Kamen Rider Blade: pretty awesome

[Igadevil]

Tarantula Undead being just a mindless monster is something I kinda like, because it always seemed to me that the High-Level Undead's human personas were something they had to create over time to fit into the modern world, not just part of who they always were. In the series, there was this gap between when the Undead were unsealed and when the show actually starts. In the movie, it's presumably shorter, so I like the idea that being sealed up is this traumatic process and when you get unsealed, you're basically back to a mindless fighting machine (or possibly insane.)

Most of the lower-level Undead never really can get over that phase which is why they're just these growling dudes that jump out of the bushes and kill people. The higher-level guys are actually able to plan, reason, and in some cases realize the futility of fighting... but at the same time, that's the reason they exist, so it's what they're ultimately fated to do.

That's my own reading of it though, more likely they just got lazy and picked someone at random. :laugh: (I also realize this theory doesn't work with Hajime at all, but he is Joker so he's special.)

I also love the movie Riders, because they're some of the most easily unlikable. If the plot actually revolved around them, this would be terrible. But it really doesn't. Glaive is the most important and the most layered (comparatively speaking.) The other two literally are stooges from beginning to end, just there to help the villain accomplish his goals and then get thrown aside. I will admit I don't like the way they're written off, which is almost laughably quick (they might as well have had them get hit by a bus.) I would have had them realize they were being played near the end and help the heroes, turn in their belts, and then probably run off and get married or something at the end, deciding that this mad life wasn't for them.

I really wish they could have made this movie in real time, years after the series. It would never happen, but it would have been such a blast.

 

[Psychotime]

I also love the movie Riders, because they're some of the most easily unlikable.

What about some of the Riders in Ryuki? Granted, I haven't watched more than an episode of Ryuki, but still...

The other two literally are stooges from beginning to end, just there to help the villain accomplish his goals and then get thrown aside. I will admit I don't like the way they're written off, which is almost laughably quick (they might as well have had them get hit by a bus.)

There were so much better uses for the characters than just killing them off instantly to show how evil Albino Joker is. They don't even get to put up a fight. Remember when Tachibana supposedly died? It may have been a fake out (I think they negated his death just to make Kenzaki's sacrifice have more weight to it) but he went down FIGHTING.

I would have had them realize they were being played near the end and help the heroes, turn in their belts, and then probably run off and get married or something at the end, deciding that this mad life wasn't for them.

And there go better ideas that they didn't feel bothered to use. I came in expecting them to at least grow up and learn to RESPECT their predecessors who SAVED THE WORLD ONCE ALREADY.

 

[Igadevil]

What about some of the Riders in Ryuki? Granted, I haven't watched more than an episode of Ryuki, but still...

Some of them are, but characters like Knight and Zolda are a bit more complex. It's kind of hard to dislike them by the end, unless you absolutely hate everything about the characters and refuse to change your mind. Which could happen, but I can't say that. I like Zolda a lot, despite Kitaoka's shenanigans early on.

There were so much better uses for the characters than just killing them off instantly to show how evil Albino Joker is. They don't even get to put up a fight. Remember when Tachibana supposedly died? It may have been a fake out (I think they negated his death just to make Kenzaki's sacrifice have more weight to it) but he went down FIGHTING.

He did, but he also had the whole series to build up to that point. I think the movies usually have the problem of trying to juggle the TV characters and introducing (and often times writing out) new characters. That isn't to say that they can't give characters great deaths, but they usually lack the same kind of impact you'd get in a series death (though there are exceptions for either.)

The New Generation Riders in Missing Ace basically boil down to this: Glaive is important, but it's more who he really is than the Glaive persona itself. That's just a mask. Lance and Larc are just extras to fill out his "We're like Blade/Garren/Leangle but not" team. Like I said, I would have preferred something other than just "URK! DEAD!", but killing off movie Riders has long been the trend, so I don't know if it ever even occurred to the writer to do otherwise (being Inoue, probably not.)

 

[Switchblade]

What about some of the Riders in Ryuki? Granted, I haven't watched more than an episode of Ryuki, but still...

That's actually one of Ryuki's most fun characters.

Missing Ace is a movie that I think worked better in concept than in execution. The idea of making it an alternate ending is always solid and I especially like the idea of looking at would might happen to Amane if Hajime suddenly disappeared forever (spoiler alert: she's still annoying). The final movie, though, felt really rushed and it had a lot of weird plot holes or sudden leaps in logic that never really worked for me (boy it was handy that Lance and L'Arc died while carrying around half of a pair of trading cards that pointed out who their murderer was). And really, for a movie where Chalice's return should have been a huge, epic moment it really didn't amount to much.

It's still an okay movie, but I'd rank it well below several of the other first decade Heisei films (of which my personal favorite is probably Episode Final, for all of the great Shinji and Miho stuff).

 

[SEDdySatsu]

one of the KR series that I'm hooked to..it's one of the KR series that I started to follow on my college days and invited me more to Tokusatsu along with UM Nexxus and KR Faiz..