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Cross posting.Burkion posted:I have watched Gaim and I just do not care.
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Oct 9, 2013 04:54
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I don't recall any mention of people actually thinking they were supposed to be scrubs. Everyone seemed to like them until Baron cheated them off their stage.
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Oct 9, 2013 05:04
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jonjonaug posted:I'm watching Black right now and I'm having a blast with it. The monster designs and "evil plots of the week" are very entertaining and the whole show just exudes charm. I've never really watched any Kamen Riders before, so I'd say Black is a good place to start from. This a million times. Kamen Rider Black is fantastic and a great way to get into the series. It's like the most basic, streamlined series ever made.
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Oct 9, 2013 17:54
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Kamen Rider ZO was my first Rider ever. Then I got the HK Subs for Kamen Rider Black and was enthralled. Kuuga was my third, V3 was my fourth, then W. I watched OOOs weekly. I'm still working my way through Agito but it's not bad, just kind of annoying at times. I tried to watch Fourze but it's not the kind of show I enjoy honestly. If I had to rate them, V3 would come first, then Black, then Kuuga (though the two are really interchangeable) and W comes in fourth. Or behind ZO if that's an option.
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Oct 10, 2013 00:55
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One thing I realized, that I really dislike. Like, Kamen Rider is a toy show now, I get that. Fine, whatever. Could it at least not look like it? Kuuga had a poo poo ton of toys. All of his forms, his two bikes...but they were story based. They weren't thrown in as a gimmick, they were introduced due to plot and had a logical reason to exist. Kuuga felt like a drama series about a dude who became a monster to fight monsters, even if I have issues with Kuuga's design. The fact that he had so many other forms made sense and were seeded through out the series. I'd ask what changed but I know what changed. I miss Kamen Rider when it was trying to just be a fun super hero action show about a dude fighting monsters. That's when Kamen Rider is at its best, generally speaking. Gaim is just really disappointing so far. It feels like an anime that got crushed into a toy commercial.
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Oct 10, 2013 18:51
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Justin_Brett posted:The toys are more obvious now, but Kamen Rider has always been about selling poo poo. That's why television shows get green-lighted, because people think they'll make money. I know that, I just prefer it when it isn't so obvious. Tell your story first, let the toys be just cool things kids WANT to have. Don't literally shill them and make them look like toys, please. And honestly, I really hated Wizard's first episode. Like, I really hate it. I gave Fourze a few episodes even though the tone just didn't work for me, and it was fun but didn't keep my interest. OOOs I watched all the way through weekly, but I can't say I have any great urge to do so again. Wizard? Wizard gave me a headache and made me drop it first episode. Gaim is not as bad as Wizard, not by a long shot. It's just not very focused and all over the place. Oh and the dancing sucks. I will harp on this for as long as it's a thing in the story.
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Oct 10, 2013 19:52
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Caphi posted:It sounds like you just don't like Kamen Rider anymore. I mean, the story can justify the toys all it wants, but it's still obvious what they are. Some people don't have the ability to not mind and there's nothing wrong with that. I think you misspoke there. I love Kamen Rider. I don't like what it has become. I'm hoping Gaim will change things around, but the fruit theme is just so...irrevocably childish. Den-O pulled it off fine, Gaim is just not subtle at all, and the design of his weapons and suit just don't mesh well. The Gun Sword looks very awkward and forced, as if the gun part was an afterthought, and the orange sword is just kind of silly all around, far too large without looking like an actual weapon. The combined form is even worse, lacking any elegance in design, just two toys that aren't even the same sized attached at the hilt. I could over look all of this, however. V3 still has one of the worst Rider designs I've ever seen and Lord knows his show is campy as all hell today. Still the best series I've ever seen, however. The tone of the show, the balance, the sense of fun without sacrificing the danger involved-it had its slow moments, but V3 was fantastic even with all the silliness. Gaim, I hope, will surprise me as well. Not that I have much choice in the matter. I'm watching the show weekly with two other friends, one episode of Gaim and one episode of Black per week. I will note, as I know how this can come off-I liked Double just fine. I felt that the villains could have been better, but Double is the best case scenario for what Kamen Rider has become, and it was great. OOOs was just kind of bland and Maki was an awful main villain, but it had a lot of potential and I really liked how it ended for the most part.
