Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

It's the Year of the Snake. Japan also celebrates the Lunar New Year, which lasts 15 days in China (and Taiwan). It's back to work today. Let's take a look back at memory lane for snake-themed Kamen Riders. Evil Kamen Riders have become a staple -- sometimes even being the final villains such as N-Daguva-Zeba, Evolt, and Kamen Rider Ark One (who keeps reminding me of Venjix from Power Rangers RPM ). Snakes have been a common theme for the MOTW in Kamen Rider . However, Kamen Rider these days have the more serialized storytelling akin to a telenovela. That's why I write about Kamen Rider here but only from Kamen Rider Kuuga up to the present. However, I decided not to do episode reviews and just do random drops of newer stuff and older stuff. Now, for the time when a snake-themed Kamen Rider was created. Takeshi Asakura/Kamen Rider Ouja is a truly terrifying cobra The Cobra is often a popular theme for villains. Who can remember G.I. Joe's main villain organization i...

Yasuko Kobayashi, well she's probably still well-loved and hasn't reached the status of "public enemy numero uno". I decided to revisit this post from a few years ago and UPDATE IT. Now, it's time to talk about her finales. Before that, you may want to read this post about Toshiki Inoue and his finales . I guess she's getting too much mention (aside from Judd Lynn  who I believe is just overhyped by the fans ) that some older writers may have been overshadowed. Yeah, I feel like Hirohisa Soda was unintentionally overshadowed as fans seem to prefer to mention her name a lot. Again, I don't blame them if their exposure to Super Sentai was based on anything after Mirai Sentai Timeranger .  Kamen Rider Ryuki We have to hand it over to her that this is her first head writer job for the Kamen Rider franchise. Ryuki was most likely intended to be the most serious series yet but was killed by executive meddling. Maybe, it's unfair to blame her for the finale...

Like it or not, there will always be a couple of failed experiments. The Kamen Rider series has been known for some of its struggles. The Showa era of Kamen Rider has been full of gaps in some seasons. After Kamen Rider Stronger in 1975 - fans had to wait for 1979 for the "reboot" which is now dubbed as Kamen Rider Skyrider since the show was just released as The New Kamen Rider . It wasn't a real reboot since it just linked back to all the seasons. Maybe, one can never forget how Kamen Rider BLACK RX caused the 11-years-hiatus between 1989 (when it ended) and only TV movies were launched. The Heisei era finally did its work. I believe that the Metal Hero franchise was canceled in favor of Kamen Rider . I feel that the Metal Heroes' legacy still continues in the form of Kamen Rider . Metallic-looking suits came to Kamen Rider . We had first two shows that were a hit. The third, however, may be questionable. That show is Kamen Rider Ryuki . SOME SPOILERS AHEAD! Some sa...

This is one area where I'm pretty mixed. Certainly, I still can't get over to WHHHHYYYY did Kamen Rider Ryuki end up having that stupid Reset Button ending that got rid of character development. Also, Shinji Kido is somewhat at the shadow of Shinji Tatsumi but there was something a bit interesting going on. I know Shinji Tatsumi is really quite wimpy in contrast to Shinji Tatsumi but there's an interesting arc in this episode. Natsumi gets wrongfully accused of a crime she didn't commit. The A.R. World has Atashi Journal in place of ORE Journal in the actual continuity of Ryuki. The interesting plot is how Natsumi gets framed by mysterious circumstances. The Atashi Journal knows about the whole Rider War. Worse, the justice system of this Alternate Reality is determined by the Rider War. I'm just reminded of the mock trials held by Cobra-La (G.I. Joe) and the Quintessons (Transformers). So, everything is determined by the Rider War? What kind of justice is that? I ...

