#cg!shotaro | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mystarsohee · 2 months

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Hiiii, I love your blog! Would you be willing to write something with cg!Shotaro?

coming right up

genre: fluff, like alot

shotaro visits his baby's newly opened restaurant, i wonder what he thinks of it!

!!! non-sexual agere, only cg name used is taro.

cg!shotaro gn!reader

"taro taro taro taro taro!!"

"baby baby baby baby baby!!!" he repeats back to you. you speedwalk over, with a grin on your face.

"are you busy? i wanna show you something.." you ask shotaro, not wanting to bother him if hes got things to do.

"for you, im never busy. show me!" he says, his response makes you feel warm inside. your taro always finds a way to make you feel special, even with simple words.

shotaro follows you into your room. its decorated with a few toys here and there, but right now you have a small table and play kitchen set up. he spots a small sign, made from a piece of paper and colored in with crayons. the sign reads "welcome!" shotaro was able to decipher it despite your not-so-eligible handwriting.

"what's this?" he asks.

"my restaurant! you gotta order something, i have no customers!!!!" you say, expressing your dismay at the fact nobody has visited your restaurant. you worked so hard, and the food is delicious!

"well then, i'd like to order a giant stack of chocolate chip pancakes!" he jokes.

"we don't.. we don't serve that.." you say shyly. you do not have a toy stack of pancakes..

"okay.. then a slice of pizza and some coffee. please!" he tries again. you light up, you have a pretend slice of pizza! and a toy coffee cup!

"coming right up!!!" you exclaim, making your way to the toy kitchen. shotaro sits at the small table, not wanting to break one of the small chairs, he opts to sit on the floor. he watches you pretend to put the slice of pizza in the oven, and also the way you wait for the non-existent coffee to come out of the play coffee machine he bought for you a few months ago. the reason he buys you a bunch of toys, is because you always play with them in a way where he cant take his eyes off of you. something about it, you just look so content, playing out scenarios in your mind. sometimes he wonders whats going on up there.

he gets knocked back to reality,

"hello? mr. taro. your coffee is here!" you hold out the plastic mug in front of you.

"oh, thank you baby!" he takes a sip, and you go back to preparing the rest of his meal, "oh my goodness. this is the best coffee ive ever had.." he mumbles to himself, acting like he didn't say that just to get a reaction out of you. he peeks over at you, you're giggling to yourself, whispering a small "yes!" you're very much satisfied with his feedback. you walk back over to him, standing up straight with a formal tone, just like the workers at real restaurants.

"how's your coffee? i have your pizza ready!" you say, in a very polite manner.

he mimicks your tone, "oh my, it might just be the best coffee i've ever tasted." he uses dramatic hand gestures to convey his emotions.

you grin at him, handing him his pizza. he responds with a, "thank you" deciding he wants to joke around with you, he starts to cough.

"excuse me! im allergic to pepperoni!!" he alerts you. it works, because your rushing over to him, trying to figure out what to do.

"the only way to fix it is with a big hug and kisses from a cute baby!" he says, and you realize. you're the cute baby! you need to save your taro! you quickly wrap your arms around him, and plant a multitude of kisses around his face. wanting to assure he doesnt struggle anymore, you kiss him so much and end with a tight hug.

"i'm sorry taro! i'll get you a cheese pizza.. coming right up!" you quickly hurry. you don't want him to be hungry! after you finish preparing a new dish and turn to give it to shotaro, hes blankly staring at you. along with him, one of your stuffies has arrived and sat on the chair next to him. also, staring blankly at you. you give him his pizza, as well as an extra kiss. (a precaution just in case hes "allergic" to this pizza too.)

after he receives his pizza and takes a bite, you watch to make sure he doesn't have another "allergic reaction". once you confirm he enjoys it, he whispers to you,"i think you have a new customer."

he watches you turn to the stuffie, and take its order. you make conversation with it, still he is so fascinated with the way you act when playing with your toys.

you turn around to create whatever meal the stuffed animal ordered, and shotaro focuses in on watching you cook your play food. he admires it, again you just seem so content with your surroundings. shotaro is more than grateful that you feel comfortable around him to be in your most vulnerable state. he won't ever grow tired of times like this.

author note: i cant do this omfg this is so cute. anyways i hope you enjoyed this anon! i loved writing it sm :> im sorry if ygs are looking for angsty or sad stories... i literally only know how to write fluff. i hope yall dont get bored of it 😭

as always, feedback is appreciated 💕

#mystarsohee #riize #riize fluff #shotaro #cg!shotaro #cg!riize #sfw agere #kpop agere #shotaro x reader #kpop #shotaro imagines

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morkitten · 4 months

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KAMEN RIDER MEGAPOST

I've been deep in the Kamen Rider hole after taking a blind chance on it about a year ago and it's been one of the most rewarding discoveries I've had, so I'm doing a megapost where I try to convey what's so interesting and unique about this series that you can literally just start anywhere. There's a Kamen Rider series for everyone, and I hope to convince you of it and point to where you can give it a try for yourself. Click on the read more to see more!

WHAT IS KAMEN RIDER?

Kamen Rider is a superhero that rides a motorcycle who's often bug-themed, but not always. The Kamen Rider franchise started in 1971 and, with the exception of a few periods of dry spells, keeps making new yearly series to this day. It's part of Japan's many, many decades old craft of special effects-focused TV shows and movies, called "Tokusatsu" (literally, "special filming"). It was conceived and spearheaded by Shotaro Ishinomori, an incredibly famous mangaka in Japan, responsible for not only Kamen Rider, but also Super Sentai, Cyborg 009, Zubat, Kikaider, and many other TV series and mangas. The amount of works he has produced in manga and TV is incredibly huge, and his works have been incredibly influential to Japanese culture as a whole. Kamen Rider can be argued that is his biggest, most important contribution.

A consistent theme in early Kamen Rider series is that he's a lonesome, grieving hero, in which his sadness fuels his righteous anger at the evils that he's fighting against. He's been transformed into a monster against his will, and now must fight against the very forces that created him. In every Kamen Rider series, the power that the protagonist wields is the same power that fuels the evil forces he fights against. In a way, you can see it as a metaphor for Kamen Rider's production itself: It must use the evil power of mass media to carry its anti-authoritarian messages that go against the very forces that even allow it to exist. It's the tale of every artist trying to create something earnest and culturally and artistically enriching in the cynical mass media space.

WHY WATCH KAMEN RIDER?

I was never really sold on Kamen Rider at first. I remember watching a bit of Kamen Rider Black when I was very young, so I was always nostalgically curious about it. But whenever I saw the newer Kamen Rider stuff pop up on Twitter or whatever, I had always dismissed it as "eh, whatever bug bit you I guess made you interested in that". Something about the super toyetic costume designs and super fake CG just never really inspired my attention, and it was easy to dismiss it as something for kids, something in that same place in my mind as "what shonenheads are into". I guess what I mean is that I saw newer Kamen Rider as "low art". It's easy to categorize it as such, people in silly suits selling toys, doing really silly comedy, with silly CG. I've seen Power Rangers before, it's just that. It has to be cynical!

I had never done such a big 180 before. Yes, Kamen Rider is "for the kids" (with some exceptions), yes it has a ton of silliness to it, but there's also a lot of good cinematography, fantastic stunts, and really great, serious drama. Kamen Rider is seen as a cultural institution in Japan for all those reasons. It's a way to keep a lot of theater traditions alive in a modern space, a way to have many young, extremely talented actors have a big break, a way to keep tokusatsu traditions and craft (analog special effects, stuntmen, martial arts actors) alive, employed, and continuously evolving, to create something that bridges the gap across all generations in Japan.

It's difficult to explain, but Kamen Rider has the important positive qualities of extremely good older television like Star Trek and Columbo. A TV show that doesn't want to aspire to be a hollywood movie like Netflix series cheaply try to do, but that sees the value of theater and theater skills in television.

Another thing to note is that because Kamen Rider is such a huge cultural institution, if you enjoy anime and japanese video games, there's so so much about what you love on your favorite anime and games that are directly inspired by Kamen Rider. Every japanese action game you've enjoyed? Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Hagane, Bayonetta, they -all- have an incredibly huge amount of Kamen Rider in them. Nearly everything Gainax, Hideaki Anno and Studio Trigger made. Pokémon, Digimon, Dragon Ball, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh (especially on the superb monster designs), Taiyo Matsumoto, every japanese character that has ever stricken a dab. It's not just references, there are fundamental things about pretty much all of these games, mangas and animes I've listed that are directly attributed to Kamen Rider. So if you enjoy anything I've listed, you ought to give it a try.

OKAY, WHERE TO START?

One of the greatest things about Kamen Rider is that since every series is its own closed continuity (there are crossover movies but they largely don't matter), you can pretty much start anywhere you'd like. Of course, with this many ice cream flavors, one can't help but become paralyzed by the abundance of choice, even though, and I can't emphasize this enough, every Kamen Rider series I've watched so far have all been pretty good to fantastic. I'm sure there's a couple of stinkers I've avoided, but a hitrate like this feels miraculous, I don't understand how does Kamen Rider from so many different eras can keep such a consistent quality even when they can feel so different from one another and be spearheaded by such different creators. You can maybe look them all up and decide what theme you're most attracted by, or, I can maybe help you and tell you about the ones I've watched!

So, here's a list of the Kamen Riders I've watched, with short descriptions of each of them and what makes them appealing, and a mini-list of recommended episodes to sample, in case you're still not sure whether to jump in:

SHOWA ERA (1971 - 1994)

KAMEN RIDER (1971)

The original, and also the least I've watched so far, haven't even gotten to 10 episodes yet. It famously started with an incredibly small budget and it's magical to see what tricks the production employed in order to make it work and be exciting and fun while spending as little money as possible. The stunts are very dangerous but very cool to see. A long, very episode-by-episode affair, but if you get excited on cheap sets and cheap cinema tricks and special effects used very cleverly, this is going to light you up like a christmas tree. It also employs some thriller-inspired cinematography that is very exciting. The writing doesn't offer much substance, but it has this quality where it really believes in itself and in the ideals that Kamen Rider is supposed to represent that is very easy to feel wrapped up in. Might bore you if you're not already sold on the appeal of old tokusatsu.

RECOMMENDED EPISODES TO SAMPLE: Episode 6: The Grim Reaper Chameleon! Episode 7: The Grim Reaper Chameleon Showdown: Old World's Fair

KAMEN RIDER AMAZON (1974)

It's basically just the 1971 Kamen Rider but the main character is Tarzan. It runs only half as long as other Kamen Rider series so if you wanna do a whole Showa-era KR series quickly, it's a very solid recommendation. It's very violent for a children's show, with Amazon often slicing and mauling his monster opponents in bloody messes, and it looks really sick. The suits and special effects are better than how the original Kamen Rider starts off, but it still has that appeal of being old and budgeted for a TV show, which in this case is a huge positive, imo. Also again, the writing isn't much to write about, so don't expect big narrative payoffs or anything like that, you really have to enjoy it on an episode-by-episode basis, which is fine, because the monsters and special effects are extremely cool, the characters are charismatic, and the little episodic plots are fun.

