OK, You Know What?

[ZeroVX]

There's no way in Hell I'm going to finish that Kamen Rider thread. It just ain't happening. With college now kicking my ass thoroughly and trying to find episodes of the series that haven't been removed, there's just no chance of it ever getting finished.

So, for the five of you who actually gave a crap, I'll finish up here with very, very brief explanations of the series, and then the part you actually care about: them blowing shit up.

[YOUTUBE]C7zZqOooKgg[/YOUTUBE]

Kamen Rider Agito: Sequel to Kuuga, but only in that it takes place two years later and the enemies are somewhat connected to Kuuga's. First show to have more than two Riders as characters, not counting cameos from previous series. Is actually well-written with interesting and deep main characters, but it has more freakin' plot twists than a soap opera. Seriously, one character may or may not have killed someone and forgot about it when he got amnesia, someone was accused of killing someone but was innocent, someone has to deal with turning into a monster, and so on. I mean, I'm glad they put some effort into the writing, but it just gets friggin' ridiculous.

[YOUTUBE]GjIW1ueFu5Y[/YOUTUBE]

Riders Seen: Agito Ground, Storm, Flame, Trinity, Burning, and Shining Forms. G3 and G3-X. Gills and Exceed Gills. Another Agito. G4 from the movie.

Next Time: Oh God why are there so many Riders?!

 

[Goliath Uterus]

Well shucks, I was looking forward to that shit.....

 

[ZeroVX]

[YOUTUBE]QY0Uu32Bsm8[/YOUTUBE]

Kamen Rider Ryuki: In a nutshell, it's what happens when Kamen Rider gets together with Highlander and has way too many goddamn children. The basic plot involves the Rider War, where a group of people are dragged into the Mirror World (three guesses how they get there) and form contracts with ravenous creatures to become Riders, all so they can fight to the death with the winner getting a wish from some weird super-dimensional god thing.

Sounds awesome, right? Well, if you look at all the battles and nothing else. The plot is twisted and insane, and it gets even worse when time travel is introduced. This brings in alternate timelines that are further explored in the movie and TV special. Also, did I mention that there are a lot of Riders? 12 in the main series alone, with two more from the movie, and another in the TV special. Sure, some of them don't last long, but they took the idea introduced in Agito and just went insane with it. Whether that's a positive or negative is really up to you.

[YOUTUBE]6a5QW1EubhU[/YOUTUBE]

Hoo boy. Ryuki and Ryuki Survive, Knight and Knight Survive, Scissors, Zolda, Raia, Gai, Ohja, Tiger, Imperer, Femme, Ryuga, Verde, Alternative Zero, Odin.

Next time: Oh, a race war. This'll go over well.

 

[ABMorales787]

It's fucking long. Try Super Sentai next.

 

[ZeroVX]

It's fucking long. Try Super Sentai next.

Dude, I'm still having trouble finding the time and motivation to get back to my Power Rangers review blog, let alone this.

[YOUTUBE]W_PHpoSIUMQ[/YOUTUBE]

Kamen Rider Faiz: In the future of what-the-fuck-ever, humans now coexist with their "evolutionary superiors", Orphenochs. The organization Smart Brain wants to take over the world by forcing humans to evolve into Orphenochs, through some unexplained means. A few kids from an orphanage/school band together to stop them.

Thankfully they've toned down the number of Riders in this series to three, with two more in the movie, but they make up for this by doing something even more annoying: everyone and their mother winds up stealing the belts and using them. You see, one belt can only be used if someone has Orphenoch DNA, whether it's within them or through a separate device. The second belt is the same, but can kill it's user if used too much. And the third can be used by anyone, but has addictive qualities. So at least they were trying something different with the Riders this time, but the fact that pretty much anyone can steal a belt and use it themselves gets really old really fast. That, plus some rather unlikable characters and plot problems, and this isn't one of the better series.

[YOUTUBE]na5a0YNtv2U[/YOUTUBE]

Riders Seen: Faiz and Faiz Axel and Faiz Blaster, Kaixa, Delta, Riotrooper, Psyga, Orga.

