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tsuki-sennin · 3 years ago

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Mina-san, bonne lecture~! (Tsuki recaps his feelings about Kamen Rider Saber, a personal essay.)

So, Saber... what a wild ride it's been, huh? Just a quick heads up, this is very long and rambling, and also contains spoilers for everything in Saber. It's fine if you don't wanna read all this, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

TL:DR, Kamen Rider Saber's an undercooked hot mess I absolutely adore, warts and all.

Speaking as objectively as possible, it's a 6/10. Probably closer to a 5 than a 7... it's not great: All the different plot elements are cluttered and weirdly paced; character focus is disjointed and clearly biased toward certain characters, leaving great ones like Kento and Ogami, interesting ones like Kamijo and Hayato, and underdeveloped ones like Sophia and especially the Shindais in the dust; not to mention its balance of comedy and drama is off, and while both are very effective, there's a lot of mood whiplash that can take you out of the story. I also feel like a lot of the easily avoidable character conflict could've been easily resolved, even in universe, by simple conversations. Be careful Fukuda, I think Inoue might sue you if he finds out you've been biting his style and doing it worse.

Rider shows have a very frustrating tendency to drop cool form ideas and not do anything with them, and I don't think it's ever been more the case than with Saber. There's a similar argument to be made with the majority of Heisei Phase 2 after Gaim, but wow. The suits are expensive to make without just straight up recycling everything, I get that, but man, I really wanted to see more Wonder Rider forms. How come Touma got all the fun, eh? Of note are the Blades King of Arthur forms (which look amazing by the way), Espada's Jaaku Dragon forms (one of which I even drew last night), even the non-elemental random Wonder Ride Books all have awesome design elements that go tragically unused. Even if the other Swordsmen just kinda have the ones they do get to use slapped onto them, that's at least something. Touma also just straight up only uses Diago Speedy twice and never again. You have cool props guys, don't waste them like that!

Speaking of waste, Espada, goddamn. Since most of the Wonder Ride Books are Story Type and he needs one very specific Story Book to transform, he doesn't get much of... anything, really! No Wonder Rider forms like Blades, Lamp Do Cerberus being exclusive to Ganbarizing, only getting to use the Ride Gatriker like once, he even spends the second and third arcs as a completely different Rider, then once he comes back he doesn't get a King of Arthur-granted upgrade or even a Necrom Espada form. ...at least, not yet anyway. I'm holding out hope for Espada x Necrom and the eventual Saber V-Cinemas. Extra Rider stans, we will be well respected someday.

The Unreal Engine CGI used for fights in early Chapters was pretty good but wow it feels disconnected and they really drop it quick. I feel like if the animators had more freedom to use as many forms as they want, we'd have gotten a lot more mileage out of the books beyond... decoration basically. I actually really liked the CGI sequences, they felt creative and were fun to follow along with.

The soundtrack is pretty great on its own and conveys what it needs to, but they seriously overplay the orchestral themes. It honestly feels kind of... stock at times. I think my favorite parts of the score are when it winds down, since it feels a lot more natural and lets the cinematographers and actors speak for themselves.

As awesome as I think Falchion's design and the Mumeiken Kyomu are, The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin comes up short as its own standalone thing. You'd think 30 or so minutes of non-stop action would be awesome, and it almost is? It's as good as a typical episode of the series with a higher action budget, but it kinda drags on a bit too long; and although I think Emotional Dragon looks cool, it feels a bit tacked on. Coming off of the incredible Zero-One REAL×TIME, it doesn't give you much room to breathe, which Rider films are typically great at handling. I also thought the resolution for the kid's subplot was kinda forced. He does an okay job at acting considering his age and doesn't overstay his welcome, but I really don't see how 20 minutes of violence and action is enough to convince him to be brave enough to go play with the other kids. 5/10, it's closer to a 4 than a 6 and I think that maybe Zero-One should've stood on its own if they really had to push back Kiramager Bee-Bop Dream because of the pandemic.

Alright, with all that said... As imperfect and undercooked Saber was, like Ghost I can consider it a personal favorite, 10/10. Call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but holy hell it's just the show I needed. Takuro Fukuda has a talent for creating fun, wonderful characters and utterly fascinating worldbuilding and concepts. It's a shame he doesn't utilize them fully, but hey!

The action and fight choreography are pretty top notch as usual. Lots of beautiful shot composition and set pieces, and plenty of great angles to help keep up with the extra busy action. I love watching the suit actors perform and they deserve all the respect in the world for their hard work in those hot, sweaty, and heavy costumes. Their visual design is also top notch, with lots of unique and fascinating forms and cool weapons I desperately want to play with despite being broke, all with spectacular finishers and hype jingles with the voice of Akio motherfucking Ohtsuka calling them out. A real feast for the eyes. Not a single bad suit among them, yeah I said it, fight me.

