Kamen Rider Amazons Live Reaction

Kamen Rider Amazons Episode 1

WARNING! SPOILERS! THIS IS AN IN DEPTH REVIEW!

Looking at the new Kamen Rider mini series being released.

Alright, little foreknowledge here: Kamen Rider Amazon was my favorite Showa Era Rider. I just loved his design.

Kamen Rider Amazon focused on a man who was raised in the depths of the Amazon after surviving a disaster that stranded him there until the natives he was being raised by were slaughtered by an evil demon named Gorgos. A witch Doctor then used 'Ancient Inca Super Science' (it's the 1970s in Japan, roll with it) to heavy alter him into Kamen Rider Amazon to fight Gorgos' forces.

And it was bloodier than a lot of anime due to Amazon's fighting style being very animalistic. Seriously, people who make Mortal Kombat, put Amazon in there.

So the reboot being for mature audiences doesn't really bug me. If any Rider's style could only be portrayed faithfully in a more mature setting, it's Amazon. The guy was a berserk in combat, trying to do a reboot/adaptation of his series for young kids just wouldn't work. Considering that Amazon got canceled BECAUSE of this, it could be argued that Amazon should've been a mature series to begin with.

That said, I AM a little worried. The last attempt at a more mature Kamen Rider in Kamen Rider Shin was WAY too dark and didn't feel like Kamen Rider anymore.

As for the title of the reboot, Kamen Rider Amazons, it's because there's two Kamen Riders in this one, Kamen Rider Amazon Alpha and Kamen Rider Amazon Omega. Neither of which are intended to be the original character from the series or a reboot of him. So with all that covered, let's dive in.

The series begins with a truck going down a rainy high way as the credits roll. The theme is kind of ominous, but has that ancient feeling to it.

From the van energy a group of people in white suits, who enter an inn. Well that's new. They put down a sign telling people not to enter it reading 'Nozama' and 'Amazon'...those are the only two things it actually translated in the sub I was watching. Also, Nozama is Amazon spelled backwards.

A woman, concerned, asks what's going on, and reveals that another thing the sign says is 'insect and pest extermination'. Obvious cover up is obvious. They keep trying to convince her, and she seems to buy it, but yeah, obvious cover up is obvious.

But comically, that ALSO backfires a bit when one member of the team gets held up because the woman takes the cover story too well and is asking them to come deal with some of her pests! HEHE!

The men inside shed the white outfits and switch into combat gear (the inside of the place is ravaged). The group talks and gives us a little bit of their personality...and find some black goo. The team leader asks 'how much is this type worth'.

So, these characters are mercenaries apparently and doing...whatever it is they're doing here for the money.

Another member of the group, Ryusuke (finally a character with a name!) checks a data pad and explains whatever created the goo is a 'Type D' and worth '120 points'. Guess that means the baddie's pretty low level.

What I find interesting is his pad actually seems to KNOW WHAT THE DANG THING IS! How?

The pad also lists the creature as being 'Type Spider' and having the code number S-203.

The group seems annoyed to find this out, so the leader tells them to handle it quickly. They split up...in what's playing out like a horror film. I'm guessing this won't end well.

I'll give them credit, the atmosphere is fantastic. Also, the area is covered in spider webs, makes sense given the kind of monster.

Apparently the group's leader is named Shido, and one of their members finds the owner of the house...or rather what's left of him. They find that there's more victims elsewhere in the building, this creature is nesting. To note, the group IS disturbed by this, and ESPECIALLY about the monster's apatite. Another member of the group, Mamoru, tells the group to head up to the second floor, as that's where it likely is. I get the feeling he knows more than we're being told since we're not shown something direct on how he knows. They also FINALLY call in the rest of the group who'd been outside to help surround the building.

Lot's of dramatic build up here, and finally we see our creature. Shido and Ryusuke discover it sleeping up stairs, it's too dark to make out much of it's design just yet, but it is DEFINITELY spider-like and has a strange device on one arm. Shido gives the order and the member of their group who stayed in the car, Fukuda, who begins broadcasting a 'everything is normal, remain calm' message. So yeah, cover up. Wonder how long that lasts for...

