Rider shows that do not fall apart in the second half (SPOILERS)

The Extraordinary Fan(boy)
Joined
Oct 7, 2012
Messages
363
However, there are a lot of series that seem to fail in its last 10 episodes. Wizard, 555, and Kabuto being main culprits of this. I just do not understand how the Japanese thinking works, but from my perspective, you know your show is going to be a year long, you should already have your ending planned out well in advanced so you know where the show is going to go. We should not be having cop out endings, open endings, reset button endings, etc, for a 50ish episode series. We also should not have random organizations showing up at episode 42 and then be completely irrelevant and killed off by episode 46. It just doesn't make sense and wastes our time.

There is actually a reason for this.

During the last HJU episode (quite interesting BTW), special guest Mark Musashi commented on how as one show nears its end, the production key members start being reasigned to the following show, sometimes leaving the previous show in the hands of "skeleton crew".

Since these are sales driven shows, Toei/Bandai sort of start to five up on a show once there are no more new toys to advertize and start focusing their resources in the next toy line. It is sad, but this is the main reason why many shows start falling apart during the final episodes.

Now, as for show that actually fall apart during their second half, i would say that there are actually very few shows that fall in that category.

I love Kiva, but i gotta say that the first 4 or 5 episodes and the last 5 or 6 are pretty weak, while the whole middle portion is quite good, though it has its ups and downs.

In the case of Faiz, the show has some quite entertaining drama, but the final 8-10 episodes push the envelope too far, to the point that it almost ruins the show.

Hibiki is an interesting case; while i truly enjoyed the first half, i wouldn´t say that the second half was bad. It was different, yes, but it was still entertaining. The final episode definetily ruins it though, not because it was a bad idea, but because the execution of it really went against the build up the show had during the second half.

As controversial as it is, i would argue that Wizard had a strong first and last quarter, it was all the middle portion that i found lacking.

Really, the only show that i would say falls apart during the second half is Kabuto, mostly because the show really does become a mess after the middle point. It still had good moments, but for the most it was pure madness, and not always in a good way.
 
Active Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2006
Messages
6,410
Aside from lower budget figthing scenes, I don't get how Kabuto's "2nd half" marks any kind of notable transition in the show. The inconsistent characterization, and over the top humor starts from the moment Inoue gets on board with the series in episode 11.

Well, I guess there's Hiyori's character issues too, which only start later on due to her actress' limited availability for the show. Still, she was always a weakness of the series.

However, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Amazon as a primary example of the inferior second half. When Toei stepped in to save the show, what they ended up doing was taking everything unique about Amazon and just made it boring.

I think Amazon's second half isn't that bad because it doesn't last long anyway. Isn't it only 10 episodes? Amazon quickly becomes more civilized and the second enemy faction is more generic, but the low number of episodes means that quite a few of them still have relevant events. If it were longer, it certainly could have ended up really bland though.
 
Last edited:
The Extraordinary Fan(boy)
Joined
Oct 7, 2012
Messages
363
Aside from lower budget figthing scenes, I don't get how Kabuto's "2nd half" marks any kind of notable transition in the show. The inconsistent characterization, and over the top humor starts from the moment Inoue gets on board with the series in episode 11.

I would argue it was only after the Hiiyori thing and the introduction of Fusakabe Souji that the show jumped the shark, so to speak.

Basically, before that it seemed that there was a method to the madness, but after that it was obvious that there was not.
 
Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
Messages
25
There is actually a reason for this.

During the last HJU episode (quite interesting BTW), special guest Mark Musashi commented on how as one show nears its end, the production key members start being reasigned to the following show, sometimes leaving the previous show in the hands of "skeleton crew".

Since these are sales driven shows, Toei/Bandai sort of start to five up on a show once there are no more new toys to advertize and start focusing their resources in the next toy line. It is sad, but this is the main reason why many shows start falling apart during the final episodes.


Wow. This is very interesting. Though I really do agree how it's really depressing how the production team can simply abandon a show. But I guess this is reality, I mean toy sales are "everything". :\ Really hate it when a show starts off really good but gets a terrible ending.
 
D

Dr Kain

Guest
Aside from lower budget figthing scenes, I don't get how Kabuto's "2nd half" marks any kind of notable transition in the show. The inconsistent characterization, and over the top humor starts from the moment Inoue gets on board with the series in episode 11.

For me it was the sudden introduction of a divsion of Worms not wanting to be like the other Worms only to have it turn out they wanted to destroy humans as well, just in a different way and then the show completely forgot about who the enemies of the show had been for the first 40 episodes.
 
New Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
659
I think Amazon's second half isn't that bad because it doesn't last long anyway. Isn't it only 10 episodes? Amazon quickly becomes more civilized and the second enemy faction is more generic, but the low number of episodes means that quite a few of them still have relevant events. If it were longer, it certainly could have ended up really bland though.

Yeah, the only notable episode I actually recall sticking out/caring for in the final portion of the series was Mole Beastman's last episode. The final battle is extremely anticlimactic (plus I'm not sure what I expected, but the two bracelets finally coming together looked REALLY stupid), and the big reveal of Emperor Zero is just...odd (it was the KKK all along?).

Besides, I seem to recall there being like 2-3 straight episodes where the villains tried to set Tokyo on fire/make it really hot, so even the Garanda Empire plots of the week seemed redundant.
 
Top