Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

So here's Yasuko Kobayashi, perhaps one of the best Tokusatsu writers before but tends to burn out sometimes.  So here's what I think about her trilogy. Yasuko Kobayashi's first head writing job was Kamen Rider Ryuki.  Yup she beats those writers of Dragon Knight by a mile and the fact she had Toshiki Inoue along, allowed much darker stuff.  This was also a season where Shinichiro Shirakura (Toei's golden goose?) was the head producer.  IMO this is where Kobayashi manages to write something pretty different aside from the producer's concepts.  Everything in here felt like a sci-fi J-Drama I'd love to watch, memorable characters and a lot of conflict. However things got wrong when Odin arrived with that time paradox thing which I'd say was Kobayashi's bad point.  It's not surprising either considering she was the head writer of Timeranger herself.  For me the worst thing here was the finale where Kobayashi threw out all character development out of...

So yeah Yasuko Kobayashi and Toshiki Inoue did some work together.  Remember Toshiki Inoue was the secondary writer of Timeranger to the point I even thought he wrote how Time Fire died.  Now moving on... Toshiki Inoue was the head writer of Kamen Rider Agito while Yasuko Kobayashi was the writer of episode 28.  I dunno what degree of influence that Yasuko Kobayashi had or if she co-wrote some episodes with Inoue but so far, Agito was a really good series that for me even beats Kamen Rider Black. Yasuko Kobayashi's first headwriting job was with Kamen Rider Ryuki.  Toshiki Inoue wrote episodes 7-10, 15-16, 24-25, 29-30, 41-44 and the Alternate Ending.  For me, this is where a lot of the darker and edgier come together considering this show imo was pretty dark and depressing but with the interesting Rider War story.  Things go from bad to worse then back, of course knowing Kobayashi and Inoue, they seem to love really cruel villains with the likes of K...

Well I'd like to compare these three writers whose works I usually like though they had their bad moments too.  Nobody's perfect but let's examine them shall we?  Pictures are credit to Shougo B'Stard of Them's Fightin' Words.  Here's what I thought about these notable writers and their ups and downs with Kamen Rider: Okay one has to admit he did more Super Sentai than Kamen Rider but he should always be credited and remembered for the guy who brought the well done new era of Kamen Rider writing in Kamen Rider Kuuga.  Yup Kamen Rider Kuuga is a template of how Heisei Riders are... two episode arcs, lots of drama and mysteries but sadly later series seem to ignore the stuff this guy introduced with his writing of Kuuga that made Kuuga a huge success after the long hiatus of Kamen Rider having another TV series (the last was Black RX which I still enjoy but it's not as good to me anymore).  Just made me think this guy should be a J-Drama writer if he...

Aside from real life busy affairs and other distractions (yup I haven't found a good Chinese kung fu seriest o watch as of late) so I decided to watch Kamen Rider Hibiki.  So this was the era of controversial mid-season change considering Kida was taken over by Inoue and Takatera by Shirakura (who I have this like/dislike relationship).  So here's what I think... the show has a "slow start" but it does get interesting with the Makamou concept and I love that drum ability.  So far, I do love his design and there seems to be just that "aura of peace" this show has to me.  Well I'll just have to sit to see what the midseason changes will bring...

Well Arakawa did a good job in presenting the mold for Kamen Rider allies (well I think he had taken Black RX's concept and smoothened it), Inoue managed to turn it to another direction in Agito.  Here's what I think of them... Makoto Hikawa- As a secondary rider for the Heisei era, I say he is really good.  While I don't like the whole G3 trailer thing since it's quite inconvenient but man he has some very cool weapons.  For me, I thought this guy was a comic relief that didn't become too silly to the point plot is ruined.  So he's clumsy and sometimes that gets on my nerves but I like him. XD Ryo Ashihara- I felt like he is a tribute to Kamen Rider Amazon which is cool.  But unlike Kamen Rider Amazon, he does tend to get feral and going crazy.  I really feel sorry for this guy and just thinking about him, he is a pretty disturbed person.  But good thing he got better. Toru Hojo- Well he's what I'd call I'm mixed on him since he is rivals w...

Kamen Rider Kuuga- the triumphal return of Kamen Rider after its long hiatus in 1989, after Toei got the rights to Kamen Rider.  So what are my thoughts?  So I'd like to talk about the plot- we have Yuusuke Godai the main character who starts of as just as a "happy go lucky" guy who one day becomes the hero to save the world from the evil of the civilization called the Grongi.  What happens is that he is known as Unidentified Lifeform No. 4 and he was at first, distrusted but along the way aside from learning about his new powers (which took two episodes each for him to learn them, trying the more realistic approach to the what if you had superpowers situation) he also gets help from the police department and his allies... Kaoru Ichijou- Well he's one professional detective.  Despite not having superpowers, he helps Kuuga in some other way eventually he's managed to kill a few Grongi with new special bullets that were later developed in the series. Sakurako ...

After watching OOO I thought the Greeed were a decent group but had some wasted potential.  Sure they look as cool as the Lords in Agito or the Grongi in Kuuga but they're nowhere cool.  I enjoyed OOO for its gimmicks, but I wish these guys could have done more in unleashing selfish desires to create mayhem.  They were born from the human desire to create life hence these are coin-based homunculi who are made from medals.  So they want to get the Core Medals to acquire power and one one is based on a theme shown by their appearance.  They birth the Yummies (which first appear as zombies) that become monsters for OOO to fight and are fed by desire, while driving the host mad. Uva is a pretty hot-headed fellow.  While I felt sorry for him once when his own comrades blasted him, however part of me felt he deserved it.  Well he did get regenerated into the last surviving Greeed before Dr. Maki becomes the final villain. Kazari well he's my kind of vi...