Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: FUUTO PI
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2255 Location: Online Terminal |
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I get the nature of modern storytelling possibly making this a slower burn, but on the bright side, it lets the story breathe a little and is another way to cause us olds to recalibrate our expectations. I also get the logic of Sho and Philip's little tiff and the "turning in my weapon" moment, Philip's cold spoiler[dead] analytics will want to veto what Sho's heartfelt intuition is saying.
Right now I don't mind. If we only get 4 or 5 cases this cour instead of 6, that's fine if it lets the story build. It's already clear there's a more complex central mystery than "drug dealing mafia" and it looks like the individual cases are likely going to have more meat on the bone as well. The hype is still there. |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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I just caught up with this, and while I'm not familiar with the franchise or the live action show, as an enjoyer of buddy shows that don't take themselves very seriously, I really really really want to love Fuuto P.I... But somehow it's just not clicking. I'm not sure why, the world design is fine (love the city!), the visuals are fine, the music is fine and I looove the ending song, the characters are fine, the story is, well, there (this was obviously just an intro arc, also this is not the kind of show where I expect a very serious story), and yet I'm just not really feeling it.
I think it's something to do with the acting? Uchiyama Kouki doesn't seem like a good choice for Philip, he's so one note, kind of lifeless, I'm not even sure what to make of his character. It's like he thinks he's in a different show than everyone else. Which also results in there being no chemistry whatsoever between him and Hosoya so far, which is a problem since they're supposed to be the heart of the story. There's no spark, no give-and-take when they're talking to one another, it's like they're in different dimensions. (Compare this buddy pair with say, Hirata Hiroaki and Morita Masakazu in Tiger & Bunny, or Mikami Satoshi and Amasaki Kouhei in Double Decker... It makes me wonder if Hosoya and Uchiyama even recorded their lines together.) Also, I can't say I appreciate the ample focus on Tokime's ample assets, but I guess they needed that for no homo reasons. Anyway, it's not like I'm watching anything else other than Shadow House, so I'll stick with the show for the time being. Maybe it'll be better now that the intro arc is out of the way. |
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chudmaru
Posts: 55 |
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Kamen Rider, especially during the Neo-Heisei era, had a lot of decompressed storytelling. Rather than monster-of-the-week it's a monster-of-the-every-other-week show with everything being a two-parter.
Toku generally love to throw in fanservice for the older guys watching. Although as far as W went I only really remember Akiko's short shorts being the focus. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 11138 |
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Jumping straight to the Kamen Rider action! And it looked phenomenal! Not only did they pull off W beating the @#$% out of bad guys, but they even managed to make the form changes look as seamless and as cool as ever.
Oh yeah, a new version of W-B-X playing during a bike scene and Rider Kick Finisher was amazing. I had a grin plastered on my face the entire time. Too bad Chuta was so pathetic that he couldn't even get a proper fight scene as the Toadstool Dopant. Dude made Shotaro cry. I'm less shocked that Tokime still needed to face justice for her crimes as I am that she not only seems to have genuinely fallen for Shotaro and kissed him full on the lips...and she's sticking around! Ordinarily Tokime would've been in jail for the foreseeable future, but now she's officially joined the Narumi Detective Agency and is already trying to move in with Shotaro. It'll be interesting to see how her relationship with Shotaro progresses as they unwind the mystery of her amnesia. It's nice to see a girl who appreciates how half-boiled he is. Can't wait until Terui finally shows up. |
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AspiringShoulder
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You have no idea how funny this is to me. 
In any case, damn they pulled out WBX pretty quickly huh? Glad to see Shotaro and Philip in anime form: the Symphogear guys definitely know how to translate toku action into anime action well. I'm personally looking forward to exploring more of Shadow Fuuto and the new Dopants. |
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AmuroNT1
Posts: 106 |
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ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH Just had to go and pick THAT scab off, didn't ya?
To play Devil's Advocate here, Philip's character is absolutely the logical, analytical "Vulcan" type in order to balance out Shotaro being overly emotional and hot-blooded. Uchiyama's performance isn't too far off from the one Masaki Suda gave in the original series; as a fan, it's still a little distracting to hear a new voice coming out of a character you've known about for over a decade. That said, Philip does have his emotional moments, mainly when he gets super-interested in some subject or another; Heaven's Tornado, anyone?
