I've finished watching Fourze's season and this is my review of Kamen rider Fourze, will contain spoilers, you've been warned.
continue reading if you're interested.
Let's start from the beginning, when we first saw Fourze's design. everybody thought he looked ridiculous. So did I, That large, rocket-like head was putting me off and I wasn't expecting much from the show. Some people called Fourze "Kamen rider playstation" because of the square, circle, x and triangle shapes on his arms and legs. Here's Fourze for the people that aren't familiar with kamen riders.
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| Over time, his costume grew on me. |
The season follow the good old two episode format. I think I would prefer a continuous story line where Fourze might defeat the enemy the first time, second or even third over the two episode format where I already know the enemy won't go down the first week and that he will be defeated the next week. Sure, new stuff can happen, Like Fourze getting a new form or a new power but still, too predictable.
Before Fourze there was OOO and before OOO there was W (double). W was about gaia memories, it took two of them to transform and they could be used in combinations. OOO was about medals it took three of them to transform and they could be used in combinations. Fourze was about switches, it took four to transform and could be used in combinations but contrarily to OOO and W, Fourze had switches that were pretty useless or used in a single episode. Oh I know, Kamen riders are all about selling toys and it works, but in 40 switches (well, 40 and a few more if you count movies) I'd say less then the half is actually used more than once. Kind of half-assed don't you think?.
Another thing I didn't like so much. I know it's a kids show but since Decade ended, Kamen rider looks too much like super sentai, let me explain. Everything is colorful, characters and the world itself is much less serious. It has its serious moments but sometimes I feel like I'm watching the go-onger all over again but as an high school drama setting.... and let me tell you... it's not really a good thing. I wish we got back to the older kind of stories like the one in Blade, Faiz, Ryuki, Kabuto, Kiva.... actually, pretty much all the heisei riders before Decade.
Well, to be fair, Wizard does look promising so there's that!
Now that I'm done whining let's see what was great in Fourze.
Characters. After watching all the episodes I really wish I could be bud with Kisaragi Gentarou. He is a real hero truly deserving the title of kamen rider. Heck, he even befriended the leader of the horoscopes. Gentarou himself didn,t have much character development though. I mean, He's pretty much determined to be friend with everyone from beginning to finish. He does mature a bit and it's good to see but the one who got more character development stays..
Utahoshi Kengo. What a twist it was, right? At first he's cold and distant but then he slowly (really slowly) learn what friendship is, and it's value. he basically become more human as time goes on... only to learn he's not.. oh well.
I'm not gonna do all the characters because these two are actually the most important characters in the series. But everyone had a distinct personality, sometimes a bit too distinct (I'm looking at you, Yuuki and Oosugi) but the characters were interesting to follow.
The story. at first it was really lighthearted. monster appeared each week, Fourze defeated them and it was just that. When Horoscopes started to appear it got a bit more serious but not even close to how serious it got at the end. THAT is what I like to see. A kids show where some people die, some questiont heir lfie choice, the hero gets defeated. Things like that make for a really great story and boy did we get served when Gentarou died! But then... he got brought back to life in the next few episodes which kind of looks like a lame cop-out from the writers in my opinion. Still, then the 2 last episodes stays the most emotionally charged moments in Fourze's history. I almost cried when Kengo had to part ways witht he rider club!
When a kid's show gets to you like that,you know it's done well.
You also know it's done well when at the end you don't even hate the leader of the evil organisation and you actually understand what he was trying to do and feel a little pity when he dies.
I just think it didn't got serious quick enough. I almost gave up on Fourze because it started to make me think about Den-O at some point. stupid joke, after stupid joke (like walking on a peel of banana and stuff like that).
For the ones that haven't seen it, do it. Yeah, it feels long at some points and sometimes you will actually feel like watching a kid's show (Like when we see Yuuki's parents.... *shivers*) but the end totally makes up for it. The action scenes are great and the characters likable.
tl;dr
good, you should watch.
If you're interested, head to TV-nihon (opens in another window). It's a fansub group and they've done the whoooole season! Enjoy.
Kamen rider Wizard starts september 02. I'll try to review the first episode if I have time.
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