The crossover specials are soooo good too.

-I went over my feelings on the Zenkaiger crossover episodes in a separate post (good luck finding that btw), but to sum it up, they were great character moments for Zox and the Shindai siblings with lots of great screwball comedy and some good old fashioned meta humor.

-The Ghost crossovers are great little side stories all about how Daitenku Temple somehow had the Ghost Ijunroku Wonder Ride Book? I genuinely have no idea why it was there, or how Makoto had the Specter Gekikou Senki, and as far as I remember neither of their origins are explained. Did Luna or Tassel hand them off to them and told them to wait for a sword guy? And why do these generic French Revolution Gamma villains working for Danton get their asses handed to them so easily by Kanon, who literally just became a Rider? I thought that Makoto deciding to adopt all the Kanon clones into his family was both hilarious and adorable though; considering all the crap they went through, I think it was a good ending to this plot. Gimme Espada x Necrom already Toei/Bandai/Fukuda/whoever I need to yell at, give Kento things to do, I beg you.

-I haven't actually seen Super Hero Senki since it's not available for subbing yet, but apparently there's a Journey to the West plot starring the Taros and Ohma Zi-O and I want to see that so badly.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra? Yoohei Kawakami? A match made in heaven, that's what they are. All of their themes are absolute bangers. All of them. Almighty, Kamen Rider Saber, Sparks, Taju Rokou, all excellent and empowering pieces. Rewrite the Story, Will Save Us, and The Story Never Ends are all amazing inserts done by the cast, and it makes me wish we had even more of them to help break up the monotony of the score.

The characters are what easily make this show such a great watch though. For the most part, they have great personalities and chemistry, consistently fun and interesting scenes, well acted and... sometimes well-written development, and deeply investing personal stakes.

Narrating it all is the delightfully eccentric Tassel/Viktor, portrayed by Romanesque Ishitobi "TOBI" of the Paris-based Les Romanesques. I was utterly confused by his presence at first, wondering why there needed to be a narrator when the story would've been perfectly fine without it. He even got a special spot in the opening despite having no stake in the plot despite seeming to live in Wonderworld, who the hell is this guy? But then I thought "OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD". I thought it'd be some subversion of expectations, true form, "That Was His Mistake!" shit. Trust me, it made a lot more sense in my head. I'm very happy that they didn't do that, as I grew to love having male Yuuka Kazami as my narrator, and when he was shown to be actually important by being friends with Yuri my mind was blown. And doubly so when I realized just how deeply necessary to the plot he really is.

Rintaro/Blades is up there as one of my all time favorite secondary Riders, since his curiosity is always consistently funny and adorable, his forms are all gorgeous and impressively designed, his relationships with Mei and Touma are absolutely sweet and compelling to see unfold, and his arcs about becoming willing to call out those he views as family and coming to terms with his feelings of inadequacy and both moving past and using them to strengthen himself are always great lessons to pass on to kids. ...even if they took like 10 goddamn episodes to be conveyed in what could've been 5, but hey, Takaya Yamaguchi does a stand-up job all throughout. Rider veteran Eitoku's refined, almost logical movements with the Suiseiken Nagare absolutely beautiful to see in action, and his final form having the same white and blue color scheme as Zooous's base form is an amazing touch I don't see appreciated enough.

Mei Sudo's also absolutely wonderful, serving as the perfect emotional core of the story, responsible for most of the funniest lines, sweetest character moments, and some of the most deceptively compelling drama. Asuka Kawazu brings the perfect energy for such a dynamic and well rounded character, and absolutely nails her scenes of quiet turmoil. As much as I would've loved her to become a Rider, I don't think she really needed to. She's already done so much to help, and as cool as it would've been to see her pick up a sword and fight alongside them as Espada, Calibur, or Falchion she's already endeared herself to me as one of my favorite supporting characters in the whole franchise.

I can't get enough of my homeboy Kento Fukamiya/Espada. Like Rintaro and everyone else for that matter, he also suffers from Saber's pacing issues; and like his predecessor Valkyrie from Zero-One, he doesn't get a proper upgrade aside from his Wonder Combo, instead becoming an anti-villain using a completely different powerset and shifting the Raimeiken Ikazuchi out of focus for the Ankokuken Kurayami, and I feel there's a serious missed opportunity to see him use Jaaku Dragon with Alangina. However, Ryo Aoki's performance is probably among the most easily praiseworthy in the whole cast, managing to convey both Kento's kind and knightly stoicism as Espada and his emotionally unstable despair as Calibur perfectly, in conjunction with Yuji Nakata's experienced and expressive stuntwork.

