Kamen Rider Geats: Better Ended Than Ryuki, A Watered-Down Squid Game, A Watchable Mess

Kamen Rider Geats has come to an end. After some irregular watches, I've reached the end and I'm going to say it's really in the watchable mess category. Maybe, it's best to say So Bad It's Good or maybe not. Maybe, it's not that big of a mess. I think it reminds me of Kamen Rider Saber as a watchable mess. Other Toku shows by Toei that I enjoyed in spite of being messy are Kamen Rider BLACK RX (which IMHO was a Necessary Failure), B-Fighter Kabuto (which only becomes watchable because Big Bad Beetleborgs and Beetleborgs Metallix are MUCH WORSE), Kamen Rider Kiva (which is considered Toshiki Inoue's lowest point), and maybe I can also include Ressha Sentai ToQGer (which got an award on Railroad Day to help get it vindicated). I think Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters may also include the list and I hear it even got a Cult Following from some Power Rangers fans. 

I watched the show thinking about two shows - Kamen Rider Ryuki and Kamen Rider Gaim. By now, readers should be aware of how much I praise Gaim for its new creative content with Gen Urobuchi. In the case of Geats - we have Yuya Takahashi who handled the first Reiwa Rider series namely Kamen Rider Zero-One. We also had Takahashi handling Kamen Rider EX-AID. EX-AID got reduced to a more rushed pace like Ucchu Keiji Gavan and Power Rangers Lost Galaxy due to Real Life Writes Plot. Zero-One got to a halt and was forced to rush things due to the deadly Legacy Virus. How did Takahashi do with Geats IMHO? I have mixed feelings about it.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of Yasuko Kobayashi and Inoue. I actually blame the executives as to why Ryuki had its really sloppy Reset Button ending. Come on, it's too obvious that Kobayashi and Inoue were intent on killing all the Kamen Riders! I think Naomi Takebe still did a good job with Kamen Rider though she doesn't do well with most Super Sentai. I think Takebe really played it safe with Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. Personally, I wished Shinichiro Shirakura were handling Go-Busters, allowed the Earth to enter a post-apocalyptic scenario, and had Inoue as its secondary writer. However, making room for new writers is important in the Trial and Error process. I think Geats has decided to try new things, played it safe, and it can be a very weird combination.

A Squid Game for KIDS?

I don't blame people who compare it to Squid Game. Okay, it's no secret that I find Squid Game almost intolerable. I'd watch the protagonists here of Geats instead of the annoying broke people in Squid Game. Ace can be a Gary Stu BUT he's still better than that irresponsible father in Squid Game. Not surprisingly, Dryed Mangoez even makes this comparison in his finale review:

Which might be okay if it actually had a cohesive plot.

So back when the season first premiered, it was said that the story would be inspired by Fortnite and Apex Legends. Heck if I know what that meant. Lol. But almost immediately, I was able to make out similarities to Netflix’s breakout K-drama Squid Game instead.

I definitely think Geats took some inspiration from Squid Game as well as The Most Dangerous Game too even. Having people fighting each other to the death for the entertainment of others is certainly a premise that can drive some good story. Zyuohger tried to do it, but certain factors in that season sabotaged any sincere attempt at good story there.

For Geats though, a Sunday morning-safe Squid Game would’ve been an interesting Kamen Rider season.

And I thought that’s what the season would end up being about. Having our core four Riders continually fighting through “seasons” of the DGP to have their dreams and desires come true. Along the way, we’d meet other “players of the week” who would then have their own stories that would in turn help flesh out our core four’s own season-long journeys.

But nope. We didn’t get any of that. I assumed we’d get different winners throughout the season. The novelty of a new “world” being made after each season was something I was looking forward to. But we didn’t get that either.

Instead, it was all about Ace being an ace. He’s the perpetual winner who has thought of anything and everything throughout the centuries. And that’s all in order to find the mama that abandoned him. Welp, he did end up finding her, but then somehow became a throwaway plot point.

Anyway, that’s just one of the many awkwardly executed plot points throughout the season. Unlike how other seasons may like to pull things out of their ass thin air, Geats did the interesting thing of introducing an idea then throwing it into a drawer until they remembered it was there and pulled it out again. That applies to general overall plot points as well as to specific character pieces too.

