Kamen Rider DCD #31 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS...for the 12/12/09]

TRUFAX.

Asking if I liked DCD #31 isn’t the right question here. What should be asked is, did I like a 24 minute trailer for a forthcoming Kamen Rider W film in December? That is the question.

The answer, by the way, is no. Points out of ten have to be awarded however for the fact that Toei managed to offer up such a inconclusive and lacklustre episode. It’s difficult to highlight the ways in which this episode failed but, for starters, let’s begin with canon!Blade and his utter irrelevance and, whilst we’ve got you on that note, that’s level a similar accusation at the return of canon!Kiva and predict that the same arbitrary logic was responsible for selecting canon!Agito for the All Rider film.

Then let’s talk about Apollo Geist and how it is now impossible to count how many seconds, minutes, hours or days by which he has outstayed his welcome. A character that proved an interesting choice for the Black arc and served as an awesome suggestion of what lay in store for the upcoming movie has now become an irritating and petty character who turns up, achieves nothing and then runs away. His use of Fangrie ‘magic’ to prolong his life would have been interesting if it weren’t for the fact that Toei’s Kiva bias is already very much evident in countless other DCD subplots. The same results, I wish to point out, could have been achieved by Geist becoming an Orphenoch.

Moving on, let’s touch on the actual ‘Rider War’ established in episode #1. Towards the end of this episode, the story begins to take root and for the briefest of moments, I was convinced that we might see some kind of conclusion regarding the long running themes of this series. I feel like an idiot for even hoping for such a thing, and the prospect of this entire storyline being wrapped in a Kamen Rider W film scheduled for December does nothing for me.

So, what did I like about episode #31? Well…in all honesty, I liked Yuusuke’s determination, I liked the fact that Kaito finally seemed to be acting like he was on the same team as the rest of the main cast, and I liked the roles of kid!Wataru and kid!Asumu, even if their presence was abruptly terminated by a desperation to try and tie in the episode with the vague idea of what happened during the series’ opening.

Other than that, there was nothing here to recommend the episode at all, which is damn shame as it promised so much but managed to deliver so little. Even the famed ‘Rider War’ wasn’t really present in the actual ‘conclusion’, save for possibly one scene.

During the course of the original Kuuga, Godai Yuusuke was offered one seemingly insignificant but very important piece of advice: ‘Don’t do a half-arsed job‘. I can’t help but wish Toei had followed that advice when producing Kamen Rider DCD.

All in all episode #31 is a dissapointing end to what could have been the best Hesei series in a long time…but wasn’t.

Kamen Rider DCD #29 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS, all of which you can no doubt guess]

Let’s be honest, readers, this episode could have been better. It wasn’t an especially *bad* episode…but it was slow and very awkward in places. I know it must seem like I’m never happy but I still think Amazon was an odd and very random choice to build these two episodes around. I can’t fault the premise, although some of the finer details escape me, but I like the idea of it…I just wish there had been a little more passion involved in expressing this idea.

But let’s begin at the beginning and, by that, I mean let’s address the clips of the movie seen in the opening. First off: Final Form Ride DCD – I should have seen this one coming but surprisingly I didn’t. I’m assuming that the Diend card Kaito received from Hat Man in this episode will be used in a similar fashion. I kind of like the fact that they’ve held the Final Form Ride for Tsukasa back for this movie and I’m actually looking forward to seeing it. If you’ll forgive me for skipping erratically ahead whilst, at the same time, addressing a point from the previous arc, I will once again say that I think the absence of the Form Rides in these episodes is somewhat sad. The Amazon card used in this episode might well have been called the anti-climax card for all its worth.

Back on track: Hibiki is often compared to Amazon, so it seemed kind of fitting to have Diend summon Ibuki, Todoroki and Zanki against Gorgos. All’s well and good, and then Amazon finally turns up on screen…and I just can’t help but think that Sakamoto Enrique wasn’t the best choice of actor. I mean no disrespect to the young man, but he just doesn’t seem to have that mix of integrity and innocence that Okazaki Tōru managed to pull off in the original series. Perhaps I souldn’t be judging this as I’ve only ever seen a handful of Amazon episodes…but then again Sakamoto is only in two episodes and I’m pretty much convinced that he wasn’t the right guy for the role. Having said that it doesn’t look like he’s going to be in Dai Shocker, which I have mixed feelings about, almost as if, now he has been cast, I want them to make the most of having an actor associated with that suit.

Already some of the things regarding the film are feeling awkward to me and I’mcertainly not looking forward to the return of canon!Agito from the original series. But I won’t let doubt sway me, I’m still holding out for the film to be good which is why, in a couple of minutes, I’m going to watch the We Love Rider! special making of movie.

Motorcycle Emptiness

So, next episode: nothing to say really. I’m never cared too much for the Rider War concept and now, with the seeming inclusion of Apollo Geist, I’m all but convinced that the creative idea had only the vaguest notion of what they were working towards it. I’m willing to bet that the next two episodes will be very different from the ‘flashbacks’ we saw at the beginning of the series.

On a positive note though, is that young!Kiva and Sonoda Mari in the trailer?

Kamen Rider DCD #26 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS...for the one person who might be expecting this]

I must admit it did take me right until the end of this episode to really get into this and part of that came with the transition from Black RX to Black. That sounds like I’m already complaining doesn’t it? Well, I am. Black RX is the proto-Heisei, which isn’t such a bad thing as, by default, it is very much the blueprint for Kuuga, but it does mean that it is something of a series with ‘two masters’.

As the absence of my curmudgeonly reviews will attest, I’ve been away from the series for a while. I did watch #24 but had absolutely nothing to say about it so saw little point in trying to update about it. The other two post-Hibiki episodes…well, I’m trying my best to forget them in all honesty.

