Never watched these before and still haven't now. I'm actually impressed that they dragged Sonoda's actress back for these things given the complete lack of closure for the character on the show itself.

Despite my mostly neutralness on Fourze as a whole, one thing I can definitely give it is that it has my overall favorite set of Net Movies for any Rider show, with the Scorpion Lady shorts being the biggest highlight.

It had the sort of character development I'd been wanting out of alot of the characters in Fourze, as the added layer of of the titular Scorpion Lady seeing a bit of herself in Yuki leading to her being one of the characters I look more fondly on, and wishing that the shorts themselves had all made up their own episode within the show proper.

They are really gilding the lily with Tomoko in these Net Movies.

It feels incredibly weird, since (if memory serves) she doesn't come back for the movie? I think?

...I genuinely can't tell if you're doing this to me as a bit.

But, in case you aren't, I was a huge proponent of Sonoda getting more of an arc on the show, and I'd've felt a lot more warmly toward these scenes if they'd landed alongside, like Episode 7 or 8, rather than letting her identity be a secret until just before they booted her from the cast. Running up her anxiety alongside all the friendship stuff of the KRC -- specifically how isolated and manipulated Sonoda is by the Horoscopes -- would've been a very dramatic counterpoint. Alas!

She never comes back after being sucked off into the (non-bathroom) hole.

First, the joke: She was forced into Virgo's hole, which every failed Horoscope has to enter.

Now, the actual response: Is there actually a Dark Nebula? I don't remember if 45-48 elaborate on it, but Emoto specifically tells us before he dies that every punished Horoscope was secretly saved in his M-BUS station, and no one really went to the Dark Nebula. But the Net Movies continue to treat the Dark Nebula like an actual thing that people were sent to as a punishment, including the Sonoda films. So, like, is it even a real thing? Or just some nonsense Emoto told to Gamou?

My opinion on the net movies: My favourite is the Sonoda Tragedy shorts, my least favourite is the suit actor talk. And that’s probably my dislike for BTS documentaries and interviews shining through (before anyone questions this, most of the BTS stuff I share comes from magazine articles, commentaries, write-ups and wikis. I have no issue with those)

Man, I was not expecting so many folks to be flying the flag for Sonoda! This is kind of a shock! But I'm glad that people had a good time with those films, even if they weren't for me. One of the best things about the Net Movie format is that there's something for everyone!

As I remember them, at least, my own personal hangup with the Sonoda ones is that they're pretty much the only Net Movies I can think of that aren't really all that comedic? Unless "who would care about Sonoda?" seriously *is* the joke, they play out closer to a TTFC special half a decade too early or something, which made them stick out from the usual outlandish antics for me in a way that mostly just left me confused, watching all these things together. I don't necessarily hate the concept itself, but it feels like something that couldn't find a space it was actually meant to exist in.

They definitely for me... like, if they'd been dropped alongside weekly episodes of Fourze in the period before Sonoda was Zodiart Zoned, like the current Minami shorts with Zeztz, or the Zi-O Complementation stuff, I'd see the value narratively and dramatically. Here, it's so removed from the character's arc, and no one on the show's like Hey Remember Sonoda, that it was sort of baffling to interact with. I'd say it would be like doing something with Miu's old cheerleading squad, but those characters just showed up in an episode!

To me that's the beauty of it, and of the Fourze Net Movies as a whole, really. The upside to having the Sonada stuff here is that not only do they provide variety to the entire set, but also provided some added depth to a character who was wasted in the show itself(atleast, for me). It's sorta like an early version of the DVD specials we'd get in later seasons like the Legend of Alain stuff from Ghost, for example.

Other than dropping Miu off a building, Gemini's mischief montage could be played in pretty much any of the last 10 episodes without seeming out of place for what Yuki has become. Maybe closing the Kyoto Hole made the Tokyo Hole louder to her, hence her increased insanity occurring alongside increased Horoscope frequency. I agree that this is not a Yuki I particularly care about as an individual, only caring due to the fact that Gentarou cares about her as a friend and I generally care about Gentarou and his friends. Sucks that this and the Aquarius arc (which I enjoyed) both talk about how great Yuki is while regularly showing the opposite of that. Well, I think there are much worse heroines out there anyway.

Good development moment for Kengo though, showing he's now attuned enough to his friends that he can identify the imposter before Tomoko can detect the Cosmic Energy imbalance.

I think it's unfair to blame Sengen for bad acting though, as it seems like the fault is mostly with Sanjo's scripts that make Yuki too ridiculous to portray convincingly.

You're going to have to explain who that purple guy is.

Hard to stay mad at Yuki when she supports the best ship.

Yeah, like, Gamou isn't actively malicious, he just has a big ambition for humanity's advancement and considers everybody else expendable in his pursuit of that, which sadly makes friendship a painful concept for him to consider. Otherwise, he's a pretty amicable guy and similar to Gentarou, a man who takes a straight and narrow road towards his dream.

Agreed on both Tomoko and Accel!

I imagine Gamou who hears the voice of space would be aware of whether or not the Dark Nebula exists, so probably.

