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Thoughts on Tsukasa after Decade finale (2 years old)

I was going through Google Docs and I found something I meant to post long ago but somehow never got around to. It was a little over two years, about a week after the final episode of Kamen Rider Decade. The caveat is this was before the 2010 movie, when those few seconds of teaser footage that were never actually used in the movie created a lot of false expectations about what the movie would be like. Basically what that timeframe means is that some of my opinions were rendered moot points once the real movie came out, and the movie did force me to change some of my perceptions (reluctantly, I might add). But I don’t know, it’s interesting to read this and put myself in that mindframe again.

Kamen Rider Decade had a lot of faults, but I did love it. I have to love any show that makes me overthink it as much as this one did.

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Kalinda, Joan and Abed
Tokusatsu | TV

Over 3 months of stuff?

Work happened. Then vacation happened, and I just got back to my regular routine a week ago. In any case, quick rundown of what I’ve been watching:

The stuff I’ve gotten into in the past 3 months, and that I’ve been playing catch up with…

Community – I’d watched Advanced Dungeons and Dragons last year and always meant to watch more. Took advantage of long plane flights to watch the first season and wow, how have I not gotten into this show before now? Best. TV show. Ever. My favorites are Abed and Troy. I’m more than halfway through season 2 and have already caught up on the new season; and I know this is just echoing what everyone else has been saying, but Remedial Chaos Theory was amazing.

Mad Men – I’d been watching the 4th season as it aired earlier this year, and about 2 months went back to the first season. Love it. I love how seeds planted in an episode bear fruit 10 episodes later. I love the characterization, and I particularly love the female characters, and how each navigates the male-dominated world they live in in their own way… some better than others, obviously.

The Good Wife – Watched the second half of last season and then went and watched what I’d missed in the summer hiatus. I’ve already caught up on new episodes. Kalinda and Eli are one fabulous team, and I’m really enjoying seeing Lisa Edelstein play a character so different from Cuddy.

Downton Abbey – I still have a couple of episodes left from series 1, and have been really enjoying the soapy period drama. I understand things get darker in series 2…

The Hour – Was also about halfway through when I went on vacation. It’s not Mad Men, but I like it a lot. Loved the episode where everyone was invited to Hector’s in-laws’ country estate. Love Freddie Lyon.

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Tokusatsu

OOO 23-24: The Fighting Doctor

As far as I’m concerned, the important thing about these episodes is… Date backstory!!

I mean, yes, there was all the stuff about Date’s former colleague, and how she wanted to be pretty like her sister, and how the lesson is that about real beauty and being yourself, yada yada yada… I think it’s fair to say that I have a lot more to say when the underlying theme is about how justice is subjective or the like than this, because… well, there’s not much to say, right?

Anyway, apparently Date was in some kind of Doctors Without Borders, and he was called The Fighting Doctor (so, not exactly Doctors Without Borders, probably). So, yes, I got it wrong, did not expect this, and I found it pretty interesting actually, that he used to dedicate his life to helping others while now his motives appear to be more selfish. Of course, by now the real reason he wants that money has probably been revealed, but at this point it hasn’t, so there you go. Also interesting is how at the end Gotou asks him if it’s okay to just let go of his former colleague like that, since she appeared to be into him, and he says rather matter of factly that has his hands full right now.

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Tokusatsu

Catching up with Kamen Rider OOO… again

Right. Been busy again, yada yada. But it doesn’t feel right to just skip through, so I’ll go off my notes for the episodes I watched (yes, I take notes while watching Kamen Rider, and yes, I realize what this says about me) but didn’t get around to blogging about.

Episodes 21-22 explore whether the desire to fight for justice can become twisted. The Yummy is born from a man who never passed the exam to become a lawyer, and was frustrated because he felt like a failure, and so he left his family. The Yummy initially targets criminals, and so the man accepts the Yummy as a way to punish those he perceives as wicked. From there, the show obviously moves to questioning whether this is really justice, and how self-righteousness twists a person’s sense of justice so they become cruel themselves.

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Anime

Revolutionary Girl Utena ep 1: The Rose Bride

Revolutionary Girl Utena, one of my favorite anime series, is getting remastered release. The first 12 episodes, The Student Council Saga just came out earlier this month. I got the new DVDs this weekend, started rewatching, and figured it would be interesting to blog about it as I watch episodes, hopefully with a new perspective after all these years.

I love Utena because it’s so different from any other anime. It’s a magical girl shoujo series, but it’s really a deconstruction of the genre (probably part of why I like it so much, since I was never a huge fan of straight shoujo). And there’s the sheer weirdness of it all: the Shadow Girls, the duel songs, everything about it. I love it. I also love that it’s a perfect mix of depth and crack.

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