Kamen Rider Drive overall thoughts?

[SquidKing]

It didn't exactly have the most promising of beginnings.

I just groaned at the realisation - though I should have known - that we'd be dealing for a whole year with an idiot police force with every one of Gen's attempts to mug the camera with his exaggerated facial expressions as if someone heavily drugged his coffee, making me wish that Oren could also be in this show. The method of implementation of the toy cars in the show was downright abysmal, often making the earlier fights utterly unbearable, vapid and uninteresting. Mashin Chaser devolved into a simple punching bag who showed up way too often (his status as a reaper becoming irrelevant as quickly as it was introduced), and with an arc that stretched on for too long before they were able to find some manner of resolution for it. Gou's introductory episodes made me want to punch a badger. Medic's introduction was as significant as a wet firework...heck, her character throughout the whole series was a damp squib.

Really, the only good things I could say about the show in its first half are...well, it wasn't plagued with galling and unlikable victims of the fortnight like Wizard was. The Volt arc was where I felt the show had potential and a turning point for it to finally go somewhere. It didn't, but I maintain that they were solidly enjoyable episodes that allowed for a slightly longer serial nature than the usual two weeks of consequence-free subplots. I thought Kiriko showed a lot of promise. Yes, I'm just as annoyed as everyone else is that they never addressed the elephant in the room as to why she couldn't be Drive (oh I know Krim makes some offhanded comment later about specifically choosing Shinnosuke, but why should it exclude Kiriko from earning such a right as well?), but I thought when they started arming her, the show was being serious about letting her be a full-fledged partner and....ahahahahaha.

I fully agree with the assessment in a post above that talks about how Drive's second half is suddenly such an improvement over the first. It was almost like there was a change in behind-the-scenes personnel, because Drive just pulled a Goseiger and suddenly applied the Midas Touch to itself. Makage and Nira (the latter's...grating demeanour notwithstanding) were the shots in the arm the show desperately needed after I witnessed the idiot plot of Kiriko attempting to revive Chase despite having no possible way to reasonably deduce that the guy would be any less dangerous than he was before. Unfortunately, the new villains seemed to only put Medic out of business, after the show spent a couple of episodes building her up as a tangible threat. That circles round to this nagging feeling I have; Drive feels really incoherent. I know production is a messy affair and last minute changes can be seen as an inevitability, but besides something like Decade (I'd say Hibiki based on what I read, but I haven't seen the show), Drive is one such Rider show that makes the incoherence bloody obvious. Things are seemingly dropped. Things are suddenly altered (the ambiguity regarding how Roidmudes were exactly created and what Chase's significance for the Promised Number being two things I can think of). Other things seem conspicuously last minute, from Gold Drive to Sigma Circular.

Other than all that, thumbs up for the Gou/Chase story idea, even if it's not the most well-executed story ever. Props to that subversion of goofball Gou. The show really went to town in slowly breaking the jovial chap into a battered and bitter man, soon to be fuelled only by a desire to destroy, and later haunted by the legacy of his father. Its resolution did leave a bit to be desired. How interesting would it have been if Chase, as he slowly rediscovered his attachment with humanity, to have temporarily supplanted Gou's place as the true secondary rider with the full missionary zeal to protect, while Gou was this rogue vigilante rider who wanted only to wreck his enemies. This kind of ironic setup could have been more pronounced and it would been less goofy than Gou deliberately putting up a prolonged act just to snatch the iPad away from Brain, but I give them points for trying.

Oh, and Banno is just so fun. Delightfully hammy and so lovably evil. And did I also mention that Medic is a damp squib and how disappointed I would be if I was her actress and this was what I had to work with?

I don't expect anyone to read something this long and rambling.

 

[Amon]

Drive is the first series that I dropped since Kiva. The story is boring and the characters suck expect for Chase.

 

[SquidKing]

Drive is the first series that I dropped since Kiva. The story is boring and the characters suck expect for Chase.

When did you drop it?

 

[Byg4299]

Drive is one such Rider show that makes the incoherence bloody obvious. Things are seemingly dropped. Things are suddenly altered (the ambiguity regarding how Roidmudes were exactly created and what Chase's significance for the Promised Number being two things I can think of). Other things seem conspicuously last minute, from Gold Drive to Sigma Circular.

