I want you to know that I see you and I appreciate you.

So for a fun fact, Shun’s mother is voiced by the same VA as Virgo. No wonder she freaked him out.

Also, I said back in the teens of this rewatch that Tachibana originally had a different name in the planning stage, and I’ll now reveal that the name was Emoto. They changed it because they realised that the guys whose name is “Otome” backwards might be a likely candidate for Virgo in the minds of the audience. As you’ve seen, they still found a use for the name.

Also, the surprise return of Rocket States. I guess someone just wanted to reuse the suit.

You are welcome and/or I'm sorry!

...see, now I'm thinking that it was Virgo calling out to Shun when he was in the shower, not his mom, with Emoto laughing to himself about how he was tricking this kid before unleashing his holes on him in the bathroom. Emoto's gotta find the fun in this inappropriate plan!

It's like Akiko in W before about how Miu isn't fearful in the face of danger because she believes the Riders would come to the rescue. And yeah, Shun is weaker, mentally, despite being someone who actually has a protection in Power Dizer like the Riders. But Miu's belief is still tested as it's not that easy for Fourze and Meteor to try protecting the KRC members from Virgo, particularly with him losing access to Cosmic States due to Tomoko's disappearence. I feel though, the Zodiarts or Horoscopes would consistently try to attack people anyway, and it shouldn't be different of which people they attack if they're KRC members or not, so I feel that the others quitting is the plot/writer bending around Tachibana, unless, perhaps, powerscaling is brought up in-universe where there's a visible breakdown in the group that Fourze can't accomplish much anymore without Cosmic States, as Tomoko wasn't there, thus the people in the group quits to prevent further damage, but what's left on is Meteor Storm which isn't affected.

I guess Tachibana is this show's answer to Shroud in the 2 previous series before this, where he consistently hides himself under a mask, and he acts as a mentor to the heroes who looks down on virtue and wants to turn them dark, while also running both sides. It seems that someone who wants to be as secretive as possible is inherently untrustworthy, not only for this series but for other media I'm following too. Tachibana wasn't exactly trustworthy either yeah, but dunno about Ryusei choosing to trust a full-on psycho in Aries to bring back Jiro. This is all setup, so I guess it's what you consistently didn't care for, where Tachibana's endgame isn't exactly known yet. Tachibana previously tested Ryusei if he wanted to help the KRC or not, of which he got Meteor Storm upgrade when he chose to visit them, while also disapproving of him murdering Fourze to take away his powers for doing so, where now Tachibana wants to make Gentaro into a killing machine.

Man, I guess I was too impatient to talk about how Kousei Amano is in the current airing show as well as in the current show I'm watching, this is the better pun of Amano's role in both series at once, and an increased prominence of him when they moved Tachibana's plot more. Emoto as Seeker's dad as said above, is another case of Fourze actor returning in a Takahashi show, and there's also Ryuji Sato who was Hound Zodiarts, and later becoming Zitt in Geats. Leo is someone really strong in Zodiarts form, and he can fight off Dustards in his human form too. I wonder if it applies to another Zodiarts or at least Horoscopes, outside of at least Sugiura breaking the laws of physics as Taurus. Tachibana (Hayami) seems to have more doubt now because, I guess, just like Tachibana (Virgo) being secretive towards the KRC, Gamou also feels secretive and untrustworthy to not have everything told to Hayami like Emoto's real identity or Gamou's own goals.

I felt that Gentaro is personally affected by Sugiura's rules as well, in similar way as his actions to the other students, as Gentaro has to wear an uniform and make his hairstyle normal. So I don't know if it's about Gentaro being separate from the other students Sugiura has affected, which can be seemingly what happens to complaints about villains being forgiven by the heroes that the fanbase sees as detached/separate from the villain's victim's problems. It's what Sugiura was all about, where if the students cannot be like Gentaro there like not listening to the rules, he'd forcibly make them like that via brainwashing.

I wonder about how Sugiura is seen as deserving of this kind of punishment unlike the other Zodiarts, would it be about like Die of viewing the Zodiarts and Horoscopes as different? (dunno what'd be your thoughts to what should happen to other current Horoscopes by this, other than the previous two in Capricorn and Aquarious, as well as Emoto), and I wonder if you'd think he doesn't deserve this if he didn't pull the move he did to Meteor or if Meteor legitimately lost, but still have the rest of his crimes the same (brainwashing others to make them and the school lawful).

As said above, a hero accepting a redeemed villain, even if not easily, may be seen as pushing to have it done at the behalf of the villain's victims, of which, many brought this up towards villains who has murdered many, as the damage they do are irreversible, thus they're the ones seen as irredeemable. Maybe the popular take by this is that, Sugiura wouldn't fit said irredeemable criteria and maybe viewed similarly as those who commit petty or victimless crimes, such as theft, vandalism, or speeding, as his villainy can just be undone by removing the brainwashing, and everything would be normal again, like how those crimes in said list can be undone by them returning, compensating, or repairing stuff, thus they're seen as redeemable (or have people downplay them as never being bad in the first place as they never murdered anyone), while for something like murder, it can't be undone (and not all fantasy settings also can).

