The fact that Hyper Kabuto got it's show debut reversing Kagami's death says everything about the fact that Gattack is no longer their main priority when it comes with selling toys. And that his role in the show is to now be as strong and competent as the show needs at any given moment, which means he's probably going to be jobbing pretty hard to shill Kabuto's final form.

I mean, I think it says more about how much Kagami means to Tendou? I don't see Tendou feeling like he'd need to reverse time to save Tsurugi, you know? I don't think he'd reverse his forward motion to save Tsurugi, let alone bend physics. Kagami is the only Rider he'd feel was worthy of the level of effort.

Plus, like, Kagami at least got to keep his Zecter! Can't say that for some of this show's other Riders!

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 35

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A pretty fun episode that examines a bunch of different kinds of friendships/partnerships, without really solidifying a theme I could get behind.

Like, this is a stuffed episode, spending a lot of time catching us up on a variety of semi-connected plots (Hiyori, Tsurugi, Renge, Kageyama, Tendou collecting Zecters) while also introducing the Natives as a new group that has an interest in the conflict between Riders and Worms. It's also a done-in-one episode (or at least, there isn't really a cliffhanger to deal with), so scenes go by at a pretty rapid clip. There's not a lot of room in this episode. It is moving with a purpose.

And, again, interesting purpose! It's an episode that's bringing up questions about how friendships can develop in the workplace, and how apprentices can feel a commitment that may not be matched by mentors, and how hero worship creates opportunities to be treated unfairly, and so on. It's bringing up a lot of things, but I'm not sure it's really saying a lot about them. While there's a topic the episode is exploring (Friendships In The Workplace is as succinct as I can make it), there isn't really a theme, or a statement. It's... yeah, it's an episode that's more interested in asking questions than giving answers.

It's also an episode dedicated to breaking down what little ego remains in Kageyama, which is... not quite as harrowing as the show would think? It's fun to see him get applauded by Yaguruma for failing so hard, so quickly (Shame Recognizes Shame), but Kageyama's turn to the dark (eyeliner) side just doesn't do as much for me as Yaguruma's did? It's similar to Yaguruma's, in that their core personalities are just being expressed in a lower register. Yaguruma was a guy who desperately needed followers to make him feel like he was doing the right thing, that his words had weight. Kageyama was the consummate beta, a dude who always needed someone to be in charge of him. This PunchHopper/KickHopper dynamic, it's them both playacting as edgy weirdos when they couldn't be more themselves.

But the problem is that Yaguruma was always the more interesting of the two. He's the one who had a point-of-view, had a conception of himself. Kageyama is just undisguised envy, hollow sycophancy. Watching Yaguruma run around as Snyder Cut Kabuto is fun because you can see all of Yaguruma's idiosyncrasies creeping out around the edges: how he needs attention; how he wants people validating his methods; how he wants to articulate his worldview constantly, ad nauseum. With Kageyama, he's just grabbing ahold of the only person who isn't actively trying to ignore and/or kill him. I feel like I'm learning more about Yaguruma every time I see him. With Kageyama, there really isn't anything to learn?

That said, I had a great time with Kageyama in this episode. If you need to humiliate someone like Kageyama, having nearly everyone in the cast either blow him off (Kagami), manipulate him (Worm Widow), or outright tell him he's the worst (Renge) is probably what you're after. And the episode does not disappoint on that front. It stays largely comedic, having Kageyama orbit Tendou in hopes of getting TheBee Zecter back... until Kageyama snaps, and it becomes the violent denouement of every burned bridge. Watching him briefly consider Oh Wait Wasn't I Super Dedicated To ZECT Once before admitting to himself that it was always about the ability to feel strong, that he was never more than a scared man who was sick of feeling small, I like that? I like that the episode took a breath for that, to cast off (if you will) the remaining shreds of self-deception Kageyama had, forcing him to admit his pettiness, his weakness. Having him go all-in on his worst impulses, and then to have Yaguruma show up with his This Is The Worst Day Of The Rest Of Your Life pep-talk, that's a fun character turn. I'll never love Kageyama the way I love Yaguruma, but I love what their dynamic does for Yaguruma. That final shot of the two of them!

Not to ignore the second-best partnership on this show, though: Tendou and Kagami. They're mostly running parallel to each other in this one. Kagami is trying to protect the very knowledgeable Native, Tachikawa, while also enduring a delightful/horrifying (YMMV) Friend Date with Tsurugi. (It is adorable, that's my takeaway.) Meanwhile, Tendou is trying to keep La Salle open with the help of a guy who can't cook and a girl who only just started eating food for the first time in seven years. It is... he has some handicaps here. (Whither Sally, the cafe's ostensible owner?) It's a fun plot for Tendou, despite Renge losing a bit of her edge. (She's not reduced to bumping monsters with her butt, but she's now way more of An Adorable Klutz than her debut episodes.) The best bit for Renge was in the one Tendou/Kagami scene, where Tendou's like I'm Gonna Need That Gatack Zecter Soon and Renge is immediately like Separate Kagami's Head From His Shoulders You Got It Boss. It is hilariously chilling, how quickly she would murder for her new boss.

It's a great scene between the two men, made more dramatic for how much the episode keeps them isolated. While last episode's finale made things feel a little more easy-going between them, this episode is firmly planting the flag that Kagami and Tendou are not on the same side right now. There's a grudging acceptance to Kagami, as he realizes that Tendou is going to walk his path, no matter what Kagami says. But it's not the usual caving-in from Kagami, the deference to Tendou's innate genius and certainty. It's an acceptance that there will come a point where he is going to have to fight against Tendou. Right now, it's a disagreement. But someday soon it's going to be a battle. But, like, there's no longer sadness to Kagami's interactions with a determined Tendou. Now there's just anger, and disappointment.

I love it, because it feels less like Tendou Broke Bad, and more like two heroic, principled men are going to find themselves in conflict over what is right. It's not a binary Good/Bad struggle, it's got nuance, subtlety. The way the show is dissolving their partnership (when Kagami screams at Kageyama that he's not Tendou's friend!), it's got so much dimensionality to it, so many fun angles to showcase.

