REVIEW: Amazons 01
So, here we are. First episode of this weird as experiment from Toei called Kamen Rider Amazons. Is it a sequel? No, not as far as I can tell since it doesn’t have any returning characters. Is it a remake? Again, not as far as I can tell because it doesn’t have the same premise as the original 1975-1975 series. I can assume that it is some kind of re-imagining of the show with some call backs to the original show as well as being more visceral in tone than more recent series. Is it good? Well, let us go on the hunt for the answer to that question.
The basic premise of the programme is that in this modern city is terrorised in secret by monsters called ‘Amazonz’ which seem to be humans which have been experimented on by the Nozoma Pharmacy Corporation. Because of these monsters, the company have created an elite group of, well, hunters called Nozoma Peston Service who track down and eliminate the Amazonz. Our two Kamen Riders on the other hand are completely unrelated to this group; Kamen Rider Amazon Omega/ Haruka Mizusawa is the adopted son of the head of Nozoma Pharmacy and is an Amazonz himself. On the other hand Kamen Rider Amazon Alpha/Jin Takayama has no relation to either groups as of the first episode.
And that’s all we know as of the first episode and from the trailers. Honestly, I quiet like this premise. It goes back to the original Kamen Rider’s horror based roots and link to secrecy and hidden organizations; but at the same time updating it to reflect our modern fears of ultra-capitalist corporations who have no qualms about putting the public in danger to either experiment, gain a profit or both. Furthermore, it lends a lot of realism to the series, again bringing it back to its science fiction roots. However, I certainly hope it doesn’t just devolve into an edgy mess like Kamen Rider Shin or the Kamen Rider remake films, because they had similar realistic premises/tones and general aesthetics.
But what about the plot of the episode itself? Well that turned out quite good as well! By ditching the restriction of 22 minute runtimes, the episode progresses at a slower and more focused pace. There are still scenes of rapid action, but we get plenty of quiet moments to recover and contemplate the events. Furthermore, with the smaller number of episodes overall, I get the sense that the writers are more focused without the need to create filler since they have less episodes, thus must have a tighter story. This means that for this episode, everything feels more relevant and important.
This lengthier runtime also allows for the moments of tension and fear to really sink in and get the right amount of time, thus really adding to the story of the episode. Having the first third/12 minutes of the episode dedicated to the first hunt of the programme was also a great touch since it again raised tension and allowed for the action to breathe and get enough time. Although clichéd, leaving the first henshin to the very end was also another great choice, especially since Amazon Omega has not transformed into his rider state yet, with the episode closing on Haruka transforming into his Amazonz state.
Speaking of Haruka, despite being a bit of a repeat of Wataru from Kiva, I quite like the character. He likeable and his personal storyline seems quite interesting, that of a shut-in who turns out to be a monster who must now reclaim his humanity. It’s a compelling plot and I look forward to it playing out. Within the episode itself, his introduction was done quite well with us seeing how sparse his life and surroundings are in an extended look at his daily rituals.
Jin on the other hand, despite being overall an interesting counterpart to Haruka as he is ‘wilder’ persay, has a pretty minor role in this first episode. We see glimpses of him throughout the episode and all we know about him is that he is Amazon Alpha and that he is spying on Nozoma Pharmacy and Peston Service, but apart from that not much. I think that he will become more interesting as the episodes continue and sets up a nice contrast and theme with Haruka: that of Amazon being cultivated as he is a Rider, but also playing with his wild side as well, since he is the most beastly out of all the riders. I certainly hope they continue with this theme of wildness versus being civilized.
But this isn’t a novel and a look at Amazons’ aesthetics and action is long overdue. Aesthetically, I feel it indeed follows the remake Kamen Rider movies from a few years back: extremely low contrast, grey/dark green colour correction, gore and overall looks like a J-Horror film from the mid to late 2000’s. This necessarily isn’t a bad thing because tonally it fits and we haven’t had any Toei Tokusatsu look like this in a long time. The editing of the show also are quite different from recent Toei Tokusatsu as it feels much slower and deliberate, holding onto shots for longer than most recent Super Sentai and Kamen Rider shows do.
This is also reflected within the action which, although still quite speedy, isn’t edited in the quick manner that the two Sunday morning shows are done, thus feeling more visceral, which the gore certainly helps in conveying. The actual framing of the shots themselves look very different and more mature. There are far more different angles than a simple straight on medium shot, we get more long shots to soak in scenes and we get far more extreme close ups of objects as well. However it still does look like a typical Toei production with the usual digital cameras and overall urban locales used. I’m sure it won’t be too long before we see the usual Toei sets that are always used in their productions.
So what’s the final verdict? Well I enjoyed this first outing into the world of Amazons. It has an original premise that feels like a nice update of the base ideas of Kamen Rider, its paced really well, it doesn’t feel rushed, the action is new and refreshing, it has more than enough call-backs to the original Amazon series, but isn’t bogged down by it and is genuinely trying something new rather than an easy remake. The only fear/criticism I have is that the gore/dark tone will be over utilised and be edgy for edginess’s sake and become overly gritty and so lose some of the charm of Kamen Rider. But for now, I think it’s good and definitely worth a watch if you aren’t enjoying the more kid focused Toei Tokusatsu that is airing currently. Let’s hope that this hunt continues to be successful.