To vouch for characters like Gentaro to at least let people like Makise or Sugiura being beaten up by their victims, is why people also vouch for characters like Shinji to stop being so "soft" and go pay evil unto evil against the threats, where the people they're talking about are people who are at least as bad as Makise or worse (even if they're more likable to audience to watch such as Asakura), such as Sudo, Jun (Shibaura, not Shigeno), or Asakura. You may see punishing cruelty with more cruelty different to Gentaro letting those people be beaten up, but it seems to be a lesser version of it based on how for those who complain about superheroes having a "no kill rule", if they can't do it, at least in their eyes, they have to let other more ruthless anti-heroes kill those villains they refuse to dirty their hands for.

Yeah, my beef isn't on the Hound Zodiarc, but about if someone is made to be a jerk, as you noted about Yuki's response to Erin, to fulfill the flanderization or comedic stuff. Many people refuse to acknowledge a character as being jerkish if that moment is seen as "merely" being played for comedy, such as a tsundere who abuses their person of interest. Just joking justification is abused everywhere to paint the victim as just being a snowflake, where the perpetrator, like the bullies, is viewed as doing nothing wrong for being funny and entertaining.

I think it's also, like, Miu leaving the Club when it's the last thing she wants to do, but she has to do it keep other people safe... that's exactly what Gentarou's doing by letting his friends leave the Club, even though it's the last thing he wants to do? Her and Gen, they're fundamentally the same, and I think it's great for the show to have the non-powered characters (or Miu, at least) show the same heartbreaking calculus as the Kamen Riders. It's one of the best things in the episode!

I will say, my memory of this episode is definitely disproportionately dominated by Tachibana Flies Around On A Goofy Jetpack, at the expense of most of the drama that gets us to that point.

I will also say, I think part of that comes from how appropriately endgame-y it feels, while still being something that lightens the overall mood back down to usual Fourze levels? Fundamentally, it was just kinda weird to see Tachibana doing *anything* that isn't floating up in space, so even just that disruption to the status quo comes off as an event. To then top that off with the extra layer to the Virgo identity reveal was likewise pretty killer. I remember people guessing Emoto was Virgo the second he showed up, presumably having noticed the joke of his name, but I wonder if him being Tachibana on top of that was also on everybody's Fourze bingo cards at the time? Sort of hard to recall, at this point.

Oh, and the other big thing from this episode I remember is how exceedingly polite it was of the show to wait until Mega Max was released on video to bring in Rocket States for a guest appearance. It felt pretty nice to still have the full context even as an overseas fan who had only seen the movie like, man, probably only a month prior at most?

Ha ha, I definitely thought that the DVD must've come out around now! Rocket States is a gorgeous suit, so I'm never mad about seeing it, but it felt a little weird to have the show directly reference the crossover film so late in the season. Marketing synergy! It's like the home video division doing the Gentarou Handshake with the television division!

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 42 - “REIGN OF THE ARCHER”

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Like, of course Gentarou would want to make friends with Emoto/Tachibana/Virgo/etc.

It’s a declaration followed by a classic Kengo flip-out, where he cannot seriously believe that Gentarou would show up for a second afterschool training session with a Horoscope who likely murdered at least two of their friends, and has been manipulating them on multiple axes for almost a year by now. But, again, of course Gentarou would do that. There’s the logic to his belief – Virgo is up to something that he doesn’t want the other Horoscopes to know about, their missing friends likely aren’t dead, and backing Meteor clearly isn’t something that’d help the Horoscopes – but there’s also just the belief of Gentarou. Gen is sure there’s someone in there he can befriend, and he won’t discount the possibility just because it seems outlandish. If there’s a chance you can befriend someone, you’ve got to take it.

This is a whole episode that’s about that belief, and the way friendship as a concept is a multiplier to the friendships themselves. Gen gains things from JK, Miu, Shun, and Yuuki being around, but he can still be their friend by supporting them when they’re not around, and they’re no less his friends – and their friendship is no less valuable – for a lack of constancy to their appearances. Gen cheering them on from afar boosts his spirits in the same way having them in his life on a daily basis boosts his spirits, giving a new understanding to Cosmic States. As long as he believes in his friends and wants them to be happy, the friendship has power, and so does Cosmic States.

It’s all of a piece with 25/26, where what we’re talking about is how these people will all be pulled in different directions soon enough, but that doesn’t eliminate the bonds between them. The speech Gen gives here… it’s an acknowledgement that the end is near, but instead of last episode’s melancholy, we get a cheerful vow that they’ll all hold this time in their hearts forever, taking the KRC with them wherever the future might lead.

Where it’s leading them right this second is into a whole bunch of Horoscopes drama, with varying levels of severity.

First, Emoto/Tachibana/Virgo can append “/Corpse” to that long list of appellations, because no sooner than we get a beaming smile from Professor Alias to signify a turned leaf and a heartfelt embrace of Gen’s philosophy towards friendship, then we also get him being IMMEDIATELY ATTACKED by Sagittarius, giving us our first out-and-out fight between the fully-powered Riders and the main Horoscope, which naturally goes incredibly and combustibly terrible for the heroes. It’s the point in the story where the heroes need to know exactly how outmatched they are, which is Utterly. The fight itself is fiery, but kind of standard: Sagittarius no-sells, every attack is blocked or negated, and the villain leaves with an insulting and dismissive air. It’s not what the episode’s built around (that’d be Gen’s speech and Emoto’s change of heart) so it doesn’t really detract, but I found it a little formulaic. Useful to the narrative, but not especially dramatic.

