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01-07-2021, 06:34 PM | #521 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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So, we've arrived here at last... the whole Dark Knife saga is certainly one of the most famous (infamous?) parts of Kabuto. So (in)famous I'm calling it a "saga" as though it is isn't just another two-parter. But then, it's really not just another two-parter, is it? These ones are weird, for sure. I wish I could share some personal anecdote about my first time watching them, but there's honestly not much to say. I knew about their reputation going in and... I mean, I don't even remember if I particularly liked or disliked them? That was then, though, and this is now, when I can not only tell you I thought this episode was fantastic, but also how much of that is down to the direction of one Hidenori Ishida. Watching this right after that last two-parter from Tasaki really brought out the flavor of Ishida's style through sheer contrast. That Drake two-parter was direct and concise in how it was put together, whereas this episode thrives on wild exaggeration. It's all about conveying the mood above all else, and it gels so perfectly with such an oddball script from Inoue. There's a sort of conscious, deliberate waste to the way a lot of shots are set up that I love. Lots of objects in the foreground that don't need to be there, or angles that are just generally less straightforward then they could be. I think it could be argued it's a bit on the showy side, but I eat up the emphasis on dynamism, and in this particular case I find it adds to the overall off-kilter vibe of the story. So much of what makes this episode work is in the deliberate sense of unreality. It opens with a narrator recounting the tale of this mythical kitchen utensil with visual accompaniment set up to look like theatre. Tendou and Kagami talk to each other psychically. When they go to eat the food Hiyori makes them, it smash cuts to the same exact angle with the plates already cleaned off, as though they the ate in the span between the two frames. The Dark Knife seems to like that so much lightning starts coming out of it. When Juka is talking with her mouth full to Tendou later, her mumblings are subtitled in the jittery style of silent film title cards, complete with the noise of the projector rolling. I mean, I could go on like this ALL day, if I wanted to. It's not even one particular kind of stylistic touch; it's a million little things that make this one work so well. I'm not going to do a full-blown art gallery, as much as I'm tempted to, but check out this shot of Tsurugi being all proud about his paycheck: This is just so aesthetically appealing to me. Not because it's weird or funny, even; it just looks super neat. It's maybe set up that way because, as Die pointed out, this one loves it's long takes, and Tsurugi will exit the scene going down that staircase, but the way it's framed, almost calling more attention to that fancy rich guy clock than the actual characters, it's a fun choice. And it's not simply random, either, as the equally prominent fancy framed pictures directly come into play when the idea of framing Tsurugi's glorified spare change is mentioned. I honestly can't even bring myself to talk about anything but the direction, as much as there is to say about the writing, too. Like, I could mention the distinct Inoue audacity it takes to have Tsurugi's true nature as a Worm discovered by Kagami in the midpoint of this absurdist fever dream of a Kabuto arc; or, hear me out, I could mention that there's a bit where Tendou says he always carries a book about cooking on him and then, with great effort punctuated by cartoonish sound effects, pulls out of his jacket a book that is blatantly too big to fit in his jacket. And then the scene just carries on like nothing unusual happened. This one is just amazing. It's the best kind of dumb comedy, because it's very smart about being very dumb. That's just as much in the writing, too, but I honestly believe this whole thing would've fallen apart without the very specific skillset Ishida brings to the table.
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01-07-2021, 07:21 PM | #522 |
Master Procrastinator
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 367
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So these were the episodes that I referred to as the peak silliness of the show. You can see why, I suppose.
They are also the two episodes of the entire franchise that I loathe the most. It feels like an entirely different show. A really bad one. Like if these had been the first episodes of Kamen Rider I had ever seen, I would have assumed the entire franchise was a massive dumpster fire and never taken a second look at it again. So I find the perspective of those of you who did like it to be rather interesting. I'm glad not everyone suffered watching these episode. I was not so lucky. |
01-07-2021, 08:17 PM | #523 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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It certainly doesn't take much effort to imagine why it'd be a hard episode to get into, at any rate. It seems very much like the sort of episode that will leave you totally cold if you aren't into the very specific thing it's choosing to do.
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01-07-2021, 09:59 PM | #524 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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I somehow managed to completely forget that this was the episode where Kagami saw Tsurugi turn into a Worm. (The very brief mapo tofu contest? That part I remembered, haha.) It is also slightly more grounded than I remember it being; I think, if I were to describe it now, it would be Kamen Rider Kabuto But Turned Up To Eleven.
Tho with all the hilarious spectacle - and there is so much to enjoy - my favorite bit is still the Kagami and Tendo conversation about Maybe This Rider Won't Be A Lunatic conversation And then everything slowly (?) descends into madness and shenanigans ensue. Man, this one was so much more fun to watch knowing what was coming Quote:
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This one is just amazing. It's the best kind of dumb comedy, because it's very smart about being very dumb. That's just as much in the writing, too, but I honestly believe this whole thing would've fallen apart without the very specific skillset Ishida brings to the table.