Alain was never a wasted character though. Even Ghost haters praise his development arc, which Heroic Legend of Alain offered even more of. I think Saionji is a more appropriate comparison for Sonoda, with his anticlimactic early death and only getting focus in a post-show Hyper Battle to explore his relationship with Ryu and Igarashi. The Science Trio don't have any big fans, right? (looks at Fish)

Maybe, but until the show tells me otherwise, my headcanon is that Gamou wanted to kill Sonoda for her failures, but Emoto didn't want some manipulated and warped lady to pay for Gamou's cosmic schemes, so he just blurted out the first made-up thing he could think of -- "I can send her to the, uh... Dark Nebula?" -- and Gamou was so in love with the phrase that he completely bought it. Prove me wrong, TV show!

You know, that's actually a really apt comparison! Right down to the extra focus coming in a format that's usually used for broad comedy and everything! Guess it's kinda hypocritical of me to complain, then, because yeah, I was honestly pretty into all that late-run Saionji material.

It was less me calling Alain a waste and moreso highlighting the extra material some characters get outside the show itself, set during times it would've been nice to see them.

The writer didn't have any direct input in how the character was portrayed. This is an issue with the actress and/or director.

That's Blitzwing from Transformers Animated.

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE THE MOVIE: EVERYONE! LET’S FEEL THE UNIVERSE!

originally posted on December 19th, 2021, as part of “Kamen Rider Die rewatches Legend Rider projects (and more!)”

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I love the end of this movie. It’s maybe my favorite non-Tomoko-saying-Amazon thing from Fourze.

It’s hard to say if I like this ending more than the TV series ending. TV show’s got a fantastic ending, one of Kamen Rider’s best. I love the idea of the heroes’ gratitude defeating the villain. I love how it reframes a struggle against the cosmic forces of destruction as a way of becoming better people; High School as crucible, which is how most people (especially the nerds who write/watch tokusatsu) remember it. It’s joyous, which counts for a lot.

But I will be goddamned if I don’t think of this movie’s ending – the formation of the Fusion Switch – more often than I think of the TV show’s ending. It’s so perfect. It’s Gentarou (and the planet) being saved by everything he ever did, every person he ever helped. Every tiny act of kindness, every friend Gentarou ever made, they come together to empower him. He doesn’t have to make some impassioned speech or anything. He needs help, and no one even needs an explanation: they just help him. It’s those shots of the Kamen Rider Club pressing Switches into the hands of old friends, recent rivals, teachers, students… like, the show’s main villain even pitches in to help out Gentarou. It’s a beautiful ending.

The entire movie ends up being in service to that sequence, so I can’t really find it in me to place too much weight on the film’s deficiencies.

Which, it’s got ‘em! Skydain and Groundain are paper-thin villains, robots who hate humanity for no specific reason. Inga Blink (from the hit anime/manga Gantz, apparently) is a bad-ass secret agent who a) probably could’ve just told the Kamen Rider Club what was happening instead of trying to murder them a bunch of times and then weirdly telling them that she can’t murder people; b) exists to give Ryuusei something to do, since he’s basically irrelevant to the whole Gentarou And The Power Of Friendship thing; c) like, Ryuusei doesn’t even really contribute anything to Meteor Fusion States! He just stands there!; and d) pales in comparison to Tomoko, so this potential love triangle just irritates me. Black Knight's an unstoppable weapon until he just gets randomly exploded two-thirds of the way through. Wizard’s debut is pretty stylish, but it both stops the story dead, and feels to some degree out-of-character. The amount of action is maybe too much?

Other than that, though, it’s a pretty stellar (sorry) summer movie for Fourze. It includes the entire team, for starters. Everyone contributes to the action, which isn’t a given! Miu and JK, who are usually relegated to reaction shots, actually get some pretty heavy combat sequences. (Tomoko and Yuuki get a fairly sweet one, as well.) Fittingly for a story about how Fourze’s power comes from all of Gentarou’s friends, every single member of the KRC gets to pitch in.

And, hell, so does every Switch! There’s a fight where it looks like Fourze cycles through all 40 Switches, which is nuts. I expect some form changes in a movie, but to use literally every suit and power-up? Between both of the show’s Riders? In one extended fight scene? Crazy. Completely over-the-top!

Speaking of insane heights, I love how the combat is choreographed in this movie. It’s a ton of wirework, which makes use of the entire frame. Stuff is coming in from top corners, or moving along the upper edge of the frame, which ends up making the whole movie feel extradimensional. The fights feel bigger on every axis: dudes are rocketing into the front of the shot, or gliding from one side to the other, or shooting from top to bottom. It’s a film that somehow feels like gravity doesn’t exist, even before the cast goes into space. Really exciting fight scenes for our two Riders.

Sorry, did I say two?

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Early-bird debut of (Kamen Rider) Wizard! I don’t really remember, and I’ll find out for sure in a few days, but does Wizard’s voice sound super weird here? There’s a distortion to it I don’t remember from the show, and Haruto’s voice sounds higher than I recall. It didn’t sound right, but maybe I’ve just forgotten. Either way, this wasn’t one of my favorite debuts. There’s no real chemistry with Fourze or Meteor. There’s a specific kind of self-assured charm Haruto has, and it doesn’t really come across here. The writing has him as more Dismissive and Ignorant, which… like, I get why Meteor is so pissed at him!