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Oct 10, 2013 20:04
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And this is why I'm not saying Gaim sucks, despite me being so critical of the writing. Gaim looks like it could have promise, it really, honestly does. I want it to-and stuff like that, promises of the twists to come, honestly makes me hopeful. But the dancing is still far too stiff and has no energy. If you're going to dance, make a show of it for the love of God. What I think would have been wonderful? Work the dancing into the actual Rider stuff. Have him dance-fight. Ballet, break dancing, all kinds of different movements and styles would lend themselves to spicing up otherwise dull fights where the Rider in question just swings around his plastic swords. The suit, outside of the shoulder pads, lends itself well enough to that idea too. I doubt it'll happen though. EDIT: Holy crap the writer said exactly what I did. Now color me interested.
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Oct 10, 2013 20:53
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I fail to see the problem with criticizing dancing that is, on a technical level, awful and amateurish when they're supposed to be one of the elite dancing teams in the city that only got screwed over because of sabotage. You can't play the children's show defense on this, this isn't a writing issue. This is just straight up a failure on their behalf. I have SEEN children shows with better dancing than this. Hell, I've seen better break dancing in Kamen Rider than this. Kamen Rider Black had an episode where a small section of its B plot was about a bunch of break dancers who were competing with other break dancers for turf and Oh CHRIST that's where he got the inspiration from. Goddamnit Gen.
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Oct 11, 2013 19:03
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Rei_ posted:The last boss is that mean lady from Dance Moms and finally, finally, Burkion is vindicated in the final moments of the show. Well the director's vindicated me in the other matters!
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Oct 11, 2013 20:56
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Second episode is fine. Here is where I and Gaim begin to drift apart completely. The writing was OK for the most part but I REALLY have to wonder where the hell the police where, if there are police in this universe. Which there may not be. The dancing was OK. It was better than last week for sure, they didn't feel as stiff, but it still wasn't all that great and definitely shouldn't be a focus of the show unless they can really make a show of it. It didn't have a lot of energy or life to it, but benefited from people who felt more limber than loving geriatric white men, so good on it. Which brings me to where I drift. The episode was fine. It was silly and it meant to be silly and it was fun and it was light hearted and that's fine. It's not what I care for in Kamen Rider specifically, especially to this overt a degree, but that's why I'm not really complaining about it because there would be no basis in it. One thing I try not to do is rant about bullshit that I don't like without a good reason for why it doesn't work. Oh I could bring up a lot of things I'd change if the work was supposed to be more serious, but it really isn't and it really isn't trying to be. On a personal level, I do not really care for light, silly Rider series like this. ...which I feel is going to make the coming weeks rather painful. Not so much for the silliness which I'll just generally groan about but not really comment on, but for what I fear is a coming tone shift. Rumblings from the director in that interview, from the writer and his body of work, have me dreading that this show is going to live up to their promises of both being like the older Heisei Series, AND straight up emulating the dramatic, and ultimately tragic, relationship between Kamen Rider Black and Shadow Moon. Because, I'm sorry, but I don't think any amount of serious writing or good direction could ever make an orange wearing Samurai killing a Banana Wearing Knight serious OR dramatic, especially if the Knight then explodes into a bunch of orange slices. For those who are wondering why I'm still watching this even when I explicitly say that it is not the kind of show I enjoy? I am watching this show weekly with two friends. One episode of Gaim, one episode of Black. So yay, you guys get to keep hearing me talk about how crappy the dancing is. Lucky gents, you lot.
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Oct 15, 2013 05:49
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I'd say there's a reasonable reason why I over-think these things, but frankly that reason is that I'm a writer so I'd be lying my goddamn rear end off.
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Oct 15, 2013 06:24
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'Eh, I get to watch Black afterwards. It's not like I take this super seriously or anything, and hopefully some of my ramblings are amusing. I will say, that giant CGI monster was the single best dancer of the series so far. Clearly they just needed to challenge him to a dance off. Also I might force my friend to watch some really awful movies every other week. And then he does the same the weeks in between.
