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12-07-2020, 12:30 PM | #111 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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There are two ways to deal with the reality of sadness. You can pretend it doesn't exist but the happiness is false and a lie and the person you become is no longer you, your life becomes hollow. Or walking the path of Heaven, you can accept that bad things happen and force reality to change through determination. And that's the whole concept of Worms impersonating people down to their memories, it's a theme for the show and I think it's interesting to explore how characters react differently to adversity.
So, I'll allow Drive/Mach as brothers for two reasons. First, Gou refers to Shinnosuke as "brother" for most of the series, much to Shinnosuke's chagrin. Second, Shinnosuke does eventually marry Gou's sister, making them (technically) brothers. It's a fine line, but I'll let it slide.
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12-07-2020, 05:01 PM | #112 |
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KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 04
It’s Kagami who gets the worst of it this episode, and… can I just say how weird it feels to do this story as the fourth episode? It is a rough road Kagami travels down in this one, and we’ve only just gotten to know him. It’s a story that, honestly, shouldn’t work. The degree of difficulty on landing some of these beats this early on in a series… it is foolish to attempt. That it worked at all is luck. That it worked this well is an actor’s skill. Quote:
And that’s when Tendou shows up.
It’s a tricky episode for Tendou’s character. He’s got to take a back seat in this one, and nearly every time he tries to assert himself in the story it makes him less heroic. He’s forcing Kagami to move faster than he’s able, pushing him to resolve his emotional issues to Tendou’s schedule. There’s even less flexibility to Tendou than usual, and it’s making his friendship (his sister’s right, he’s totally Kagami’s friend) with Kagami even more frayed than when Tendou charged cases of mackerel to him. (WHO DOES THAT?!) Quote:
And it leads to this final connection between Kagami and Tendou, which... again, this is the fourth episode. This is the sort of shit you pull in the final third of the whole series, not two minutes after the cast first meets. Insane to do this now. But, holy hell, it’s a triumph.
Kagami is beside himself with grief. He’s mad at the Worm, he’s mad at himself, and he’s mad at Tendou. It’s hard to say what’s in his head, entirely, but I think he thinks Tendou must be laughing at him. Smug as ever in his superiority. He was right, and now Ryou’s dead for good. Stupid ol’ Kagami, screwed it up again. So he swears to Tendou that he’ll surpass him, that the days of Tendou being right and perfect, and Kagami being a punchline, those days are numbered. And Tendou stops, picks up the charred baseball that symbolized the connection between Kagami and Ryou… and throws it to Kagami. It’s Tendou giving witness to what Kagami’s lost, and the bravery in making that choice. The toxic memory of Ryou is gone, but the positive one can still be a part of Kagami’s life. But it’s also Tendou saying I’m Here. It’s an olive branch, a first step in a friendship. If Kagami, with that killer punch, wants to be better than Tendou? If that’s what’ll help him move on from this loss? Tendou will be waiting for that moment.