(Also, it will always crack me up that this movie has him refer to himself as Kamen Rider Wizard – a name he vows to go by from that point forward – and then literally no one calls him that for the first 51 episodes of his TV show. His TV show, the one where neither Kamen Rider is called a Kamen Rider within the world of the show. And they belabor the naming here. AMAZING.)

The villains in this one are totally forgettable to me (they coast by on colorful suits and Showa heritage; whatever), but it’s almost irrelevant for how much this movie pays off the journey of the TV show. It’s everyone Gentarou ever helped – even the show’s main goddamn villain – lifting him back up and giving him the strength to protect them. It’s friendship as both mission and reward. It's all sorts of people working together to achieve the impossible. It’s many things combining to make something special.

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—

A VOICE FROM THE COSMOS

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Quick hits, because I largely agree with everything I said four years ago:

– Except for the bit where I’m like Ryuusei Just Stood There; like, whole climax is about how Ryuusei found his true self via friendship! And how sometimes the hardest thing you can do is share the burden with the people who care about you! Which is exactly what Ryuusei does by taking some of Gentarou’s beating from Kyodain! It’s pretty blatant! So, yeah, in retrospect, I think Meteor does contribute to Meteor Fusion States through his nearly last stand with Gentarou.

– That said, I kind of don’t love how Meteor Fusion States just ganks Meteor’s powers and Switch? I don’t remember Ryuusei volunteering his fighting prowess and/or ability to Henshin, you know? My headcanon is that, while everyone at AGHS was powering up the Fusion Switch by thinking “Gentarou…”, every single one of them was also thinking “...is just so much better than that Ryuusei dink.” Therefore, the Fusion Switch is all about making Gentarou more powerful and prominent than Ryuusei. Maybe Ryuusei should’ve made a friend or two outside the KRC at AGHS! (I’d definitely assume that Yukina was pouring all of her animosity for Ryuusei into her Switch.)

– Hey, let’s talk about Meteor Fusion States as a suit! I kind of never do that? I honestly love it, for sure more than Cosmic States. I think the purple is deep and dark enough to feel both regal and stellar; I think the gold of the shoulderpads works way better with the purple and white of Fourze than it did with the blue of Meteor; and the white helmet and boots pop off of the rest of the color scheme. It’s a snazzy suit!

– Speaking of clothes, I thought it was a pretty neat touch that Groundain is a car, so he uses roller skates, and Skydain is a jet, so she dresses like a flight attendant. Clever! Except for how insane it is for a mission commander to be roller skating around a training facility!

– Once again, I got choked up at everyone from AGHS pitching in when Gentarou needed it. It’s one of my favorite things.

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Is this my favorite Kamen Rider movie, non-team-up category? Hard to say, but it's definitely a contender for the title, at the very least. I think that the movie still holds up after repeat viewings (unlike the very PS3-era CGI, but it's a Kamen Rider movie from 2012, what do you expect?).

I think my favorite part is the big training montage during the first half; it really feels like the actors are having as much fun goofing around as their characters are.

A few observations from this rewatch:

- Haruto's voice is definitely off in the Wizard cameo. Comes off as someone in the sound mixing department going way overboard with filters.

- The Sagittarius, Gemini, and Pisces Horoscopes get noticeably more screentime in the big fight than most of the others. This is probably because the filmmakers knew that they would be new to the viewers.

- I forget where I read this, but the reason Skydain keeps falling over is because she's not meant to work on the ground.

- Ground- and Skydain's combined form is easily the silliest thing in this movie and I love how ridiculous it is.

So this movie was my first experience with Fourze proper. I went to it because of Super Hero Taisen Z having Groundyne and Skydyne in supporting roles, and I wanted to see where they originally came from. My opinion… Hot take, but the Taisen did them better. Also, I thought the whole montage of getting the entire school to take and press an Astroswitch went on for a little too long, especially since it was halfway through the final battle and broke that up a little too much for my liking.

And like the W movie, I can do this.

Special Guest Alert

And quite a few at that. I’ll skip over Skydyne being DekaYellow since I’ve covered her back in the W thread, and go with the new characters.

First off, the Foundation X lady who shows up to Gamou’s abortive delivery (I don’t remember if she even has any lines, but if I were writing the script, the scene would end with her saying “you’re fired” to Gamou) is Ryo Narushima, aka Keiko Hayase, better known as Remi Hoshikawa/FiveYellow from Chikyu Sentai Fiveman and Flower Ninja Sakura of the Flowery Kunoichi Gang from Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.

The new teacher who gets a whole scene with Ohsugi that exists to foreshadow Fusion States is played by the latter’s actor’s comedy partner. I’m not sure what his character’s name is, so I can’t share the actor’s name.

Inga Blink’s Miki Haru was previously the lead of Cutie Honey: The Live, while Ken Nishida playing her late dad has had regular roles in everything Toku except Kamen Rider, namely Return of Ultraman, Space Sheriff Gavan and Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger.

