Ten, Eleven, and Counting....the Guys in Bikes and Rider Suits

Ok, by now, you'd be wondering which anime show this picture is from. I'll tell you three things. First, it's not an anime, it's from a long-running live action series (in this case, a tokusatsu, which I will explain later). Second, if you were born somewhere in the 1980s and you have a TV, you can be sure that you'll catch one of the most well-known sempai of these guys (especially if you were born in the Philippines). Lastly, it's my favorite and my current fanaticism so far.

Anyways, I'm talking about Kamen Rider (aka Masked Rider). Thus the reason for this cute picture of all the Heisei Riders (the recent riders starting at around 2000. Masked Rider Black was during the 80s). The usual elements are as follows, a guy, a bike, a fancy belt that changes the guy into a Masked Rider/Kamen Rider, an organizaiton (depends if evil or not), and monsters which are usually humanoid. The new Riders branched off from the continuous flow of having an evil terrorist organization to fight against and being the reason why the heroes are Riders.

It took a turn on the year 2000 with Kamen Rider Kuuga. It was from Kuuga that every series is independent with terms of storyline and universe. That was until Kamen Rider Decade (2009) gave out the twist of crossing each world over. From there, it gained much popularity and still growing.

Honestly, I got hooked with the Heisei Riders due to me coming across the name of Kamen Rider Decade. I was looking through Gackt's discography and found this series (Gackt is a Japanese singer and actor. A favorite one at that). After checking out his song Journey Through the Decade, I looked for the series (and found vids of the show on Youtube). From there, I got hooked with the storyline and fell in love with the series.

I bet many of you would go "It's for kids. It's like Power Rangers." Before you say that, mind you that this is different from Power Rangers. Power Rangers (originally Super Sentai) fight in groups and that title itself refers to the American version (which was re-engineered for kids while using footage from the original Japanese series). Anyways, the plot of Kamen Rider (you can scratch off the two Americanized versions, Dragon Knight and Masked Rider) is also quite mature for kids to understand. It even has heroes who have flaws in themselves. Despite which, it has gained a "superhero" status in Japan and in hearts of other fans.

Right now, I've watched six of them (Decade, Kiva, 555, Blade, Kabuto, Den-O) and I'm watching my seventh series (Hibiki). I'll review them one by one on my later posts. Right now, let's leave it at that.

Well, I'm off to go check out something fun.

P.S. Tokusatsu is what you refer to Japanese live action shows that usually involve special effects.

Owari to Mirai (The End and the Future)

This is the last day of the third term in UC. Time is really swift with so many things. Another term is over, so is the school year. This makes things a little unsettling. But right now, it won't matter.

I'm about to relish the few minutes that is meant to make this day memorable. Walking through the corridors of the campus with friends and flocks of students going on the counterflow, having moments of smiles and laughter with those treasured most (a special someone to be specific), having arguments and clashes with those same people though you hide the tension inside and bottle it up in hopes of having it explode elsewhere....you know how things go.

Right now, another chapter is over. I have a number of things to miss. My beloved who I cherish so much. My friends on both the booth and on the paper, who laugh and go crazy with stuff....And to that old self that is about to pull the curtain.

I'll write more of what happens within this day. Maybe you'll find something worth knowing.

Introductions: I am just a young man passing through....

A young vagrant passing through. This is how I view myself with terms of how I live life. I see it for three things that define my path; the prints left behind, the purpose served, and the significance thereof. From this point, I beckon you, look with eyes that pay attention.

From this point, I will show you three sides of what I am and how life is to me as these three aspects. As a student, as the eldest son, and finally as a young man who longs to carry on with the journey and hopes to finish it. I must tell you that you might find this either to your liking or to your chagrin.

First and foremost, I am a student. As much as how life is with terms of how it has been, this would be one of the most unstable stages in every person's life. Why unstable? For once in my life, I have never found myself in unpredictable states and it was in this stage of my life where I have experienced that not all the things you dream of happen and go according to plan. Ever since I graduated from High School, I have been studying for six years (with a gap of stopping for a year in between). It was a journey filled with battles, tears and screams as I struggle to find out what my future holds and what role I can fit in this great machine called society. Being a university student that was fresh from High School has its perks aside from bad things. The enthusiasm carried by fresh graduates as they enter college life and try to fulfill their destinies, the idea of that is very novel to the point that it becomes one of the most quoted reasons for going to college. Education, after all, is the most priceless inheritance that our parents could leave to us.

I sound like I'm drifting with these thoughts but this is how I see my life. Though I may seem to drift around, I have a course set in life. Back in those days, my earlier years in college were more on naively doing things for the sake of reaching the goal. But instead of reaching that goal, I end up being steered away from it as distractions and "shortcuts" appear out of nowhere and bring forth lures to take you to where they want you to be--in their hands to be a slave of their devices. It may not appear to be so, but this is true as a number of the youth end up losing their dreams and hopes because of vices and everything else that plague their lives. They don't get to graduate because they "major on the minor", they prioritize trivial things and not see the big picture that holds their destiny.

This is where the two aspects come in. As the eldest son in a family of five, with two more siblings following after you, you are expected to carry the standard of your family on your shoulders. Everyone looks up to your or depends on you to succeed. The pressure is there, but that pressure is understandable since you are the vanguard of the family. Being the firstborn in this family, whether it seems like a pain in the butt and everything, is actually an honor. The firstborn is the pride and joy of the family, the one who is set to have the inheritance as the head of the household. That is how my parents look at me and that's how they perceive me until now. During the times when I was shattered by Life's ways when I stopped and failed my subjects, I saw their faces marked with tears and sorrow. It was disappointing. I have let them down because I thought of myself more than for the sake of my family. It is even devastating when you are also serving God along with your family and you fail in your journey to create your future. But if it was not for them, I would have not gained the strength to get up and fight on.

Now, as a man who continues to travel on this path, I have found myself to carry a simple truth. There are good news and bad news. I'll start with the good. The truth is that all of us are potentials, diamonds in the rough who hold promising dreams and powers yet to be roused. What we have inside us is that capability to become great just like those before us. Now here's the bad news. We are dead potentials. We will remain as we are and stay as we are...if we leave it as is. We remain as potentials that don't do anything and that remain rough without someone shaping us for the good. In simpler terms, we'll just be pieces of rock without the diamond in us shining before them because we never made it to be that diamond piece.

How do we remedy that situation? How do we get ourselves shaped and molded into that? Simple, be an apprentice. Be a student. But not the type of student that just studies. We need life coaches, people watching over us and mentoring us on our walk on life. They have gone ahead and learned how life is, they themselves also guided by those before them. Without their help, we'll just be as dull as a rusty sword.

As Iron sharpens iron, so must one man sharpen another...