Kamen Rider DCD #10 (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS for everything that is awesome about this episode...and it really is awesome]

Within the first five seconds I was like ‘Oh, that’s Mari! That’s Mari!’…and of course, it wasn’t. What it was however, was a Kamen Rider beating down a girl with a lightsabre, followed by a car crash of Hana Yori Dango and Prince of Tennis, all of which worked surprisingly well.

I really hate to admit all this because such things are usually the domain of my wife’s selection of TV shows but the structure of the episode worked amazingly well, infinitely better than the angsterific set up of the original source material. Like ‘Kiva’s World’, I would quite happily watch an entire series based on this alone.

Oogami Takumi is infinitely preferable to Inui Takumi and, whilst, Yuri doesn’t have all of Mari’s bite as a character, she is really endearing.

I was a little confused by the F4 antics of the Lucky Clover group, if only because I spent the entire episode assuming that they were Kiba Yuji, Osada Yuka, Kaido Naoya and…ah, Ishida Uryu.

"Quincy Archer hates you!"

But I’m guessing the Lucky Clover and Takumi’s impressions of Tsukushi Makino aren’t what a lot of people are talking about with this episode. Obviously, they’re talking about…Kamen Rider Kabuki!!

…

Or not.

As I’m sure is being documented on a million blogs right now, #10 marks the first in-suit appearance of Kaito Daiki/Kamen Rider Diend, putting paid to my crack theories of alterna-Tsukasa. Kaito’s ability seems to be connected with movie exclusive Riders thus far, hence the manifestation of Kabuki and some character from Kabuto (I think) that I can’t be bothered to look up, having never been a fan of the show (over to you, Arrow!). I’m surprised that, like Tsukasa himself, he’s not a bad character at all. He’s a bit of an arse but, for the most part, he’s not the usual two dimensional character evidenced by a lot of the second Riders in the Heisei series. It’s interesting to see the difference in his fighting style and the awful armour comprised of a thousand ZX Spectrums but, needless to say, in order to accommodate his role in the series, there’s a lot less of Natsumi and Yuusuke in this episode. I want to say that I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come but I fear that it is.

"kabukimono"

So, how to sum up? Episode #10 is another solid episode in a series that continues to be both versatile and enjoyable in the stories it’s telling. It’s really tough finding fault with the show…although, if truth be told, I am hoping for an appearance from Smart Lady in the next episode.

Also: is it just me or was Tsukasa’s hair in this episode styled after the original Takumi? (^_^);

Kamen Rider DCD #9 (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS!!

Seriously, this whole commentary will make you unhappy if you're following the fansubbed versions only, so...]

Guys! It’s okay! I don’t think Todoroki is a bad guy!

I know you’ve been on tender-hooks all week about this, but I really think that Todoroki isn’t a bad guy or, at least working from the same page as lesser ‘Riders’ such as Kaixa…even if it turns out their all reading from the same book. It’s hard to tell exactly *what* Todoroki is up to but basically it seems to amount to playing guitar and blowing stuff up…and then not being there anymore. What he doesn’t do, during any of this, is directly confront DCD…and neither does our blue coloured second Rider character, who I believe is somehow in charge of both Hat Man and the secondary Riders (unless this new character is the secondary Riders, ala DCD’s assumption of primary Rider forms…however that wouldn’t explain the change in voices).

"For those about to rock..."

Confrontation looks like it is on the cards but not for another episode or so which, by the seems of it, will also debut our ‘Niigo’ Rider’s hideous armour…and it is hideous, make no mistake about that.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Before we deal with episode #10’s inevitable Rider vs. Rider showdown (and I want to complain about how this is a common trope of Heisei Rider shows, but there’s just no point in trying to argue it here as the whole show is about Rider vs. Rider showdowns), episode #9 presents us with what may possibly be an alternate Tsukasa.

Don’t quote me on this, but I could have sworn that ‘Niigo’ identified himself as Tsukasa and, if this is the case, then it adds a whole new level of complexity to the way in which the show’s storyline is unfolding.

"...we salute you!"

In regards to changes to opinions regarding the arc’s opening, Mutsuki proves that just having awesome jumpers doesn’t make you a nice guy (in fact he turns out to be the biggest arse of all three of Blade’s initial Riders) and Shijo Hajime/Kamen Rider Chalice reveals his plan to become not only the strongest Rider but also the strongest Undead. Apparently this is related to the set up in the original series, but once again, I’m afraid I can’t comment on such aspects.

