Project G4
...I'm kind of on the fence about how to feel about this. Kind of like God Speed Love, I guess.
On the one hand, I liked it. But on the other hand, it's clear this was written before the stretch of episodes in the 30s where I think Agito really hit its stride, and the clumsiness with the characters and plot highlight the problems I've had with the show and with other Kamen Rider movies Inoue has done (remember that I'm referring to the first three Heisei series movies--Ryuki: EPISODE FINAL, 555: Paradise Lost, and now Agito: Project G4).
First, there are too many subplots, and they're not tied together as cohesively as they should be. The plot should be about Hikawa and his struggle with G4's existence, since Mizuki is his exact opposite. He himself admits that he's in-between Shoichi's philosophy of embracing life and Mizuki's philosophy of embracing death--he can't be either one of them, so he must be himself. That is a great character arc. But it's not given enough time. There's also a subplot about Mana and her new friend Sayaka, who's on the run from...well, I'm just going to call it Alphabet Soup and get it over with. Then there's the other Alphabet Soup runaway, Rei, who manages to befriend Ryo. And then we've got both Ryo and Shoichi achieving new forms. This problem I had with both EPISODE FINAL and Paradise Lost--it's too much information for just one movie. And honestly, Hikawa would have benefitted from a separate movie focusing solely on him and his team, much the same as Terui got in Kamen Rider W Returns: Accel.
Second is the character focus problem, and this is where the series problems come into play. Shoichi just is not an interesting character. Not at this point, at least. In the 30s he does better, but right now, there's not much meat to his character, and this is a problem for me. Yes, he fights to protect the place where everyone belongs, fine. But why does he fight? Why must it be him? It's something that Ichijou said in Kuuga, and I think it's got some merit--that it's not the hero's duty to protect people. If you think it's that, then leave it to the police. It's got to be something deeper than that. For Yusuke, it was to end sadness in the world and allow people to smile again. For Shinji, it was to try to save everybody--he wanted to stop both Riders and civilians from suffering because of the Rider War and the Mirror World, and he had to face the fact that it was going to hurt someone else no matter what he did. For Takumi, it was because his friends were the most important thing in his life, and even if he didn't have a dream of his own, it was enough to protect their dreams. Shoichi really doesn't "belong"--he's not making efforts to. It's Mana doing most of the work, and even she calls him out on not letting himself belong to the family.
The rest of the cast are more interesting. Hikawa, as I said, really has one hell of a character arc this movie that really should be explored further, but he spent the beginning of the movie being shoved into the clumsy/unlucky/Ryotaro running gag. And spacing it out over the course of months makes it a little rougher, since in that case, we're missing out on a lot of time spent developing his character. Ryo, for all he seems to have somehow become the most responsible adult in the whole show, exists to be shat upon by the universe. And Mana--she's not a Rider, but hell, her whole story with her powers and everything makes her ten times the character any of the others are! She's got a huge arc! She's got her dad's murder and her struggles to fit in in her new family! She's got her powers she has to keep secret (except from Hikawa, whom she confided in), and they're getting stronger! She's got a crush on Shoichi in the beginning, but it really seems to fade into them all trying to become a family! She's got her friendships with Hikawa and Ryo! And now she's got her friendship with Sayaka and with the crazy captain lady kidnapping her to exploit her powers for G4! Why wasn't this about her more? Series and movie!
And the fringe characters are even more insane. I have never seen a police force this incompetent outside of a comedy. Ichijou would be ashamed. Hell, Commissioner Takeshi Hongo shut up, that's totally him giving his approval to Shoichi and Hikawa as two of his newest successors tells Ozawa and Hikawa to go raise hell and ignore their superiors because fuck them. The JSDF is downright evil here, at least under Fukami's command, and what was up with the whole Alphabet Soup thing? Shouldn't the JSDF let the police know that yes, Unknown are in fact targetting psychics, though any and all details as to why there are so many psychic orphans around is classified? And getting...Living Scenery Guy drunk and stealing the password to G4--really, I don't care who you work for, you can get in trouble for that. Surely SOMEONE had to outrank Fukami!
And yet, at the end of this rant, it's still a decent enough movie that I want to keep on my computer. Hikawa and Mana really had some awesome stuff, though I wish it was a little more about either one of them. Ryo did his best to not have a bad day. Shoichi got a cool new form and did do all he could to rescue Mana (though with Hikawa, it had a little more emphasis on how important it was for his development). I guess my randomized icon to Koichi from Digimon Frontier is appropriate: like with Frontier, it has a hell of a lot of problems, but it's good both in spite of and because of those very flaws.
