Missing Ace kinda broke my heart *_*
Jun. 29th, 2009 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gekidasa
Oh, Hajime. ;________________________;
I didn't believe for even one second that he was going to let Kenzaki sacrifice himself. Because he's vintage Favorite of Mura material, and characters that are that don't let anyone ELSE sacrifice their lives in their place if there's anything they can do about it. Oh no. They're all about dying honorably and leaving me wibbling like an idiot.
And besides... it's Amane-chan. There was no way in hell he was going to let anyone else give up their life for hers.
And GUH. We're not even PRETENDING a tiny little bit that this relationship is anything but all sorts of badwrong, are we? I mean... well, this:
GUH. *_________*
I guess I better start preparing for the possibility that he'll be sealed at the end of the series itself too. Because its' not exactly unlikely. D:
But anyway, quite aside from the wibbly OMG, HAJIME ;_________; factor, I really liked the movie. I mean, I loved the silly shoutouts to Faiz, first of all, and I liked the whole 4 years later thing.
And I found it really interesting how they dealt with the idea of being a former Rider and having to adjust to not having to fight and living a normal life anymore. I mean, Kenzaki is very much a soldier fighting a war, and I liked how they brought up the idea that while he's glad that the war is over, he also misses the fighting, because it gave him purpose, and having that purpose made him happy. And I liked how Mutsuki tries so hard to have a normal life but just doesn't feel comfortable in that because he can't get away from his past. It's all very much in line with things I've read about real war veterans and how hard it is for them to adjust.
But anyway...
OMG, Hajime ;______________________;
lol fail html is fail
Date: 2009-06-30 12:48 pm (UTC)I think Missing Ace is really interesting in that it tackles the "xxx time later" thing right. Instead of just fast forwarding to an idillic future where everyone is still exactly the same as they used to be except older, it shows that even if you're living in a world of happily ever after, time still passes and leaves marks on you. You may still be the same person four years later, but you've changed. And I just love what they chose to do with the characters, because it fits everyone so well. Of course Kotaro would let himself get caught up on his own hype without Kenzaki to pull his head down from the clouds, of course Shiori would want to finally live an ordinary live that has nothing to do with fighting evil monsters after having her entire life spin around that, of course Mutsuki wouldn't be able to move on past the thrill of Leangle if it was just taken away from him without any resolution, of course Tachibana would never be able to let go of BOARD when that was the only thing in his life that had any meaning.
And then, Kenzaki. T_T♥ Kenzaki who became a Rider for the paycheck but chose to remain a Rider for what he believed in, and ultimately was forced to destroy his belief in Hajime with his own hands for the sake of protecting everything else - of course he wouldn't go in history as a hero for mankind. Of course he'd become a nameless face in the crowd, knowing only for himself what he'd been through and what he'd done to save the world. And it would nag at the back of his mind if he stopped to think too much about it, but he'd still be able to go on, to live his common man small life and be reasonably happy with it, because ultimately that's what he'd always been, just your average joe.
And then what you said about the whole Shell Shock syndrome, YES. This is one of the biggest reasons I don't buy into completely picture-perfect happy endings for kamen rider unless you're someone completely out of this world like Shoichi and your sense of priorities is like, make tomato cake first, kick god in the face later. Otherwise, there's no way you can spend a whole year in a full-fledged war against forces of evil, losing comrades, taking lives, having your own life on the line so many times, and then just turn around on go yey let's cooking or yey let's marrying. No. It has got to leave more scars on you than just "yeah, that was kind of a bad year".
(Double standard enough, I seem to be totally ok with sentai happy endings. Somehow I'm fine with a sentai senshi who in one year experiences losing both his parents and his four siblings, fighting against ultimate gods of darkness etc, and still comes out ok. It's probably because Rider takes itself so seriously when it gets all dramatic, so I raise the bar - like, if you expect me to take this seriously, you gotta give me serious consequences for it, or I'll just call bullshit on the entire thing, you know?)
