Kamen Rider Resets Episode 3 might be giving
us too much of a good thing. There's definitely
things I liked about it, but there were some
things that I didn't like and I'd like for them
to change for the whole series. I doubt they're
going to, so there'll be a constant complaint
for me going forward. Overall, I did like the
episode. I thought it was a lot of fun. I thought
there were some good things going on. What we
saw from Nem was a little bit interesting. What
we saw from the villain's perspective was interesting.
And Mr. Fujimi's resolution of his issue was...
good and i like that it honestly sets him up
for being very involved in things going forward
and i think it affected it did that very well
and set up the nightmares as a real scary threat
especially because they can leak out into the
world and cause damage there and it gives our
hero uh baku even more necessity even higher
stakes to be good at what he does and um as of
right now he's the only one so he's gotta do
a good job Those are my overall thoughts real
quick, but getting into it fully, I have a lot
more things to say. What did I find disappointing
about this episode? I find the muscle effects
that they do on impact excessive and dumb and
silly. They're gilding the lily. They've already,
I think in all three of these first episodes,
they put. zets in the darkness so that his suit
can light up and show off those cool light up
panels which i think those are practical effects
i do not think that's digital it could be done
digitally afterwards but when the eyes swirl
and flush as he transforms i do believe that
is a digital effect but besides that the actual
i would think the lights on the mask on the helmet
as well as all over the suit are all practical
and they look fantastic honestly they really
do look good uh gives me a five i think i've
said that before so i won't say it again hopefully
i'll remember not to say it again um but the
and the suit design is really good it's got the
it's it's very slick it has the big sculpted
muscles in it which i think look great i think
turning turning the the lung or the um you know
armor from the chest and abdomen area of the
original comrader into a i don't remember it
was just in shin comrader they called it uh the
lung like the prana lung or whatever or if that's
um in the original as well i know this i know
the o -ring is on the forehead his mouth is the
crusher um i know some details like that and
the belt is called the typhoon and the uh bike
is the cyclone like i know some of those things
but i just don't remember if there's a particular
name for the armor chest pieces that he has on
his torso anyway um but uh here They've turned
into awesome looking apps. Like, I mean, it looks,
it looks great. It looks very muscular, very
Western superhero, very slick, very modern. And
yet it still feels like it fits in line with
Kamen Rider 1, which is great because Kamen Rider
1 is fantastic. It's such a great design. So
simple, so sleek. And this takes it and gives
it just a modern veneer, which again, I think
is wonderful. I'll always go back to Kamen Rider,
the original being great, the manga, the anime,
or not the anime, but the show. I've only, I
haven't watched the whole thing. I've watched
about a third of it, but the third I saw was
amazing. So, um, anyway, uh, getting back on
this, uh, the bulging muscles and those effects
are, they stink and I don't like them. That's
how I feel about them. Um, we've got like, it's,
they do like pulsing veins. Um, I think I've
already talked about the capsule thing. I think
it's dumb. Um, I like what the capsules do overall,
like this transformer that we got to see featured
this episode, which also was featured last episode
when he swept the lakes. He swept the leg on
that truck and caused it to flip over by making
his leg spiky. He can pretty much transform his
body however he wants to with this transform
thing. It feels a little OP, but I don't mind
it. Yeah, I just don't mind it. I liked him catching
the fireball and the lattice that he made of
his, you know, eight fingers overlapping with
each other and throwing it back at the guy. That
bomb, that was really cool. The bomb nightmare,
I guess, is what he'd be called. That was really
cool. But it's just too much. You're gilding
the lily. It's like... ridiculous um and it's
you know odd that he can like in the last episode
he slapped the ground and caused like the walls
to close in on the nightmare and then the nightmare
did it back to him and he didn't need a special
capsule for that all he had was impact um i think
that's his main one um and he was able to do
that stuff and even like pulled a wall a section
of wall and like used it to shield himself so
he can transform his environment based on the
fact that he's a common raider in a dream or
whatever um so why is it necessary for him to
then have a separate toy that you can sell which
is called transform which transforms his body
and always have to be a weird 8 -bit animated
pokeball thing um like i don't it just it's not
for me anyway um I like the idea of the power
balls, but just do them differently. But yeah,
so getting back to it, it's gilding the lily.
It's way too much. However, watching him actually
use transform in this fight was super cool. I
like how he did all sorts of things to his body.
He did extendo punches. He made his feet into
weird flippers to kick the guy. And then ultimately
at the end, he stabbed him. I don't quite get
the logic behind the feint. I don't know what
Baku was doing there. I understand that he was
able to disarm the bomb. Was he doing it to distract
him and think, oh, you missed? Like, he didn't
even say you missed. He just laughed, which,
whatever. It's definitely not necessary to have
the exchange of you missed and then him follow
up with, no, I didn't, or I was naming for you,
or whatever. Like, I guess it's cliche by this
point, so you don't have to do it, but whatever.
