Ryusei barely survives the explosion and soon the foes and Yuuki flee. Yuuki is completely distorted as Gemini keeps laughing with joy. Back with the rest of the villains Gamou is planning a celebration for when Gemini will completely take over. Libra is then sent to find Pisces, but he sees that when he does find Pisces he will not be of use anymore. With the gang they try to look for Yuuki and they soon start to feel guilty for not believing her in the first place. Kengo starts to discuss about the voice from the stars as it is a consciousness from space that tries to advance the human race. Kengo then thinks that anyone who has been a Zodiart probably heard this voice in some way. Soon Gen gets a call that Yuuki is back at her house, but it was Gemini has she is replacing Yuuki already. The real Yuuki gets to her house, but she is quickly tormented by Gemini. Gemini taunts her with the switch and Yuuki takes it which lead the gang to think she is the fake. Also Yuuki is losing more of her memories as she can't even recognize them. Yuuki gets too stressed out that she transforms into Gemini and Gen begins to fight her. Kengo starts to realize that Gemini is not fighting back like usual, but it is too late as Gen uses a finisher with four switches at the same time. Afterwards the fake appears once more and takes her switch back. Yuuki even runs away and with her loss of memories she is completely confused. With Yuuki away from the group Libra appears and kidnaps her for the ceremony. Finally Gen recalls of what Yuuki was talking about from the last episode. Gen rushes to his house to find a golden box. The ceremony begins and Gen soon finds the box. Miu, Jake, and Shun comes to interfere, but the can't do much thanks to Sagittarius stopping them. Yuuki is starting to give up, but things change when Gen comes into the scene. He shows Yuuki the box and remembers the past. Inside the box are two tickets for space that Yuuki made as a child for Gen back then. The tickets were around to remind them of their promise to go to space together. The ceremony isn't going as planned as Gemini starts to lose to Yuuki. Yuuki takes back her face and memories and a fight between Gemini and Fourze begins. Cosmic is used, but with Sagittarius and Leo around it's not an easy fight. While Gen is distracted Leo tries attacking the rest of the gang with Capricorn's powers, but for something blocks the attack. The gang get farther away and then Gemini wants to fight alone. She uses her clone again for a bomb attack, but Ryusei comes for the save by giving Gen the Meteor Storm switch. Gen uses it with Cosmic as it absorbs the explosion and soon Gemini is finished off. With Gemini switch retrieved all that is left is Pisces, but Hayami soon realizes that when it is found he will be killed. The episode ends with Yuuki making tickets to space for everyone and Tomoko makes one of her own for her and Ryusei (shipping confirmed!).
This episode is a big improvement as things are more serious which is good because the comedy last time was not so good. Continuing with Yuuki she did shine a couple of times. First I loved seeing her dealing with her loss of memories. This leads to her stressing out and facing her other self. I loved seeing that she even used the switch on her own. Yuuki was seeing no other options since she forgot who her friends were. Also a great thing is seeing the friendship between her and Gen. Since the first episode we mostly just knew they were childhood friends, but never really saw anything from their past. Seeing their past really strengthens their bond and makes it more believable. Back then we could tell those two have been getting along very well, but seeing more background info does fix some cracks. Overall Yuuki was much better in this episode and other episodes since she was doing more.
Things are developing with the plot as we see Hayami is starting to fear for his life. This makes so much sense since he was going to be sent to the Dark Nebula before, but he was saved by his Laplace Eye. I bet Gamou doesn't forget his defeat and will easily get rid of him. Another thing is why that attack from Capricorn's powers were deflected. I will say this now so more spoilers, but it's no doubt the Core Switch is with Kengo. I have no idea why this is, but it could be connected to Kengo's father. So will Hayami look for Pisces or will he run for it?
The action was good with one big thing that jumps out. We got to see a Limit Break with Claw, Chainsaw, Spike, and Scissors the first 4 switch finisher. What's disappointing is that it was shown when Gen was battling Yuuki who transformed into Gemini. So it wasn't really that great since it was used on a good character. We got to see the M. Storm switch with Cosmic, but it was basically an absorption move. Then most of the action was just Fourze winning a lot which is nice to see, but I was hoping for the villains to get more action since Leo and Sagittarius were around.
Overall this was a more serious episode and it did improve from the last one. Still the action was a little lackluster. Yuuki did become a shining factor like some other episodes (barely). I am liking how Hayami is thinking making him act like a rebel fighting for his life. The drama did get much better thanks to Gen and Yuuki having flashbacks and furthering their bond. Also the others did help with this and I am happy to see the Ryusei x Tomoko shipping is actually becoming a part of the show. Back then the show just teased it a lot, but seeing it be real is nice. So this episode gets a B+ great drama, but not so good with action.
Next Time: "Sayako!" Wait wrong show.
If I may be so bold, as a semi-recent blossoming fan of Kamen Rider, I would like to know where you access subbed new episodes every week.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting with OOO and Kuuga (halfway through each) and I'm hoping to get through most of the rest (skipping Decade and Pre-heisei era for now) before Wizard finishes airing. I'd love to be able to watch Wizard with the rest of the world and participate in discussions.
Tv-nihon is a good place to find downloads, but if you just want to watch them there are good facebook groups with links. There is Henshin Fever, Toku- Central, and Tokusatsu- Avenue. There are also many other fan subs out there, but not all focus on Rider as some do Sentai, Ultraman, and other toku shows.
ReplyDeleteAh thanks so much for the reply. TV Nihon looks to have a great selection. But they're short on Agito which is next on my list. Oh well, I think most of Agito is on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteI don't use Facebook though. About how long does it take for a subtitled new episode to show up Stateside after airing in Japan?
I don't really like Sentai or Ultraman unfortunately. I blame Saban and my childhood for that.
Wait what did Saban do to Ultraman? The only thing that was adapted was Gridman, but it doesn't count as an ultra series. Also if you want to give Sentai a try I suggest going to the pre zyu series mostly the 80's. Trust me the 80's sentai like Liveman and Maskman are really good. There are also subs like Kit and many others so look around because there are even places I don't know about.
ReplyDeleteWell, there are a lot of things about Sentai I'm not fond of. For one, the outfits. I much prefer Kamen Rider's suits and abilities to Sentai's. I'm also not fond of the "monster gets bigger -> Fight it with mech" hum-drum that it feels like they have to fit in every episode. Admittedly I may be seriously skewed by Power Rangers in this belief, not having seen more than isolated episodes from proper Sentai series.
ReplyDeleteAs for Ultraman, I don't know if Saban had any hand in bringing that to the US, but I do remember watching some dubbed episodes a decade or so ago and not liking it much. Again, I think it was the suit design.
I'm open to try anything really, and maybe when I run out of Kamen Rider I'll look to the other Tokus for my Japanese guys (and girls) in tights fix. For now I've got at least 13 and more likely 23 series of KR to consume. So I'm good for a while.
On that note, do you have any suggestions on viewing order? As I said I'm already mostly through OOO and Kuuga. I'm trying to save Double for right before Fourze as I hear it's the best. Lacking any other direction I'm going in chronological order for now.
Yea since you read this blog you know how much I love Double. It's my favorite hands down. It had quick action yet very stylish, a great cast, and the story was top notch compared to other rider series. Double also changed the franchise as both OOO and Fourze were affected by Double which you will see when watching it.
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