We also see on a screen the names of everyone on the team:

Shido, Hibaki, Otaki, Takai, Mamoru, and Maehara. Ryusuke is like the first name of one of them.

Shido asks Mamoru 'can you do it' and he questions 'where's Misaki'...Okay, I have no idea what that means, but there's apparently more to Mamoru than we know. Misaki is evidently one of their team members, likely the one still outside.

The group is angry, and the woman of the group tells them they should just move on without him, but Mamoru points out teamwork is vital to their goals, which Shido agrees with...and given they're fighting a freaking MANEATING SPIDER MONSTER, yeah, that's a valid point.

However, said monster doesn't give them much say and wakes up. It attacks and Shido shoots it repeatedly. Something to note, is that their guns don't seem to be normal guns. For one, they seem to be silencer equipped, but they also send off an electric discharge on impact and they have weapons capable of the same thing, both of which actually hurt Spider.

Finally, Misaki arrives (and yes, he is the guy who was trying to cover up things with the woman outside), and with him there, they ask Mamoru if he can 'do it' now.

'It' turns out to be 'transform'. We're greeted to a scene of strange cells dividing and mutating inside him. He doesn't turn into a Kamen Rider, however, instead he turns into a mole-like monster with a drill for a nose.

History note: in the original Amazon, Mole Beastman eventually pulled a Heel Face Turn and joined the heroes. Nice call back!

Mamoru attacks the monster and with the rest of the team pulling support fire, gains the upper hand on the Spider. We also finally get a good look at the thing, and it's decidedly more monstrous than normal for Kamen Rider. The monster manages to wrap Mamoru up in his webbing, but the rest of the group arrive before it can escape and use their electric weapons to continue fighting back, though one of them nearly gets killed in the process.

The woman, Nozami I believe (I don't know their names or who's who that well yet!) is the close quarters member of the group, her weapons being primarily close range. Mamoru is freed and rushes back into the battle, making it clear that yes, while the rest of the team are capable of HURTING IT, he's clearly the 'big gun' and the only one that can fight the Spider one on one. He manages to rip one of it's arms off in the struggle. Ryusuke (I think) looks up information on his data pad and tells Mamoru the monster's back is it's weakness. The drill-like portion of Mamoru's head opens up like a star and he glows with energy, allowing him to give the Spider a heavy strike before, in true Amazon style, driving his hand into it's back and ripping out what looks like it's heart, killing it and causing it to dissolve.

The group collects the strange device that had been on it's arm and head out.

On the way back...we find out there are freaking HUNDREDS of these things lurking out there somewhere! A friend of mine hates The Masquerade Trope...and given there's hundreds of maneating monsters roaming the city, I AGREE with him here...then again, I given Shido's reaction, he's not too happy about it himself. He asks his superior on the phone 'we're just snacks for these things, aren't we?'

The victims will be treated as a missing person's case.

Their superior asks how Mamoru is doing, and he replies that there's nothing abnormal going on. Also, interesting line here:

The superior Shido is talking to calls Mamoru 'M', but Shido insists on calling him his actual name. And the rest of the group seems to treat him no differently than anyone else, even joking about how he always seems to rip up his uniform when he transforms. Hehe. Nice there's some comedy in here and the team kaijin being treated like a PERSON.

Also, the team go beat up and wounded, by no one died...which FREAKING SURPRISED ME! Honestly, I was expecting these guys to just be the victims of the week, nice bait and switch Toei.

Shido, however, quickly takes things back to the subject and asks his superior to actually tell them WHAT the things they've been fighting actually ARE.

Apparently, the creatures are called 'Amazonz'...oh the Japanese and their love of puns. To note, he actually turns on the speaker so his team can hear this conversation without telling his superior.

His superior stays silent, so Shido forces the issue...as someone on a motorcycle drives by and plants a transmitter of some sort on their van.

We then cut away to another location where some people listen in to the conversation via the transmitter. Shido makes it clear he's figured out something is wrong, since the corporation he's working for uses mercs to kill the monsters instead of alerting the defense force or police to the VERY DANGEROUS maneaters on the loose.

THANK YOU Shido for actually being SMART ENOUGH to question WHY this masquerade exists!