And finally, Tsutomu Isobe voicing XVII was previously the voice of Madou Knight Wolzard in Magiranger and after Fourze the voice of Hashiriyan Underboss Grantu Risk in Boonboomger.

After rewatching the Net Movies, it was especially fun to watch the kids go to Sakamoto Space Camp (general astronaut stuff, plus gunplay and stunt work) because the instructors were all the JAE suit actors! Very cool way to get them into the movie as face actors.

Man, how did Inga Blink not show up in Girls Remix?!

I wish I rewatched this one more often than I do, but I think it ends up buried in the shadow of Mega Max whenever I think "movies with Fourze in them". Fourze's summer movie is great because it carries a lot of the same spirit as the excellent Double summer movie, but I think the difference here is that Fourze, from the start, was already something made through the lens of Sakamoto. There's probably a very, very easy argument to be made that Fourze nails the idea of the Rider summer movie as a culmination of the series more than most. It's got like every Sakamoto-ism you can think of, and even though those things are all over his work, it's seriously like *everything* here, just in that one hour, and all that joyous excess and high-octane energy probably wouldn't fit quite as naturally if this were like, Gaim, or Den-O, or what have you.

Even his penchant for getting literally anyone who's ever worked with him to make a guest appearance contributes to that huge crescendo of the Switch flipping montage, which is *such* an all-timer Rider moment. Die gave it its due credit on the simple dramatic level, but I think it should also be appreciated that there's a Peter Pan meta quality to it, where any kids in those actual theaters in actual 2012 who were carrying around an Astro Switch to fidget with are also implicitly being invited to help out Gentarou, because if you care about these characters, then you're Gentarou's friend too. Could not be anything more perfect for the Rider show that consciously set out to bring people joy above all else.

It also -- and I totally get that this is maybe way more of an American thing than a Japanese thing, but that's maybe fitting for this show's obsession with American high school tropes -- really feels like a summer camp movie. I made that joke about Sakamoto Space Camp, but the first half has the cast in an educational setting that's not the normal AGHS setting, with this sweaty, excited compilation of physical activities, random crafts projects, and even a nighttime hangout to stare at the stars. I love that vibe!

KAMEN RIDER CLUB MEETING – QUIZ: KAMEN RIDER URBAN LEGENDS!! EPISODE 11

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Befitting a two-part Final Exam, we have some brand-new teams! And a returning giant ham of a host!

Shun’s not my favorite host – Kengo started unbelievably strong, and Tomoko was pretty charming if memory serves – but he’s arguably the best host for the quizzes, because he’s such a clown. (Canonically!) Shun, more than any other actor, loves goofing around, and he’s also exceptionally dorky, which is the exact right energy for a series of DVD extras that this crew is banging out in bulk. No one really wants to be there – Ryuusei, as always, looks like he’s about to fire his agent as soon as the cameras stop rolling – so you need someone who can get laughed at by the participants, which makes them more willing to have fun as a panelist. Shun more than ably fills the role of an absolutely overconfident buffoon, opening the door for a reasonably engaged set of contestants.

And the configuration for those contestants was largely if not completely unique! Yuuki and Miu: New! JK and Tomoko: Now with added Meteor! Gentarou and Kengo: I don’t know if this one was totally new, but at the very least it’s a rare team; Gen usually teams with Yuuki or Miu as a duo, and Kengo (I think) only as a trio. The chemistry mostly works in fun ways, with the typical exception of Ryuusei being a drag on the proceedings. Kengo immediately digs his team into a hole by utterly misunderstanding the setup for a question, and the way it wrecks both him and Gen is delightfully real, and that energy of Kengo trying not to let his friend down for the rest of the quizzes is heartwarming. Meanwhile, Yuuki’s gutsy guessing and Miu’s logical analysis inexplicably cancel each other out, leaving their team a point back from what feels like dumber, less attentive teams. (Not Tomoko, obviously. You know who I mean!) It’s a really charming set of competitors, and I am excited to see who manages to win the Blu-rays!

(why in the world was the prize not a Fourze doll)

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Yeah, I’m not gonna do this big quiz for my segment, so I’ll just give the answers to last time as ?B, A, C? and move on to a quiz about our one-in-two Rider from the late 80s: Kamen Rider Black (RX).

But for the standard pre-quiz explanation, I’m going to have to do it myself.

Name: Minami Kotaro

Transformation belt: King Stone (Black), Sunriser (Black RX)

Bike: Battle Hopper (Black), Acrobatter (Black RX)

Finishers: Rider Punch, Rider Kick, King Stone Flash (Black), Revol Thrust, Hard Shot, Spark Cutter (Black RX)

Enemy: Gorgom (Black), Crisis Empire (Black RX)

First opponent: Kumo Kaijin (Black), Kaima Demon Skull Master (Black RX)

And now, on with the questions

What significant factor about Kotaro’s birthday led to him being selected as a Century King?
A) It was blind luck
B) There was an eclipse on the day.
C) A major historical event occurred.