RECOMMENDED EPISODES TO SAMPLE: Episode 4: Run! The Raging Jungler! Episode 11: The Golden Snail is the Grim Reaper's Envoy!? Episode 16: Garanda's Tokyo Sea of Flames Operation Episode 17: Mt.Fuji Big Explosion?! The Tokyo Fry Pan Operation

KAMEN RIDER BLACK (1987)

This was supposed to be a revival of Kamen Rider into public interest after being dormant for a while, so it also feels like a retelling of the first Kamen Rider in a sense, has a lot of common elements, but with slick 80s production and sensibilities all over. If you love how 80s action, sci-fi and thriller movies look like, you'll love the cinematography and production of Kamen Rider Black. It's edgier, sleeker, and even scarier, borrowing a lot of horror/thriller elements that were in vogue at the time, while still being a hopeful, heroic and uplifting presence for children. Has an overarching plot that develops over time but it's, again, really about enjoying it on an episode-by-episode basis, as the overarching plot develops veeeery slowly and in very small portions. I supremely love how this series looks, I love the special effects, I love the suits, and it has my favorite transformation sequence.

RECOMMENDED EPISODES TO SAMPLE: Episode 1: Black!! Transformation Episode 2: Monster Party Episode 18: Sword Saint Bilgenia Episode 20: Rider's Grave Episode 23: Marumo's Magic Power Episode 24: College Girl's Nightmare

SHIN KAMEN RIDER PROLOGUE (1992) (MOVIE)

This doesn't have anything to do with the Anno movie, the Shin here is written differently. A movie that celebrates the series' 20th anniversary that tells its own story with its own Kamen Rider, so it feels like a "reboot" or "re-interpretation" of Kamen Rider. It's darker and scarier, with a Kamen Rider that looks much more like a monster than an armored hero, and leans more into the horror side of Kamen Rider, being more adult-focused. Very violent and very cool.

KAMEN RIDER ZO (1993) (MOVIE)

This was supposed to be a full-fledged Kamen Rider series but the 80s bubble popped and they decided to shift production into a short movie instead. Might be a good introduction point, since it's a short 1-hour watch, and has a ton of really great special effects. Everything that is great about Black's cinematography, propwork and special effects apply here, except since it's just one movie, they're really throwing everything they've got into it

HEISEI AND REIWA ERAS (2000-Present)

Kamen Rider went dormant in the 90s until it was revived back into its TV format by Kamen Rider Kuuga, which was a major success. Since then, there's been yearly new Kamen Rider series on Japanese television, non-stop.

The difference between the Kamen Rider of old (Showa era) and the Kamen Rider series past this revival (Heisei, Reiwa) is that newer Kamen Rider series, despite also being monster-of-the-week romps, tend to have a more complex overarching plot which they tend to lean more into, and less of dangerous stunts and practical effects. Episodes also tend to be two-parters, so maybe calling them monster-of-the-week is innacurate, it's more like monster-of-every-two-weeks. This shift is fine because their reliance on denser plots with a much larger supporting cast of characters, more than makes up for it. It feels less that they're stretching episodes into two-parters and more like they're filling these episodes with so much other stuff that making them 2-parters makes sense.

Also, to note, as modern Kamen Rider goes on, there's more reliance on CGI, but all the monsters (and Kamen Riders) are practical suits and there's still plenty of practical effects, so don't let the super artificial candy-colored videogamey CGI effects trick you into thinking that that's all there is to modern KR.

KAMEN RIDER KIVA (2008)

Kiva is the only "Heisei phase 1" series I've watched so far (early to late 2000s), and I absolutely love it, one of my favorite Kamen Riders. It's considered to be a bit of a black sheep of Heisei phase 1 Kamen Riders but I think fans severely overlook and misjudge Kiva. Kamen Rider Kiva is vampire-themed and is about this shut-in, extremely shy boy who, mysteriously, is also the heroic Kiva, that springs into action whenever Fangires (vampire monsters) are about to kill humans. However, it also takes place 20 years before, in the 1980s, where Fangires are also attacking, but there's no Kiva around to stop them. Instead, humans have created a secret vampire-hunting association and are developing their own technology to stop them. What's the connection between the characters from each time era? Mysteries...!! It has a large cast of characters and incredible soap opera drama and romance that'll keep you heavily invested in all of its twists and turns. It's a very narrative affair which makes it difficult to recommend episodes out of order since it can be confusing to catch things out of context. The fact that it takes place both in the 2000s and in the 80s means every episode has both an A-plot and a B-plot, which avoids the pitfall of some modern Kamen Riders of two-parters that don't have enough going on, because Kiva is absolutely overstuffed with great characters and narratives. The drama is great, the romance is great, the comedy is superb, and the fights are awesome too. I really can't recommend it enough.

RECOMMENDED EPISODES TO SAMPLE: Episode 1: Fate: Wake Up! and Episode 2: Suite: Father and Son Violin (2-parter) Episode 17: Lesson: My Way and Episode 18: Quartet: Listen to Your Heart's Voice (2-parter) (I have trouble recommending more episodes out of order because this series is very narratively-involved!)

KAMEN RIDER W (2009)

W is a very well-received and loved series, and it's easy to see why. It's one of those things that if you watch it you immediately go "oh, if I watched this as a kid I would be so so into it". It has fun, charismatic characters that you want to see every week, simple to understand and easy to like. It's detective-themed and the Kamen Rider is actually comprised of a fusion of two people - Shotaro, who wants to be a tough, hard-boiled detective but is unintentionally kind of stupid and goofy and isn't seen very seriously by people around him, but has a heart of gold, and Phillip, who is an androgynous autistic introvert that basically has the entirety of Google inside his mind, and uses this to help find information to solve cases. Together they transform into Kamen Rider W (W as in "double", get it?), with each controlling a literal half of the suit (right and left), that they can switch properties of and create different combinations. They're great characters but who really steals the show is the comedy relief sidekick, Akiko. She's an immensely funny actress and character.

RECOMMENDED EPISODES TO SAMPLE: Episodes 1 and 2: W Search Episodes 9 and 10: S Terror Episodes 23 and 24: L on the Lips Episodes 25 and 26: P's Game

KAMEN RIDER OOO (2010)

OOO is another extremely beloved Kamen Rider series, and the one I actually started with. Its themes are "desire" and "currency", and the evils and necessities of living in a world that depends on them. The main character is a lovable homeless hippie (Eiji) who's egged on by his extremely androgynous edgy greedy demon boyfriend (Ankh) to collect "medals", because said demons are greedy for them and require them for power. These medals also allow Eiji to transform into Kamen Rider OOO (pronounced "Os" or "Osu"), and different medals can be slot into his transformation belt to create different combinations. Other demons, that are not Eiji's demon babygirl, want to use humans' desires as piggy banks to generate more medals for their own greed, at the cost of these humans' lives. Eiji needs to stop them and collect all the medals before they do. Again, easy to enjoy, easy to see why it's beloved. Filled with a light-hearted fun energy that you can feel as soon as you watch the ska-inspired opening. There's a small stretch of it that feels a bit by-the-numbers, but the drama ramps up and pays off immensely well as it goes on. An extremely fujoshi Kamen Rider series.

RECOMMENDED EPISODES TO SAMPLE: Episode 1: Medals, Underwear and a Mysterious Arm Episode 2: Desire, Popsicles and Presents (2-parter with Episode 1) Episode 13: A Siamese Cat, Stress and the Genius Surgeon Episode 14: Pride, Surgery, and a Secret (2-parter with Episode 13)

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE (2011)

Fourze is written by Kazuki Nakashima, the Studio Trigger writer responsible for stuff like Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill and Brand New Animal, so that may be something that's either going to extremely excite you, or make you very wary of it. I personally feel he's not a very good writer, but that's okay, because the rest of the production is fantastic, and I still enjoyed Fourze a good amount! The main character is an extremely likeable and charismatic school delinquent that wants to befriend the entire school and creates his own Kamen Rider school club after being bestowed with the Kamen Rider Fourze technology thanks to, uh, a portal that sends him to a space base on the moon? So it's a half-and-half school theme and space theme Kamen Rider. The school club has a large cast of characters but the show doesn't really know what to do with them unless the episodes focus on a specific club member. Fourze really, really drags in the middle (this is when the problem of two-parters feeling stretched out when the writing isn't very strong hits hardest), but as it crescendos to its finale it gets -very- good again. This might be the weakest Kamen Rider out of the ones I've watched, imo, but still, I think there's quite a lot to enjoy here.

RECOMMENDED EPISODES TO SAMPLE: Episodes 1 and 2 (Youthful Transformation and Space Superiority) (2-parter) Episodes 5 and 6 (Friendship, Inside and Outside and Electric Shock, Steadily) (2-parter) Episodes 13 and 14 (School Refusal and Stinger Onslaught) (2-parter)

KAMEN RIDER AMAZONS (2016) (WEB SERIES)

Wait, didn't I review this one before?! No, no, this is AMAZONS, plural! It doesn't actually have that much in common with the original Amazon, being very much its own thing, and what it borrows from Amazon is mostly just to help frame this series as a more adult, violent affair, since Amazon, despite it being very much for kids, was back then known as "the violent Kamen Rider". It's also an Amazon Prime-exclusive series, so they did it for Branding, too. A very dramatic, violent, adult Kamen Rider show that's spearheaded by my favorite Kamen Rider director, Hidenori Ishida. He's a supremely good director that brings his A-game to this series. It follows an extermination team that hunts terrifying man-eating monsters called Amazons. There's two Kamen Riders, Alpha and Omega, that are also Amazons but they largely fight against other Amazons. Alpha is set on killing every Amazon, while Omega has just awakened into an Amazon and a Kamen Rider himself, and has to decide what he wants to do and who and what to fight for. At least this is the premise of Season 1, Season 2 I will not spoil but it is the production going "oh, Amazon season 1 did well enough for us to do whatever we want, and we'll do exactly that". It's the most well-equipped artists in tokusatsu breaking off their shackles and doing a dramatic magnum opus. It's dark, edgy, but also earnest and sentimental. It's my absolute favorite Kamen Rider show. Also, the fact that the monsters are called "Amazons" is used for extremely pointed stabs at Amazon (company), which is hilarious.

This series is completely narratively-driven, so I can't recommend episodes out of order! Watch the whole thing!