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Oct 15, 2013 15:00
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Parmesan Basil posted:*smacks table angrily* WHERE ARE THE COPS TO FIGHT AGAINST THIS CGI DEER MONSTER WITH THEIR GUNS BULLSHIT gently caress YOU URO-BOTCH-I That's not why I was asking where the cops were for. I was asking that because some random dumbass repeatedly showed off he had mysterious armor to everyone he possibly could, but no one questioned him on it. I ALSO said that it didn't REALLY matter, because it's strongly implied that the Company that owns the town want this to continue the way it is. Why would I complain about the cops not attacking the monster of this episode? Dude wasn't even around long enough for any of them to ARRIVE assuming they have any.
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Oct 16, 2013 15:29
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I do have to chime in. I could understand what they might have been trying to say with the sister, but Dear Christ not the way she said it. Basically what she said was Entertainment Is Not A Real Job. I don't think I need to go into why that's insulting and dumb, but I will share one thing. I was watching this with fellow goon Seer, who happens to be a video game programmer. He got a pretty good laugh at her nonsense. I really kinda hope that was a translation error across the board otherwise the sister is the least likable character of the show so far.
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Oct 23, 2013 15:24
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Like I said. I see the point they wanted to raise, but either the writer or the translation did a pretty bad job at realizing it.
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Oct 23, 2013 17:01
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I'm not going to say what I think should or shouldn't have been done on the plot side of things here, just note that I do understand what the intent was, just not the best way at all to go about it. I am curious what the purpose of staging the bike race is, what the purpose of forcing the two into the Inves dimension will be, because that was clearly the intention.
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Oct 23, 2013 19:58
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And others agree with the point, to a point, just not the way it was given. I really wish the episodes would, as odd as this is to say, slow the gently caress down and show us how the world actually works. We know very little about any of this, and there's no real status quo to speak of. Why is he getting paid? Who is paying him? Does this pay extend to other battles? What are the actual state of the games, such as they are? We don't know, and honestly the series has really mixed up a lot of its metaphors and ideas to the point of being incomprehensible at a glance and incoherent at a gaze.
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Oct 24, 2013 04:35
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Too dark given the tone of the series so far. Can't wait for that tonal backlash, let me tell you. Unless it never happens. Only it kind of already has.
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Dec 11, 2013 20:53
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Kamen Rider can go to some very, very dark places. Keep in mind, for the entire Showa Era (excluding RX because RX is a puss) all of the enemies, unless specifically stated otherwise, were once people. Normal, every day people, turned into horrific monsters and soulless cyborgs. More than a few episodes actually show us the guy who becomes the cyborg/monster, either as a good person before or a nasty one. One Sky Rider episode deals with a woman who retains her mind in her cyborg form and is horrified at what she has become, trying to suicide charge the villains but ultimately dying in vain. Then of course you have Kuuga where people got slaughtered in the dozens and hundreds, Faiz was another case of The Monsters Were People, Agito had murder mysteries and all that fun stuff... Kamen Rider is traditionally more mature and serious than Sentai, skewed to an older audience. Until Decade/Double, when that started skewing the other way. I honestly don't think Gaim could handle such themes though for one reason-it's goofy as gently caress for reasons beyond the fruit theme. There's Bravo entirely on his own, and also Gaim himself is a goddamn Loony Toons character as we see on several occasions. The tone shift would be way too harsh and jarring.
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Dec 11, 2013 21:22
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Rei_ posted:Admittedly, Urobochi has actually come under fire from the producer over how 'Anime' is writing is for Gaim. Yeah, it's been noticed.