Elsewhere, we got Emoto’s brief escape to implore Kengo to keep on Kengoin’ on, without imparting any new information that’d help the team combat the Horoscopes – who Sagittarius or Libra are, for example, seems like that could’ve been quick and come in handy – before getting murdered by an enraged Leo and a taunting Libra. Emoto got a nice little arc of all of this, getting redeemed by Gen’s unwavering faith in the power of friendship, and then he needed to shuffle off the stage before he could speed up the story. It’s the Fourze way!

It really was the most Fourze episode, for better or worse. Gen’s speech is a series highlight, framing the idea of friendship as being a universal power separate and additive to the friends in your life, while the various Horoscope shenanigans treat Quickly Telling The KRC Vital Intel as though Toei’s hitmen are enforcing people’s silence. (Backstory about yourself and your personal failings? Sure! All day! But if you even think about saying “Gamou is Sagittarius”, you are better off spending that moment buying your own coffin.) But, as always, I am here for characters over plot, so they can indulge that hoary trope until the stars go out, as long as I get speeches like Gentarou’s.

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Speaking of unapparent pronunciations, there's also Cross-Z (kurōzu), who sounds like the opposite of ZX.

I mean, Gentarou's gakuran is still a uniform, just not the Amanogawa uniform.

The corrupted Zodiarts and cognizant Horoscopes distinction is a factor, but for me, it's mostly due to the severity of Sugiura's crimes on the same level as Makise's. Both of their powers involved controlling large groups of people against their will. Taurus breaking his own contract with Meteor was an additional evil, but his actions before that point were already terrible.

Except in this setting though, murder can and has been undone and atoned for, as we saw with Ryusei's murder of Gentarou. It's also important to point out that murder isn't the only crime that's virtually impossible to undo. Like I said about Tomoko, it would've turned out badly for her if Emoto hadn't saved her, as her mental health is tied to how she expresses herself to others. You can undo brainwashing, but you can't undo trauma like turning off a Switch.

Gentarou's epic speech is further emphasized by his friends showing up and defying Virgo's ultimatum, which ironically shows a level of ruthlessness empowered by friendship that Tachibana believed could only be obtained by discarding friendship. In a way, he did end up teaching Gentarou an important moral that allowed him to access Cosmic States on his own, but Tachibana didn't expect to also learn a moral from Gentarou that being on your own isn't the same as being alone. Friendship is strong enough to cross even the infinite void of space, which is totally a fitting message for this show.

I'd imagine Emoto was also slightly surprised that a speech about how friendship doesn't require constant companionship was concluded by all of Gentarou's showing up in person, slightly undercutting Gentarou's beautiful point about the invisible and infinite bonds of friendship.

(I'm kidding! It's totally appropriate for JK, Shun, Yuuki and Miu to affirm in person that their friendship with Gentarou is larger than their fear of what Virgo might do to them, while also being a rousing and heroic visual! But it's still sort of undermining Gentarou's point!)

Gentaro later declares that he'd befriend Tachibana, but previously, after he sent Meteor to Dark Nebula, he understandably was enraged and rushed to attack him. I wonder though how long a hero (particularly Kamen Rider sensibility ones) would hold on into that rage after a villain severely harmed them, as for those who hopes they don't forgive villains, maybe them showing rage is viewed as a hope spot for them to have the hero rightfully hate said villain forever.

I guess Gentaro also has things to learn, where mostly he's static (not a bad thing) protagonist who's generally about influencing the people around him, where though as a real friend should, he accepts them leaving the KRC and encourages them to be happy and focusing on their dreams, but he also felt that the KRC should be better to always stick together and fight off threats, but by being separated from them, he had doubt at first which was the real reason he can't use Cosmic States. Technically, Gentaro benefits from Tachibana attacking and kidnapping the KRC, but Gentaro is also proving Tachibana wrong about friendship being weakness, so I'd wonder if Tachibana's mindset should be enabled or not.

Continuing with Cosmic States' showings, yeah, Gamou's debut as Sagitarius isn't really something special in fighting, as usual where fighting is often weaker part to me, for KR. There's a good part of Sagitarius raining arrows to finally defeat Fourze, but that's it. Sagitarius is clearly stronger than the rest, as expected of a big bad, but it's underwhelming to have Cosmic States, as usual, just attacking him with his sword, rather than trying various abilities with Switch combinations. Also wonder if even Meteor Storm can also use his Switches as well, albeit they may be weaker than his Meteor Storm Shaft.

Emoto fully turned good at the end, but yeah he still has committed crimes before, in how he murdered Rokuto, and that him choosing power over friendship was him straight up being evil due to jealousy over being behind Rokuto's shadow (wanting to be the Earth, not the Moon). Emoto accepting Gentaro's friendship seems to indirectly prove Emoto's view right though as, previously as a scientist, he operates with his brain, including being really secretive, but when turning a new leaf, he operates with his heart to have a heart-to-heart with the others, which just makes him vulnerable to the Horoscopes' attack, even though he was glad to make friends upon death.

People do acknowledge how bad and traumatizing something bad can be, if it's something close to home, like abusive parents/guardians, people in positions of power trying to oppress minorities for the status quo they benefit from, those who bully others mercilessly, which'd be what's also seen as pure irredeemable monsters for how trauma from those moments can't be undone. But perhaps many people may tolerate cruelty far beyond normal experience like brainwashing, as they can't relate to them (and not being affected by them as well) unlike the mundane evil actions from those bullies they face in everyday lives, so villains like Sugiura (has no bodycount, doing outlandish crimes) may have dissociation from real life that is only meant for their entertainment, thus to them, what zero-kill villains do aren't that bad and is comparable to minor offenses.

