REVIEW: Ghost 14
And so with this week’s episode, we conclude the Ryoma Eyecon arc of Ghost. Was it good? Not especially. Was it bad? Not really that either. It sure as hell wasn’t as compelling as the Boost Eyecon episode, but it didn’t fall to the lows of the Billy the Kid arc either. It does have some interesting aspects to it, but it doesn’t focus on them enough. The story with Nagamasa’s is indeed interesting, but it feels shoehorned in and doesn’t gel as well into the overarching plot like the Benkei arc did. This isn’t necessarily a bad episode/arc, but it’s not a great one either.
So I think the biggest thing I have against this episode and arc is the development of Takeru. I understand what they were trying to do with him, giving him the will to protect dreams of others is a noble and great thing for him to do, and do like it a lot. But it’s never really mentioned anywhere else but at the end of the episode. It would’ve been a fantastic bit of character development for him, but instead it’s just glossed over and quickly rushed away. Now I think this happened because of the storyline with Nagamasa and his father. They spent so much time dealing with that admittedly interesting story that Takeru got side-lined and his development put on the back-burner and solved with one line of dialogue.
What’s even worse is that it’s tied so directly into him unlocking Ryoma Soul. It makes the gaining of the new form feel cheap and un-earnt since again, it took a single line of dialogue for Takeru to earn Ryoma’s trust. It would’ve been a fantastic idea and plotline for Takeru and a great way to introduce Ryoma soul, but it was side-lined by Nagamasa’s story. I would’ve preferred that they give Takeru dwelling on his dreams or lack-of them a bit more before concluding this development. Maybe a scene where he really thinks about Nagamasa’s dream and how he doesn’t have one, or have Ryoma berate him a bit more about not having his own dream. It was such a missed opportunity.
However I will give credit where credit is due for an interesting in concept way of gaining a new form. I liked that Takeru needed to make a personal connection himself with Ryoma to earn this new form. The more cynical may say that it’s a re-hash of the gaining of Eyecons storyline, but I like to see it as an evolution and next step to it. It makes the Eyecons even more personal to Takeru, thus adding more emotional significance to them, which not only allows for more dramatic potential in the gaining/losing of them, but it also makes the toys even more valuable. In addition to this, I want to stress again how much I like that the Eyecons are getting some character into them. I love this addition to the lore since it raises the importance of the Eyecons further by making us care for them since they aren’t just inanimate objects now; they are thinking and feeling souls who have motivations and wants and so forth. I think people will lean towards certain Eyecons now, if they all do get some character, thus investing us further in those ones we like.
Yet what about the Ryoma Soul form itself? Well in short it’s fantastic. As I said last week, I love how the extra forms for Boost have a long coat, which firstly differentiates them from the rest of the forms, but also makes them look far more regal and epic. I also love the complementing contrast of the white and light blue of the Ryoma Parka Ghost and the Boost transient form. The fact that the parka looks like a Kimono is also fantastic. The black ships as shoulder pads are also a nice touch, tying into either Matthew Perry’s opening of Japan or Sakamoto Ryoma’s creation of the modern Japanese navy; either way it’s a nice historical Easter egg for the form. The face plate of an eastern-Asian dragon may seem superficial, but it’s a cute pun on Sakamoto Ryoma’s name which includes the kanji for dragon within its spelling, thus justifying a cool mask with a small pun. Powers wise, Ryoma Soul is a good swordsman, thus reflecting Sakamoto Ryoma’s samurai upbringing.
I can also now talk about the Sunglassher since we’ve seen all of its powers with this episode. I personally love the weapon. It is so silly and over the top that I just have to love it. It also fits quite nicely into the overall flame motif of Boost so it fits in well. On top of that the giant sunglasses are an interesting use of the eye motif of the show in general and allows for a great pun with the ‘Mega Bright’ jingle (Mega, if said in Japanese can mean “My eyes are”). Its functionality is quite limited, only being a gun and sword, but it summons flames which is pretty cool so I can give it a free pass with that. In short I think it’s a weapon that’s fitting for Boost, it’s not super amazing, but it does what it needs to do.
Apart from all that mess, we surprisingly got a few drips and drabs of character moments for Aran and Makoto this week as well. With Aran we are slowly seeing his resentment towards Makoto for changing, Takeru for changing Makoto and his brother for not telling him anything. Now that we do know that Aran is indeed Necrom, I can only guess and hope that he takes all this resentment and when he becomes a Kamen Rider, becoming a free agent who wreaks havoc upon pretty much everyone since they have all wronged him. I really like the idea of an anti-hero/Villain Kamen Rider nowadays fighting not for some grand scheme, but for deep and justified personal reasons against everyone. Hopefully Aran will get what he wants and maybe he will get a redemption arc later on, but it would be also nice to see him stay as an antagonist for the whole run of the show; it’d be something new.
As for Makoto, we are defiantly seeing the seeds of an inferiority complex within him, which will hopefully be paid off. Since Takeru has, in Makoto’s words, surpassed him, he has been quite disturbed by the fact that he was not able to save his own sister and that Takeru has overpowered him. It doesn’t seem to come from any spiteful place, he genuinely is grateful for his sister’s return. But now that he doesn’t have an ultimate goal, he has no reason to fight. To me, this episode is sowing the seeds for Makoto to redeem himself completely via a devotion to protecting others, with his decision to save Onari and Shibuya signposting this development. I’m really enjoying this slow burn of a development for him. It seems more realistic and allows for a better pay off since we’ve been see him work so hard towards it. In fact, judging from the toy release schedules leaked, I think him gaining Houdini is not going to be the end to his story arc, which is really nice considering the treatment of Secondary Riders in the neo-heisei era: wrapping up their character arcs quickly and tossing them aside.
So yeah, this episode, and its associated arc, was somewhat mediocre and not too relevant to the overall plot of the show. That’s not too much of a disappointment since it is going to be sandwiched between episodes that are quite significant to the development of not only the characters, but also the main plot, so it is kind of forgivable that this was a middling episode. So this week’s episode is definitely worth a watch, just that it’s just passable and not amazing.
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