Ren Akamichi/Kenzan's a dark horse favorite for sure. I remember back when Saber was first picking up, people hated this breezy mad lad for being such a simple character at first. Overly concerned with strength? Black and white world view? Annoyingly energetic? Agh, real-feeling character flaws, I hate them, get him away from me! But then y'all came crawling back. Eiji Togashi's apparently a bit of a rookie actor, and it really shows with some stilted delivery and the way he sometimes bobs his head when giving his lines, but man he improves dramatically as the series goes on. His inexperience ironically ends up really selling his character development, and his unexpectedly beautiful relationship with Desast is special evidence of that. The Fuusouken Hayate's three modes and Satoshi Fujita putting them to excellent use through his stellar acrobatic movements are also really cool.

Why did Luna have to be a child for so long? Does Wonderworld not age whoever inherits its power? Well since Luna randomly becomes an adult in Super Hero Senki and some of the final episodes, I guess so? Miku Okamoto does a fine job for a kid actor, but she's basically done all the heavy lifting for the whole series and doesn't give Mayuu Yokota enough time to get a feel for her character as an adult. How did she choose Touma to inherit the power anyway? Does she just subconsciously decide to trust him with it upon seeing how kind and passionate about storytelling he is? Well if that's the case, why didn't Kento get at least some of that power too? He's just as important to the merchan- I mean Luna-chan, isn't he? Why did Tassel pick her over someone who isn't a literal child who'd be understandably terrified about basically becoming an embodiment of storytelling?

Sophia also kinda suffers from the same problems. Rina Chinen's voice is very pleasant to listen to, but she doesn't really do much beyond serving as a source of exposition and support. I think her dynamic with Mei's adorable, and given her kindness I can certainly understand the respect Northern Base has for her, but she doesn't really contribute a whole lot. If she could use the Kurayami and become Calibur all this time, then why didn't she take it from Kento and Yuri and do so earlier when Kento decided to go back to being Espada? I know she's not much of a fighter and as the closet thing the Sword of Logos has to a leader after Isaac's death I'd understand not wanting to put her at risk, but considering Storious is destroying the world, and she's very evidently kicking a lot of ass in the first part of the final battle even in the basic Jaaku Dragon form, I think it would've helped a lot, just sayin'. Tassel at least has the excuse of being unable to interact with the real world, but Sophia obviously didn't just be put in charge of Northern Base just because she's a pawn in Isaac's plans right?

Ryou Ogami/Buster is also a victim of the disjointed character focus. I have no problem believing he's an excellent father and fighter thanks to Yuki Ikushima and Jiro Okamoto, respectively, but he feels a bit flat and simple in comparison. His rivalry with Desast is randomly dropped, his wife doesn't even show up until the final episodes, he's kinda sidelined in terms of action a whole lot. I imagine that must've sucked for the Rider Dads out there. He does get to star in his own manga, and that was pretty good, so I guess I can't be too mad.

Tetsuo Daishinji/Slash fares better though. Hiroaki Oka, being a Kamen Rider fanboy himself, manages to make him among the most relatable characters in the series. Not only are his hyperfixation on swordsmithing and anxiety played surprisingly believably, Hirotsugu Mori letting him cut loose is extremely cathartic and hilarious, and you really feel for him when the Onjuuken Suzune becomes the first victim of Calibur!Kento's sword sealing.

Yuri/Saikou's another dark horse favorite, for me at least. "Oh great, Avalon guy's got even more merchandise to sell, I wonder what his Sword of Light is- it's himself. Well... that's different." I admit, I didn't like him at first. He felt like he was there to fill out character dynamics in the absence of both Rintaro and Kento, I thought his gimmick was too silly even if his design and jingles were bangers, I didn't particularly care for his power set. But then XSwordman came around I totally got it. He's an endearing, hard-working man trying his best to catch up on all the cool shit he missed, unafraid of experimentation, ready to throw down at a moment's notice, serving as a wonderful bit of consistent support for our heroes, a truly knightly individual, an absolute Chad. and goddamn does he make me worry. Tomohiro Ichikawa, I salute you good sir.

Even if they fall short compared to the rest of the cast, the Shindai siblings are at least cool enough to not wanna write out entirely. They kinda devolve into comic relief after they become allies, something that villainous Riders from Chase onwards are very prone to doing, and it's especially awkward in their case because I think that they kinda get off scot-free for obeying the obviously sinister and crazy Isaac for so long, as well as driving a wedge between a lot of people and threatening children in Reika's case. I think their sibling dynamic is nice though, even if Fukuda recycled it from Makoto and Kanon and has some... questionable possessive undertones as a result. It's cool how they're basically foils to Touma and Rintaro though. The dispassionate and methodical Reika/Sabela is beautifully played by Angela Mei and her moments of emotional depth are fascinating to watch. Her Rider form is a thing of beauty, and its use of literal the Eneiken Noroshi's smokescreens and Yuki Miyazawa's precise and deadly stinging strikes are a joy to watch. And while Ken Shonozaki's not given the best direction as the undercooked plate of 7-Eleven fried fish that is Ryoga/Durendal, he manages to sell him as an experienced and hardened warrior with an awkward side that's especially evident in the Zenkaiger specials. His goddamn RWBY weapon that is the Jikokuken Kaiji is absolutely sick, I'm a sucker for transforming weapons and its combination of time and water powers is really cool, especially with Yasuhiko Amai's deliberate and forceful acting in the suit.

