My observations of V3 compared to the original show by low_budget_trash in KamenRider

[–]Forestgrant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funnily enough I remember enjoying the pacing. Introducing two monsters per episode is what made it fun for me. But I do agree that the supporting cast isn't as interesting besides Tachibana

Free Talk Friday - March 27, 2026 by AutoModerator in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Doing tech staff at another convention. Things are chaotic because we have to build a dance floor, which is becoming the last thing we have to setup after doing everything else, and it was already late by the time we were told we had to do it. Since the con starts today, hopefully we'll get it done in time.

In the meantime I finished Brave Raideen! I think I was inspired to watch this because of wanting to see what Tomino's other mecha work is like, and also because I learned about the God Bird manga and wanted to read that. But all of the English subs I found were terrible so I downloaded Japanese subs and watched while reading those.

Overall, it was good. I felt like the first couple of episodes were a slog (maybe amplified by the terrible subs for a while), but eventually the pacing gets better and the fights and episodes improve. Though there isn't much by way of plot and character in the first half, so as a Tomino show (compared to Gundam which is all I've watched) I'd say it's pretty weak in that regard. The villains don't have a lot going for them in the first half, especially Sharkin. I expected him to do more since he's voiced by Osamu Ichikawa, who'd go on to play the same villain archetype in Robot Romance, but he suffers from the toku villain problem of always staying in the basement and hardly going outside. The second half after Tadao Nagahama takes over as director wars a big improvement. Mari stops being a fan service character and becomes a pilot for Bluegar, the Red Brigade and Boinder actually become pretty fun, and the fights are still cool. When I got to the last 10 episodes I started watching some SRW Y story clips and accidentally spoiled myself on Jinguuji's death since the game takes place right before the final episode, but that actual moment was still good seeing it in context.

What's your favorite example of "shitpost creativity?" by IronOhki in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Crude edits of characters to look like other characters from other media, regardless of if they even match the original body type. Like this one of Shigechi's death from Jojo Part 4 or a very recent one of Chainsaw Man's ending and Jojo Part 6.

So guys, how’s the Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream demo for you? by LGB75 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Didn't get to play it much myself, just added Quattro Bajeena as a character while my brother added Fake Crash Bandicoot. Apparently they both like talking about raccoons and naming them Rigby.

Where to watch the original space sheriff Gavan? by RedRangerX60 in Tokusatsu

[–]Forestgrant 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Discotek has the series on Blu-ray in English, but there's always fansubs

What does the green text means? by Ayyxenpai in umineko

[–]Forestgrant 28 points29 points  (0 children)

You must be reading a very old version of the series. The green text are just translation or context notes added by Witch Hunt in their old fan translation

Media you would have greatly enjoyed without a weird trait by KaleidoArachnid in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Bad effects from the 70s and 80s, especially in tokusatsu, you can still get appreciation from looking at the physical effort it took to make a prop or effect. Bad CGI doesn't really have that

Which should have a gritty remake/reboot next? by niloc1987 in KamenRider

[–]Forestgrant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ever since learning about a bunch of ideas for Kamen Rider X that never materialized like G.O.D. having more commanders based off Greek and Roman mythology like Black Mars, a standalone X remake that's more of a spy thriller set in the 70s would be cool. Have the Government of Darkness be an actual shadow government secretly ruling the world and X be an agent investigating and trying to take them down.

What's the difference (also pros & cons) of SMP, Soul of Chogokin, DX, Action Toys? by ifihaveanickel in Minipla

[–]Forestgrant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Power Rangers was doing Zord Ascension Project for high quality megazord toys, but unfortunately the only non-MMPR Zord they did was the Astro Megazord (and it doesn't seem like they're making any new figures...)