"Who's Bad?"

I love the internet in that it obviously connects people and allows for the almost instantaneous passing on of information and data. Sadly it also allows, at the click of a mere mouse button, for the casual nostalgic to discover what became of icons of his or her rose-tinted youth. Seeing Battle Hopper’s weather-worn form amongst the dead of the Tokusatsu Graveyard was a defining moment for me. Knowing this, I found myself somewhat cynical when this episode was announced and it was revealed that DCD and RX would be fighting Fangries and Imajin.

Still, some classic period monsters are represented, the most notable, for me at least, being Black’s Rhino Mutant (or Rhino BASTARD as I began to call him during Super Hero Retsuden). It will be interesting to see just how many classic monster suits are present in the forthcoming film and how many are newer creations or new suits modelled on older villains.

There’s a lot of emphasis on the Yuusuke/Natsumi pairing in this episode with Yuusuke getting one of his best scenes of recent times (and a Kuuga transformation to boot) in order to attempt to  rescue Natsumi from the poisonous attack of X’s Apollo Geist. Little scenes like this went a long way to smoothing over some of the dislocation I felt from not being familiar with the previous post-Hibiki arcs.

One character who hasn’t evolved sadly is Diend, who still seems to be acting like a dick despite not having much of a reason to do so anymore. I’m strongly believe this is a case of the writers/staff not really knowing what to do with him and I must admit to feeling a tiny bit disappointed with this.

Other than that, it really is the transition to ‘Black’s World’ that has me excited. Kurata Tetsuo has obviously aged, there’s no point in trying to deny it, but it is nostalgic seeing him throw all the old moves. I’m not sure why the two shows have been fragmented into separate worlds but I’m not going to argue as, technically, all the Showa Riders are supposed to have been a part of the same continuity and thus, to get any kind of mileage out of the DCD formula, you need to take liberties. So fair enough, things will be broken down piecemeal but, hopefully along the way, it means we’ll also get a chance to see some fairly unique team ups – like the next episode’s Black/Black RX Double Rider team – and that certainly makes things at least interesting.

"I'm looking at the Man in the Mirror!"

Part of me is hoping we’ll now get to see a lot more of the Showa Riders in upcoming episodes but, realistically, I fear all of this is just a lead in to All Riders vs. Daishocker.

Feel free to prove me wrong, Toei!

Kamen Rider DCD #15 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS, again, for Chou Den-o...and a bit of DCD and speculation on one aspect of the August DCD movie]

Kiva is the first item on the agenda.  That’s what, three, four times outside of his arc now? Again, I have to wonder how much Kiva merchandise Bandai have left over from last year that they hope to shift. I was also surprised to find out that two characters from Kiva are turning up in the new Chou Den-o franchise – it’s really beginning to feel like Kamen Rider has become the testing ground for elements Toei hope to include in their spin-off franchise.

But enough of the complaints, let’s talk about this episode and let’s talk about what was good about it: for starters it was an improvement on the first part of the Den-o arc, secondly, I’m firmly of the opinion that the inclusion of Momotaros as an actual character improves anything. Even if part of the way in which he was used seemed somewhat random to me, I will fully admit that he was one of my favourite things about the original series and, quite possibly, one of my favourite things regarding the entire Heisei era. Kintaros comes a close second but as far as I’m concerned, Momo is the Imajin man.

People who aren’t the man are, obviously, girls and, speaking of which, it’s hard not to see that the actress who plays Kohana has grown a lot since I last saw her in the abysmal Climax Deka. She’s still not a patch on the original Hana but, considering she was a quick-fix for Shiratori Yuriko’s absence, I wonder what Toei will do when they finally realise that their new girl is now a teenager and unable to play the same Kohana they originally foisted upon the series.

The other girls who primarily do nothing during this story are sadly, Natsumi and Naomi. The latter I didn’t expect much storyline for but I was hoping that the former might get a bit more, especially considering the whole End of the World sequence in the last episode. Perhaps, however, this was asking too much as the second part of Rider World arcs are always crammed with the majority of the action so there was never really much room for her here.

I won’t pretend to understand the whole DenLiner Form card vs. Momotaros Form card in this episode, but I am pleased to see Yuusuke as Kuuga once more and even more pleased to see Kuuga and Momo as a team – even if the Final Attack Ride card for this episode was a bit weird even by DCD’s standards.

"Don't cross the streams!"

Undeniably though, my favourite aspect of the episode was Diend’s use of the RiotTroopers from Faizu. Mass-produced armour characters are one of my favourite aspects of this kind of show (quick, spot the Gundam fan!) and so it was great to them here – plus, their inclusion amongst Diend’s deck and the appearance of RiderMan in the trailer for All Riders vs. Daishocker (or whatever it’s called), gives me faith that maybe, just maybe, we might get to see an AU version of Tackle in that film.

"I Predict a Riot."

To wrap up, despite being an improvement on the previous episode, I still felt there was a lot lacking in #15. This wasn’t helped by the ‘two-ending’ phenomenon – i.e., having to have an ending for the arc and then having to bolt on a continuation point for the rest of the Onigashima Battleship movie and the necessary DCD cameos in that. I could have done without that.

I am however, believing that things will be back on track next week. I couldn’t stomach the Stronger!lite stylings of the Hibiki killing team of Inoue Toshiki and Yonemura Shoji scripted Kabuto and avoided watching even the opening episode for so long due to feelings of resentment towards Toei. In the opening episode of that series, I found little to convince me to follow the show – I’m hoping that Aikawa Sho (the writer, not *the* actor) will be able to bring the source material alive for me.

If anything though, I’m just pleased to be back in the realms of a storyline without tie-in considerations.