REVIEW: Ghost 07
With this week’s episode, the new Eyecon and Ghost, Billy the Kid, is in fact not the most important part of the plot! Rather we delve deeper into how all this all began with a reveal of not only who the mysterious man is, but that Makoto was involved from the very beginning!
So as I said, this week’s episode was far more focused on the serialised plot than any other episode prior. We learn that the Mysterious Man’s name is Saionji Chikara, he worked with Takeru’s father as a fellow Ghost Hunter and that Makoto and his sister were sucked into the Ganma’s world because of their experiments. Furthermore this week we get a glimpse of what Aran is doing with the Eyecons and that Saionji has a way of creating the Eyecons without the help of the Ganmas. So let’s unpick these huge revelations a bit. Firstly, with Saionji it’s nice to see that he has his own agenda apart from Aran’s; is he continuing Tenkuuji Ryu’s work or is he got something else up his sleeve considering the clear contempt he has for Takeru’s father? Who knows, but it’s nice to have him be more than Aran’s lackey and have some of his own motives. On top of that he has his own, but looking half completed, Ghost Driver which calls into question how those things are made. Point is this episode raised a lot of questions that I am very glad are raised.
Makoto also gets quite a lot of development this week as more of his backstory is revealed. I really appreciate how he is tied to how it all began and the hostility he has towards Takeru is born from something genuine and not contrived. On top of that, the fact that they used to be childhood friends heightens the drama of their fighting and will also lead to an even better redemption arc. It also means that the movement of Eyecons between the two, as well as Aran and Saionji, becomes all the more arresting and dramatic. As mentioned briefly before, we get a brief glimpse of what Aran is up to with the Eyecons and again it raises more questions than answering them, which is fine in all honesty; we are only on episode 7. But as far as I can tell, it probably is Javelle, the superior Ganma that was just revealed in magazine leaks, but this is just speculation.
But this isn’t the only thing that happened this week since we do get a plot/monster of the week. It wasn’t as significant as those prior considering the serial plot’s importance, but it had the perfect amount of significance as it mirrored the serial plot’s themes of old friends being distant and showcased Takeru’s new found confidence. This was expertly dramatized with the use of Musashi Soul since it seems that he uses it when he believes in himself, which adds a nice extra bit of significance to the form. But back to the plot of the week; it took Takeru’s focus away from the serial plot, but since he doesn’t know much about what’s happening there its fine to do so, thus leading to a weekly plot that is thematically significant, but isn’t so urgent that it detracts from the serial plot, which I think is the best formula for Kamen Rider.
Bizarrely this episode is a case where the two episode arc is used quite effectively, well seemingly at least. This is as the majority of the mystery in the plot of the week is solved in this episode, but the serial plot is still going and the cliff-hanger of Akari and Onari being kidnapped, as well as the Insect Ganma becoming Giant, does not seem to be easily solvable, thus not falling into the trap of having the cliff-hanger solved easily in the next episode that Kamen Rider has been plagued by before. If Ghost continues using two-parters sparingly, I think it will do quite well and hopefully indicate to future writers/producers/ what-have-you that this sort of format is far better than what they had before.
But how could I forget that Billy the Kid Soul/Eyecon debuted this week! I really enjoyed how it was introduced with Saionji creating the Eyecon himself with a character who was completely irrelevant to the plot. It meant that we could have a debut of a new form without too much friction with the rest of the plot/episode. But the only thing I feel was a bit off was that why is he making Eyecons like this now? It seems far easier than the manner in which he has been doing it before. Maybe it was because he needs to keep this particular Eyecon away from Aran? Maybe because Aran was too busy with the Insect Ganma to help with this? Or maybe it was because this particular person’s resonance with a historical figure was so large already that he didn’t need a Ganma to summon it? Who knows! It could either be another question/oddity that will be revealed soon or it could just simply be lazy writing; I hope it is the earlier.
As for Billy the Kid soul itself, I really like the design and what it does. The mostly brown design could be seen as monotonous, but the cow hide accents on the shoulders break it up quite well. On top of that the brown overall contrasts with the black undersuit better than Beethoven soul did last week. The hood is also quite charming with its semi-cowboy-hat shape and rope, the bandoliers add a nice texture to the design and the helmet design of the explosion and silhouette of a gun fit perfectly since it looks quite a lot like Ghost’s base helmet design, while still looking like the motif it is going for. As for its functionality, it does what it says on the tin: its good at shooting. I like this since it adds to the overall diversity of forms and its use of the Bat Clock and the Gan Gun Sabre is quite unique and impressive. On that note I want to mention that the combination of the Gan Gun Sabre and the Bat Clock looks and functions is really cool.
Now for just a few bits and bobs here and there. I really liked at the beginning of the episode that Takeru was training to get better; he’s taken on the fact that yes, he is good, but he needs to continue to get stronger. It’s a gain nice seeing a Kamen Rider protagonist growing and getting stronger rather than staying strong from beginning to end. The Spider Lantern having a special effect to be able to make Ganma, Takeru and so forth visible is a nice twist, but it kinda cheapens Akari’s efforts to make the Shiranui. On that note, Akari and Onari were great this episode since they really helped the plot develop and did so in an amusing manner. Finally I like the Insect Ganma as it had a great design, its powers are really interesting and it the first female (presenting) Ganma we’ve seen; I’m curious as to see what it was doing with the humans and how it will be defeated.
And so this week’s episode top last week’s by a large margin. With a heavier focus on the serial plot, a plot of the week that helped develop the said serial plot, an interesting use of the two-part episode format, a non-intrusive introduction of a new from and the development of so many characters; this episode was certainly a bullseye.