I could have been a fan of Kamen Rider Ryuki if it wasn't for that rather IDIOTIC reset button ending done by executives. It's really clear that Yasuko Kobayashi planned on killing everyone yet that was stopped with a reset button. So really, what happened? It's also probable that Megumi was brought in by Toshiki Inoue only because executives forced him to write. No, I don't think that there was a Rider War as some fans suggest. Now, it's time to think about how Kamen Rider Ryuki may have been rebooted unless one wants to treat it as an alternate universe like Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. I remembered watching Kamen Rider Ryuki's alternate ending written by Inoue -- something that may have been requested by Toei after so many fans hit them due to how WTF the ending was. At least Spielban and Kamen Rider Build kept character development for the main characters! Ryuki made it look like it never happened all because of executives. Parental complaints? Maybe. Then I ...

While watching Kamen Rider as of recent, I thought about two series that did the Battle Royale theme. One was Kamen Rider Ryuki (February 3, 2002 - January 19, 2003) and Kamen Rider Gaim (October 6, 2013 - September 28, 2014). I'll give my few shots on what I thought of them. The truth is that a Tokusatsu show has these three outcomes. The first outcome is that next series can really get better than the last. That's what I believe happened between Kamen Rider Kuuga and Kamen Rider Agito. I felt like Agito had a more complex, interesting storyline. The second is that the series can be just as good as the last. I felt the same happened while I was watching Kamen Rider OOO and Kamen Rider Fourze. Both series were pretty good in their own way though I can't help but still think Kuuga and Agito are better. The third is that the next series can be worse than its predecessor. The successful Kamen Rider Black was replaced by the inferior sequel of Kamen Rider Black RX though I stil...

From the Heisei era of Kamen Rider, I started to miss the idea of having an evil Rider so glad that Kamen Rider Ryuki created THIS particular evil Rider.  If Agito's Gills was just feral, Another Agito was an anti-hero... this one is willingly evil compared to Sunshine Moon errrr.... Shadow Moon in Kamen Rider Black .  So what's the deal with this guy, Kamen Rider Ouja? Takeshi Asakura is that sadistic, cunning guy who you would be afraid to be with.  Come on, he was only 13 and YET he freakishly kills his whole family in a fire though his younger brother survived, he killed him too.  He's one evil, sadistic killer that had to be contained.  Like Radiguet in Jetman, he apparently has no remorse for any killings he's done and takes pleasure in them.  He had to be incarcerated because of his actions, though I prefer the law should really execute him for a string of crimes he's committed.  And I'm glad he's no victim of the "Toku injustice" that ha...

Toshiki Inoue is infamous for his lackluster finales and the only finale I saw so far that is passable is Kamen Rider Agito (except why would Hojo later develop a romantic interest with a person he's been antagonistic with is funny).  But one must think of Ryuki's ultra-super duper lackluster finale.  So I did see Spielban raw anyway, but at least I was able to talk with Fantasy Leader on what the finale was about.  On the other hand, Ryuki itself had some interesting development and then... POOF!  The reset button was HIT!  So what's the big deal?  Compared to Spielban's finale that kept character development, Kamen Rider Ryuki didn't! Ryuki itself as a TV show was interesting with the concept of the Kamen Rider War going on.  You had all your douchebag protagonists like Shinji, Renn and Satoru.  You had them develop and in fact, while Shinji and Renn were basically antagonistic towards each other because of different goals, they did get close...

From the many points in common between Toshiki Inoue and Yasuko Kobayashi, they do have a habit of putting douchebag protagonists in their shows whether it's the depressing seasons (Ryuki and Faiz) or the lighter seasons like OOO and Kiva.  Moving on... here's a collection of them as they appeared: When it comes to douchebag protagonists, Shinji, Kamen Rider Ryuki's main character is definitely one. How can I say that?  He can get pretty inconsiderate and can annoy you a lot though he does want to stop the Rider War so I can let him slide since he's not that bad of a douchebag.   Ren from Kamen Rider Ryuki is another.  Well we know how sad you are with your fiance's life at stake but you DO NOT mess up others (that's why he became Kamen Rider Knight) just to get your fiance to be better.  I was thinking he might not be as annoying as Masato but he does get annoying nonetheless.  Considering Kobayashi and Inoue were both working on Ryuki, he does...