Black RX can transform into Robo Rider by feeling great sorrow. But what emotion triggers his transformation into Bio Rider?
A) Anger
B) Happiness
C) Fear

In a later episode, villainess Maribaron sends a monster to infiltrate a meeting of the 10 Legendary Riders. What gives the monster away?
A) The fake’s voice is off
B) The other Riders can’t meld their powers with him.
C) There are two Kamen Rider Ichigous.

I appreciate how it also added to the lore by revealing Ryu's criteria for choosing the 15 Heroic Eyecons, despite some of them being controversial and less impactful than Da Vinci. Not sure how much Sonoda's focus contributes to Fourze as a whole though.

Other than literally putting words in the characters' mouths and determining their actions? True that the director would have some influence though, in terms of how those behaviors are expressed. I think a character's portrayal is ultimately a collaborative sum of the writer, actor (suit/voice) and director, which can make it difficult to assign blame. When a character becomes vivid enough in their minds, they also become an imaginary factor, with the idea of "what would Gentarou do?" having the potential to turn the script in a direction the staff hadn't originally intended.

Hmm, I see. I suppose he does look kind of goofy now that you mention it, but at least he has a cool name!

Even the Hand Switch finally gets a chance to be useful! Since I already mentioned how Fourze has probably my favorite gimmick, this fight scene is therefore probably one of my favorites for managing to show off all the Switches in such clever ways! It's even thematically relevant with Gentarou verifying with Kengo that Switches, his 40+ little friends, are machines and that means XVII can become his friend as well. There's also the friendship between Inga Blink and Black Knight. The theme of "machines are friends!" is strongly emphasized in various ways through the movie for sure!

I agree that the Meteor Storm shoulders work better for Fourze, as his silhouette is already more symmetrical than Meteor's and the theme of Fusion makes sense for having two of something. The purple totally gives that mystical space feeling, which I guess would explain why this suit later got dismantled to make Ginga.

I don't know anything about these two shows either, so time for more guessing!

What significant factor about Kotaro?s birthday led to him being selected as a Century King?
A) It was blind luck
B) There was an eclipse on the day.
C) A major historical event occurred.

Black RX can transform into Robo Rider by feeling great sorrow. But what emotion triggers his transformation into Bio Rider?
A) Anger
B) Happiness
C) Fear

In a later episode, villainess Maribaron sends a monster to infiltrate a meeting of the 10 Legendary Riders. What gives the monster away?
A) The fake?s voice is off
B) The other Riders can?t meld their powers with him.
C) There are two Kamen Rider Ichigous.

A Black/Black RX quiz? This must be a Gorgom plot!

Thanks for the quiz!

We're only missing a post-credits scene where Gentarou makes things right with his bud in the computer lab, that he critically injured earlier in the film. (Although it was a Windows PC, which means it clearly wanted to die, so maybe Gentarou was just honoring its wish in a manly-but-tearful way?)

by taking it to france???

Kickass redesigns, but sucked that they were villains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqqm9UzZMGs

I mean, yeah, obviously. What, you think a heroic Kamen Rider would murder a good friend who was suffering emotionally? That's an idea that stands at the top of ridiculousness.

While this is less obvious than Gamou pitching in (though he's an affably evil type of villain, but he hasn't become friends yet with Gentaro as for now), something that happened there is, Makise of all people was among one of the people who pressed the 40 Switches. And there's also more moments that aren't only about others agreeing, like Utsugi warming up to Yuki or Haru and Ran acknowledging their inclusion to KRC. Though with the movie not being that long, maybe more could be added in personal thoughts about those individuals, as what Yuki told them to, as it'd be not a rejection to helping Gentaro but showing how he helped them like Gentaro standing up for Nitta against JK.

Sounds like Faiz where the villains feel they're superior species to humans and that they want to rule over humanity (which they successfully did in Paradise Lost), miscommunication stuff in Inga not telling about what's going on that led them to fight, militarized main cast (Paradise Lost only), and also bringing up love triangle (based on Ryusei and Inga attending the same martial arts dojo). Well I guess, Fourze was also about 4 (behind 555) and have drill as finishing move. I feel that about Inga claiming she'd destroy her enemies and being unable to shoot humans, it feels like Ren from Ryuki who isn't a cold-blooded murderer he thinks he is as Tezuka said.

Guess this was the reason why Miu and JK were the ones who the story/writer gave a Power Dizer to, outside of Kengo. Shun was the King, Miu was the Queen, and JK is pronounced "Jake", so they're making a play of the face cards of Jack, King, and Queen among the Power Dizers. I guess it's continued from Megamax (another movie involving Fourze) of everyone having heavy combat sequences, but I felt it's only in those movies Fourze has good fighting scenes. Always felt that Kengo never performed that bad physically despite being established as sickly thus he can't be Fourze.

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Also, it's what Ryusei convinces Inga too, to share her burdens with the others. I'd also disagree with what you said before on how Meteor took some beating from Kyodain as his contribution, which was similar to his atonement after murdering Fourze that he took beating from the Dustards. And obviously, Ryusei contributes for the most important thing in Fusion States.... to provide the Meteor Switch itself as a Fusion! :p.