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE (2019)

Robot-themed! Zero-One takes place in a future where robots and humans live together, like Megaman or Astro Boy. It's about the struggle of humans and robots to live in harmony with one another, and it develops those themes and its world extremely well. The main character (Aruto) is very goofy and wants to be a manzai comedian but his lame puns always bomb. He is, however, also the heir of a massive company that builds all the robot people! Aruto is suddenly, unexpectedly, thrown into the company as its President after his grandfather dies. This responsibility is too much for him, but he decides to take on the mantle as he wants to bring a smile to people's faces, and that he legitimately cares about robots, as he was raised and saved by one as a kid. With this in mind, he takes on his grandfather's KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE technology and uses it to attempt to stop a terrorist robot faction (METSUBOUJINRAI.NET) that's bent on killing all humans, and corrupting other robots for that goal. All while also trying to advocate for a harmonious relationship between humans and robots. This is honestly fantastic, and may seem super goofy at first but gets very complex as it goes on. Very great balance of lighthearted comedy and serious drama, and another one of my absolute favorite Kamen Rider series, right up there with Kiva and Amazons.

RECOMMENDED EPISODES TO SAMPLE: Episode 1: I'm the President and a Kamen Rider Episode 2: Is AI an Enemy? Ally? Episode 5: His Passionate Manga Path Episode 6: I Want to Hear Your Voice (2-parter with episode 5)

KAMEN RIDER GEATS (2022)

Battle-royale themed Kamen Rider, with a lot of inspiration on korean dramas and reality shows. It definitely feels inspired by, say, Squid Game. Gods select people to compete in a Kamen Rider battle royale, and the winner of the final round gets to remake the world in whatever way they see fit. The production is a bit cheap after the last two KRs before Geats underperformed, and they had to scale the production down. The fact that the series tries to convey the excitement of extremely high stakes so often only for those stakes to completely deflate thanks to how the premise works, creates a situation where you don't know what to care because anything can get undone and completely changed so often anyway. Near the end the series gets particularly bad with this. Still, it has some good characters, some nice drama and some fun comedy, so it's not bad, but definitely on my lower tier of KRs alonside Fourze. Again: No KR I've watched was bad! So, even the ones that might sound that I'm down on them I still very much enjoyed.

(Too narratively-driven to recommend episodes out of order! Try the first couple of episodes!)

SHIN KAMEN RIDER (2023) (MOVIE)

Hideaki Anno's film! Hideaki Anno is a huge Kamen Rider fan and it really shows throughout the movie, with a lot of pulls from the Kamen Rider manga specifically, while also being nostalgic for a lot of the original Kamen Rider TV show from 71. Still, it ends up feeling less like "a Kamen Rider movie" and more like "an Anno movie" with a Kamen Rider-theming to it. It doesn't put its focus on the stunts and the fight choreography that you'd see in other Kamen Rider productions, but more on Anno's style of cinematography, his sense of timing, special effects and animation. It also retreads several of the themes and elements that he's drawn from before, a lot of Evangelion is in this. It's good, I like it!

KAMEN RIDER GOTCHARD (2023)

Currently ongoing! Very Y2K nostalgic, with a Kamen Rider suit that has that Y2K aqua color to it, and is themed around... Pokemon cards? There are these creatures called Chemys, that are contained inside alchemical cards that have been let loose and need to be captured again, or at least kept away from the villains. The main character is this super earnest, almost helplessly naively optimistic schoolboy called Ichinose that has been unexpectedly thrown into the secret world of alchemy and given the power to become Kamen Rider Gotchard, as a powerful benevolent alchemist dies in his arms. As a promise to him, he vows to find the Chemys. Ichinose also believes that they're extremely good-natured beings that are only corrupted by human malice, and really believes in the friendship of Chemys and humans, while other alchemists feel Ichinose's ideas of Chemys are too naive and soft-hearted. It's, uh, I don't know what to think of it, honestly! The first couple of episodes really did not sold me on it, but it gets better and better as it goes on, though, it's also, like, a lot of Big Important things keep happening in rapid-fire in a way that I can't tell whether the show has a higher plan for all of it or if it's just throwing things for easy hype. Nearly every episode there's a new Kamen Rider transformation, it's kind of insane. Still, this is preferrable than the stretches of not much happening that plague some other KR seasons. I've been enjoying it a good amount, honestly!

RECOMMENDED EPISODES TO SAMPLE: Episode 5: Burn! Fight! Wrestler G! Episode 7: Goodbye, Saboneedle

And those are all the Kamen Riders I've watched! Something else that can help you decide on which series to try out, is that the NHK made a public popularity poll of Kamen Rider series, with the results being found here! From here, you can tell which KRs are most beloved and well-remembered in Japan, and use that as a guidance for yourself, if you'd like. But again, I must emphasize, you can really start most anywhere, so feel free to do exactly that!

#kamen rider #kr #tokusatsu #gotchard #shin kamen rider

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mybrainissquishy · 5 months

Note

Your HCs are very cute… could I request some for agere Kei and cg Kaneda (and/or the reverse)? If you’d like to <3 I’m curious what you might think of!

I'm so down! Thanks so much for asking ^^

Kei Agere Headcanons

+ CG Shotaro Kaneda

Kei usually regresses to very small ages (approx. 0-3).

Her favorite little snacks are yogurt, applesauce and graham crackers, and her favorite little drink is strawberry milk. She likes to eat pretty much any soft food, though.

She doesn't have a lot of agere gear, but she does have a bear themed pacifier and her old baby blanket for comfort at very least.

While she's quiet most of the time, she babbles quite a bit when she regresses to around 2-3.

She's been a regressor since around 13, (younger folks who regress exist and are totally valid), and so her brother Ryu is used to it, though he's not very good at being a caregiver. Still, his presence makes her happy.

She's a very cuddly and clingy little one. She loves being carried, held, and rocked back and forth.

Her favorite time is nap time. She has a makeshift star projector that Ryu made for her, and she needs it to help her to sleep, regressed or not.

The first time Kei regressed around Kaneda, he was very confused on how to deal with it, but when he realized it was a similar situation to Tetsuo's, he slowly got the hang of it.

Kaneda is great at being affectionate towards her, because it's easier for him to deal with the smaller regressors. He feels babies are easier to be around than toddlers.

Kaneda loves calling Kei a bunch of random pet names every chance he gets. "Baby", "Sugar", "Sweetheart", "Dumplin", "Honeybunch", "Little one", "Sunshine", "Teddybear", "Munchkin", etc, etc. You name it, he's used it.

^ Kei's favorite out of all the various ones he's tried is his "Little Ladybug". It makes her feel super tiny.

Kei enjoys playdates with Kaori, because Kaori is quiet, and not as energetic as Tetsuo.

If Kei ever gets fussy, Kaneda is a SHOCKINGLY good singer, and he'll sing her lullabies until she feels better.

Kaneda always makes it a point to hold her close whenever he can, because he knows his sweet baby needs affection. Plus, he likes to feel important to her.

I hope you thought these were okay! Always feel free to come back and ask for more, I will gladly supply you with 'em.

#kei #akira 1988 #akira #akira agere headcanons #agere headcanons #sfw agere #age regression sfw

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nitrochiralfan · 1 year

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Uuutrac references alot of 1970s anime.

There is something i noticed about the name of the characters in uuultracc, Sapphire and Uran names comes from osamu tetzuka works Sapphire from princess knight and uran from astro boy. This may not be a coincidence since there was a cg where akira was playing with shotaros hair in the bath the hair style resembles astro boy. suzu’s real name is Berg Katze, reference to the character with the same name from the gachman series. the visual novel is based on tokusatsu and and kaiju films so it wouldn’t be surprising that is has 1970s anime references sprinkled in.

#UuultraC

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avakkins-restored · 6 years

Photo

桃華とライダーの備忘録

#momoka sakurai #idolm@ster #cinderella girls #im@s #im@s cg #kamen rider #kamen rider w #kamen rider faiz #kamen rider 555 #kamen rider build #banjou ryuga #philip #shotaro hidari #crossover

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recentanimenews · 2 years

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Yowamushi Pedal Confirms Staff and Cast for Anime's 5th Season

Heart-pumping sports series Yowamushi Pedal will ride once again this year with its fifth season, and no one is as ready to go as the anime's main ensemble in a newly revealed set of "RIDE" visuals and character designs straight out of AnimeJapan 2022, where cast and staff were also confirmed to return:

Daiki Yamashita as Sakamichi Onoda

Kosuke Toriumi as Shunsuke Imaizumi

Jun Fukushima as Shokichi Naruko

Daisuke Kishio as Junta Teshima

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Hajime Aoyagi

HIro Shimono as Issa Kaburagi

Tsubasa Yonaga as Sangaku Manami

Atsushi Abe as Toichiro Izumida

Kenji Nojima as Yukinari Kuroda

Mamoru Miyano as Takuto Ashikiba

Daisuke Ono as Masakiyo Dobashi

Yuma Uchida as Yuto Shinkai

Koji Yusa as Akira Midosuji

Jun Fukuyama as Komari Kishigami

Only character designs were released for Yowamushi Pedal's alumni:

Hiroki Yasumoto as Shingo Kinjo

Shotaro Morikubo as Yusuke Makishima

Kentaro Ito as Jin Tadokoro

Tomoaki Maeno as Juichi Fukutomi

Satoshi Hinto as Hayato Shinkai

Hiroyuki Yoshino as Yasutomo Arakita

Tetsuya Kakihara as Jinpachi Todo

The main staff members from previous installments are returning for the fifth season at TMS Entertainment, alongside new and old additional staff, as follows:

Director: Oasmu Nabeshima

Scripts: Kurasumi Sunayama

Character Design: Yukiko Ban

Design Works: Yoshio Mizumura, Hiyori Denforword Akishino

Ride Design: Hiroyuki Horiuchi

Art Setting: Hiroshi Izumi

Art Direction: Shunichiro Yoshihara

Color Design: Fusako Nakao

3DCG Super Advisor: Toshihiro Sasaki

CG Director: Hidenori Fujitani

Director of Photography: Takeshi Katsurayama, Satoshi Kanemitsu

Editing: Kumiko Sakamoto

Music: Ken Sawada

Sound Director: Takeshi Takadera

Yowamushi Pedal Season 5, subtitled "LIMIT BREAK", is set to begin airing in October 2022.

Source: Comic Natalie

Der shy man behind @Shymander, Liam is a timezone-fluid Aussie with a distinct fondness for anime, Eurovision and creating odd stats projects despite hating math.

By: Liam Dempsey

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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nurvuss · 3 years

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I Watched the First Episode of Every New Spring 2021 Anime Airing on Crunchyroll

Hey, are you like me, and feeling like you're not getting the most out of your Crunchyroll subscription? Sure, there's stuff on there that you know you like. But whenever I look at the big long list of simulcasting shows, my eyes glaze over and I don't even know where to begin.

I wanted to change my habits and see if there were any shining gems that I should be watching. So, as per the title, I watched the first episode of every new Spring 2021 anime on Crunchyroll. And guess what? There’s a lot of crap! But indeed, there’s some stuff that’s worth your time.

Some clarification: I've only watched shows that began their first season in April 2021.

Backflip!!

Show Link

The Lowdown

As Futaba Shotaro comes to the end of middle school, his interest in baseball has begun to wane. Soon he notices the Ao High Boys Gymnastic Club and becomes enthralled, especially after seeing them perform. Once he learns they're down two members, he chooses to sign up and pursue the art of gymnastics. The club is also joined by Misato Ryoya, a star solo gymnast looking to expand his technique through teamwork.