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12-07-2020, 06:14 PM | #113 |
The Immortal King Tasty
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Let's talk about how Tendou shows affection. I mean, it'll get redundant between what Die and Sh Ranger have already had to say – I even thought about doing that exact bit with the baseball pictures myself before (correctly) realizing Die is way too smart to not already be all over that – but still, I think my angle on things is a tiny bit different. Namely, I think this is the perfect place to do this story. One episode of setup for Kagami's brother is one more episode than Kasumi got in Build, so if I'll let that slide, I'm sure as heck not going to give this episode any grief. Not when it's doing exactly what the second episode/episode couplet of any Heisei Rider show is supposed to do, and making a firm statement on what the series is really going to be about. In Kabuto's case, that's the relationship between Tendou and Kagami, of course, which simultaneously hits a major turning point in this episode... and yet is only just beginning. There are three very important things to understand about Tendou. One is that while you shouldn't expect him to make his feelings obvious with his words, you can always see his heart in his actions, if you look hard enough. The second is that he considers himself the supreme authority of the entire planet, and as such he utterly disregards suggestions from people he considers even slightly beneath him. The third is that he acts that way because nearly everything in the world transpires exactly as he envisions it. So with all of that in mind, it's no surprise that Tendou feeds ZECT the information about Ryou. He knows ZECT will refuse to involve Kagami, and he knows this is for the best, because Kagami is too fragile emotionally to handle taking down a Worm with the face of his little brother. Tendou sets it up so all he needs to do is go finish the Worm himself as Kabuto, sparing Kagami that pain, and everything will work out perfectly, exactly as it always does when people act how he wants. And then Kagami changes the equation. He protests, insists with fire in his eyes that settling this score himself is something that matters to him, and tells Tendou right to his face to stay out of his business. And amazingly, Tendou does exactly that. When he fights as Kabuto, he lets Kagami make the final decision as to whether or not to destroy the Worm. Tendou defers to someone else's authority. Now think about those three rules again. It's unlikely Tendou would take this gamble in the first place if he thought Kagami was weak enough to say no. It's unthinkable he would yield this decision to Kagami if he thought he was just some spineless idiot. And finally, because he's acting this way, there's only one undoubtable truth. In this episode where it seems Kagami is as low as he'll ever get, he's also won one of the biggest victories anyone ever could – Kagami has earned the respect of the man who walks the path of heaven. ...I still have more to say, but that's a good spot for a break, so here's that visual aid I was talking about. Tendou literally orders the dang fish in this one, prompting TV-N to realize their mistake and get it right this time. Why Earthly didn't take the opportunity to go back and change episode 3 to be right also, I have no clue. Okay! Back on track now! This is a real good episode. I only half remembered that the iconic rain fight was also the Kagami's Worm bro plot, but both of those things individually have stayed in my head relatively well over the years. The special effects work still holds up, which is true for most if not all of Kabuto, and the story behind it has a lot of great raw emotion. It's a very, very good showing for this series. It also helped me lock on to what I think is a reason Kabuto doesn't resonate with me at all, which is that I might not actually give a s*** about Kagami's macho declaration he's going to "surpass" Tendou? It's a great, strong direction for the overarching character growth, don't get me wrong; I don't mean to say any of this is bad so much as that Kagami's motivations as the protagonist (and yes, he is THE protagonist) don't have the same personal appeal to me so, so many other Rider leads do. What I know about Kagami right now is that he joined a shady organization in large part to pursue a personal vendetta, and that just can't grab me instantly the way watching Yuusuke or Shinji see a crying girl and realizing they have the power to stop that from happening again can. Which is a totally unfair comparison to make! I can't be clear enough about this! This isn't analyzing the episode anymore, I'm just trying to understand why I don't feel much of an emotional connection to Kabuto, and I think that lack of a great heroic motivation presented upfront for either of its two heroes is a big part of that. Like I've said before, I love these ideas conceptually, and I would never want every Rider show to do the same exact things over and over, so the variety is awesome, but I think Kabuto might be a case where that results in a series that's a little more for others than it is for me. At least that's my theory at the moment, anyway. Still plenty of this show left to see how I feel about.
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12-07-2020, 07:53 PM | #114 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
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(There's a bit from 03 that I really liked, where Kagami starts to tell his Tragic Backstory, and, like, halfway through you can see Tendou mentally go Tragic Backstory, Yep, Got It and check out. He's not used to people being more complicated than he predicted!) Quote:
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It's a great, strong direction for the overarching character growth, don't get me wrong; I don't mean to say any of this is bad so much as that Kagami's motivations as the protagonist (and yes, he is THE protagonist) don't have the same personal appeal to me so, so many other Rider leads do. What I know about Kagami right now is that he joined a shady organization in large part to pursue a personal vendetta, and that just can't grab me instantly the way watching Yuusuke or Shinji see a crying girl and realizing they have the power to stop that from happening again can.