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Dec 12, 2013 17:19
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Sakurazuka posted:In what way are other Kamen Rider shows noticeably less anime? The pacing, characters, and set up are generally key points. It's kind of like going from comic book writing to TV writing. In theory they should lend to one another, but they often don't. To go back to older Kamen Rider, just earlier Heisei stuff, it was written, especially shows like Agito or Kuuga, far more like a TV drama than an anime. Going back further than that is tricky, but also extremely telling. Why? While Kamen Rider hasn't had an anime series proper, that I am aware of, it has had several manga adaptations running at the same time. Mind these are all outdated, but it's the clearest example I can give. Kamen Rider Black's show VS it's manga were two very different beasts. The show focused on the action and the adventure thing and gave a greater focus to the monster of the week as a threat, or at least as part of the villain's plot. It had a small cast of characters to keep the focus tight and generally didn't stray too far as far as location goes. Kamen Rider Black the Manga focused on other things entirely. It actually downplayed the action and the monsters, and focused more on the general plots, to the point where entire chapters would go by with little to no fighting, and the monsters tended to either be inconsequential, or they'd show up in the droves just to get cut down. The cast of characters was also very high, and it'd bop around all over the planet. It's pretty much the reason why there still isn't a 'real' tokustatsu style anime, I think, that adheres to how toku tends to work as a genre. Except maybe Ultraman Joanis but I haven't seen that series. You'd think Kikiader would be a good example, but the anime followed the manga's foot steps and, again, downplayed the specific kind of action you tend to only see in Toku. To be fair though, that one is really hard to judge. The manga and TV show came out at the same time, to be sure, but the anime came out decades later. Gaim has had a very anime-esque style plot to it from the get go, which a lot of people have noticed. I find it interesting that Gen is getting flack for it from his producer.
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Dec 12, 2013 18:11
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I am not advocating changing it, I am just pointing out the fact that there is a difference. I think it's the tone of Gaim that's going to hurt it in the long run, if it does try to get super serious and dramatic later. It's putting almost all of its eggs into the Wacky bucket, which is fine. Mood whiplash is a thing, however, and a bad thing more than not.
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Dec 15, 2013 21:43
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Caithness posted:Sailor Moon and Precure seem pretty tokusatsu to me. I can't speak about Precure, never seen it, but Sailor Moon's action and monsters are not the focus by and large-though it's one of the closest I can say. It definately was inspired by Toku, but it's not quite there, defining its own genre of newer magical girl style shows. I've heard good things about Samurai Flamenco, but again, haven't seen it. Tiger and Bunny, to me, is way more 'comic book super hero' than Toku. Though I will amend myself-there aren't TYPICALLY toku-style anime, so you can tell the difference when you see it. Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, Bleach, none of those are toku, despite being action adventure stuff. Guyver isn't either, to me, which seriously guys none of you brought up Guyver? None of you? But then it's all subjective I guess.
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Dec 16, 2013 04:37
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Potsticker posted:Double starts with Double. He's got all his powers and knows how to use them. That's not QUITE true. It starts right before Double becomes Double, and then we get a time skip. Also, Wade, watch Kuuga before I loving shiv you.
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Dec 24, 2013 07:01
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Heisei Era started during the tail end of RX, yeah. The original Rider series are very different compared to how it works nowadays, if only because the majority were made in the early 70s. But, I'd still try to watch one of the better ones, at least. V3 is just fantastic all around, the original is a roller coaster of WTF as it tries to find its footing and figure out what it wants to be...and has to replace the lead actor due to him shattering his leg. Stronger is one of the most fun Kamen Riders of all time forever-just really skim past the first 7 episodes. It only hits its stride 8 episodes in. EDIT: Aw gently caress it, SHOWA THOUGHTS! ZO is a good movie, and ISN'T A loving SHOWA RIDER TOEI, but it more so captures the style of Black and RX, rather than the whole Showa Era. For that you'd want ZX, the other Z Rider, which actually has all of the Riders made before Black in the same outing. The original, like I said, is very interesting, but it's pretty much got like a dozen different eras within it. The first 13 episodes are their own thing, and even then the show was evolving during those 13 episodes. You'll notice a sharp difference when Ichigo, the first Rider, stops being pragmatic and starts posing and calling out RIDER every other minute during his fights. After the first 13, Niigo, the