Holding a grudge generally isn't portrayed as heroic in Kamen Rider, and it's definitely not the sort of behavior this show wants to model to children, so I'd expect it to be smoothed over either in time, or after a suitable act of contrition. (Gentarou in particular here gets over his anger against Tachibana as soon as he figures out that Meteor isn't dead.)

He can! He used the Fire Switch as Meteor Storm back in the (I think?) two-parter where Ryuusei went back to his school and fought Aries.

Is it possible to have too much action in an action show? That's definitely how I feel after going back through these again. I'm a Showa fan, so I can absolutely respect the premise of a "let's go to a quarry and punch things until I'm stronger" episode, but I still could've done with a bit less form change highlight reel and a bit more character moments.

I eventually figured out what bothered me with the Sagittarius suit. I'll have gone over it when I discuss my thoughts on the next two episodes six years ago.

I meant to bring this up and totally forgot, but: I am a gigantic fan of the semi-unheralded Kamen Rider tradition of doing a late-series spotlight on all the forms that the various upgrades and inevitable Final Form have rendered obsolete. Different shows deal with it in different ways, with different levels of it all feeling like a Form Showcase in search of a narrative conceit -- you could definitely argue that Gentarou trying to destroy a vase with, like, Net and Board is not exactly fulfilling the goal of getting Fourze to use Cosmic States without his friends that Emoto's ostensibly trying to achieve -- but I unabashedly love a show trotting these forms out for maybe one last time.

So, this two-parter is another one directed by Kyouhei Yamaguchi, and because there's always more Toei director trivia out there to learn, I think it's only in the last year or so I've discovered he's considered to have a reputation for his use of pyrotechnics. Like Satoshi Morota throwing people in water, it's one of those things you'll never stop noticing once you see it. Makes Yamaguchi a pretty great match for a show started by Sakamoto, I think.

Also, not that this matters to Die's personal experience with the episode at all, and he sort of already pointed this out, but I'll go ahead and reinforce that if it is a formulaic debut for the main villain, it's a pretty good formula? You know, every Rider show is gonna be somebody's first, so especially if you're the target audience, or even like, a John Hughes fan who got roped in by your weird otaku friend or something, I think the raw visual impact of the big bad appearing amongst all that fire is definitely going to leave the intended strong impression.

I'm glad I've apparently sung the praises of episode 38 of Ghost regularly enough for it to only be "semi" unheralded. :p

You know that was the main one I was thinking of!

I've blocked as much of Ghost as possible from my long-term memory. My brain went to the final fight between Build and Evolt where Sento moved backwards through each of his major forms. Loved that.

Another good choice!

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 43 - “LIGHT AND DARKNESS TWINS”

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I’d imagine this one’s entertainment value depends entirely on your appreciation for (or, less charitably, tolerance for) Yuuki’s whole thing.

Like, I want to applaud this show for leaning into Yuuki’s mounting absurdity to devise an episode whose first-half conceit – that a deranged Yuuki is gleefully cartwheeling through school, vandalizing people and property alike in the good name of Space – is the most believable fake-out ever broadcast under the Kamen Rider banner, but at the same time that sort of doesn’t portray Yuuki’s performance and character development in the best light, if you’ll pardon the pun. The only reason the first chunk of this story can work is that Yuuki’s become such a bonkers character over the last 40-odd episodes that we can all sort of see her tagging a few dozen schoolmates in order to celebrate space. It’s not a million miles away from praying to a rocket for guidance, or bringing Hayabusa everywhere (even though I love that puppet), or cramming space books haphazardly on library shelves, or whatever else comes to mind when you think back to Yuuki’s comedic highlights. This is an episode that really foregrounds how overblown Yuuki’s performance has gotten, and I don’t know if that’s making lemonade out of lemons, or just hanging a lantern on an unavoidable topic.

It’s kind of funny, if nothing else, that this episode drops in a tiny tidbit that Yuuki has been driven insane by cosmic whisperings since she was a child, retroactively framing every burst of Yuuki Yammerings as “Oh, so she was just going cosmically crazy according to some astrological phenomenon, not some increasingly goofy kid.” Again, it’s a choice! Maybe not a great one, but one that can feel logical in light of where the character’s at. There’s more to come on that front, and Yuuki’s backstory with Gentarou, but it’s interesting to see so much work being done to refocus Yuuki’s energy and passion into something possibly nefarious and manipulated.

The whole episode’s pretty much consumed with Yuuki’s backstory, in ways small – hints of her history with Gentarou, and why he doesn’t remember pivotal events – and large, namely finally meeting Yuuki’s parents! And, if you asked me to choose one Heisei all-star to pop up as one of Yuuki’s parents for a montage where the Joujima family participates in a bunch of culturally-appropriative and borderline-disrespectful dinners… well, it’d be Chiyoko, obviously. But if you asked me to choose a second Heisei all-star to pop up as one of Yuuki’s parents for a montage where the Joujima family participates in a bunch of culturally-appropriative and borderline-disrespectful dinners, it’d be Doctor Maki, ably demonstrating the over-committed buffoonery that helped shape Yuuki into one of the least defensible members of the KRC, somehow dropping below Ohsugi. (He’s great in this episode! I love his manic cop nonsense!) In an episode that does not lack for characters going over the line into parody, Yuuki’s mom and dad feel like they’re dropped in from the broadest HBV, for a scene that’s only a minute long, but is still interminable and basically not funny. (It’s just mugging and accents! There’s no jokes!)

