https://i.imgur.com/4m0YdZt.png

So, just to pull a complete 180 from talking about my inability to truly connect with characters in Kabuto, can I just take some time out to say I really, really love Hiyori?

Back in the Hibiki thread, I mentioned there was one particular moment, in episode 31, one image, that was burned right into my brain as much as anything else in the series despite not being anything grand or important at a glance. That picture above is that for this show. Hiyori just slouching over on the street, ready to pass out from sheer stress, that's something that's always majorly stuck with me from this show.

I could guess at a few reasons why. A character in any show suffering from this level of extreme social anxiety is just not something I've seen a whole lot of, and that would mean this one little moment was more fresh to me than any amount of high-speed bugmen could ever be. Another reason is that, specifically because she has that kind of personality, I have an extraordinarily easy time sympathizing with Hiyori's troubles. Again, this matter would've been more pressing to me than any amount of Kagami being in generic monster danger. (On which note, I'm sort of surprised it wasn't for Tendou, too.)

Hiyori as a character has always kind of fascinated me because she's so utterly unlike any typical type of Rider heroine. She doesn't smile and look pretty, she's not some tough firecracker out there speaking her mind, and she doesn't provide emotional support to anyone, because if anything, she's the one that needs that kind of help. Hiyori, the depressive recluse, obssesively drawing her weird fairy pictures while somehow managing to be even more blunt and uncivil in her speech than Tendou himself.

In a show that was essentially created to play it as safe as possible after Hibiki, Hiyori's characterization strikes me as something unconventional. Like Die, I give a lot of credit to Yui Satonaka for managing to put a lot of the life into the character just through a shocking amount of subtle variations on the same bored facial expression, but to stop beating around the bush for a second, I honestly just like Hiyori because I've been in those shoes at times and it doesn't take any extra work to empathize with that on my part. She is a shining beacon of relatability to me in the sea of much louder eccentrics that is the cast of Kabuto.

...On which note, yeah, all the ZECT stuff in this one had me outright giggling with how transparently dumb it is. At least their plan to capture Kabuto is so absurd you won't think about the implications of the show casually introducing the idea that Kagami has some kind of Worm-identifying thermal goggles?

One much more favorable random thought I had was that a lot of the filming locations seemed different than usual, and rather pleasant to look at? 5 and 6 were directed by Takao Nagaishi, who apparently does have some kind of reputation for putting more thought into that usual, so it might not have been my imagination.

As for Die's question... I mean... I wouldn't be hypothetically opposed to going to a flower expo? Although if there are any sword lilies there, I might start crying about Kenzaki again and have to go sit on a bench to calm down... which would only make things worse...

You know what, let me just drop that question for the one I forgot to answer at first, which is ironically the one Die forgot to ask at first: my favorite sibling relationship in Kamen Rider is... er, one I'm not allowed to talk about yet. Dang, I don't have any good answers right now. :lol

I can't talk about my favourite sibling relationship yet either, and I can't even tell if it's the same one as everyone else!

If Tendou invited me to a flower expo, I'd be interested even if I expect him to spend the whole time showing off his vast knowledge of plants.

I went to a fungus expo once that was a decent time so a flower expo could be interesting. Flowers are cool, and have lots of interesting aspects to them.

Absolutely, because then I can gush about something I didn't really dig into.

You mentioned the closing part as the most memorable aspect of this episode, but for me it's the scene where Hiyori's making her way to Tokyo Tower.

It's (oh man I'm tearing up right now where is this coming from) so difficult for her to be doing this. She's looking at no one, trying to block out the reality of her environment. It's like she's on the surface of the moon. All of her body language is tight, shielding, insular. She's nearly a black hole, pulling herself into the crushing depths of her fear. But she's walking. She's going to this flower show. Purposefully, arduously, she's doing it.

And then she bumps into a stroller that a woman is pushing. The stroller's jostling makes a baby start to cry.

And then she's back in that rubble, crying for her parents to save her. And it's all too much: too loud, too open, too present.