Also, you're missing the loli is ok if Kiki ships it tag. :D/
Re: lol fail html is fail
Date: 2009-06-30 01:47 pm (UTC)Fixed! :D/
You know, as I was watching, I was planning on talking more about that, about how Kenzaki, like you said, had changed but remained basicaly the same, abour "I dont see you for awhile and you become such a loathsome dude", all that stuff.
But then Hajime had to go and do all that shit and djhfjdhfljsdhfajsdhfsks *_*
Yes, one track mind.
I think that making Kenzaki a guy that works picking up garbage was a stroke of genius. For the whole unsung hero factor, but specially because it shows exactly who Kenzaki is that at the end of the day, he's made his peace with who he is now, even though, as he says himself, he has his pride and back then was when he was happiest. I think that's exactly it... he's not pretending it had no effect, he's not pretending that it doesn't nag at him sometimes, he's acknowledging, he's facing it and accepting his feelings about it, and he's letting them go (it's interesting because quite aside from fandom I'm reading about buddhism and mindfulness and Kenzaki just kind of is a perfect example of all that). He justdoes the best he can, everyday, like he always did, whether he's fighting to save humanity or sweeping up garbage for an old lady.
And then I really liked what they did with Amane and Kenzaki. Kenzaki did what he had to do, and he hated it, but he accepted its necessity and lives with it and it's his burden but it doesn't really.... you know, it doesn't weight him down. He had to do it (like Hikawa in the movie, but more so, you know?). He's also made his peace with sealing Hajime, like he made his peace with everything else. But then he sees Amane again and realizes that he was a soldier, and he understands it was necessary and he put his feelings aside for necessity, but Amane isn't a soldier. She's a normal girl, with no idea of the scope of everything that happened, and all she knows is that the person she cared about most disapeared. She never got an explanation, and it wouldn't have mattered to her if she had. And it hurt her and changed her, and Kenzaki had never really had to face that, the specific effect his actions, done for the greater good, would have on a a normal person who had't really been part of the fight. And you can tell he feels really guilty, and it's his responsability, and he really wants to somehow make it okay. But the thing is, he can't, because she won't let him, and it probably would have weighed on his mind forever (even though he would also eventually accept it and shoulder THAT burden too) if things hadn't happened the way they did.
Re: lol fail html is fail
Date: 2009-06-30 03:23 pm (UTC)And then, immediately after he sees Kenzaki for the first time in four years, he goes right back to his true homeboy self, leaving the hos and the booze behind to support Kenzaki again. Way to not be completely head over heels with the garbage boy, Kotaro. ¦D
And now you really need to finish those last six eps so we can compare the movie ending to the series ending and adskljfablskfhb all over them.
(or you can watch Decade and lol at how utterly appropriate it is for Daiki to be Millhouse's brother, but you know)
Re: lol fail html is fail
Date: 2009-06-30 03:26 pm (UTC)XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Re: lol fail html is fail
Date: 2009-06-30 03:40 pm (UTC)Re: lol fail html is fail
Date: 2009-06-30 03:41 pm (UTC)I wanted to like the girl rider, but UGH. Those 3 were annoying. SHOW SOME RESPECT FOR THE GARBAGE BOY!
Re: lol fail html is fail
Date: 2009-06-30 03:54 pm (UTC)I hate those three so much but especially extra especially THAT BITCH. Ugh. It's not enough to be a bitch to your fellow Riders, but then she's a bitch to Kenzaki and I'm like FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF- I HOPE YOU DIE OH WAIT YOU JUST DID LOL
:D;;;
Much to my amazement, she's pretty tolerable in dorobo no sekai, though. I was bracing myself for rage, but then I didn't and it was a nice surprise.
Re: lol fail html is fail
Date: 2009-06-30 03:59 pm (UTC)Re: lol fail html is fail
Date: 2009-06-30 04:04 pm (UTC)Re: lol fail html is fail
Date: 2009-06-30 04:08 pm (UTC)