Our Thoughts

Pretty formulaic shoujo sports anime: you've got your himbo, your thug, your ladies' man, your stoic guy, with Shotaro rounding out the cast as the shy and awkward audience surrogate. It looks wholesome enough, and the choreographed routines employ CG in a way that's quite convincing without being hideous.

Who It's For

Fans of FREE, or Yuri!!! on Ice, or any similar shows about cute boys who succeed at athletic feats.

Borscht Rating

Burning Kabaddi

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The Lowdown

Legendary high school soccer star Yoigoshi Tatsuya has given up on sports! That is, until he's blackmailed to join the high school kabaddi team, under threat of his online persona being leaked to the entire school. Although Tatsuya initially writes kabaddi off as stupid, the unexpected happens as he begins to have fun.

Our Thoughts

Kabaddi is kinda like competitive tag, or dodgeball but with your body instead of a ball. Burning Kabaddi is basically the shounen alternative to Backflip!! above, replete with nosebleeds, pratfalls, and dudes punching each other. The main cast don't seem to like each other very much; that probably changes as the show goes on but at first blush it's a dynamic I always find annoying.

Who it's For

Fans of Haikyuu!!? Maybe?

Borscht Rating

CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD overDress

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The Lowdown

The newest series based on Bushiroad's collectible card game, featuring character designs by the beloved collective CLAMP. Petit middle schooler Yu-Yu just doesn't know how to say no. As his older students dress him in drag to use as live makeup practice, he suffers a panic attack and flees into the streets. After being accosted by a pickup artist, he's befriended by Megumi, who invites him to witness a Cardfight match at the local abandoned amusement park. However, Yu-yu is too shy to tell Megumi he's actually a boy…

Our Thoughts

What an unexpectedly weird concept for a show about a card game. Our hero spends the whole episode in drag, whimpering and simpering at the sight of any conflict. Then they show off the latest series of cards, which all seem to be giant buff knights with names like "Bad Steve" and "Violent Bruce". Your guess is as good as mine.

Who it's For

Cardfight!! lovers, Japanese gender studies majors, or the most desperate fujoshi.

Borscht Rating

Cestvs: The Roman Fighter

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The Lowdown

The year is 54AD, and Nero has taken the throne as the youngest emperor of Rome. At the bottom of the population, Cestvs is a young slave training to be a colosseum boxer. Reluctant, his only choice is to fight or die.

Our Thoughts

Seeing Nero depicted as a gentle little twink is pretty funny. It's also pretty funny that the central character is named after a Roman boxing glove. The animation style transitions to some very uncanny CG when a major fight takes place, and I didn't like that one bit! This seems like a pretty average tournament anime but with a historical setting. It's currently unknown if any of these dudes are fucking each other. I'm gonna say probably.

Who It's For

The venn-diagram of Greco-Roman history buffs and lovers of tournament series?

Borscht Rating

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro!

Show Link

The Lowdown:

Hachioji Naoto is a nerdy, introverted student who spends his time studying and avoiding socialising. When pages from the fantasy manga he's drawing fall out of his bookbag, they catch the attention of a younger student named Nagatoro Hayase. Nagatoro begins to tease Naoto for his otaku interests and awkward demeanour, peppered with some suggestive flirting.

Our Thoughts:

What would you do if a younger girl flirted with you? Would you cry? Piss your pants maybe? Maybe shit and cum? Don't Toy With Me… attempts to barely conceal its BDSM fantasy with its comedic elements, but it's incredibly apparent as Nagatoro always wipes away Naoto's tears as a sort of aftercare. It's like a lighter, comedic version of Aku no Hana, but lacking any of the ponderings or danger that made that work so special.

Who It's For:

People who search Pornhub for "bratty sister femdom".

Borscht Rating:

86 Eighty-Six

Show Link

The Lowdown

The Republic of San Magnolia and the Giad Empire, have been at war for nearly a decade. Using advanced military technology, the frontlines are fought by giant mecha drones called Juggernauts, controlled remotely by Handlers. Major Vladilena Mirizé is one of the military's most talented Handlers in the 1st District, and one who is constantly teased by her peers for the humanity and empathy she shows her squadron. The government line is that drone warfare has kept casualties to zero, but unbeknownst to the public these "drones'' are piloted by 86ers—the lowest class of citizens, forced to live in military internment camps in San Magnolia's 86th District.

Our Thoughts

This is incredibly my kind of thing. We've got a dual narrative being set up here: Vladilena as the kind, reluctant officer of a fascist regime, and the Bad Company-esque antics of her new ragtag squad, Spearhead. The first episode is split pretty evenly between the two, with each story converging at the end as Vladilena "meets" Spearhead for the first time through her comms station. It's an explosive and enticing first episode, and I can't wait to watch more of it.

Who It's For

Fans of Fullmetal Alchemist, Psycho-Pass, Gundam, or any number of anti-imperialist war stories.

Borscht Rating

Fairy Ranmaru

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The Lowdown

In a quiet corner of the city sits Bar F, a modest drinking establishment staffed entirely by five hot young men. Unbeknownst to the general population, these men are a crack team of fairies sent to the human world to gather the latent energy of "attachment". They do this by solving the problems of young women, taking their hearts in the process.

Our Thoughts

Hubba hubba, a little something for the ladies! It's Weiẞ Kreuz with a bar instead of a flower shop, fairies instead of assassins, and some pretty revealing outfits. There's definitely a little Persona 5 inspiration here too, from the punctuating phrase "Take your Heart!" to many of the visual cues. Make of that what you will.

Who It's For

Fans of Weiẞ Kreuz, slash fic authors.

Borscht Rating

Farewell, My Dear Cramer

Show Link

The Lowdown

Onda Nozomi was once the star player of her middle school football team. Completely unmatched, she no longer plays as there's no opponent she deems to be on her level. Meanwhile Suou Sumire far outpaces her teammates, causing her frustration. By a twist of fate, these two girls find themselves joining the scrappy Warabi Seinan High School FC as they begin to learn the value of teamwork and friendship.

Our Thoughts

I don't know sports. And I really don't know football. I had to look up what the title meant, and now I barely know who Dettmar Cramer is. I'm really not the best person to judge this, but it seems like a pretty good female-driven sports anime.

Who It's For

Fans of Ace o Nerae! or other sports manga/anime about those ever burning bonds between young teammates.

Borscht Rating

Gloomy, the Naughty Grizzly

Show Link

The Lowdown:

Pitty lives with his pet Gloomy, a massive pink bear. Can a boy and a bear truly get along?

Our Thoughts:

This is a series of minute-long gag episodes in which Gloomy mauls Pitty and blood squirts everywhere. It's definitely meant to be a morbid parody of Sanrio or San-X; it might be a Rilakkuma parody in particular? Gloomy is the kind of thing you might laugh at if it came on in between shows, but it's pretty slight to go through the trouble of putting on.

Who It's For:

Gag anime fans with one minute to spare.

Borscht Rating:

Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway

Show Link

The Lowdown

After a night of drinking in Tokyo, slovenly salaryman Yoshida encounters a teenage runaway sitting under a lamppost. She offers to sleep with him in return for letting her spend the night in his apartment. Yoshida refuses her offer but allows her to stay. The next morning the girl, Sayu, reveals she's travelled all the way from Hokkaido, sleeping with random men in return for lodging and money. Feeling responsible for her safety, Yoshida agrees for Sayu to stay indefinitely in return for handling household chores.

Our Thoughts

This is kind of the inverse of Koikimo (see below), but without a scumbag character and from a male perspective. It's not nearly as nauseating as that show, but it's still a fantasy about living with a busty teenage girl.

Who It's For

Libertarians.

Borscht Rating

I've Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level

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The Lowdown:

Office lady Aizawa Azusa dies of overwork in her early 20s, and finds herself standing before a lecherous goddess. Allowed a wish as compensation for her untimely demise, Azusa wishes for an endless life of leisure. The goddess reincarnates her as a 17-year-old immortal witch in an RPG-coded fantasy world. Thrilled, Azusa lazes about, brewing potions for her neighbouring villagers, and kills a small amount of slimes each day to supplement her income. After doing this every day for 300 years, she inadvertently finds herself at Level 99. Her peaceful life is soon upended as adventurers and dragons come from miles around to challenge the legendary witch.

Our Thoughts:

I'm not really an isekai fan, and that goes double for series which aren't set in an RPG, yet use RPG mechanics. Levelling up, grinding stats, min-maxing, as if it's a part of the fabric of the setting. I don't get it. I like watching numbers go up as much as the next dork, but I don't need to watch numbers go up in absolutely every piece of media I consume. Just play a fucking video game, Jesus Christ almighty.

I thought this might be setting up a fun series in which a layabout is reluctantly called upon to undertake a dangerous quest, but I don't think that's what's going on at all. When the red dragon Laika wrecks Azusa's house, she transforms into a cute young girl and the two begin living together, teaching each other the pros and cons of hard work and slothfulness respectively. The trajectory of the series might be as laid back as its protagonist in the end, which, ultimately, would be fitting.

Who It's For:

Isekai fans, slice-of-life fans. The twain have met!

Borscht Rating:

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood

Show Link

The Lowdown

In alternative history Japan the Meiji Period continued well into the 1930s, and the ongoing Tokugawa Shogunate has brought technological prosperity to the nation through a magical energy source called the Dragon's Vein. Sawa Yukimura runs a bookshop where she lives with her little sister by day, but by night she's an assassin for Nue, the shogunate's secret police. As the terrorist group Kuchinawa deploys transforming beasts in an attempt to topple the shogunate, Nue springs into action with their own abilities.

Our Thoughts

There are a lot of concepts competing here, and a few too many flashy transformation sequences for my taste, but I'm really into it! Nue are made up of sex workers and street musicians, often overlooked and therefore easily able to blend in. There's a supernatural Standalone Complex vibe to how the team operates, and they're almost assuredly on the wrong side. Worth a shot!

Who It's For

Fans of alternate history science fiction, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, Demon Slayer.

Borscht Rating

Koikimo: Koi to Yobu ni wa Kimochi Warui ("It's Disgusting to Call This Love")

Show Link

The Lowdown

Amakusa Ryo is a womanizing salaryman concerned with nothing but his own base desires. As he slips on the train station stairs one morning, he's saved by the swift action of Arima Ichika, a kind-hearted high schooler. When it turns out Ichika is friends with Ryo's younger sister Riou, he decides she's his soulmate, and begins to pursue her no matter how many times she refuses him. Comedy ensues!

Our Thoughts

Yeah, OK groomer.

Alright look, Korikimo is written by a woman and told from Ichika's perspective, so this is obviously meant to be a lighthearted "older man" shoujou romance. As an older man, all I saw were the adventures of a paedophile and the teenager he's stalking. Fuck off.

Who it's For

There's probably other stuff like this, right? If you like that, here you go.