Seriously, a very fun episode that may not land a solid theme, but definitely has a great premise to explore.

A QUESTION

Tadokoro has a completely weird moment in this episode, where he's doing his ZECT duty by eating at La Salle. (Is that still a thing, Tendou working for ZECT? I'd've thought he'd've been shitcanned after trying to steal the Hyper Zecter and causing Renge to defect? No? Goro's keeping him on? Or did Tadokoro just not get the memo?) Tadokoro yells at a group of diners for not doing the respectful thing, and immediately eating their food as soon as it's served. I know it can be hard to remember back to the Before COVID times, but do you have any pet peeves when it comes to dining out? Surely nothing that'd cause you to make whatever face Tadokoro was making in this episode...

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Boy, do I not remember much of this episode. The next one was much more memorable.

Though to answer the question, whenever I order the fish and chips, I always request that it comes with nothing on the side (unless it comes in a bowl, in which case I can palm it off onto someone who likes that stuff).

This is the second episode of my rewatch where I’ve had to pause the episode because I was laughing too hard. It was the bathing scene, where Tsurugi and Kagami are in the old fashioned Western tub with Tsurugi merrily scrubbing away at a very confused Kagami’s back. Everything about that just cracked me up.

As for the rest, I am always down for an episode that’s focused on torturing Kageyama. We really do get to see the complete breakdown that leads him to the dark path of hopping and punching. I think it works and I agree on how good that last shot of him and Yaguruma is. Also, I will never not enjoy scenes of Yaguruma wandering in to start kicking people and/or Worms.

We get the debut of the Natives this time, too, in the form of a character that I completely forgot about. We’ll get a lot more about what their deal is in upcoming episodes.

Finally, I do want to say that I’m finding Renge to be more fun and dynamic than I remembered. What happened to Misaki, though? I know she’s still around, but it feels like she hasn’t been here in a few episodes.

By biggest pet peeve when it came to dining out was that time I saw a dead spider in my McDonald's fries.

Remember how I pointed out the Natives in God Speed Love, those Worms with the large horns? Well now they're in the show! What are your thoughts on their surprise appearance?

In the concept art for Punch Hopper, he has purple eyes and I would've preferred if they kept that color. The grey suit and dull white eyes just aren't that interesting as a combo. Red Riders like Drive and Amazon Alpha make it look better, although I still prefer Amazon Alpha's green eyes and Type Tridoron's yellow eyes. The suit is definitely a step backwards from The Bee which looks a lot more intimidating.

I guess that's fitting for Kageyama though, cause if he claims to be a failure and belongs in Hell, I'm actually willing to believe that. I'm not going to dispute that. Seeing him fall to such depths, it's not that surprising and if ZECT and The Bee Zecter disown him, of course he'll just find someone else to serve under. We may have different receptions to this change but I can't fault your analysis on his and Yaguruma's "character development". They really are very superficial people hiding behind a mask of depressive darkness and despair to look more complicated than they actually are.

Kagami denying that Tendo is his friend reminds me of how Tendo told Kagami the same thing in Episode 9 and 10. Since you showed me an insightful new perspective on Tendo's reason for rejecting him, to push him to become more independent and choose between The Bee and his principles, maybe there's a similar reasoning to Kagami's rejection of him here. Of course, Tendo isn't exactly being a nice guy right now, he's not proving himself worthy of that friendship since he has become too obsessed with protecting Hiyori and he's neglecting others who care about him. But maybe Kagami also wants to see if Tendo can return to the altruistic person he used to be since they have a mutual respect for each other.

I've had some bad experiences dining out. Like a waitress acting condescending to me and deliberately screwing up my order more than once. Some places don't even fold the napkins properly!

Of course, I won't spoil which is why it leads to us not knowing what's to argue. But will leaving this; Tendou and Kagami also wants to deal with ZECT (for Hiyori in Tendou's case, but everything about Rider to him is for Hiyori), so it's also about finding that mystery man (Souji Kusakabe).

Yeah, Natives. Soon you'll get an answer to a question you asked before.

Really? Yeah, at first glance, probably Yaguruma is the leader here, while Kageyama is the follower here, just like usual in the past where the former is Shadow leader and the latter being one of its members (and suck hard as a leader). But it won't be fully that way actually. And from before, this is what I mean for Yaguruma's negative traits later, where he had no qualms of attacking his former colleague at ZECT (he leads them too, not only Kageyama). Also in this thread Kageyama's seemingly the only Kabuto character who doesn't get love from others here anyway.

And the thing is, in contrast to Kageyama, Yaguruma was a great cook (which he needs to for serving his members), someone who wins over Tendou (via having Hiyori as judge, although that's for Hiyori's preference), so apparently Yaguruma never teach his members how to cook, other than serving them. I'd like to see that, if Kageyama is found to be cheating to pick foods from other place, and that it can't fool Tendou, then, for now with them being together again, Kageyama should go back to Yaguruma, to ask him to teach him cooking! (though it was done to get TheBee, but likely not anymore as PunchHopper appears).

Horrible people getting the treatment they deserve from other character is something that pleases me, whenever that character is liked (ex: Ryuki's Asakura whom everyone contemps and is fully infamous, Ex-Aid's Kuroto where after revival where everyone's still on sour note regarding him; never change Kuroto... AND the cast) or not by me or fandom. It'd get on my nerves if those character and their negatives gets approved and treated as ideal/paragon in-universe, unless for story purpose (a villain had to have and keep good publicity for the story to work). But probably Kageyama got that treatment primarily because of how incompetent he is, while those that are as bad as him, if they're an accomplished person, can get free from this treatment easier than Kageyama.

