It's really fun for me to think about Amane being the same age as the rest of the cast, but still having a wealth of Kamen Rider experience to impart to them. There's no additional analysis or anything, I just like thinking about it.

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God, that would’ve been hilarious during the phase of the show where they don’t know who Meteor is. “Look, I’ve been through this before. You want to know who’s really a Kamen Rider? Look for the biggest hot mess you can find. I’m talking eating puzzle pieces, running away to live on a houseboat, suddenly dressing like the bad boy in an idol group, hanging out with milk drinkers, that kind of shit. You find the guy with dead parents and/or girlfriend trauma, you’ve found yourself a Kamen Rider.”

A club usually works towards a shared goal though and an important theme of Fourze is how many clashing personalities can support each other to become better. Maybe the pacing might be a little more dynamic if it was like Den-O, with an arc between each new member, but then that would require Gentarou to arbitarily not make any new friends for several fortnights at such an early point in his high school adventure, which would basically require him to not be Gentarou. There's always time to explore deeper conflict between the starting KRC members later on, after they've each had their introductions.

Episode 9 is a common debut for fire elemental forms in early Heisei Phase 2 though: Latorartar Combo -> Fire States -> Flame Dragon. Since Fire is basically on par with Elec in terms of power level, it kind of makes sense that Gentarou already has the means to tame it. The Switches aren't picky like Shift Cars, where each Type has their own emotional demands of the user. Gentarou only needs to accept the Switches wholeheartedly to befriend them, which he already learned how to do. Helps that even though we've seen Fire States' debut and both settings of the Hee-Hack Gun, its full potential hasn't been shown yet. Speaking of which, it's cool how the gun lights up like a firetruck siren!

Meanwhile, the other Amane actress appears in Kamen Rider The Next, so watch out for her whenever you get to that.

Reject reality! Gracias Deadmans!

I love how Kengo is all skeptical of ESP until Tomoko starts sensing big Cosmic Energy, then he takes it seriously! :lol I guess he just needs a little more convincing to distinguish the posers from the genuine articles. Like with the Hopping Switch, I appreciate that Kengo will admit being wrong when faced with sufficient evidence.

Now I just want a version of Fourze that's all the little kids from Heisei Phase 1 as grizzled teens.

I mean, the basic problem is that the show spends two weeks on a single character's journey, and then shunts them into the larger group with a big ol' checkmark next to their name because we immediately need to focus on a new cast member. This'll all sort itself out once the KRC is done, like I said, but it makes the quick transition from CARE ABOUT SHUN to SHUN IS DONE kind of funny, and the episode a little weird for it.

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 10 - “COLLISION IN THE MOONLIGHT”

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If Episode 9 was an installment where the flaws in the formula became too big to ignore – character arcs truncated, an ensemble too big to service, rushed development of the superhero collectibles – then Episode 10 was the one that asserted that none of that’s a problem, the show is fun, it’s all on purpose, the vibes don’t need internal conflict, stop being such a baby about things.

Like, I just love the Rabbit Hatch? I love how every episode it becomes less sterile (Kengo) and starts being more diverse and chaotic (the KRC). It’s maybe my favorite Heisei set, for how it melds the show’s sci-fi aspects with its hangout teenage premise. The point of the Rabbit Hatch is to visualize how all of these weirdos bring their own perspectives to a single place, to share their passions and idiosyncrasies with each other, and in doing so create a coherent attitude and viewpoint for the Kamen Rider Club. That scene in this one where each kid boils themselves down to their weirdest attribute and wears it like a badge of honor, that’s this whole goddamn show. It’s not about individualism as conflict or difference, it’s about individualism as what makes you worth having as a friend, and what’s worth finding in your friends.

