Kamen Rider General Discussion

[Magin]

Reiwa seems to be having a terrible time with KR series.

The last two bumbled the ending terribly (Revice and Geats), and I've heard a lot of criticisms about Saber and Zero-1 (which are now looked at fondly?). Then Gotchard starts like this...

Guess we all keep forgetting that at the end of the day, it's really just about the merchandise.

[Tactics]

Zero One aired during COVID so people willing to give benefit of doubt in regards to scheduling and actors availability.
Luckily Fuwa post-series material managed to convinced audience that Zero One may be a good series if its not because of COVID.

Saber, only overseas vocal about Saber being bad series, in Japan it well-received by end of series.
People are willing to overlook it weak, messy start as it managed to have the best last leg of story compare to other Reiwa Riders so far, also managed to score good at dynamics with sentai on SHT movie (with Zenkaiger and KR Zi-O in Super Hero Senki).

Revice is a mess of production; Daiji actor in one of interview admitted he's confused by script for Revice second half (well, Evility Live is not on initial toys catalogue, so ...).
Ironic because Revice is made when COVID restriction lifted and probably where Toei spent most of their money compare to other Reiwa Riders being 50th Anniversary Rider.

Geats, simply put, power fantasy sells; kinda funny considering Kirito VA belong to this series.
Enough not only to ensure good toys sales (to the point Geats Mark IX got two repaint for antagonist version) but also to warrant Geats as trending topic in Twitter (X) JP behind Donbrothers, later Kingohger, every Sunday.

I'm not sure about Gotchard being that bad.

The story just start, have setup, not the first time KR have stiff acting on first episode, not the first time it have school setting too.
You wanted day one casualties to spice up things? Build doesn't have that and works just fine. Giant monsters? Drive can live without that.

So far only camera works looks problematic but Gotchard team did mention in some of their staffs post that they tried to push how far they could go with CG and drones (opposite to King-ohger) thus they willing to take risk of shiny suit for Gotchard SteamHopper (which previously considered high risk of light reflection for Xross Saber).

[justavisitor]

My standard is probably pretty low, but I think this episode is better than the previous one, both acting (!) and plot wise.

Obviously the actors are good looking, so while they obviously have room for improvement, just a couple of heart warming interactions between MC and chemies, and a rare smile from the heroine (she has a lot in the op lol) already made them look more natural

Plot wise they already manage to explain much of the back story and the setting of chemies in this episode, so audiences can understand what is going on and now we can focus on the upcoming plot

Obviously still a long way to go, but enough for me to keep watching

[GDB]

It's definitely better than the previous one, but it's also still really bad/weak.

That said, the writing showed itself to be pretty bad this episode too, so I have to wonder if the actors wouldn't feel so bad if the scripts were better. Like, alchemy is making something from nothing? Hello, yes, that's the opposite of what alchemy is. This might've been excusable if FMA wasn't one of the more famous and popular anime out there. Also, how is "makes things levitate" making something from nothing? The MC is right, this is literally just magic, there's nothing alchemic about it.

[Tactics]

It ... more to tell what distinguish Houtarou and Rinne though.

Rinne looks smart but she treated things just what people around her told her about.
Supported by her earlier flashback and explanation, she's living situation where she have to quick on deciding her father is criminal, no question.

Houtarou OTOH, he looks stupid for bonding with Chemy.
However he's skeptical enough to notice alchemy here is just magic with formula attached and, opposite to Rinne, believe there must be explanation to his father disappearance.

This is similar to Yuta and Yume dynamics in Dynazenon now I'm convinced Gotchard is Dynazenon + KR + Cardcaptor Sakura.

[Tactics]

Kaixa confirmed for 555 Paradise Regained ... in 9/13/2023.

Spoiler for He finally got new form after such a long time:

[Tactics]

MC with uniform looks weird considering most times KR tend to go with "organization are evils".
Gotchard, Valvarad and current case of stalker ... does remind me of Drive with Valvarad as Chaser, also Chemy drawn to negative emotion is close enough to how Roidmude personality varied as they 'infected' by negative experience.



Continuing previous episode, I guess alchemy here is not going specific about modification and equivalent exchange but question of "what made it worth" ?
Gotchard and Valvarad are going to approach what made a Chemy "worth", to value them as friend or to value them as items, medium they originally intended.

Unfortunately this idea would be nicely executed if we saw more from Houtarou school life affected his decision befriending Hopper 1 instead of quickly settled it as part of Houtarou looking once in a lifetime experience.