REVIEW: Ghost 04
So with this week, I think we have hit the point in Ghost where the show has hit its normality. I’m not saying that this episode wasn’t good, it just felt very normal and not exceptional. But judging from a few events, it could lead to a lot of interesting things. Oh also Newton Soul debuted along with a small taste of Kamen Rider Spectre! (THERE WILL BE NO REVIEW NEXT WEEK SINCE GHOST WILL NOT BE AIRING THIS WEEKEND BECAUSE OF SPORTS)
So yeah, this week’s story wasn’t that remarkable. We in fact got a pretty similar story to last week’s with the victim of the week being goaded by a Ganma into summoning a ghost, this time being the soul of Oda Nobunaga. But it wasn’t EXACTLY the same as the victim this time was similar to Nobunaga in that he was a ruler of sorts, except economically. There was something that bugged me with the use of Nobunaga however, since the historical figure is notorious for being ruthless and violent; but since this is a kid’s show and to keep it all positive they summoned the ghost by reminding the victim that Nobunaga did have some positivity in the sense that he looked after his retainers and subjects. Now if they continue on with this idea of showing all sides of historical figures it could be nice, but it irks me a little bit that they made a known historical bastard into a hero of sorts. But I think that Toei are going to give the more notorious and morally dubious ghost/souls to Spectre since he is the more morally grey Kamen Rider.
But aside from that there are few other interesting things. For instance, hey there is continuity again! Turns out the Drive and Ghost crossover in the final episode of Drive is canon, thus they share a universe (which is nice but has a whole host of problems). On top of that it means the movie taisen for the two won’t have the unnecessary awkwardness and introductions between the two. Another nice thing with the episode was the increasing use of comedy with Takeru. I really feel that Nishime Shun is growing into the role since he seems way more comfortable and at ease with the comedy. Plus I like that the writers are making him quite goofy and silly since, hey, he is still a kid and a pretty normal one at that.
Finally, yes Spectre has kinda debuted. I don’t really want to talk about him until the next episode since he was barely in this week’s episode, but there are a few things I want to touch on. Firstly I really like the idea that the riders can steal each other’s Eyecons. This just adds value to the Eyecons, since they are very sought after, but their emotional value is raised since when Takeru makes this personal connection to make the Eyecons, the potential for them to be taken makes them even more valuable to him and so overall as well. On top of that, from what I have gathered through the scans and just personal theorising, Spectre will have his own reasoning for gathering the Eyecons, like resurrecting a loved one. So that just adds to the already great drama and means we will probably get a redemption arc for him.
We also got Newton, but since we’ve seen it already I won’t really touch upon it. All I will say is that the big bopper hands are silly and I love it. This week also saw the debut of the Gan Gun Sabre Naginata mode. I think it’s awesome and really shows how great the engineering the toys are since we’ve had Ghost for a month and the main weapon still has new modes and configurations that will continue appearing up for a few more months to come. Ghost genuinely seems to be my favourite overall toy-line since it has so many great elements to it.
As for character stuff, there really wasn’t much we haven’t seen already. Akari seems to have calmed down on her scepticism, Onari is still a goof and Takeru is still the precious cinnamon bun that he is, along with the stuff I’ve mentioned earlier. Spectre, from the little we’ve seen, seems to be the brash and tough type, much unlike Kaito, but again I will make the final judgement on him next week.
So yeah not much happed this week, but that isn’t necessarily bad. The story was still quite good and hit on the overarching themes of the show. It just didn’t feel exceptionally good. But it did drop some small interesting things and threads here and there that still makes it worth a watch, despite being ostensibly a filler episode. They may have dropped the ball on this one a bit, but it’s still pretty good.