At least Gemini is fun? I thought Gemini was fun. I didn’t love the daddy/daughter stuff with Sagittarius at the end – I just feel like the energy of this story is all wrong for his flavor of villainy? – but Gemini herself is the best part of this episode, allowing for a couple of tense and chaotic action sequences, with enough physical comedy to balance against the threat of an insane Yuuki; or, more insane? I don’t know. Gemini is a fun foe, regardless of where she comes from or how it might imperil Yuuki.

And that’s sort of where I’m at at the end of this one: I sort of don’t care what happens to Yuuki? That sounds harsher than I probably mean it, because I do like the concept of Yuuki, the stalwart friend to Kengo and the boisterous heart of the KRC. But this one? The crazy girl who’s either more crazy than we knew or less stable than we hoped? I don’t really care about that one! I hope defeating Gemini brings back the Yuuki I used to care about!

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Yeah, I decided a couple weeks ago that I'm skipping this episode and the next.

You gotta practice self-care!

You’ve got to love how the hand wave for why they didn’t notice Yuki was a Horoscopes in waiting is them asking Hayami, and him basically going “I didn’t care enough to double check”.

And my favourite gag in the whole series is the one where Gemini Sats “Shut up, Gen-chan I hate you”, and Gentaro decides she must be the real Yuki because she called him Gen-chan, and takes a minute to realise what she said next.

Ha ha, I was just thinking about that this morning! I didn't remember if it got covered in 44, but the fact that people's astral destinies -- which, sort of by definition are unchanging -- could just be different in a week seems like the sort of thing that would make Libra have to constantly check and recheck everyone on campus in case they suddenly became a Horoscope, making the Eye of Laplace 97% less useful. Which, oddly, sort of sounds like Hayami!

I guess, as Riku Sanjo is behind this, and is the one that makes Yuki as insane as he can be, it seems to be more than just her response to Erin (unwittingly dismissing her with her rocket god worship), where here, the real Yuki also acts jerkish throughout the episode, talking about before she was being mobbed, like pulling an old Kengo to accuse Gentaro as being a bad friend like for forgetting ticket, or also going apeshit on Miu for properly questioning what's going on, accusing her as abusing her chairwoman position. And Yuki's portrayed as dark inside too here at Riku Sanjo's hand for having Dark Yuki claiming she secretly wants to sabotage Kengo, making space popular through any means, pranking her friends. No wonder Yuki can come off as jerkish, albeit subtle, in Riku Sanjo's hands like ep. 37. Yuki does earn hatred in this episode in fandom for unwittingly causing disaster.

About Gamou acknowledging Yuki's story of hearing things from space, this'd be seemingly also a setup for Gamou's actual goal for now, and him using Gemini is a step towards achieving it. I guess Hayami would mock Yuki's story as ridiculous, as he also didn't really know what is Gamou's true goal.

The parents not believing Yuki when she heard sounds from space makes them sound like normal in contrast to the weird Yuki (especially in Riku Sanjo's episodes), but the parents turns out to be as crazy or probably more. As a longtime friend, should be obvious that Gentaro has been in Yuki's house before, where her parents seem familiar with Gentaro. Yuki's parents rather give me Tassel vibes, of which it seems to be more accepted to you, while they're too broad for you here. I'm not really into either, for my case.

Yuki is given a Bully Maguire arc here by Gemini claiming that Yuki has repressed darkness of secretly wanting to be mean, of which said dark entity realizes them by Gemini tearing up the astronout proporsal, vandalizing stuff about space, and also throwing Miu who pisses her off as the chairwoman off several stories. Also another combination for Cosmic States in Launcher + Net, the rockets form a net to trap the opponents. Wonder if by this, the rockets would be less dangerous as something that didn't release damaging explosions, but more effective long-term to have them vulnerable by the net. There's a benefit after Tachibana died, Meteor doesn't seem to need to keep any secrets anymore, as Tachibana was the traitor Virgo who backed up the KRC.

He doesn't (which is still weird!), but it's kind of funny to see Hayami immediately go VOICES FROM SPACE, HOW ABSURD while he's a cosmic-powered horoscope-themed lieutenant to a would-be celestial tyrant. Kind of a strange line to draw!

Figuring out Gamou's plan is like putting together a puzzle, but I guess Hayami finds that piece too tough to swallow. :p

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 44 - “CEREMONY OF CELESTIAL FATE”

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Apropos for a Gemini story, I’m of two minds on this one.

One part of me admires what this episode’s trying to do. The shift from Maniacal Doppelganger to something more probing and revealing about Yuuki’s buried resentments and desires, that’s a more interesting route to take. Forcing Yuuki to deal with her own propensity for darkness, and come out the other side a more healed and reflective person, that’s a solid concept.

The other part of me thinks that this episode never really addressed any of that, instead giving us a story less about anything from within Yuuki, and more about Gen’s newly-revealed tendency to forget key details of his past with his oldest friend, including defining moments that would normally be burned in someone’s memory, casting a tragic light on how little Yuuki actually meant to Gen.

