Post by Yuri Petrovitch on Jan 25, 2014 15:11:13 GMT -5
"Walking the path of Heaven, the man who will rule over everything."
KAMEN RIDER KABUTO
SYNOPSIS
Seven years ago, a meteor struck Tokyo, and in addition to causing mass death and destruction, unleashed an alien species known as the Worms on Earth. In addition to being able to imitate normal humans, their superior metabolism means they can move at several times the speed of a normal human. To make matters worse, they can evolve past their base form and become even more powerful Worms. Ever since the meteor's impact, they've been infiltrating the human race, gradually replacing humanity.
Fortunately, a corporation known as ZECT has developed technology that allows humans to match the Worms: The Zecters--sentient technonogy that, when accessed by a human, creates a suit of armour around them, providing adequate protection against the Worms. Underneath the primary armor layer is another level or armor, which, when engaged, allows the user to access the Clock Up mode, giving the ability to move at speeds that can match the Worms' speed. One man, Arata Kagami, joined ZECT hoping to gain revenge on the Worms for murdering his brother. It really seems like he might be the protagonist of our story, except . . .
. . .there's another guy, Souji Tendo, who has been training seven years to battle the Worms, and is operating his own agenda, separate from ZECT. Tendour is generally overweeningly arrogant, constantly pointing at the sky and calling himself the greatest treasure in the universe and is also good at pretty much everything. But then, he'd have to be, I guess, seeing as how he's been working at this for a half-decade and change. Tendou is looking to solve a few mysteries of his own, like why his parents were killed and imitated by the Worms . . .years before the meteor hit Tokyo, why his sister keeps drawing pictures of people with insect wings, and why it seems almost preordained that he and Kagami should be Riders, which, as things get more complicated and plot-intensive, leads to actual time-travel, ontological paradoxes, duplicates from the edge of space-time, decades-long conspiracies, and one stable time loop that won't become apparent until you see the end of the movie.
In the meantime, Tendo and Kagami aren't the only Riders out there. While they're pursuing their own agendas, they've got their own secrets and their own alliances intersecting the main plot, and it is on that hook, we hang our series.
ANALYSIS
I can't really talk much about Kabuto without saying a bit about Hibiki, the series that preceded it and which we'll be getting to in a future installment. Hibiki was a drastically different Kamen Rider series in terms of tone and concept (on a scale that hasn't really been attempted again) and was rife with mid-season course corrections and strife behind the scenes and generally is the one that No One Talks About Too Much (which is a shame, really. Since I've started watching it, I've really taken to it and enjoy the hell out of it)
Kabuto, then, is as hard a turn toward a course-correction as possible (some of that was bound to happen, as Kabuto aired the year of Kamen Rider's 35 Anniversary, just as Fourze commemorated the 40th) featuring a lot of elements we've seen before, and will again. Tendou is very much in the style of Yuusuke from Kuuga--good at everything (though Yuusuke wasn't anywhere near the overbearing jackass Tendo can be) ZECT as potentially sinister corporation and the Worms scheming to replace humanity are very much in the style of Kamen Rider 555's Smart Brain corporation and the Orphenoch monsters, and the Tendo/Kagami team echoes the Kamen Rider 1 and 2 team up from the original series.
And that's . . .okay, sorta? There's a lot I like in Kabuto. The Rider designs are awesome--very sleek and bold, the overall plot (once it's finally complete) is really intriguing, and there's plenty of sub-arcs that manage to be really interesting, and the main plot is good about switching on you in such a way that the way you THINK it's gonna go is not exactly where it goes, which typically happens right about the time you're sure you've worked it all out.
But there's a problem here, and that problem is Tendo.
He's an ass. He's constantly bragging about how awesome he is, and what's more, the show is on his side: HE'S REALLY THAT AWESOME, and the show suffers so much because the main character is continually demonstrated to be god-tier, so it really doesn't matter how strong the Worms are, or how powerful the other Riders have become because Tendo will just beat them.
And about 36 straight episodes of that can be, it must be said, a little much. It's only around the mid-point of the series, when Dark Kabuto shows up (yes, the only person who had a hope in hell of laying a finger on Tendo was Evil Tendo. That's where we'd gotten to) where he really has to struggle all that much against anyone, and even then, Dark Kabuto is limited in what he can do because he too is not as good as Tendou.
Mercifully, there's plenty going around him that is pretty good. In fact, if you look at the series more as Kagami's arc, it becomes much better and easier to take. And the other Riders arcs are also quite enjoyable, so there's plenty to like. The problem is, because the protagonist is so damn remote and doesn't go through much, it never quite adds up to the sum of its parts in quite the way it should.
It is, then, like Blade, a middle-of-the pack show. Kinda fun to watch on its own, and as an entry into Kamen Rider isn't bad, but it's nowhere near as good as Kamen Rider can be, when properly thought out. If you decide to watch it, just make sure you have a high tolerance for the hijinks of people who go around carrying bowls of tofu and pointing at the sky declaring how awesome they are.
NEXT WEEK
Ohboy, here we go. This series.
A bunch of people who survived a mysterious shipwreck may or may not have been touched by the hand of God (no, not the New Order song) and are being hunted by a race of creatures led by a guy who unironically calls himself the Overlord of Darkness. Somehow, all of this figures into the ultimate evolution of mankind, I don't know.
If that synopsis seems a little brief, it's not because I hate the series--they're just THAT stingy about telling you what's going on. In seven--Kamen Rider Agito.
I will try very hard not to lapse into a cussing fit while talking about it.