Kamen Rider Fourze - episode 44

Man, oh man...there was actually a point in this one where I was kind of hoping that Yuuki wouldn't make it.  But when it became apparent as to how it was going to go down, I'll admit to a little bit of cheek wetness.

The who?

This is kinda late in the game to be bringing in something so significant, ain't it, fellas?  There's also still a Pisces out there.  Dammit...WTF is this shit now???

Believe the rumors, I guess.

 

 Ryuusei totally took one for the team when Gemini used the clone to blow him up so her and Sag could escape.  Also, the topic of WTF he was talking about with that Presenter noise...

Whoa.  No wonder the baddies want to get on with that!

Now, in the meantime, that other Yuuki is gaining more and more of the original Yuuki's life.  Memories, skills, etc.  It really hit a point where the imposter Yuuki was doing wacky cosplay dinner with her wacky cosplay parents.  There was a showdown between them, and Yuuki ended up running off with the Gemini switch.  Then she runs into the Kamen Rider Club, who think that their Yuuki wouldn't look like how the imposter did to begin with.  Battle ensued...

Wow....you've been kicking her ass with ease, dude.  Isn't this a bit excessive?

4 Switch Limit Break.  Why are we just now seeing this?

Just as he was about to finish her off, Kengo, brilliant as always, figures out that it was their Yuuki and keeps Gentarou from sealing the deal for which Yuuki will be the dominate one.  So, Gemini and Sag grab her and 'port out of there...with only 10 hours left, they're just going to wait out the clock.  Make a sacrifice to signify the birth of a new Yuuki and move on.

(O_O)

Whoa....OK.  I can be down for this Yuuki.

But to no avail.  Gentarou remembered the bond that was shared between him and the real Yuuki.  Those cheesy tickets to space she made back when they were kids.  Gemini ended up having to use the Switch to try to stop the reversal....but Gen-chan has other ideas

The return of Yuuki scenery chewing!!  ALRIGHT!!!

Oh holy shit!  Fourze can use the Meteor Switch?

Yes, this attack was as awesome as it sounds!

Leo, Libra and Sagittarius tried to jump on Yuuki during the battle between Gemini and Fourze, but some kind of power stopped the attack, emanating from our favorite little scenery chewer.  She's always been on about voices from the stars...maybe she's some kind of link to the Presenter....?  I think it would be fitting that she ends up being the biggest BAMF out of all of them and she didn't even know it.

How MS has effected my metaphysical self

This isn't something about myself I wear on my sleeve.

I spent a period of time in my life exploring and studying topics that some might think is bogus or bunkum or whatever, but I know that the metaphysical exists.  From the beginning of my life, growing up in a house that had an active spirit, something of the metaphysical has been a part of my life.  Shamanism, Animal Ken (which seems to stem from my Medicine) Astral Projection, Magick, even Satanism, Qi-Gong...all of these so-called "fake" things.  They're something I've either shown an affinity for (like my Medicine and Qi-Gong) or just grew up with (Astral and Sight)

Then I came down with Multiple Sclerosis.

It took almost everything from me.  While through hard work I was able to regain my chi and can use my Qi-Gong to a far more limited extent, none of the Magick or Astral tools are there anymore, no matter how I try...maybe I won't be able to again without the help of someone who I think gets it like I get it.  That's a short list of people I know.  A very short list.

It's actually made me afraid to try to contact the Totems.  Better that I still have my Animal Ken, so I know I'm not forsaken or spited (if animals suddenly started hating me for no reason, then I would know something was up) and be fine with that, than to find out that even that has been taken from me because of this fucking MS.

I am about to start taking Rebif for my MS, and I know it doesn't repair any damage, just arrests further damage from happening (for the most part), I hold out hope that at some point, I'll be able to regain even these things that were taken from me.  Things that I had actually taken for granted, to be honest.  Just knowing random things about total strangers, or if I'm bored and can't sleep, I can leave my body and do whatever...those things are no longer things I can do since the onset of my MS.

For now.

ADDED:  I just now did a trial run for using my Qi-Gong to give the still unborn son of a friend of mine some chi.  Not only did I feel like I could pump out enough chi for a fetus to be born with a "power level" (to use a Dragonball Z phrase to effectively describe what the idea is) but those tools seem to be nearly as strong as they once were. I guess when one is motivated be something like wanting to assist the development of a child...

Xuan Yuan Sword - Kun Lun Mirror - 1st chapter

OMFG!!

Oh, how I wish I could get my hands on this hard subbed so I could do proper screencaps!  I know I'm rather new to the genre, but I think it would be safe to say that this is HEAVY with magical martial arts!  The eye candy in most cases is superb...the exception being when that dragon was pulling the chariot of Sanniang. Yeah, I know that isn't her name in this one, but it's Liu Shi Shi and she's being all thievery awesome in this one, so until this character has a properly defining moment, I'll probably be calling her Sanniang quite a bit.

