Kamen Rider Decade COMPLETE Review: Amazon Special

From all the Showa Era Kamen Rider Series, it still bothers some fans on the choice between Amazon. They can use ZX which is kinda like Decade of its time, except he is a ninja and no dimension walls.

Or, they can use the original Double Riders to give a good transition between old gen and new gen. Plus, it would be fun if we saw the original actors back… or if they can’t do it, have those guys for THE FIRST reprise their respective roles and use the personalities established by the original ones.

Or have V3 appear since he is also a fan fave, plus, he has a lot of fans in Hawaii! If they can't have Miyauchi back they can use his THE NE... nevermind.

But why Amazon? Here are my theories. It’s the only Showa Era series that is fully fan subbed. Second, it is the first series that changed the face of Kamen Rider forever with its Rider having a radical design and gore being introduce to the franchise, third, it is the shortest series and Decade would end up being one eventually, and lastly, Amazon is just too awesome not to place in this series!

So let’s get this review rolling! Tsukasa and co. entered a new world. In this world, Tsukasa cosplays as a baseball player. In this world, everyone greets Nazi style. Since Tsukasa and co. didn’t greet them back Nazi style, they are accused as being enemies of Dai Shocker, the organization that the group is opposing. And so, three monsters appeared, to apprehend them but someone appeared, a foreigner that wears red and gray clothes and screams, “A-MA-ZOON!” Yep, we are in Amazon’s World, now under Dai Shocker’s hands.

Unlike most worlds that were attacked by Dai Shocker, in this world, Dai Shocker has taken full control. By full control, no one questions them and the towns people knew they are the good guys. Yep, you guess it, the people cheered for the three creepy monsters than to our bug-eyed heroes. This is one great world, a very great world!

Since this is a world conquered by Dai Shocker, we learned that they are actually training goons! In this world, Dai Shocker has a school to train goons to aid the bad guys. One of those students is Masahiko Okamura, one of the best students of Dai Shocker School Due to his grades, he was asked by Apollo Geist and the Ten-Faced Demon, Llumu Qhimil to get Amazon’s Gigi Armlet, Amazon’s source of power, in short, his transformation device. For him to get his Armlet, the only way is to deceive Amazon. Will Masahiko be successful in stealing his Armlet? Will Amazon easily trust this boy? That is for you to find out.

On to the review, this is probably one of the strongest arcs in the entire series. Strong, plot wise, why? Because unlike the previous worlds with this similar theme of “this is the world were the bad guys live” as pointed out by Igadevil, this is the prefect evil world. The civilians don’t know that they are supporting the bad guys and are cheering for those who are supposed to be the villains! The concept was well executed in this arc that is why, it is worth the rewatch.

On to AU Amazon, unlike Kotaro from the previous arc, a different actor portrayed this Amazon. My problem with this Amazon is that, while calling his attacks, his voice kinda sound relaxed, and does not sound the angry jungle boy kid that most fans knew.

To those who don’t know the original series quite well, here’s some info about the show. The show can be divided into two parts, the first part is Amazon’s fight against Geddon, and the second half is his fight against Garanda Empire. In the first half, we see a much feral Amazon, this Amazon doesn’t know that his real name is Daisuke Miyamoto. Only the narrator, the audience and those close to Amazon’s parents know his real name. As the series progressed, with the help of Masahiko, he becomes more civilized, both fighting style wise and personality wise. Aside that he started wearing clothes, he slowly learns how to read, speak and in the process, write Japanese with the help of Masahiko. This is the Amazon that was presented here, a very civilized one found in the second half of the series.

I have no problems with AU civilized Amazon since most of his traits were directly lifted from the original series, the fact that he easily trusts anyone, heck, from all the Riders that Decade met, only Amazon never attacked him (Unless you consider AU Shouichi being Agito different from when he was Exceed Gills, make it two.)! Second, he still loves kids as seen with the scene with Masahiko and lastly, he travels the world, which he did at the end of the series, but unlike the original series in which he travels the world to discover more of himself, he travels the world in this AU World to find a place for him to belong. In my opinion, AU Amazon here is a mix between civilized Amazon’s personality and feral Amazon’s quest in looking for the place were he belongs.