The superior replies that the group agreed they wouldn't be involved in anything but monster killing. Shido replies he found something on the internet: an accident happened two years ago during the company's research. His superior makes it clear she's not going to talk any further on the subject, and Shido backs down...for now and just accepts his payment.

Seriously, it's freaking REFRESHING to hear someone actually QUESTION why the masquerade exists rather than just humbly accept it has a good reason, especially when it's kinda clear it's a bit fishy.

Also, Mamoru apparently just tore up the last spare uniform they had transforming...and over all seems pretty child-like in personality...

We then cut back to Shido's superior, who is being briefed by a subordinate that they'd killed two of the monsters the previous year, but eight this year...meaning they've only managed to kill TEN of the dang things!

The subordinate points out that it seems the number of the Amazonz attacking has INCREASED and those ten. The woman replies that this is only the BEGINNING. The conversation implies the reason the Amazonz they've managed to kill are merely the ones who have become active, and it's GOING to get worse.

We cut back to the man I think that was listening in on Shido's conversation, who's feeding chickens on his roof...and that's it. Brief scene.

The group arrives back at their base, revealing their organization is known as Nozama Peston Service.

We then cut to a woman walking alone down the street. Wow, that was a rather abrupt series of jumps. But we follow her to a building where she meets with a man wearing white.

The man's name is Haruka and the woman's name Mizuki and apparently they are friends. While this scene feels like it should just be your normal scene, there's just something...ominous about it. The lighting and words.

The two are currently making an aquarium. Apparently Mizuki's mother isn't fond of Haruka and Mizuki's upset at how her mother is treating her, but Haruka's just glad she tolerates him.

Mizuki's mother arrives...revealing she's Shido's superior, Reika. She has apparently arranged in some sort of check up on him and reminds him he needs to take meds of some type, which he decidedly doesn't like at all.

Reika explains that while he's fine now, he was in a coma not too long ago...two years ago. The same time the 'incident' happened. That can't be coincidence.

I will say this series is good at capturing a sense of WRONGNESS when it needs to.

Mizuki meets with her mother, who is currently playing a piano. She asks Reika what kind of illness Haruka has that requires keeping him stuck there. Yeah, it turns out Haruka isn't ALLOWED to leave that place. Reika explains her company is 'working on it'.

Back with Haruka, he prepares to take his meds...and reveals WHY he doesn't like taking them. He gets strange visions of something in a cage and decides against it.

We cut back to the man on the roof...for long enough for him to put a chicken in a cage...the music is creepy, but I think they're cutting to and away from him too much.

Anyway, we are now with two people driving in a car...in the middle of a foggy road...while lost...and the man begins to not feel well.

Two guesses where this goes.

If your guess was 'the man turns into a second Spider Amazonz and attacks her, you're right. The woman tries to escape...only for ANOTHER Amazonz, this one based off a bat, to cut her off and transform...yeah, she doesn't make it.

I think I see what Reika meant when she said 'this is only the beginning. The scary part is the Bat seemed to still have at least enough rational thought process left to assume human form to trick people, something the others we've seen don't.

Haruka awakens...and we see a black cell like the ones we saw in Mamoru begin to divide. Mamoru's one of the monsters.

Back with the roof top guy, he collects the eggs of his chickens...and that's it. Seriously, I'm okay with most of this, but this is getting a little too...confusing.

Meanwhile, it turns out the two monsters that attacked are coded B008 and S208. Shido's group are deployed to go destroy them. The man who planted the bug also gets the message.

The group is a bit disturbed to find there's TWO of the dang things this time, and Mamoru seems a bit tired out. Ryusuke is also not feeling well, but blames it on the beer he drank...I think I know where this is going and it's no where good...

The mystery man kisses a woman sheering his home with him and departs as well.

Hakura meanwhile begins experiencing strange visions of a beast in a cage and finally departs his house and seems DRAWN to the area the Amazonz are in.

Meanwhile, the team discover what's left of the two monsters victims (no blood, but a few body parts...) and Ryusuke notes this Spider Amazon is a Rank B, which likely translates to it being more powerful than the previous one. The Bat, however, is Rank A, meaning it's even stronger. The group gets a bit worried by this because this is the first time a Rank A has ever faced them.

