REVIEW: Ghost 02
Looking around on various social networks last week after the premiere, I noticed that a lot of people seemed to dislike the lack of plot in the first episode. Hopefully this episode rectifies that issue as its jam packed with story that flows well and doesn’t interfere with the overarching narrative. Plus we get the Edison Soul and the Iguana Ghostsriker!
So as I said earlier, this week’s episode was far more focused upon plot than last week’s. Now I still stand by what I said about the first episode because a) it wasn’t that horrendously structured and b) they needed more time to show off Ghost’s powers. However, I’m not saying that having a plot is bad, because this episode clearly displays that Ghost is going to have a knack with it. This week’s plot was simple and fed very easily into the overarching plot since the monster of the week was tied to a person and that person is tied to the Edison Eyecon, which is connected to Takeru’s overall quest. I think the beauty of the premise is that, as I said in my last review, every week is going to feel relevant to the overall whole, through the collection of Eyecons, but still be self-contained.
On top of that the story this week hit some great thematic and character points as well. With Takeru’s reaction to Professor Sonada’s lack of care for his life, we get a great amount of characterisation from a very small scene. Of course Takeru is going to be frustrated and annoyed at Sonoda risking his life since Takeru doesn’t have one anymore. It shows us that Takeru, the character, is fully realised and reacting to everything like a normal teen would. This is a nice change of pace for our protagonists considering that they have always taken everything in stride and maintained their heroic composure; it’s a breath of fresh air to have someone normal be a rider for once.
On the topic of characterisation, we also get a further development of Akari’s character. Rather than any big revelations, we just see more of what was hinted at last week: she cares quite a bit about Takeru and acts like a big sister to him. On top of that it’s nice to see her move beyond the science mad character last week. Although she still holds firm in her beliefs, she is willing to bend them a bit to support Takeru in a specific moment that is so sweet and heart-warming. It’s also nice to see a female character in Kamen Rider that isn’t just there for eye-candy or to be sought after by the main protagonist.
As noted earlier Takeru also was great in this episode. Every time I see Shun Nishime my fears of his lack of experience affecting his performance disappears since he is definitely bringing his A-game to his performance. On top of that I love how Takeru is being written. I’ve already covered this in an earlier part of the review, but the fact that he’s feeling anxious over his situation, uncertain in his powers, yet still trying his best to do good just hits all the right buttons for me. As for the rest of the cast this episode? They do their job. Onari is still the glorious comic relief he was last week and Professor Sonoda is a pretty flat character that serves the plot. There really isn’t anything wrong with that, but I hope that both the weekly characters and the rest of the reoccurring cast get more interesting as the show goes on.
But a lot else happened this week apart from the performances, like the opening debuting! Back in my ‘What to Expect’ article or my ‘Rumour Roundup’ article I was thinking that Ghost was going to have a ‘spooky’ tone like Kiva did, but the opening showed me otherwise, but in a good way. With the soaring, hopeful, optimistic and gung-ho attitude of Kishidan’s song, the imagery of Takeru soaring the sky smiling and surrounded by the Parka Ghosts and feathers evokes an angelic and overall happy and positive tone. I’m looking forward to this lighter tone since it is a kid’s show and Kamen Rider, at least for me, has always been about facing and overcoming adversity while maintaining some positivity.
Well now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’m more than happy to talk about Edison Soul and the Iguanastriker. For the most part I really like Edison Soul with its sleek and metallic look, with the yellow and metallic silver working very well together. I also like the pointed-ish hood and the horns, especially with them being used to re-direct lighting and give Takeru and idea, which fits in with the theme of Thomas Edison. But below the belt, the whole design sort of falls apart under the belt. The silver and yellow doesn’t work that well with the silver clashing with the black and orange legs. On top of that the Edison Soul coat seems a bit shorter than the other ones we’ve seen. But overall I do like the design.
The Iguanastriker on the other hand is all kinds of awesome. Logically Iguanas have no connection at all to the overall programme’s aesthetic, but I think that’s what makes it so gloriously amazing. It makes no sense, but through its sheer uniqueness it becomes awesome. Plus it is quite cool in how it helps Ghost fight the Ganma. Speaking of the Ganma, this week’s one had an odd design in my opinion. It still fits with the goofier Show-seque design they seem to be going for, but it didn’t fit the previous very traditional Japanese looking Ganmas. However this is fine since the previous Ganmas were based on different items. I do like the idea of the Giant Ganmas, especially this one considering it has links to Tesla Coils and the Philadelphia Experiment. But I expected it to be bigger, but hey you can’t get everything you want.
So yeah that was a great follow up to a strong first episode. With more plot and characterisation, it will hopefully satisfy the critics of the premiere. On top of that the characterisation and plot were very good by themselves. Edison Soul’s quality is mixed, but I think that’s something that can be overlooked. All in all, you could say that the episode was quite electrifying.