On to Masahiko, AU Masahiko here is not likable, period. Unlike the original Masahiko in which was Amazon’s first friend in Japan, that helps Amazon if he can help him. By help, by distracting the enemy, or attack the enemy, ala Scrappy Doo with his “let me at ‘em” thing except that he already attacked the monster before he will be stopped by anyone of the supporting cast, or in the earlier episodes, become Amazon’s translator to those who had a hard time understanding him. He was only likable at the end of the arc.

For the Ten-Faced Demon here, Llumu Qhimil, I love he redesigned look! The problem with the original Ten-Faced Demon, Gorgos, is the fact that he suck at close range combat, making Amazon able to scratch at least two of his faces when they first battled. If my memory serves me correctly, his skills are: floating, spitting fire from his giant face in the middle, create monsters, drink blood and my personal favorite, each face will say “Kill Amazon.”

In this arc, I love how they redesigned him to make him look more ancient and Incan. The good mix of gold and earth colors make him looked like an authentic villain that was spawned during the ancient times. Aside from that, he had a power boost. Now he has the ability to return the attack done by the enemy Rider using his return faces! My problem with it is that, those faces never felt like faces but more of mask. Aw, I suddenly missed the fat face, the old face and the extremely old face saying this line, “*insert monster name*, kill Amazon!”

Aside from that, the redesigns of the Armlets looked good. The Gigi Armlet looked like it had more nifty details added to it, while the Gaga Armelt was completely redesigned. Aside with the gold and earth colors, they ignored the original series use of both Armlets on Amazon. In the original series, Amazon is not wearing both Armlets on both arms, instead, the Gaga Armlet is attached at the opposite end of the Gigi Armlet (Hence the “mouth thing” in the design in the Armlet). When I first saw it, all I can say is, it is so ridiculous! As I see Amazon fight while seeing the Gaga Armlet “dangling” as he slashes Emperor Zero, I can’t help to thing this thought, “Will it fall?” Luckily, it never fell down, but seeing how ridiculous it looked like, I guess they decided to fix this issue and make it look like that Amazon is wearing both Armlets.

As for the battles, Amazon’s signature impaling is still present but since this is the era with CGI, they decided to keep those fights in a certain distance. In short, in one scene in which he bites the Bakeneko, its on a distance just for us to see the blood spurting out from the creature. This is the only disappointment in this arc aside from Amazon’s lack of energy in his screams. Seriously, this arc is only two episodes! Why can’t they give older fans the gore Amazon is know for! By gore, the close-up one with blood spurting out from his enemies and limbs being removed from the enemy. Seriously, I want to see monster limbs fly out, or in the battle between Llumu Qhimil, see his head fly out from his body with blood spurting out from it! Kinda like how he killed Shin Emperor Zero at the finale of the original series!

Overall, like I said, it is one of the best arcs that this series has offered to its fans. Asides that they try their best to give an authentic Amazon to older fans (Which, I might say is passable, personality wise), they gave this world a good arc to watch. Aside from the BLACK x BLACK RX arc, Kuuga arc and Hibiki arc, this is one of my personal favorites prior the World of Rider War arc.

As Tsukasa and co. prepares for a group photo, Eijiro drops a new backdrop, it’s the World of Rider War. But first, before they ended up on that place, they went to stop over in a different world in which an old house is present and it seems this world is familiar in Tsukasa’s eyes. Yep, next up, Kamen Rider Decade: All Riders vs. Dai Shocker Director’s Cut.

Triple Change Henshin Belt Vol. 1 Review

Someone in YouTube has just uploaded a review of the Triple Change Henshin Belt Vol. 1 which features Decade, Kiva and Amazon.

... So basically, the belt just lights up, and that's it?! I mean, did they pull an effort just to give Condora a detachable part in which I would love to scream Condora on top of a 44-floored building?!

Update: Vol. 2 of this series will have V3, BLACK and Kabuto. Here's the link.

