Kamen Rider Ghost (2015)

I was really excited when it started last year and when he appeared in Drive that just made me even more excited. Now it was a bit difficult at first because well I loved the hell out of Drive. But Ghost aired and I loved it from the first episode, I swear I watched the first episode like 3 times wanting more. Now it’s been a difficult year because this was a very polarizing series so that meant I had to struggle with defending the magnificence of Ghost while people hated on it. It’s been a long road but I’ve learned that hate isn’t the answer and that positivity needs to be spread around and people just need to promote what they love instead of bashing what they hate. Now back on track to this series. Honestly this is one of my favorite series ever and I think one of the best series ever. Along with Takeru being one of the best Kamen Riders ever too. I completely loved Takeru’s development from going to someone who was a bit weak not sure how to handle things to becoming this strong, gentle person, who believed in everyone. He managed to change so many lives and believed in how important life is which someone who has had depression issues and suicidal thoughts really helped because I truly love life. I connected deeply with this series and Takeru that’s why I love them so much. Takeru was also a badass and I loved all his forms. He also had some great fight scenes too. Makoto was also fantastic, I think the story really picked up when he got introduced and he helped the show pick up steam. He had a lot of amazing moments and was an amazing secondary rider. Alain was badass and had some of the best moments ever. Especially the kicking ass while eating Takoyaki scene which was one of the best Kamen Rider moments ever. Also I enjoyed his training scene and just overall his story arc of finding his emotions and heart. I really loved all the characters in this series and have said multiple times before in the other posts about Onari being great with comedy and compassion, Akari’s determination, Edith’s comedy and insight, Yurusen being fun, Cubi’s fantastic, Kanon’s sweet, Adel and the Ganmaizers being some of the best villains and everyone else too. Also this show had some of the best fight scenes ever, these guys were absolute beasts in battle. Also I loved the music during the series and it was used so well. This was a more hopeful season with a positive message and learning so much about connecting with others. There were a lot of things that people seemed to look past and I don’t know why. I will miss you Ghost, you were truly magnificent and I don’t care what anyone else thinks. Welcome to the top tier my friend.

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Mild spoilers ahead:

Everything the show did well:
-Alain is an amazing character. Other than him the majority of the hero cast or redeemed villains in this show range from fine to likeable overall.
-Some cool world-building concepts here and there.
-Adonis is and his motivations make sense.
-The monster of the week in the first half are pretty entertaining.
-Fantastic soundtrack.
-Cool action for the most part.
-The show does the human drama/slice of life scenes really well.

Everything the show did bad:
-The villains Chikara and Adonis get removed from the show in the dumbest way possible.
-The main antagonist Adel is among the worst antagonists that this franchise ever had.
-The other 2 dudes form the temple, Narita and Shibuya could be removed from the show and it would hardly affect the plot.
-Most of the cool world-building elements that help explain what's going on in the Ganma world happen in movies, novels and specials, not in the actual show which makes it near impossible to care for the show's main conflict.
-After the first quarter the show's writing quality takes a nosedive outside the Alain focused episodes and the eyecon collecting episodes, the latter of which are very few since they collect most in the first quarter. Basically the show introduces the Deep Connect organization which ends up making the story unnecessarily conveluted and then the show's quality drops even harder when the show starts focusing on Adel.
-After the first quarter Makoto's character feels aimless. For a while his character goes nowhere and when they finally put focus on him his backstory and development become unnecessarily conveluted.
-Ghost's main form, Ore Damashii has a pretty boring fighting style initially and it's only later that it improves as it starts having a monk-like fighting style.
-Most of the stuff with the Great Eye is poorly explained, since again, it's explained properly in content outside the show.

Reasons for the show's strengths:
Main producer Kazuhiro Takahashi wanted to return to the bizarre editing and direction of the Showa seasons so he came up with the unconventional and unheroic motif of ghosts. He wanted to portray the importance of life which led to the creation of characters Adonis and Grandma Fumi.
Main writer Takuro Fukuda excels at writing slice of life and human aspects to his stories, so the Alain episodes and his slice of life scenes are really greatly done.

Reasons for the show's problems:
Main writer Takuro Fukuda had scheduling issues which led to him being absent during the show's pre-production which resulted in some poor planning when it came to the show's setting and him being absent during the show's middle with the exclusion of the Alain focused episodes. Due to not being able to write the episodes in time he dedicated himself to write the movies and specials of the show since he wouldn't have such restrictions which is why the spin-offs of this show have so many important plot-points when in comes to the setting and better character writing for the most part.
Due to the response of parents and kids who watched Kamen Rider Ghost's cameo in Kamen Rider Drive's summer movie being that he was 'too scary', main producer Kazuhiro Takahashi decided to reshoot the first 2 episodes of the show in order to edit some of the scary scenes and ended up changing the show's directing style for the rest of the show. This resulted in the show not being able to adopt the Showa/creepy directing style the staff wanted for the show and for the directors to not know what of fighting style to give to Ghost's main form 'Ore Damashii' for a while since he wasn't able to use the spectral fighting style they had planned for him. This reshoot of episodes also resulted in the show having more budged constraints and scheduling issues, these combined with Fukuda's affected the show's pacing. Takahashi also ended up changing the show's setting 3 times during the show's run, which led to the writing feeling more conveluted and caused most of the problems with the show's writing as spite of the Fukuda being absent the show still had competent side writer Keiichi Hasegawa but with Takahashi making so many changes midway to the show and the time constraints with the scripts, there just wasn't much him and even Fukuda could do once he returned for the final arc.

Overall:
Despite the majority of the characters being likeable, this show has so many things dragging it down that the show ends up being bad overall. I can only see people enjoying this show if they consume all of the outside the show's content, but even then that only elevates it to a 6 since those specials don't fix Adel who's a prominent aspect of the show. I can only recommend this show if you're a Kamen Rider completionist or if the setting and motif seem cool enough to you to watch its movies and specials alongside it even knowing that the main antagonist in this show is disappointing.

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Worst KR series I've seen to date

This show started off with an intriguing premise and suits that felt very sleek and stylish. The plot is good for the first 15-20 episodes but when you hit episode 25, the plot completely stalls and goes nowhere until the end of the show, more or less.

Barring Onari, most of the cast is just forgettable; and Takeru becomes just plain annoying. Wizard had story problems as well but at least it's cast was likable.

The action and stunt work is still as good as it's ever been and that's the only real compliment I can give to this show. I don't recommend this show for anyone other than hardcore KR fans and, even then, it's likely to not be enjoyable.

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