Renge is also a lethal chef, someone whose cooking is dangerous or detrimental. And yeah, this is what I meant for side effects, Tendou trying to make Renge feel heroic instead of being ZECt's tool, has a side effect of making her completely abiding to him, and also being incredibly clingy and possessive, what she said to Kageyama being TheWorst is based on that, and also what she said to Kagami here. Also, if Tendou's someone who's perfect, surely Tendou can multitask? His cooking is the one that got treated as above Ichiro's after all, not even Hiyori's. Especially for someone as independent as him. Just be a one-man army at the restaurant too, handling everything, and someone like Tendou is going to be able to do so. This is a reharsh on Kagami as TheBee, a role reversal, including for this time Kagami won't stop becoming Gatack because the decision is on Tendou's side. and for this part, Tendou only took the other's Zecter, and not causing much harm, so this one's not a binary good/bad struggle yeah (or probably good/neutral if Tendou's only doing this for Hiyori's sake), though Tendou is pragmatic that he imposes his will to others here, but it could be that the others are also too uncooperative for their Zecters (and Tendou himself too for not explaining clearly what's his purpose is, due to his ego and independence too).

Tendou already defected from ZECT when he's got the job done, he's only temporarily joining them. Tadokoro is probably too dictating and strict (to me, but dunno if Tadokoro's actually right that it should be eaten immediately without wait), but the girls aren't doing good things either, they dismiss Tadokoro only because "he's old man" (implying shallowness; valuing others only by looks). For the answer, it's the usual uneatable food, then slow order, less hygiene (forcing to fight off flies).

Beyond the debut of PunchHopper (in the final goddamn shot of the episode, but still), this is probably not going to be an overall memorable episode. It's a lot of catch-up, a lot of reminders. Some indelible scenes, for sure (see below!), but not a plot or a premise that's in the Top 10 for this series. Still fun, though!

Everything about their Friend Date killed me: Tsurugi's glee at seeing Kagami in his house, never realizing the portentous tone of the conversation between Kagami and Jiiya; their bathtime, complete with rose petals in the bathwater and Tsurugi doing all of the work; giving Kagami a, frankly, much better hairstyle and dressing him in Tsurugi's clothes; Tsurugi reading Kagami poetry; Jiiya's itinerary for the rest of the Friend Date, which includes a nap for Tsurugi, complete with a bedtime story; and the timelapse shot to afterwards, with Kagami back in his regular clothes, sitting around while Tsurugi swings Discalibur like a child.

It was so great. I wish it was more than just Hey Don't Forget That Tsurugi Needs His Zecter Back Or He'll Turn Into A Monster, but it's an enormously fun scene regardless.

I love how jazzed Yaguruma is for Kageyama to finally have less self-respect than Yaguruma does. He is so transparent in his need to be admired, and now that he's miserable he needs people to be even more miserable than him so they can look up to him. Now that he's got his second-in-command back, I can't wait to see him recruit a bunch of ZECT guys with drinking problems and bad breakups to form Darker Shadow or whatever. They all pile out of a dented panel van, loose-fitting uniforms and scratched-up helmets, no guns but a bunch of flyers for their HIM cover band, HOP...

Yeah, what's up with that? Some of it is just how over-stuffed this episode is (they really shoehorned in Tadokoro, not that I'm complaining), but I think it's also to make Kagami a little more decisive for his half of the Tendou/Kagami plot. Usually, Misaki's role is to be a coach to Kagami, to inspire him or motivate him. If she does that now, it only serves to make Tendou's certainty feel more accurate, more understandable. We need to see Kagami taking the lead, and it's hard to do that with Misaki around.

I once found a gear inside my Arby's fries. Not as bad as you had it, but still pretty unnerving!

I'm curious about them? I don't really have a ton of thoughts on them, which is why I didn't really bring them up. There's some very compelling details (Tachikawa's control/friendship with the Zecters, him knowing everyone's names), but I don't usually lock into a plot until I get more answers. It's promising, though!

Yeah, I'd be shocked if the design brief for PunchHopper wasn't just Shittier KickHopper. He needs to be a slightly less cool-looking version of Yaguruma's suit, or their whole dynamic doesn't work.

I think it's just Kagami starting to lose faith in Tendou? Tendou's always been able to separate their friendship from their work (way back when he tells Kagami that he won't be stopped by TheBee, he then reminds him to come to the party he's throwing!), and he's trying to be as respectful as possible as he tells Kagami that he's going to take the Gatack Zecter if Kagami doesn't hand it over. Tendou definitely doesn't see his need to take the Gatack Zecter as anything that should alter their relationship.

For Kagami, he's way less able to compartmentalize. He's got Very Big Feelings, not A Series Of Small Feelings. His friendship with Tendou can get chipped away at by Tendou's single-minded goal of saving Hiyori, regardless of how anyone else might suffer. It's making Kagami start to regret all of the latitude he's given Tendou, all of the support. He's tried reasoning with Tendou, pleading with him, but Tendou's adamant. It's making Kagami feel unappreciated, even disrespected.

I don't really think this is Tendou having a teachable moment with Kagami. It's just two friends having a fundamental disagreement over what to do next, and they can't reconcile their differences. Tendou's able to disagree without feeling like he's being a bad friend, while Kagami sees Tendou's rejection of his argument as a rejection of him. Friendships are tough!

Well, Kageyama just sucks. That's pretty much his whole character? Even now?

And I wouldn't expect Kageyama's role as PunchHopper to not inevitably have some friction with Yaguruma. Kageyama's a guy who craves the leash, but eventually begins to chafe from it. He likes having someone to follow, someone who will value his dedication and obedience, but eventually he starts to desire their respect, but he's so pathetic that he can't earn it. That's when it all starts to fall apart for Kageyama.

I think I should mention that this episode and the last had the HBV released in between them. I assume that’s planned for relatively soon

Yep, just watched it. For some reason, I had it as releasing after 35, when it's very much a post-34 story. Probably going to do the HBV and 36 in one post later today.

Got a straight up moldy bun the last time I went to McDonalds, which is why I no longer go to McDonalds.

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - HYPER BATTLE VIDEO - THE BIRTH OF GATACK HYPER FORM

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I wouldn't say this is the perfect Kabuto story (there're too few cast members for it to reach that goal), but it's probably the platonic ideal of a Kabuto story. Kagami feels like he's not as good as Tendou, acts incredibly weird, learns that there's nothing wrong with being Kagami, Tendou supports him. That's... I mean, that's pretty much the last 35 episodes of Kabuto in a nutshell?