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They are also the two episodes of the entire franchise that I loathe the most. It feels like an entirely different show. A really bad one. Like if these had been the first episodes of Kamen Rider I had ever seen, I would have assumed the entire franchise was a massive dumpster fire and never taken a second look at it again.
I think this episode is as Kabuto as anything else in the series, but I get why it might not work for folks. Any time there's a Comedy episode of a Kamen Rider show, there's going to be folks that don't dig the jokes, or don't feel like it's treating its world/premise/stakes seriously enough. (I can still buy Kagami Outrageous as a cunning mastermind, despite his fascination with Evil Cooking or whatever, but I can see how it might undermine his threat for other viewers.) I think the core of the episode is still true to the world of Kabuto, though, even if the tone is not what you're looking for.
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01-07-2021, 10:53 PM | #525 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Only halfway done with 30, but three things I need to mention:
1. Holy hell, it's the restaurant from the Faiz episodes where the entire supporting cast gets part-time jobs, then gets so deathly ill that they need Takumi and Yuuji to fill in for them, aka The Greatest Faiz Plot Of All-Time: 2. It's that abandoned house from Blade where folks were constantly hiding while they tried to heal from life-threatening injuries: 3. There is a graveyard for chefs who could not master the art of cooking.
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01-07-2021, 11:23 PM | #526 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,410
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As much as I love episode 29 in all its goofiness, I still like the second part even more.
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01-07-2021, 11:25 PM | #527 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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The sound design is impossibly overbearing, but yeah, 30 is unbelievably smart about the story it chose to tell.
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01-07-2021, 11:57 PM | #528 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 30
Oh, man, INOUE FOREVER. There's something about his episodes... I think I said in another thread that he's a dude who always swings hard at an idea. If it's one he doesn't fully connect with, it goes foul, sometimes infuriatingly so. But when he connects with an idea, really gets ahold of it, it is exceptional. This is... it's maybe not the best Kabuto episode yet, but it is so quintessentially Kabuto, so true to the soul of this show, that it makes other episodes look like pig food. Like, I think The Dark Chef is maybe the best villain this show could ever have? I know there's a Dark Kabuto coming up (I've got an unopened SHODO figure that attests to it), but no matter who that ends up being, I can't see how they could be a better foil to Tendou than this story had. The idea of someone who values excellence because he can take it for himself, someone who'd drain great people of their skills, someone who humbles great people for his own pleasure, the very idea of excellence being a zero-sum game... all of that stuff is antithetical to Tendou's worldview. Tendou envisions a world of Objectivist wonders, where geniuses of all stripes follow their muses into realms of achievement that render the world a better place. The Dark Chef covets the skills of others so that he can control the future, lock the world into his desires and goals. And then to make it all about food? To take Tendou's ability to bring joy to others, and warp it into a weapon? To turn a gift into a cage? All of that is so compelling that, like, if the Dark Kabuto doesn't try to also defeat Tendou in an underground cooking competition, I can't imagine why this show didn't save The Dark Chef for the endgame. He's such a perfect distillation and inversion of what the show is saying with Tendou, and it's one of the smartest things I've ever seen on this show. And to do it all in an episode that's also using the metaphor of food to explain how staying true to yourself is more important than beating others? How true achievement comes from clarity and self-respect, not dominance and control? How the idea of beating someone in art misses the entire point of creating art?! COME ON. This episode is overflowing with smart takes on the themes of Kabuto, and smart looks at Tendou's heroism. INOUE FOREVER! (I'll say this as a knock against this episode, though: the sound design is oppressive. For all that the last episode seemed to let the jokes land on their own, this one has a wacky sound effect for literally every movement and line of dialogue. It's suffocating. I'm in love with this episode, and can forgive a lot because of how brilliantly it's approaching its themes, but it was absolutely getting on my nerves. Much like Tendou had to learn in order to defeat The Dark Chef, sometimes the best flavors are simple. The sound design doesn't irreparably harm the episode or anything, but it does hamstring a couple jokes by overemphasizing the humor.) It's not just Tendou's heroism that finds new expressions in this episode, though. We also get a little bit more with Kagami and Tsurugi. (I absolutely love that last episode has this killer cliffhanger of What Is Kagami Going To Do About Tsurugi, and the first scene in this episode is What Is Tendou Going To Do To Avenge Jiiya. This story zero percent cares about the suit action!) We'd previously had Kagami find some similarities between his dead brother and Tsurugi's dead sister, but this episode blew my mind by trying to draw a parallel between Tsurugi not knowing he's a Worm, and Kagami's impetuousness. It's... I mean, I'm probably reading too much into it, but I really like Kagami seeing this dude trying desperately to wage a war on Worms when he himself is a Worm, sees the futility of that, and goes Hard Same. (There's another great long take in this one, where Tsurugi gives a big I'm Going To Defend Ladies Who Remind Me Of My Dead Sister No Matter What speech to Kagami, one that sort of wins Kagami over. The camera starts, like, sixty yards away and then slowly tracks in until it's right in Tsurugi's face. Super great camera move.) Kagami's a guy who believes in his Very Big Feelings, has found fulfillment in doing what he thinks is right, so how can judge Tsurugi for being a Worm who wants to destroy Worms? How can he let this weird, self-negating creature come to harm? It's a thread I wouldn't've thought to explore, and it's one that I'm excited to see the show develop. It gives Kagami this crazy limb to go out on, and I always like this show better when Kagami is heedlessly following his Very Big Feelings. Much like Tendou's epiphany about things having an innate quality, I like that this show realized the power of Kagami making potentially terrible decisions for adorably heroic reasons. INOUE FOREVER! A QUESTION Yes, I absolutely am going to talk about Jiiya's heretofore unrevealed older twin brother, the master chef Hiiya. He's a great, bonkers twist on the Old Master character, treating cooking as a bloodsport, a crucible that destroys souls. There is a graveyard outside his house where failures are buried. He's amazing, and I love that he exists. He's doubly great because he's played by the same actor as Jiiya (obviously), and the tones of the two characters are wildly divergent. Jiiya is trembling, gentle. Hiiya is implacable, confrontational. The actor kills in both roles. As of Episode 30, who's your favorite actor (not character) on the show?