And then she thinks of Tendou. He's waiting for her at Tokyo Tower. It's going to be alright, because Tendou said he'd make it alright. He's so sure of himself. He's honest; horribly so, but never deceptive. It's going to be alright. She just needs to keep going.

So she does. She overcomes every single cell in her body that's telling her to quit. She keeps moving. She makes it to Tokyo Tower.

It doesn't end great for Hiyori, obviously. It's heartbreaking to see her so anxious, so scared. To see her convinced that Tendou's forgotten her, failed her. But, god, that moment when she overcomes everything in her head that wants her to curl into a ball, when instead she soars... it's so great.

So, yeah, you can talk about Hiyori as much as you want.

Everyone's got a pick for a great set of siblings, and I want to hear about them when we talk about those shows! I, for one, am very excited to meet Decade's ne'er-do-well brother Heckade.

See, I don't think he'd be that guy! He'd be more the kind where he'd be smirking in a way where you'd feel dumb expressing your opinion, because he'd be charmingly condescending about it. (He probably uses the word "quaint" a lot, is what I'm getting at.)

I got a friend who keeps wanting to check out a nature museum in the city (which is a no-go right now), and it doesn't sound that bad! Not my first pick for a museum, but I think it could be a nice visit.

Funny enough, I was watching his LAST (as of 2020) appearance in a Rider show the other day. He appears in Kiva as an eccentric artist turned corrupt cop.

And talking of casting, the guy playing Kagami’s dad was recently in the movie Kamen Rider the First, which shared a lot of the crew with this series. And it’s not the last connection the show will draw to that movie and it’s sequel (which is the only Rider project to be labelled a horror show). He later appeared as Strategist Reidar in Super Hero Taisen Z, the one everyone seems to forget. (Seriously, any discussion of those movies never mentions that one)

This reply here is.. something resembling "he's only teasing you because he likes you" category again... happens when someone gets a hard time from other person (like teasing, harassment, or bullying. These aren't about Tendou but he did give Kagami hard time like being bankrupted; Kagami's zero-luck is one of the defining traits of him btw), the phrase pops up seemingly everywhere, including children's literature and movies.

Those words teaches people to normalize unhealthy relationships, that mean or aggressive behavior towards another person is an acceptable way to show affection. BTW, if Tendou's really trying to "make friends" and it's how he acts then, it does happen for those having social problems; and it comes not only in form of those aren't talkative enough.

Wait... so he's not your guy in those 2 shows? I thought he is based on your jumped reactions of him returning to the shows.

Hiyori is Tendou's most beloved person like Jyuka. Tendou's better side will be seen around Hiyori like to Jyuka. And good then to have these kind of performance more recognized, and other than that, while not a sullen one, also Asumu's from previous series for being more tranquil one. I'd actually expect similar reaction of what you did to Saya from Faiz... or Yuka at first, which I want to explain about louder eccentric isn't the sole way of acting (and having only that as your trait is equally one-noted) and those that aren't like that is cited as bad acting, monotone as in unable to emote (I've seen Hiyori's getting that as a flak), and bad acting or "no personality", which is just a lazy and egocentric view of people and a very superficial judgement.

And also, it's clear that Hiyori is seemingly currently blameless in her predicament, it's the type of People Have Bad Shit Happen To Them For No Reason, which you're against in Blade thread? Hiyori's so far is a victim and this shows the consequences for her; the meteor hit Shibuya and killed her family, and by that she seemingly got wreked, with her social anxiety, depression, grumpiness, obsession to her drawing, etc. and so far, by that she seems not to care much about surroundings, as she seemingly sees life as meaningless. And for her potentially feeling safer being miserable; this brings back to the drama article which talked about it in disastrous consequences (this is outside Hiyori or those in Kabuto); where another reason is that they become so accustomed to the negativity that positivity becomes alien.

