coolzweg5

Geats was a great show. Fun and complex, the charachters were pretty awesome (especially Ace) and the action had some of the best direction of the franchise in recent years. The concept of the DGP is also a nice innovation on Ryuki and is obiviously made in the wake of Squid Game.

The series focuses mainly on the idea that "happiness is limited" and must be interchanged, but the Kamen Riders manage to defy this notion and achieve their desires having wished for them intensily, defiyng the system that wants to watch them suffer and mantains the belief that people can find happiness only trough keeping others down. This is obiviously a riff on reality TV, but also on the kamen rider's audience, that desires the intense suffering of their heroes in order to appreciate their stories. But also, this almost feels... political? The elite claiming that happiness can only be interchanged (money) and working class charachters like Buffa and Tycoon opposing them? The DGP exploiting the navigators and capping those who dare defy it (Ace), despite their "merit"? The happyness of rich people (Nago) being fake and built on lies bought with money, devoid of real love? You can't tell me this shit isn't political. Also, is Ace jesus? He comes from 1 AD, his mother is white (virgin?) and he is bound (crucified) before resurrecting and becoming god. This is weirdly religious tbh, and unexpectedly political. Love this show.

Altough after the halfway point, the loss of the DGP and the start of some stretched out arcs did take me out of it. Probably the writer change influenced it.

Read More

This was an alright show. Kinda weak on the writing department, but not the worst to be honest. The characthers were really great, especially Touma, Kento, Rintaro and Ren, they had such amazing arcs and growth, I have to say that I loved them. Alsot the fights were very cool, abandoning the martial arts of classic KR for sword based dueling was a breath of fresh air and pretty fun. The forms were amazing and the whole vibe was good. It really felt like an epic fantasy Kamen Rider, more than any other show. It was about frienship and the importance of stories, also about the power of human will that decides to live despite what appears to be an inevitable destiny, we decide to write even if we don't have free will, which is a touching message. That said, it had a lot of boring segments, so I can't really give it an high score. One last thing: the final battles against the divine sages were some of the best KR battles ever.

Read More

A well made Kamen Rider show that becomes an historical artifact

Quite a good series, to be honest, I liked it.

The suit design deviate from the Heisei series, they are much more slick and modern looking, it fits perfectly with the business-AI theme.

The characters were interesting and felt vey alive and real.

I like the plot, I love when Kamen Rider has terrorist organizations and politicking. Here we see yet again how companies can be the bad guys in Kamen Rider, and how the forces of capital can engeneer war and suffering. But in the end, they do resort to a "human malice" as the ultimate antagonist. This malice makes AI turn to violence, posing technology as neutral and is able to be used both for good and bad depending on human action. That is one of the core themes of Kamen Rider, that is here dealt with in the context of AI.

And regarding AI, despite this series beign made in 2019, it couldn't be made today. As a reviewer pointed out, this takes the 20th century classic sci-fi approach to AI, with robot coming from the czech robotnik, "forced worker". They are basically an oppressed class that do the dirty work for humans but are actually capable of thought and self-awareness (the singularity). That's quite different from our modern perception of AI isn't it? An episode where a manga artist has to learn to appriacete his AI assistant's work isn't writable today, when the fact that mangaka Inio Asano has expressed extremely pro-AI views has lost him a lot of fans. Really, this is a show for a bygone era, perphaps at the cusp of the shift in public perception of AI. Really, the fact that COVID impacted this show like it did only goes to show the historical moment in which it was made, when technological advancements are so fast that a TV series from only 7 years ago is now completely disconnected and out of touch from the reality of the impact of technology on society. This is almost and archeological artifact to be honest.

Anyways, very good stuff, reccomended. As far as Kamen Rider show go, this is probably A tier or something, even if towards the end it is very rushed (when i started watching episode 42 i thought I had skipped ahead by like 3 episodes, I guess that it's the showrunners that skipped ahead...).

Also the tournament arc was fun, even if unexcpected. And the main charchter has an Ai girlfriend which is his secretary, which is beyond funny. And the belt jingles were also fun.

"WHEN THE FIVE HORNS COLLIDE, THE GOLDEN SOLDIER THOUSER IS BORN!!! 🗣️🗣️"

But the episodes became kinda samey towards the third fourth of the show. Also we finally have a two female Kamen Riders (and one of them is a secondary rider)!!! But, as if by equivalent exchange, we don't have enough homoeroticism.

Read More