Borscht Rating

Let's Make a Mug, Too

Show Link

The Lowdown

After the death of her mother, Himeno and her father relocate from bustling Tokyo to quiet Tajimi City in Gifu Prefecture. The former salaryman opens a quiet cafe using the remarkable mugs made by his late wife, while Himeno follows in her mother's footsteps and joins the school pottery club. Although her first project ends in disaster, Himeno makes fast friends with the eccentric pottery enthusiasts who make up the club.

Our Thoughts

It's no Eizouken, but I guess it's probably not meant to be. I'm not a big iyashikei genre fan, but if that's your thing, you might enjoy the wholesome non-adventures of three girls trying to make a mug. It's worth noting these episodes are only about 12 minutes long, with the remaining runtime segmented into live action episodes where the voice actresses tour Tajimi and unconvincingly pretend to be interested in Gifu's famous mino-yaki pottery. I think this must be a tie-in with a local tourist board.

Who It's For

People who enjoy stuff like Aria, actually.

Borscht Rating

OddTaxi

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The Lowdown

In a Tokyo populated by anthropomorphic animals, a solemn walrus named Odokawa spends his nights driving his cab around the bustling metropolis, spending his free time drinking with his pals. Odokawa soon finds his quiet life disrupted by a caper involving a missing girl, some crooked cops, and the animal yakuza.

Our Thoughts

A deft blend of working class slice-of-life with mystery, cute animals, and striking visual design. OddTaxi might be the sleeper hit of Spring 2021.

Who It's For

Fans of existentialist film noir with absurdist comedy, Polar Bear Cafe, walrus lovers.

Borscht Rating

Osamake: Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won't Lose

Show Link

The Lowdown

Suehiro Maruo Sueharu Maru has his heart set on Shirokusa Kachi, the hottest girl in school. When she begins dating a young actor, Sueharu confides in his childhood friend Kuroha Shida, who's openly in love with him and he rejected in the past. Kuroha suggests the two get revenge on Shirokusa by pretending to be in love. Will Sueharu fall in love with Kuroha for real, making her dreams come true?

Our Thoughts

Give me a fucking break.

Who It's For

I don't know and I don't care.

Borscht Rating

SD Gundam World Heroes

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The Lowdown

The newest instalment of the SD Gundam media-mix franchise. In a world populated by super deform mecha, a burning meteor lands in the middle of Captain City. From it launches a terrible mechanized beast: Naughty Lion. When the police are powerless to stop it, a crack team led by Zhuge Liang Gundam and Liu Bei Gundam sorties to bring Naughty Lion to justice. When the beast stops rampaging, it transforms into Sun Wukong Gundam, a youthful amnesiac mecha horrified at the destruction he wrought. The Three Kingdoms Gundams welcome Sun Wukong into the fold to make sense of this mysterious event.

Our Thoughts

I'm an 80s kid, I know a 30-minute toy commercial when I see one.

No, seriously though, I'm aware of SD Gundam's merchandising—they're cute designs, and I even used to have a bunch of the gum rubber mini figurines. I've played the SD Great War Super Famicom games, they're fun! This is a vehicle to get kids hyped up about the latest toys, which are...based on a hodgepodge of Journey to the West and Romance of the Three Kingdoms this year? There's even a little SD Guan Yu Gundam with a big long beard!

I kinda wanted to like the idea of a bearded robot, but the mechas are super busy and overdesigned. I guess there's only so much you can do to make your next series of toys bigger and better, so these guys are all decked out in gold accents, capes, horns, and antlers, and half the time I couldn't parse what I was seeing.

I'm so glad I don't have to watch any more of this.

Who It's For

Very, *very* young mecha fans.

Borscht Rating

Seven Knights Revolution: Hero Successor

Show Link

The Lowdown

Long ago, the Dark God Nestra ruled the world through fear. Standing against him were the Seven Knights, seven brave warriors chosen by the Light Goddess Serrass. With their powers combined, Nestra was defeated and the lands returned to peace. Hundreds of years later the wicked Physis Cult seeks to revive Nestra, summoning undead beasts to ravage the countryside. With the Seven Knights long dead, the Granseed Academy has risen to train the next wave of heroes to combat this threat. Using special cards, the students of Granseed are able to call upon the power of the Seven Knights to guide them in battle.

Our Thoughts

As soon as the opening started with its transforming heroes and lovingly depicted weapon cards, I realised this must be based on a mobile game. Indeed, this is based on a free-to-play gacha from Korean developer Netmarble. Even before I was able to confirm this, Hero Successor failed to draw me in, eschewing details on the nature of its world in lieu of a glamourised marketing push for its source material. What's here is incredibly slight, and likely to be of little interest to anyone who isn't deep into this game.

Who It's For

Seven Knights whales, I guess.

Borscht Rating

Those Snow White Notes

Show Link

The Lowdown

Sawamura Setsu mourns the death of his grandfather Matsugorou, a talented shamisen player who refused to pass his secrets on. Not knowing what else to do, he leaves his remote village for Tokyo, taking nothing but his shamisen along with him. Soon he finds himself wrapped up in the complicated life of aspiring actress Yuna and her scuzzy rockstar boyfriend Taketo. When Setsu opens for Taketo's band, he stuns the audience with the raw emotion of his playing. However, his heart is still tumultuous.

Our Thoughts

An entertaining first episode of a speciality music series, which is the kind of thing I have a place in my heart for. I couldn't shake the feeling of some latent misogyny that suggested the role of a woman is to inspire a tortured artist, but I might be wrong. The final few minutes take a twist by introducing Setsu's weird, horny mother who seems to have her own personal SWAT team, and it looks like the series becomes a more conventional high school anime from episode 2 onwards. Don't know about that!

Who It's For

Fans of Kids on the Slope, Sound of the Sky.

Borscht Rating

Tokyo Revengers

Show Link

The Lowdown

Former delinquent Takemichi is unsatisfied with the way his life turned out, living alone in a paper-thin apartment and working a minimum wage job under a boss who doesn't respect him. When watching the news one evening, he learns that his highschool sweetheart Hinata was killed, alongside her little brother. On the way to work the next morning, Takemichi falls in front of an oncoming train and wakes up 12 years in the past. Armed with foreknowledge, he attempts to turn his life around and save his onetime lover.

Our Thoughts

This is drawing from a lot of sources; the whole train sequence is lifted straight from Gantz, while the story itself initially seems like a Life on Mars kind of deal. In fact, Tokyo Revengers sees Takemichi jump back and forth between the present and the past, seemingly making small changes until he achieves his desired outcome. It feels like a very video gamey depiction of time travel, and one that's not super interesting.

Who It's For

Steins;Gate fans, maybe? Delinquent manga (Shonan Junai Gumi, Crows, etc.) fans, maybe? It's pretty self-serious compared to any of those.

Borscht Rating

To Your Eternity

Show Link

The Lowdown

An immortal being in the form of an orb falls to earth and becomes a stone. Years pass, an ice age sets in, and a white wolf stumbles onto the tundra and dies. The orb, able to take the form of anything that leaves a strong impression on it, transforms into the wolf and slowly learns how to use its newfound ambulatory body. The creature treks back through the tundra where it meets a boy living alone, after the rest of his village left in search of a better life. The boy recognises the wolf as his beloved pet, Johann, and the two begin living together in the harsh, lonely wastes.

Our Thoughts

I'm being a little coy with the synopsis here, and there's a major shake-up at the end of this debut episode. This one's based on a manga by the critically acclaimed Yoshitoki Ooima (A Silent Voice), and it's a depressing, compelling, and exciting start to a series. Lots of potential here!

Who It's For

Fans of NieR, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Last Exile, Kino's Journey.

Borscht Rating

So, there you have it. I'm hoping this will be of use to anyone who experiences a similar sense of dread when faced with so many choices. Maybe we’ll do this again during the Summer 2021 anime season.

Also, please don't get mad at me if I'm snarky about your new favourite show! It’s just TV and I'm a big idiot anyway.

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kabutoraiger · 2 years

Note

Grain of salt, but accord to TVTropes, this is the story:

"Battle Fever J was the third Super Sentai show, lasting from 1979 to 1980. Following up on the success of their tokusatsu adaptation of Spider-Man (which most of the early Sentai crew worked on after the end of J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai), Battle Fever J was originally intended to be a localization of the Marvel Comics superhero Captain America, which would have starred a Japanese counterpart named "Captain Japan". However, this idea was revised after Toei decided to resurrect the Sentai series (without Shotaro Ishinomori's involvement) following a two-year hiatus by adding a giant robot to the formula."

captain japan.... after all this time i think they should bring this idea back and make captain japan real. and then he should join the mcu. i want there to be this sentai lookin guy in the middle of the latest cg marvel mess going 'toh' as he jumps around and appearing with real explosions behind him.

#replies

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venus-says · 4 years

Text

Kamen Rider OOO Episodes 33-48 + Movie

And the Journey goes on.

Yes, I'm late. Things happened in the weekend that kinda slowed me down, I also still don't know how to properly write about endings so please bear with me. XD Since I'm posting this a little later I decided to include the movie already so it kinda makes up for the late upload.

This final point of OOO can basically be divided into two parts, the set-up for the end and the ending per se. So since there's this division I'll be dividing this review into parts as well, tackling first the movie, then the first "half", and the finale for last.

Starting with the movie, I think it was decent, it had nothing that made me overly excited about but it was quite entertaining. I don't have many reference points for Kamen Rider movies, but I think I liked OOO's movie more than I liked W's because it felt like something isolated but at the same time it felt part of the story, you know? Like, if this was split in a two-parter special and aired anywhere in between episodes 36 and 38 it would feel like part of the original progression of the story and not like an event that was completely isolated from the show. I don't know if I'm making myself understandable or not, but it was neat at least for me.

I don't think this movie had a message that it was trying to pass if they had I sure didn't pick up, but everything was so cool in it that I think it's more than okay. I liked the alchemist on her human form, her minions were quite fun, I also love the way she used her powers to gather cell medals, she was a good one-off villain. The movie-only power-up was decent, I like the design, I love that is very orange, and I like theme of the animals (I would love to see what GREED would come out of this medals), I think the Cobra powers were a little cringe and I still don't buy the backstory of this medals, but as a one-off power-up, it works.

For the things I don't like about this movie, I would say it's basically the action? I think it was very lackluster and a bit confusing at times. I really don't like the final fight, I think the alchemist worked better as a humanoid rather than a giant CG monster and I can't remember much of what happened there, I also think the whole thing of the GREED appearing to offer help is not very realistic to their characters, but it gives for a very awesome scene with all forms of OOO fighting together, I still don't think is something that would happen like that but it was cool as heck I can't deny it. The last point I don't like is Fourze, but I'll keep my points for the first Fourze review.