Daichi Kamijo/the Second Calibur, for as brief as his story was, was a pretty cool starter villain. Hiroyuki Hirayama brings this poor bastard to life in a genuinely touching way. I love how as Calibur he goes full force on his creative use of Wonder Ride Books for attacks, and his debut as Jaou Dragon got my blood pumping. His end is also deeply tragic, and I really felt for him when he realized just how badly he fucked up. Hayato Fukamiya also does wonders for the backstory, and while he also doesn't get much to work with, Mitsuru Karahashi makes his regrets and love for Kento feel genuine.

Legeiel and Zooous are both very intimidating and entertaining villains. On top of being just the right balance of goofy and threatening, Kairu Takano and Koji Saikawa's stage presences are both very strong, and their mixture of camaraderie and in-fighting is extremely believable. Zooous's rivalry with Rintaro feels incredible to see through to the end, and although Legeiel doesn't get quite the same treatment, Elemental Dragon had such a cool debut that it more than makes up for it. Their final fights are also absolute spectacles. I don't think their sympathetic angle works even close to as well as it does with MetsubouJinrai or even the Gamma, but I get it, power corrupts, and you probably feel a lot of sadness and regret for things you've done when you die unless you're a right bastard.

Isaac/Master Logos/Solomon is kinda generic. As wonderful as Keisuke Soma is, he doesn't get much dimension to work with. The result of that is while he nails being as smug and punchable as possible, he feels almost... comically generic. Genta Umemori from Shinkenger was full of personality! He was also basically some guy, but he was fun, he felt connected to the rest of the cast! Meanwhile the only real time we get to see Isaac's depth is when we see him crying over his failures. I almost appreciate him being unapologetically evil though, since I've seen way too many shows where redeemed villains get off scot free for way worse things, and some where they outright demand you to sympathize with them despite them doing nothing to warrant it.

Bahato/Falchion surprises me by not just being a movie villain whose actions affect the main plot, but also being a movie villain who actually gets to appear in series as a recurring threat! ...and it's not a particularly great showing on his part, sadly. Masashi Taniguchi does a wonderful job with what he's given, but his character feels like a retread of Eternal without any of what made Katsumi Daido a compelling and frightening villain. I'd like to believe Yuri when he says that he used to be a good person and a hero to the people, but I can only hear so many anime villain monologues about the pointlessness of life and the beauty of destruction before I can never take them seriously again. ...I think that's his biggest problem, actually. I thought he was an overall uninteresting and generic villain in the movie, and the cartoon nihilist he's shown to be in series is only a small step up. He still feels like filler. If only there were a far better written and much cooler villain who takes on the Mumeiken Kyomu after his de--

Desast is probably one of the finest anti-villains I've ever seen in recent years. On top of an absolutely badass character design and the excellent combination of Kazuya Okada/Danki Sakae's suit work and Koki Uchiyama's stellar voice acting, his story being so thoroughly intertwined with Ren's makes their shared journey and bromance a borderline Shakespearean tragedy. His struggle for identity despite Storious treating him as nothing more than a failed experiment and the Sword of Logos treating him as a mere monster really gripped me, and the way he uses what little time he has left to encourage Ren into blossoming on his own is absolutely beautiful. I think his enmity with Ogami is criminally underexplored in series, considering he killed several of the previous Riders and how Ogami's in desperate need of screentime.

Then there's our main villain, Kamen Rider Storious. Robin Furuya brings an incredible amount of charisma to this character, expertly portrayed as both a sinister, manipulative bastard , and as a lonely, tragic figure that arguably makes him feel even more villainous. Speaking as a struggling writer myself, it's easy to feel stuck in the idea of "fuck it, who cares, maybe everything is predestined", but I can't imagine what it's like to know that as the truth and carry it with you for all that time. All of your grand ideas have roots from your experiences, and you're not the only one who even could have those experiences. It's easy to just fall into despair and give up trying, but would that make you happy? Sure, Storious is sadistic, he may be fulfilling his goals, he may be ungodly powerful... but it's not enough for him, is it? All of his friends are gone, one of them even at his own hand, he probably doesn't have any idea what to do after he destroys all the world's stories, Touma even reached his full power before he did, and his downfall is so predictable that even a blind person could see it. He even seems to welcome it, what's up with that? But then I realized... OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD. He's so far gone, he's so desperate to stick it to the Almighty Book, he's willing to twist the archetype of the Hero's Journey so hard, it snaps in two. What I think is interesting is that he's ironically trying to chase the trend of "edgy superhero story" that became super popular in the 21st century. The Boys, Brightburn, Kamen Rider Amazons, The Sentry, No More Heroes, Magical Girl Site, even mainstream comics from DC and Marvel... Surely Storious must've seen the cruelty and tragedy these stories are filled with, but he chooses to go through with trying to force the world into this direction anyway. Did they, along with seeing the ever-popular tragedies of legendary playwrights and bleak satire of the twentieth century fuel his despair?

