Forum - View topicRide Back (TV).
|
Goto page Previous Next |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
jel123
Posts: 108 |
|
|||||
|
Wow.
A lot happened in ep 07!
On the lighter side it looks like Hishida and Shoko spoiler[are getting closer]. A little confused about Okakura spoiler[(Lieutenant Goblin;-) He wipes his hard drive then goes out and assaults Romanov's men (shooting one in the legs! - Okakura is truly bad ass). Then the BMA kidnaps him - with the GGP trailing them?!] What side is he on? Has Romanov decided to spoiler[kill Okakura "...Goblin is already dead..." once he is used to lead them to the BMA]? What is Tamayo going to do withspoiler[ Fuego? Deliver it to Rin or pretend to be Rin to draw the GGP away?] This is some pretty awesome stuff, can't wait to see where it is all heading! |
||||||
|
||||||
Kruszer
 Posts: 7985 Location: Minnesota, USA |
|
|||||
|
Lots of progress with the story, indeed. That spoiler[torture scene by the GGP where they forced a false confession out of him to cover up the fact they killed a suspect] really pissed me off. I don't understand why Rin wasn't furious at having to watch that.
I'm really looking for some payback for that one. 
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
jel123
Posts: 108 |
|
|||||
|
Well, Ep. 08 was certainly a wild ride!
Hard to tell who to root for; the BMA is just as bad as the GGP. Really, luring soldiers into a building and then spoiler[blowing it up] is rather cold and calculating. Even if they do see it as a "war". And is this even about BMA vs. GGP or is it a personal pissing match between spoiler[former members of the "Arizona Campaign"]? The interaction of spoiler[Kiefer and Romanov] kind of suggests the later. It will be interesting to find out what had happened in Arizona ten years ago. We know they assaulted and took over spoiler[an ICBM silo]. Afterward there was some kind of disciplinary action taken against those involved and the whole incident never allowed into the history books. Then there is the image of a mushroom cloud, was that cause or effect? Not sure what to make of the "dance" between Rin and Kiefer. It was definitely well done. But it was a little rude of him to leave Rin sitting there spacing in the middle spoiler[of a battle. Even if she wasn't on the front lines]  We do learn a little more about what makes certain ridebacks "special", anyway. Some sort of spoiler[AI, designed by Okakura, that can adapt to a particular rider]. Also more talk about the "light" which was reinforced by this week's release of the OP lyrics - "I found the light, was real, I am united".
A little surprised that Rin wasn't rabid to go and get her little brother out of jail. She didn't even mention him directly. Maybe next week? Only 4 more episodes to go;-( and I don't really have a clue where this is headed. They have done well so far, hopefully we won't be disappointed in the end. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Wellness
Posts: 175 |
|
|||||
|
Superb series from what I have seen so far.
I really wanted to save this series for myself, so after watching the first episode I left it alone for weeks. But about last saturday, I watched the second episode and I think I have watched an episode a day until yesterday where I burned through the rest. Now everyday is a struggle to not watch episode 8, so that I won't be freaking out waiting on the release every week. I already have Tower of Druaga for that, I don't want another series that drives me mad waiting for the new episodes. |
||||||
|
||||||
rainbowcourage
 Posts: 1216 Location: what is commonly known as "hell week" |
|
|||||
|
This series has had ups and downs with me; there's certain aspects of it I really like, and other things I strongly dislike.
The music is great, and I think the concept is original. A couple original twists (such as Rin being a ballerina) have helped add a sense of realism. The action is excellent, and I like having the shonen genre turned on its head and having a girl protagonist instead of a boy. On the other hand, I'm constantly frustrated by the potential the series has, and how it falls short of my expectations. There have been too many dull characters introduced in such a short span of episodes for the series to handle, and we spend meaningless time on the antics of characters we neither like nor care about when that time could be devoted to character development for interesting characters i.e. Rin. The military operations often come off as juvenile, as does the amount of information the journalist can get her hands on (if we had a more proper explanation for it, it would be much more realistic-but how about you try being a freelance journalist with zero professional connections and let me know how it goes.) A lot of the exposition is poorly done or cluttered with unnecessary details. And when Rin and Kiefer start spoiler[talking about the light, and Rin started having visions, I just rolled my eyes.] Why waste time on Shouko, Cheerleader girl, and Kawai, who are one-dimensional and pointless? I suppose I was just hoping Rin would crystalize more quickly, but she seems to be stuck at the typical shonen stage when she can only "release her powers" at unspecified times (in this case, when she gets on a Rideback). Her personality is otherwise unchanged; it's like she needs the Rideback just to get angry. Okay, I'm going to stop ranting now since believe it or not I really do enjoy this show 
episode 8 spoiler[yay, more Kiefer! I bet the kids will be cute, he was practically MOLESTING Rin with his EYES. Ugh, that exposition by the journalist, though, was just horrible and unengaging. Of course the root of all their society's problems is a decades-old feud between ex-military-comrades who were in combat together in the desert. 
