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01-29-2021, 09:10 AM | #831 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 9,064
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Today is Kabuto’s 15th anniversary!
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01-29-2021, 09:58 AM | #832 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
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Now having a room to comment here again...
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KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 47
It’s a very nice touch. It’s not Kagami being conflicted, torn between his friendship and his responsibility. It’s Kagami knowing Tendou well enough to know that there’s some multi-level plot that’s just kicking off, and it’s time to find out what it is. Quote:
I guess the tip-off should’ve been the flashback to the meteor strike of 1999, maybe? This is an episode that feels weirdly, frustratingly regressive. There’s even a scene where the ZECT In A Van team meets in an empty office! And Tendou poses with his Zecter while backlit by a blazing sun! It’s definitely trying to evoke the early episodes, but I really wish they’d opted to keep those references to a surface level.
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Just, man, Tendou is back to being his opaque, obstinate self, and I am grinding my teeth in frustration. We’re left with a conclusion to this episode where Tendou either has a long-term plan he’s not letting his friends in on (which is something this show largely grew out of a dozen episodes ago), or he’s just being a mercurial prick that gets Renge shot. I don’t love either of those choices! Those are both bad plots to follow through on!
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It’s not a fun feeling, to watch an episode like this. There are only two more Kabutos left after this one, and that’s it forever. You want to feel like everything that’s happened has weight, that the journey you’ve been on with these characters has forged them into heroes that are finally equal to the task of saving the world. Instead, I feel like none of it has mattered? Literally everything in this story could’ve taken place in the first ten episodes, character-wise. (I mean, we’ve got more powerups, but that isn’t really the sort of progress I’m looking for.) Tendou and Kagami share basically no screentime, and when they do, Tendou’s being a dismissive asshole. The Worms are as disorganized and character-less as ever. There’s a sweet scene of Tendou and Hiyori cooking, but it feels like you could’ve done this one right after the flower show episodes. (Also, Hiyori was briefly hospitalized after being attacked by Another Tendou, and it’s never brought up once. Amazing!)
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A QUESTION
At least Clock Up is back! The Kabuto/Dark Kabuto fight is genuinely great, with an emphasis on tactical combat and predicting your opponent. It’s not visualized super great (it’s both Tendous thinking of what they’re going to do in words instead of in actions), but it’s tense in a way that not every fight gets to be. How’d you like this fight? Too short? Just right?
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01-29-2021, 10:41 AM | #833 |
Standing By
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,089
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There are some minor points I could address, if I'm feeling extremely desperate. Pointing out that I'm pretty sure Kagami's dad isn't among the casualties list of this episode. Or maybe, like... noting how Dark Kabuto is actually talking about not being able to forgive the Natives, and the Hiyori thing is a mistranslation? Wait, talking about mistranslations? Great, now I'm back where I was 40+ episodes ago!
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If I weren't so confused by the abrupt resolution to the Hoppers' plotline, I might even find Yaguruma and Kageyama's final scene together touching! Immediately getting negative again, I know, but I remember being genuinely confused what even happened the first time I saw it, so I want to bring it up. Kageyama being all upset about turning into a Native, and Yaguruma's subsequent mercy(?) killing happens so fast it barely even registers. I've barely even had time to get used to them deciding to seek the light, and suddenly one of them is dead. It's a bizarre end point for two bizarre characters, is maybe the most positive way I can put it.
I feel nothing for Kageyama's death. He doesn't die heroically or villainously or anything like that, he dies like a pathetic loser, which is something he does better than Yaguruma who wishes he could be as much a pathetic loser as him! Quote:
KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 48
A QUESTION Multiple choice time! Genuinely can’t believe that Tendou, the guy who executed Tsurugi a week ago, is letting the guy who assaulted Hiyori just, like, go live his life. Is Tendou letting Another Tendou go because: a) Tendou firmly/suddenly believes in forgiveness against psychotic Worms as long as they promise not to do it again, despite Another Tendou immediately shouting that he can’t forgive Hiyori and fleeing into the night b) Tendou is pathologically incapable of looking at his own face and not immediately forgiving it c) Nothing matters anymore, no one on this show is written like they existed before this episode, continuity is a dirty word, welcome to the darkness That's what I think.
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01-29-2021, 12:02 PM | #834 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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The answer to your question is the 'its bad writing' gif. At this rate, the next one to be doing any mercy killing will be you towards the show! (As for my own thoughts, they basically echo most of the ones you listed, which is to say that I felt zero emotion towards any of it.)
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Aw, why did you tell me that? Now I'm going to feel like a jerk for the unkind things I'll likely say about it. I don't want to make a 15-year old's birthday suck! I mean, I will, at any time, but I don't want to. Quote:
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Really, it's more a consequence of Kageyama hitching his Rider wagon to a dude who loudly and frequently explains how everything in his life makes him gloriously sad. That is the outlook of someone who is definitely going to "mercy" kill his partner at some point! Huge red flag! Quote:
d) Tendo feels empathy for The Other Souji and believes that, as a Souji like him, he will find his own way. Not necessarily the right way, but a way that will ultimately lead to justice. Not everybody who lives in the darkness is a doomed character.
That's what I think.
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01-29-2021, 12:40 PM | #835 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,410
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I am so glad that Black took place in a more technologically primitive era. Kotaro and social media would be a terrible blend. He would 100% be the guy on Twitter who thinks that every news event is part of a Gorgom conspiracy.