And that's really great for an HBV. It pads out a ton of its runtime with clips from the show, arranged as lessons about Why Tendou Is So Great (I mean, talk about the platonic ideal of a Kabuto story...), but it's hitting all the major things that make Kabuto such a fun show. Building a little short around Tendou and Kagami, I think that's the best thing this HBV could do.

It's mostly ridiculous, which is what I want from an HBV. The Gatack and Kabuto Zecters working together to help Kagami get a Hyper Zecter, it's very cute. I love the little eyes that get glued to the Zecter? Hibiki's HBV did the same sort of gimmick (the toys having personalities and trying to educate the POV character), and I really don't mind Kabuto's revisiting it. Just goofy fun, letting Kagami's mugging and impressions carry the bulk of the comedy, with Juka and Tendou acting as straight men.

(The one part of the short that bugged me was the 2nd lesson for Being Tendou: Be A Good Older Sibling. Man, Kagami's little brother was killed by Worms and then had his memory used to try and kill Kagami. The Zecters are kind of being enormous assholes by making a gateway to perfection Have An Alive Sibling.)

This was a lot of fun, and, despite the more comedic tone, a really solid introduction to the show. (It's honestly probably not even the wackiest Kabuto story!) I can see some kid watching this, then watching the show, and not feeling like they were misled. That may sound like faint praise, but not every HBV clears that bar!

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KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 36

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I really enjoyed the subtlety to how this series approached the somewhat-routine Break-Up storyline.

Every show with a Rider team has it somewhere in their season, I think. Someone gets possessed, or gets blackmailed, or whatever. One or more hero turns bad, and the remaining heroes need to fight them. That seemed to be the territory we were in with this Tendou Vs Kagami story, where Tendou's need to protect Hiyori tips over into outright villainy, and Kagami's Very Big Feelings are crushed in the fallout. I'd've been okay with that.

But this show opted to do something smaller, more nuanced, and I really appreciate that. It went for a story about how people can disagree without dismantling their friendships, how you can be pissed off at someone and still be there for them when it matters. It also did a story about how the value of friendship isn't just cheering you on when you're right, it's also checking you when you're wrong.

It's the rare Kabuto episode that ends with Tendou apologizing for making a mistake. (Kagami even mentions how weird it is!) But Tendou does apologize to Kagami at the end of this one, and commits to returning the various Zecters. He's seen what can happen if he's the only Rider left, and it is not good. The Zecters want to destroy Worms, full stop. While a Rider can harness the Zecters, they can't exactly control them, which means the Rider doesn't get to make allowances for The Good Ones like Hiyori. If Tendou doesn't have anyone watching his back, Hiyori could be the next Worm killed. Tendou's realized that he needs a support system if he's going to create a world where Hiyori's safe.

(I don't... I'm not sure I 100% believe Kagami Outrageous's explanation to Tendou about the Zecters being all Pro Ice killers of Worms. Literally the only time we see a Zecter go psychotic is in this episode, and it's against a Native who could previously summon the Zecter. It doesn't completely hold up as a piece of information. I'm not sure if it's a total lie on Outrageous's part, or if there's some new evolution of the Kabuto Zecter we haven't been clued in on, but the behavior of the Zecter here feels different. I wouldn't be surprised if the belt or the Zecter had been tampered with in some way, to get Kabuto to try and kill Tachikawa. It doesn't feel like what Outrageous would want, what with ZECT being ordered to protect Tachikawa, but I don't have any clue what that dude's endgame is. Anyway, long story short, I'm operating under the idea that Outrageous is telling the truth, while acknowledging that it's probably a lie.)

I like the way this episode approaches friendships, where it doesn't settle for letting unwavering support be just telling people They Can Do It or whatever. It sometimes means hanging around and telling people that they are screwing up big time. It's not about Kagami abandoning his friendship with Tendou because they disagree, it's about Kagami telling Tendou he disagrees with him, repeatedly, because he's Tendou's friend. That shit can get strained (as much as they're working together this episode to further their search for Hiyori, they ain't exactly palling around), but true friendship means sometimes fighting with your friends to keep them from making mistakes. I really love how minor the show made the argument at the heart of this Break-Up story, how much the bond of these two was able to withstand a disagreement.

And then there's Kageyama and Yaguruma, who are back on their bullshit.

It's basically the Episode 7 versions of them in unconvincing Street Toughs cosplay. They look like they're auditioning for a musical version of Johnny Mnemonic. They look like they shopped in the Kingdom Hearts clearance section. They look like their dad dropped them off at the mall. Kageyama's sneer is... I mean, easily the funniest thing in this episode. Everything about them is so performatively Bad that it's... *chef's kiss*. Seeing them walk in a room is like the non-terrifying version of seeing a group of clowns get out of a tiny car. Never not funny.

And then immediately they're acting like old times, where it's Kageyama telling Yaguruma how great he is and Yaguruma telling Kageyama that, no, they're great, in a vaguely-condescending way that only egotists can manage. Their dynamic is, like, 1966 Batman But Goth, where Yaguruma might as well say We All Die Alone, Chum. There's a real connection between these two that is both horrifyingly unhealthy, and totally inevitable. They keep finding each other, you know? There's something to that.

Anyway, yeah, fun episode about how real friends aren't afraid to tell you that you're blowing up your life, as portrayed by one group who's about saving you, and one group who's about hastening your destruction. I like these two teams being on the show, you guys!

A QUESTION

Tsurugi has another insane interaction with food, here delightling to the flavor of two burned potatoes. I've had plenty of spuds in my life, but that's not one I'd look forward to. What's your favorite preparation for potatoes?

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It's amazing how much I really have forgotten about this show.

First of all, thank you to Die for only briefly mentioning the sequence that closes out the episode, with the Hell Brothers transforming for the first time, because it's the only way I wanted to start this post. Not only is it a moment I feel should've been burned into my brain a long time ago and yet wasn't, it's a sequence that basically acts like a signature from Ishida, who you'd better believe I'm going to talk about yet again.

