durendal

Actually, they tried that. The cards can't be unsealed once only one undead remained. They should have thought of that before they sealed all the undead. I guess the information came to them a little too late.

So, when was the last time we've seen a rider cleverly defeat the enemy?

Wait, before this goes any further, I would like to clear out something. It seems that we are arguing over something that we all agree in. Everyone agrees that there is nothing wrong with the portrayal of Wataru, and what everyone is complaining about is how the show depicted the development of Wataru's personality. Being a timid wiener is fine, but it gets tiring to watch a timid wiener go back and forth. Am I correct in this?

Sorry to dig this up again, but I just want to share my excitement over my current phone. Yup, it's still the same Nokia E66, and by gosh, this is one sturdy phone. Anyway, like I mentioned previously, I've gotten past the predicament of installing chinese language. And it was only recently that I learn the dictionary comes with text to speech, in chinese. But the problem is I can't seem to read the Japanese text. Now, problem solved. I can write in Japanese using my phone. Whoopee! Not to mention the Japanese text to speech works as well. Whoopee!! Got a nice cute girl voice too. Hehehehe. Me Happy!

I'm glad that you approve of the link. I'm done with the character bio's. I guess I really need to split it up, but I'll do that after I find some nice images for the characters. The individual rider profile seems to be a little bit intimidating.

Do note, that Otaku IS a derogatory term. If they call you Otaku, they are insulting you. I find it funny how many western fans would want to call themselves "Otaku". On the note of riders being "role model", I don't think this would be appropriate. In today's generation, I don't think shows will depict the main hero as a role model. If you didn't notice, today's show mostly consists of "Reality" shows, thus the producers would want something that is more close to reality. But they could have done it better. And that's the main problem. There is nothing wrong in depicting Wataru the way he is. It is the development of his character that was lacking. A good example of character development is Jirou. In 1986, he is the brash, violent and quick tempered Wolfen. But in 2008, he is the level headed ally. The show succeeded in showing how Jirou turned from a berserker to a composed gentleman. Kiva may have failed in some points, but there are still some points that are well made.

I have no beef with the other heisei riders as I have only seen a selected few. My beef with Kiva is the under development of their characters and how elastic their personality can become when subject to extreme emotional difficulty. I would understand it when they snap, but the way they presented it is somewhat distorted. An example is Kengo, on minute he's a happy go lucky guy and the next he's a stiff jerkass of a friend. Wataru's personality in the first episode was already exaggerated to begin with. And the only word that I can describe him is Timid, all throughout the series. Starting off from Super timid, to semi-timid at the end of the series. Now Jirou, he's one of the characters I like. I could say that he is probably one of the most stable characters in the show along with the other arms monster. Otoya too. I find it hard to believe that Wataru is related to Otoya. If I were Otoya, I would disown Wataru. (but then again, Otoya wasn't exactly there to see Wataru grow up, so I guess that's excusable) Opinions stated above are purely my own and is no way connected to any staff or members of Japan Legend.

But remember, Lycanthrope also mentioned that such debates are also present. So asking for their opinion might just add more fuel to fire the discussion. They too have 2 sides of it. The fact that riders are changing means it is growing. Also, I don't see the point on condemming the producers of what is happening to the franchise. For one thing, we watch them for enjoyment, not to start arguments. If I don't like the show, then I will just choose not to watch. There's really nothing I can do about it. I'm really sorry, but I'm slowly getting tired of this showa-Heisei debate. It is unfair to compare Heisei and Showa riders as they are not made for the same generation.

Sorry, correction, I get my images from Toei Hero Net. see here: http://www.toeihero.net/archive/index.shtml The reason why I get pictures from that site is because the images are unique, and they do special poses with clean images. Most of the images in Blade were taken from that site. So I don't think screenshots would be sufficient as it would be difficult to find a clear whole image of the riders. Not to mention a lot of wasted space. Don't worry, I'll manage.