second, takes over and well the show rarely holds still for long. V3 is just really fantastic all the way around. It's constantly changing up the villains in a good way, giving each just enough time for something cool to go down. My favorite Rider series, bar none. X is sadly mostly unsubbed, but it's monsters alone, when it does get subbed, justify watching. ANT CAPONE. STARFISH HITLER. Amazon is amazing, especially if you want to see two monster men tear into each other and lots of fake blood and foam everygoddamnwhere. Stronger, as said, piss poor first 7 episodes, the rest is golden. Sky Rider is actually really slow, and part of that is because it's not technically part of the original era. Stronger was the effective end for the Showa Riders, as the show went on hiatus for a few years, before they brought it back with the quasi-remake Sky Rider, which eventually became a straight up continuation. As such, the action is a lot slower, possibly due to just not having practice. It's also got more crossovers than anything else, and I'm counting Decade. Super-1 is ProtoFourze only, when you get to the second half, sillier. He fights a goddamn umbrella cyborg. I'm not sure if I need to say more. Sadly, mostly unsubbed. Kamen Rider Black is a weird show. It's not like the Showa Riders that came before, but it's not like what would come later, either. The closest comparison is with Kuuga, but even there they were both trying to do very different things with the action. Where Kuuga wanted a very gritty, realistic action, Black wanted super heroic, hot blooded action. I personally love Black, it's tied with Kuuga as my second favorite, but it is also episodic as hell. Partly because the main guy in charge of the show quit after episode two and the production team was in shambles. Whoops. Kamen Rider Black RX is, quality of the show itself, a lovely sequel. I don't think anyone would ever disagree with that. Even if you think RX is better than Black, it's still not a good sequel. As far as the show itself goes, it's less Kamen Rider and more Metal Hero...sort of. See, you may have never seen a Metal Hero series, which is fine. Heisei Rider takes more than a few elements from Metal Heroes now and again, and RX was the start of the trend, effectively being a Metal Hero with bug eyes. RX is really and truly a proto-Heisei Rider, down to form changes and a useless bike, which is fitting since he's technically the first Heisei Rider. Burkion fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Dec 25, 2013 |
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Dec 25, 2013 15:08
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Blade is a show I keep really meaning to watch. I really do. I just, for some reason, can't get past the suit. I really do not like Blade's design. I have no idea why that's stopping me-my least favorite Kamen Rider design, bar none? V3. And he's my favorite Rider. Maybe the new subs will help kick my rear end into watching it.
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Dec 26, 2013 02:09
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Liar Lyre posted:Who here seriously thought that the street dancing fruit samurai series was gonna get this serious? Because I was fully expecting a series more like Kyoryuger *Crosses arms.*
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Dec 30, 2013 00:46
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King of Solomon posted:Take a look at Ryuki sometime. No, no, I stand with Lyre on this one. It doesn't, and absolutely NOTHING, outside of the stupid melodrama of Gaim crying in his loving bedroom when he got pushed too hard, suggested it would be serious or dramatic. In fact the last few episodes have done everything to beat the idea that it's going to be goofy Loony Toons bullshit as hard as it can. Hopefully the show can survive the shift to serious because that really does look like it's the heading place, but I'm afraid of the massive amounts of whiplash that will follow if the show doesn't pick a loving format. But then I've already mentioned this earlier in the thread. We'll see. Ryuki, from the get go, screams "This Is Not Going To Be Light Hearted". You have to make a contract with a horrible monster to become something other than human and then you have to feed the monster other monsters or it'll eat you, AND there are 12 others like you that you have to personally kill so that you can be the Highlander? Very, very removed from "dancing kids who wear samurai fruit armor. Oh and there's a gay flamboyant chef some where who implies he's going to rape a banana before falling for a melon."
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Dec 30, 2013 01:41
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RBX posted:Wait a minute that's the plot of Ryuki?!! Why haven't I watched that sooner. Yeah, it's pretty much Kamen Rider Highlander, only with contracts being made with horrible monsters (and yes, the idea of making a contract with more than one monster IS explored) and exploring how...truly terrible some people can be. Also the reason you might not have seen it sooner is because the only subs that I'm aware of are TVN.
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Dec 30, 2013 02:01
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Liar Lyre posted:Since we're talking Ryuki, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. Faithful or loose adaptation? One is Highlander the Rider Series. The other, Dragon Knight, is "Alien invasion and all the Riders are best friends". Very, very, very loose.