I really liked the music that played during the GGP invasion of the BMA mansion. Also, did Okakura know Rin's mom or something? Why is he so enchanted by hime-sama?] |
||||||
|
||||||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
|||||
I thought he was going to, you know, actually kiss her. Okay, I didn't think that, but he did look like he was undressing her in his mind. First I thought he was just going to be a stoic Shounen character, but now I think he is acting like a smitten young man. Oh, and I loved the part when Kiefer dropped in from the sky, literally. I wouldn't have wanted to be that commander. Squish. The most annoying character thus far is that GGP woman who is never seen without a smirk on her face. It infuriates me when she smirks for no reason. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Kruszer
Posts: 7985 Location: Minnesota, USA |
|
|||||
 Get a room already. 
Anyway, spoiler[they have like zero chemistry if you ask me, I doubt it'll happen. These two are more into their Ridebacks than each other. He's most likely interested in her for her talent and she wasn't interested at all just scared and confused.] |
||||||
|
||||||
|
jel123
Posts: 108 |
|
|||||
I think it's important to keep the early characters in the picture. It reminds you of how far removed Rin's life has become from where it was. And, yeah, Rin does almost seem to become someone else when she's on a Rideback. Maybe it's because the Rideback has spoiler[become her stage]?
They definitely want us to notice her. *WARNING: idle speculation* I suspect spoiler[she is the one who is feeding info to the BMA either because she is with them or just to destroy Romanov so she can take his job]. /speculation
Yeah, this far into the series spoiler[with no overt romance I don't think anything will happen. But who knows, the "dance" may have been their equivalent of having sex. Rin appeared oddly satisfied anyway ]
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
|||||
|
The whole "dance" bit was to get Rin enthusiastic about riding again, since she was still a bit traumatised from hurting that soldier (though I wouldn't have stopped with just making him cough blood, if you know what I mean). And yes, it did remind me a tad of courtship. Rin was blushing (I think) when he was talking to her earlier (she was still tied up at that point), perhaps from the way he was being so polite while staring at her like that. I do think they have some chemistry.
Rin has always had another side to her. In the first episode at her Ballet concert/recital she was ultra-focused and very serious, almost cold. In the race against Tamayo she, in Tamayo's words, "bared her fangs" when trying to take a corner too fast (she fell off, but still showed her aggressive side). What about Fuego? Supposedly the main "Mecha" of this series (featuring in the OP and all), yet we haven't seen it in action for four episodes. I want it back; sans the old-fashioned headlamp if possible. I do think it is kind of sad that Fuego went from being this unique and special machine to just being one of several. Having so many machines capable of letting their riders "see the light" sort of cheapens Fuego, doesn't it? Does that reporter/journalist ever change her clothes? Just wondering.
Very possible. spoiler[I think she may be in cahoots with Kiefer (his lover or something), but it may just be that she's very ambitious.] |
||||||
|
||||||
|
jel123
Posts: 108 |
|
|||||
Hadn't thought of it like that. Could be Kiefer is looking at Rin as a fellow soldier that needs some help getting "back in the saddle" (he even spells out that a rideback is like a Thoroughbred!).