On the one hand, I liked it. But on the other hand, it's clear this was written before the stretch of episodes in the 30s where I think Agito really hit its stride, and the clumsiness with the characters and plot highlight the problems I've had with the show and with other Kamen Rider movies Inoue has done (remember that I'm referring to the first three Heisei series movies--Ryuki: EPISODE FINAL, 555: Paradise Lost, and now Agito: Project G4).
First, there are too many subplots, and they're not tied together as cohesively as they should be. The plot should be about Hikawa and his struggle with G4's existence, since Mizuki is his exact opposite. He himself admits that he's in-between Shoichi's philosophy of embracing life and Mizuki's philosophy of embracing death--he can't be either one of them, so he must be himself. That is a great character arc. But it's not given enough time. There's also a subplot about Mana and her new friend Sayaka, who's on the run from...well, I'm just going to call it Alphabet Soup and get it over with. Then there's the other Alphabet Soup runaway, Rei, who manages to befriend Ryo. And then we've got both Ryo and Shoichi achieving new forms. This problem I had with both EPISODE FINAL and Paradise Lost--it's too much information for just one movie. And honestly, Hikawa would have benefitted from a separate movie focusing solely on him and his team, much the same as Terui got in Kamen Rider W Returns: Accel.
Second is the character focus problem, and this is where the series problems come into play. Shoichi just is not an interesting character. Not at this point, at least. In the 30s he does better, but right now, there's not much meat to his character, and this is a problem for me. Yes, he fights to protect the place where everyone belongs, fine. But why does he fight? Why must it be him? It's something that Ichijou said in Kuuga, and I think it's got some merit--that it's not the hero's duty to protect people. If you think it's that, then leave it to the police. It's got to be something deeper than that. For Yusuke, it was to end sadness in the world and allow people to smile again. For Shinji, it was to try to save everybody--he wanted to stop both Riders and civilians from suffering because of the Rider War and the Mirror World, and he had to face the fact that it was going to hurt someone else no matter what he did. For Takumi, it was because his friends were the most important thing in his life, and even if he didn't have a dream of his own, it was enough to protect their dreams. Shoichi really doesn't "belong"--he's not making efforts to. It's Mana doing most of the work, and even she calls him out on not letting himself belong to the family.
The rest of the cast are more interesting. Hikawa, as I said, really has one hell of a character arc this movie that really should be explored further, but he spent the beginning of the movie being shoved into the clumsy/unlucky/Ryotaro running gag. And spacing it out over the course of months makes it a little rougher, since in that case, we're missing out on a lot of time spent developing his character. Ryo, for all he seems to have somehow become the most responsible adult in the whole show, exists to be shat upon by the universe. And Mana--she's not a Rider, but hell, her whole story with her powers and everything makes her ten times the character any of the others are! She's got a huge arc! She's got her dad's murder and her struggles to fit in in her new family! She's got her powers she has to keep secret (except from Hikawa, whom she confided in), and they're getting stronger! She's got a crush on Shoichi in the beginning, but it really seems to fade into them all trying to become a family! She's got her friendships with Hikawa and Ryo! And now she's got her friendship with Sayaka and with the crazy captain lady kidnapping her to exploit her powers for G4! Why wasn't this about her more? Series and movie!
And the fringe characters are even more insane. I have never seen a police force this incompetent outside of a comedy. Ichijou would be ashamed. Hell, Commissioner Takeshi Hongo shut up, that's totally him giving his approval to Shoichi and Hikawa as two of his newest successors tells Ozawa and Hikawa to go raise hell and ignore their superiors because fuck them. The JSDF is downright evil here, at least under Fukami's command, and what was up with the whole Alphabet Soup thing? Shouldn't the JSDF let the police know that yes, Unknown are in fact targetting psychics, though any and all details as to why there are so many psychic orphans around is classified? And getting...Living Scenery Guy drunk and stealing the password to G4--really, I don't care who you work for, you can get in trouble for that. Surely SOMEONE had to outrank Fukami!
And yet, at the end of this rant, it's still a decent enough movie that I want to keep on my computer. Hikawa and Mana really had some awesome stuff, though I wish it was a little more about either one of them. Ryo did his best to not have a bad day. Shoichi got a cool new form and did do all he could to rescue Mana (though with Hikawa, it had a little more emphasis on how important it was for his development). I guess my randomized icon to Koichi from Digimon Frontier is appropriate: like with Frontier, it has a hell of a lot of problems, but it's good both in spite of and because of those very flaws.