Samurai Equine

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

   Feel free to leave a song request. Your song will eventually be featured in a future Weekly Musings entry!   

Once again, I failed to post this on Sunday night because I genuinely ran out of time. I'll explain shortly.  Let's review the week we left behind, shall we?

 I guess the biggest thing about last week was... THE PREMIERE OF MLP: TELL YOUR TALE!  Like the majority of the fandom, when I first heard this series was going to be comedy-focused, I was also afraid we were getting another Pony Life or something similar to Teen Titans Go. The animation style didn't help either. However, what I found instead was something surprisingly good! There were story driven moments, and moments that picked up where the movie left off. There were some genuine character moments that kept the integrity of the movie; these characters still felt like the characters we met the first time. Yes there was comedy, but it wasn't forced and it wasn't trying to be wall-to-wall jokes. In fact, these shorts felt like slightly condensed episodes that could have EASILY fit in with Friendship is Magic. Times are different, characters are different, but the déjà vu was real (I think we even have a new Derpy-esque character!). Top it all off, we even got a song that was fairly decent. Throughout the whole thing, I only found two major cons. Izzy's voice is still the hardest one for me to get use to, but at least her character is in tact. There were moments where Hitch was almost downgraded to the show's idiot, but I really hope they don't go all the way there and remember his good qualities (I'd rather have comedic stuff happening to him rather than him be the joke). But if those are the only cons I can think of, then we're in good hands. Maybe this animation might not be for everyone, but I think it serves a bigger purpose. It's here to help us get use to the new voice actors, it's showing us that we'll be in good hands as far as writing, and that hopefully the best is yet to come.

 I've also been working hard on my own house which felt like it was falling apart.  I had to reattach a door and a piece of the door frame. It was attached with nails instead of locking screws. Had to get my uncle to help me with that. Next, I had to do some plumbing work in my bathroom. The cold water handle for the shower was leaking, so I had to fix that. Got some new handles too, though I am not sure they fit correctly? Still, it works better than it did before. There may be other things to fix, but one victory at a time.

 At least I got that sponge I ordered. It came in SUPER fast!  And I also got to try Coca Cola Starlight. ... Nah, I won't be going back to that. The flavors I got from it were Coke, cinnamon, mud, a moment of flavorlessness, and I swear a hint of natural mint. These flavors never achieved any kind of balance or harmony. I've tasted way better drinks that were space or galaxy flavored.

 SUPERHUMAN SAMURAI SYBER SQUAD!  My thoughts:

