Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

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Yuusha
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by Yuusha »

Perhaps if they had painted ZECT as soemthing more sinister than what it had been portrayed as. They definitely should've made Dark Kabuto more sinister and not so pitiable.

I think this and Hibiki suffer from too many filler episodes. Compare that too FAIZ and BLADE, where there few filler epsidoes and in the case of BLADE seemed to work on the principle of a Kamen Rdier show using a serial format to tell its story.

If Kabuto (and for that matter every Rider series since BLADE) would attempt this we'd get a break from filler episodes and very formulaic story telling.

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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by Arigomi »

I have a love/hate relationship with Kamen Rider Kabuto Gatack.

Throughout the entire series I patiently waited for Tendou to go through some deep personal growth that makes him grow as a person. I was severely disappointed to find him ending the series exactly the way he started out with no comeuppance. I can accept an arrogant attitude, but I cannot accept a character that is so verbally abusive to his own friends. I really wanted his grandmother to show up and beat some sense into him for treating his allies worse than his enemies.

Kagami was the reason I stuck with the series. He had the most touching moments in the series and underwent the most personal growth. A relationship diagram of the entire cast would show that he was the real center of the series with everything revolving around him.
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by Yuusha »

But wasn't Tendou calling Kagami his friend in the last episode the culmination of that?

I honestly think that Tendou was intentionally harsh to people because he honestly trying to protect them in his own unique way. If Kagami and Tendou had never met the chances of Kagami developing his resolve never would have led him to become Gatack.

I hoestly wanted more development of Jyuuka as a character. I alway got the feeling that there was more t oher devotion to her brother besides him being her brother/cousin and cooking for her.

As to Granny Tendou... The image of Hiro Mizushima in drag comes to mind (I spent my youth watching waaaaaaaay too much Monty Python) so I'm glad that they never went that route.

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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by Arigomi »

Yuusha wrote:But wasn't Tendou calling Kagami his friend in the last episode the culmination of that?
It felt too artificial because there wasn't enough buildup for me to accept it at face value.
Yuusha wrote: I honestly think that Tendou was intentionally harsh to people because he honestly trying to protect them in his own unique way. If Kagami and Tendou had never met the chances of Kagami developing his resolve never would have led him to become Gatack.
Spoiler
That is a definite possibility. I still couldn't let go of the fact that Kagami was still treated badly in episode 11 right after he gave up TheBee Zector for Tendou's sake. I went back through episodes 21 and 22 to see for myself what was pivotal in Kagami becoming Gatack. His father manipulating Kagami's desire to save the kid trapped in the worm nest was far more important than his relationship with Tendou.

Yuusha wrote: I hoestly wanted more development of Jyuuka as a character. I alway got the feeling that there was more t oher devotion to her brother besides him being her brother/cousin and cooking for her.
I agree. She deserved better development beyond being the ridiculously happy kid that never has any worries.
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by Yuusha »

Well Jyuuka did have an actual purpose besides cheerful kid. She was there to explain to people why her brother is the way he is. She was their gateway to understanding him better.

I mean she never really questions why these people she doesn't know are coming into her life (Kagami, Hiyori even Gonza), she just accepts it as her brother's unique ability to draw people to him in his own unique way. In fact she really believes that Tendou is the one to walk the path of heaven without question and therefore these people coming to him must be on the same path.

I mean Jyuuka might be my favorite supporting character. Too bad I haven't seen Natsumi Okamura in anything since Kabuto.

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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by DJ Jimmi Zero »

I've only seen the first two episodes and like what I've seen, except the main Rider, Tendou is an asshole and I hope he fails miserably.
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by yumenotenshi07 »

I really didn't like this series at first (haha, severe insect phobia), but it really grew on me. I also despised Tendou, but he ended up growing on me too! What is this? Well, I guess, like a nasty little parasitic bug, it just crawls in and makes itself at home in your brain.

Nah. Funny, though, that I disliked it so much to start, as it's now what I would consider to be my favorite Kamen Rider series that I have seen to date.
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by Kogashi »

Yea, it takes a little while to get started, but once the other Zectors start showing up, in my view, is when the show really starts.
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by oddjob »

Hi! Before I say if I love or hate Kamen Rider Kabuto, I would like first to thank you all for making this possible. How could I understand this TV show if I don’t speak Japanese?

I can’t imagine how much work it took to accomplish this translation. First someone did the translation and wrote it down. Second, this translation was added to the video. Third, someone else reviewed the video for quality control. Of course this is a very, very simple way of looking at it. And of course it is not that simple! It sounds easy, but it isn’t!

The translation itself is very difficult. Then you have to make the subtitles sync correctly. And these subtitles are not, I say NOT, the usual subtitles you see around! What I mean is that you not only translate what everyone is saying but you also translate signs, texts that appear on screen and everything else. And you also put sometimes some explanation to what was said or done and cultural references. I almost forgot about the translation of the TV show intro with karaoke! That is amazing!