I think I understand what Lycanthrope was trying to convey. The Showa Riders seem to have this "loner" aura in them when they battle the villains. Such "loner" characteristics makes the character look strong and confident, thus the "Manly Man" term being coined up. On the other hand, the Heisei Riders doesn't seem to be the "loner" type, being supported by comrades. Of course in the Showa Riders, there are still the support group, but that's all they are, support. Even the V3-Riderman relationship, even though Riderman was the sub-rider, he never got the chance to finish off a monster, and it was all V3 who did the dirty work. Considering that they gave Riderman the honorary title of the 4th Masked Rider. Comparing this to the Heisei Riders, the main rider no longer does all the dirty work. There are sometimes more than 1 rider, thus it would be much more difficult on the point of the scriptwriters to give development to all the riders. So instead of rooting for one single rider, fans are torn to choose among the several riders, thus creating a rift in the unity among fans.

It's currently in our Masked Rider Ryuki wiki, which was derived from the Japanese wiki (Part of my PTW or Project Toku Wiki). In the Japanese wiki, the source of this information came from the October 17, 2002 edition of the Japan Economics Newspaper and the December 4, 2003 edition of Yomiuri Newspaper

Wow, even after watching the series, there's a lot of things that I didn't know. There seems to be a TV special that has an entirely different settings for the characters, like Ren being a close friend of Tezuka. Might take me a while to finish this. The character bio's are sorta long, and spoiler-full. Will have to consider splitting this into a separate page once I'm done. Also, I seem to be having difficulty searching for pictures. The usual site I take my pictures from (Hero Time, it's an official japanese site with information regarding Heisei Riders and Sentai) doesn't seem to have suitable sized pictures.

How sad that Fujioka Hiroshi who played Kamen Rider Ichigo/Hongo Takeshi disapproves of Masked Rider Ryuki. But what's funny is that Ryuki was popular among Women, and most especially to single women who have never seen kamen Rider.

Not really sure if these questions are appropriate, but oh well.... 失礼な事をしますけど、 日本社会は仮面ライダーはどう思う? 歳上ファンがあるんですか? 仮面ライダーの減少質は海外のファンが大きな引数が知りますか? 海外歳上ファンの意見は、電王の前の仮面ライダーは電王の後のライダーと比べがもっと勝れていた。彼らは、電王の登場は仮面ライダーが完璧に変えたと思う、多くのファンが仮面ライダーを諦めるのは電王の所為です。 この事どう思う? 上記の質問の関係ですが、日本のファンはその事もあるんですか? もし東映は仮面ライダー1呉が仮面ライダーのアイコンとしてモモタロスを変えて、ファンの反応はどうなる? 日本人のお友達は仮面ライダーも好きがあれば、この質問を彼らを聞きください。

Done with V3 (with the exception of the mp3 links). Moving on to Masked Rider Ryuki.

Looking at that long post with pictures, I want to see the movie more and more. Also, is Kuuga's Rising Ultimate a movie exclusive? Never seen Kuuga before, and the design looks somewhat different from his other usual forms.

Doesn't seem to say. But they're saying that Natsumi might become an enemy of Decade. And that female rider seems to be Masked Rider Kivara.

Down to 2 more episodes, and Tsukasa still doesn't seem to have his memories regained. I'm still confused. Will anyone care to explain to me what the point of Decade's plot?

Alright, I've finished watching all 50 episodes of Ryuki. So in the end, all those deaths meant nothing, since everything was reset back to zero.

I knew it. The moment someone mentions Japanese speakers my name gets thrown in. Well, I don't mind. As if its something new. But I have to add to the comments regarding the riders. For one thing, Shoutaro Ishinomori is no longer around. I guess we can compare this to the star trek franchise. Imagine a star trek series not produced by Rodenbery. We had Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. Out of the three, Voyager was the most successful (correct me if I'm wrong, but I only enjoyed voyager, and I haven't seen enterprise, but I've read about some controversy regarding its final episode). This would be the same for the Masked Riders. Ishinomori is no longer around to supervise his branchild, of course there would be certain elements that his successors would not be able to recreate. Times change, and if you refuse to change with the times, then you will corrode when the times start to affect you. Change is a constant and is something that everyone must learn to accept. I say nay to old gen fans bashing the new gen fans, as this will bring disgrace to the honor that gives the old gen riders their strenght. And I say nay to new gen fans that bash the old gen fans, as where would the new gen fans be if not for the old gen fans. As Jack Nicholson would say: "Can't we all just... get along?"

