Yeah, but thinking about Airi compared to characters like (dunno if these are good comparison) Kotaro in Blade, or Hinaka in Hibiki. The keeper (or one of the many) in one of the places the cast resides in and those seem to be tolerated more, while the one in charge of the place that fights off monsters are less so like Riku (or likely Tadokoro at first) in Kabuto's ZECT.

Well as said above yeah, those 2, Ozaki & Miura are the comic relief the series has. They're recurring yeah. But I wonder, if they aren't Airimirers, would you tolerate them more, based on your previous take of these type? As they're "slimy jerks", and they're comic relief, so those qualities are played for laughs, which is similar to something like Faiz' cast or Tsurugi in Kabuto. And you seem to advocate those type of characters to have their value acknowledged, like a part of Inoue's writing, or some episode before like Tetsuo and Yamagochi.

"Cowering mess", that's a word that can be applied to Ryotaro for the more jaded audience.... But yeah, in this episode, the soccer kid's wish isn't heard at all here, but this is a 2-parter, so it won't end here yet, and he'd learn his lesson definitely. His main tale here is more that he was afraid of the Imagin.

Lack of Ryotaro or Hana? Yeah but, Urataros joins as the major character just like Momotaros, he's not a guest star that is only central here. Urataros should be lumped together with Ryotaro, Hana, and Momotaros. If you care about Imagins because their relationship with Ryotaro, then Urataros is also one of them that you should look out for, because Urataros is on the same league as Momotaros in importance, he's one of the central character for the whole series. Urataros is made as a contrast to Momotaros, that while Momotaros is an idiot and hot-blooded (similar to shonen leads, also the spiky hair), Urataros is non-confrontational and is clever type, a trickster.

Den-O is the series about quality gags.

Monster interactions happen again this time, here about how seemingly monsters should always behave the way that the monsters are for being malicious, like stooping so low to grant their contractor's wish, like just murdering a child. I don't know what will happen if Momotaros did smack the thugs that harass Ryotaro with the pipe or something, but Momotaros is currently turning into a better monster as per Ryotaro's plead on him to apologize for his morally questionable choices. Monster interactions had happened too before on phase 1, particularly for series like Kuuga, where the Grongi's point is that they lose because of them competing and trying to one-up each other, in contrast to the main cast's teamwork.

Hey, they had names! I forget what the first one was, but the second one was called Onari.

Onari was the head honcho who gave us them memes. The two you are referring to are Shibuya and Narita. Kinda disappointed that was the best they could give them, surnames that happen to be an area in Tokyo(Shibuya) and either a city in Chiba prefecture or that one well-known airport(Narita). That's some Gargoyles type stuff. :lolol

Narita and Shibuya are more likable cause they aren't trying thir hardest to sleep with Akari; they sometimes even get to do Ghost Hunting! The pair here, I think I came around on the spiritual one a little for some reason, but the other one never quite hit anything beyond "Oh, you're still here."

As for Turtle Jerkle, yep, he's a slimeball! And I think he's 100% meant to be unlikeable right now, since we're stocking the team with a very unheroic hothead and a very self-absorbed sleaze. Of course, Ryotaro's meant to be the missing link, what brings the team back to the side of "Doing good for people"... but he sits this plot out, which takes all the wind out of it.

No-one ever told them if hope was acute or not.

Any time we get a crab-themed villain, these threads seem to perk up. Hilarious!

Thanks for the info, you two!

Yeah, I think it's this weird thing of them being both creepy and inconsequential that makes me so mad at them, and the show for including them. If they'd been creepy but essential to the plot, fine. If they'd been inconsequential but charming and funny, fine. But they're weird creeps who are totally irrelevant to the plot of the show, and that's just infuriating.

And, sort of disagree that you need them for customers, or any customers at all? Plenty of these shows have slid by with empty cafes, and A Cafe With Only Astronomy-Themed Books That Is Hidden From Public View feels like exactly the type of cafe that should be customerless.

Those guys at least told Takeru when there were monsters attacking! They were integral to the start of at least half of Ghost's plots!

Sure, I'd think he'll grow on me, but... like, Ryotaro is literally and figuratively the vessel these characters exist in. He is the thing that gives them shape, definition. Without him, everything's everywhere, and it's a mess. I'm very much looking forward to how he interacts with Urataros!

Yeah, I always prefer shows where the monsters have competing goals, or non-uniform approaches. It gives so much more nuance to what the hero is up against, so I'm glad that Den-O is already starting to explore the Imagin.

oh no

so he's still going to be here

This might be a good time to mention, actually -- this is completely intentional! Our first villain was a bat (okay, common Rider fare), but then we also got a chameleon, and now a crab...

I guess slight spoilers for the themes of the next few imagin, but the first set of imagin we got here are little references to Ryuki riders by using the same themes! Just a bit of fun


I think for this series though and the type of character Airi is, it is to Den-O's benefit to have milk dipper customers. Den-O in general is pretty slice-of-lifey and Airi isn't in the know about Rider shenanigans at all, so some recurring customers make it feel like a real and grounded environment that Ryotaro comes home to. It's essentially the backdrop of his real life beyond just his sister; replacing a setting like a job or school would offer. I just don't think Airi's simps are a fantastic execution of that!

I'm sorry you had to find out this way.
Airi's just that good, she stole all the customers from Nascita by accident. She almost did it to Jacoranda, but some Mantis guy showed up and asked her very nicely to not do that.

(Also I'd totally go to an astronomy themed cafe, but that's just me.)

Oh, that's awesome. Thanks for the info!

I see what you're saying, but I'm not sure the show even feels that way? One of the better Airi scenes so far is the one where Hana drops in to try and find Ryotaro, and that happens in an empty Milk Dipper. It lets the story keep moving, and retains a focus on the most compelling characters. I'm not sure the verisimilitude of that place having customers outweighs the expediency of keeping that set free of distractions and dead-weight?

I like the empty milk dipper scenes too! But I think part of what makes them work is the contrast to normal; whether framed as eerie or as just seeing what Airi’s actually like. I can definitely see why the scenes with customers at milk dipper don’t work for you, but I think for me this part of the show wouldn’t work as well without them.