It seems to be just Fourze, as Cosmic States was already about combination of all Switches, thus Meteor Fusion States is still about combination of all powers, which include Meteor's Jeet Kune Do as well as the mini-planets, which also compensates for how Meteor Fusion States can't use the hand Switches. I still wonder if Meteor Fusion States can use Switch combinations too for the legs part. I rather felt that Meteor Fusion States' finisher should have him stay planting the Drill on the ground to use the spinning to deliver the follow-up kick (and it'd also subtly resemble Meteor Storm Punisher, but a big/live-person one).

Though I felt that Yuki was the one Kengo views (or at least treats, no hostility) as a friend from the start of the series when Kengo was still dismissive of Gentaro's approaches.

Though yeah the switch usage is good and clever, still a missed chance to have this be given to Cosmic States (for me, as its power is extending said 'favorite gimmick' to even far more possibilities) for more Switch combinations, as the usage of all the Switch in Fourze's base form and previous upgrades are a repeat for what he did in Megamax (albeit there's new one like Camera and Hand). Though there's a good showing of Cosmic States pushing the giant XVII with his finisher to teleport him to the moon.

It's a useful skill!

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 45 - “TIPPING OF THE SCALES”

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Real tough episode to judge on its own merits, because a huge portion of it is about setting up imminent reveals, alongside finally having someone in the know try and explain both Gamou’s plan and Gamou’s goal. It’s a less an episode of Fourze, and more the first part of a four-part series finale.

A lot of how I feel about this episode depends on what happens coming up, and I genuinely do not remember enough of the next four episodes – Gentarou’s speech in 48 and the Wizard teaser, that’s pretty much it – to see the shape of those eventual reveals in this episode. There’s too much mystery in this one, or too many minor things that are maybe hints but maybe are just the (sadly) standard shift of a Kamen Rider show into its final arc, where tons of information gets dropped on the cast, several characters make bizarre decisions to speed the plot along, and all cards are played at once. It’s a bit like judging an episode by its first 10 minutes, this one.

Like, Hayami’s whole thing! I don’t remember if there’s a twist ahead for him, where he’s playing the KRC by acting like a guy on the other side of a personal awakening that’s desperate for a chance to atone, or if all of that’s exactly the kind of seemingly-earnest bullshit that would save his skin by getting Fourze to defeat Gamou for him. If it’s the former, it’s rushed and borderline insulting; if it’s the latter, it’s precisely the sort of weaselly, selfish strategy that we’d expect from the least-inquisitive member of a celestial death cult. Without knowing which is which, I’m in Ran’s boat, which is honestly a fun way to experience the moments of the show, now that I’m writing that sentence? There’s a freedom to letting the show envelope you, instead of analyzing out Point B from where it starts at Point A. I don’t know if Hayami’s hilariously vulnerable pleas are the sign of his unavoidable-if-sudden guilt, or just his sociopathic ability to charm the gullible, and neither does Ran! But maybe Hayami’s turned over a new leaf, and we all kind of want to believe it, not least of which Gentarou, and that’s kind of this episode’s whole vibe.

I’m on board for that bit, Gentarou’s immediate offer to befriend Hayami after everything he’s done. It’s not the Taurus thing of absolving Hayami – Gen’s not answering for a class full of kids who’ve been manipulated and weaponized by Hayami – but it’s saying that Gen, who was almost killed by this guy a number of times, sees contrition in Hayami’s protection of Ran, and that’s enough to give this guy a chance. It’s perfectly in line with how present-tense Gentarou always is, where the past and future are a combination of learning opportunities and endless possibilities, so the thing you’re doing right now is the only concrete way to judge a person’s value. Hayami (seemingly!) put his life on the line to save Ran, so this is a guy that Gentarou can call a friend. I can see it!

Meanwhile, we’ve also got the increasing frequency of Kengo’s mysterious cosmic ailment, and I more or less have nothing to say about this. I think I remember where this one was going, but in this episode it’s mostly just Kengo fainting a lot without anyone doing anything about it. There’s no discussion about it, and it’s clearly going to be a big part of the next three episodes, so we can talk about it once it becomes a scene of dialogue, rather than just a sound effect and a random character asking if Kengo’s okay. (He isn’t! He very obviously isn’t! I completely thought that the first scene after the opening credits was Kengo being whisked to a hospital because he is very obviously not okay!)

Oh, right, and Gamou! We finally get a scene with Gamou and Gentarou, plus a bookend scene with Gamou and Fourze!

They're both really good scenes. We’ll talk a lot about these two characters over the next few episodes, but what we get here hints at some pretty major themes for the experience of high school. Gamou and Gentarou both have really complementary energy in the first scene, a fully-embodied sense of joy at their place within the school, but it’s neatly revealed to be diametrically opposed in what’s providing their fulfillment: Gentarou is about the process of change within high school (like with Kengo’s growth), while Gamou is about what a high school can create in the aggregate (like with his giant pot of soup). Gentarou sees value in connections, while Gamou sees value in his own contributions. Gentarou is about school as social chrysalis, while Gamou is about school as social crucible. I imagine we will discuss both of those viewpoints at length very soon!

