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Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Kabuto
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01-24-2021, 10:05 PM
#
763
Kamen Rider Die
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,079
KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 45
I'm not sure what the bigger giveaway was that this was an Inoue episode:
-the fact that Hiyori is written out of the episode -slash-
completely ignored
after one short scene that mostly doesn't have anything interesting to say about her
-how relentlessly charming the Tsurugi/Misaki plot is
-how psychotically dumb/
transcendentally brilliant
the Hopper plot is
-how massively incongruent any of this dopey hilarity is to the ostensibly dire predicament of the series' imminent conclusion
-or how much I loved this episode
Because I did!
So much!
Despite a slew of problems!
I mean, holy shit, Inoue has officially
zero
interest in addressing the Hiyori cliffhanger from last time. I'm not sure if he was asked by the producers to not follow up too much on that plot (saving it for the regular series writer) or if he just didn't care about it/Hiyori, but
wow
does this episode just bury that plot. We get a little scene with Another Tendou swearing to destroy the planet, and the Worm Widowers attempting to recruit him, but that's about it for exploring the specifics of Another Tendou's motivation or mental state. I could theorize some stuff about how his possessiveness has now turned into genocide, an inversion of Tendou's speech about protecting the world for Hiyori, but that'd just be a guess based on what we're provided here. There is not really enough to feel like the show wants me to know something specific about Another Tendou.
Somehow, Hiyori gets even less than
that
, consigned to a wheelchair and self-loathing, blaming herself for being assaulted. It's... it is not a
great
look, despite how in-character it might be. It's dark in a way that the rest of the episode pivots away from, and disappointingly thin and repetitive. There's a way this scene could've been redeemed with a little bit of pushback from Tendou, some acknowledgement that this behavior from Hiyori never really helps her, but Tendou has a city to save, and a writer who I think fundamentally is disinterested in Hiyori as a character (I swear I can hear him muttering
Worse Mari
), so we're out of that hospital and on a recruitment drive.
The Worms are
every-goddamn-where
in this episode, so it's no surprise that Tendou is trying to corral every active Rider to assist him. We even get to see a
troublingly mute
Drake amongst the all-hands-on-deck Rider vs Worm combat, and I knew the second we saw that suit that we would
1000%
not be seeing Daisuke in this episode. Knew it in my bones. The plot behind these attacks is somewhat typical Inoue, i.e. he doesn't really care about it. The Worms are just everywhere, and there isn't really a strategy to be found between them or ZECT. Tendou's desire to bolster ZECT's ranks is literally the only thing in this episode where someone is trying to solve this problem, and it makes me wonder what the shit the rest of ZECT is even
for
.
But, like, I don't care about any of that!
Even a little!
It is objectively a deficiency in this script, but I don't begrudge this story its disinterest in Worm warfare (the Hiyori one is harder to forgive, but I ain't Fish and I got different passions, INOUE FOREVER) because the Tsurugi and Misaki stuff is
so goddamn great
.
Everything in this episode feels like Toei ordered five more episodes and didn't tell anyone until midway through the production of 44, but if that allows for an entire episode built around Misaki realizing that a handsome doofus who is eternally devoted to her is (excepting Hiyori's current misery) not that bad a thing, I'm okay with what they're doing with their bonus episodes. Of anyone in the entire cast for Misaki to fall for, Tsurugi is by far the most believable. He's lovable, in a really pure way. His enthusiasm is infectious, and his flaws are actually sort of charming when you get used to them. (He definitely thinks he knitted a scarf in his sleep!) The early part of their interactions, Tsurugi's objectifying crush and lack of boundaries, that didn't work for me at
all
. This version, where Misaki's like Ugh Oh No I Like Tsurugi, that's a winner with me. It allows her and him to have some equal footing, where there's mutual respect that wasn't there before. It's a more mature version of Tsurugi's antics from the start of their story.
Which he
IMMEDIATELY
gets back to, as soon as Misaki starts to reciprocate his interest. He's given a division of ZECTroopers to command, and he just puts them on Assist Misaki patrol, leading to a highlight-reel gag of ZECT's finest returning an almost-late DVD. (I love this plot, almost entirely because you could never do it in 2021. What would someone even need to return before they were charged for it? Who rents physical media anymore?) Misaki correctly calls out that Tsurugi is doing the exact same stupid shit he used to do for her, but this time... god, I don't know. I'm like Misaki on this. It's dumb! He's dumb! He made a half-dozen ZECTroopers quit in the midst of a citywide Worm invasion! But he means well and I can't stay mad at him. I'm just, like,
okay
. This is who he is. Okay.
But he's also a Worm, and that's what we're going to have to deal with next time.
Oh, and there's
also
a plot where Yaguruma is so mad at himself for helping out last episode that he chains himself up, leading Kageyessir to do the exact same stupid thing. It leads to, bar none, my favorite moment in the entire series, which is Tendou taking one look at their chained-up torsos and Noping right the hell out of recruiting them. It is, possibly, the final punctuation on how this show is committed to the Hoppers as comedy relief. I barely even understand what Yaguruma's going for, other than Attention, but knowing him, I think I just answered my own question. It's such a dumb plot, and it definitely is not interested in making these two look cool, but I loved it.
I loved this whole episode, despite its massive tonal problems (it's a slapstick episode set in the early days of Armageddon), complete isolation from the build-out of the finale elements (Hiyori, Another Tendou), the giant shrug of a threat (I guess Japan is like 87% Worms now, I hope they have some progressive representation in parliament), and how the show is salting the Hoppers so nothing will ever grow there again. Don't care about anything I just said. I adored this sappy, dopey love story, and I'm psyched for the next installment.
INOUE FOREVER
A QUESTION
Although, honestly, felt like Tsurugi and Renge were going to end up together! Great chemistry, those two. Anyway, it's a Christmas episode for the ol' Kamen Riders, and back on Christmas (in 2020) I asked what gift you'd give a Rider, and why. Let me switch it around this time.
Which Rider do you think would give the best Christmas present, and why?
__________________
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KAMEN RIDER W
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Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 09-02-2023 at
11:21 AM
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