It's another one of those moments that could only come from him, I think. To have Yaguruma and Kageyama walk off into this tunnel with a slight red glow coming from it, and then somehow find themselves in a crimson void with no discernable scenery in it whatsoever, transforming for reasons that are even more unclear, it's all so not literal, as a way to tell the story, you know? But them posing for their own Televi-Kun pages this way, and making such a conscious effort to project a cool image, it perfectly matches the emotion of the scene, and it ends up feeling sensible because the mood is so cohesive. You're still being told everything you need to know, except instead of all boring and factual, the episode does it with style, and that's this one in a nutshell, because creating a mood is always what Ishida does best. I could point to a lot of individual moments, especially with so many of the usual punchy dialogue scenes, but in the interest of space, I'll merely give a quick shout out to Kabuto's transformation into Hyper Form here, which is perhaps needlessly glorious, but like... I mean, tell me if that sounds like a complaint or not.

Getting back to Kageyama, though, I have to say, I did not remember a single thing about how he became PunchHopper, and that's why I was more than a bit shocked to find that, not only did I enjoy this episode, but it might even be one of my favorites of the series so far. I'm not saying it is, but it was a thought that genuinely crossed my mind after it was over, so let's see if I can work out the why of that.

I was so pulled in to everything it was doing right from the cold open. The director was perfectly matched to the episode here, because this is a script that swings pretty wildly between emotional highs and lows. It'd be the kind of thing where the atmosphere could come off as inconsistent, with each scene having trouble landing, but, as I mentioned, Ishida is a master when it comes to crafting an overall vibe for any given scene. As such, this one stays supremely easy to follow even as it's rapidly switching up the tone on the viewer. Broadly speaking, however, there is an overall arc to it, with a comedic start that eventually collapses into madness.

The episode is a little bit about everyone, but it's ultimately very much about Kageyama, and I'm impressed how much this episode managed to make me engage with a character I remember loathing so much. At first, his usual brown-nosing is cute, but it's seemingly only in support of a plot thread that can basically be summed up as Tendou Regrets Taking Management Positions. He's just one more nuisance to a guy who's clearly five seconds away from getting out of both a militarized organization of nebulous authority AND the restaurant ownership business (which I guess he's in???), and it's funny on that level. But after so many scenes in a row of Kageyama being, well, TheWorst, doing all his usual tricks – all the blatantly feigned emotions, the outright cheating, and the general disregard for people not named Kageyama – I started to feel like I understood him a bit more? It's tricky to describe, but a lot of the episode is basically a day of the life of Kageyama, and considering he just got demoted, it's even more clear than usual how... empty he is, as a person. He seriously can't consider anything beyond some vague quest for status I doubt he even remembers why he wants, and where this episode jumped from being merely a normal great Ishida episode for me to being something that's maybe more special is when it decides to pull all that back after the halfway mark and suddenly make it dead serious.

Basically every remaining loose screw in Kageyama ends up falling out completely, and he loses it. He impulsively embarks on a mission to assassinate some guy he doesn't know for people he ought to know he shouldn't put his faith in, and in the process lowers himself from being merely at the bottom of the ladder of ZECT to being an outright enemy of them, and just about everyone else. And then, at his lowest moment, as he lies wounded and waiting to die, comes along one of the first people Kageyama ever betrayed... and he's looking for a little brother.

Kind of a lot going on in this story, to say the least! I mean, there's so much more I'd like to touch on: maybe talk about the great mysterious cold open with a rare moment of genuine shock from Tendou; examine the significance of Kagami saying he and Tendou aren't friends; or just rave about the direction forever, but at the end of the day, I think it's that Kageyama plot thread that's most worth noting.

This is a stretch of the show that's weird for a lot of reasons, with a lot of refocusing going on and new central elements being introduced left and right, and, maybe because of the lack of Hiyori (which will never not be an issue!), it's also a part of the show I don't remember too much about – even more than usual. So I didn't expect to watch this one again and find out how much strong writing, direction, and performances (seriously, crazy Kageyama is amazing) could keep me so enthralled by a plot about basically none of the things in Kabuto I actually care about. So yeah, I think I cracked why I liked this one so much right there – it was the very definition of a pleasant surprise.

I really admire the fact this show, to date, has gone out of its way to give Kageyama zero redeeming features. Like, not only does get humiliated by practically every single character on the show, but at his breaking point, at the moment where he has to decide what it is he wants, he's just like Shrug Emoji and starts trying to murder people. There is no attempt to contextualize his failures, or empathize with his psychology. He's just terrible, non-stop. That is so intentional by the creative team that I love it, even if I don't think I'd care if Kageyama's character was replaced with a surly sea lion. Just... the series bible has Kageyama Is The Worst written down for the character's bio, and they used that as their guiding light. I've never seen a show so dedicated to producing the most pathetic character possible, and I salute them for it.

I'll get to my thoughts on 36 after I watch it, but I do want to point out a piece of trivia about the HBV - and it's nothing to do with the exclusive appearance of Hyper Gatack, who's second only to Kamen Rider G in terms of "so is this canon or what?"-ness. No, I wanted to point out that the Gatack Zecter is voiced here by Koji Yusa, a voice actor that you'll be hearing a lot more of this spring when he'll be voicing Urataros in Kamen Rider Den-O.

https://i.imgur.com/FOq2XRP.png

Hard to do much more than echo Die's thoughts on this one. It's a Hyper Battle Video that utterly nails what an HBV is meant to be. You get a lot of cleanly delivered exposition on the series, framed around a wacky spin-off plot with a unique gimmick that combines with the recycled clips to give you a good overall idea of what the show is about.

It's especially great how much emphasis it puts on Kagami, even giving him his own Hyper Form, which is notable as the first instance of an exclusive HBV form ever, and it went to Kagami, so in case you needed more proof how central he is to Kabuto, there you have it.

I guess what I'd mostly call out are just all the little things I personally found amusing. I'm a sucker for cutesy talking toy sidekicks in toku, so having the Kabuto Zecter flying around voiced by Tomokazu Seki is just great, and that lecture on all the different Riders with all their personal music tracks playing in such rapid succession was an excellent reminder how much I love TheBee's intense theme. Plus, the lecture itself called attention to Drake's apparent underwater abilities, which made the scuba gear look of his Masked Form suddenly make a lot more sense. See, I even learned something!