And yet... there's one who stands in determination against his ideals.

Our hero, Touma Kamiyama, the titular Kamen Rider portrayed by Syuichiro Naito and Kousuke Asai, he speaks to me on a personal level. There're plenty of jokes to be made about his procrastination in early chapters, his godless fashion sense, and him doing the funny run up the slope, that's all fine and dandy, but I rarely feel so connected to a character the way I did Touma. The struggle to create, find companionship, live your life, reach out to others... these're things a lot of people struggle with, and of course you see them depicted a lot in media about creators, but Saber gets to the root of what the greatest thing about storytelling really is. Giving people hope, while using the pain of the past as fuel for the future. Sure, Storious may be right about how every story has been done as far back as human civilization gets, he may even be right about how any spin or creativity humanity has is outright predestined. It should be pointless to even try, right? That's where Touma Kamiyama disagrees. He didn't spend all that time fighting and creating just to give up at the idea of predestination. His novel writing-fueled creativity in his early training, his devotion to his friends that let him surpass Kamijo as Dragonic Knight, his compassion for the Primitive Dragon that let him combine their powers to destroy Legeiel as Elemental Dragon, his resolve that let Xross Saber dethrone Solomon, and his passion for the craft of storytelling that let our heroes channel their wishes into Wonder Almighty... all stemming from the belief imparted onto him by his predecessor that "Hope lies beyond your resolution." And that you decide how your story ends. He may not be the greatest Rider to some, he may be as lame as others think he is, he may not even be my favorite, but I have no issue calling Touma Kamiyama... Kamen Rider Saber, one of the all time greatest carriers of the Kamen Rider name.

The final chapter's definitely not as great as some other Rider finales, but goddamn. Primitive Dragon consciously choosing to save Touma is so sweet and such a great emotional payoff, I loved jamming out to the opening theme while our boys lay the smackdown on Storious. Wonder Almighty's a fitting final bit to close the main series out with, if not exactly a great one. I think the cover is great, and the book's body is a lovely shade of candy apple red, but I really don't like how its pages are just the covers of the other books copy-pasted onto onto the pages, that feels lazy. Maybe if it were a panorama of all the books' characters, I'd like it a lot more as a symbol of how unified the Swordsmen are, but eh, what can you do? On a related note, does this mean all the "last episode extra final forms" of the Reiwa Era are gonna be named after their series's opening? That's a neat idea.

I felt a lot of feelings seeing all those video messages of Rider fans all across Japan talking about their favorite stories, and how their passion and fond memories help reshape the world. Mei's monologue at the ceremony about is also really touching and- IS THAT A HUMAGEAR!? :O

Y-yeah dude, it is! Wow, where have you guys been for the past 48 episodes?! Are you guys doing okay? How come you're like... the only one here? Is the technology of Hiden Intelligence only really that prevalent in that very specific metropolitan part of Japan and they're just not coming around much over here? Is it like Dragon Ball where anthropomorphic animals are just vibin' with humans while the heroes are off kicking ass? Apparently he's played by Hasegawa Keiichi, who wrote this episode and had the award ceremony named after him. ...is Hasegawa Keiichi a HumaGear in this universe then? Did he set up this award ceremony in Touma's honor? If so, why is it named after him? Did reading one of Touma's books lead to his Singularity? I know this is just a cameo, but... god, I have so many questions that probably will never be satisfactorily answered.

Overall, if I had to compare Saber to anything, it'd probably be Sam Reimi's Spider-Man trilogy. It's awkward, stupid, overwrought, undercooked, illogically written, scattershot, cheesy as fuck, and has a tendency to squander its otherwise fine execution; but the sheer passion for storytelling, sense of spectacle, deeply fascinating characters, and belief in the ideals set forth by the cast, crew, and fans are absolutely admirable. Improvements would certainly make it an overall better experience, to be sure, but there's something deeply captivating about how wonky this series is. Seeing everybody get their happy ending after all they've been through felt extremely gratifying though, and I may have to wait another for the epilogue to and then wait for Revice, but... man. I'm hella proud of our awkwardly-emoting, fashion disaster novelist and all of his heavily flawed friends for carrying the Kamen Rider name on to the future. Here's hoping Revice will keep it going.

