#chemy chats

[theaterchemy2]

Not sure what to think of Takahashi’s writing when all four of his primary Riders’ final forms basically have the same power of “NO”.

Ex-Aid Hyper Muteki Gamer- Invincibility

Zero-Two- Prediction

Geats IX- Rewriting reality

Zeztz Exdream- Overwriting outcomes

Conceptually, each final form fits the theme of the season pretty well, but it’s gotten repetitive. When Takahashi is hired to write another Rider season (let’s not kid ourselves, it’s gonna fucking happen), I’ll eat my hat if he manages to make a final form that has an original power.

[theaterchemy2]

It’s really difficult for me to feel invested in Zeztz. Ever since the reveal that half the show was Baku’s precognitive dream that could PREDICT THE FUTURE, the show has felt rushed.

Character dynamics were reset and twists were added that didn’t elaborate on existing plot points, and instead feel like they were added for Takahashi to utilize his usual shock value writing style.

Basically it feels like Takahashi wrote himself into a corner, retconned the “bad ending” by resetting the plot but with Baku now operating on New Game + mode, and doubled down on his usual “forgo the characters and narrative in favor of graphical marvels and aura farming” shtick. Whether the reset was intentional or not doesn’t help that it was apparently necessary.

[theaterchemy2]

I will say that the crossbody Driver works a LOT better with the My-th suit than any of the Zeztz suits because the former doesn't have that muscle padding that Zeztz does. Not to say that the Zezts suits are bad, but it's bugged me since the beginning, especially when Catastrom debuted. The suits for the cat Riders, Mao and Rid, is also visually pleasing because of the more jagged silhouette contrasting the roundedness of My-th suit.

I'm absolutely calling the two cat Riders BloodCat and ShadowCat.

[theaterchemy2]

On one hand, I really, really want Gavan Infinity and Project R.E.D. to succeed. There's been so much advancement in the production side of things that I've enjoyed every episode of Infinity since the beginning. The CG looks good, the fighting choreography is amazing, and all the actors play their rolls very well.

On the other hand, though, a lot of Atsuhiro Tomioka's writing quirks are showing and it makes me want to rip my hair out. Tokutubers have complained about Setsuna's episodes recycling his gimmick of "not understanding emotions" and like... where were you during Boonboomger? Tomioka characters are written to have a specific personality quirk and don't really develop. The story is usually about things happening around them, not to them. You can find a lot of examples watching through the anime series Tomioka has written for, like the Pokémon anime and Inazuma Eleven games.

It's easier to watch Gavan Infinity over Boonboomger because the characters' personalities don't overlap. I'd rather have angry and passionate Gavan, stoic robot Gavan, smiley science Gavan, and wall fetish ninja Gavan over catchphrase, no personality, happy dumbass 1, happy dumbass 2, Genba, and happy dumbass 3.