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The most I remember is the “good” version of the Horoscopes Switch being blue instead of red, which is a nice touch. A lot of what I thought happened here actually happened next time.

From my experience, seems like this is only a problem if you were a fan of Kyodain. For me, I didn't know back then about the Ishinomori origin, so I just thought they were awesome-looking villain designs.

Huh, I never noticed the card connection before. Nice observation. Like how JK can be two-faced, Jacks either have two eyes or one depending on the suit.

Really shows how strong Fourze can be when he uses his full Cosmic Energy output!

The title is clever for the double meaning, as there are two Horoscopes here known for their scales.

Ran doesn't need a boat. She's a fish. :p Anyway, while you mostly talk about Hayami and his betrayal/"betrayal" in this one, I would like to briefly talk about Ran here, since I previously complained about her in the Musca arc. I stand by what I said there, but I want to give her due credit as I think this arc does a great job showing her as a better person deserving of her interim role as a KRC member. She's much more honest and likable here. Even flipping Gentarou in the hospital is now simply an involuntary quirk which she politely apologizes for.

Horoscope Switches work with inFamous logic, I guess. :p Turns out what Tachibana said in the Cygnus arc was wrong anyway, a good Zodiart can exist, as long as the Switcher has a clear heart of good intent.

Something to look forward to later today, then!

I mean, it also helps that Ran's role in this story is to be the collateral damage for Hayami's self-reflection and regret, someone who is not cool with this duplicitous schemer suddenly being contrite when he's always been up to something, but then gradually caring enough about his safety to become Pisces in order to save him from Leo. Like, we're on a heroic journey with her this time in the classic Kamen Rider mode -- using the power of darkness to protect someone, no matter how much they may deserve that protection -- as opposed to her telling every character you like that they're a phony and she hates them and WILL NOT TELL YOU WHY so stop asking and leave her alone with her Switch-addicted friend already.

I can tell you which of those two stories I liked better...

Hayami claims to only want to save himself at first and that he betrayed his own friends (which would be more about him pulling a truce and stay evil), but later he claims to feel remorse for handing Switches to the students. It's not from utterly depraved kind of villain, but the previous school-themed KR series also has a villain pulling this kind of trick like Glion from Gotchard later, but that one is only about pulling truce kind. Ran was hella annoying in her previous two-parter before, but here she can easily revert back to that self due to Hayami (but there's KRC who's actively protecting her), where he's pulling something far worse than what the seniors did to Haru back then which makes her obnoxiously distrustful of everyone, and that Ran is someone who already knows AGHS hands Switches to students, with Hayami having to use her as a part of his plan.

Still, in the name of self-serving truce (as this happens before Hayami claims to feel remorse, so this is about viewing how Ran is protected due to this), one can do good deeds to achieve it. Sometimes good things can come out of a bad situation or a bad thing. However, people should not misconstrue that just because something good was born out of something bad/evil, does not make that something good, just because the end result was good does not mean that the bad guys did something good. Otherwise, Gentaro is about action over words where what he trusted Hayami for was his actions, not his words. Though after protecting Ran (this happens after Hayami claiming to feel remorse though), he also looks out after Kengo.

Kengo serves as the Philip of Fourze as the technical genius, and it comes with his origins as well (with Mirror World-like noise, of which there was another character who actually died since little and got revived as a 'fake', like Philip). Otherwise, as this is Kengo's focus, it's only Kengo's changed that is detailed on by the story, not about the other KRC members like Shun, Miu, JK, or Ryusei. And though the claim is that Kengo changed from being logic-focused, he's still operating on logic against Hayami to ask for information like his leader.

Gamou has good intention to evolve humanity by meeting the Presenters, but he's a villain for being uncaring of what sacrifices he would make to benefit mankind. Nevertheless, his amicable behavior isn't a fake side, he's affably evil type, though he's more unforgiving to failures compared to Heart.

While she may seem like it for this episode, the next episode would actually reaffirm the fandom's hatred for Ran further. Though it's good to see her aikido skills being utilized with superhuman monster body.

He's an educator! He's just trying to get through to these naive kids!

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 46 - “THE ASCENSION OF SAGITTARIUS”

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The main difference between the Fourze movie's version of an emotional climax to Gentarou’s story and the Fourze TV show's version of an emotional climax to Gentarou’s story is the place of Amanogawa High within it. The movie focuses on friendship as a universal principle (sorry Hayami; RIP), while the TV show narrows in on the role of friendship within educational systems, and the ways friendship acts as a multiplier for the lessons we learn growing up.

Attacking Gentarou through the limits of friendship, or the denial of its power, would be sort of a ridiculous conceit at this point in the series. The closest we got to Gen wondering if friendship was as important as he thought it was came a few episodes back in the Virgo/Emoto/Tachibana/I think he was also Shroud two-parter, and that story pretty definitively solidified Gen’s faith in friendship as a concept, and in his friends generally. There’s no speech or threat that Gamou could make that would give Gentarou the requisite endgame crisis of faith. He ain’t suddenly gonna think the KRC is pointless after 45 episode devoted to growing through friendship, you know?