Alright, that's everything I wanted to talk about. Sorry this was so long and ramble-y, I had a lot to say. I'll probably be liveblogging Revice as episodes of that come out, so... look forward to that, I guess. See ya.

#kamen rider saber #long post #tsuki talks #personal #kamen rider #whew #ok bye have a nice day

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withered-rose-unbreakable-lotus · 5 years ago

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Oh and one more thing I wanted to say especially to visual kei fans who have hard time going after a dream and do feel a bit inspired by them:

Ruki: was thrown out of his house and disowned for smoking, pulled by the hair when he dyed his hair and generally received no support by his parents whatsover when he started pursuing his career. It was later that his parents attended one show and made up with him again. So this showed me that sometimes you have to go against even people you love for your dreams and maybe later, when they see you do that thing they thought was wrong for you ,but see you shine while doing it, maybe then they will understand. Also Ruki is one of the artists who is constantly after learning more and more even away from his position in the band. He started as a drummer, turned to vocalist, learned how to play the piano and guitar, he learnt how to design, edit photos and videos so that he could be more involved with turning his vision into reality.

Gackt: Sometimes the above example doesn’t go that way. Some parents never seem to understand. Gackt is an example of that. I won’t go into specifics because I think there was more than the path Gackt wanted to follow that had him fighting with his father and I don’t know if they ever made up after the interview I read that in, but back then in mid 00s I think, he had stated they hadn’t made up. So whether this changed or not I don’t know, but there is high chance you will lose some people you love in order to follow the path that feels right for you. I am not saying never listen to your parents, it’s just that some parents are either too narrow-minded to spend sometime researching things past what they already know from experience, or just happen to be too overprotective (or plain arseholes cause there are toxic families out there). Also Gackt has a weak immune system, I think, and has mentioned body pain a lot and it is partly why he started the whole working out thing the last I don’t know how many years, but I have never seen a name given to his condition. That never stopped him either. Maybe just lately, that he had stopped performing completely until this year, in which case he mentioned he was in pain but wanted to do it anyway. (that’s for those who nag he makes no music anymore but silly commercials and poker shows)

Byo: Byo always had people tell him he wasn’t a good singer. Not only before he started his career, but also during it. His voice sounded a bit compressed when he was younger, too, if you find Joker comments on youtube you will see what I mean, but still he had tried doing music before joining bands and his then teacher had told him he will never be able to be a singer with that voice. Did that ever stop him from persisting? Did that stop thousands of people from loving his songs? I don’t think so. He cannot hit high notes, but that’s not all a good singer is about.

Ryutaro Arimura: Speaking of people who can’t hit high notes, Ryutaro is also an artist I hear lots of shit about his voice. His songs happen to sound very similar too. Especially if you listen to his latest solo works. Many people love it though. Ryutaro’s songs give you an impression you are floating, sometimes, that you are in an ethereal state. That’s his signature. And many people loved it. I don’t know about his past but I know he was dealing with an autoimmune illness (from which you can recover but I don’t know if it’s completely) that affects his entire body and weakens his muscles. I am sure other fans can tell you more on this, I had only read one article on this and I don’t remember details but yeah. That didn’t stop him either. He started his treatment and kept going.

Ikuma: I sincerely never understood why people didn’t think he had a good voice back when he was in AND, the only problem I ever noticed with his voice was that his breathing wasn’t right. And that’s how he ended up making mistakes but check him out now. No matter what people said, Ikuma persisted and also sat down to learn. Arts, like technology, are fields that you can always get better at, learn sth new and keep going. He started trying to learn how to mix songs too lately, to become more involved with his music. So even when you get at some point of fame or good status you can always learn more. Like Ruki, Ikuma wants to learn and become better and more skillful at handling not only his art but also his business.

Kamijo: Ok that was a bit of a spoiled brat but he too went ahead and tried lots of things to have his vision turned into reality. xD This example may be hard to follow in places outside Japan because, contratry to what my Japanese teacher recently told me ^^’, that it’s really easy to start a company in Japan, a few countries I know about, but mostly mine, are really not that open with allowing just anyone start their own company. ^^’ BUT if you can do it, especially if you are a musician or graphic designer, do try to make your own little company. Why? Well in order to be your own boss. By making his own company, Kamijo not only got to be his own boss, but also protect his projects from record labels. Most record labels, especially in Japan, (if you are fans of old school bands or early 00s, you must sure remember that) were treating artists as objects and some barely had a say to their works and rights until they went major (luckily the whole major thing has dropped, nobody cares anymore, but back then it was every band’s dream, after performing in front of a big audience for the first time). So by having his own company Kamijo protected his work and had everything done the way he wanted. While this does give you lots of freedom, though, it also gives you lots of responsibility so, you either start learning or you employ people you are 100% sure you can trust. Kamijo seems to have started by learning, as he loves business and sees it like a game (music too, i will never understand this man but if he has fun with it *shrugs) xD. He has read books about management and business, he is always after learning more and more and I also really like that he encourages others do it too. When Kaya and Sui left from his company, he suggested they both started their own company and they did.