Which is why this concluding chapter is so, so good. It’s small, in its scope if not in its setting. (Gentarou takes Tomoko to the moon! Ritsuko is going to blow up the school with a magic missile, just like Yuuki predicted! I guess we establish that Kamen Rider Stadium is next door to Amanogawa High!) Tomoko’s a girl that’s always wanted to be accepted for who she was, but when that seemed impossible, she wanted to escape instead: to the moon, or into someone else’s madness and vengeance. But people like Ritsuko never saw her, never wanted who she was. And yet on the moon, she found friendship instead of desolation and isolation, with a group of kids that wanted her to be herself, and in doing so make them all better. It’s a sweet little message – Be Yourself – that’s delivered with the appropriate level of teenage pathos to make Tomoko’s embrace of it feel like the truest victory of the story.

And that’s no shade at the actual superhero fights in this episode, which nimbly correct my criticism about last episode’s blase treatment of Fourze’s new super form by letting its ability to defeat Ritsuko coincide with Gentarou’s acceptance of Tomoko. It’s cute, and I liked how Tomoko’s ability to pick up on it quickly established her as a useful member of the Club. Everyone got to contribute during the final fight, even if the kids had to stay up late to do it. (They all had a very long day!)

I’m glad this one worked better for me. I don’t like shrugging at Fourze’s cast of misfits, or their easy charm and fought-for camaraderie. Having an episode that calls out how these kids are friends without losing their flaws and foibles, that’s a nice thing to keep front and center for this show. I am still in love with this series!

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It's a Toei tokusatsu show -- everywhere is next to everywhere, as long as you can cut to the next shot.

Anyways, really happy to see the show immediately obliterating your attempts to be negative about it.

I also love the Rabbit Hutch, even if I always want to spell its name wrong? (like, it only makes any sense with the "u", but also, apparently there's a character in Kamen Rider officially called Gord Drive, so what do I know) I can't think of many equivalent main hangout sets in Rider that evolve throughout the show as much as this one does? It feels so alive, and the show gets to leverage that at some key points to really sell the story it's telling through its visuals.

Which reminds me! I've always loved that beat where Tomoko rubs mud on her face because she's so desperate not to be seen without her makeup? Because like, the whole point of the story is how she's terrified of being seen, in a larger sense, and you'd still get that from everything else going on, but that moment in particular really encapsulates the whole conflict in a way that doesn't need words. It's always really stuck with me from way back in the day.

And that's by the standard of an episode pair that really stuck with me in general! I was deadset on Tomoko being my favorite before the show even started, simply because she's the one named after Amazon, and thus already clearly the best just from that, but the actual character genuinely was the easiest of the bunch to connect to for me. Getting to hang out with the Kamen Rider Club every week meant a ton to me in 2011, and through Tomoko, I think this episode in particular kinda tells you a lot about why.

I know, I know, but after being so complimentary to the show about its use of the geography of Amanogawa High in the first couple of episodes, I thought I owed them a little snark for how this story does multiple fights in the stadium parking lot.

(And, yeah, it's obviously a Rabbit Hutch -- that's where rabbits live!!! -- but the subs so strenuously call it Rabbit Hatch, and the Wiki uses that spelling, that I've given up on fighting it, and will call it whatever proper noun is shoved in front of me.)

In which Gentaro’s lessons in self-confidence derails Kengo’s drive for the future of scientific research.

I did like the goth girl telling Sonoda that the latter could’ve actually helped her be better than she is now. It’s an unusual moment of depth for the standard card carrying villain of the week.

This was a neat moment, both to humanize an otherwise one-note villain, and to give Sonoda something with a little more meat on it than the usual "observe from a distance, and endure Ohsugi" scenes.

As far as monster attacks go, wielding a pair of teenage girls as telekinetic cudgels is pretty goddamn hilarious. That's some peak Kamen Rider right there.

I still think saving Tomoko for last (-ish; we'll come back to this next time) is an odd choice but she's here now and that's awesome. I like the idea behind Gentarou's talk to her on the moon (minus the kidnapping and shoving her into a spacesuit part): "you don't have to change who you are if you don't want to" is a good message. Pointing at the Earth and saying "Look, the Earth never changes" is maybe not the best supporting example he could have come up with, though.