There were also some amusing instances of the video's lesser production quality showing through – Hyper Kabuto's transformation is directly recycled from episode 34 to save on that precious budget, and when he later does a Rider Kick, Takaiwa fails to properly close the Zecter back up, resulting in the horn getting stuck, and them just using that footage as though it's not a bad take. I mean, I'm not complaining. If the people making this video were assuming I wasn't here for strict attention to detail, they're entirely correct. I came for some fun gags and a bit of action, and fun gags and action I got.

https://i.imgur.com/e2AhxmP.png

What really makes that beautiful, deliberately underplayed scene of Tendou and Kagami at the end work so well is just how unflinchingly brutal this episode is for Tendou.

There's a wonderful gravity to him in those final moments, realizing he can't go on the way he's been, and admitting as much to Kagami, because the day he had to get to that point is one of the worst he's ever had. Tendou would have to be insane not to understand that something has to give after what he goes through. Of course he'd come to appreciate the value of having other Riders around after having everything he usually leans on stolen away from him. He can't be the smartest person in the room, because he's surrounded by facts he doesn't understand, and his best friend's dad keeps turning out to be the only person who can outdo him when it comes to evasive answers. He can't even be the measured, confident warrior anymore, because his own Zecter is now running the risk of turning him into a rampaging beast against his own will. Tendou is completely boxed in throughout this story, and I adore it.

The show needs episodes like this, to give him that extra dimension and keep him from being too one-note of a character, and this is a fantastic example of that, with everything imaginable going wrong for him. He's beaten to crap by the end, and still collapses from exhaustion even after managing to pull some modicum of victory out of this trainwreck of an evening. It's a fantastic look at Tendou is a much different, more vulnerable position than usual, going far harder than even previous times he's been shown to be out of his depth.

It's especially helped along by both Mizushima and Takaiwa having such strongly defined performances as Tendou and Kabuto that they're able to turn on their heads, with Tendou being a sweaty nervous wreck and the berserk Kabuto lacking all of the usual grace he fights with. It all leaves exactly the huge impact it should, and it's a great episode because of that. While I remembered the whole Red Shoes concept, once again, basically all of this might as well have been new to me, and, once again, I'm delighted to find myself so entertained by this show... even if I do miss seeing Hiyori's name in the credits each episode.

Yeah, the billing in the opening has been going insane, lately, by the way, as you might expect with the constant shakeups in the cast. Misaki is the third character listed now when she's in an episode, after Tendou and Kagami, but it's really a free-for-all when it comes to who outside of the main duo goes where. Yaguruma in particular has been all over the place in just these past few episodes he's been back, but it's good to see his credit together with his lil' bro, both listed with their edgy new Rider personas now that Kageyama has completed the duo.

They're pretty fun here, especially with all the little inflections Hidenori Tokuyama gives Yaguruma (and more awesome Ishida visuals, of course), but I think Die is better suited to singing the praises of the Hoppers. I can more tell you just how smart I think it was letting them curb stomp Kabuto and Gatack here. Like, obviously the show has a need to shill the new characters and their merch, but these losers so easily defeating the main heroes of the series actually serves nicely to underline how terribly things are going for Tendou and Kagami. Tendou only loses that fight because, technically speaking, he's not even in the fight, thanks to the rampaging Kabuto Zecter.

I thought it was a really great cherry on top of the sundae that is how constantly, majorly, concerningly wrong everything is lately. The show wants to make it seem like things are off-balance in general right now, and it's doing a fantastic job.

It seriously can't be said enough just how much Kageyama truly is TheWorst, in every area. Like, he has so many unenviable traits, they're at war with each other. The only thing keeping his rampant moral depravity in check is his complete inability to succeed at anything he sets out to do.

Thanks! I am terrible about catching Japanese voice actors (I think people had to call out when Ren from Ryuki was a monster on Faiz?), so this is something I'll try and keep in mind. Also, god, it's almost time for Den-O! Couple more weeks of Kabuto, couple weeks off, and then we are on a train to Kobayashi Country! Very exciting... but, honestly, they're all exciting. Despite any evidence to the contrary, I am not that critical when it comes to Kamen Rider! I love it too much!

One of my favorite gags in the HBV was when the Zecters are going down the list of Riders, and when they get to KickHopper, they're like Eesh Yaguruma What Happened. Even the toys are disappointed in this dude! Maybe his worldview is grounded in something real after all?

There's some well-earned serenity at the end of the episode, with Tendou, with the show, exhaling after how insane the previous twenty-odd minutes were. It's the little way Tendou breaks the ice, mentioning how hungry he is after having a black-out fistfight and then watching his only lead to finding Hiyori get skewered by Worm Widow. It takes this serious episode and deflates it just enough to make room for reconciliation, you know? I really liked that.

It’s alright dude, I’ll handle identifying the VAs when we get to Den-O (especially since it’s a show that has more suit characters than face ones).

And as for my thoughts on the content covered, well immediately after watching the HBV, I went on this Facebook group, posted a certain screenshot and captioned it “when you learn your friend doesn’t follow COVID guidelines” https://www.facebook.com/groups/2423...508/?ref=share

Episode 36, I’ll say that Tendou’s screaming when the Red Shoes system get activated really unnerved me. But it was oddly nice to see our Super Batta Bros finally get even by beating the crap out of Tendou.

Nah that is a deep cut trivia not a whole lot of people know unless you are a trivia geek so no worries. :lolol
That said, tell me, your current verdict on the Hell Brothers? And I would like to add that while it may seem dark grey or even black depending on the lighting, the official color for Punchhopper is brown.

I figured I could count on you! Thanks!

Yeah, Tendou's got some good The Rider System Has Gone Haywire anguished screams. Sometimes, when a show goes to that well, they take the VO out so that it seems like the dude inside is gone, really play up how inhuman a Rider can be. Here, they just have Tendou screaming, wall-to-wall, and it's horrifying. This show wants you to know that Tendou's in there, going crazy from pain.