Next Time: A group of Riders fight the Undead. It's not what it sounds like.

 

[ZeroVX]

[YOUTUBE]XEYqMJnvPzU[/YOUTUBE]

Kamen Rider Blade: In this universe, a war took place eons ago between the Undead. Not the kind of Undead you're thinking of, but your stereotypical monsters with a different name. The purpose behind the war was to decide which species would rule the Earth, which each Undead representing a species. Through some fluke, the Human Undead won, and we've been the dominant species since. But apparently, it's time for a new war, as the Undead have returned. An organization called BOARD is ready for them, which is where the Riders come in.

There are four main Riders in this show, with three more in the movie. Each of them represent a suit of a traditional card deck. Blade is Spades, Garren is Diamonds, Chalice is Hearts, and Leangle is Clubs. This show also brought cards into the forefront of the battles. The usage of cards had been introduced in Ryuki, but it started to take off here, especially considered the Riders needed to seal the monsters in the cards to use their powers. Other than those things, it was a typical series. There were a couple of interesting twists here and there, such as one Rider slowly turning evil because one of his cards wasn't sealed properly. Not a bad series, but not spectacular either.

[YOUTUBE]LFRWaTGCnss[/YOUTUBE]

Riders Shown: Blade (Normal, Jack, King), Garren (Normal, Jack), Chalice (Normal, Wild), Leangle, Glaive (the yellow one), Lance (the green one), L'arc (the red one).

Next time: Being different sucks!

 

[ZeroVX]

[YOUTUBE]0dvbCAXzlEw[/YOUTUBE]

Kamen Rider Hibiki: In the world of Hibiki, a group of humans have managed to train themselves to harness the powers of the Oni, in order to fight a group of monsters called the Makamou. Because the battles have been going on for eons, it's suspected that there are thousands of Oni in existence, but thankfully we never see that many. We still see more Riders than even Ryuki had, some of which only stick around for a few episodes and don't really do anything. The main character is, oddly enough, a young boy who is Kamen Rider Hibiki's student, and the story is told from his perspective.

This series was way different than your typical Kamen Rider series. No one used a belt to transform, or said "henshin", or made any fancy poses. There were no Rider Kicks, and originally, Hibiki didn't ride a motorcycle. In fact, it was established that he didn't know how to. Not only that, but the action in this series was diminished significantly from previous shows, choosing to instead focus on character development and the student-teacher relationship between Hibiki and the boy, named Adachi. It was a different beast altogether, and originally divided the fanbase. But, the characters became likable enough to earn devoted fans.

The problem was that the executives didn't like the drastic changes made. So, halfway through, they forced things to be "back to normal". The action was increased, characters were either changed or forgotten, a dumb rival character for Adachi was introduced, and they completely ignored the fact that Hibiki couldn't ride a motorcycle. This was a big mistake, as the fans were rightly pissed off, and the series went downhill fast.

[YOUTUBE]ofgSWipsfjs[/YOUTUBE]

(Yes, I'm aware the video craps out halfway through. I wish I was kidding when I say that that was the best I could find.)

Riders Shown: Hibiki (Normal, Adachi as Hibiki, Kurenai, Armed), Kyoki, Ibuki, Amaki, Todoroki, Zanki, Shuki, Nishiki, Habataki, Kirameki, Tohki, Kabuki.

Next time: Apparently, being the Chosen One means you're allowed to be an asshole.

 

[ZeroVX]

[YOUTUBE]50lvGGaSXRQ[/YOUTUBE]

Kamen Rider Kabuto: In another anonymous time period, a group of aliens called the Worms have crashed landed on Earth and started to slowly kill off the human race, due to their abilities to disguise themselves as humans and move at superhuman speeds. An organization called ZECT was created to stop them, who invented the Rider System for this series. They created sentient beings called the Zecters, handheld robotic insects that choose a master and allow him to transform into a Rider. ZECT sends out the Riders to combat the slowly growing threat of the Worms, the fate of humanity at stake.

