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 #18 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS...for Hibiki's World]

I almost don’t want to write about this because I kind of half want to wait for #19 to roll around so I can express a proper opinion on the full storyline and on Ito David as Hibiki. First off, I feel I have to say that I can’t help but feel that maybe the Rider-with-a-monstrous-nature angle has been overplayed a tiny bit in this series so, whilst I can deal with a fatally ill Hibiki, I find the Hibiki-as-yokai/makamou plot to be a bit too much like retreading ground from Kiva’s World and Faizu’s World.

The most striking thing about the episode is the amount of returning actors although this, in a way, highlights sadly those who have not returned. It’s also somewhat sad to think that even if Toei had wanted to get the original cast back, it would have been impossible due to the untimely death of Kanbe Miyuki. Her presence, and indeed the presence of the entire supporting cast of Tachibana’s sweet shop were conspicuous by their absence, as were Hosokawa Shigeki himself and Tochihara Rakuto, who played the original Adachi Asumu.

The young actor playing the ‘new’ Asumu – Koshimizu Kazuki, who I initially mistook for Fukasawa Arashi, who played Wataru in the Kiva arc – does reverse a problem with the mutilated ending Inoue Toshiki supplied for the series (an ending I still, to this day, remain mostly ignorant of) by having Asumu henshin (outside of a daydream). The trouble is the suit worn by Asumu looks very much to be a modified version of the suit worn by that-character-who-shall-not-be-named and, as such, is tarnished by association.

A decided difference between the two Asumus however, is that the new, younger version seems to express a lot of more of his conflicting emotions, often vocalising his frustration in a way that Adachi never would have.

In terms of the storyline, there seems to be more relation here to Inoue’s admittedly enjoyable Hibiki & The Seven War Oni movie, especially with the roles that Zanki and Ibuki occupy in this world and just how close Ibuki’s role is to that of his mischievous daimyo persona from the film. One returning character I failed to mention last time is Todoroki, played by Kawaguchi Shingo. I am a bit uncomfortable with the suggestion of a relationship between Todoroki and Akira, especially since the romance between Todoroki and Hinaka was sacred ground for me – another casualty of Inoue’s poor scripts during the original show’s ‘second season‘. I’m sucking it up because, as with all the other worlds, this is not the original show and a certain amount of story compression is to be expected but, in my heart, I’m still rooting for Todoroki/Hinaka – yet, let’s also keep in mind that this was the same compression that resulted in Zanki playing Todoroki’s theme on his guitar and the makamou no longer appearing in Douji and Hime pairs but rather flying solo in their Kwaidouji/Youhime forms.

Yet despite the return of the cards, there was a distinct lack of singing! Where was the “ohayo!“, where was the “la la la la la la la la ~ la…la…la“?

"Ongaku Rider Decade"

One thing I was pleased to see the return of was the cards announcing characters and moves, a stylistic tenet that the original 30 episode ‘first season’ was criticised needlessly for, however the highlight of the episode was probably the arrival of Momotaros and his fight with Ibuki and Zanki in a genuine Oni vs. oni fight. Likewise, it’s always good to see Yuusuke in armour as Kuuga.

"I am Master of the Wicket!"

Altogether, this was a good episode with a lot of friendly and familiar faces…but I can’t help but still find myself waiting for the return of Hibiki…and I’m still not sure I’m going to see him yet.

In other news, *where* was Danki? (^________________^)

Kamen Rider DCD #16 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS...for the penultimate world!]

…and we’re back on track, which I’m relieved about as it proves the rule thus far that series that I didn’t care for first time around return with elements that make them much more palatable this time.

I won’t pretend to understand Kabuto but I was impressed with Nirasawa Yasushi’s redesigns of DevilMan characters so it was nice to see them in action during the course of this episode, even if they did come across as being a bit plain – although I think this may be in part due to the fact that the majority of ‘kaijin‘ appeared to be of the lesser class…apparently.