Blade’s Final Form Ride is, like Ryuki’s transformation, somewhat uninspiring – in fact both Ryuki and Blade’s new forms could almost be referred to as derivative versions of the forms assumed by Kuuga and Kiva respectively.

After a somewhat short and disappointing confrontation, a fight that was by far the least convincing confrontation of any of the arcs thus far, everything is put right and the scene is set for a visit to ‘Faizu’s World’.

I really have never been a big fan of Faizu as a show, finding it boring at best and mind-numbingly tedious at worst. Inui Takumi has got to be one of the most uncharismatic of characters in the history of the whole franchise.

Having said that, Paradise Lost was a genuinely good film and seeing as DCD has done a good job thus far of reinterpreting weaker material, I think there’s at least a fair chance that the next arc will have something worthwhile to offer.It will also be interesting to see if this arc, being naitive territory for Kaixa, offers some kind of closure to his sudden appearance in earlier episodes.

Whilst I can’t say that the series is without faults it is proving to be consistently better than the material it’s drawn from (in most cases) and that in itself will keep me watching.

FICTION: Memoirs of a Bug-Man [Kamen Rider, Street Fighter]

Title: Memoirs of a Bug-Man
Era/Series: Street Fighter, Kamen Rider
Pairing/Characters: Chun-Li
Rating: U
Warnings: N/A
Length: 558 words
Disclaimer: All characters created by Ishinomori Shōtarō and Yasuda Akira, owned by Ishinomori Pro, Toei, Bandai and Capcom
Summary: Original series with slight deviation: Interpol agent Chun-Li finds herself called upon to clean up the destruction of a crime syndicate’s base.
Fandom Friday: 02 // (00, 01)
Pimp: If you like this, you might want to consider buying Sophistry. (^_^);

Read it here.

Kamen Rider DCD #8 (SPOILERS)

[I'm sort of running out of new ways to say there are SPOILERS in this post]

The opening of this made me realise how many of the Heisei Rider shows involve corporations or organisations of a sort – even my beloved not-really-a-Rider-show Hibiki has a secret society set up. In response to this, the villains seem to have become even more erratic and disorganised. Gone are the days of Shocker and Destron when a rogue individual is forced to take justice into his own hands; now society is threatened by random violence from anti-social elements who seem to posses little reasoning in the way they commit crimes…Toei, is this some social commentary you’ve got going on here?

As mentioned in my previous review and conversation with Arrow, I know nothing of Blade or its universe, having never seen an episode of the show despite cajoling back in the day, so everything presented in DCD episode #8 was completely new to me.

Within the context of DCD, the world of Kamen Rider Blade seems focused on a set of characters who are but one step away from establishing their own host bar, thus it comes with great satisfaction, especially after my wife professed interest in at least two of the three Riders present at the episode’s opening, to see the natives get thoroughly trounced by Tsukasa. It’s a satisfying feeling seeing new characters with more hair product than you get shown up by a character that you have, for better or worse, decided to support.

But I digress…

"LOL, these guys can't even spell JAKQ!" (j/k!)

Of the four new Riders featured in ‘Blade’s World’, I think the most likeable is probably Kuroba Mutsuki/Kamen Rider Leangle, if only for his Anthony Wong/Michael Caine-style glasses and his awful jumpers. Strangely enough he was also the only one of the three initial characters that my wife didn’t care for, something that might have caused him to be awarded a higher level of esteem than he might otherwise have garnered.

Other things that need to be addressed about this episode are a.) what the hell is going on with Eijiro and Kivala? Seriously. Actually, the quality of Kivala’s CG seems to have, er, how shall we say, ‘dipped’ in this episode – by dipped, I mean that she was portrayed on a string for most shots rather than being animated as she has been in a lot of earlier episodes. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon’s Luna and Artemis seemed convincing by comparison – b.) I have to admit a fondness for Mi of the kitchen staff, although at first I thought she might have been played by Akihabara@DEEP’s Kosaka Yuka. Perhaps next week’s Fandom Friday should be an attempt to pair up Mi and Natsumi?

…

No? Sadly I didn’t think so either.

Other than that, there’s not much else for me to say. I really enjoyed the episode and it was somewhat refreshing having an entire world unfold that I knew nothing about and, like the Ryuki arc, prove that sometimes Toei’s creative staff can rise above poor suit design and fashion characters that are generally interesting despite toy sales.