The short answer is that I love everything about them as much as they hate everything about themselves.

The longer answer is that I love how the show has constructed what I think they think is Dark Team Tendou And Kagami, but it's really just Janky Knock-Off Team Tendou And Kagami. It's an attempt to dig into some of how Tendou and Kagami relate to one another, to comment on their bond in the same way the individual characters comment on each other.

It's just all done with this hilarious affectation of Ooh They Bad that I love because of how fake it is, not in spite of it. It's two guys reinventing themselves rather than improving themselves, a lateral move from Self-Aggrandizing But Pathetic into Self-Effacing But Pathetic. Everything about them is a defense mechanism, and an obvious one at that. I love that idea, of What If Achievement Looked Like Failure, redefining how someone walks their path.

And those suits! Very into those suits. A lot of it is the physicality of the actors inside them, the way KickHopper's head swings like the neck joint is loose, or the way they go from slouching to ALL KICKING or ALL PUNCHING so fast, like a switch gets flipped. (It reminds me a ton of Build Hazard, which is one of my favorite suit performances of all time.) Even the way Yaguruma Henshins with this eye-roll of resignation! Such a perfect touch.

Yeah, I genuinely love them. I love them aesthetically, I love them thematically, and I love them narratively. Definitely scouring sites for good quality figures of them.

Man, I just really loved that last scene with Tendou and Kagami in the tall grass after the fight. The narrative beats were great - the whole "Put me down if I go berserk like I would for you" conversation was excellent and really highlights the amount of trust that Tendou has in Kagami, even when he can't help but act like a dick.

I really don't remember how the Red Shoes System thing resolves itself - all I really remember is Kagami's dad dancing while explaining it. We're really into the part of the show that I remember very little of now, so it's getting pretty exciting to rediscover some of these plot points.

Also a fan of putting Renge and Tsurugi together for a scene. Renge is obviously working much more as a comic relief character than Hiyori, so having her partner up with the other big comic relief for a scene was fun (not that Hiyori couldn't be funny, it's just that she worked more as the aggravated voice of reason while Renge's big thing seems to be pratfalls).

And hey, I guess we hadn't seen the last of Sasword. That's cool.

I enjoyed that scene of Tsurugi and Renge, despite it (and this is a recurring thing with Tsurugi's integration with the core narrative) feeling a little tacked-on. For all the people that the show puts on a shelf when they aren't needed for the story (Misaki!), it's weird how every episode makes time for Tsurugi. I don't hate it or anything, Tsurugi is great, but it's weird how that guy gets a random scene every week.

Also, not to keep shitting on things I actually like, but Renge has such a bizarre character arc. She's introduced in a two-parter as Cheerful Bad-Ass, and then the very next story the show's like Nope She's An Adorable Klutz. I have to remind myself, every episode, that she was ZECT's cold-blooded assassin. It's fine to have a character get wackier as the series progresses (Tsurugi!), but with Renge, it's like she's got nothing of her original incarnation.

Welp, figuarts for starters. Then there was the SIC two-pack and recently the SHODOs. And circa 2006 sofubis if that tickles your fancy. That said I am happy you have embraced those little rascals whose diet mostly consists of instant noodles while wearing most likely stolen leather clothing. :lolol
As of episode 33 the rest of the story didn't matter as long as I had my Hell Brothers fix honestly. :lolol

The SHODOs, all I've been able to dig up is PunchHopper, and like: that ain't gonna cut it. He is the second-place member of a two-man team!

The Figuarts... I'd rather get the Seihous, and I can only find KickHopper. Even then, it's a damaged version, and I've said before that I need a minty version of Kamen Rider A Case Of The Mondays.

I don't really collect SIC stuff, so those are out.

And, like, I don't mind hunting around! This is a thing I didn't even know I needed until a week ago. I'm okay refreshing AmiAmi, Jungle, and Mandarake until something good pops up. Much like Yaguruma and Kageyama, I am okay living with disappointment.

Does this mean you will start dressing up in black vintage leather clothing and only eat instant noodles while having a nihilistic attitude until you start reviewing Den-O? :lolol

I think I've been living a synthesized version of Yaguruma's and Renge's personalities for most of my adult life: a cheerful attitude about how everything I do is garbage. It's worked so far!*

*: arguable!

It's a nice moment on a couple levels, for sure. I feel like, and keep in mind this is me reading into it quite a bit, but I feel like Tendou saying he could go for a bite is basically him doing a sort of warm up for admitting vulnerability to Kagami. Like he needs to make sure he get at least that much out without puking before he's ready to do the rest of that conversation. I don't think Tendou ever really voices thoughts like that unless he's being sarcastic, or trying to get people he doesn't like out of his hair. (Often both at once.) It comes off to me like Tendou is trying to admit he's scared and wants help like a normal person, but the best he can do is "I'm hungry." I honestly still think that's a pretty big step for him, though!

Plus it's just great because the script somehow managed to naturally land the episode right back at food, which is about as Kabuto as you can get.

I think my personal favorite part happens right before the screaming – the simple visual of Kabuto flopping onto the ground. It happens so abruptly, with him gently tipping over out of nowhere until he falls over completely, and combined with the unnerving sound in the background that gradually escalates in intensity, it really sets you up to believe that something very, very bad is about to go down. There's a wonderful build up to the screaming that makes it so much frightening. Everything is normal, and then suddenly it's very quiet, and then suddenly it isn't quiet anymore.

Oh, and speaking of their physicality, I need to mention this before I keep forgetting to work it into one of my posts about the episodes themselves: the series actually specifically differentiated Yaguruma and Kageyama as TheBee by basing the former's fighting style around kicks, while Kageyama was very blatantly a boxer. I don't know if that was done with the specific knowledge that KickHopper and PunchHopper were going to be a thing, or just a stroke of good luck they got to use, but it's a neat thing to go back and notice.