This one pretty much entirely didn’t work for me, and not for the expected distaste for Double Yuuki. While I didn’t love Yuuki’s maddened and distraught performance, the whole episode was geared towards such a constant level of psychological horror that it fit the surroundings enough to be not distracting, if not entertaining or moving in its own right. No, what didn’t work for me was how little agency Yuuki had in any phase of this story, mostly being criticized and betrayed by her friends, and then eventually pep-talked enough by Gen to paralyze and regress Gemini. While Yuuki does at least acknowledge Gemini’s place within her psychology, Yuuki herself never really defeats or confronts Gemini; instead, she just, like, stops feeling bad about herself – and her justifiable anger over Gen completely forgetting the defining moments of their childhood together, this is still actively infuriating as a viewer, Ryuusei 100% nailed Gen’s lack of follow-through back when they first met – until Fourze can detonate her. The key speech in this one is just Gen apologizing to Yuuki for being a bad friend! That isn’t even about Yuuki! It’s about Gen!

This whole episode ends up being about Gen, and while that’s arguably more appealing for a lot of reasons, it’s like: what are we even doing here? What have we learned about Yuuki in the present day that changes anything? She’s not responsible for anything that happens in this story, she doesn’t actually confront her darker side in any way that matters, and she doesn’t really change as the result of anything that happens here. Her beef with Gen starts in the middle of 43, and gets resolved in 44, but it’s all new information that only exists within these two episodes. In a story that hinges its emotional stakes on the two halves of Yuuki’s mind, the climax is about Gen avowing his friendship to a girl after he basically blanked on the most important moment of their friendship; which, again, not a thing Yuuki did! It’s a Gen story!

Man, of all the reasons I thought I wouldn’t like this story, They Didn’t Make It Enough About Yuuki was not where I thought I’d come down on it. Good to see Fourze can still surprise me this far into its run?

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If nothing else, this particular two-parter really did a good job making you feel sorry for Yuki regardless of how you feel towards her as a character.

I mean, I was definitely as mad at Gentarou as she was!

Skipped these, but I at least have my notes from last time:

The image from my original quote isn't come through so I've reposted it here:

Of course the three-faced character thinks of the twin character as his daughter!

You know it’s near the finale when we’re doing stuff the toy company overlords woudlnt have allowed beforehand, like Gentaro equipping 4 modules at once and using Meteor Storm in the Cosmic Sword.

Though my only gripe (and calling it that is a massive stretch) is wondering how the design team and writers got “Harley Quinn as a Toku monster” from the Twin Star.

Let’s just hope Ryusei and Tomoko don’t break up, otherwise that couple’s ticket is worthless.

...have you met Yuuki?

Touche

There are plenty of things I like about these episodes. Most broadly, I think the kinda Twilight Zone atmosphere of everything with Yuuki is a lot of fun, where she has this doppelganger running around and it's goofy but also increasingly unnerving and suspenseful as the story progresses. No surprise the atmosphere is thick with Ishida directing though, which I think accounts for the comedy as much as the horror. (And also for the zoom-out transformation in 44 that now shows the entire universe, because we've come a long way in a year.)

I also like how it highlights the villainy of Gamou in a way that's also highlighting his humanity? The whole plot happens entirely because, in his own twisted way, he longs for the companionship of someone he feels he can truly relate to, and that's a neat angle for the final boss of Fourze. To have a hero who seeks out and embraces people specifically for being different than him, and a villain that fails to see the value in anyone who can't/won't follow the exact same path he does, and then give that conflict some nuance with the underlying notion that neither of them wants to be alone.

Yeah, I think there's a significance to this story happening right after Emoto dies. Gamou keeps collecting acolytes, but what he wants is someone on his wavelength -- like Emoto was, or Utahoshi was. The problem is, his meglaomania keeps burning through those same people, because he can't really share his dreams with the people in his life.

Guess it seems that the "everyone has a dark side in them" kind of plot, which seems to be Sanjo thing here, this thing will happen like to Gentaro, not only Yuki, of which ep. 43 does have him being chastised by being insensitive to girl's feelings in-universe, so this may be the point, thus Gentaro is also given the propensity for darkness as well in this newly-revealed tendency to forget key details, as he at the end did make a speech about everyone having a dark side.

Wonder if this is just the difference if the one given light and dark side is a non-Rider/action character, where usually this often happens to action-oriented characters like them, thus Yuki as a non-fighter won't directly defeat or confront Gemini. Feels Gemini just blow her cover quickly when Kengo guesses that the real Yuki is the one Fourze is beating up. It's now the reverse of Meteor borrowing Fourze's Switches in the beginning, where here, it's Cosmic States using Meteor Storm switch, of which, as like what Meteor does, it can absorb energy from the surroundings, nullifying Supernova. The voice from the space stuff does reveal Gamou's true goal, which is to meet the Presenters, and after Gemini's defeat, he feels that he's the only one adequate enough to represent humanity.

I mean, there's ways of defeating monsters that are more about changing and growing, to minimize their power over a character, and I felt like Yuuki's version of that didn't really amount to much. She acknowledges that Gemini represents a part of her, but we never really see her grapple with what that means -- either in the earlier parts of the episode, or in the aftermath of Gemini's defeat. The whole thing ends up being about Gen's apology, and that's sort of not doing too much with the premise.

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE NET MOVIES - EVERYBODY, IT’S CLASS TIME!

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I love Net Movies! They’re an enjoyably ridiculous collection of HBV-style buffoonery, thinly-veiled promotional material, fascinating looks behind the scenes, and a smattering of teasing personal attacks disguised as in-jokes. One of my favorite things about Heisei Phase 2!