Perhaps this is just me but am i the only one noticing this alot in Riku Sanjo's work. It wasn't very obvious in W but with Kyoryuger and Drive there are a number of plot points that are either drop or not developed as well they could. I really get the feeling that he's just writing the plot as the show is going on rather that having it planned from the start.

 

[ferosaki]

gaim and wizard also banned some of their plot points, so whats wrong with it?
what matters is the main plot stands sstill even without a minor elements..

 

[SquidKing]

gaim and wizard also banned some of their plot points, so whats wrong with it?
what matters is the main plot stands sstill even without a minor elements..

Presuming you mean dropped some plot points: what plot was dropped in Gaim? I hear people saying this a lot, but I don't remember anything being lost.

 

[Solari]

Seems like there's quite a mixed reaction to Drive.

I had actually dropped Drive after the first few episodes, but one day a few months later, I decided to marathon it. And then I started to really like it. This was when the series was just in its' 20s. I came back to this forum because I wanted to discuss the episodes with other people.

I agree that the first half was weak. A few things were dropped and some things didn't make sense.
The end of the first half and the second half really improved a lot over the initial episodes.
However, so much more could have been done with the Roidmude and with the Riders...



Drive has become my favourite Rider series despite its' flaws though.

What I liked:
The cast. I enjoyed their acting...can really see the growth of all of the characters and the actors& actresses over the course of the series.
Also their off-screen interactions in interviews/twitter. The cast photos, the interactions & teasing, the occasional in-character tweet...
(okay, it helps that I find them good-looking in each of their own ways too)
I liked most of the villains. I even enjoyed Brain's time as a joke character. Nira was rather irritating though. Medic had potential but fell short.

Some people find Go irritating, but he's probably my favourite character. I think the actor did a really good job.
When I rewatched, I felt that a lot of his cheerfulness, bluster and such in his intro arc was a mask hiding his darkness underneath. Go was a character who wore masks, which hid the serious & burdened young man who would do many things in order to achieve his goals.

I enjoyed some of the comedy, especially with Brain.(those expressions just makes me crack up)
Some episodes in the last half were great, and actually evoked an emotional response. I cried, two episodes in a row.


What I disliked:
Some shift cars were underutilised.
How all the Roidmudes died/were destroyed. It would have been interesting to see how the humans and roidmudes would co-exist.(like what lazycoconut wrote in some of her posts)
I wished Kiriko was given more of a chance to fight alongside the three riders though. I wanted Kiriko to have more action like the boys.(why can't she henshin?? even at least once? or even used that mass-produced Mach suit?) She had had the potential to be more kickass.

Perhaps this is just me but am i the only one noticing this alot in Riku Sanjo's work. It wasn't very obvious in W but with Kyoryuger and Drive there are a number of plot points that are either drop or not developed as well they could. I really get the feeling that he's just writing the plot as the show is going on rather that having it planned from the start.

I think most Rider and Sentai series are written like that...putting some plot into early episodes that the writers could later expand upon. However, not all of these get picked up again.
There's probably some planning of characters and arcs but not everything was written or set in stone at the start.

Also,
Sometimes, script changes are added by the director or writer just before filming a particular episode(eg.White Medic), or are adlibs by the actors(eg.a lot of the Imagin antics in Den-o were adlibs by the suit actors & the voice actors).
Sometimes, script changes are unavoidable due to behind-the-scenes stuff that happened(eg. Den-O - actress left, Kabuto -actress got really sick)

I think Gaim was probably the exception in that most of the story&script was planned out or written before filming of the series started.

 

[DaikaijuSokogeki!]

I don't expect anyone to read something this long and rambling.

I apologize for your short attention span. I read it and found it to be very insightful, thank you very much.

As for inquiries on dropped plot points: the only one that really jumps out was that it was pretty obvious early on that Machine Chaser was somehow instrumental to what Heart, Brain and Medic were planning, but after his defeat at the hands of Type Formula this is never brought up again.

 

[Hobo ODST]

It was brought up again, towards the end of the show. Brain beats Chase but says he isn't going to kill him because he still has a part to play.

 

[DaikaijuSokogeki!]

It was brought up again, towards the end of the show. Brain beats Chase but says he isn't going to kill him because he still has a part to play.

Right, and what was that part to play?