Edit: Okay, who gave this a 1? I normally don't call people out, and this isn't a "you're disobeying the groupthink" thing. But I'd genuinely like to know why you consider this among the worst episodes of KR. If this isn't a good episode, what is?
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This episode doesn't have quite the same punch as the previous episode, but then setting up the piece is always more fun than cleaning them up.
When this episode started I was immediately wondering why the Ministry of Health wasn't doing anything, so I'm pleased that their role was addressed right away. Though I feel like they need to be raiding Genm HQ again; given the circumstances, it's actually kind of odd that we never really see the company. It would be kind of a neat B-plot to see what the employees think of things and their role in creating/distributing a deadly game, especially now that they've been duped not once but twice.
The victim of the week was kind of a one-note character, but I do like his commitment. When faced with death, he opted to go out fighting. Not that it would have worked, of course; as we've seen the Bugsters have badly stacked the deck. Luckily for him the doctors stepped in and actually saved him. Still, it's better than being cowering victim #409. And while I'm sure it wasn't meant to be funny, I got a good laugh out of the fact that he couldn't get more than 5 other people to join him for his big plan. (Practical consideration: they only have so many stunties and suits. Still, it's kind of sad)
Moving on, let's talk about Kamen Rider Poppy, our first proper female Rider in 3 years. Female riders are as rare as hen's teeth in this series, so when Toei decides that girls are cool enough to be action heroes, it's a welcomed development. The reveal here is a bit of a bummer since the stupid OP spoils it, but oh well.
Unfortunately I feel like Toei took two steps forward and one step backwards here. Making Poppy a Rider is a great idea. However her suit design sucks. I kind of get why it is what it is - each suit is based on the game's hero, and Poppy is (essentially) the hero of her own game - but it doesn't change the fact that while all the other Riders are cool fighters, Poppy looks like someone's bad idea of a female robot. I don't really care how cleverly it's rooted in game genres, it just looks bad. Ditch the stupid hair and maybe the heart shoulders, and it would be a lot better.
Also, I just had to cringe at the jingle for Tokimeki Crisis. "Girls are always in a heartbeating crisis" is such a stupid shoot yourself in the foot kind of thing. Though sadly part for the course for Toei. And yes, I'm being hard on Toei. But then that's what happens when female Riders are less frequent than the Olympics.
On the plus side, as takenoko noted, her choreography is great. Ex-Aid is agile, but Poppy is a level above that. It looks really good in motion. And I like that her weapon is a damn wrist-mounted chainsaw.
Toei has a bit of a chainsaw fetish lately, it seems, but I'm okay with it. However what the heck is "Critical crews-aid" supposed to mean?
Assuming that Poppy doesn't stay evil for the entire rest of the series though, I'm interested in seeing what they do with KR Poppy afterwards. The one drawback to the last female Rider, Malika, was that she was a bit of lost puppy following others. Right now Poppy is a step below that even, since she's brainwashed. She's always going to be a supporting character, but I am hopeful at some point her she gets a level of free agency we haven't seen in a female rider in many years.
Speaking of characters, Hiiro's actor killed it this episode. Normally he's the stoic one, so he doesn't get to do much emoting. But when he was explaining to Emu the problem with patients not trusting them, he sold that scene and then spent all the earnings on more acting lessons. He's not the main character, but I'm glad to see he's being given something meaningful to do. This is the kind of doctor drama the series hasn't been consistent in giving us, but is always fun when it does.
Finally, getting back to the subject of choreography, I also liked what they did with Maximum Mighty X on this episode. Having him flip in and out of the suit as a way to augment the suit's lack of agility looked really cool. And it makes for a neat, Iron Man-like ability to have the suit able to act on its own in a limited fashion. Oh, and I
think this is the first time we've seen the henshin shield principle in effect for a Rider. It's interesting that it's Parado that gets it first, and not one of the heroes...
Random observation: was that a new background song that played after the CM break, at the start of the Poppy fight? I don't remember Ex-Aid having any songs that started with a bass solo like that.
CM: I watched the CM for once. It was a skin care commercial? Some days I'm genuinely confused by the intended audience. We joke about some of the shirtless guys being eye candy for the moms, but now I'm starting to wonder just how true that might be...
Kurokage X wrote:takenoko wrote:Why is Graphite personally targetting Snipe? Wouldn't Brave be his true enemy? I mean, we even have Saki and Brave in the opening now.
Graphite targeting Snipe could stem from the fact that he gave Taiga his failure, not his greatest failure unless it is his greatest failure, as a doctor, addictive power of proto gashats aside, though that's just me
Exactly. Graphite has antagonized both Hiiro and Taiga. He killed Hiiro's girlfriend, and from what little information we've been given, defeated Proto-Snipe in the process. So having him go after either Rider makes sense, as he clearly enjoys being a dick.
takenoko wrote:I thought the pay off in the second half was great, but I hated the first half set up. I really dislike it when the characters don't make any sense. Like ordering the Riders to be on standby or when Emu tries to stop the player from fighting Salty instead of helping him. I guess they give a reason like halfway through the episode, but it feels like a strained way to stir up drama.
Agreed. Emu trying to stop the fight rather than just quickly KOing Salty was a bit of forced drama. Especially in a toku series, the solution to most problems is fighting, not
not fighting.