Here's what I thought were some minor stuff I wanted to happen in Ryuki's Alternative Ending: The ultimate battle between Ryuki and Ouja.  Made me think that it would be really epic if Ouja got killed by Ryuki himself considering that he made Ryuki's life so torturous one way or another.  It's like "Ouja you may be a Rider but you're one evil Rider!" resulting to a climatic battle.  Then I can have Ryuki do a Final Vent on Ouja to avenge all the people he killed.  Made me think that with a guy as crazy as Bilgenia, why not let the hero kill him?  I could really imagine Ryuki with a victorious roar.  Then again, Femme killing Ouja was still good considering the latter was killed by a weaker opponent who used her wits against him. Just a thought also on the role of Natsuki Kato as Miho/Femme.  So yeah she starts out as a con artist but she later had genuine feelings for Shinji/Ryuki.  I thought that Inoue does like killing people in his script...

If one thing intrigued me so much in Kamen Rider Ryuki was how Yasuko Kobayashi and Toshiki Inoue wrote the endings.  For Yasuko Kobayashi she's not that notorious for finales compared to Toshiki Inoue (considering Faiz had the worst finale!), now moving... a thought of the two finales: Finale #1- Reset Button Finale The finale written by Yasuko Kobayashi for me is kind of really left me mixed.  So Shinji dies after he's injured leaving Renn as the final hero to fight.  He defeats Kamen Rider Odin and gets the final wish.  So what happens?  After that wish isn't made or made, whatever it hits a reset button that somehow saves the world but leaves everybody WTF?  SO all the participants of the Rider War are back to life but also bringing back that dangerous villain Takeshi who may still be a threat to society (but at least no longer a threat to the world), their minds wiped out of the horrible memories and then Renn and Shinji don't remember each other....

Ryuki so far has the most number of Kamen Riders in one show.  Now moving on... and I'll include the two possible fates provided by Kobayashi and Inoue. Shinji Kido/Ryuki- As the main character, I would say he's pretty much idiotic, idealistic yet he has noble goals.  Hmmm with his position as a journalist, I thought of him as a parody of Spiderman in some way.  So he and Ren just keep getting into squabbles because of his idiocy and the other is a jerk.  For a character, I thought he always has his moral dilemmas and his reason to be a Kamen Rider is nothing personal, he just wants to protects people from the threat of the Mirror Monsters.  So a pretty tragic hero to the point in the original continuity, he even died after fighting despite all his injuries, in the "second chance" timeline he becomes an idiot again.  In the alternate ending by Inoue, he and Ren don't forget each other and decide to finish the last remains of the Mirror Monsters together ...

Compared to most of the Heisei riders, this is where it pretty much departs from Rider tradition of monster of the week, instead we have the ever-growing conflict of the Kamen Riders that must fight in order to get that one wish.  So we have Ren who's pretty much a jerk and Shinji who's an idiot who gets dragged into the Rider Wars.  So how do yo become a Rider here?  You get a Contract Card, make a contract with a Mirror Beast and you become a Rider.  However the consequences of breaking the card means death.  Ren's already Knight in the beginning with a bat-like beast Darkwing, Shinji becomes Ryuki thanks to Dragregger the dragon.  There is also a limit to the time being a Rider, so pretty much I guess that's the rule of thumb of henshin probably to avoid straining the user.  So this might be Yasuko Kobayashi's love it or hate it work with the help of Toshiki Inoue (who had just finished with his greatest work Agito and later wrote the screwed up Fa...

It's good to take advantage of break periods.  Now moving on... I've just finished watching Kamen Rider Ryuki which is really I'd say a good series.  A review is due for it and I would write it as one of my recommended riders.  Now... I've just given Ryuki a second chance and since I was Biased about it.  Now I just started viewing it and I'd say it really, really has gotten into me.  I believe it will get more addictive.  Well I'll do what I'd call mandatory review to Kamen Rider W then on to a really big deal with Kamen Rider Ryuki.