One of the things that impresses me the most is that, despite the set up for the original series being incredibly close to Inoue’s work on Faizu, the approach here is suitably distinct. I still don’t really know what ZECT are doing and the Worms aren’t that different from the Ophenoch but the atmosphere is what makes this better than Faizu. Perhaps though, this arc accounts for why Faizu’s World was such a radical departure from its original series.

Whilst the whole corporation-Rider angle isn’t dwelt on too much for these reasons, what the episode *does* do is provide some awesomely unique fight sequences – again on the Faizu note, the idea of using Faizu’s Axel Form against the super-speedy secondary Riders was fantastic – and some great character moments. The real show stealer is 16 year old Mayu (played by Kanno Rio who appeared in the film Dark Water) who I think might be comparative with the younger sister of Mizushima Hiro’s character in Kabuto. Considering the fusion of characters in Agito’s World and, in regards to how this episode ends, I’m pretty much sold on the idea of this world’s version of TheBee somehow being comparative with the original Kabuto character.

Don’t quote me on this as I really don’t know how it would work but I do think this could be a possibility.

In other news, it’s nice to see Tsukasa using his Kuuga card again (as opposed to another appearance from Kiva) and it’s also nice to see him learning some lessons about fighting enemies that put him in his place without devaluing his role as the lead character. Likewise, the comedy value of DCD’s Den-o form character/armour cards and their utter uselessness is another nice moment. I also swear this is the only Heisei Rider series that makes the prospect of Rider vs. Rider battles seem actually interesting.

I, of course, am also very pleased to see the return of the RiotTroopers. The ZECT-Troopers are pretty cool but somehow they don’t seem as cool, although I couldn’t for the life of me explain why.

"Encore!"

But more than anything, I’m just relieved to see the pace of previous pre-Den-o arcs restored and for the series to generally be back on top form again.

It seems to be DCD’s role as a series to fix Inoue Toshiki’s mistakes…and it’s doing a very good job of it too!

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.

Kamen Rider DCD #13 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS - I has them]

First off, I stand corrected; it would seem that AshiKAWA Shouichi is in fact a contraction of three Riders, rather than two, being also based in part on Hikawa Makoto, the original G3. This is a brilliant way to utilise the concept of a previous series that is, at its heart, about evolution.

With that out of the way, and having recently re-watched an episode of the original Agito, I have to again say how much I believe this series has done for the material from which it was adapted – especially in this case. The previously mentioned contraction of the three main Riders of the second Heisei show makes for a more streamlined and dramatic story-arc that addresses change and the turmoil it brings in a way that Inoue Toshiki’s original does not. It also proves that you *can* have a Heisei Rider storyline that doesn’t orient itself around the idea of a thousand Riders with a thousand forms.

To be fair to Agito however, the multiple Riders/evolution of humanity plot is well thought out and a better excuse than later shows have for the inclusion of endless additions to the cast.

So, though Agito is arguably one of my least favourite shows ever, I’m pleased with this arc and pleased with the way in which the adaptation was made. Moreover, I’m pleased with what it does for the regular cast of DCD and how much Yuusuke is included in the unfolding of this story. I will admit that I’ve spent most of the episodes since ‘Kiva’s World’ crying out for him to transform into Kuuga once again but here I’m actually pleased that he remained so dedicated to the G3 armour and to Yashiro Ai. Such faith really underlines the difference between him and Kaito.

"No Fear, No Pain!"

One thing I was surprised by was that, what with Ashikawa’s use of multiple forms, there was no appearance of Agito’s more advanced forms. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m *happy* that Agito was simply Agito – I’m just surprised we didn’t receive a run-through of all his modes ala Kiva in episodes #4 – 5…perhaps this is because Bandai don’t have a warehouse load of Agito merchandise from last year that they still hope to shift. (^_^)

And whilst we’re talking about multiple Riders and forms, I think Kaito’s use of Blade settles the question about his use of primary Riders in earlier episodes. I really do believe that he does in fact have alternate versions of the same Riders Tsukasa has cards of…either that or he somehow brought some of those fake Pokémon Rider cards from Hong Kong that you could tell weren’t real because they weren’t shiny…maybe.

