lolololololol told you I was gonna like to see your reaction 8D/
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/
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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/