With the movie out of the way let's talk about the first portion of these episodes covering episodes 33 to 42. I think these are very interesting episodes, I have a few minor issues but overall is a good sequence of episodes and they give a proper build-up for the finale. What is more interesting to me is how the lore of the GREED was expanded on and how dark and sad GREED's lives are and how horrifying the process of becoming a GREED is. What hits me the most about the GREED transformation process is that this is happening to a character I like so much and seeing Eiji going through all of that really hurts because he's a precious boy and it hurts me to see him suffer. I also like having this new info because it gives us some explanation for why Ankh is such a jerk and why he clings to Shingo's body so much making him more sympathetic which they really needed to be able to pull off the ending in such a solid way as they did.

There are only two major things I don't like about these specific episodes. The first one is the GREED revive/reunion, when I first saw that Uva was trying to revive Mezool and Gamel I was very excited to see all GREED together again, but then they're revived and they do nothing relevant after it until their utter defeat. Their betrayal to Uva after their revival brought a very interesting point later on, but other than that the other Ankh and Dr. Maki were the only ones to do something relevant so it gave me that constant feeling of "why?" in the back of my head when thinking of them.

My other problem with it is Gotou becoming Birth. Gotou's arc has been all over the place and a huge roller-coaster with good and bad moments, but when it came the time for him to achieve his climax it was... lackluster. And I say that because they had a very strong build-up for it but they ended going by the easy route and it just felt weak in the end. I know I said I didn't want to see Akira go, but they had such a strong build-up for it, the bullet on his head starting to render him down and connecting that to his goal, he betraying the boys in order to get his money, and then he brings up that he wants the money not to be an altruist good guy but because he wants to do an illegal surgery to save his life???? C'mon this SO STRONG, SO POWERFUL, it could've been amazing if he had gone like that. But no, Akira is good, he really wanted the money to make that medical school, he didn't even die and made Gotou go through a horrible experience like a jerk. I can't stress enough how disappointed I was by that, yeah it was cool seeing Double Births later on but I was disappointed. At least Erika was more present in this part since now she works with Gotou and she was as amazing as ever so this plot wasn't as bad because of her.

The final stretch was both odd and very strong at the same time. I say it was odd because of the way GREED were getting "killed" one after the other especially after them not doing much since their revival. I really liked seeing Kazari being the first one to be defeated, and Mezool in her full power was very cool and strong. But it was kind of a let down for the most part. But even with that I enjoyed this final part concerning the GREED, seeing Ankh's betrayal was amazing, Uva becoming the "final boss" when he was the first villain we met was also very symbolic and it came to happen on a very good way, and while Maki's GREED form didn't last long it was still very cool.

My favorite thing about this ending was Eiji succumbing to his desire for power, which one wasn't something I didn't expect, and two was very well played out. When that Yummy with dream controlling powers attacked Eiji and what came out of it was Earth I though what Eiji's desire would be was something related to saving people, but I never expected it would go down to power, which is a very dangerous desire to have when you have purple evil coins inside you trying to turn you into a monster. I really like that fight between Eiji and Ankh in that beach where they were discussing a few of these points, it was so emotional and strong to me it was definitely the higher point of this finale.

The final two episodes are weird, both in the TV version and in the director's cut. There are things that are missing in the TV version that the director's cut fix, but there are still things in both versions that are "missing" to me. In the things the DC fix we have how more smooth the ending feels with added scenes that connect the events better, the DC also gives Gotou a better and more conclusive ending, Ankh has a better closure and they kinda make the fact than Ankh is just an arm have a deeper meaning that is missing from the tv version, so I'd say the director's cut is the definitive version of the ending.

However, as cool as seeing Maki getting thorn apart and being turned and consumed by a black hole was, there are things in this finale that it still lacks. I could come here and spent ages talking about how it was a Kougami Ex-Machina how those original medals came to be a part of the story, but that's not important my major problem comes from another aspect. My biggest problem with this ending is that it actually lacks an ending. I don't know, maybe it worked for other people, but to me, it felt like it was missing a more concrete conclusion. Like, I don't think it needed another scene to be added, but I think we needed at least a monologue from Eiji to settle things down for him, yeah we see that he finally overcome his trauma and is traveling again and that he's looking for Ankh, but we don't get to see the full scope of what that final fight caused him and I think it was an element that would help to make this ending feel more rounded.

Regardless of my complaints, this was a very good ending for a very good series. My first impression of OOO wasn't the best, but the show won me slowly with each episode making me like it more and more each time even though the problems I had at certain points, and now I really hold this series close to my heart... I dare to say I like it more than I liked W (Don't let Shotaro see this please XD).

And this was the end of OOO, how do you feel about this season? Have you watched recently? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. Since I'm behind schedule for this, today we'll have a double feature and later at night we'll have a second post going up for this week's episode of Zero-One so I'll (hopefully) see you all there. Bye, people. o/

#Kamen Rider OOO #kamen rider

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jokerxtreme36 · 5 years

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Been thinking about Heisei Generations Forever for a bit and how compared to the previous Heisei Generations films, while not a full on terrible film, it was a bit of a letdown, it had an interesting premise of the characters being in the real world and how much of an impact the series brings to its audience both young and old, but their are a lot of detriments that hurt the film than help it. Like how it handles Double’s tribute, how Another Double’s host isn’t explained, questions that were left in Build’s movie and finale left unanswered, no villains from Build’s side and the fact that a certain producer said it’s not canon since there’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t coincide with the series (though they still get the ridewatches in the series off screen just cause). Though I’ve been thinking on how they could’ve improved it

Let’s start with the handling of the Double tribute, out of everyone they could’ve bring, they brought the Ramen Cart salesman, really? not any of the police force? not Santa Chan? not even Ryu or Akiko? I can understand not getting Shotaro or Philip since they’re probably busy atm with other things at the time. Is there a way to fix it? I would say yes in a ‘sort of’ way, like have the salesman explain that someone lends him the Ridewatch, either Ryu (who tells him not to ask him questions about how he obtained it) or Akiko (who threatened him with a slipper if he doesn’t see the others), while not the best explanation, I’m at least trying. Though Kuuga’s tribute could’ve been better, I think the explanation of how they get his Ridewatch for the most part works, a part of me does wish they could’ve maybe had Riku arrive to take the place of Yusuke since of course they wouldn’t be able to get Odagiri to return (it wouldn’t be hard for Riku’s actor since he still works in many Toku shows, he played Abyss in the Ryuki miniseries) plus it would’ve been nice to learn a bit about the original Kuuga as closure.

then there’s Another Double, who as said, is never explained on who his host was, the producer said that he “might” explain who it really is in the future, but I doubt it. But my way to fix this ties with another gripe I have, lack of a villain on Build’s side, it’s understandable Evolt is considered gone at this time but there are other enemies they could’ve had return and maybe have them be Another Double. I had two ideas for who I think would’ve worked but after thinking it through I thought of an interesting parallel, have the Engine Bros be Another Double or specifically, have it be Rai Washio while his older brother Fu Washio becomes Hell Bro's, after thinking about it, it does work with the parallel of two combining their abilities to form one (much like Double in a sense), Of course there’s the question of how they regain their memories since they’re the New World counterparts, simple answer, Tid gives them back their memories since he needs some lackeys for his plan to work. Then there’s Tid who is a Time Jacker and not much else is there for him, to fix that, maybe actually have the others explain to Sougo who Tid is, like a former partner of Shwarz that betrayed them in hopes of achieving his own ultimate goal of erasing the legacy as oppose to finding a new overlord.

Then there’s the continuity of Build’s movie and finale with explaining that they’ve met before, but not the way they remember (since current Sento first met Zi-o in the movie while Sougo met an altered timeline Sento in the series), have that actually be acknowledged and explore the issues, like say that Sougo recalls the events of the post credits battle and realizes that its that Sento and not the one he saw before and during the battle, Sougo loses the Cross-z ridewatch and Sento retrieves it (hence why he has it in the finale) and thinks of creating his own in the future. While not the best explanation at lest I’m trying.

Despite my gripes with the film, there were parts I did enjoy, like the Heisei Riders returning to return in the real world, having Takeru Satoh reprise his role as Ryotaro, it was nice to see him again return after getting popular in later films Also while it was disappointing to see Another Kuuga just be a giant CG mess, the final battle was a bit satisfying and almost makes up for it. While not the worst film, I think it could’ve been just as good as the previous films, especially Heisei Generations Final, which is honestly the best of the three since it used all of it’s returning characters well and no one felt unneeded or unnecessary, but what’s done is done, but now with Zi-o ending soon and Zero one coming in a few weeks, I’m curious to see how that’ll be handled, only time will tell.

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nqctar · 5 months

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Hi! Just found your blog and I love it so much! Would you be willing to write something for cg! Shotaro? I haven't seen anything and I feel like he would just be so sweet as a cg

OH ABSOLUTELY!!

♡ shotaro as your cg!

cg! osaki shotaro x female!little reader

pairings: cg! osaki shotaro x f!reader. genre: sfw age regression, fluff. warnings: no major warnings apply.

大崎将太郎 / osaki shotaro ★

dni: if you sexualize little space.

as a cg shotaro is sooo silly

he's always trying to make you laugh

& it works!!

you know how cg!wonbin takes playing doctor too seriously?

shotaro does the same thing!

you two are playing restaurant & shotaro is complaining the entire time

"this service is too slow." "my food is so cold!" "waitress, i demand more green tea!"

so at some point you stomp back over to him & yell "I QUIT!" & he just sits there like :o

when you ask him a question while you're little you always go

"umm tarotaro?"

so now when he asks you a question he basically does the same!

"umm baby?"

i feel like you guys would go to see animals a lot! like specifically aquariums. he'd take you to any aquarium he could find and you'd spend hours looking and pointing at everything

"umm tarotaro, what is that thing called?"

"that's an octopus, baby!"

"will it eat me?"

"yes! only if you keep leaving your lego out for me to step on."

between him and cg!anton idk who loves cuddling more.

will sometimes pretend to get off the phone with an octopus and be like

"he said if you don't cuddle me right now, he's gonna eat us both!"

so you basically dive on top of him because no way!!!

ok one time you snuck out of bed to eat cookies at 3 am

& you thought you were being quiet but shotaro caught you!

but instead of being mad he was just like

"why aren't you sharing :("

if there's something you collect besides stuffies or dollies, shotaro would buy you soo many to help you. like if you collected sonny angels!

he'd buy you a ton and then put them in a cute basket and hand it to you with the biggest :D smile ever

i think he'd like playing hide and seek with you!

you'd be hiding behind a curtain with your feet sticking out thinking he toooootally can't see you right now

& he pretends he doesn't!!

"where is my baby? did the octopus get her??" while you try and stop giggling so loud

when shotaro hides though, it's almost like he disappears into thin air

one time you looked for him for what felt like 30 minutes

when you found him he was in a closet, watching netflix on his phone.

he looked up at you slowly and just went "ummm.." while you pouted

but he made it up to you by giving you lots of kisses & letting you have extra sweets!

when it's bedtime sometimes he'll build a fort in the living room for you both to sleep in

made the mistake of putting an angry octopus stuffie in it though.

you clung to him the entire night because of that!