Which is a totally unfair comparison to make! I can't be clear enough about this! This isn't analyzing the episode anymore, I'm just trying to understand why I don't feel much of an emotional connection to Kabuto, and I think that lack of a great heroic motivation presented upfront for either of its two heroes is a big part of that. Like I've said before, I love these ideas conceptually, and I would never want every Rider show to do the same exact things over and over, so the variety is awesome, but I think Kabuto might be a case where that results in a series that's a little more for others than it is for me. At least that's my theory at the moment, anyway. Still plenty of this show left to see how I feel about. The things I don't care about in a Kamen Rider series are almost always plot machinations: dumb mysteries, obvious reveals, whatever. But the people in them... I don't know, it's just natural for me to care about what Kagami's going through because Kagami's going through it. (A lot of it is the performance! It's a great performance!) It doesn't really match up to anything in my life. I never had a burning need for vengeance. I haven't needed to put my trust in a narcissist who nearly bankrupted me by ordering premium mackerel. But I just find myself getting lost in Kagami's story, feeling his grief and looking for some way out of it. So, yeah, I get what you're saying about not feeling a connection to Kagami's story, but... I think I might have the opposite problem? As long as these stories are this grounded in character, the show pretty much has me 100% invested. But I'm weird!
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12-07-2020, 08:05 PM | #115 |
The Immortal King Tasty
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It's like, any time I say something negative sounding about my interest in Kabuto in this thread, just imagine there being a big flashing neon disclaimer that it's by the standards of my extremely high interest in Kamen Rider. I feel a degree of detachment, yeah, but the simple truth is that if I didn't care at all about the evolution of this wacky duo, I wouldn't be watching Kabuto once, let alone twice.
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12-07-2020, 08:08 PM | #116 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Maybe my phrasing was a little harsh there? I said I "might" not care for a reason. Right after posting that, I thought about it for a second and realized "wait, if I had that much to say about an episode I think I wasn't that interested in, then...?"
It's like, any time I say something negative sounding about my interest in Kabuto in this thread, just imagine there being a big flashing neon disclaimer that it's by the standards of my extremely high interest in Kamen Rider. I feel a degree of detachment, yeah, but the simple truth is that if I didn't care at all about the evolution of this wacky duo, I wouldn't be watching Kabuto once, let alone twice.
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12-07-2020, 09:01 PM | #117 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Not one minute into the fifth episode of Kabuto, and look at this sumbitch:
ALWAYS. Truegami, back again! Agito, Faiz, and now Kabuto. Very excited to have him back in my life!
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12-07-2020, 10:33 PM | #118 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 05
Nnnnnnot my favorite Kabuto episode. It's all over the place, narratively, and while there's an attempt at tying its many (many) storylines together thematically, it just doesn't feel like a focused story. Which, you know, there's still stuff to enjoy. I didn't hate this episode. I mean, I'm not sure I liked it, but there are parts that are worth praising. Truegami, Agito's The Real Shouichi Tsugami, is back on a Rider show, so that's neat. He wasn't ever my guy on the other two shows he was on, but it's fun to see him back in the mix, playing a secretive scientist/soldier with no regard for the human cost of his mission. So, same old, same old. But I always like his hair! Positivity! I like spending more time fleshing out Hiyori. Her sullen nature could come off one-note, but I think the actor does a great job bringing little inflections to her various deflections. Hiyori's someone who's so terrified at being hurt again that she makes it impossible to truly feel safe. When Tendou reaches out to her, reaching back is the riskiest thing she's ever done. That conflict, between her wanting to be happy and feeling safer being miserable, I think that's a fascinating story to tell. And, hey, it gives Tendou a chance to show the benefits of his limitless confidence. It's just fun to be around someone like that, someone who can sell you Everything's Going To Be Fine. It's hard to have that kind of easy charm, and Tendou's got it. We usually see him using it to remind everyone how great he is, and it's a pleasant turn to have him use it to draw Hiyori out of her shell. That's nice. The rest of this episode, though... messy. Messy and uninteresting. The hunt for Kabuto by Truegami's ZECT faction is... I mean, fine, ZECT is going to want to quantify Kabuto sooner or later, and it makes sense that someone up top would have less But He Gets Results equivocating than the regular cast. (I mean, Misaki