In other words, THANK YOU!!!

Now what I think about Kabuto. I discovered this TV show because I was searching for Anna Nagata’s works. Even though she did not appear too much I decided to watch it anyway. First because I could understand a little better the Japanese spoken and it would help me in the learning process. And second because I thought it would be a good way to learn a little more about the Japanese culture.

Here I am a couple of weeks after watching the last episode and all I can say is …. I LOVE IT!!!!

I don’t think I never loved a TV show like this before! I don’t know why but I had to do something about it, and I did. I edited some videos and uploaded them to YouTube(ah! please forgive me for the japanese description! since I don't know japanese I use Google Translator!):

Kamen Rider Kabuto Intro
Enough!
Daisuke and Gon
Grandma / Jiiya said
Hello? Hello!!!
KaGAmi
Make up
My name is
Tofu
The man that stand at the top of
Why me?


Kabuto is the best Kamen Rider ever! I watched a little the other Kamen Riders and they look childish compared to Kabuto! The costumes in Kabuto are, not only beautiful, but they look real! The characters are really using body armor; they don’t look like “riders in tights”. Everything about it is cool!

And I agree with other users here that if they had more time they could have developed better the characters. And perhaps they would have time to fix some things like Yaguruma. I really liked the Kazen Chouwa thing. It was a waste.

Thanks again!

Oddjob.
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yumenotenshi07
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by yumenotenshi07 »

What about Yaguruma would you have them "fix"?
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by oddjob »

yumenotenshi07 wrote:What about Yaguruma would you have them "fix"?
I meant by him becoming again TheBee Rider again. He became a comic relief with the “going to hell” thing and everything else. Maybe if they had more time to develop his character it could have been better.

But until the end I was always hoping that he would be the TheBee Rider again. He was indeed a true leader. He was the Perfect Harmony.

Do you remember the first time he appeared? He was so cool! Managing the troops and doing a perfect attack on the worms.
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by yumenotenshi07 »

Haha. I can see we are opposite fans of Yaguruma.

I really disliked him initially. To me, he was like another Tendou, full of himself and preachy with all of his "perfect harmony" stuff. I also don't think he would have ever become the Bee again, no matter how they developed his character. It seemed to me that, "comic relief" or no, he had really moved on from that part of his life.

I actually never saw him too much as a comic relief. It's true that the Hopper bros were often involved in a lot of goofy scenes, but so were all of the other characters. I thought he had more dimension after "falling to hell," as opposed to being a flat, 2-D jerk.

Unfortunately for Kageyama, he didn't change a single bit throughout the entire series....
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by DJ Jimmi Zero »

I liked Kabuto overall, but there are still a few problems I had with it. I felt that the main plot was immediately tacked on at the last minute. There were a lot of things that they wanted to do with the series and couldn't do because of episode count. Time travel was the biggest one, whereas characters such as Tsurugi, Evil Kabuto, Yaguruma, and even Kagami were not as fleshed out as they should have been.

They stopped using clock up, and Gatack only got a hyper form outside the series. Tsurugi was obviously the pity character, but the way they set him up looked like there was a little more to him before they killed him off. Evil Kabuto was also a pushover the second time he fought Tendou and onward. Yaguruma didn't get enough air time as The Bee or Kick Hopper.
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by ryujin »

Kiva actually is the first series i started following, i saw a few eps. of Black, RX, Ryuki, 555 and Blade on TV, but i don't like dubbed - in my country anyways - Japanese Live Action Shows (ie. Kamen Rider/Super Sentai/Ultraman) 'cause IMO, it gets crappy just like they do to animes, and the whole Kamen Rider atmosphere gets really wierd when VA'ed (not my cup of tea), so i didn't (TO NEVER) bother <_<

Since Kiva's still ongoing, i decided to watch a Kamen Rider Series that i haven't seen yet to please my "henshin" needs, so i took a peek at Kabuto, and wow, i love it!

Just started watching Kabuto (up to ep. 5 and still downloading), and oh man it rocks, IMO Tendou Souji is the MAN, yes he's arrogant, pompous, a jerk (sometimes) and almost god-like, but who cares, he has the right to do so and he (rider) kicks a** *wooh!*, not many riders are that cool (*looks at* --> Ryuki = Funny/Clumsy/Comedic Relief, Wataru = Gloomy - hey, he said it himself lol -)

Some may find Kabuto not up to par with their expectations, but IMO, every Kamen Rider series has their strong and weak points, but me, i tend to not nitpick every detail since i enjoy watching it anyway ^_^
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Re: Kabuto...Love it or Hate it?

Post by yumenotenshi07 »

I agree with you, ryujin. ^^ It's no fun if you get too nitpicky.

And the thing I like about Tendou is that even though he's arrogant, at least he has the power to back it up. XD Unlike being cocky without good reason.

Haha, they show Kamen Rider dubbed in your country? That must be interesting.
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