A-MA-ZON! Kamen Rider Amazon Series Review

Kamen Rider Amazon is the fourth Kamen Rider Series in the Showa era and the shortest series so far, with 24 episodes. Aside from the fact that the series “revolutionized” the franchise by its gore and the Rider itself considering that Amazon’s design is not based on an insect like the other Riders before him.

Because of a plane crash, a young Japanese baby called Daisuke Yamamoto was stuck in the Amazon Rainforest and was adopted by an Incan Tribe. Years later, he grew into a wild man and one day, the Ten-Faced Demon, Gorgos attacked the Tribe and slaughtered everyone because he is looking for the mystical armlet that would grant the user great power. 

Therefore, Elder Bago decides to do an operation that will transform Daisuke into a creature using the mystical Gigi Armlet and Incan Science and orders Daisuke to go to Japan and look for the Dr. Kousaka who will help him understand the power of the armlet. Apparently, he knows Daisuke’s parents. Elder Bago asked him to take good care of the Armlet before he breathe his last.

Daisuke sneaks inside a ship that is going to Japan. O_O Wait a minute, how did he know that the ship is going to Japan? Anyways, when he arrives to Japan, he goes looking for a scientist who can help him, and there he met Masahiko Okamura who is the first person he befriended. Because Daisuke cannot speak and only growls what he says, he gave him the name, Amazon since he knew that he came from the Amazon thanks to the scientist in which both of them are related.

The Beastman that is pursuing him, the Spider Beastman, has found Amazon and Masahiko witnessed Amazon’s transformation into a creature. Because of this, Masahiko gave him the name, Kamen Rider Amazon and Amazon Rider. At the end of the first episode, Amazon never knew the secret within his armlet because Spider Beastman killed Dr. Kousaka before Amazon learned something about his armlet.

As the series progressed, we learned the reason why the Ten-Faced Demon wants Amazon’s Gigi Armlet. The said armlet holds great power that once it combined with Gorgos’ Gaga Armlet (Which looked like the Gigi Armlet except its “nose” is inverse from the Gigi Armlet) it would grant the user of both Armlets great power and with it, the Ten-Faced Demon will use it to conquer the world. 

Aside from that, he befriended Tobei Tachibana, who he first met in a motorcycle race and forced Amazon, I mean teach him how to ride a motorcycle. Later on, he gives Amazon his personal bike, the Jungler and so far, one of Tachibana’s most vibrant work.

He later made friends with Mogura Jujin (Trans. Mole Beastman), one of Geddon’s Beastmen who first aligned with Geddon whose mission is to kill Amazon and get his armlet. However, because of his failures in killing Amazon, he was placed outside the ground and forced to die in a heat stroke but because Amazon saved him, he later aided Amazon in his various adventures and was affectionately called, Mogura by Amazon and company.

As the series progressed, Amazon slowly adapts into society and is slowly being civilized thanks to Masahiko and Ritsuko’s help who gave him his clothes. Later, with the help of Masahiko, he learns who to speak and read Japanese.

After the defeat of the Ten-Faced Demon, Gorgos and the fall of Geddon, a new organization appeared called Garanda Empire, led by the Great Emperor Zero who is focused on conquering the world unlike its predecessor. Will Amazon defeat him? That is what I want you to find out.

On to the review, I got interested with this show thanks to the YouTube clips that I found online, to be exact, those clips with Amazon killing the Beastman of the week. That is when I learned more about the series and learned the HiNoTori Fansubs in subbing the entire thing; I got the chance to watch the series. Since this series is best known in the franchise for its gore, I will start with it.

The series aired back in 1974-1975 so I didn’t expect that the effects are top-notched but during the time that a thing called CGI doesn’t exist in mainstream, the effects team need to be creative in terms of the blood spurting coming from the enemies Amazon will… err, mutilate. Due to their creativity, the effects worked and it really created a huge impression that Amazon is a wild man coming from the depths of the Amazon Rainforest and martial arts is not in his field. Because of its gore, moral guardians have problems with this show considering that Kamen Rider is a superhero show and kids admire superheroes.