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Dec 30, 2013 05:29
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Twelve by Pies posted:I was more talking about how much of the suit footage (which I assume they just adapted and didn't shoot any new stuff like Power Rangers does) was mostly Riders fighting each other. I'm just confused as to how they adapted that as the Riders all being buddies given that. Oh, oh no, they shot new footage. They shot a LOT of new footage, actually. How much? Well I'll put it this way. Kamen Rider Swan, renamed Siren, was a main hero. For those of you who know who THAT is, you'll get why that's insane.
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Dec 31, 2013 20:23
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Knights would, I think. I really don't know why it's so hard to make your own Toku. I guess it's just easier in Japan because they have everything set up already to do it? I'd love to see an original American Power Ranger series.
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Jan 1, 2014 00:24
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jonjonaug posted:This episode was great. Joke about how you'd love Agito/Fiaz/Inoue writing in three, two, one...
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Jan 6, 2014 04:30
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Oh hey, cool, my complaints about this not being a Rider story is, AGAIN, apparently Authorial Intent. What the gently caress.
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Jan 9, 2014 18:35
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Monathin posted:I think that it's been developing into a Rider show for a while now - see Kouta's declaration at the end of the last episode. But I dunno man, you seem to be pretty judgmental over fruity warlords fighting each other. No, no, last episode was a step in the right direction. He actually used a Rider Kick in his base form for once and cared more about actually saving lives than other nonsense. I also call you out on that last bit. I'm not pretty judgmental-I'm VERY judgmental. Key difference is, I want this show to be a good Rider series. So far it's been an alright, if wildly inconsistent in tone, show with a lot of anime trappings, but it has not really been a Rider show. I hope that changes as it has been.
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Jan 9, 2014 18:57
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ZenMasterBullshit posted:You should actually watch some loving Early Heisei poo poo because this has been a Rider show since the beginning. It just hasn't been one about JUSTICE. This first arc was the typical "Super Hero learns what it means to be a hero/event happens to force them to grow up into being a hero". The only difference between say, gaim and Double or OOO, is that normally that poo poo's just backstory (Dead Boss, Dead 3rd World Girl) Gaim just took the time to sit down and actually show you that emotional journey since it's both super important and gives a chance to really flesh out the whole cast which the writers have taken full advantage from. Kouta and Micchy alone have gotten more character development in 14 episodes than most Riders get their whole show. I love Kamen Rider Kuuga a lot, it's my second favorite Rider series ever. I am OK with Agito for the most part though was annoyed at how inactive most of the heroes were and how the show took a while to actually find its footing. Ryuki I can't say I'm a fan of mostly due to the ending. Fiaz I have not seen in full but it is often aimless and rife with miscommunication bullshit. Kabuto, Blade and Den-O I have only seen the first episodes of each. Kabuto has an interesting first episode, Den-O just isn't my cup of tea, and Blade was kind of boring. I have not seen Kiva in any fashion. Decade is a horrible piece of garbage that has awful acting, awful writing, and awful characters. Double was fine, though I felt the villains could have been stronger and the 'comedy' could have been reigned in a bit to fit everything else. OOO was a mess of a show but also a lot of fun. I don't regret watching it, but I'm not sure I could have kept watching it if I didn't watch it in real time. I acknowledge the faults that fell just on bad circumstance, and enjoyed what was given-but Maki was still an awful main villain. Fourze was fine, just not much my cup of tea. Wizard is a bland piece of wet cardboard. Have I watched enough Heisei Rider for you now, or should I go watch G right quick? Oh and because they loving count, Toei, ZO is one of my favorite Riders of all time and was the first Kamen Rider I ever saw, and I have not seen J. My issue with Gaim isn't with the character's its bringing in-it's the lack of focus of the first few episodes and the tonal wonkiness of the episodes after. I fully believe, and have said, that the last few have been fine, however. I would have personally preferred to hold off on showing the monsters as threats until after we got Bravo, or just before, so that we could focus purely on the characters and not make the monsters look completely one note as they have been. But again, it's been improving which I have already said.