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01-08-2021, 02:55 AM | #529 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,410
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There are so many small things that I love in this episode: evil chef's determined but awkward shuffle walk, the ridiculousness of everything involving Jiiya's brother, whatever the hell the actor playing Tadokoro's brother was doing (I hesitate to call it "acting" when it felt more like some form of avant garde performance art). The big thing that really struck me, though, was the episode's plot - not the details, but more the format.
I want to talk about Skyrider for a second - the 1979 reboot of Kamen Rider that ended up becoming a sequel instead. There's an episode of Skyrider that features the villain of the week being a "dojo killer" - a martial artist who travels to different schools to challenge their master and take away the dojo's title when he wins. It's a classic martial arts film trope - Skyrider wasn't the last time it would show up in a Rider show, either. And that's what this episode is, it's a martial arts movie. Everything about it follows the path of a classic kung fu film: lost ancient weapons, the rival who defeats the hero's mentor, the restaurant conquering, the wise old hermit master, etc. The entire arc is an homage to these kinds of stories, just with cooking and wacky underground Iron Chef arenas. It's so weird in concept but so beautiful in execution. On the Tsurugi front, I'm a bit split. I love that Kagami is thinking about the situation and trying to understand it instead of acting. It's another sign that he really is the show's heart. I'm less into the obsession with Misaki. I remembered that this was part of Tsurugi's character arc, but I forgot that it starts completely out of the blue with only WorMisaki as anything that might hint to this storyline having a beginning. It picks up so intensely here, though, that it just feels almost completely random. |
01-08-2021, 03:11 AM | #530 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Quote:
There are so many small things that I love in this episode: evil chef's determined but awkward shuffle walk, the ridiculousness of everything involving Jiiya's brother, whatever the hell the actor playing Tadokoro's brother was doing (I hesitate to call it "acting" when it felt more like some form of avant garde performance art). The big thing that really struck me, though, was the episode's plot - not the details, but more the format.
I want to talk about Skyrider for a second - the 1979 reboot of Kamen Rider that ended up becoming a sequel instead. There's an episode of Skyrider that features the villain of the week being a "dojo killer" - a martial artist who travels to different schools to challenge their master and take away the dojo's title when he wins. It's a classic martial arts film trope - Skyrider wasn't the last time it would show up in a Rider show, either. And that's what this episode is, it's a martial arts movie. Everything about it follows the path of a classic kung fu film: lost ancient weapons, the rival who defeats the hero's mentor, the restaurant conquering, the wise old hermit master, etc. The entire arc is an homage to these kinds of stories, just with cooking and wacky underground Iron Chef arenas. It's so weird in concept but so beautiful in execution. Quote:
On the Tsurugi front, I'm a bit split. I love that Kagami is thinking about the situation and trying to understand it instead of acting. It's another sign that he really is the show's heart. I'm less into the obsession with Misaki. I remembered that this was part of Tsurugi's character arc, but I forgot that it starts completely out of the blue with only WorMisaki as anything that might hint to this storyline having a beginning. It picks up so intensely here, though, that it just feels almost completely random.
(To be clear: Misaki can totally handle this herself! It's just, if Kagami's willing to throw himself on that grenade, why not let him?) Getting Kagami to tell Tsurugi to back off gets Tsurugi to talk about his Very Big Feelings regarding protecting Misaki, which gets Kagami seeing more of himself in Tsurugi. It's maybe rushed in the sense of how thirsty Tsurugi is, but this has never been a character defined by half-measures.
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