And I could go on and on, but what I am trying to say is that if those people you guys look up to now could do it, so can you. Never stop dreaming, never stop trying. ^^

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wheremytwinwatches · 5 years ago

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[Where My Twin Watches]: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Episode 1, Part 3

Madoka is escorting Homura to the Nurse’s Office as pretty much every student ignores their lessons and watches them through the glass walls. I would say taking her there, but all Madoka’s doing is walking behind and nervously asking how the Mysterious Student knew she was the Nurse’s Aide. Homura just says the teacher told her and continues to lead the way. Clearly she doesn’t need Madoka to guide her, so what’s the deal?

And would you stop with the creepy chime music?! Seriously, if I saw this happening in a movie and they were two guys I’d be screaming at the follower to run away from the obvious serial killer. I mean it, the two keep passing fewer and fewer students, and now I’m looking at Homura in shadow with some sort of scowl on her face. But then she tells Madoka to call her Homura instead of ‘Miss Akemi’? Madoka tries to make conversation about how ‘unique’ Homura’s name is (as I don’t know Japanese I can’t comment one way or the other). And yep that’s a scowl, Mysterious Student is pissed. Yeah, super pissed as Madoka stammers on. And now she’s spun around in an (empty) corridor to face Madoka. Sudden dramatic zoom-pan as Homura asks Madoka if she considers her family and friends to be precious. (That's not ominous at all!) Madoka of course says yes. Shadowy Homura accepts this, and says if that is really the case then she wouldn’t try to change the person she currently is. Because if she does, she will end up losing all of those things.

Ok, am I reading this right? Did the Mysterious Transfer Student just threaten Madoka’s friends and family if she takes up the Protagonist Mantle? Because that’s what I’m getting. Madoka is very confused as Homura says she should stay the same, leaves her in a surprisingly dark hallway, given all of the glass what is with this building? Sorry, just a little unnerved by the creepiness of the last scene. What the hell is going on here? Sudden flute music as we get a montage of Homura dominating math and athletics, filling a board with dense equations and arcing over a high jump still with a completely neutral face, to the shock and awe of everyone around her. And still the most emotion she shows is the occasional glance at Madoka, now that there are witnesses. Whoa what. Sudden Rabbit-Thing in a tree watching. After school in a massive, fancy mall (what city is this set in? A real one, or standard Anime City?) Madoka apparently told Hitomi and Blue Hair about the hallway confrontation, Blue Hair bemoans that the smart and pretty looking student is some sort of weirdo. Hitomi asks if Madoka has ever met the Mysterious Stranger before, she… huh, you’re telling them about your dream/vision/thing from last night? Title drop! And Blue Hair laughs about how Madoka is acting like an anime character, teases that it must be from a previous life or something. Hitomi asks some more questions, and makes a rather sensible suggestion that they actually did meet before, this is her subconscious bringing out a minor memory in the form of a weird dream. Huh. But given Homura’s rather extreme and specific reactions to Madoka, you’d think that she’d recognize her better. So what’s the deal? Hitomi has to run to one of her many lessons, Blue Hair asks if she and Madoka can visit a music store on the way home. A CD for Kamijo? Have we met them yet?

