[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I will say, on a broader thematic sorta level, I do really appreciate the contrast Tachibana's presence helps create between the dynamics of Fourze and Meteor -- Ryuusei having this single very impersonal... benefactor, more than even an ally, against the big warm circle of friends that is the KRC.

Y'know, that's fair. It certainly helps put Ryuusei's mental state into context -- he's got Gentarou going "Oh, yeah, trusting people and making friends is great, like with my grandad, who took me in after my parents both died mysteriously doing a job that we're definitely not going to talk about right now", while Ryuusei's thinking "I was approached at my most emotionally vulnerable by a masked weirdo named after a Showa father-figure, who even now hangs literally as a Sword of Damocles over my head, floating judgmentally in a geosynchronous orbit, ready to rob me of my ability to save my comatose friend if I ever let a single living soul know my secret identity or the source of my powers. Trusting people is SO GREAT."

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 23 - “TEAMING UP WITH SWANS”

Despite the presence of Cancer as a new Horoscope to deal with, this one had a real old-school Fourze feel to me. There’s a Zodiart, it’s running around causing trouble, all while a new subculture of students enters the picture. There’s not much in the way of escalating conflict – Cancer might as well be a more talkative early-days Scorpion, and none of the other Horoscopes get involved in this story – and stuff like Meteor’s secret identity is a fun wrinkle, nothing that’s really driving the plot. (Ryuusei does get to ask the big Can A Zodiart Be Good question, but this episode answers it with a resounding Not Cygnus.) It’s just the viewer meeting some weird new characters, and exploring a bizarre hero-worshipping subculture that’s grown at Amanogawa High.

It's obviously a different one in the beginning where a Zodiart is supposedly heroic and saving people from thugs. But turns out that Cygnus wants praise and adoration to be worshipped by others, and presenting himself as a hero is a good way to draw people in. Though Cygnus doesn't cause problems and pretend to be a hero. Cygnus feels Light Yagami-like to strive to create the ideal society where other than beating up criminals, he'd remove anyone he deems unworthy for his ideal society, in this case, anyone who defies and objects to him, or as Misa noted, people who are 'punk, 'idiot', or 'goth' being unworthy of the ideal society.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But it’s all pretty bonkers, so I don’t know what else you can do besides let this story of Temu Sieg play out until the heel turn. There’s some fun stuff to potentially interrogate with hero worship, and drawing the wrong lessons from warriors, and whatever is going on with Eguchi and Misa, but, again: sort of too much bizarre Ugly Duckling stuff to define for there to be much storytelling pushing things forward. The details are super weird and fun, so it’s never boring, but I definitely got to the end of this episode feeling like there were a bunch of details, but I wasn’t sure what story was being told yet.

I've seen this kind of thing happened in other media (not KR). As Tomoko noticed, it's indeed a cult thing to have its members doing a practice to keep chanting one of their rituals or such. The 'training' Misa talks about is brainwashing them, constantly chanting rituals eliminate critical thinking and questioning. As a first watcher here, I'd assume it may be done to get Cygnus' followers to defend and overlook any of Cygnus' true colors, to enable Cygnus' villainy further.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I like the details a lot, though: great to see Miu corralling both Kengo’s bruised ego (he really wants Gentarou to stop doing anything other than testing Giant Foot!!!) and Shun’s weird footwear anxiety to get the investigation moving forward in a very offscreen way; any time spent on the chemistry between Tomoko and Ryuusei is a winner; I’m sure Ryuusei’s conversation with Tachibana won’t take on a great significance down the line; of course Gen and Yuuki both almost end up joining a heroic cult; and oh my god Gentarou scored a 4 out of 100 on his test.

Ryusei exposes himself again in him fending off Cygnus briefly with his martial arts, when he's supposed to be the another 'coward' of KRC. Meteor holds himself back from striking Tomoko, but I can still feel that Meteor has a soft spot for Tomoko specifically for KRC, rather than any other people in general (guess this one can be about shipping). Obviously Cygnus would deny himself friendship from real hero like Fourze, as he'd stop Cygnus from doing crimes (labeled as right by himself obviously), but Meteor seems to be an easier target for Cygnus to punish and make him look bad.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Meteor holds himself back from striking Tomoko, but I can still feel that Meteor has a soft spot for Tomoko specifically for KRC, rather than any other people in general (guess this one can be about shipping).

Any read is valid at this point, but I think these two teenagers got a romantic connection!