Overall a strong (and tasty) showing once more. Some of these I’d probably order again! They’re definitely getting me back at least one more time. Maybe twice.

The cafe runs until 2025/12/12. #FinalFantasyIX

Episode 9 for reals: Given the last week, I needed some good tokusatsu, and this was it. A little classic Rider BSing to get out of things (those guys were clearly choking to death, but the sauce was THAT good, so it's okay!) while Nox is on a quest to introduce new toys. Xmas is coming after all!

Kamen Rider THE FIRST

Hey, this movie turned 20 years old last week. In the last two decades, almost everything in it has been superseded, literally by Shin Kamen Rider and stylistically by other productions (W Forever comes to mind). Its greatest asset is, ironically, the nostalgia it cultivates.

The Shining Star of Losers Everywhere

One of the best documentaries I've ever seen about a subject I otherwise know nothing about nor have any engagement with. It's short and absolutely worth a watch.

Mechanical Violator Hakaider

No, you're not seeing things. I just forgot to add this after seeing it ON THE BIG SCREEN in September. bsky.app/profile/igad...

Like after revisiting Kamen Rider J, even better than I remember it being.

Episode 9: The weirdest episode so far- none of the scenes from last week’s trailer were even in it! Nox’s big plan was to run away while the good guys slowly follow? Fujimi and Nagumo narrate, but mostly it’s a lot of excited yelling. And Ace was promised but he never showed up! Dammit, Reiwa era!

Special Rescue Exceedraft!

A new group of Metal Heroes arrives for the final chapter of the Rescue Hero trilogy!

store.crunchyroll.com/products/spe...

Episode 8: A biological weapon linked to fine dining with deadly international repercussions- is this Kabuto's nightmare? Also add another fictional country to the Riderverse map. They teased something pretty big next time, and now Zeztz is [redacted] so make sure to check this one out ASAP.

And there’s the classy Amarant-themed seafood pasta, and a Moogle dessert that had seemingly everything. And I had to get Freya’s drink one more time before it gets phased out. From November, the menu gets an overhaul, though you can still get the anniversary cake, latte and Vivi drink.

I decided to try all the limited menu items that will be rotated out at the end of the month. Highlights include the Chocobo digging-themed salad, where finding all the non-lettuce ingredients requires, well, digging, and the sandwich with (appropriately fake) ticket-themed paper wrapper.

Okay yeah this is gonna be good.

Episode 7: Good stuff. The overall story moves forward and gives a compelling direction to take things in. I like Nox. We even have the "somebody's in a coma" thing I thought they might do in the first episode (Baku getting Sam Tyler'd back to the 70's would be pretty cool to see next year, NGL)

Episode 6: Rider Prison Break! Kinda. This one is mostly pretty average, and then suddenly WHAT ‼️⁉️ I have no idea where they're going with this, but they've got my attention. Don't want to say any more than that, just watch it.

And I saw the thing that attachment claw did, show.

Admittedly it's more in a classic movie serial "we split up this really long story across 13 weeks" vein than "we have spent months coming up with LORE DAMN YOU and you will watch it", but you can see an approach that will carry over to Rider. 70's shows usually closed episodes with つづく for a reason

There was a movie in like 2001 that I haven't gotten around to and an anime or two I think. The 60's TV series is mind-blowing though. Masaru Igami solos a highly serialized show in an era when tokusatsu is largely still self-contained eps (or Magma Taishi's "like Doctor Who I guess" approach)