"Here we go, Count ZERO!"

In other news, the wonderful – and much disliked by wife – Akiyama Rina was sadly missing from the set up of Agito’s World though, seeing as she seems to be reprising her Den-o role in the next episode (as do possibly all the ‘original’ cast? I wonder how that will figure with the alternate set up of DCD’s nine worlds and the cameo from NEET!real continuity!Wataru in the first episode) I don’t feel too badly cheated.

What I *do* feel cheated about however is Agito’s Final Form Ride mode…if only because I was going to use  a similar idea for a Rider in fanfic this Friday. Damn you Toei for beating me to the point with your own franchise.

"Ride on, Ride on, Machine Tornader!"

Other than that another solid episode and, once again, head and shoulders above the source material.

Welcome…to Tachibana Racing Club

"Tackle lays down on the job"

Super Hero Retsuden keeps getting better and better. Whilst I still think that it’s too much to expect cameos from Skull Man or Suipadaman (especially the latter!) the fact that Tackle makes an appearance and is a playable character  is several hundred kinds of awesomeness.

"What? Lifetime membership to Tachibana Racing Club you say?"

Meanwhile, speaking of Skull Man, I updated 日々冒険 not five minutes ago with brief comments about the first episode of the 2007 Skull Man anime and the 2006 adaptation of Ishinomori’s 009-1 featuring idol, actress and Godzilla movie franchise veteran Shaku Yumiko.

In other news, this morning I have spent most of time re-watching Kuuga, the original Kamen Rider and Faizu…I’ve warmed a lot to Kuuga simply because of Yuusuke the 2nd in DCD; the original Rider series is still a classic, like a cross between The Man from UNCLE and Godzilla – pure genius, especially with Hong Kong subs; Faizu is still just a boring as ever. It’s like everything Andrew Cartmel tried to do with the last series of Seventh Doctor era Doctor Who…but wrong. My wife gave it a more favourable review due to its pacing being so much like that of a standard drama. I, however, disliked it immensely due to its pacing being so much like that of a standard drama.

And now I’m off to watch DCD!

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!"

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!

Kamen Rider DCD #5 (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS etc. - I'm sure you all know the deal by now as seeing as the episode has been fansubbed, there probably isn't anyone left to spoil, nonetheless...]

Episode #4 starts in the most awesome fashion.

As previously documented, I was concerned about the possibility of Yuusuke not acting as Kuuga after the conclusion of the opening arc so seeing his brief henshin sequence and fight with the Fangire usurper in this episode was fantastic.

"Chou Tanuki Henshin!"

I can not stress how disinterested I am in Kiva as a series, however it’s hard not to feel for Wataru in these episodes. He really sums up the sorrow of being a child of two very different traditions (and species!) in a way that what I saw of the original series did not. I’m having a tough time adjusting to the fact that not everyone encountered in the show can become a series regular and, whilst I have no doubts that *all* the Riders will return during the series finale, I really wanted the young Wataru to join the Hikari Photo Studio cast.

This fondness for new characters might well end once the next episode rolls around as I have nothing but contempt for the original Ryuki, however so far, one of the things that DCD has done for me is to portray interesting and endearing characters in each of its arcs. If this can be accomplished with Ryuki, then I will be both grateful and amazed. I want to continue to like DCD as a series and so I want it to succeed in its reconstruction of both series and characters so I’ve got my fingers crossed.

I’m not sure where I stand on the idea of Kivala joining the cast though!

"It's only comfort calling late."