But revealing that high school was maybe the enemy all along, that’s going to shake Gentarou.

Not fundamentally or anything; again, it’s not like Gen’s going to think he’s wasted his time making friends over the last year just because Amanogawa High was revealed to be a Zodiart factory run by a celestial death cult. But forcing Gen to grapple with the reality of what the administration wanted versus what the students needed, that’s crucial heading into our final episodes. Gamou’s agenda is one based on molding children into useful tools, and pushing the students of Amanogawa High to reach their full potential – which, in this case, was cosmically-powered zodiac monsters, but the metaphor is what we’re really looking at: how well-meaning schools can prioritize educational excellence in ways that maybe push kids harder than they need, in service of cold metrics that are more about the school’s success than the specific outcomes for each of its students. Individual students succeed or fail based on their individual efforts and talents; it’s not like you get a diploma for the entire class, right? Friendship and socialization are things that get in the way of that pursuit to Gamou, because individual success is the only result of merit; pioneers lead the way to greatness, like an astronaut pushing into the needless expanse of space.

But Kengo’s a refutation of that viewpoint, which is why he’s so crucial in this episode. (Not for the Core Switch stuff; still too vague to really talk about yet, even if it eats up a bunch of this episode.) Kengo’s someone who pushed himself and closed himself off, pursuing his goals with ruthlessness and unwavering dedication. But he didn’t really succeed until he opened himself up to friendship and collaboration – not because of the usual thing of sharing burdens or acknowledging other viewpoints, although that’s definitely a part of it, but because being happier from friendship allowed him to care more about what he was doing, and find that extra level of achievement that he’d never have found by grinding out his persistence in the dark. Like, friendship doesn’t diminish success because it’s shared, it enhances individual drive by pursuing different goals together. Gamou sees things as winners and losers, Horoscopes and Zodiarts, his goal and oblivion. But Kengo sees the beauty of friends pushing into the unknown together; links in a chain tethering each other to what matters most, like a birthday gift to keep your keys from getting lost.

All that, and Hayami got killed! He died as he lived: lying, and then being shrugged off by Gamou as an occasionally useful acolyte.

I don’t love the reveal of Hayami’s duplicity, even if it’s a hundred times more believable than Hayami actually reforming out of a sudden bout of guilt. It’s a plan that requires Hayami spilling tons of revealing secrets about Gamou’s plan that aren’t what I’d consider strictly necessary, operational security-wise, but mostly there so that the audience can get the dots connected for them in time for the finale. (I just… couldn’t Emoto have told them all this a few episodes ago? It would’ve come from a guy who genuinely was try to atone for some of his sketchier choices, and Hayami could’ve still done his fake-out plan, just without needlessly volunteering so much intel.) And then Hayami dies, sacrificing himself for a guy he wanted to escape from a few episodes ago and did not want to die for, but now dies while saying See I Was Good Wasn’t I Good Tell Me I Was Good while Gamou posthumously praises him for being a timely shield and a B- employee. It’s funny, Gamou not caring about this dude even at the very end of his arc, but it didn’t really add up to much, and it still felt slightly out of character for Hayami to be all-in on Gamou after the last dozen episodes.

(I laughed a lot more at Gen furiously pointing out to Gamou that Hayami sacrificed himself as a friend to the Chairman, so isn’t THAT proof that friendship exists, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of things like Workplace Dynamics and Celestial Death Cults that is also 1000% the way Gentarou, a guy who wanted to make friends with a PC, would see things. It’s dopey and off-base, but he seriously thinks the Horoscopes were Gamou’s friends, like it’s the only word he knows. I think even Amazon could come up with another word to describe the connection between Gamou and Hayami!)

I really like the way Gamou and Gentarou are staking out their positions for the finale, free of the distraction of collecting Horoscopes. We’re at the point where we need to make a statement about what high school is for, and I like the way we’re building out that answer.

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I think it really speaks to how into the big ideas of this final arc Die was to be able to talk this much about two Rider episodes involving determining whether or not Kousei Amano has really betrayed somebody, and somehow not make even one joke about it. I would not have had the same restraint!

I think this might be another example where Gentarou's stupidity accidentally hits upon some deeper smarter meaning, though? Like, hypothetically, the Horoscopes were meant to be a united group of people all sharing in a vision together, right? Kinda like... a club, even? Maybe saying they aren't friends is just a convenient way to excuse them being really bad friends, you know?

Maybe -- there's definitely intentional parallels between the Horoscopes and the KRC -- but it's also just Gentarou not being able to conceive of a group larger than one person that wasn't built around friendship. It's adorably single-minded, but I don't think a celestial death cult was working under the same code of conduct as an afterschool club. Even Utahoshi, Emoto, and Gamou were nominally coworkers -- it's cool if they were also friends, but it wasn't a goal, and it certainly wasn't a prerequisite. I don't want to bring Ex-Aid into things, but part of growing up is being able to work alongside people who aren't your friends! It's okay when that happens! Because holy shit is it going to happen!