About Amazon, in the earlier episodes, Amazon usually growls, giving people a hard time in understanding him. There is one episode that Amazon got lost in the city, like what most people would describe it; an urban jungle. With him being lost in this “jungle” he hard time in understanding his fellow humans that in some point, he almost hated the humans he must protect. One thing that I loved about Amazon is that he is a child who was suddenly forced to learn the ways of the world in a hard way considering that he never got the chance to learn how to speak and the only way for others to understand him is by a hand sign that means, “Friendship.” That is the charm of the series.

A fun factor about the series is that as Amazon slowly becomes “civilize,” his fighting style evolves. First, his fighting style involves him jumping the enemy, biting the hell out from his opponent and involves fewer fists, more grunts and slashing. But as the series progressed, his fighting style evolves. Not only he does his usual tactic to jump, bite and attack, he finally involves more use of his fist and uses more his own style of attacking his opponent. Along with it, he started calling his slash finisher as Dai Setsudan (Trans. Big Slice) and later his kick, Amazon Kick. 

Since he is the first Rider whose design is not based on an insect, I would comment on that. Because of his radical design, earlier in the series only a couple of beings trusted him, the first one who trusted him was Masahiko, later Tobei and later, those people who saved him. Ritsuko was the last from the core cast who trusted him because according to her, it is Amazon’s fault that Geddon came in Japan because of his armlet. After Amazon saved her, she trusted Amazon. And in theory, that is the point that the Amazon’s World Arc in Kamen Rider Decade that they worked on with and added modern flavor on it.

In addition, I love the fact that you can keep on guessing which creature Amazon was based. Based on my research, he was based on a chameleon but his fangs gave him an impression that his head more looks like of that of a piranha or a fanged lizard… anyways, Amazon is the first Rider that looks like he never wore a mask. Because of his origins, you can say he transformed into a different creature and it was clearly emphasized in Amazon’s World Arc in Kamen Rider Decade.

Masahiko was one of the believable characters in the series. Aside from the fact that he has this charm that he is a really a kid, add the fact that he easily trusted Amazon, he is smart and if knows he can do something to help Amazon, he will do it.

On to the two halves of the series, first, I will talk about the first half that involved Geddon. To be honest, I never find Geddon quite a threat in world peace considering that they just want Amazon’s Gigi Armlet and once they get it, this is when their plan for conquering the world will come into fulfillment.

Their leader, The Ten-Faced Demon, Gorgos was probably one of the creepiest Rider boss designs I have seen in the Showa Era. Its large head, other nine talking faces swear about killing Amazon once the camera pans on them and the fact that he is an intimidating figurehead gave me an impression that Amazon will have a hard time in defeating him… and he did.

In the build up on their final battle, when Amazon got the chance to be near with Gorgos, he tries his best to attack him but because he flies, it took Amazon some time to defeat one of its faces.

As for the episodes in the first half, it is retro gore fest in some episodes and most of the time; it involves Amazon’s growth from an uncivilized wild man coming from the Amazon into a civilized man known in his birth records as Daisuke Yamamoto while retaining his inner wildness. The first half is the series in its prime because it involves the growth of our hero before he started to face the bigger threat, the Garanda Empire.

On the second half of the show, after Gorgos’ arm was cut off and before Amazon got the chance to get the Gaga Armlet (Rah! Rah! Ra-ah-ah! Roma… oops, bad timing to place Lady Gaga reference!) that was found in the mutilated arm, Black Followers from a different organization came to take it. Garanda Empire has just made its presence.

Unlike its predecessor, they are into conquering the world and Amazon is just one of the things they need to take care off for them to be successful in conquering the world. This is what I say a bigger threat. Most of the episodes in the second half felt like a standard tokusatsu episode back in the 70’s with the monster of the week and the problem of the week in tow. My problem with these episodes is that the trademark gore of the previous half is slowly diminishing… but some episodes in this half in which we saw good ol’ Amy removing the head of the monster. Makes me suddenly wish that Amazon will appear on a Mortal Kombat game!

