and I'm watching W next. I love the first five minutes, I'm ready for the rest when I've had a full night of sleep, and it'll be good times all around.  (Also watching: Bioman, Return of Ultraman, Juspion. Marathons come as the whim demands it~)
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May 26, 2017 11:03
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God. https://twitter.com/TokuNation/status/868262110068842496
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May 27, 2017 01:29
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Don't read about what Inoue thinks happens to Ryou's dog. Sometimes Inoue is a poo poo and gets too caught up in making characters miserable.
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May 27, 2017 03:51
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Scratchman Apoo posted:Don't read about what Inoue thinks happens to Ryou's dog. Sometimes Inoue is a poo poo and gets too caught up in making characters miserable.  Inoue!
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May 27, 2017 03:59
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Inoue is a lovely writer who had some good ideas once but is over reliant on misery porn and frequently works rape heavy over tones into his work whenever possible. He is 99% the reason I despise Jetman. The other % is that all of the heroes are unlikable pieces of poo poo except for Gai who is instead a borderline rapist but at least some times he's almost a fun main character.
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May 27, 2017 04:02
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Scratchman Apoo posted:Don't read about what Inoue thinks happens to Ryou's dog. Sometimes Inoue is a poo poo and gets too caught up in making characters miserable. Edit: Dude even looks like a KR villain. 
girl dick energy fucked around with this message at 04:43 on May 27, 2017 |
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May 27, 2017 04:35
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Burkion posted:Inoue is a lovely writer who had some good ideas once but is over reliant on misery porn and frequently works rape heavy over tones into his work whenever possible. I'm assuming he was responsible for the infamous scene in the Faiz novel then (it still baffles me how anyone could think that was a good idea)?
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May 27, 2017 04:58
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Larryb posted:I'm assuming he was responsible for the infamous scene in the Faiz novel then (it still baffles me how anyone could think that was a good idea)? Considering he was the writer, I would heavily suspect that to be the case. It paints a nice picture with how he wrote Gai in certain scenes too. And by nice I mean ugh
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May 27, 2017 05:30
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I actually don't know what you guys are talking about right now
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May 27, 2017 05:55
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You don't want to
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May 27, 2017 05:56
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Burkion posted:Inoue is a lovely writer who had some good ideas once but is over reliant on misery porn and frequently works rape heavy over tones into his work whenever possible. Not to mention he's partially behind Faiz and Kiva badly handling their respective gimmicks(it's criminal how little Axel Form and Blaster Form got used)
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May 27, 2017 07:02
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Blockhouse posted:I actually don't know what you guys are talking about right now I haven't actually read said novel to be honest (come to think of it, are there translations available for any of them? If so, are any of the KR novels any good?) but if you must know, apparently it contains a scene where Kusaka comes back and rapes Mari. While admittedly this is totally in character for him (the man was basically human garbage from beginning to end and had kind of a creepy obsession with her), even by Japanese standards this doesn't sound like something you should put into the novelization of a kids show. Larryb fucked around with this message at 13:26 on May 27, 2017 |
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May 27, 2017 13:23
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New magazine scans are out and Exaid mail by be the best Kamen rider. Holy poo poo these loving twists
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May 27, 2017 22:32
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 Meet the dumbest monster of the week design I've ever seen in any show, anywhere - and I've seen Sailor Moon! This is just fantastically drab and dumb, it's impressively stupid. (Also W continues to be immensely charming! I am digging Sho and Philip's interactions~)
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May 27, 2017 23:59
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StrixNebulosa posted:
I look forward to your input on Heaven's Tornado.
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May 28, 2017 00:10
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https://twitter.com/SpecialForm12/status/868466975995039744 This is a legit cool design.
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May 28, 2017 00:36
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 This week's Kyuranger was one heck of an episode.