"i don't want it to get me, taro!!"

holds you to his chest the entire night, whispering "i love you" and "you're so cute, baby."

cg!taro is soooo <3333

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mystarsohee · 6 days

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did ygs see sohee singing a lullaby to shotaro.. 🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁 IK I IUST WROTE ABOUT TAEIL SINGING HIS BABY TO SLEEP BUT IMAGINE CG!SOHEE SINGING HIS LITTLE TO SLEEP AGH

#kae yap session

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franco-ikari · 3 years

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Qual é na verdade a tal essência do Tokusatsu que muitos afirmam que as séries perderam?será que eles sabem mesmo qual é?

Esse é mais um artigo falando sobre as séries atuais e como um grupo de fanboys como as chamadas Viúvas da Manchete ou mesmo fanboys de Ultraman costuma estar completamente equivocados sobre as séries de Tokusatsu e serve de complemento aos outros dois artigos sobre o tema que fiz anteriormente. Existe uma categoria de fanboys da franquia Ultra que também é o responsável por tantas tretas e divisões do fandom porque eles afirma com veemência que somente a Tsuburaya conseguiu modernizar suas séries sem perder a essência,no entanto qual seria essa essência afinal?vender brinquedos?fazer as coisas parecerem brinquedos pra poder vender?é impressionante como a visão dessas pessoas é tão turva e limitada que não conseguem enxergar as coisas e nem sequer pesquisar sobre.Entender o que significa a essência de algo não é com algumas séries que você viu na infância,não é uma determinada época que diz como essas séries que tem hoje na casa dos 50 anos,com várias e várias décadas com inúmeras modificações. Pra gente entender a essência do Tokusatsu ou de cada franquia precisamos olhar pra trás e ir fundo na idéia e o conceito fundamental do Tokusatsu pra saber se tal coisa está sendo preservada ou não.

Primeiro temos que entender que as empresas não enxergam Tokusatsu que elas fazem como arte e sim como um produto.O objetivo é vender brinquedos e a série gira em torno disso.Quem dá alma e cria as belas histórias é a staff que trabalha nessas séries.não seja fanboy de empresa,admire quem faz a mágica ocorrer. Ninguém conhece quem é o presidente da Toei ou o atual da Tsuburaya mas sabe quem foi Shotaro Ishinomori,ou Eiji Tsuburaya. Tsuburaya criou o Tokusatsu com a intenção que fosse uma fantasia de ficição que vem pra realidade,e os mundos tem que deixar claro que são fantasiosos e que tudo aquilo é impossível ocorrer na vida real conforme eu já disse,e por isso o Tokusatsu usa efeitos pra simular coisas como maquetes pra dar a ilusão do gigantismo dos Kaijuu e o Suitmator onde um homem se fantasia e monstro e passa a interpretar esse monstro.E mesmo com a tecnologia evoluindo,o Tokusatsu se mantem fiel a esse conceito do Tsuburaya,usando técnicas antigas que sim,se modernizaram mas seriam consideradas ultrapassadas,porque a idéia e seguir com seu conceito mesmo com os efeitos de CGI. Então aqueles que dizem que preferem maquetes do que CG porque CG faz parecer falso não percebem que não importa o recurso que se use a idéia é parecer falso.E se você acha que aviões puxados por cordão invisível é algo mais realista que CG precisa de tratamento porque ambos dão uma sensação de falso,que é a proposta do Tokusatsu criado por Eiji Tsuburaya.

Essa idéia de seguir um conceito vem muito da natureza do Japão em dar continuidade.O canal de Youtube Ilha Kaijuu mostrou em um vídeo que no Japão é muito forte essa idéia de continuidade e referencia a obra original,fazendo com que os novos autores sejam como discípulos que dão continuidade ao que seu mestre criou.Na Shonen jump é comum autores se tornarem primeiro assistentes de artistas famosos pra quando publicarem seu próprio mangá ele dá continuidade referenciando a ora anterior.E por isso que nessas obras existentes tantos clichês narrativos porque é assim que os autores novos referencias os anteriores e aí sim eles com a sua própria inovação aplicam coisas novas e modernizam conceitos antigos. Por isso que sempre temos torneios de lutas marciais em mangá Shonen,temos o rival do protagonista e hoje temos tantos personagens que tem o sonho de ser o número 1 em alguma coisa.E no Tokusatsu é a mesma coisa.Se pegarmos a franquia Kamen Rider que hoje é muito criticada por ter perdido a “essência” o conceito básico do herói se mantem até hoje com as séries esmo tendo visual colorido,armas que parecem brinquedo,e inúmeras transformações.E diferente do que muita gente pensa o Kamen Rider não é só o herói com forma de inseto que foi criado pela própria organização que ele combate,até porque nem na era Showa esse conceito era aplicado mas sim que o Kamen Rider é um humano que muitas vezes por destino e sem escolha acaba se tornando o herói e aquilo de certo modo passa a ser um fardo pesado que ele tem que ter coragem de carregar,muitas vezes seus poderes são vindos dos próprios inimigos que eles combatem,esses conceitos são uma clara referencia ao primeiro Kamen Rider que vejam só vocês era um humano transformado em um ciborgue sem sua própria escolha que tem que carregar o fardo de ser um herói e seu poder veio da própria organização que ele combate. O Kamen Rider Ex-AID era alguém que sofreu um acidente e foi vitima de um experimento que lhe deu o poder de usar um Driver e se tornar Kamen Rider. O Build era um cientista que criou uma arma de guerra que foram os Kamen Riders e acabou se tornando um Kamen Rider pra acabar coim o conflito que ele mesmo criou. W é um rider onde um detetive acabou causando sem querer a morte do seu mentor e teve que assumir seu papel como detetive e proteger as pessoas.Então o Kamen Rider mantem esse espirito do original em todas as séries incluindo a nova Revice onde o herói era só um rapaz que trabalhava numa casa de banho mas quando sua família é atacada ele se torna Kamen Rider pra salvar sua família sendo o único capaz de usar o cinto que seu irmão que trabalha na organização e treinou pra isso não consegue.Então essa é a essência principal do Kamen Rider.Porém não tem nada dizendo que um Kamen Rider não pode ter armaduras de frutas ou ser baseado em videogames ou ter que lutar contra um império maligno que domina o mundo ou que o traje dele tem que ser da cor preta. Esse tipo de pensamento superficial que faz as pessoas não notarem a real essência da série que é preservada. Por mais que as séries estejam apelando mais pro público infantil,os Kamen Riders sempre tiveram esse tom mais dramático e isso é preservado até hoje.

A mesma coisa com o Super sentai.A real essência do Super Sentai é o drama do Flashman?é a batalha ao por do sol contra Buba?não amigos.A essência do Super sentai é uma equipe de cinco heróis coloridos que trabalham em equipe pra derrotar um único inimigo.Os Robôs Gigantes são só um detalhe porque o conceito nasceu antes deles serem incluídos na fórmula.E como o Super Sentai tem uma faixa de público menor que o Kamen Rider ou os Metal Heroes a pegada é mais cômica e mais infantilizada com monstros de aparência cômica que falam de modo engraçado e golpes especiais absurdos.Ou seja a essência do Super sentai e essa e o drama como disse várias vezes foi adicionado conforme a franquia queria expandir mais o seu público.aí o tom muda junto.

Mas então porque os fanboys de Ultraman proclamam que os Ultras são os únicos que mantem a essência?porque as pessoas ficam presas a apenas conceitos básicos e o visual pra dizer que tal tem a essência ou não ou até o teor das histórias.Por um acaso os fanboys dos Ultras esquecem do tom cômico de séries como Ultraman Tarô,do Leo a partir de um determinado ponto,do 80 em determinado ponto. Aí é comum você ver eles dizerem que o Zearth é uma série ofensiva.Eu já vi avacalharem até com o Cosmos apenas pelo fato de ele proteger os monstros ao invés de destruí-los.Sim a série Ultra também teve dessas aí,embora muitos idolatrem a franquia e colocam a Tsuburaya num pedestal e falam como se a série nunca tivesse tido coisas bobas e infantis(e só pra ser bem claro isso não é um defeito,as séries são feitas pra crianças afinal).No Ultraman 80 tem um episódio onde um Kaijuu pterodátilo engole um avião de brinquedo,e um menino passa a controlar o Kaijuu com o controle remoto desse avião apenas porque o Kaijuu engoliu,fora a patrulha do Ultraman Tarô que usou toneladas de chicletes pra prender um Kaijuu,esse tipo de coisa é um modos operandi típicos daquela patrulha.Só quem viu a franquia ou ao menos pesquisa sobre sabe a verdade sobre Ultraman e entende de verdade o conceito.E sabe porque os Ultras pouco mudaram em elação aos demais Tokusatsu. No inicio era porque os Ultras eram aliens,e não um armadura que um herói ganha e se transforma a invocando,por isso mesmo você não pode ter um Ultraman com formas berrantes,cores como rosa,verde limão(os Ultras tem seu próprio padrão de cores)ou com temáticas de frutas,de videogames porque não tem nada a ver com o conceito.Porém com a criação do Multiverso e com diferentes origem e até explicações do universo principal,os Ultras são um estado evolutivo de uma determinada raça por algum motivo,e todos eles se tornam gigantes de luz tendo a mesma aparência e características.Por isso podemos ter um Ultra que veio de uma civilização antiga como o Tiga que pode ter sido um estado evolutivo dos primeiros humanos igual de M78 onde os indivíduos são humanos que foram expostos a energia Spark e viraram os gigantes de luz. Por isso não podemos ter um Ultraman vindo do mundo virtual.Pra isso eles decidiram criar o Gridman que é um herói com estilo similar ao Ultraman mas que tem sua origem diferente,essa série com essa temática jamais poderia ser uma série Ultra a menos que a Tsuburaya faça algum reboot e mude tudo.Como de certo modo ela fez no anime onde os Ultras são armaduras especiais estilo do Iron Man.Então o conceito original é seguido por causa disso.Não teria sentido mudar. Porém existem sim diferenças.Os Ultras antigos eram mais sissudos e maduros em sua personalidade e os Ultras de hoje tem personalidades mais variadas,amigáveis ou cômicas colocando a série mais próximas das crianças porque os Ultras pareciam muito os heróis da DC que eram considerados “deuses entre humanos” diferente da proposta da Marvel de fazer os heróis mais humanos com falhas e defeitos. Temos o convencido Zero,o Z,que é bem cômico e brincalhão,ou o X que é bem atrapalhado e cômico,a equipe do Taiga e suas interações engraças com Titus sendo aquele tipico personagem maníaco por músculos que vemos em animes e jogos de luta.Temos uma maior participação dos hospedeiros que ficam numa espécie de plano astral onde usam as diversas bugigangas pra mudar as formas com vozes,cores e tudo que as séries atuais tem.

E pra concluir não são características superficiais que definem o que é a essência da série mas sim conceitos mais profundos que as pessoas precisam entender pra perceber que tudo que acreditam ser verdade não passam de bobagens.

