Drive: Final Thoughts
Oct. 3rd, 2015 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameOverall, I really liked Drive. I don't think I'll have the same problem of cooling off to it over time (and possibly from watching something else that does the same elements better), the way I did with Gaim. But I did really like it.
But...I will admit it has some problems. First off is that Riku Sanjou seems to have a terrible problem with forgetting that his female characters are fucking competent. Or just otherwise derails them. Wakana's lapse into megalomania was poorly handled in W, especially right after she seemed to have done fine and wanted to escape with Philip...seriously, learning her crush was actually her long-lost brother was squicky, but it wasn't "XTREEEEEEEEEME!!!!!!" levels of squick.
In this case, it's Kiriko. She spends the first half of the series 100% on top of things. Yes, she's allowed vulnerability and trauma. But when she began to become a love interest for Shinnosuke, suddenly she was injured and kidnapped and...why? Why always her? For her character, for someone who can kick an out-of-control Rider hard enough to knock him out of henshin, it comes off as WEIRD. She was a female counterpart to Ichijou and probably the best damn cop since Hikawa and Ozawa in Agito (I count Ozawa for her superpower of programming Rider super-suits while drunk off her ass), but by the end, she wasn't doing any of what she used to. Foreshadowing my Hina endpoint analysis, I can understand a physically strong woman in a noncombative role. Example, Delenn in Babylon 5. What I don't understand is taking a woman who took extensive notes on every single ass she kicked suddenly neither kicking ass nor taking names. With no explanation of burnout or anything.
What also bothered me was the way technology would be introduced and promptly forgotten. Remember the special bullets and Rider Kick Boots that Kiriko had? Riku Sanjou sure doesn't. Or Kamen Rider Jun? That sure amounted to more than just a joke about the Chief being unable to move. Or the Pikopiko devices for the police to combat the Global Freeze? Or Kiriko taking the Signal Bikes and going to help Shinnosuke in the final battle? Or even the Eyecon? Ironically, that's the one I really liked--it's rare when they throw away the power, and Shinnosuke's entire arc this last episode was for him to learn how to be a normal cop again.
And on a sidenote, I wish Sanjou wouldn't try to tie the new seasons to his terrorist organizations. Ghost caught up in Neo Shade stuff. Same as the finale of W showing Foundation X looking into the Medals. OOO comes along the next week, and nope. Another Foundation, somehow more morally ambiguous and yet on the side of the good guys, is involved with them. And then Fourze gets tied in with Megamax and that one episode revealing Foundation X bankrolled the Zodiarts Switches. And does it amount to anything? No. Foundation X has not shown up again because...well, quite frankly, they're not that interesting. They're basically the Evil Bank of Evil, and when you've got bad guys who don't need money to do what they're doing, then there's no point in bringing them in. Hell, the fact that Sanjou created Neo Shade instead of trying to resurrect Foundation X says something about how engaging a villain organization they were. They were evil accountants with mutant powers. The rest of the evil mutants have much cooler jobs.
But overall, an enjoyable ride, and I'm curious what we'll see from our Deadpool Rider now...
But...I will admit it has some problems. First off is that Riku Sanjou seems to have a terrible problem with forgetting that his female characters are fucking competent. Or just otherwise derails them. Wakana's lapse into megalomania was poorly handled in W, especially right after she seemed to have done fine and wanted to escape with Philip...seriously, learning her crush was actually her long-lost brother was squicky, but it wasn't "XTREEEEEEEEEME!!!!!!" levels of squick.
In this case, it's Kiriko. She spends the first half of the series 100% on top of things. Yes, she's allowed vulnerability and trauma. But when she began to become a love interest for Shinnosuke, suddenly she was injured and kidnapped and...why? Why always her? For her character, for someone who can kick an out-of-control Rider hard enough to knock him out of henshin, it comes off as WEIRD. She was a female counterpart to Ichijou and probably the best damn cop since Hikawa and Ozawa in Agito (I count Ozawa for her superpower of programming Rider super-suits while drunk off her ass), but by the end, she wasn't doing any of what she used to. Foreshadowing my Hina endpoint analysis, I can understand a physically strong woman in a noncombative role. Example, Delenn in Babylon 5. What I don't understand is taking a woman who took extensive notes on every single ass she kicked suddenly neither kicking ass nor taking names. With no explanation of burnout or anything.
What also bothered me was the way technology would be introduced and promptly forgotten. Remember the special bullets and Rider Kick Boots that Kiriko had? Riku Sanjou sure doesn't. Or Kamen Rider Jun? That sure amounted to more than just a joke about the Chief being unable to move. Or the Pikopiko devices for the police to combat the Global Freeze? Or Kiriko taking the Signal Bikes and going to help Shinnosuke in the final battle? Or even the Eyecon? Ironically, that's the one I really liked--it's rare when they throw away the power, and Shinnosuke's entire arc this last episode was for him to learn how to be a normal cop again.
And on a sidenote, I wish Sanjou wouldn't try to tie the new seasons to his terrorist organizations. Ghost caught up in Neo Shade stuff. Same as the finale of W showing Foundation X looking into the Medals. OOO comes along the next week, and nope. Another Foundation, somehow more morally ambiguous and yet on the side of the good guys, is involved with them. And then Fourze gets tied in with Megamax and that one episode revealing Foundation X bankrolled the Zodiarts Switches. And does it amount to anything? No. Foundation X has not shown up again because...well, quite frankly, they're not that interesting. They're basically the Evil Bank of Evil, and when you've got bad guys who don't need money to do what they're doing, then there's no point in bringing them in. Hell, the fact that Sanjou created Neo Shade instead of trying to resurrect Foundation X says something about how engaging a villain organization they were. They were evil accountants with mutant powers. The rest of the evil mutants have much cooler jobs.
But overall, an enjoyable ride, and I'm curious what we'll see from our Deadpool Rider now...