Oh trust me, there's plenty of what TV Tropes calls "Ho Yay" in Kamen Rider due to the cast generally having a 2:1 ratio of males to females. Shotaro and Philip are probably the most popular shipping item in the franchise, and that's even discounting cases like Decade, where the actor who played the rival Diend outright said that he played the character as if he was in love with Decade. |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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See, that's what I'm not getting from his acting. That is, I understand that he and Shoutarou are meant to be foils and opposites, but that balance you mention, is not getting across. It's not that he's emotionless and analytical, it's just that... see, I mentioned the Tiger & Bunny and Double Decker pairs because those have similar dynamics to Shoutarou and Philip, and you can feel it right off the fly, the seiyuu have good chemistry, their dialogue has great dynamics and rhythm. Here, it's like the characters are not even in the same room, which is all the worse when they're actually sharing the same body. This is not the first time I'm having this issue with Uchiyama being flat and kind of lifeless and sort of disconnected, even though I know for a fact that he's not a bad seiyuu, so I wonder if he's just not connecting with the role. Anyway, here's hoping he'll improve as the show goes on, because I really really want to like this anime. (Well, I do like it, just not as much as I want to.  )
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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Been a few years since I logged in (or, really, watched much of anything with any regularity), but leave it to W to bring me back...
What I wanted to say, though, is that the song in Episode 3 was not "W-B-X ~W Boiled Extreme". It's "W-G-X ~W Goes Next~", which is a new song with the same music. Quite a few of the lines in the chorus are the same, but the rest of the lyrics are new and different. And yes, it's already on Spotify if you'd like to add it to your playlist (already done for me!) |
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MFrontier
Posts: 11138 |
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Philip and Tokime butting heads felt as much because of their similarities as it does the fact that it's Shotaro's partner and (potential) girlfriend having it out.
This is definitely the most boobs I have ever seen in a Kamen Rider production. You know this is from the Symphogear team when they can deliver on the action as much as they can the idol performances. Thank you Aurora Dopant for helpfully describing W's forms and teasing FangJoker and Extreme. |
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Joe Mello
Posts: 2255 Location: Online Terminal |
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That's probably true, but there's enough within the story to justify it. I expect the resolution would be to once again show that Philip's strengths (being smart) has some weaknesses (prone to fixation) and Sho's weaknesses (being a goober) have strengths (empathy) and that they're a two-in-one detective, you guys! That being said, and also despite the plot feeling like an episode 5 of a year-long toku series, the level of creativity and "extra" on display made me think this was the best episode to date. |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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OK, this was fun, seems like the show is finally finding its footing! I'm still meh on Uchiyama Kouki's acting as Philip, and bleh on the boobage of it all, but at least Tokime seems to have a real personality now, and her feud with Philip was actually funny. I also like how the episode didn't have a problem with flowing back and forth from light-hearted to campy to dramatic (something that the first three episodes weren't doing a great job with), and even the boobily boobing was framed in a comedic light so it wasn't as jarring. I look forward to the next episode now!
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zztop
Posts: 645 |
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According to some discussions on other forums, Kamen Rider's direction style has been becoming more and more like live-action anime starting with W and later titles, like Den-O and Ryuki. |
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Dessa
Posts: 4438 |
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How can Den-O and Ryuki be "later titles" from W, when they came out first? Also, I'm expecting FangJoker next week. My wish would be to see other of the potential Fang forms (although, yes, I know it was stated that Joker being the wild card is the only one strong enough to control Fang, Philip is also a lot stronger than he was back then, too). My dream is to see Cyclone. |
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AmuroNT1
Posts: 106 |
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Honestly, this is one of the points I use to try and sell Kamen Rider to friends: the sheer number of anime-related writers and directors who are involved in its production. Besides the obvious and well-known example of Gen Urobuchi helming Gaim, you have examples like Gurren Lagann's Kazuki Nakashima writing Fourze and super-prominent anime writer Yasuko Kobayashi helming Den-O and OOO. If one is willing to get past the "Eww, this looks like Power Rangers!" squeamishness that so many seem to have, Kamen Rider really is just a live-action anime. On the episode itself, Philip and Tokime's squabble might ironically give a shot in the arm to long-standing fans of the Shotaro/Philip ship: the two of them are very similar, and Shotaro is clearly attracted to Tokime, therefore... But of course, it's still funny to consider that Kamen Rider has a not-insignificant amount of fujoshi in the fandom, despite the fact that practically every woman who appears is played by a beautiful idol singer, bikini model, or the like. On the other hand, the yuri fans finally got thrown a bone with spoiler[Sakura's friends-or-maybe-more relationship with Hana/Aguilera in Revice]. While Aurora's little info dump on Double's forms does come off as a bit toyetic, it raises another point to long-time Rider fans. Double kicked off of the trend of "belt plus add-on trinkets" that would become the hallmark of the franchise from then on; in hindsight, Double is actually relatively restrained, starting the show with his 9 basic forms and only gaining two more by the end. Were Double made today, they'd probably be purifying every defeated Dopant's Memory and gaining new forms every couple of weeks. Personally, I remember being pretty bummed out when a picture claiming that Double would get a Nasca-based form turned out to be a photoshop. |
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zztop
Posts: 645 |
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My mistake, I should have said other titles. |
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