Mamoru senses the Amazonz are close and the Spider attacks, trying to grab Ryusuke and drag him off for a meal and the others chase, Mamoru transforming into his monster form. However, before they can catch up, Bat arrives and the group mostly stays to help Mamoru battle him while Fukuda takes the van to chase down the Spider and save Ryusuke, which he does.

However, the bigger issues is the Bat is much stronger and their bullets don't damage him. Yeah, it's kinda clear why they were worried about a rank A.

Fukuda fights Spider...and Ryusuke is revealed to have one of the same arm braces as the creatures...unfortunately, Fukuda gets over powered and the monster bites into his stomach. He survives long enough for Nozami to arrive and knock it off him. Hakura also arrives and has NO IDEA why he was drawn here at all.

I think instinct is the most likely reason for that...

Mamoru is fighting Bat and fairing decently, but it's clear the monster is tougher than the first Spider.

What was being foreshadowed comes true and Ryusuke reveals he's an Amazon as well and transforms into I think a dragonfly. What's unclear is whether or not Ryusuke is fully in control, but he engages Spider and manages to fair decently, but well, he JUST apparently gained this form, so he's not doing as well.

Something to note is the rest of the team seemed unaware of the fact Ryusuke was an Amazon, I imagine because it seems like this is the first time he transformed.

However, Mamoru is losing to Bat and it seems they're at a disadvantage...right as the mystery man arrives with a strange belt-like device. Despite their warnings, he walks right into the battle and puts it on.

I should note that like the ORIGINAL Amazon, the Riders here don't say 'henshin' to transform, but 'Amazon. Which our mystery man does so, transforming into Amazon Alpha.

Alpha looks VERY SIMILAR to the original Amazon, albeit primarily red with three gashes across his chest and looking a bit more updated. Also, unlike the Amazonz we've seen before this, Alpha lacks an armlet of any kind. Hakura watches and seems to NOT be taking this well, breathing very erratically an animalistically.

The group has NO idea what to make of Alpha, I'm wondering if the name Alpha means he's a Super Prototype for the rest of these things.

Alpha enters the fray and targets the Spider.

However, back at his room, Reika discovers that Haruka didn't take his medicine, which makes her quite worried...

Haruka's condition continues to degrade as Alpha battles Spider. Alpha has a rather smug personality, but aspects of Amazon's feral fighting style are still present. Given this is Toku and Alpha just debuted, Spider is little match for him and after pounding him to the ground, Alpha says 'Farewell' and rips it's heart out before crushing it in his claws, causing Spider to dissolve. This IS Kamen Rider Amazon, so yeah, that's something the Rider WOULD do to finish off his opponent.

However, Haruka begins feeling like he's having a heart attack and the beast in his visions breaks out of it's cage. His eyes turn red and the same cells Mamoru has seem to begin mutating. In an explosion, he transforms into Amazon Omega.

To note, from promotional shots, this seems to be an imperfect form for Omega, since he doesn't have a Driver like Alpha yet but we know he will get one.

With that, the episode ends.

Thoughts? It's certainly not a NORMAL Rider series, but it accomplishes what it set out to do: updating Amazon and making a more grown up Rider series. The creators certainly have a sense of what makes horror and I got kinda an X-Files feel from it.

The designs are good, though Bat's wings looked a bit off to me. I think Amazon Alpha gives a bit better of an update on Amazon's design than Omega though.

I'm glad Amazon is STILL a biological Rider like he used to be and the biggest irony?

Despite the horror and blood, this STILL feels less dark than Man of Steel and Batman v Superman!

Overall, good start, it's at least a better attempt at a darker and more mature Kamen Rider series than the LAST time they tried it.

It at least still FEELS like Kamen Rider and chose a good Rider to use for this.

Comments

[Tarbtano]

This review convinced me to hunt down the series to watch it myself. As someone who felt real let down by Shin (awesome design, not the right series. It's like they were trying to make a Guyver spin-off rather than a Kamen Rider film), this review gave me a lot of optimism. Time to see what treasures of the amazon we'll get this time

[Godzillawolf]

3853755 Glad I gave you desire to see it.

Honestly, I think the difference is that the darker take on it works for Amazon because Amazon WAS bloody and the monsters made a habit of eating people (the big bad drank blood), so I think they NEED a more mature showing of it just to give him justice.