The main character, Kabuto, instantly outshines all the other Riders by being declared the chosen one of the series, the one destined to save the world and such. This basically means that he beats up everyone and the other Riders are just there to look pretty. It doesn't help that the other Riders are more likable characters than Kabuto. In some cases, that can mean that the writing of those characters is really well done, but in this case, it's just because Kabuto is a dick. He's one of those people that you know who has to be perfect at everything. Whether it be something important, like his abilities as a Rider, or something mundane, like cooking, he has to do it perfectly. The worst part? He succeeds. Constantly. In his fights, he's constantly beating down the monster-of-the-week without even putting any effort in. He's the only Rider of the whole series to get a power-up state (outside of a non-canon DVD), not that he needed it. The only one who stood a chance against him was a Worm disguised as him, and that only lasted a couple of episodes. When your protagonist is your least likable character, something's wrong.

Still, Kabuto does have its fans, and a few strong points to it. They tried a few different things with the Riders, there are a number of unexpected and tragic moments to be seen. There are even a few shout outs to the original show, what with this marking the 35th anniversary of Kamen Rider. This show sort of falls somewhere in the middle in terms of quality, but it has its moments.

[YOUTUBE]enSsrOY7AWk[/YOUTUBE]

Riders Seen: Kabuto and Hyper Kabuto, Gattack and Hyper Gattack, ZaBee, Drake, Sasword, Kick Hopper, Punch Hopper, Dark Kabuto, Ketaros, Hercus, Caucasus

Next Time: When did we get so damn popular?!

 

[ZeroVX]

[YOUTUBE]2rXvsVRhvUI[/YOUTUBE]

Kamen Rider Den-O: Hope you're ready for convolution. In the future, creatures called the Imagin exist. They have the ability to travel through time, and choose to go back to various points in history and alter the timeline to their liking. They do so by granting the wishes of people they form contracts with, but of course, they change things so that it ultimately benefits them. The time-traveling train, the DenLiner, exists to follow the Imagin and stop them from destroying the timeline entirely. In the midst of all of this is Ryotaro Nogami, an extremely unlucky guy who just happens to be a Singularity Point, someone who can be possessed by an Imagin and retain control of his body. He uses this ability to become Kamen Rider Den-O, and with the help of a few good Imagin, seeks to set the timeline right.

Yes, this series' plotline is full of twists and turns and convoluted instances that would make Doctor Who go "Huh?". Not only that, but the series began to take a turn towards less serious overtones, instead adding plenty of slapstick comedy and generally goofy segments, particularly with the good Imagin, with our hero Ryotaro serving as the Only Sane Man. And the crazy part of it all is that it worked. Den-O became the most popular series of the current generation, not only receiving the now-expected two movie deal, but another one while its successor was on the air, another as a crossover with Kamen Rider Decade, and three more after that show ended. It's the first Kamen Rider series to have more than two movies, and the first to have its own anime. Granted, it's one of those gag-a-day, 5-minute-long animes, but even so, it's an indication of how insanely popular this show was and still is.

[YOUTUBE]EZhasJ6LWWI[/YOUTUBE]

Riders Seen: Den-O (Plat, Sword, Rod, Axe, Gun, Wing, Climax, Super Climax, Liner Forms), Zeronos (Altair, Vega, Zero Forms), Gaoh, Nega Den-O, Yuuki (Skull, Hijack Forms), New Den-O (Strike, Vega Forms), Momotaros as Decade.

Next Time: So, by claiming they're a different species, we got away with changing the vampire mythos as much as we did? Just as planned...

 

[Goliath Uterus]

You really could've just put this in the Movies in TV section, this isn't a "brief" explanation at all.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

You really could've just put this in the Movies in TV section, this isn't a "brief" explanation at all.

x2. Why not get credit for the shit you post? I don't think very much of you, but I would never stoop so low as to infract you for posting this crap in M&T.

 

[justinsayne]

So was the original idea to write a 500 page novel for each episode?