My main concern is to do with next week’s episode which features not only the return of the somewhat dull secondary-Rider-filler-fight plot but also what looks to be Todoroki as the opponent. I was hoping all the Hibiki ‘Riders’ might stay together but I guess that was too much to ask for.

Ho hum.

Hopefully it won’t be complete character assassination.

FICTION: Do Kaizo Ningen Dream of Electric Grasshoppers? [Kamen Rider]

Title: Do Kaizo Ningen Dream of Electric Grasshoppers?
Era/Series: Kamen Rider, Super Hero Retsuden
Pairing/Characters: Shocker Rider
Rating: U
Warnings: N/A
Length: 319 words
Disclaimer: All characters created by Ishinomori Shōtarō and owned by Ishinomori Pro, Toei and Bandai
Summary: Original series with slight deviation: one of the six Shocker Riders summoned to defeat Ichigo reflects upon his fate.
Fandom Friday: 01 // for more info, visit here.
Pimp: If you like this, you might want to consider buying Sophistry. (^_^);

Read it here.

Semaru…Shokkaa

Damn you, Super Hero Retsuden.

Things were going so well between us. I used to be able to just pick up the joypad, turn the Dreamcast on and then swap discs when I got bored after a level. It was nothing serious.

Then you pulled a damn Shocker Rider level and, not only that, you made me actually care about the character I was playing!

『本物ライダーだ!』

I now really want to see a story featuring one of the Shocker Riders vs. moral angst/guilt/identity crisis. I don’t care if a lot of this kind of stuff is covered in Ichigo’s origin, I want someone to deal with these issues in regards to the Shocker Riders!

Of course, having inspired all this in me, the game then goes and refuses to make Shocker Rider a selectable character from the main menu screen.

Damn you, Super Hero Retsuden, damn you.

ALSO: Why is tokupedia so rubbish?

Kamen Rider DCD #7 (SPOILERS)

[SPOILER (spoilr) n.

1. One who seizes spoils or booty.

2. Something that causes spoilage.

3. The contents of this post.]

First off, is it just me or has Gackt’s opening theme beefed up from its previous incarnation? From episode #6 onward it seems a bit more guitar driven in the chorus.

This episode was a bit slower in pace than previous episodes, which comes as something of a surprise to me considering how many Riders are present in Ryuki and how many fights there are. The actual cast of Ryuki – or at least Shinji and Ren – reveal some interesting dynamics in terms of this world’s variance but, for the most part, it is Yuusuke and new ‘Ryuki World’ character, Kamen Rider Abyss who drive forward the story.

The final fight between Abyss and DCD and Ryuki is something of a disappointment, Ryuki’s Final Form Ride being far too much like the pet dragon he summons in the series for it to really make any kind of impact. Fair enough, it’s important to keep the style of the original in the manifestations of these forms, but this one made it seem a bit like they were stuck for ideas.

Abyss, who looks startling like The Rock Musical BLEACH’s Tsuchiya Yuichi (sans Ichimaru Gin wig) is the real star though and, through a series of manipulations and unexpected twists reveals himself to be the arc’s villain, which we were aware of, but more importantly, also reveals that he is a not a native of ‘Ryuki’s World’. It’s kind of interesting that, whilst this is obviously true of the source material, it should come as such a big surprise within the narrative.

"fox-face"

Despite abstaining from spoilers myself, I gather he has some connection to the next arc/world based around Kamen Rider Blade but, having never seen an episode of that series, I can’t really comment.

And that about sums it up really. In many ways, this episode is a set up the following arc, I’m guessing, but I really feel I should again reiterate how Yuusuke drives this story forward. It’s through his sense of justice, even when the odds are against him (and poor Natsumi!), that Decade manages to resolve the situation that Abyss has engineered. There’s a nice comparison between Shinji and Ren as a team and Tsukasa and Yuusuke that really works and goes a long way to rehabilitating Kamen Rider Ryuki not as a Rider show but at least as a tokusatsu show, in my eyes at least – you can’t really ask for more than that, I feel.

"this picture will be the icon of a thousand LJ users by this time tomorrow"

Meanwhile in Super Hero Retsuden…

"YOU! I wanna take you to a gay bar!"