#tokusatsu #kamen rider #ultraman #super sentai

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super-zero-time-blog · 6 years

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Super Light Warrior Changéríon: Episodes 1-3 Review

The year is 1996. Toei Co. Ltd., the penny pinching and merchandise driven imaginative studio that graced the world with anime adaptations of Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball and tokusatsu hero franchises like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai, have found themselves paired up with massive entertainment force Sega (yes, the Sonic the Hedgehog guys) to release a brand new superhero show on the world. The first idea, a planned follow up to the 1995 Keita Amemiya film Mechanical Violator Hakaider (itself a reimagining of the villain from the 70′s Shotaro Ishinomori classic Android Kikaider) falls through. A new idea suddenly comes about from Toei producet Yoshikawa Susumu and suit manufacturer Rainbow Co. Ltd: Create a hero suit made primarily out of transparent parts. With that in mind, a cast and crew are soon brought on to create one of the weirdest tokusatsu series of the 1990′s.

So here we are and here I am and it’s Changéríon (yes the accents are how it’s officially written, it’s meant to be French, I don’t know why) time. Sorry for that long build up! Just figured it’d be what all the cool kids do. Super Light Warrior Changéríon is a doozy of a series, one that has held a cult following in Japan for 20 years after its abrupt end in December of 1996. The show featured a staff of producers (such as Shinichiro Shirakura), directors (such as Takao Nagaishi) and writers (namely head writer Toshiki Inoue) who would go on 4 years later to help revive Kamen Rider for the Heisei era, and in general went on to be remembered for its quirky and surreal nature. Even the show’s star, Takashi Hagino, would go on to be in Kamen Rider (in a very different role as infamous serial killer Takeshi Asakura, a.k.a. Kamen Rider Ouja, in 2002′s Kamen Rider Ryuki) I decided to plunge into this series finally now that English fansubs were out, and I’ve been contemplating how to go about this. For the first installment I figure I’m just going to write up my thoughts briefly on the first three episodes of this 39 episodes series, and I may then expand upon that later and switch the format around a bit at any given time, so here goes!!

A few things to note ahead of time

1. The head writer of this series (and, to my knowledge, the writer of the first four episodes here) is Toshiki Inoue. Inoue is a man known for his love of drama, strange humor, and plots heavily focused on miscommunication. His best known shows include Chojin Sentai Jetman (1991), Kamen Rider Agito (2001), Kamen Rider 555 (2003) some mess called Kamen Rider Kiva (2008) and oh yeah he’s written for anime, included the Death Note anime in 2005. You have likely seen something he has written if you’ve touched an anime. Or maybe not, I don’t know.

2. The suits in this. They are absolutely gorgeous, but they were infamously dangerous.

The Changéríon suit alone had two versions, a 100 kg (~ 200 lb) version for close up shots and a 40kg (~ 80 lb) suit for action scenes. Both were terrifying to those in it. Veteran suit actor Jiro Okamoto commented on the suit being absurdly heavy and fearing he would break it, not to mention that it was so heavy that it hurt his neck. This thing supposedly nearly sent suit actors to the hospital! And yet the action is generally decent despite the struggle in these beasts of a set of suits.

3. The opening, “OVER THE TIMES ~ Beyond The Present~” by MISA. It’s just awesome. It’s really awesome. I mean listen to it. It’s super awesome.

youtube

Aww yeah....

SO! Now that I’ve gotten all of that out of the way, on to the reviews! The format is simple. A summary of the plot first, then my thoughts on it. I’ll see how this works and just go from there.

EPISODE 1: “A Hero!! Me?”

Air Date: April 3, 1996

Bumbling detective Akira Suzumura is hired to investigate a series of missing student reports from a local elementary school. After a night of staking the grounds out, he soon finds himself on a new path after a freak accident and an attack by a monster from the inter-dimensional invaders known as the Darkzeid lead him to unwittingly become the warrior of light: Changéríon! But as he struggles to master his new powers and deal with the mysterious SAIDOC organization, the full threat of Darkzeid begins to awaken.

Changéríon starts out about as weird as you can expect a show like this to with a massive hoop spiralling down a flight of stairs to a narrow Tokyo tunnel and having a creepy 90′s CG entity force its soulless face out towards the camera. It only escalates by going to a dramatic sequence of Akira and his assistant Akemi seemingly armed and ready for a shootout....only for the sequence to be a harmless rescue of a local puppy. This is Inoue at his peak weirdness, something which can really be hit or miss, but it’s strangely all a bunch of baffling moments which click oddly well. Akira isn’t much of a hero in many ways: He’s clumsy, he’s a bit lecherous, selfish and lazy. He doesn’t have much cash and doesn’t even pay part-timers like Akemi well. And yet despite all of this he has his heart in the right place and it’s fun to watch him fumble around in the suit at the episode’s end. It even made me chuckle seeing him “free up” time on a completely empty schedule to help the school find their students. While some scenes do feel disjointed and a bit uncomfortable (including a very uncomfortable joke about pedophilia which struck me as more than a little uncalled for in a show aimed at children), everything is really bonkers and pretty exciting here! It all ends with the main villains being awakened and a budding rivalry between Akira and the former, intended Changéríon candidate, Hayami, as the good folks at SAIDOC quietly wonder “What on earth have we gotten ourselves into with this nut?”

It’s also worth mentioning that this show is a definite turning point for Toei’s production, having been one of their first shows recorded on digital video rather than film, and it’s chock full of now dated CGI and strange, minimalist dark rooms for otherworldy realms. It’s kinda creepy and very uncanny, but I’d say it oddly works in the show’s favor at this point. It’s got an unintentional charm to it. There’s a borderline David Lynch feel to the Darkzeid realm bits, in all honesty. Considering how big of a hit Twin Peaks was during the mid 90′s in Japan, it wouldn’t surprise me if the set designers took at least a smidge of inspiration from the Black Lodge sequences during seasons 1 and 2 of the series. It’s not as traumatic as something you’d see Lynch do, but there’s a similarly sinister atmosphere to it all here with countless bodies wrapped in plastic...like...bags, much like Laura Palmer was.

The combat itself is a bit strangely edited too. Lots of sped up footage and Changéríon seldom kicks (more often getting kicked around instead), which I will assume is due to that hulking suit. But it also gives us one of the most ridiculou(sly satisfying) attacks ever with the Shining Attack. Which...uh...well...

....okay it’s pretty rad, I won’t lie. That’s pretty great. It is. It’ll get used to death in future episodes, but it’s still cool here.

First impression is a good one. It’s like this episode sets the tone for what is to come quite well.

Episode 2: “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Brain”

Air Date: April 10, 1996

The three generals of Darkzeid awaken and enter the human world, with plans to consume humans to satisfy their ravenous appetites. Meanwhile, SAIDOC Chief Munakata explains to Akira about the threat of Darkzeid and their need for his help, only for him to swiftly turn them down and celebrate his newfound superpowers with an unlimited shopping spree. But in the process he not only angers operatives Hayami and Eri, but finds himself in yet another Darkzeid plot as Akemi and Eri are kidnapped by an otherworld monster using posessed shoes. It’s up to Changéríon to save the missing women before they end up on Darkzeid’s lunch menu!

It’s here that we see Inoue throw in another one of his big tropes with character writing: The reluctant hero. This isn’t the first time he’d written that character archetype (another great example of this is Gai Yuki/Black Condor in Jetman) but it’s something he loves to write quite often. In this case, Akira decides to just go hog wild with loans he can’t afford, and it’s actually pretty funny. Buying out restaurants for the day, loading up on shoes for Akemi, and just being a total snot and a cocky jerk until he’s forced to realize that he put his own employee in danger and team up with Hayami....after a bizarre sequence of both of them sneaking into the same Darkzeid shoe store. In drag. And not recognizing each other. In drag. Before fighting it out in front of onlookers. In drag. This is after a scene with the store owner, the monster of the week (with a literal face full of shoes in his monster form, no less) attempts to feed his kidnapped victims with mysterious goop in high heel shoes. There’s no shortage of surreal visuals here and it does get disjointed at points, yet I feel like the story comes to a more coherent point from here.

Despite the goofier antics, there’s still that underlying sinister aura to the Darkzeid generals. Their designs are legitimately creepy and their hushed meetings in dimly lit rooms, murmuring about their need to consume humans and how darkness will consume their own world could easily give a kid nightmares. Even I was amazed at how well the monster suits were pulled off in this show. The villains look like villains, and they’re fittingly mysterious.

In terms of action, Changéríon gets his aptly named Gun Laser, a really nifty weapon with a gimmick I love! Y’see, it runs on disks that he summons from his chest. And the discs spin. Go figure that Sega would manufacture all these toys with a disc gimmick. Not only was it the peak of the CD boom, it also made me chuckle thinking about how they had moved into CDs with the Sega Saturn at around the same time. (Plus the Gun Laser just looks really dang cool!)

We’re getting places now that the initial stage has been set! Slowly but surely, we’re getting places!

Episode 3: “A Bunch of Brides”

Air Date: April 17, 1996

Brides are mysterious disappearing at the altar! Darkzeid is behind this! Akira plans to counter these objections to holy matrimony with the help of Hayami and Akemi...but time and again things keep going south! Can he save the day and stop these foul occurrences? Meanwhile, in a basement lab, Chief Munakata struggles to develop the sidekicks Akira needs in his battle...

If you haven’t figured out that this series is meant to be goofy at this point, I don’t know what to tell you. This is a pretty fluffy and light episode with some good gags strewn throughout. Perhaps the funniest is Akira’s futile attempt at teaching Hayami how to flirt with women. It’s done with the most 90′s montage imaginable and it killed me with how good it was. The follow up is the sequence in the above shot, which I won’t spoil the full context for, but it also got a laugh out of me. There’s slapstick, there’s snark, there’s a simple but weird vibe to this whole episode and it’s totally fine. We’ve gotten into the groove of the show at this point it feels like, and I look forward to where it goes from here. The most interesting element plotwise is seeing Munakata’s struggle to get a set of mysterious robots up and working for Akira to use. It’s made clear that he and his research are mocked by his superiors, who don’t even think that Darkzeid is real, let alone a threat. Poor guy needs more respect! But we’ll see where things go with these machines in the next episode.

With 36 episodes left to go, Super Light Warrior Changéríon is certainly an odd, yet familiar show to me. I can see the early elements of Heisei Kamen Rider at play here with how it’s shot, the eerier villain designs, the quick cuts and kinetic feel to the action and the quirky humor and characters. It’s like seeing a mix of Metal Hero aesthetics with Super Sentai pacing making something of a hybrid that will have a lingering impact. Next time I’ll cover episodes 4-7, or perhaps change up the pace a bit. Expect some cool new robot buddies next time, but other than that I’m as in the dark as everyone else!

Hopefully my rambling didn’t scare you away by now, and we’ll be ready for more adventures to come, soon!

And remember! SOMEBODY LOVES you. And SOMEBODY NEEDS you.

#changerion #ramblin #tokusatsu

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