What is UP with KR Black and all these KIDS!?

[Glamador]

I've most of the way through KR Black now and the #1 thing that's been bugging me about it is all the damned KIDS. More than the formula, more than the lack of characterization, the KIDS.

Now, I don't really like kids all that much, but I know they can serve the story when done well. And in several episodes they've done just that. I recall the episode that introduced the Road Sector and the one where Golgom was kidnapping new mothers. The kids were integrated well into those and didn't feel forced or included for the sake of it.

But then you get episodes that start off having NOTHING to do with any children and they find any way they can to just *force* them into the plot. Like in the episode where Golgom tried to use music as a weapon or the worst offense of all when Kotaro runs into a group of *de-aged adults* in a Golgom facility. Like...the writers said "We don't have a spot for kids in this story...but we do have a spot for an assault team...find a way to make 'em kids!"

It's ruining the series for me. It hurts the story. It hurts the flow. It strains plausibility and it brings me out of the experience whenever it's so noticeable it hurts as it so often is. And more than that...it makes it feel like a kids show, in a bad way.

 

[Burkion]

Don't worry, once Shadow Moon shows up, the little bastards pretty much disappear.

Beyond that? It was the 80s. Not only did you do a lot of coke and vote for Ronald Reagan, you also featured a **** ton of children in your shows.

Zyuranger is WORSE about it.

 

[shingamyeonblack]

it makes it feel like a kids show

How dare they?!

 

[LaZerwolfX]

[HIDE]

I've most of the way through KR Black now and the #1 thing that's been bugging me about it is all the damned KIDS. More than the formula, more than the lack of characterization, the KIDS.

Now, I don't really like kids all that much, but I know they can serve the story when done well. And in several episodes they've done just that. I recall the episode that introduced the Road Sector and the one where Golgom was kidnapping new mothers. The kids were integrated well into those and didn't feel forced or included for the sake of it.

But then you get episodes that start off having NOTHING to do with any children and they find any way they can to just *force* them into the plot. Like in the episode where Golgom tried to use music as a weapon or the worst offense of all when Kotaro runs into a group of *de-aged adults* in a Golgom facility. Like...the writers said "We don't have a spot for kids in this story...but we do have a spot for an assault team...find a way to make 'em kids!"

It's ruining the series for me. It hurts the story. It hurts the flow. It strains plausibility and it brings me out of the experience whenever it's so noticeable it hurts as it so often is. And more than that...it makes it feel like a kids show, in a bad way.

[/HIDE]

^You're either really REALLY new to toku, or don't understand the concept of something primarily being for children. First, You're complaining about the straining of plausibility in a toku series, theres your first problem. Next, the heavy inclusion of child characters is a sign of the times and was a very common thing in the 60's up into the 90's; while its not done as much now, it was a VERY typical thing to do in toku at the time, its just the nature of the beast. Also Toku heroes are to a certain degree viewed as the "heroes of the children" and therefor it is very normal to see them rescuing kids its just kinda the way alot of toku was and still is to a certain degree, also theres a whole cultural mindset element tied into it but thats going deeper than is really necessary.

 

[The Analyzer]

Wasn't Yoko Honna, someone who became a seiyuu for characters like Cure Black, one of the children that Kamen Rider Black saved?

 

[MattComix]

Kid hate? Seriously? You do realize you were a kid once, don't you? Also that kids are just as much part of this as anyone. If not more.

While KR Black does over do it a bit, I think it's cool seeing a superhero being a friend to a kid. It's something that speaks to everything a superhero is about.

 

[Ivanhobe]

I don´t think all those kids were bad thing, it is not like they put them in there just to fill space, most of them fullfill a good role and in some cases they actually help to develop the character of Kotaro.

Kamen Rider Black is a hero, so it is natural for him to save children, not to mention that the innocence they bring to the episodes plays along quite well with the darker themes of the show, its a "protect the innocence" kind of deal that fits quite well with the character of Kotaro since the entire point of Black is how he loses his family to Golgom.

Wasn't Yoko Honna, someone who became a seiyuu for characters like Cure Black, one of the children that Kamen Rider Black saved?

Yes, Episode 32, the one with the Mushroom Mutant, and in my opinion one of the most interesting episodes of the series, for starters, Yoko Honna has quite a large Role, she is the focus of the Episode for more than half the running time (kotaro does not appear until minute 8).

This episode is also one of the trippiest in the series, the story revolves around a child who lost her mother, an evil convent for brainwashing the youth, and a Mushroom monster that causes all sort of crazy dreams. There is an entire sequence that seems lifted directly from Poltergeist, the final battle makes little to no sense and at one point Yoko Honna rides Battle Hopper while wielding the Biru Saber. I cannot describe how awesome/adorable that is.

Interestingly enough, she also appear in episode 9 of Black RX playing an entirely different character whose mother also died and this time the Monster of the Week is a Cactus.

 

[Kouji Kabuto]

It's pretty much a product of it's era. If you thought that was weird, then you shouldn't watch any Uchu Keiji shows.

 

[Glamador]

I don´t think all those kids were bad thing, it is not like they put them in there just to fill space, most of them fullfill a good role and in some cases they actually help to develop the character of Kotaro.

If you read what I said, I am asserting that this very much IS the case. Almost all of them are there "just to fill space."

I did, in fact, mention a few I thought were done well.

 

[Beast King]

And more than that...it makes it feel like a kids show.

If your worried about it feeling like a kids show, then you shouldn't watch Toku all together.