Anyway episode 09; Slow paced but I suspect it's the lull before the storm. Okakura is denying that he had anything to do with the spoiler[terrorist's ridebacks.] Is he lying or does he only mean nothing to do with them recently? Could it be that the spoiler[D-Knight is using his original system that was developed 10 years ago while Fuego] is his latest and greatest? Rin didn't seem to notice any difference between the two. Then again just disabling ACS made all the difference for her with Balon during the race. What music was playing in Rin's flashback of riding through the forest fire? The beginning reminded me of "Adagio for Strings" but then it turned into something else. And why were we shown that scene, is it supposed to tie spoiler[Rin, "the light", and Fuego (Sp. fire)] together somehow? It's a little odd that she described something that would normally be terrifying as "beautiful". I'm reminded of addiction again with Rin spoiler[swearing off all ridebacks and saying sayonara to Fuego]. Somehow I don't buy it. What with it looking like the spoiler[club members] will be heading to the up coming anti-GGP rally. No doubt Rin will need to spoiler[charge to their rescue] or something along those lines. This was a good episode but hoping for more action in the future! |
||||||
|
||||||
|
dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
|
|||||
This is very true. I do like how the show spends time just showing us the cast acting as real humans would. Tamayo fishing and being all worried was a pleasant surprise, and I didn't mind too much when Shōko and Suzuri had a good old cry. The quest for realism in the setting, the plot and the characterisation - despite the admittedly absurd premise - is very welcome, a breath of fresh air in the genre. However, while I appreciate the realistic pacing and the strong focus on the characters and their emotions, I would very much like to see a decent rideback battle. You know, where they go 1-1 without any ranged weapons; that would be so awesome. And the plot too needs some more fleshing out. With three episodes left there is still enough time to have a fine conclusion, but I don't think they can afford to have another slow episode like this one was. I do have faith in the staff, and I hope to be able to celebrate a great finale at the series' conclusion. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
rainbowcourage
Posts: 1216 Location: what is commonly known as "hell week" |
|
|||||
|
episode 10
wow, I didn't think spoiler[Suzuri would actually die, though I was kind of hoping for it. Her unrelenting fangirlism towards Rin 98% of the time made her the least realistic and least likable character in the series. I am kind of pissed, however, that apparently this death is going to be Rin's "big motivation" for doing whatever crazy-ass thing she's obviously going to do before the series ends. And with only 2 episodes left, I hope it's something good, because this series seems to have lost its focus and stopped doing what it did best: action. With its realism breaking down at the seams (erm...what was the point of the protest again? The GGP were ordered to pull Suzuri over for a traffic violation and then killed her in front of a giant crowd of people? And Rin and Tamayo not even bothering to check if their friend was dead, or going into stage 1 of grief, denial, before hugging each other and crying?), Rideback continues to frustrate me. The action sequences are little bursts of brilliance, but Rin is still relying on Ridebacks for her inner strength-she needs to grow some backbone, and she only has two episodes to do it.] |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Kruszer
Posts: 7985 Location: Minnesota, USA |
|
|||||
|
Yeah, I was not expecting them to kill off spoiler[annoying fangirl, but even though she was irritating and I didn't like her, it still made me pretty angry. Once again those rotten White Ride "cops" will probabally get away with blatant excessive force and murder of a civilian. ]
spoiler[And what does Rin do? Instead of getting pissed at the right people she blames herself and Oakura again? I mean what the hell? I don't understand this girl's thought processes. ] Anyhow, still loving this show thus far. Last edited by Kruszer on Wed Mar 18, 2009 1:39 pm; edited 1 time in total |
||||||
|
||||||
|
jel123
Posts: 108 |
|
|||||
|
This really surprised me too. I like the way they presented it though; showing the reactions rather than the actual act or resulting carnage. A similar approach was used when the BMA "rescued" Rin from the police truck a few weeks ago.
Probably a minority opinion but I thought spoiler[Suzuri was a reasonable addition to the group. Not that she wasn't annoying at times, she was meant to be; in almost every group you have someone who is tolerably annoying. To me Suzuri played that role quite well. If she were another Shōko] what would be the point? Really hope this doesn't make Rin go spoiler["Mad Max". Not only would that be out of character but, with only two episodes left I don't think that's how I want to remember her]. The people at the rally, and presumably those watching on TV, all think it was the spoiler[Rideback Girl (aka Rin) that was brutally murdered]. With this becoming more of a populist movement will Rin lay low becoming a spoiler[martyr in the eyes of the people? Or does she take an active roll and appear to have been resurrected (the Immortal Rideback Shōjo)]? It will be interesting to see how they handle it. They better not pull a "spoiler[Wow, can't believe X years have already passed since Suzuri died. In the interim a lot has happened but we are at our goal now.]" type ending. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18214 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||
|
Did you notice that the "Next Episode" preview was spoiler[a silent retrospective on Suzuri (who had always partly narrated them)] rather than show actual preview clips? That leaves no hints about the directions the final two episodes will take. Clearly the set-up is for spoiler[Rin to take some kind of inspiration out of this], but given the way they've set things up, I will be very curious to see how they handle things.
I will also be curious to see how they wrap this up in a mere two episodes, since the story seems to be set up for a more gradual pace than that - and while I, too, wouldn't mind seeing more Ride Back action, I don't mind the pace. They are trying to build Rin into a role rather than just dropping her into it (as so often happens in series like this), and I respect the series for that. |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group