The best thing about the Garanda Empire is the fact that they are bent in destroying the world that they don’t care if Amazon has the Gigi Armlet. They just proceed with their plan. One of my favorite Garanda plots involves the Sea Anemone Beastman in which we saw it suck the blood of its victims and gives his own blood in his victims to turn them into his slaves. Another favorite plot of mine involves the Zero Device, a device that is needed to create a devastating earthquake that will destroy Tokyo once activated.

As for their boss, Great Emperor Zero, he is indeed a real threat. Aside from his intimidating presence, he doesn’t accept failure and he himself eliminates those who failed him by using his spear that emits sparks that once you got hit, you will instantly die.

The best part of Zero is that Amazon never had a chance to transform into his Rider form! If he tries to transform, Zero will just use his spear and he will revert to normal… unless a certain armlet is here to give him more power.

One of the biggest surprises in this half is the death of Mogura Jujin. Sure was just an aide and probably a prototype of Kamen Rider Den-O’s Taros, he is one of those lovable support characters considering that he is the only kaijin during that time that aligned itself with the good guys… until Whale Mutant appeared in Kamen Rider BLACK. One of the things that I loved about Mogura is he is sometimes a comic relief character and sometimes he cowers in fear when some of the enemy Beastmen appeared. Even with that, there are some episodes in which we saw Mogura’s heroic side, to be exact is his last few moments and the episode he protected the girl he liked… who turned out to be one of the bad guys. Ouch. Because of these qualities, seeing him died gave me an impact that he is one of the most human characters in the series despite its appearance.

As a guy who barely watched a Showa Era Kamen Rider show, (First was BLACK then this.) and based on my research that there are crossover episodes in which the previous Riders will make an appearance but to my disappointment, it never happened which became the one of the turning points in the franchise. This is the first series that doesn’t involve the Senior Riders to appear which will later happen in some series in the franchise especially in the Heisei Era… till Decade came along.

Overall, Kamen Rider Amazon is a fun series to watch. It was something out of the box from a standard Kamen Rider show. Aside from the fact that you do not need to be based on an insect to be called a Kamen Rider (Looks at Agito), it also changed the face of the franchise in terms of story and in terms of special effects. In the time with no CGI, they have to be creative to give us the impression that Amazon is a wild man from the Amazon… and it worked. From the Kamen Rider Series that I watched, this is one of my personal faves because of its ingenuity and its style.

All together, Amazon, tomodachi. *Ukiya does the Amazonian Friendship Sign.*

Kamen Rider Amazon: Sayonara, Jyumenki. Enter, Emperor Zero!

Since I am in a verge of cramming for my Finals, I decided to finish the last episode of the first half of Kamen Rider Amazon today… and saw probably, one of the most bloodless fatalities in the show. Screw moral guardians, they ruined realistic deaths!

On this episode, we it continues on what was left on episode 13, Dobsonfly Beastman has turned into a cocoon and became missing thus Amazon and co. is on search of the cocoon before it will get hatched. Based on the title, and that is, “The Ten-Faced Demon Dies! And a New Enemy?” we already got the clue on how this episode will end up but the problem is, how the writers will execute it? And boy, I was surprise on how they did it.I thought Amazon would just go to Gedon’s hideout and kill Jyumenki BUT what they did is the classic betrayal scene with a big a offer involved kind of thing, I think you already had an idea who will betray Gedon.

One thing I liked about this episode is that how the first introduce Great Emperor Zero. Yes, he was introduced shadowed that adds up to his appeal and gave the first impression that he is badder than the Ten-Faced Demon.

After Amazon learned how to speak properly thanks to Masahiko, FINALLY after 14 episodes, Amazon calls his attack! Yep, he finally says Dai Setsudan/Big Slice but the only downside, like the episodes after Amazon wears his first shirt, Jyumenki and Dobsonfly Beastmen’s deaths have no green, blue or red blood spurting out from them, but hey, Jyumenki died with a blast! Plus, Amazon is back in mutilating his opponent’s bodies!

But even with the blood special effects gone, I can’t wait how the second half of the show will turn out.