The best way to watch these films is slowly, one every few days over the course of several months… so of course, I watched all 28 in two days. IT’S “TOO MANY NET MOVIES IN A ROW” TIME!!!

MONDAY, FIRST PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT LEGENDARY RIDERS #1

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The idea of Ichigou being a long-winded, overly-invested mentor is an incredibly pleasant difference from his glowering, judgmental attitude that we’ll get to experience in a couple years via Heisei Vs Showa, and I kind of wish this comedic version was canon. I like Helicopter Grandpa Ichigou! He’s way more fun to think about!

MONDAY, SECOND PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT AGHS STUDENTS #1

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This is the Hayami I remember. These Net Movies have an outsized impact on my recollections for everyone’s favorite slowly-deteriorating Principal: him gently referring to a student as a piggy, him trying to convince a student that the Zodiart Switch-themed helmet is an educational tool, him getting wrecked by Leo because Leo thinks it’s funny. Like, this is my guy.

MONDAY, THIRD PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT THE ZODIARTS #1

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Wow, zero memory of this set of films! Neat to see Kijima back, and he’s well-suited to play the host of a Horoscope-themed comedy showcase. While he’s right to punish Shun for his terrible pun (and, more likely, the personal attack; dude, do not try and get over on the judges), we didn’t exactly get a winner? I think I’d pick Virgo – just saying Libra Is A Coward got me to laugh out loud, mostly because it’s so blunt and mean. Unexpected response for a comedy showcase, but perfectly in character for Virgo!

MONDAY, FOURTH PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT THE SCORPION LADY #1

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…oh my God, there’s nothing here. Did Sonoda have some sort of blackmail on the production team, to get a series of wildly irrelevant Net Movies, charting her canonically unsuccessful attempts to find a new Horoscope, that all happened dozens of episodes ago?! Why would you do this instead of literally any other idea: Ohsugi’s days off! Tachibana’s record collection! Jirou joins a basketball team! Literally any other idea would be a better use of time!

MONDAY, FIFTH PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT SUIT ACTORS #1

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Maybe my favorite ones of these videos. I love how lively and engaged and relentlessly goofy the JAE team is – no one becomes a suit actor because they’re boring, you know? They’ve all got fun stories, and manage to constantly surprise Ryuusei with the casual way they talk about pouring boiling water on your head accidentally, or that each actor is responsible for detonating the gunpowder taped to their bodies. I would seriously watch a full half-hour version of this show on a regular basis.

TUESDAY, FIRST PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT AGHS STUDENTS #2

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Oh, right! Hayami’s a creepy pervert in this one! Another iconic and non-canonical thing that definitely and forever colored my perceptions of this character!

TUESDAY, SECOND PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT LEGENDARY RIDERS #2

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The return of Riderman, and his elegant mouth! Not much to this one, but I really enjoyed the close-up of Rope Arm and Magic Hand doing the friendship handshake, mostly because I could imagine the two crew members who were operating those props from off-camera, and everyone on set laughing their asses off at it.

TUESDAY, THIRD PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT SPACE IRONMEN #1

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Promotional material for the summer movie! I knew it was in here somewhere. While the narrative or dramatic/comedic value is low (there’s maybe two jokes, not counting Yuuki’s quick song), I honestly enjoy the little Toei Toku history lessons when they crop up in ancillary materials. The diegetic nature of Tachibana showing old toku clips… very fun!

TUESDAY, FOURTH PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT THE SCORPION LADY #2

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Terrible! Boring! Pointless! MOVING ON!

TUESDAY, FIFTH PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT THE ZODIARTS #2

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Is Shun the least funny member of the KRC? He’s definitely smug enough to think he’s funny, even with all the evidence pointing to the contrary. (I didn’t really care for this installment, but I like thinking about the ways in which Shun is uncool.)

WEDNESDAY, FIRST PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT THE ZODIARTS #3

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My favorite thing about this series of sketches – which are, otherwise, kind of a slog – is that Shun’s jokes aren’t just unfunny, they’re incorrect. It’d be one thing for the writer to give just some cornball joke, but the ones he gets are also factually inaccurate, which is realistically more offensive to a comedian like Kijima. Like, dude’s got a regular human hand! It’s right there! Your premise is flawed!

WEDNESDAY, SECOND PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT SUIT ACTORS #2

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Just your normal stories of knocking yourself unconscious for a better shot, or dealing with your crippling fear of heights while Ishida tells you to jump around more on a roller coaster. Pretty standard stuff!

WEDNESDAY, THIRD PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT LEGENDARY RIDERS #3

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First, can we please talk about Tomoko’s adorable movie outfit? She’s like a chubby-cheeked Lara Croft, and it's incredibly distracting, but in a good way. If I’m forced to talk about something else – how dare you, I thought we were all Team Tomoko over here – I liked Gentraou being slowly but kindly destroyed by the Kamen Rider franchise’s version of the Eighth Doctor. Shin is not built for friendship!

WEDNESDAY, FOURTH PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT SPACE IRONMEN #2

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Kengo’s stern rebuke to JK’s admission of breakfast avoidance actually busted me up, full-on laugh. Otherwise, it’s more toku flashback stuff (good!) and another Yuuki song (dull!), all of which adequately filled up the time.