The subbing community over at viki (where I just watched this streaming) has done a fairly decent job of subbing this to English, my only quibble really being that in some parts, it was so poorly timed, I backed up a bit and watched that part again.  For their community and how it functions, I think I can be OK with it.

Here, you can check it out for yourself, right below:




Tuo'er, who looks to be gearing up to be a primary antagonist in this, is a BAMF!  I especially enjoyed the way they showed him summoning the sword.  A kind of trope in tokusatsu is that suddenly, the belt appears, or suddenly, there's a weapon in their hand.  To show the mystical means of him getting the sword into his hand when he didn't have one a moment ago felt really refreshing.

The Prince of Chen Kingdom (which had fallen 18 years previous and I am blanking on his name right now) is going to be an interesting protagonist in this one.  He's mediocre at martial arts, and they use (what amounts to) TV and skits about fighting demons to get over...stay in the people's minds so that when they're finally ready to have a go at getting their lands back from the current rulers (again, cerebral flatulence) the support of the common people will be behind them.  From a psy-ops perspective, it's brilliant.  From a plot standpoint, it allows for an interesting arc of development.  To the writers, I must say:  well played, sirs...well played!

With my personal life and other side projects like finishing my recaps for Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber, writing the next part in the Women of Wuxia series, and work, medical issues, social life, etc., I'm not sure how regularly I'm going to be doing these, but from what I saw in the 1st chapter of the Kun Lun Mirror arc...I think watching this one is going high on the list in rotation.  Especially with the Olympics preempting Kamen Rider Fourze for the next 2 weeks.

Stay tuned!

Sakebito Random Ramblings vol 138

I came to the realization that while I may have only regained about 80% of my former awesomeness, that still qualifies me as an exponent (to borrow something from the Ancient Chinese Series I've been watching the shit out of lately) and in 98% of all situations, that is enough to easily handle any kind of real life situation where those skills might be needed.

I can be happy with this should I never be able to regain more of my awesome.  Where I am at now is enough for me to be able to adapt my honest expression (as I get all Jeet Kune Do here) into effectiveness.  MS had taken so much of my Art away from me, and although I am at a point that is now acceptable, I am not completely happy with it, and will not stop until I reach not only former levels, but to surpass them. 

Hoping that I can get this appointment with the MS certified nurse out of the way stat.  Even if the meds only arrest the situation (I'm not hoping for remylenization here...not yet anyways) I want to be on wit it already.  I can only make true progress once it happens that there will be no recurrences, and with those recurrences, the MS gains more ground on you.  As it is, I am only human and as of yet they don't have a means to repair the damage once done.  One can only regain so much in this kind of situation, despite all of one's best efforts.

OK, now to make a visit to Mister Hunter and grab some sleep before I have to work tomorrow, as well as be on the phones to get my MS shit out of the way.

I may take my obese boombox to work because it's region free and I can play my imports at work.  Serb chicks dig me.  Life is good.

The Women of Wuxia - Huang Rong

At first, I was going to do just an article on how the female roles in wuxia are so much better than in Western programming, and even in tokusatsu.  However, as I began to plot out my article, I realized that it was going to be a massive undertaking, both for me as the author and for the reader.  Then I decided to just make it a series, focusing on an outstanding character (that any actress worthy of the name would stab somebody in order to play) from Ancient Chinese Series.

And there can be no discussion of the topic unless you bring up the subject of this first in the series....

Huang Rong

I am going to admit to some bias here, as Huang Rong is my favorite female character from anything, anywhere!  She's playful, mischievous, intelligent, cute, clever, not only just clever, but sly.  On top of everything else, more than anything else, the girl is capable...how some daughter of a well-known pugilist can become the leader of Beggar Sect, as well as trick Ouyang Feng into making him train his inner strength in a way that made him go insane, is proof of that.

And when we first meet her, she's disguised as a boy

(and when Rong'er is disguised as a boy, it's at least a bit believable, unlike every other case of "boy clothes = boy" I've ever seen)






Actually, the first encounter with Guo Jing, when she grabs his teachers' bags and when asked what she was doing, she just flashed a smile and proudly proclaimed, "Stealing your things!"

How do you NOT immediately like a character like that?

Ya know, stealing things seems to be a running thing for her...

And for as great as she is, the relationship between Jing and Rong is also crucial to her development into this vessel of pure awesome.  If not for her love of him, many of the great things she ended up doing would not have happened...

Because of her photographic memory, she could teach him the 9 Yin manual.  She did everything to manipulate the scenes and stay a couple steps ahead of their enemies, all because she loved Guo Jing and he was a good man.

I think I have to proffer the fact that Ariel Lin was GENIUS in her portrayal of Huang Rong.  I also can't think of an Occidental actress of an age who can get away with playing the character that can do said character justice.

Not a one.

Going further into the mythos of the character, her daughter founded the Emei Sect, she was able to develop a shortcut through learning 9 Yin (Which Zhirou used in Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber), and as the leader of Begger's Sect, her name went down in history of greatness, and as well it should.