Tales, I'm surprised that even though you are a Chinese Singaporean, you speak english very well. Most of the Singaporean I've spoken to either speak straight chinese, or speak english and always end their sentences with a "la". No more la. (to be honest, I'd understand them more if they speak chinese. I can't understand their english very well due to the accent.) Anyway, without getting strayed from the topic. I think that most old gen fans in Japan have already outgrown the toku (there are probably a few who stayed loyal). Most of those who watched them in Japan on TV are probably in their late 30's or 40's now. And those who currently watch the current riders are new generation of fans. Why else would they market those toys to children? Any adult who purchased henshin belts would know that the belt doesn't fit them, and had to make some adjustments so they could wear the belt. Remember that there was a long break in between series from Showa to Heisei. So there might be fans who lose track of the franchise. And yes, I agree that most of the current riders look like girly men. But hey, girly men are popular with girls in Japan. Most of the current riders come from other J-drama. So I guess you could say the producers are also drawing female audiences using bishi actors. When I'm watching any heisei rider series, most females who are passing by behind me would say, "Hey, that's _____, he's the guy from [J-drama]. Isn't he cute?"

By the way Ryuki, how's your bandwidth nowadays? Just asking because I sent a link to the zip files of songs for V3 to Deka. He wasn't able to upload it yet due to bandwidth restrictions. Unless you have a suggestion as to how I can upload these songs myself, if Deka would allow it that is. If not, I'll just find another way to have it stored somewhere that it won't get erased automatically due to inactivity.

Finished battle members and the cast. I did not skip over the yoroi group. I had it at home and hasn't had time to copy paste it in the wiki. And since I'm currently in the office, obviously I'll be able to update that once I get home.

To be completely honest, I find the debate regarding Kamen Rider and Masked Rider somewhat shallow. It's not really the fault of the name. Okay, we all have to thank Saban for marring the name "Masked Rider", which is why most old school fans hate the term "Masked Rider". But it's technically the same name. What we really have to question is not how the producers want the show to become, but more on what's making money, which is what's driving the producers in the direction the riders are going now. In the past few series, we've seen a lot, and I mean a lot of merchandise that keeps coming out that is related to the show. More variety means more toys to sell, even if the story isn't really that great, as long as they have something they can sell, and audiences that is willing to buy them, the trend will continue. Ratings may go down, but toy sales are going up. So which data are they going to heed? Toy sales of course. Look at how many SIC figures they managed to churn out on Den-O? Unlike the showa riders, once ratings go down, the producers would do something to change the direction of the show, just so that the ratings would go up. Even now, Decade is still airing and W is yet to be aired, and yet, toys are already up for sale like the "Metal Shaft", "Trigger Magnum", and that bigass contraption of a truck that holds the riders arsenal. Heck, even the "Double Driver" is on sale. I haven't seen the show, but I already know what the henshin belt looks like. Remember, in Japan, it's the toy company that makes the show. And as long as the toy company makes money out of the toys, they will continue to do the show irregardless of how good or how bad the show is. We always hear this: "Kono ban gumi wa guran sponsor no tekyo de okurishimasu" (this show is brought to you by the following sponsors) My point, it's the money that's driving the direction of the riders. In the words of Jerry Mcguire, "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!"

Gone are the sweat pants clad riders with their nylon scarf. Enter the leather clad riders with their fancy gimmicks. I'll say that one thing that improved greatly is the way they make the costumes. But then again, complete decade is ugly for me. I'm still trying to get the hang of W's costume. Somehow, my first impression on it is kinda bland.