definitely wants to get Kabuto's identity/motives nailed down, but she's doing it as an extracurricular.) It's a plot point that you have to address. It's just, what's here is lazy and dull. Truegami has zero character in this. His plan is both inexplicable (they just follow this one Worm around, forever, and it never does more than kill one person at a time, with no pattern or escalation) and mind-bendingly open-ended. (Are they going to keep watching people die indefinitely? And is ZECT okay letting these stories keep getting out to tease Kabuto, at the risk of exposing their entire operation?) Worse, since Tendou immediately figures out that ZECT is up to something, there's absolutely no tension. It makes for an episode that is just killing time until Kabuto inevitably shows up for some danger that Tendou can't ignore. (If you guessed Kagami Can't Stand By While People Are In Danger And Immediately Puts Himself In Mortal Danger, congrats. It was either going to be that, or Hiyori Is Attacked At The Tulip Festival.) It's basically just an episode of watching Kagami get more self-righteous about bureaucracy (and also the fact that he now works for an organization that engineers the deaths of civilians) and Tendou avoiding an obvious trap, which... not great writing! And that's not even getting into the random, one-scene appearance of Kagami's dad, which is clearly setting up later stories without making its presence here feel necessary; how weirdly airless and basic Hiyori's should-have-been devastating flashback was; the fact that no one on this show has a cellphone (AT LEAST HIBIKI CALLED IT OUT), which would've solved half the problems in the episode; and ZECT's baffling hierarchy, which provides little to no documentation or coordination between divisions, treating a militarized organization of nebulous authority as something more like a collective of terrorist cells. It's a dull episode, and while I liked a few things in it (Tendou, Hiyori, the restaurant manager immediately kicking herself for believing in Kagami, the fact that Kagami's dad asks him if he's been eating because your parents will never ever stop asking you that no matter how old you get or how long you've lived on your own), I thought this episode was pretty forgettable. There's a thing at the end where the show is trying (I think) to parallel Tendou stepping into ZECT's trap with Hiyori waiting at the flower show, but it's... I don't know. I can squint really hard and maybe see some connective tissue, but there's not much incentive for me to do so. This was all a big step down from last time. A QUESTION Sally, the owner/manager/head chef/whatever of La Salle, tries to get Kagami to take Hiyori to a flower show. It's an attempt to brighten the day of the otherwise withdrawn and monosyllabic Hiyori. Obviously, Hiyori has a (deeply obscured) fascination with floriculture, so she's interested in attending. How would you feel about attending a flower expo? Fun day out, or a total nightmare? (NOTE: Hypothetical question! I am not inviting you to a flower expo! These tickets were already bought before I asked! It doesn't have to be a date if you don't want it to be a date!)
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12-07-2020, 11:07 PM | #119 |
I have a problematic type
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,410
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Full disclosure? I've been watching my episodes before bed and I had a lot of trouble staying awake through the final stretch of this one.
This is the first real two-parter on Kabuto and, as such, it's almost entirely set-up for part two. I'll be curious to see if you think that sacrifice was worth it when we get there. I'm honestly not sure, myself, but I like the second half of this story a lot more. |
12-07-2020, 11:18 PM | #120 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Quote:
Full disclosure? I've been watching my episodes before bed and I had a lot of trouble staying awake through the final stretch of this one.
This is the first real two-parter on Kabuto and, as such, it's almost entirely set-up for part two. I'll be curious to see if you think that sacrifice was worth it when we get there. I'm honestly not sure, myself, but I like the second half of this story a lot more. I considered the first two episodes to be a two-parter, since it's got a cliffhanger at the end of 01, but that's not really the same as this story. (I mean, I'm assuming that Tendou doesn't immediately escape ZECT like he did last time?) Two-parters usually live or die by how solid their conclusions are, so I'm confident that I'll like 06 better. The big problem with this one is that it's just waiting for Tendou to get caught by ZECT, and it's an entire episode to get there. Now that he's caught, the actual story can maybe begin? (Oh, and a quick heads-up for scheduling: I'm going to be sticking to my Hibiki schedule of not posting on Tuesday nights. Tuesday's my busiest night, which makes it tough to watch an episode. Meanwhile, Wednesday is my busiest day, which makes it tough to participate in any discussion. So, yeah, we'll hit Episode 06 on Wednesday. To keep my pace, I still plan on doing a double-episode post sometime between Thursday and Saturday.)
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