Super Hero Retsuden

Having got the game as a freebie in Akiba last November, I finally sat down, removed the Capcom vs. SNK disc from my beloved Dreamcast and fired up Super Hero Retsuden. Having done thus, I have to say there really isn’t much to say.

The game covers high-points in the runs of several Ishinomori helmed tokusatsu series, the most significant (and arguably well known) being Kamen Rider and Himitsu Sentai GoRanger. The game doesn’t really have massive amounts of playability. If, like me, you have cobbled together some understanding of Japanese from tokusatsu/anime/very patient Japanese friends and Chinese study then you sit there reading on screen dialogue and then face down a series of famous villains plus goons on a grid until they are dead, after which point you save and progress.

60hz + blurry camera = WTF

What recommends this game is the crossover potential. Like DCD, the premise is flimsy and elicits a squee when it pans out on screen, even in the Super Deformed art style of the game.

For this reason – and the promise of unlocking Stronger – I’m going to continue to play through the game because, let’s face it, who doesn’t want to see a Henshin Ninja Arashi and Kamen Rider Stronger team up?

My only disappointment is the fact that neither Skull Man or Tackle appear to be in it…and even though he isn’t an Ishinomori character, I would have loved to have seen Spider-Man turn up in this.

Speaking of whom: Watch the Japanese Spider-Man TV Series on Marvel.com.

FICTION: Dress Code [Kamen Rider DCD]

Title: Dress Code
Era/Series: Kamen Rider DCD, elements of Kamen Rider Stronger
Pairing/Characters: Hikari Natsumi, Kadoya Tsukasa
Rating: U
Warnings: N/A
Length: 386 words
Disclaimer: All characters created and owned by Ishinomori Pro, Toei and Bandai
Summary: Natsumi finds her wardrobe on a certain world outside of the canonical nine is far from her liking.
note: Blame tallforadwarf for this.
Pimp: If you like this, you might want to consider buying Sophistry. (^_^);

Read it here.

Kamen Rider DCD #6 (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS blah-blah-blah watching it raw blah-blah-blah still no good at Japanese blah-blah-blah]

I will admit that I was dreading this episode. I’m not a fan of Ryuki, in fact out of all the Heisei Rider shows, Ryuki has always been my least favourite. The straw that broke the camel’s back was probably the godawful Ryuki vs. Agito special but the main complaint is that, for all the armoured characters that appear in Ryuki, there don’t actually appear to be any Kamen Riders. It is thus something of a surprise when DCD episode #6 throws around the term ‘Kamen Rider’ every other word, especially as the aforementioned previous crossover was the only episode to use the term on screen in relation to Ryuki (IIRC).

"If you can do the Bart, you're bad like Michael Jackson."

Some of that bad atmosphere carries over from the source material, with a lot of the ‘Kamen Riders’ being characters that it is not only difficult to like, but difficult to care about. Fortunately here, the multiple Riders of the lower tier are used as fodder in much the same way that sentai throws about  returning monsters. A fitting fate for such characters, IMHO, and one that saves us the ’secondary Rider from another world’ fight/subplot (albeit by supplementing a ’secondary Rider from the source material world’ fight/subplot).

This bad atmosphere was so well done that it took me at least five minutes of searching through links before I discovered that Kamen Rider Abyss is a unique ‘Ryuki’s World’ character only appearing in DCD. I was fooled.

Haguro Ren/Kamen Rider Knight however is a part of the original series and, as such, still comes across as an arse. I was surprised though that Tatsumi Shinji, despite looking a bit like a cross between Isaka Tatsuya and Michael Jackson, is a far more sympathetic character than Kido Shinji. Even though I still hate the Ryuki suit, I feel that I could come to like Tatsumi as a character.

Other than that, highlights of the episode were the continuing friendship between Tsukasa and Yuusuke and DCD handing it to below average villains. It’s satisfying to see a character that I do like beating down characters that I don’t. This is the true joy of crossovers, I feel – they’re like an evolved form of the playground ‘my dad’s better than your dad’ argument.

The only disappointment is that Yuusuke didn’t get his hands dirty as Kuuga. With a Kuuga vs. lower tier Ryuki Riders fight, this episode would have been a high point for me, a near miracle when you consider my distaste for the source material.

So, all in all, a damn good episode. Much, much better than I expected.

Next episode looks like it could be just as exciting…now if only Natsumi would stop wearing those depressing prison clothes and get back to the cute outfits!