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01-29-2021, 01:31 PM | #836 |
Standing By
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,089
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Fair! I'm not sure the show does a great job explaining why Another Tendou gets that pass (especially as he's shown to be reckless, violent, and emotionally unstable: not a great combination for turning a life around) and, say, an unfortunate French noble doesn't, but it's a valid interpretation.
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01-29-2021, 02:21 PM | #837 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 49
I wish I could tell you why I started crying at the end. It's not a great finale. It does a decent job trying to tie the Native stuff into the series themes, at long last. There're some really sweet moments at the end of the whole cast celebrating their victory. But it all feels Too Little Too Late, with a bunch of plot points that have all the randomness and accidental hilarity of Oh Hey Daisuke Showed Up Again. The biggest problem this episode has, and that 47-49 collectively have, is that 44 is still the better series resolution. It's just bigger and better in every single way, not least of which for how much it makes Hiyori and Tendou's relationship a central point. They don't even share a single scene in the finale! That is a top-shelf failure, no matter the behind-the-scenes circumstances. It's like this story was a three-legged stool with one of its legs missing. There's some minor balance, due to luck, but it's nowhere near as sturdy as the previous finale. The one way this episode improves on 44 is that it finally starts to make the Natives feel like they're looped-in thematically with this series. From a very early point in the show, Tendou has been someone who views personal achievement as a societal good. If you improve yourself, you improve the world you live in. Letting everyone follow a path to self-improvement is what he's fighting to protect. Negishi's plan is the opposite of that. It's changing the world to match the Natives. It's robbing people of the chance to be anything more than the Natives, to flatten experience and cut off paths. It's literally everything Tendou's been fighting against, in one villainous scheme. Beyond thematically, though, I'm not sure there's a ton to commend this plot for? Goro as a final villain is just... I mean, it's Goro, I'm a fan, but he's the definition of a lieutenant. He's the guy you fight before you fight the big boss. Making him the actual final monster, it's like... it is emblematic of every way this final episode is a step down from 44. He's not the mastermind, he's just some guy who's happy to draft off of whatever scheme puts him closer to power. He's got no ideology beyond I Hate You Guys. He doesn't represent anything beyond an obstacle, a Villain. Beating him isn't like defeating a massive Worm army and a flashy dude who'd wiped the floor with literally every other Rider. Beating him is the end of nearly any forgettable monster-of-the-week story, and it's done on the most boring set imaginable. (Pretty cheap looking, too!) As the absolute final battle between the forces of Justice and the forces of Evil, it feels regrettably small, no matter how long the actual fight runs. Which, yeah, feels a little padded? For an episode? It's really only three parts: Kagami leaving the hospital, the fight at the TV studio, and the epilogue. Nearly anything else just gets a token reference, nothing the episode really wants to spend a lot of time or effort on. The Dark Kabuto/Negishi stuff is the biggest offender, where Another Tendou only wakes up long enough to pull Negishi into an explosion that kills them both. It's yet another plotline, Another Tendou, that show just seemed to lose interest in after 44. He only says a couple lines and then explodes. Afterwards, the Riders send their Zecters away and finally relax. Everything after that last explosion... I mean, yeah, I loved it. It is pure fan-service. It is the dessert after a 49-episode meal. (I adore how much the epilogue is about food. Nearly everyone gets a job related to food! Those are my favorite types of Kamen Rider jobs!) It's a pretty great ending, one that not even the redundancy of 47-49 could dim my enthusiasm for. Tadokoro becoming a super weird soba chef. Misaki running the Discabil business in Japan, since Tsurugi and Jiiya are busy in France. (A shame they couldn't fit Tsurugi into the finale, but, again: busy in France!) Daisuke and Gon, just hanging out because we all love Daisuke and Gon. Hiyori and Juka as sisters. Is it the Kagami stuff that I find so adorable that it brings tears to my eyes? God, maybe! Him going into a job where he watches over children, protects them... it's not the usual caregiver roles we see when it comes to kids on these shows (teachers, day-care workers), and the specificity of A Cop For Kids is the most perfect idea for what happens next for Kagami. And Tendou going to France for tofu, because of the visual of the Eiffel Tower... it's very cute. It's a simple gag, with Tendou doing half his Tendou Souji speech in French, and then pointing to the viewer as a button, but it's very sweet. That ending, man... hard to be objective after that! I definitely didn't like these last three episodes, even if this was the best of the three. (That thematic stuff for the Natives bought a lot of my goodwill.) But having a third of the episode be about everyone's future, about Kagami and Tendou being canonical friends... it's nice. It is a very nice feeling to end this show on. A QUESTION Essay question this time: Why didn't Tendou run into Tsurugi when he was in France? It would've been the perfect way to include Tsurugi (and Jiiya) into the finale, while honoring the earlier episodes where Tsurugi decides to leave Japan. Did the writer just forget?
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01-29-2021, 02:30 PM | #838 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,546
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Er, I’ll let someone else respond to the question. Instead, I’ll cap off my regular feature for this thread by putting my commented reaction to this finale when I first watched it. (It’s currently got 6 upvotes)
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Everyone gets a happy ending except the Hoppers
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01-29-2021, 02:37 PM | #839 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Oof, sorry to hear that Den-O wasn't for you. But thanks so much for all of your insights on Kabuto! See you in a few weeks!
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01-29-2021, 03:08 PM | #840 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 2,481
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Den-o is a fave of mine even though I never finished it for some reason. I guess this might be an excuse to finally get to the end.
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