Being open-ended is usually one of the ways of what showmakers do to try to hook up the audience to make them stay tuned for what's happening next. And I mean, "are they going to keep watching people die indefinitely?" that's probably not an episode flaw, it's intentional in the story, I mean, the goddamn characters are also constantly asking about it, be it Kagami or Misaki. And if I want to make a guess, their "plan" is only keeping an eye of the Worm and wait until Tendou inevitably comes and deals with that Worm. I mean, there's currently only 1 Kamen Rider weapon right which is Kabuto Zecter in Tendou's hand and by this, Kabuto will be very distinct that he's easily identificable, either in looks or activites. And honestly, it's all on Truegami's character, not whole ZECT! I feel like he's morally bankrupt one and doesn't belong in ZECT despite assuming HQ position. Other than that, how would you compare this series' Truegami to usual "monster of the week" characters?

The scene of Kagami's dad reminds me of Jin's in Blade. The character meeting his father and acting hostile towards them, regarding their lost siblings and the father's seemingly apathy or fault. With the father just nonchalantly explain/dismiss about it to their living son's dismay, pointing about their father's career. And what you say here... "no one has a cellphone which would've solved half the problems".... that's like what people complain about Faiz, with the series theme actually being cellphone, but in total ironic fashion, the miscommunication is rampant. It seemingly irks more to people if they have the tool but underutilized, rather that not actually having them (personally I think you can't blame those that doesn't do this thing because of not having the tools). Tendou and Hiyori really does have connective tissue, and probably the scene is more about that rather than Tendou's smugness being benefical for once.

Wut?? Sally?? Name's Yumiko Takemiya. To me, I'd react in similar manner to Hiyori's response to most things in flower expo, being mostly apathetic.

Nah, but it's always fun to see a returning actor. For me, anyway. I like the Everyone's In Everything nature of casting on these shows, how you can't choose an actor at random without them having been in at least four different toku series. I think that's neat!

Everyone's going to have their own reactions to art, but I feel like anyone who'd write off Hiyori at this point just isn't paying attention to her acting? There's a lot of specificity to her performance, where it seems like every time she opens her mouth to talk she's terrified she's just going to start crying and never stop; or how she desperately wants to be reassured, but she's convinced she's got no one looking out for her. It's... she's doing something with this part, and it keeps Hiyori from ever being a character that lacks personality.

Poorly? The thing with a monster-of-the-week plot is that, even if it's random and repetitive (the monster just keeps showing up and murdering people), that's okay because a lot of these monsters are animals. The Worm in this one isn't the problem, because it doesn't need (at this point in the arc) to have a multifaceted goal.

The problem is that Truegami does, but his method for achieving it is nonsensical. The only way it works if ZECT can predict, with 100% accuracy, when and where the Worm is going to strike. That is something they've never ever ever shown an ability to do. Also, it requires the Worm to show up someplace, kill one person, and then leave. In almost all of their previous appearances, the Worm show up in groups, and the potential for mass casualties (if the Worm moved to a large population center) is high. Here, it requires the Worm to have no particular goal or hurry, and for ZECT to be practically prescient. It's a ton of things that have to break Truegami's way for the trap to have any chance of working, and that's not great writing.

Sometimes there are jokes!

ZECT's organization as shown here is, uh. Not the show's best aspect, not by a long shot. This episode, the first time I saw it, made me seriously doubt my much-improved listening skills, because there was no way I was correctly interpreting the plan. (spoiler: 2006 me was not wrong after all) I can't tell, by the way, if this particular Worm's method of mummifying its victims is rather Agito-esque or if I just think that because of Trugami.

Hiyori, though, I loved her the first time I watched Kabuto and I love her now, watching it again so I can follow the discussion posts. Definitely my favorite on this show, and I think a lot of it absolutely is down to the actor giving it depth with her nonverbal communication. She's so good.

re: flower expo - there's an orchid show not far from where I live that I've gone to every spring, and I'm finally hopeful that I won't miss it next time after all, lol A flower expo is a lovely place to go, full of pretty pretty things to look at, and even more fun if you go with someone who will tell you about the flowers. Definitely a thumbs up for the flower expo :D

I love how many rewatches this is inspiring -- if I wasn't taking on so much as is, I probably would too!