Watching the first and last episodes of Toku - Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger and Kamen Rider Saber

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raden238

Guest
So I decided to experiment on watching two tv shows but only the first and last episodes to see how different things are and for fun. I decided to do two toku shows that I passed up on watching when it first aired out of lack of interest. Here are my reactions:

Ryusoulger ep 1 - I appreciated the fact that they did the role call at the end of the episode. I don't recall this ever happening in Sentai history. I think the Ryusoulger suits and weaponry are ryu soul cool. As for our heroes, just generic characters. I see that Pink has super strength, been done before. The classic masters/mentors sacrificing their lives to protect the youngins. Supposedly dead but will come back. It's routine at this point. The Ryusoul gear voice sounds like the same actor for Kyoryuger. The villains remind me of Kyoryuger. Also that ED has got to be the worse. It's bad enough you got the rangers and mecha dancing but wtf is with the illustrations? It's like a children's variety show..

Ryusoulger final ep - The final boss committed suicide. Thats a first. The rangers "defeated" her without brute force and teamwork. Just some silly "reason with the villain" speech from Red to convince her to explode. The other villains live on. Nice to see a happy ending for the bad guys. You don't see that very often. I liked the dynamic camera work for the final mecha battle. Sixth ranger tries to hookup with Pink, ugh that must have been annoying to endure for a few dozen episodes. Black talks like an idiot. Green telling him to smile? Again recycling the same personality traits. The old comedic relief ally does a banana peel joke at the end. Sums up the whole show for me.

Overall thoughts - Glad I skipped this series. It was way too soon to have another dinosaur sentai. Kyoryuger was only 6 years old when this came out. I know 6 years is basically a generational gap for the intended audience of sentai but its so similar to Kyoryuger, Toei might as well do a Kyoryuger rerun to save the year's worth of budget.


Saber ep 1- Saber is a bookstore owner, writer and a nice guy that promotes reading. That's wholesome. Even though Kamen Rider is just a 23 minute toy commercial at least they promote book reading for children which is healthy and good for growth development. His female friend is a bit annoying. I like the CGI in this one. One scene even looked like a PS5 game. The idea of the bad guys summoning the pages of a book that overtakes parts of the earth as their reality is pretty cool. Saber's suit is fine, the belt is atrocious though. So bland and hollow. Saber reminds me of Wizard which came out about 8 years ago. Similar motifs, European lore and fantasy. I feel Wizard was just cooler. Haruto was a smooth dude, while Touma just a bit more anime-ish with the O faces.

Saber final ep - Almost watched ep 48 but it's not the final episode of the series which is actually 47. And yeah I don't really understand what happened besides the classic "main character sacrificing himself to save all worlds?" and then comes back to life in the end.

Overall thoughts - Is it a coincidence that both Saber and Ryusoulger have basically the same motifs? Knights, swords, European mythology? I recalled reading somewhere that swords sell better than guns in the toylines for both Rider and Sentai, which may have something to do with this. Reminds me of the card gimmick items with Decade and Goseiger. Both shows came out one after the other and have similar toys. Here it's swords instead of cards. I'm not a fan of yet another Rider series having so many multiple riders. Gaim was awesome but damn its been 8 years, time to go back to having one main rider and secondary rider. Enough with the Kamen Rider Sentai shick. Just because something was successful doesn't mean you have to replicate it every dang year Toei.
 
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Dr Kain

Guest
I don't get how Kamen Rider finales work anymore. The last episode of the show should be the last episode to air. Both Ghost and Saber pull this **** of the finales actually being some awkward crossover wet dream and it completely fucks up the continuity of the shows and I have no idea why they did it that way.
 
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raden238

Guest
I don't get how Kamen Rider finales work anymore. The last episode of the show should be the last episode to air. Both Ghost and Saber pull this **** of the finales actually being some awkward crossover wet dream and it completely fucks up the continuity of the shows and I have no idea why they did it that way.

Probably just to promote the next Rider. Yeah its confusing and not needed. Especially when the new show premieres the next week anyway lol. Toei being Toei.
 
Why is every good TV show Cancelled
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
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A few seasons have done that, actually- if I remember correctly, it was Wizard (who actually did a two-parter of that), Ghost, Drive & Ex-Aid. Funny thing is, the place I watch Kamen Rider no longer even bothers to treat them as part of the show, because I can't even find that episode of Saber to watch in the first place, lol. They all tend to be pretty forgettable, when they do that, though.
 
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