WEDNESDAY, FIFTH PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT AGHS STUDENTS #3

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Imagine working on a show like Fourze for a year as a background actor, and then getting the call to do a three-minute Net Movie where you get a name, a personality, and a little defining moment to yourself. That’s sweet, and another reason why I miss these Net Movies.

THURSDAY, FIRST PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT SPACE IRONMEN #3

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God, this one got bleak! The KRC without Gentarou is a pretty defeated and defeatist ensemble!

THURSDAY, SECOND PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT AGHS STUDENTS #4

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I love that there’s legitimate continuity to this ridiculous series of films. Hayami’s Leo-inflicted injuries visibly pile up, sure, but Hayami also gets increasingly weary and resigned to both his failures and their accompanying humiliations. Again, this is my guy!!!

THURSDAY, THIRD PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT SUIT ACTORS #3

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Takaiwa’s just like Okay Eitoku with a snort, which is adorable. These guys have known each other forever, and it shows. Beyond that, just a great look at how suit actors collaborate (or don’t!) with face actors and voice actors to try and develop a character piecemeal. The Virgo stuff was the most interesting to me, the symbiosis of the suit actor making choices, the voice actor adding their take, and then the suit actor refining their choices off of what the voice actor chose. Really fascinating stuff!

THURSDAY, FOURTH PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT THE SCORPION LADY #3

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I wish I had been sent to the Dark Nebula instead of watching these Sonoda films! Save me, Virgo!

THURSDAY, FIFTH PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT LEGENDARY RIDERS #4

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The extended confusion over multiple Tachibanas and multiple Kousei Amanos is one of my all-time favorite Kamen Rider gags. (Easily in my Top 5.) Even before I watched Blade, this Net Movie cracked me up, and it’s even funnier now alongside Amano’s return to the franchise through both Outsiders and Zeztz. This, and the Grease/Otoya stuff from the last Heisei Generations movie, are so nice. I like when the filmmakers can joke about how there are only five actors and seven names in all of Kamen Rider!

FRIDAY, FIRST PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT AGHS STUDENTS #5

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Say what you will about this installment’s lazy reliance on body-shaming (it’s beneath the production team), but I found Bobuta’s workout dance to be remarkably calming and zen-like. I can’t vouch for its effectiveness as exercise, but it was relaxing to watch. Maybe not for Leo and Libra, though!

FRIDAY, SECOND PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT SPACE IRONMEN #4

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I love that several videos built around concocting a strategy to defeat the Kyodain end up with Maybe These People We Know Are Based On Characters From A 1976 Tokusatsu Series And Will Help Us. (What, the omelet rice part didn’t generate enough combat options?) Tachibana was maybe not a ton of help overall, largely recapping the contents of a 40-year old TV show that will not be heavily referenced in the current summer movie. At least he got to enjoy some gravity for a little bit?

FRIDAY, THIRD PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT THE ZODIARTS #4

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You never know in these Net Movies where the bizarre production details are going to crop up – was not expecting to learn in the Horoscope comedy showcase that Kia Asamiya specifically designed the Aquarius Horoscope to have larger breasts than the Virgo Horoscope. Easily the funniest joke in this installment!

FRIDAY, FOURTH PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT LEGENDARY RIDERS #5

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Again, boy, can we please just talk about Tomoko’s adorable W cosplay?! They shoulda cast that lady in every revival, and the world was sadly robbed of the sight of her as a series of chubby-cheeked Legendary Riders in Zi-O. Also, hey, Accel! I love that suit!

FRIDAY, FIFTH PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT THE SCORPION LADY #4

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Totally pointless in the end – a bunch of short films that feel like the first scenes you cut in an episode that isn’t working – but I did like that it concluded with Sonoda accidentally being a good teacher in the end. I like that it didn’t change her, and it was a brief detour on her doomed road. That was sweet. Everything else was terrible!

SATURDAY, FIRST PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT SUIT ACTORS #4

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I mean, what more could you say about Takaiwa? Dude defined the Heisei generation of Kamen Rider in a bigger way than literally anyone else. Any one of his suit performances as a main Rider would put him in a hall of fame, and then he did 17 more. No superlative is enough, and no praise would ever be hyperbole. Probably the best to ever do it.

SATURDAY, SECOND PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT AGHS STUDENTS #6

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I can’t believe how much effort the producers put into this final installment of the rampantly low-budget and thoroughly absurd Hayami series. We get the gay-panic-y Morota stuff, which is sort of where you’d think this’d stop, but then we get the suit debut of Pisces, along with appearances from Gen, Ryuusei, Kengo, and Yuuki! (I love how committed Ryuusei is to screaming in fury at Morota. Maybe the funniest performer from this cast?) All that, and they even actually tell you who Pisces is at the end! They did not need to go this hard!!!

SATURDAY, THIRD PERIOD: LEARN ABOUT LEGENDARY RIDERS #6

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Please enjoy the mysteriously and uncharacteristically silent Wizard, as the actor who’s playing him either hasn’t been cast yet, or he hasn’t had time to record audio for these Net Movies. Either way, I like the bit of melancholy Fourze has about essentially graduating into being a Legendary Rider (or will in just a few weeks), and I love a magic-obsessed Tomoko finally meeting a Kamen Rider she can geek out over. She’s worked hard, and she deserves a Kamen Rider of her own!

Wait, are you telling me Tomoko is (semi-)canonically a Wizard fan, on top of everything else? Because that honestly totally slipped my mind. I guess my brain just struggles to process the idea of the obvious best Fourze character somehow being even better. :lol