• Episode 12, where the amorous writing hits critical mass to the point of being self-aware. Actually, this plot is highly original, and it shows Malcom's artistic side might be more connected to his character than Takeshi's artistic side, but this is still a very dumb episode. There have been plenty of other Gridman episodes where people are swept out of their normal world and implanted somewhere else, but this is the first time where it's been done via pom-poms. The monster footage comes from Gridman episode 4. Yay, healing scene. Gotta say, this is one minor strength the adaption has from shuffling episodes; they've re-contextualized things. Instead of an early episode where Gridman doesn't have an arsenal yet, Servo has been shut off from his friends/arsenal, thus forcing him to work solo. Also, there's the fact that we aren't getting any G-Calls to warn us about danger. Still, by comparison, Gridman 4 is better than this simply because, in that episode, Digifer was slowly making himself known to the world. It was an episode that would be relevant to the overall series plot later on, and this episode of SSSS probably won't be.
• Episode 13, cold opening footage comes from Gridman 33. Plotwise, it's similar to Gridman 28; however, instead of Takeshi capturing his love interest Yuka to admire forever, Malcom has captured Sam to teach him a lesson about loneliness. I can only imagine how shippers might interpret this episode if this show was made recently. Also, SWEET SYBER SPACE! Sam did the “Access Flash” pose to become Servo! And, uhh... Half a healing scene? Last of all, the ending gag shouldn't even be possible. These two episodes are piratically tied. I almost don't want to pick a winner. However, since Digifer and Takeshi get greedy and decide to capture more than one hostage, it basically raises the steaks. Reluctantly, I'll say Gridman 28 wins, but just barely.
• Episode 14, once again, the plot is original. Like Yuta, Sam is having a moment where his grades are slipping, he can't quite balance all the things in his life, and he is at odds with his role as a superhero. However, it's only in this show where Kilo is brainwashed into being nice. Interestingly, they recycled footage from the virtual reality game in Gridman 15, basically calling it a Servo simulator. And another awesome use of mixed stock footage to make it look like Sam/Servo explored an empty/peaceful digital world! Seeing Malcom make a halfhearted attempt to blend in with Team Samurai is next level; really makes you wonder how Takeshi would have reacted in the same scenario. Once more, the monster footage comes from Gridman 5. Now it finally is beginning to make sense why this show has more episodes than its Japanese counterpart. It's kind of hard to judge this since we all ready had an episode that was similar to its Japanese counterpart. Any points of contrast I could mention hardly seem worth it. I let Gridman win last time, so I'll let this episode of SSSS win this time and hope that the events in this episode have a lasting impact.
• Episode 15, cold opening comes from Gridman 14. ...”Demeganize”? Call it what you want, as long as we have a healing scene. The main plot and monster footage are based on Gridman 21. However, they can't show public execution in an American kids show in the 90's, so they just went ham with a dozen different nightmare scenarios for Sam. ...They choose NOW to end episodes on a PSA?! Besides ending on a note that messes with people's minds, I think the answer is clear. Even if I throw out the dream comparisons, altering a smart machine that promotes better dreams makes more sense that altering an alarm clock to give someone perpetual nightmares. Gridman 21 is the winner.
• Episode 16, cold opening comes from Gridman 24. The main monster footage and the plot are lifted mostly from Gridman 14 (again). In both episodes, Takeshi and Malcom have shallow reasons for messing with time, but at least Malcom is trying punish Team Samurai, even if he narratively shouldn't know they are in change of Servo's actions. Yay healing scene. Wow, no PSA ending? Talk about inconsistent. The episode does end with Kilo making an ominous declaration, but taking a peek ahead, it doesn't seem to go anywhere right away. This time, it's a tie, hands down. Both win. SSSS 16 wins because Malcom having a stronger sense of priorities, and Gridman 14 wins because it shows Ippei as more than just a pointless romantic rival for Naoto. If ending of this episode was actually alluding to something big, then that would have made the adaption the winner for sure.

 ReVice 28: For One's Self!  With a new stamp, Ikki and Vice did it. They are back, stronger than ever. Revice Thunder Gale premieres, and while striking the original Kamen Rider's fighting pose! I was also not expecting George to transform! He wasn't very good in combat, but I'd rather have Demons be a good guy than a bad guy any day! But now that the Igarashi father has his memories back, he has made a drastic retreat. How many want to bet that this was easily the wrong/dumbest move to make? And just like that, I am caught up with the TV show!!

 Vail 01: A Painful Past.  The story of Vail starts off with a lot of tragedy, but some of it seems familiar, so you have a pretty good idea of where it's going to go. Heck, if you've watched ReVice up to this point, you all ready know where some of this is leading. However, I must say, I am getting huge Showa Era vibes. The Noah organization is reminding me a lot of Shocker, just a little more militaristic in style. Perhaps if Shocker didn't have some kind of mind-altering control over their monsters and minions, they might be doing the same as Noah, treating their soldiers like caged animals, only letting them loose to fight their battles for them.

 DonBrothers 05: Pet the Doggo!  In this episode, we learn more about Inu Brother, but in doing so, it unknowingly draws the team closer together. You really feel for the guy when he starts to cry; he's clearly forgotten what it's like to have people that care about you, but he's always been a good guy deep down inside. There's also something meta about seeing the five of them together yet clearly not realizing they are all Don Brothers. The others I can understand, but there's almost no excuse for not seeing that Momoi Tarou is Don Momotaro. Still, as I said before, I love how this show is taking its time to build everything up. And it's interesting that they don't all have the same Sentai changing gears. This week's gear is the PatRanger gear, which makes sense considering the monster's host was a detective with an obsession over serving justice and getting promoted.

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and stay orderly.

I can't remember if I shared this yet or not, but I doubt any of my followers remember anyways. I can't even remember how I found this song. Still, if you like grungy punk rock, you might enjoy this too. This is "Million Years" by Nico Vega.