Rewatching Kuuga: What Kamen Rider has lost

[MrMonk]

Maybe so. But regarding the comedy, for example, it still tried to be more over-the-top and "cartoony" than needed. Shougo and some others mentioned once in a thread that the "detective world" atmosphere was somewhat lost on W because of the insistence on extra light-heartedness.

Kuuga's humor is, as I said, less in-your-face and more subtle.

In agreement.

 

[musashi03]

Holy crap, are you psychic?

Hahaha, sometimes. :sweat:

Maybe so. But regarding the comedy, for example, it still tried to be more over-the-top and "cartoony" than needed. Shougo and some others mentioned once in a thread that the "detective world" atmosphere was somewhat lost on W because of the insistence on extra light-heartedness.

Kuuga's humor is, as I said, less in-your-face and more subtle.

Yep, I was also there remember? I was the one having trouble figuring out why Double is so popular and stated that it was overrated for me due to the fact that I was expecting a "noir" type of environment for Double. Having scenes shot in the night, walking in dark alleys, coming across sinister informants, and so on. What I got was the exact opposite... Bright as day, walking across parks, coming across a guy who looks like he doesn't take a bath and a guy who thinks he's Santa (I'm excluding Queen & Elizabeth since they're fine with me).

Story might have been written well, but the colliding themes gets to me.

For me personally, Ryuki was actually my first Rider, and I saw it back in 2004. I didn't grow up with the simpler methods, but I acquired a preference to it the more shows I watched.

Then you have good taste when it comes to belt designs. :thumbs:

 

[Smilodon]

I loved how high the stakes were in Kuuga. Every battle was important, and Godai had to defeat the Grongi or else more lives would be lost. That's certainly lost on todays shows, as monsters never really terrorize anymore. We didn't have it in Double until Utopia, and OOO is certainly making an effort to have monsters terrorizing the city.

The acting was sensational. Kuuga-Ryuki and Hibiki had some great acting.

 

[KingRanger]

While I agree with you mostly, I also have to admit that KR has also come a long way as farm as filming techniques go.

 

[Yoona]

Yep, I was also there remember? I was the one having trouble figuring out why Double is so popular and stated that it was overrated for me due to the fact that I was expecting a "noir" type of environment for Double. Having scenes shot in the night, walking in dark alleys, coming across sinister informants, and so on. What I got was the exact opposite... Bright as day, walking across parks, coming across a guy who looks like he doesn't take a bath and a guy who thinks he's Santa (I'm excluding Queen & Elizabeth since they're fine with me).

Story might have been written well, but the colliding themes gets to me.

But W was in many ways about subverting the themes of film noir, about how being alone and distant like the typical film noir hero is not really a good thing. The fact that W doesn't look like a noir environment is kind of the point.

 

[Vitor]

I also have to admit that KR has also come a long way as far as filming techniques go.

I honestly kind of like the Kuuga-Faiz filming quality, it sort of adds to the ambience

It kind of helped set itself apart too considering that most earlier Kamen Rider shows used standard movie quality film like Sentai

 

[musashi03]

But W was in many ways about subverting the themes of film noir, about how being alone and distant like the typical film noir hero is not really a good thing. The fact that W doesn't look like a noir environment is kind of the point.

You do realize that everybody has their own tastes and is entitled to their own opinion right? I prefer dark, riveting, solitary style the usual film noir uses with detective stories. If you like bright, happy, and friendly style on your detective story, then good for you.

 

[Yoona]

You do realize that everybody has their own tastes and is entitled to their own opinion right? I prefer dark, riveting, solitary style the usual film noir uses with detective stories. If you like bright, happy, and friendly style on your detective story, then good for you.

I do, but this isn't about opinion. If you'd said you would have enjoyed a dark film noir kind of atmosphere more than yeah, that's cool. That probably would be pretty interesting. But you said W's themes didn't match, and I was just expressing that I think they do. Because W wasn't meant to be a straight film noir. If anything, it's a complete deconstruction, even a parody at some points, of the genre.

 

[musashi03]

I do, but this isn't about opinion. If you'd said you would have enjoyed a dark film noir kind of atmosphere more than yeah, that's cool. That probably would be pretty interesting. But you said W's themes didn't match, and I was just expressing that I think they do. Because W wasn't meant to be a straight film noir. If anything, it's a complete deconstruction, even a parody at some points, of the genre.

Okay, I see your point, that the intentional deviation from the usual detective story style actually connects the themes. I just expected that it would be darker given what happened with the pilot episode, but I guess it would take the opposite route.

I just really thought that the darker path would have been cooler, but I guess they want to show the lighter side through Shotaro and Philip. Hopefully Skull's new movie takes care of that "dark path" I was initially looking for.

 

[Yoona]

Okay, I see your point, that the intentional deviation from the usual detective story style actually connects the themes. I just expected that it would be darker given what happened with the pilot episode, but I guess it would take the opposite route.

I just really thought that the darker path would have been cooler, but I guess they want to show the lighter side through Shotaro and Philip. Hopefully Skull's new movie takes care of that "dark path" I was initially looking for.

Yeah, initially I did expect something a bit darker though (in terms of setting and atmosphere I mean, because I actually do think that a lot of W's story is quite dark - I'm thinking of Philip's backstory here). To take an example from Ultraman, Ultraseven X had a much darker, more mysterious setting than your average Ultraman series and I really enjoyed what they did with it. I'd love a setting like that for Kamen Rider.