Hands down, Huang Rong is the best female character to ever have happened in the history of ever.  There's no way this article can do her justice, you'll just have to watch the series.  Go to http://www.ancientchinese.net and download the series from their forums.  Not only is it my favorite wuxia series, but it also has my favorite female in it, Huang Rong!

Kamen Rider Fourze - episode 43

Yeah, everyone read the spoilers already to this episode, but it still didn't disappoint.  The 12th Zodiarts, Gemini, debuts and the stakes are kinda high for our favorite scenery chewer.

How Libra's supernova eye sees her.

She's got a Switch?!?

And all of that before the opening credits, even!  Not just a previous episode recap, but adding to what's going on...LOVE that shit!

Yuuki gives everyone the business about all this shit that is supposed to have been done by her.

OOPS!

Just cos.  I mean it was a total screwball comedy bit with Oosugi, but still...every "Oops!"

Yuuki is a vandal?

and you do NOT fuck with Ouendan's flags!!

Oh just shut up

Fastest henshin shine ever!  Although, Miu was falling from a fire escape.  Oh, and it did look like Yuuki who made that happen.

Hey, it's Gemini!!!

Yup, that's Yuuki.

She runs out of cards with which to pwn them, so she just bails.

They run into Yuuki after the battle and take her captive, trying to figure this shit out because Yuuki claims to have no knowledge of what's going on.

Dude, Yuuki's family is nutters!!

Moms too???  No wonder...

Oh snap!  Doppleganger!!

BOM BOM BOMMMMM~~~~!!!

When they run into Gemini a bit later, Gentarou finally does something smart:  he goes right into Cosmic States

So of course Sagittarius shows up to spoil the party.

 Oh fuck!

Oh fuck, and our Yuuki is already losing out to the dark Yuuki!

New Zodiart that kicks ass, our favorite scenery chewer looks like she's going to play a pivotal part in the end game of the series, and we still don't know what's happened to the others who are trapped in the Dark Nebula.  Damn, this series is really ramping things up as we approach the closing stretch of the series.  Damn, it's gotten SOOOOO good!

UCHIYU KITAA~!!!

Living up to the Saucy part

So, I was looking through a big grip of screencaps from the early 30 episode-series finish and it dawned on me that quite a few of them was just because I thought they looked really good.  So, in living up to the saucy part of my blog title, these girls are SAUCY!!!

Oh, Min.  You started out causing Scaroused and your character arc was so fufilling in a way.  Girl, you SAUCY!

Zhouxiao (unless it's Xiaozhou)  Just made of cuteness, it's almost painful and the contacts they had her wearing made her eyes just light up.  She also has some shit going on with her family and her story wraps up in a bittersweet fashion.  But any chick that can barks out I-Ching to lead men in battle is SAUCY!

Couldn't ya just die from the cuteness??

Zhu'er.  Even with the poison kung fu you practice fucking up your skin, you're a loveable wackjob and that makes you SAUCY!

Zhirou.  You're like the Yin (pun intended) to Min's Yang.  You started kind of milktoast, but eventually gained Scaroused, and that is what makes you SAUCY!!!

In going through these again (I had just kinda went, "that's hot" and moved it over) it's dawned on me just how many cool pics I set aside of Min.  But then again, she gets the best looks on her face...

Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber - ep 22

Told you I'd eventually get back to doing these!  Since my last post, I have finished the series, and grabbed caps for almost all of them, so I'll be getting through these with a bit of hindsight and more than some brainfarting as to what's going on.  The fun part should be trying to remember along with me!

Oh, shit...yeah.  This is the capturing of heroes!

them bastards....

Alright, now I'm pretty sure I remember what's going on again.  This leads up to some pretty pivotal stuff

Wuji, putting his print of Ming Cult.  Odd how the unorthodox sect acts more honorably than some of the orthodox ones...

Wuji is so the boss!

Meanwhile, Min demonstrates just how bad ass she is!

Yeah, since Miejue won't show so you can steal her techniques as well!

a face off between two of Wuji's women, with more implications than is originally apparent.

on the topic of Wuji...

Nothing escapes you, Zhirou!

Ming Cult shows up and gets burley!  Bat King shows himself to be a damn fine bloke once he stopped drinking all that human blood.

Reverend Hu, turns out to be Right Envoy Fan, and this is his reunion with the former leader of Ming Cult

More shady shit from Cheng Kun is revealed, as Right Envoy Fan debriefs everybody on the shit he learned by pretending to be mute

putting it together about Min's true identity

Well, I can see how you wouldn't...the rest of us knew that shit forever!!

I'll admit to just blowing through that one, I even skipped caps inbetween because my writing itch faded quickly and I ended up just wanting to hurry and wrap this shit up.  Still, with everyone now keen to who Min is and what her motivations are, this crates a new kind of tension to their relationship.  Add to that all the xia locked up at Wu'an and things are getting hectic.