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May 29, 2017 06:13
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StrixNebulosa posted:https://twitter.com/SpecialForm12/status/868466975995039744 It does look super sweet, but I wish Fuma had his own belt or no belt because the Gamer Driver really does not fit that design. The colors are too clashing.
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May 29, 2017 06:16
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Cough Drop The Beat posted:It does look super sweet, but I wish Fuma had his own belt or no belt because the Gamer Driver really does not fit that design. The colors are too clashing. The Gamer Driver barely fits the character who literally shares it's color palette
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May 29, 2017 06:20
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ArmyOfMidgets posted:
Yeah uhh, I didn't expect something this intense from it. Scorpio's betrayal was obvious, but I didn't think this light-hearted of a Sentai would show someone genuinely break down so hard they become suicidal, much less that they'd have the balls to even temporarily kill someone. Champ's so cool, even to the very end. And poor Stinger, that was despair-inducing right there. Cough Drop The Beat posted:It does look super sweet, but I wish Fuma had his own belt or no belt because the Gamer Driver really does not fit that design. The colors are too clashing. It also really stands out due to how bulky it is in comparison to Fuma's design. Even the Buggle Driver would've been a better fit, but I guess it'd also mean having to justify it crying out GENOCIDE, and the Buggle Driver II is Bugster- and full immunity-only and we don't know what Kamen Rider Fuuma is yet.
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May 29, 2017 06:20
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Blaze Dragon posted:Yeah uhh, I didn't expect something this intense from it. Scorpio's betrayal was obvious, but I didn't think this light-hearted of a Sentai would show someone genuinely break down so hard they become suicidal, much less that they'd have the balls to even temporarily kill someone. Champ's so cool, even to the very end. And poor Stinger, that was despair-inducing right there. It was so obvious, but hearing Stinger believe it wholesale and even drop all that info was just heartcrushing when the 'reveal' happened. Even small stuff like Stinger showing his back to Scorpio for bits of it was just. Wow. Almost made me wish Scorpio was just being Space Itachi Uchiha  Champ is a loving champ. God. They picked the right character to 'kill' there.... it's gonna suck hard (emotionally, in the good way) if they play with the "is this Really the robot we know?" angle. Super did not expect any of this for our happy-go-lucky mega explosion sentai. At least next week it's Balance and Garo having a buddy adventure.
MorningMoon fucked around with this message at 06:34 on May 29, 2017 |
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May 29, 2017 06:31
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This week in Amazons: everybody fucks up royally. As Yamato would say, all lives are connected.
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May 29, 2017 19:23
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Twelve by Pies posted:This week in Amazons: everybody fucks up royally. That is an insanely apt description of the episode. Although I'm willing to put a huge chunk of the blame on Takayama Jin, literal cannibal. Also, Chihiro may be the single most unlucky and screwed person in all of Rider. The lyrics of the new ending are pretty appropriate to his entire mess. Edit: Also, this means Chihiro's four at most, right? gourdcaptain fucked around with this message at 22:24 on May 29, 2017 |
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May 29, 2017 22:17
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Well I saw that ending coming (after all, Jin himself isn't exempt from his vow to rid the world of Amazons so why should his son be?). Still though, I agree that kid is pretty hosed up, even by Rider standards. Amazons is getting really interesting as it goes along (not that it wasn't good from the start mind you), it almost makes me sad that we've only got 5 more episodes now until it's over for good.
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May 30, 2017 00:14
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It's like Stinger and Champ are the protagonists of a Rider series just passively going on in the background of a Sentai series, and we get to check on them during the big plot beats rather than every monster of the week.
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May 30, 2017 20:49
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Are the scrubs for Blade good? or do I need to continue waiting for quality?
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May 30, 2017 22:06
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mikeycp posted:Are the scrubs for Blade good? or do I need to continue waiting for quality? Video quality is pretty good (as opposed to the abysmal ones for the TV-N release), subs are.. better, but still not great. I'd give it a watch, though. Also, if stuff sounds awkward... listen to the actor's performances in early episodes especially, I'm not entirely unconvinced some of it isn't just in the original. Given famous stuff like the Tachibana "MY BODY IS FALLING APART!" and Kenzaki communicating entirely in shouts...
