[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!!!

[GuardianAngel87]

^At least she will be in the next pair of episodes. Tomoko is easily my favorite among the KRC and she was great even before that.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuardianAngel87

^At least she will be in the next pair of episodes. Tomoko is easily my favorite among the KRC and she was great even before that.

If not for Miu plussing up every scene and story to which she's attached, Tomoko would be the clear winner thus far, and that's just off of scene-stealing cameos and agreeably bizarre bits of business. I'm excited to experience her spotlight eps again!

[Switchblade]

And the whatever the Japanese equivalent of a Daytime Emmy goes to... not Shun. I remembered that we basically got the equivalent of Emilio Estevez's character arc in The Breakfast Club for Shun here, but I forgot just how over the top the acting was. I know that Kamen Rider isn't exactly hiring the best young actors in Japan (except for the all the time it ends up doing that by accident), but man did Shun's actor go to town devouring the scenery in this one.

I still think it works as a good transition for the character into being part of the gang, though, and the Power Dizer handshake is fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Fourze 7-8:

This arc in two words? Bad Boooy!

So I'm a bad Kamen Rider fan for forgetting that the detention teacher was Alternative Zero from Ryuki. That one's on me. He's still great, though, and his catchphrase is one of the weird minor pieces of the show that's stuck with me over the years. There were a lot of returning actors from older Rider shows during the opening arcs on Fourze, which was something I really loved about these episodes. The show didn't keep it up in the long run, but it was fun seeing minor actors like this again. I'll be seeing more in the next arc, which brings back Amane from Blade as the next Zodiart.

The big focus here, of course, is getting Shun on the team. It still seems like a big push given how much of a dick he's been up to this point, but never underestimate the power of daddy issues. We're going to be seeing more of the Power Dizer from now on, too. It's kind of weird; despite mechs being more of a Sentai thing, there have been a lot of Rider shows in recent years that have dipped their toes in that water, too. I don't think any of them ever worked as well as the Power Dizer, though - mostly because the others were either largely abandoned because of the CGI costs or because they were monumentally stupid like the pirate ship igauna from Ghost.

This was another good pair of episodes and the characters still really shine. I am constantly amazed at how I could have forgotten just how much fun Gentaro is. I'm really happy that I'm rewatching this show.

Has Yuki gone crazy yet? We're getting some early signs. Things were mostly normal for 95% of these episodes, but then we saw what she did to get detention. I generally chalk her Hayabusa costume in the Queen pageant up to being awkward and nerdy, but trying to plant giant space books in the library while wearing a plush shuttle on her head? Yeah, this is more like the Yuki I remember.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

There were a lot of returning actors from older Rider shows during the opening arcs on Fourze, which was something I really loved about these episodes. The show didn't keep it up in the long run, but it was fun seeing minor actors like this again.

...including Shun's dad, who had a minor run on Agito back in the day! Will he return in the newly-announced film to fight monsters with Psychic Dad Energy? Unknown (wink), but here's a look at him and Shouichi in happier times:

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

...including Shun's dad, who had a minor run on Agito back in the day! Will he return in the newly-announced film to fight monsters with Psychic Dad Energy? Unknown (wink), but here's a look at him and Shouichi in happier times:

Not sure about this dude, but someone who will be in the movie shows up in a few episodes.

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER CLUB MEETING – QUIZ: KAMEN RIDER URBAN LEGENDS!! EPISODE 02



Following on from his difficult-to-parse acting choices from Episode 08, we’ve got Shun as the host this time out, and he’s kind of bad at this? Mostly in a funny way – JK is laughing when the quiz starts, and multiple actors get big laughs as they give him shit about his delivery and distraction – but also in ways that you can tell the cast just thinks he’s an unprepared himbo. He goofs around in a way where you can see how that tendency might be annoying to a group of variably-experienced actors who want their job to be fun, but would also like to nail their scenes so they can go home.

I am probably reading too much into the cast’s views on Shun, but that’s sort of the fun of this series of ancillary materials, beyond watching people genially trash-talk Showa storytelling. (Which is always welcome! These kids losing their minds at Nigou exploding a plane at the end is terrific.) There’s vague camaraderie, and some minor gripes, and a little bit of teasing, and you get the sense of how these Actual People get along over a year, beyond what they’re playing on TV. It’s neat, even if I think they all thought Shun was the worst actor.