mammonmachine

Aevee Bee

@mammonmachine

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I wrote and directed WE KNOW THE DEVIL and HEAVEN WILL BE MINE. I also wrote for NEON WHITE and I currently work at game company doing game things.

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mammonmachine
@mammonmachine
mammonmachine
@mammonmachine
mammonmachine
@mammonmachine

Currently I'm watching Kamen Rider Black, which has gorgeous, amazingly directed 80s special effects, but hasn't delivered on the incredible setup of its first two episodes for nearly 30. It has been great to watch while riding on my bike trainer and the rider is soooo cute but I'm terrified of trying to finish another Showa era show, though 71' owns, and I love that the formula just works (but I don't have the patience to watch it straight through). I'm holding out for the continuity and ending of Kamen Rider Black because it seems quite influential. I have loved sampling the Showa era though.

I decided to start skipping around Heisei for series that seem influential or well liked, but I wanted to start with Kuuga to see how it set the Heisei era tone. A procedural drama/soap opera Kamen Rider was exactly what I wanted so I love it so far. I only need a drip of continuity or character development to keep going.

W and Build were the most recommended ones, so they've been on my list to watch next. There are uh, plenty however so I want to prioritize. Ryuuki was recommended as an influential one, and I remember Fourze being really funny. I know Gaim is the Urobuchi one, so I can't wait to see how women get mindbroken by their confrontation with how fucked up the Real World is in the Kamen Rider show about fruit samurai.

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If you start with W and just watch the next two shows from there honestly you're going to have a great time. W brings the innovation of "what if Kamen Rider was yaoi?", OOO dares to ask "what if Kamen Rider was DOUBLE yaoi?", and then Fourze is... not that at all, but it's still really fun. This whole era kinda drops the soap opera angle in favour of two part stories about a new monster every two weeks, but still with lots of continuity and character development, which imo is the best of both worlds.

Also: the fact that their storytelling is so formalized and built on such specific structural demands makes me CONSTANTLY draw parallels with videogame storytelling, there's just a lot of interesting stuff going on there!!!

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mammonmachine
@mammonmachine

I absolutely love the tight formula that comes from having to make a new series with 50 eps a year. Seeing creative people who absolutely love what they're doing go nuts in a very tight formula is basically my favorite thing.

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Iro
@Iro

I started watching Rider/Sentai recently (as in like half a decade ago) myself with some friends who were longtime toku heads. They started me on Gaim (which I would argue with a straight face is Urobuchi's best work after Thunderbolt Fantasy since the inherently goofy limitations of children's tokusatsu limit most but not all of his excesses) and we've mostly been watching the newer stuff, though if a show isn't up to snuff we definitely drop it midway.

To Date I've seen Gaim, Build (eh), Fourze (by the writer of Gurren Lagann so it's a very silly take on western high school tropes), Zero-One (they had to cobble together an ending from disparate pieces due to Big Virus and did a surprisingly good job), and we just finished Kuuga (major growing pains but the last third is great). It feels like a lot to me but looking at the list of everything it's barely a dent.

Hope you have a good time with that stuff.

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