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May 30, 2017 23:09
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One thing about Kyuranger that stands out is how there's a bit less MotW going on compared to other Sentai. Presumably it's because the 9+ Kyuranger suits take up a lot more of the costume budget so it's taken away from the villain side.
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May 31, 2017 12:46
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Xelkelvos posted:One thing about Kyuranger that stands out is how there's a bit less MotW going on compared to other Sentai. Presumably it's because the 9+ Kyuranger suits take up a lot more of the costume budget so it's taken away from the villain side. The actual villain designs have been kind of hit or miss (Scorpio, Ikagen, and Madakko are great, though), but the villain *concepts* are really tight. I like how they all basically have the power to disrupt a really specific area of a civilization's culture, to the effect of causing massive morale damage to the populace. It's a really clever interpretation of the Super Sentai "monster that would just be a nuisance if their powers didn't affect a whole city" trope. Like, those guys have a legit use when you're trying to subjugate a planet- you completely erase the existing culture, leaving the natives with nothing left to live for.
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May 31, 2017 12:59
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ToQger did it better
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May 31, 2017 13:00
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deadly_pudding posted:The actual villain designs have been kind of hit or miss (Scorpio, Ikagen, and Madakko are great, though), but the villain *concepts* are really tight. I like how they all basically have the power to disrupt a really specific area of a civilization's culture, to the effect of causing massive morale damage to the populace. It's a really clever interpretation of the Super Sentai "monster that would just be a nuisance if their powers didn't affect a whole city" trope. Like, those guys have a legit use when you're trying to subjugate a planet- you completely erase the existing culture, leaving the natives with nothing left to live for. it's more like we're at episode 16 and there's been only 7 unique MotW. Everyone other monster they've fought is either a General, a modified Tsuyoindaver (the big mooks), or Deathworms. Typically, in addition to the generals, there'd be at least 14 different monsters that would've been fought.
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May 31, 2017 14:09
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man this was betrayal week in tokuland something fierce
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May 31, 2017 19:51
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deadly_pudding posted:The actual villain designs have been kind of hit or miss (Scorpio, Ikagen, and Madakko are great, though), but the villain *concepts* are really tight. I like how they all basically have the power to disrupt a really specific area of a civilization's culture, to the effect of causing massive morale damage to the populace. It's a really clever interpretation of the Super Sentai "monster that would just be a nuisance if their powers didn't affect a whole city" trope. Like, those guys have a legit use when you're trying to subjugate a planet- you completely erase the existing culture, leaving the natives with nothing left to live for. The Dora Monsters still win out in that area in my opinion, like how they made the pig monster a threat with his wanting to eat everything shtick by giving him super speed, so he legitimately could have ended up killing a lot of people that way if he hadn't been stopped
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May 31, 2017 20:01
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  You're in the middle of a fight...? ???? ??????
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Jun 2, 2017 08:18
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That part rules
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Jun 2, 2017 12:34
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StrixNebulosa posted:
Welcome to the one skippable arc of W.
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Jun 2, 2017 13:54
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it's a rite of passage for kr fans.
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Jun 2, 2017 13:55
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Heaven's Tornado is the best thing, and I won't have anyone sully the power of a teen wearing a Tupac shirt. 
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Jun 2, 2017 14:01
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LightningKimba posted:Heaven's Tornado is the best thing, and I won't have anyone sully the power of a teen wearing a Tupac shirt. Stockholm Syndrome in this post.
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Jun 2, 2017 14:03
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LightningKimba posted:Heaven's Tornado is the best thing, and I won't have anyone sully the power of a teen wearing a Tupac shirt.
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Jun 2, 2017 14:03
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