Kamen Rider Wizard (FINISHED)though I haven't seen the movie yet...
Similar to Fourze, I was expecting to dislike Wizard a lot after hearing a lot of hate for it online. However unlike Fourze, the hate for Wizard is MOSTLY deserved. People are right on this one, the show is largely boring, and unlike Hibiki which was slow paced it isn't carried by good actors whatsoever.
The entire cast is absolutely dull and lifeless with the exception of a few characters here and there, and the plot is stretched out into one of the longest Kamen Rider series to date. While I didn't particular dislike Wiseman's goal and story, I do think they should've condensed that down to 20-something episodes and have a second arc where Haruto fights a Phantom group lead by Gremlin and perhaps try to find a way to bring Koyomi back with the Philosopher's Stone. Unfortunately, however, the show took a plot that should've been resolved mid-season and stretched it out for the entire series.
The show could've done with explaining some more shit as well. I want to see where the mages actually come from, and perhaps explain how the primordial mages are connected to the modern ones. Also how does the old man so easily make mage rings? I feel like there's a ton of unresolved stuff here.
Why is Gremlin the only Phantom to keep his human heart?
Why does Beast's Phantom need to eat Phantoms to survive? So much stuff was left in the air that could've been covered by my suggested second-part of Wizard that would take place after Wiseman's story, but unfortunately the story was stretched big time. However there area few things I liked about Wizard I should note:
Gremlin was really great.
Him being a serial killer in his previous life was actually a pretty nice twist that I wasn't expecting.
He basically carried the show.
As many have pointed out the choreography was genuinely great in this series. This isn't a case of it being only good because everything is so much more boring an dull, Wizard's action is genuinely great and does some cool shit with the suits. I like how there's more close-quarter fights in this series than the previous three Neo-Hesei series as well.
The suit designs are incredible, though the theme was a bit all over the place at times. What does "Please" have to do with being a Magician? Are magicians supposed to be polite or something? Why are the familiars model kits?
For what it's worth I do think Wiseman's story is generally pretty good, but it's stretched out so much it really hurts any attachment you can have to any of these characters.
Also the twist that Wiseman and the white mage are one and the same is so blatantly obvious it isn't even funny.
Phoenix was great too, but unfortunately he suffered from underdevelopment and Wizard rushing his arc. I would've loved to see Phoenix in an Ankh-type role, or either that come back super-powered after being destroyed and reborn on the Sun over-and-over again towards the end.
Wizard wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it is boring as hell. At least it's mostly a coherent story, though, unlike something like Kamen Rider Decade. Also the final two episodes being a huge crossover were pretty lame.
The Fourze x Wizard crossover movie was actually pretty great. It's not as good as OOO x Fourze, but it has some really great moments plus the Mad Max sequence towards the end was fun.
Super Hero Taisen Z (FINISHED)
Unfortunately this one was even more boring than the show itself. This movie was just...bad. Nothing happened to it, and the fanservice in this movie was weak as hell unlike the previous one. There was nothing of note here whatsoever, just really boring overall. I mean you're crossing over three different toku franchises, DO SOMETHING WITH IT! Even the theme-based team-ups in the movie were weak as hell. How is Decade supposed to be space-themed? The fuck?
Also they really should've included more Metal Hero aside from that one Gokaiger cameo. Would've loved to see B-Fighter team up with similar theme Kamen Riders, for example. Give me some fanwank.
Osamu Kaneda is absolutely horrible with fanservice, which really irritates me when he keeps getting to direct the Spring movies. In both SHT and SHTZ movies he repeated the "Gokaiger transform into other heroes and go straight to the bazooka finisher" stupidity. SHT's fanservice moments likely only exist since the movie had a bunch of extra action directors. But you can see that it stumbles in what should be big moments thanks to Kaneda.
Metal Hero cameos in SHTZ would always be limited due to the lack of existing suits though. All Metal Heroes there had suits remade just for the movie (which makes the lack of doing anything with the ones that they did remake even more baffling).
Kamen Rider Taisen and SHTGP weren't directed by Kaneda though, and are much better on the fanservice aspect, but they still suffer from writing flaws since the writer is the same.
Lol I guess that works. I still don't get why the familiars are model kits though. At least the other toys had somewhat of a thematic tie to the show they're in of some sort.
Every Ex-Aid special has a lot of blood so far aside from Genm's. Brave's special and the GoRider mini-series both used the fact that they aren't restricted by tv standards and went all out with it (GoRiders waits for the 2nd episode though). Genm's likely held back since it's mostly a big advertisement for the Legend Rider/Namco Gashats and so they want kids watching.
So I am finally watching Gokaiger after finishing a few older series I have always been interested in. Wanted to at least finish those before going down this nostalgic ride.
I can see why it is so highly regarded!
I don't really understand how they are doing such a great job with the fight choreography with the various styles. Did they just have a ton of suit actors or were the ones they used just the best of the best? I'm not that knowledgeable in regards to suit actors.
I just finished the Jetman episode. I immediately regretted not having finished Jetman... Oh well will just have to rectify that soon.
Am I correct in assuming that Gokai Silver couldn't see Gai because the 6th ranger concept was only added with Zyuranger? That was a great touch. Haha.
Am I correct in assuming that Gokai Silver couldn't see Gai because the 6th ranger concept was only added with Zyuranger? That was a great touch. Haha.
It was likely because Gai (Ikari/Gokai Silver) was a human, and couldn't see the spirit of Gai (Yuuki) on those grounds. The other five were aliens not from Earth, and that's why they could see him.
It was likely because Gai (Ikari/Gokai Silver) was a human, and couldn't see the spirit of Gai (Yuuki) on those grounds. The other five were aliens not from Earth, and that's why they could see him.
Boy that's a mouthful.
So weird seeing Taiga without the white strip and Kuroto acting normal (especially with how far he jumped off the sanity slope).
This and the Brave special show how violent KR can get without TV limits (excluding Amazon which is meant to be violent). These online specials have been way better than the ones Ghost did.
She was basically a way to soften Taiga's attitude and make him more approachable. His morals were never the problem (He wants to be the only one fighting not due to being egocentric, but because he wants to carry the burden by himself), but his attitude is.
I really think they're setting up Taiga to die protecting her too, which is why he's getting to use Bang Bang Simulations all the time while Fantasy is sidelined, but we'll see, I guess.
Those with psychic powers are just holding seeds of Agito (given to them by the Overlord of Light on the Akatsuki), and the Unknown want to wipe them out as they are blessed by the mortal enemy of their creator, the Overlord of Darkness. Think of those psychic powers as a precursor to becoming an Agito Rider.