The season seemed to want to make things more complicated than they needed to be. All the pieces were there. But the show didn’t seem to know what to do with them.

This reminds me of how several adult franchises had children's shows! Toei even got into the fad and did the same with Robocop. We have Kidou Keiji Jiban followed up by the more police drama-like Tokosou Robo Janperson. The Robocop movie was for adults. I remember watching Conan the Adventurer which was loosely based on the ADULT Robert E. Howard Conan the Barbarian franchise and the 1982 Conan the Barbarian film. With the current censorship in Japan - scenes like blood and warning against drugs and alcohol consumption scenes are reduced. Think of how Tokosou Sentai Dekaranger is pretty much tame in contrast to the Rescue Police Trilogy. 

Squid Game wasn't a show for children. I find it brutally funny as Mortal Kombat due to the exaggerated violence. The participants played in children's games and DIE if they screw up even one bit. The promise of huge cash is almost like a bloodier version of the tournament in Enter the Dragon - a movie that inspired video games such as Mortal Kombat and Tekken. 

Except here, the participants are pulled into the Desire Grand Prix, which is obviously arranged by NO SURPRISE, by Suvillains themselves. Suel the main antagonist remains masked and never gets unmasked for a reason. That reminds me of how the Great Leader of Kamen Rider's Showa era run may never be unmasked. Was the Great Leader really one and the same with Grand Lord Crisis in Kamen Rider BLACK RX? Maybe, maybe not. It can get messy, especially with how the Desire Grand Prix has a very messy structure - resulting in messy plots. They may be watchable but I don't deny it's a mess.

There are messy plot points that are hard to talk about without spoilers. There's Neon's sudden plot twist about being artificially created. There's Michinaga going like Gai Yuki in Chojin Sentai Jetman except he doesn't die in the end. There's Keiwa and his sister Sarah. I think a lot of twists and turns happen. Losing memories. Regaining them. Isn't that really taking that mistake from Ryuki too far? Yet, it's still an enjoyable mess. It reminds me of how I watched BLACK RX still enjoying the show even if the Crisis Empire were big idiots. The twists and turns of Ace, Neon, Keiwa, and Michinaga are nowhere near as convoluted as how Seiuun Machimeman (which I believe should NEVER get a Discotek release) or series like Engine Sentai Go-Onger (which I hated AFTER watching Gekisou Sentai Carranger) and maybe I'd also name Shuriken Sentai Ninninger which is ONLY SLIGHTLY BETTER than Power Rangers Ninja Steel. 

The ending (which I'll spoil a bit) hasn't really been as bad as Ryuki. I'm reminded of the ending of Kamen Rider Build where the hero kept his character development. Ace is still Ace. I still think Tsumuri ends up pretty much almost like the Space Sheriff sidekick. Fortunately, Tsumuri doesn't do panty scenes like Annie did in Ucchu Keiji Shaider. However, Tsumuri lacks the impact of the female allies that go on field in Tokkei Winspector and Shirei Solbrain. Toei has canceled but not forgotten the Metal Hero franchise - still paying respect to it through the Kamen Rider franchise. I think Ace, while tolerable, can be quite a messy character with being an Ace instead of making him more relatable. I think Ace is more tolerablee than Daigo Kiryu of Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger at most.

I think the show can have a middle ground. I guess some people will like it and acknowledge where it goes wrong. I think Gaim is still better. However, I think this show also did fix some things from Ryuki. Ryuki could've been good IF the show didn't toss ALL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT out of the window. Ryuki was cool with the action scenes and Takeshi Asakura was pretty much the show's version of Birugenia from Kamen Rider BLACK. 

Maybe, I can also say that while I ended up enjoying newer Kamen Rider over newer Super Sentai - the recent setting is the opposite. I still don't like most Showa-era Kamen Rider series. However, I find Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger more entertaining than Geats. Maybe, I could say that King-Ohger is better done than Saber as a pseudo-sequel to Saban's Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog - a series that tried to ride the hype of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: The Warrior Princess. I'd say give it a watch and maybe you'll like it better than me. Maybe, you'll end up disliking it. I still recommend it though as a watchable mess.