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Jan 9, 2014 19:32
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I've gone into this earlier in the thread, I believe. The flaws I found with Gaim, which have been steadily improving AGAIN, were an episode to episode thing. And also, and this is the kicker-entirely personal to me and me alone. The monsters felt like absolute jokes to begin with, only recently have they been a danger-and in one of those events it was wacky shenanigans trying to catch the thing for most of the episode which doesn't gel with trying to present the monster as a threat. I understand they wanted to focus on the characters more than the monsters and that the monsters weren't the point to begin with, but here's why I can't accept that as an excuse. GranSazer. Gransazer did it so well. It was another Toku Show that had a ridiculous cast of characters, 12 in all. They all had complex motivations, for the most part and were often at odds with one another and needed introducing, as well as setting up the world at large and how poo poo worked. So, what GranSazer did that I adored was completely and totally cut out the MOTW format entirely. For the first 9 episodes the action was purely the heroes fighting each other for understandable reasons. Then the first main villain stepped up and got defeated, then we got three new villains, one who got taken down with the introduction of the rest of the Sazers, one that lasted a bit longer, and the last who went all the way to the finale. We didn't start getting MOTW plots until 26 episodes in. Mind you, GranSazer then promptly collapsed under itself after that, but that's neither here nor there. I also understood what they were going for as far as the tone goes, the difference between the serious plot with the Forest and Zangetsu, and the lighter one with low stakes that made up the kids. The issue is that they went too far in the other direction with the kids plot to the point where the juxtaposing was really, really broken. Scenes like Gaim being dragged away because he scared an old lady, or literally hanging in the air on his bike like a loony toons character-or the entirety of Bravo's first episode for that matter- is just too far removed from where it will end up. The tone of the last few episodes has been much better, even calming Bravo down has done a ton. I understand that a lot of Bravo's nonsense, like the word balloons and such, were the fault of the director, not the writer, so I don't hold anything against him on it. But yeah. It's really, really hard to be as light hearted as Den-O and then try to transition to something more serious without coming off as jarring. A lot of it is personal preference and I admit that. I wish Gaim the best of luck in growing up-if that's what it is doing. Also most of the problems with the first episode I covered waaaay back, and amusingly most of the issues I had were addressed by the writer in an interview not too long after as being intetional. Which is what prompted this recent bit of Me and the Writer being on the same page that started this nonsense.
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Jan 9, 2014 20:16
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Rei_ posted:Have you considered Kamen Rider just might not be your thing? Like I said this during Wizard, and then took my own advice, but like, literally the only thing connecting this entire franchise is sometimes the dude rides a motorcycle. It's okay to not be watching it week to week if literally the vast majority of this franchise since 2001 is 'not your cup of tea'. Did you miss the multiple times I mentioned that it was getting better and I was enjoying what it has been doing? I tried to stress that for a reason. I'm not one of those fans that watches something just to bitch at it, unless I have an excuse anyways. (Mostly the excuse is spite) I dropped Fourze after only a few episodes because of that very reason.
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Jan 9, 2014 20:47
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ZenMasterBullshit posted:Also the monster not being in focus/treated like the biggest threat is kind of a dumb thing to complain about when the main theme of this show, like the entire point behind it, is an Endless Rider War. Like, well duh they're being treated as more than grunts/foot soldiers because they're not the real threat. Yggdrasil is. Zangetsu is. Baron is. Um, so, you're just not actually reading a thing I said then? Got it. I said, literally, the opposite-I would have preferred if they DROPPED the monsters almost entirely to focus purely on the characters, like GranSazer. That's the whole reason I went on a mini thing about GranSazer because I loved how it tackled the Too Many Heroes To Introduce For Villains To Matter thing. I loving love Monsters of the Week, I really do. When they're done well, they can MAKE a season. Kamen Rider has a rich history of fantastic MOTW, and it's one reason I love Black and V3 so much-but not all stories need them. Some really, really don't. Gaim is one of those. What annoyed me was that they kept throwing in the monsters when they really should have just focused on the Rider action, up to the point where the monsters start being an actual threat. To compare it to two other Toku, I love Metalder because it doesn't have MOTW, it just has a poo poo LOAD of villains, and I love Bioman because the MOTW are all giant robots that don't bother being human sized, leaving the five main monsters to be reoccuring threats across most of the series. Gaim started, however, finding a good balance between monsters and Riders recently and that's cool. I legitimately am looking forward to where it leads. Especially if certain rumors prove true.
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Jan 10, 2014 04:02
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