(Why is it named after him?)
Probably to give the audience someone more visible to identify as a main character. Watching the episodes, I figure that "Chou Juukou B-Fighter" probably could have served as a decent title and I would have much preferred that.
You don't see a disconnect between Ryotaro's voice and the Plat and Liner Form suits?
Considering the mannerisms in those suits? Not really. Ryoutarou is a pretty lousy fighter and it shows when he's transformed. Kouhei on the other hand is this...really impulsive teenager out of suit but often acts calm and collected in suit and that voice just doesn't go with the demeanor.
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Episode comments/reviews!
You know something I find weird? Why is it that some series allow their heroes to be damn near indestructible in the first episode and then an episode or two later, they start getting their ass kicked? Was Mother so out of practice making monsters that she just came up with any crummy thing she could muster at the time?
So! Episode three was a rather interesting one as it gives us more insight into who Ran is as a person and she is basically...someone who really needs to get her priorities sorted out. I was pretty shocked to see her run off, not help that kid calling for her, and try to salvage her programming. (also, 1999? Does that mean she's been making kickass programs since she was 11?) Of course she eventually learns the error of her way and everyone's happy again. I think seeing someone reprimand her a little tougher than the scowls Kengo and Kouhei gave would have been interesting.
Yui is...in the base, somehow! And everyone's okay with that. Sure. I think this is one of those episodes that lets us see Kouhei as a more realistic teenager. When his sister is in mortal danger, yeah, he freaks out and does whatever he can to protect her, but when he's trying to look cool in front of his partners, he's like any typical teen and wants nothing to do with her. (until she brings cake along, but of course that's for Kengo and I'm sure “cake” is a euphemism for something) The ending was a little out of left field, I totally forgot about the run time of the episode, so it genuinely surprised me to see it be a cliffhanger. Kouhei's sometimes impulsive behavior might come back to bite him in the ass one day.
Also! Villains, how 'bout them? Even though we don't really see much of them, we're shown that there's definitely a nasty rivalry going on between Raija and Dezle. The rivalry goes pretty deep as Raija doesn't hide the fact that he's ready to take his brother on in a sword fight and Dezle almost relishes the idea that his brother's monster will fail.
Random note: I love how generic the technical aspects seem here in Ran's programming, it's almost embarrassingly bad.
Now on to episode four, in which we learn why posing and walking away from an explosion after you beat an enemy probably isn't the best idea.
Well taking on a general this early in the series went just as expected. Ah well, at least Raija was amusing in battle. “Let me go!” “Sure thing -TOSS-” gave me a chuckle.
We learn that Raija was after the Neo Beet Machines the entire time. Speaking of, those things are pretty snazzy, I love their battle sequences, they're some of the first mecha battles I've really found myself enjoying in a long time. It's amazing what models and some decent film angles can do for something like this.
Dezle's turn is up next and he seems more concerned with taking out the base itself than the Beet Machines.
This is probably my favorite episode so far, outside of actually seeing anything from Kengo that shows him off as a blank slate, we actually get someone rebuking Kouhei for being so impulsive and not working with his teammates in battle. Kengo's story here is pretty interesting, the guy basically had hopes of being B-Fighter Kabuto and trained his ass off for that before he was picked by the Kuwaga suit. Now he sort of wants to return to the old days where he had a bit more hope, he basically hates the idea of someone as seemingly irresponsible as Kouhei being able to fight as Kabuto, the role he fought so desperately for and lost out on in the end.
I'm finding myself to like Yui's roll in the series thus far, she's not just a cheerleader character put in the show to stand around looking pretty, she serves a purpose! She's basically the reason that Kengo came around and discovered that her brother really is a well meaning person, just rash because of his age. (and looking at Ran, it's easy to see why Kengo would be the most mature) I really loved seeing Kengo walking away from Yui at first, not wanting to be around anything that could remind him of Kouhei, I suppose that just shows how deeply he wanted to be Kabuto.
And if I haven't said it yet, I love that ending theme song. I'm not too fond of the opening, but I actually find myself sitting through the ending all the time.
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I swear, I'm not trying to make these that incredibly long, but it feels like I have a ton to comment about in the episodes.