But it was really cool. I love the fact that
he... steps into uh that is fujimi steps into
the nightmare that it turns into a freaking door
that's awesome it looks so good looks so cool
i hope they do that effect it looks to me like
they built something for him to go into which
would be amazing even if they had like a generic
body silhouette that they built that opens and
closes and then a person can walk through and
then they just like skin it or whatever with
uh with ai they skin it with ai to do an ai effect
i'd be cool with that anyway um But yeah, that'd
be fun if they keep doing that. It doesn't have
to be. I mean, I don't know. Why not? Why not
do that every time? If he's going to do the Henshin
thing every single time, then why not have the
door open for the person to walk through every
single time? I'd be cool with that. Anyway, I
liked it. It was great. But yeah, the action,
the fighting was fun. And I like this more emotional
side. I liked it getting a little more introspective,
seeing why Fujimi is fed up with the police and
why he thinks that at least... Anyway, I understand
his frustration with the police and with the
brass. I really do like that by the end of the
episode, because they're in the middle of a black
case and he tells his police chief, you better
start believing in black cases. You're in one.
That because of this huge explosion that they
can't... I think they said they couldn't trace
any... source of the like they didn't see anybody
coming to the building planting the explosives
and they couldn't tell like what the explosives
were so they're not like it's not c4 it's not
whatever it's you know dream bomb power i guess
um so they have to figure that out and that's
going to create a problem for them and that in
itself is making a bigger black case or a better
black case for fujimi to use for um justifying
the existence of his department and i imagine
that That's what we're going to see in the following
episode or in the future. Maybe I'll take a couple
episodes for it to be reinstated. They're opening
back up the X -Files and for them to be involved
with that. So I like that. I like the stories
being set up. And then there's even more story
set up stuff, which is that this first, I assume,
first breakthrough of a nightmare does this weird
thing with these butterflies and the moon changing,
at least for the audience's perspective, if not
in the real world. And these butterfly things
go out all over the place that Mr. Nox is his
name, I think. We've got Nem and Nox. Something
like that. Or Noct. I don't know. Whatever. We
have him celebrating that these things are out
there. And it seems like he's suggesting that
it affected some big change in the world. I want
to see what that is. I want to know what the
consequences are. And I like that we have all
this setup going. And I think it's really tidy.
And I think not only was it done so artistically,
but it was also done so neatly and efficiently.
So I'm pleased with where... The setup of the
story is now I have my issues with some of the
aesthetics that they're choosing to go with.
But, oh, another thing is speaking of the aesthetics,
the way that the dream logic works, all the cuts,
all the, you know, I'm walking towards you here
and then you're walking towards me in the reverse
shot. And a lot of the like cinematography in
the dreams is really nice. And I hope they keep
up those kind of weird cuts to help it feel like
a dream, to help it feel wrong in a certain way,
like wrong, but consistent, you know, like very
sloppy. very sloppy what's the thing that they
call continuity like very sloppy continuity as
far as the filming is concerned because that
would make sense with a dream uh and like i said
i think that would be good and then if they that'll
help it to be differentiated from the real world
transformations and such so i like that and the
only thing i didn't like is that uh or another
thing i didn't like is that uh zero through the
bike robot thing says i had to drive you here
He like drove him there in his sleep in his bed,
but then he drove towards him. Like the bike
should have just been standing there. That was
a weird thing. Had that happened in the dream,
that would be okay. But it happened in the real
world, which doesn't really make sense. So anyway,
I'm excited. I'm still enjoying it. This is good
stuff. And let's see the next one. I'd love to
hear what you thought about it. Do you agree
with me that it's too much? They're pushing some
of the effects stuff too much with the bulging
muscles and veins and things like that. Or do
you like it and you think it's really cool? And
then what do you think about the lore stuff that's
going on here? Because I think that's fascinating.
I almost forgot to mention one big moment. One
thing that I really liked was that when they're
in the real world and Baku has to fight on his
own and he's having trouble transforming, he's
scared and he's desperate. And yet he's still
trying. Like he's showing real courage and real
bravery and he's showing real grit and determination
to do the right thing and to save this person
and to save other people, even at the cost of
his own life. And I mean, he's not killing himself
to save them. putting himself in harm's way he's
trying to get the belt the bomb is beating him
up and he's still going after it and it looked
really cool and i love the desperation in the
sense of uh struggle and scale and we get to
see like this is the kind of character arc stuff
i want to see with him him being kind of i don't
know i complained about his character setup previously
and i still stand by that but this is much better
this kind of setting him low to go high putting
him at disadvantage in this way to see him grow
and to have an arc and to become a cooler character
this is what i'm talking about i want to see
this kind of stuff where he's struggling and
he's not instantly competent he's not amazing
on his own he has to learn those things and he
has to become this great hero uh great hero great
aspirational figure i like that and they did
a good job with that in this episode so thank
you takashi Until next time, this is MJ signing
out for Writer Tears and Henshin Inspection,
and I want to let you know my dream is to be
a full -time author. I'm actually working on
a Tokusatsu series right now that I want to serialize,
but my current book out right now is called Mock
Ring Mayhem. It's about magical bugs battling
monsters, and you can check out the trailer for
it here. Magical bugs battle monsters in this
exciting fantasy adventure. Grimlings prey upon
children. Grow bugs protect them. When a gremlin
finds a hidden growbug fort, the whole flock
makes a surprise attack. How will the growbugs
survive? Find out in Mockwing Mayhem. Learn more
at growbugs .com, where you can find out more
about our mailing list, receive behind -the -scenes
information, and get all the latest news on the
growbugs.