REVIEW: Ghost 05

And so Ghost returns this week after a week off and what a return it is! With the proper debut of Spectre and all the implications and effects that has on not only the wider story but on our characters, this week was a truly spectacular episode!

So I’ll hit the ground running and start by talking about Spectre, because let’s face it, he’s the most significant part of the episode. So firstly I do find his characterisation of being a quiet loner type to be quite unoriginal because hey, we have seen this before in Terui or hell even Chase. But what I do find interesting about his character is how he treats Takeru. We have seen this sort of rivalry before where the secondary rider is more experienced and berates the rookie main rider (see Ryuki), but never have we seen it to this degree. Spectre/Makoto just tears into Takeru and whittles his confidence down, which I’ll talk more about when I get to Takeru. On top of that he has so so much narrative potential with not only his relation with Takeru, but as we later learn he also has a reason to collect 15 Eyecons, namely to save his sibling who has been turned into Ganma Eyecon. So I have really high hopes for Makoto as a character as he’ll be a genuine challenge for Takeru and on top of that we are getting so many flags for a redemption arc, like at the end of the episode the two riders are visually paralleled with the piano version of the theme, thus showing we should sympathise and root for both.

But what about his suit design, weapons and so forth? Well this is quite a doozy since we have to look at three designs! I’ll start with his base design which, in all honesty is just a blue version of Ghost, with some minor changes. I do like how his face design is sharper, thus showing how ‘cool’ he is and all; his two horns make him look more Kamen Rider like which interesting and I love the added touch of having ECG/EKG lines all over his body to denote that, unlike Takeru, as far as we can tell he is alive. But again, apart from that he has all the strengths and weaknesses of Ghost’s own design. As for Nobunaga I adore it. It’s a nice parallel to Takeru’s own Musashi as both are (roughly) from the same era of Japanese history, both have a top not and are both the secondary forms of both. Apart from that the purple works really well with Spectre’s black and blue, I like the draped sleeves over the arms and the use of Arquebuses for the face plate are genius.

I also love how his Omega drive, at least with a weapon, is that of summoning loads of other Gan Gun Hands since Nobunaga was famous for using the earlier mentioned firearms decisively in various battles. Finally just a quick note about the henshin jingle, the battle that is mentioned, the battle of Okehazama, is where Nobunaga established himself as a major player in the Sengoku period. Tutankhamun on the other hand has a much more paired down and melee focused design. The turquoise used on the Ghost Parka is fantastic and I love how the hood resembles an ancient Egyptian headdress; The sleeveless look is also pretty cool and in fact practical since this form uses a scythe as its weapon.

Speaking of which, the Gan Gun Hand combines with the Cobra Mobile to become a Sickle, which apparently is a dark joke on how Tutankhamun possibly dies of sickle disease, but hey this is based on the trivia section of the Kamen Rider wiki which is a fantastic source amirite? That aside, I really do like this weapon since it’s something we have never really seen before in Kamen Rider and just generally looks cool. On top of that its Omega Drive of summoning some interdimensional pyramid that sucks in the enemy and finishes them off is the kind of off the walls stuff that makes me keep coming back to Kamen Rider. Finally I’ll quickly talk about his bike: it fits well with his motif and it’s nice to see a racing bike being used again. But I’ll hold off on analysing it further since through Toy Scan leaks we’ve learnt that it’ll be an integral part of Houdini Soul so I’ll hold off on that until it debuts.

So as I alluded to earlier Takeru gets quite a lot of character development, great drama and some wonderful possibilities in regards to his character. Basically this episode he gets his ass handed to him by Spectre multiple times, which takes a toll on his confidence. I really like this as it makes his character more believable, makes sure that he will keep evolving as a person and so his story will always be interesting. Furthermore it means that his initial hesitance and anxiety over the situation wasn’t solved in the first episode, thus making his character not only more realistic but also likeable since he will overcome this emotional hurdle in a well-paced way, rather than immediately.

Also, as I noted last week, the drama created from the fighting over the Eyecons is really, really good. You feel the weight of the loss Takeru has from losing Edison and as I said last week, it makes the Eyecons (and by extension the toys) more valuable and have more dramatic weight. But I think it would have been more impactful if Takeru lost Musashi, but hey we can’t get what we always want. I also really liked how Akari and Onari reacted to Takeru wondering if he is too soft. It’s great that they had differing views on how to deal with the situation with Akari trying to kindly encourage Takeru and Onari honestly saying that Takeru does have some kind of emotional weakness, but that he can overcome it. Finally I’ll just quickly mention that we get more of Alan this week and he is chalking up to be a snarky and sarcastic villain type whose allegiances are questionable which should lead to some more interesting developments.

And now for the stuff I wasn’t too hot on with the episode. The plot of the week was rather dull and uninteresting, but it’s understandable since it was just a means to an end to further the main plot. Since it really didn’t get too much in the way of stuff, I honestly don’t mind since what it allowed to occur was compelling enough. The cameo of the kid from the Kamen Rider gummy commercials was lacklustre, but hey he was playing a semi-serious role so again it’s not too bad. But what I REALLY didn’t like was the Ganma for this week. It just looks so poorly made with its outfit being too minimal, its gun looking like it was made from cardboard and the smoke or whatever it was looking cheap as well. It is an original idea and I like the concept of a mafia gangster Ganma, but it was just poorly executed.

I simply cannot stop praising the show for Spectre. Yeah he’s a pretty familiar character, but what they do with that archetype and how it affects Takeru is fantastic. I think he will be a really awesome secondary rider and rival for Takeru. Here is to Spectre and how he is much better than the movie of the same name.

#kamenrider #ghost #reviews