[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Definitely one of the more memorable cliffhangers in this show, in my book?

Seeing Shun abruptly decide to grab onto Fourze as he blasts off especially, like... I don't recall this being a cliffhanger that has any particular dramatic weight, because it doesn't add a new wrinkle to the story so much as reinforce what we already knew, but it's just so gosh darn outrageous it's impossible to hate.

I recall the first time it definitely made me excited to see the next episode for how it would follow the climax of Shun's Rider-tackling level beef. This is the first of several episodes by Sanjo Riku, head writer of Double and Drive, so I can see the correlation with increased physical comedy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 08 - ?COORDINATING WITH HEAVY METAL?

What follows is a scene of Shun weeping about his dad being overbearing, and football not being fun because of it, and him wanting to have fun, and it is a mystifying scene, tonally. If there?d been a shot of Shun using eye drops to fake tears, it?d make perfect sense in the way the actor plays it. It?s 100% this character having an emotional breakthrough, and the things he?s saying definitely make him sound miserable and self-loathing, but the performance is one of the phoniest things I?ve ever seen. It?s a joke that no one?s laughing at.

I feel like this scene is supposed to be ridiculously melodramatic. The real Shun is someone who wants to be liked and please others, so his terrible father having a tacky statue made in his "honor" traps him in a misguided sense of obligation to repay the gesture, by continuing to play the lonely puppet King. Shun's confession exposes his pitiful side that deeply wants to have fun with friends like KRC and hates the phony bully he has become at the expense of himself and others. Shun has been playing a role more than anybody else, so it seems appropriately tragic, beneath the surface level comedy, that he doesn't know how to act properly even when he's trying to let others in. It's only after finding his true place in KRC that we can see the serious real Shun doing what he was meant to do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

The highlight here was Gentaro excitedly saying that a 50 (which in my country?s grading system would be barely scraping a C) is the highest score he?s ever got. Even more so if you look closely, his actual score was 18 (under the same grading system, that would be a U, meaning it?s so bad it can?t be graded).

He's lucky exams don't require knowledge about football, which would've made it a U-!.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I feel like this scene is supposed to be ridiculously melodramatic. The real Shun is someone who wants to be liked and please others, so his terrible father having a tacky statue made in his "honor" traps him in a misguided sense of obligation to repay the gesture, by continuing to play the lonely puppet King. Shun's confession exposes his pitiful side that deeply wants to have fun with friends like KRC and hates the phony bully he has become at the expense of himself and others. Shun has been playing a role more than anybody else, so it seems appropriately tragic, beneath the surface level comedy, that he doesn't know how to act properly even when he's trying to let others in. It's only after finding his true place in KRC that we can see the serious real Shun doing what he was meant to do.

Maybe! It's just a weird way to do the scene, because the content of what Shun's saying is relatable and affecting, while the conclusion to this scene with the later battle is treated as rousing and cathartic. If Shun's acting ridiculous, it sort of works at cross purposes for the things he's saying and doing to not be ridiculous.

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

(Tomoko is... around for a lot of it!)

Man, you're saying that like she needs to do anything else to be the best part of an episode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

This is the first of several episodes by Sanjo Riku, head writer of Double and Drive, so I can see the correlation with increased physical comedy.

That actually does explain a lot, yeah.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Man, you're saying that like she needs to do anything else to be the best part of an episode.

To be clear, NOT A NEGATIVE, but they don't really do much in the second part to even involve her in the shenanigans. I want a fully integrated Tomoko!!!