Hey, it’s Rabbit-Thing! Running through a dark alley while barely dodging busts of light. Oof, got hit there, but it’s back up and running. What’s attacking it? Oh, there’s Homura! Or at least I think that’s her, given the shadows. Are you chasing whatever’s chasing the familiar? Cut to ok time out. When is this show set, in a post-scarcity world or something? Because I have seen music stores here in America, and they are not that fancy and open. And if I know anything about Japan is that space is at a premium there, a music store this large in America would be pushing it, let alone this presumably-Japanese Mitikihara. And from the looks of it it doesn't even have CD's on display, just kiosks to browse the selection and headphones to listen. A cool design, and one that would need maybe half the space I can see. Why is it so large?! Sorry, the show just irked my business-management side there. Back to the show. Blue Hair (Sayaka) and Madoka are listening to headphones (hey, isn't that the opening theme I hear? Nice touch!) when the lyrics take a dark turn. Or rather, Rabbit-Thing telepaths for help and Madoka's Protagonist Senses pick it up. Madoka wanders off into an area that frankly looks more like a mansion than a mall, with old-style lamps and a white-and-black checkered floor- Huh. White and black checkered. Like the dream-thing earlier. Coincidence? Madoka follows the Call To Adventure^TM to this floor (apparently closed for remodeling because it wasn't fancy enough yet), creeps into a dark construction area and proves she has never seen a horror movie by calling out "Where are you?". This is just asking for Hockey-Mask McMurder to come jumping out. Guh, the ceiling's shaking! And wow an extremely beat up Rabbit-Thing just fell down. Madoka swoops in and grabs it. But if something's been chasing it, maybe you should leave Madoka (and I) are startled by a chain falling and hey Homura's here! She's been creepy about Madoka before, but maybe she can get over that and help against whatever "Get away from that thing." Um. What. Wait. Homura was the one attacking Rabbit-Thing? Homura. Homura what are you doing. Why were you attacking the show's familiar and why are you now staring down after Madoka said she could hear it? PFFFAHAHAHAHA! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I'm sitting here getting all invested in this tense standoff and wondering just what the heck Homura is up to, when Suddenly Fire-Extinguisher. Sayaka apparently followed and provided a distraction, outright chucking the emptied extinguisher at the Mysterious Student. Now the two are running away as Homura dissipates the could with a hand-wave and what. What is going on? 2D butterflies and sudden trippy music and what is happening? Have you seen this before, Homura? Madoka and Sayaka are running, the latter wondering about Homura's outfit (huh, it is different, similar enough to the school uniform I didn't notice at first), Madoka's focusing on getting Rabbit-Thing some help. Uh, but it looks like the trippy environment is catching up to them, now they're stuck without an exit. "There's something wrong with this place." Yeah, no Kidding Madoka, the animation is all screwy! The girls are rightly freaking out as twitchy puffballs... with mustaches... look, I'm trying my best to describe what I'm seeing but there's so much going on, this is insane. So creepy Monarchs and Puffballs are dancing around the girls with creepy child chanting, strange symbols are flashing over everything, now there are scissors and thorns and JEBUS the Puffballs have blank eyeholes and twitchy mouths Finally! Some chains broke and landed around them in a circle as the creeps get blasted away. Took you long enough Homura, now stop being spooky for five minutes and help out the mundanes. Wait, that's not Homura. It's Blondie from the poster! Apparently she knows Rabbit-Thing (Kyubey) and thanks them for rescuing it (him, actually). Madoka says she heard a voice in her head, and Blondie says "I see". Like Homura did? Blondie's confirmed to be a Mitakihara Middle School student too, and is about to introduce herself when the creeps come back. Transformation time! Blondie tosses her gold egg-thing into the air and does a little jig (with some rather graceful yet driving music) as she gains a rather European outfit, complete with beret. The Puffballs scatter as she WHOA WHAT Ok, Blondie just summoned what looks to be a platoon's worth of rifles. Um. Listen, I started this with only the most basic of 'magical girl' knowledge. One thing I accepted as a given was that MGs used things like wands or tiaras to fight with, I definitely never heard of Sailor Moon pulling a gun on the Week's Monster! If MGs can actually use weapons in this show, then things just got very interesting. Seen here as Blondie unleashes an absolute storm of exploding bullets on the Puffballs. Somewhere out there an Ork feels like he's missing something wonderful. Literally seconds later, Blondie lands among the flaming wreckage, and the trippy background skedaddles. Homura finally shows up to look down at the other three (I'm sensing a pattern here), Blondie informs her that the 'witch' escaped and says she should hurry along to finish it off, she'll 'let' her take it this time. So they know each other? Partners? Um, no. Not partners, as Blondie says she'll "overlook what you did this time." I'm guessing she means attacking Kyubey (for some reason)? So if Homura was attacking Kyubey and Blondie considers him a friend... Am I looking at two factions here? What's with the disagreement over the familiar? Homura's not happy about Blondie standing against her (want to note that Blondie has kept this peaceful half-smile up this entire time), ultimately turns around and leaves to Madoka and Sayaka's relief. Blondie's doing some magic girl mojo on Kybey to heal him, we get a name of Mami as he wakes up. He thanks her for the healing and the other girls for rescuing him, and confirms it was his voice that Madoka heard. And he knows their full names. Which he knows because he has a request for the two: make a contract with him and become magical girls! Aaand credits! We've got a drawing of Hitomi, Madoka and Sayaka with some light guitar as a singer does Generic Anime Credits Song #527, not much to add here. After-credits picture of all four poster girls (Homura and Mami in magical girl outfits, Sayaka and Madoka in school uniforms) with Kyubey in the center, and the familiar saying "I will grant you one wish - any wish you desire!" And in response to the girls questioning, "Anything you want. I can grant you even the most impossible of miracles!" Wow. That was a very, very impressive first episode. Will put up my general thoughts after I've had some time to process this last part, I'm looking forward to the next one!

#wmtw #where my twin watches #ranubis #pmmm #puella magi madoka magica #pmmm 1.3

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