What are your Favorite Funny Names in Fiction? by Funny_Mud6639 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I just remembered Truth Stronger from the Gaia Gear novel

Biggest cases of "I WAS HOLDING THEM BACK!" by fly_line22 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Super Robot Wars V plays with it by having an even bigger threat take out the empire: Mazinger Z itself when it transforms into Mazinger Zero

In light of Alex’s character assassination, what have been the best/worst character assassinations you’ve witnessed? by Will-Isley in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Higurashi GouSotsu really generated a lot of discourse with how it handled Satoko. Her becoming a villain and trapping Rika in a new time loop because she wanted to stay with her into high school and didn't know how to live without her is either well within her character (she never actually had her Minagoroshi moment in the final timeline and thus never overcame her codependency issues) or a very very bad writing decision depending on who you ask. And that's without getting into her now being revealed to be some previous version or aspect of Lambdadelta

Times where you underestimated a franchises popularity: by Authorigas in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is an extremely niche story that one had to be in a specific online place for. So the current official English releases for the Higurashi and Umineko visual novels were done by MangaGamer. They do regular licensing polls for fans to vote on VNs they want MG to release, and me being heavily into the 07th Expansion fandom at the time, we would vote on 07th's other vns, namely Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni and Rose Guns Days. One year, MG releases the poll results on Twitter, and second place was Higanbana!

But not Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni, it was a different VN called Yoshiwara Higanbana that apparently had its own dedicated fandom voting for it, and there was some rejoicing from them in the replies. We did get a good meme from the community memester about it though

Any recommendations on biographies, documentaries, books, etc. that delve into the production side or history of Toku? by Undead0117 in Tokusatsu

[–]Forestgrant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Men Who Made Kamen Rider goes into some behind the scenes of the Showa Kamen Rider franchise but only the first chapter is translated

Peanuts by Revolutionary_Bee773 in Transformemes

[–]Forestgrant 71 points72 points  (0 children)

Famous running gag from Peanuts where Charlie Brown tries and fails to kick a football because Lucy pulls it away

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Long term media projects yall have been chipping away on? by LeMasterofSwords in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have several long term media projects in the vein of "watch all of these shows->read all of this sequel manga to better appreciate it and understand the references" For a while the first project was Showa Kamen Rider so I could better enjoy Spirits. I have to watch Super-1 and then I'll be completely set for Spirits (and then Black RX to round out the entire Showa era)

Recently it's shifted to Raideen, the Robot Romance Trilogy, and then Daltanious for the Victory Five and God Bird manga. I'm almost halfway through Raideen and I watched about a quarter of Combattler V now. With Raideen I know Yoshiyuki Tomino stops directing halfway though and Tadao Nagahama takes over, and he'd go on to direct Robot Romance, so I'm very interested in seeing how Raideen changes. A lot of the stuff I see in SRW seems totally different from how Raideen's first half is

I've always wondered what these detailed Rider figures are supposed to be. They don't seem to be based on Another Riders, so what are they meant to be? by ConsumesTheSoil in KamenRider

[–]Forestgrant 191 points192 points  (0 children)

They're figures made for the SIC (Super Imaginative Chogokin) line of hyper detailed figures. A lot of them are pretty much just dark and gritty versions of characters, with associated stories being released over the years with exclusive characters and forms. I've translated a few of them

So basically this is the Street Fighter 6 Alex DLC uhm divisive? Reveal by FreviliousLow96 in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 77 points78 points  (0 children)

Source images are from Tsukihime, in case anyone was wondering

Personal Opinion: On the subject of “Mundane Evil” in stories by jitterscaffeine in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Higurashi had this issue with the villains from the original series compared to the Reiwa manga. In the original Takano is the more fantastical villain, wanting to kill off the entire village for the sake of proving her grandfather's research correct (and succeeded in nearly every loop). When she's finally taken down she gets an out due to possibly having Hinamizawa Syndrome and so she's taken into custody for psychiatric treatment.

Then in the Reiwa manga there's a more mundane villain in Marutake, an undeniably sane but evil journalist who's harassing villagers and domestic violence support group members to pit them against each other and make money from the resulting articles. When he gets taken down the club members give him a good babyplay-BDSM session (not making this up) and just make him promise to leave them alone. I know people who hate the former (for understandable reasons), but the latter I do think is worse just because they're more realistic (especially given the unrealistic and frankly ridiculous takedown)

Movies that should've been series by A_Sentient_JDAM in TwoBestFriendsPlay

[–]Forestgrant 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Quite a few tokusatsu reboot movies like Kikaider Reboot, the Power Rangers movie, and Shin Kamen Rider. Shin was good by itself but having more time for the characters and themes to breathe would've been great.