The fight sequence in this episode, and Kiva’s Final Form Ride, the Kiva Arrow, are both as good as expected. Granted the Final Form Rides still look like big toys (which they probably are) however *all* of the associated merchandise in Kiva looked like it had just rolled out of the Bandai factories anyway so it’s not out of keeping. I can’t believe how rewarding the final confrontation between the two Riders and the previous king was…the fact that one of them was a Rider who, this time last year I had no interest in, only makes it all the more amazing.

I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying this show.

My only criticism of the show as a whole is the secondary Rider subplot which continues to feel like filler material. Having said that, something that surprised me with this arc was that, despite having swiftly revealed all of Kiva’s multiple forms, the second Rider associated with his show never made an appearance. The Ryuki arc looks like it will be different but I wonder if this is simply because Ryuki is a series made famous for its excessive multiple Riders. Whatever the case, I certainly hope none of the Oni are relegated to this subplot and appear, even just as mentions, as proper aspects of the Hibiki arc.

Aside from that, the only disappointment in this episode was a lack of big scenes featuring Natsumi. ♥(｡◕‿‿<｡)

Kamen Rider DCD #4 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS for current untranslated DCD episodes, read at your own caution]

I will admit to being somewhat out of my depth with this episode. I know nothing about Kiva, having seen only about three or four episodes of the show, one of which I feel asleep during whilst watching it in a hotel room. I remember when the series concept was first announced I found it absurd to attempt to mix a Kamen Rider series with Universal Monsters. Perhaps if the show had followed its inspirations a little more closely, it would have won a nostalgia vote from me but as it was, I found it a bit slow and a little dull…which is fine really because I’m sure had I actually liked the show, Toei would have cast Nakamura Yuichi as some important character just to spite me.

All of this is totally beside the point as, what I’m trying to explain is that I knew nothing about Kiva before watching this episode.

First off, I really did find child actor Fukasawa Arashi’s ‘Wataru‘ preferable to the canon Kurenai Wataru played by Seto Koji. I was never quite able to get behind the concept of hikkikomori!Rider so, despite my initial hesitations I’m actually really pleased to see that this character is such a departure from the original source. As the episode progressed, I found myself feeling the same things that I did upon Yuusuke’s introduction – that I would be sad to see this character depart after the end of his arc.

Fortunately for Yuusuke he makes a comeback in this episode, tied to the monster court located within Kiva’s Castle Doran.

"What do you mean Agito totally ripped off my style?"

Due to the fact that Kiva was such a recent series, the set up for this arc seems radically different from what we’ve seen before. Not only is Kiva as a Rider very different, but ‘Kiva’s World’ seems to posit a unique alternative reality where Fangires, fangirls and humans all live in relative peace. Whether that peace is imposed by the Fangires or if all normal humans have now become Fangires I can’t actually tell but whatever the case, everyone is happy and Kiva’s out of favour.

What Kiva *will* get out of bed for, bad reputation or not, is a fight with DCD it seems. Like Kuuga before him, I’m assuming Wataru was given some bad information.

One note on the actual fight sequence, without getting too technical, is that I was interested to see the DCD belt remains even when Tsukasa mimics Kuuga. I don’t know how or why that’s significant but it looks fairly interesting to see ‘Kuuga’ kicking around with a different power source

The episode’s other fight sequence against 555’s Kaixa is less interesting. Taking place in an empty baseball stadium – which I seem to recall being the location of an early fight in Kiva – it’s just more of the Hopper fight really. Pointless second Rider turns up, starts a fight and is scheduled to get beaten/run away at the beginning of episode #5.

Aside from that, DCD is still riding high. Despite the focus on a large number of shows that I’m neither keen on nor interested in, the series is something I’m really looking forwards to every week.

Whilst I still lament the loss of actual cyborg-Riders and billowing scarves, I have to say that this show is, thus far, a really good tokusatsu series and for that it deserves your attention.

As for the kaizo ningen, well, perhaps this V3-inspired villain from Super Den-o & Decade will help address the balance.