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 37

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto37a.png

God, what a weird episode. I honestly don't know if I liked it or not? There're some incredibly funny moments, alongside some tense and dramatic ones, but this thing did not cohere for me at all. It's doing a bunch of little things that I love while adding up to a whole that I was lukewarm to at best.

I'm definitely in favor of a story where all of Team Kabuto goes undercover at a middle school, though. (And, like, Asumu's school from Hibiki, even! Very definitely in favor of that!) It's a chance to see these heroes interact with a group of kids, and that's pretty much always a winner for a Kamen Rider story. It's way more of a Kabuto flavor to have the kids be teenagers who are largely ambivalent about the frequent disappearances of their classmates under possibly supernatural causes.

I mean, it's not unique to Kabuto to have the kids in crisis be teens. Fourze made their bones on teens in trouble, and, yeah, Hibiki had its share of problematic adolescents. But the usual approach is for a pre-adolescent, someone who is just learning about how dangerous or unkind the world can be. (Gon, for example.) Here, we've got kids who are already halfway to being hollowed out, making them impervious to the normal pep-talk a Kamen Rider might give. But, Tendou... yeah, he's not going to give you a big speech to make you feel better.

He'll feed you, though, and that was my favorite part of this episode. In all of the time-shifting shenanigans of the last dozen or so episodes, I really liked that the most tangible stakes in this episode were centered on some teenage girl who feels like she's not succeeding enough academically. There's a thing about haunted mirrors and urban legends, but the episode seems to barely give a shit about it. (Or I'm just too aware of how much this seems like a Ryuki plot to invest much in the mystery. It's possible! I ain't too objective sometimes! Them naming the girl in this one 'Kobayashi' seems like they're hanging a lantern on it, though.) Where the drama comes alive is in how much Keiko feels pressured to achieve, and how much she feels like she's weak for being less than perfect. Having Tendou be there for her by giving her a snack so she can study better... yes. It's this incredibly small thing that feels like the most heroic act in an episode full of monster detonations. It's all about Tendou seeing someone working hard to improve themselves, and him giving her the support he thinks she needs. Not with a speech or a vow, but with some noodles in bread that redefine deliciousness. It's fully Kabuto, just like Keiko's story.

That idea of feeling crushed by envy and self-loathing when you can't be as great as someone else, that's the core conflict of Kabuto. Nearly every hero on the show has needed to make peace with their limitations, or stop measuring themselves against others, or know when to stop pushing themselves, and so on. Usually, we get it with grown adults (and Tsurugi), but it can work just as cleanly in a younger setting. Doing, like, Lil' Kabuto Themes for an episode or two, that's pretty smart. When the episode gets out of its own way and lets Tendou try to connect with this girl by saving her a yakisoba bun, that's when I'm fully engaged.

It's just, those moments are so buried in monster stuff and exposition that they're... you have to dig for them a bit. That thing with Tendou offering food to help a young girl, that's maybe twenty seconds long. It's great, but there's not nearly enough of it.

And I almost hate saying this, but maybe the episode could've turned down some of the humor? I laughed hard at what's here, but the tone of every weird Tsurugi thing, or Kagami thing, or Renge thing, they're fighting against this episode creating a legible sense of threat, or menace. This is an episode with haunting disappearances and hopeless teenagers that also includes Tendou opening a bread shop on a roof and Tsurugi attending a middle school. You can't... I think this episode needed to pick whether it wanted to be a slapstick farce or an emotional character study, but it opted not to choose. Instead, you get these warring tones, and it keeps this episode from really achieving anything.

Like, Keiko's story is really affecting! That kid has so much power in a small, soulful performance! But it feels like a dramatic subplot in a comedy episode, instead of what should be a dramatic episode with comedy cutaways. The balance of this thing is way out of whack, and it left me really frustrated by the end. Moments are strong, but they never feel like they're working together to tell a worthwhile story.

A QUESTION

It's an uneven episode with a lot of great gags, and none were better to me than Tsurugi getting Jiiya to do his math problem. Tsurugi's logic that, by employing and commanding Jiiya, he could claim Jiiya's skills as his own, was priceless. The clarity of purpose for Tsurugi, in him getting people to do his work for him, was adorable. Jiiya was also surprisingly good at math, for a valet? Not a skill I'd've expected him to trot out. In which grade school class could you have most used Jiiya's help?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto37b.png

Yeah, this one was definitely weird. I liked it, but it feels really out of place. The show just went in hard on its lore in the last few episodes with the Natives, the Red Shoe System, and some big reveals about Hiyori. And the follow up is something that feels like a complete throwaway Monster of the Fortnight story. There are some attempts at nodding to the larger story, but it feels like a major halt in the show's momentum. Even the first appearance of Hyper Kabuto's sword doesn't feel like a big event since it just appears out of nowhere with no explanation, Kiva style.

It is really fun, though. In some ways it feels very Showa with the whole school haunted by monsters and the Riders investigating it. There are some really nice shots that help build the horror element, including that great bit at the beginning with the baseball team. Keiko's a really engaging guest character, too, and I like how the show develops her character.

It's a really funny episode, too. Tsurugi's presence is incredibly forced and nonsensical, even by his own standards, but goddamn if he doesn't continue to be hilarious. I'm not sure what part I liked the most: the running gag of Jiiya getting dragged out of the classroom, the absurd response to the math question, or Tsurugi's delightful misinterpretation of his punishment as some kind of reward. So many good comedic bits in this one.

So, small piece of trivia I discovered when looking up the cast for this episode: Keiko's actress also appeared on Fourze as one of its teens in trouble, too. She was the photographer who didn't want to graduate because she liked high school so much.

No joke, I legitimately LOVED how Hyper Kabuto's sword shows up. The Worm Widowettes are mocking Kabuto for needing Hyper Clock Up to win fights, so Kabuto's just like Eff You Here's A Sword From The Sun Now What Are You Gonna Say. It's like he uses his new toyetic weapon as a comeback to shut up some heckling adversaries, and I love that? That feels like an intensely Tendou move.

One of the small choices the episode makes is to not dwell on Tsurugi's crush/obsession with Misaki during the school scenes, and I am incredibly grateful for that. That part of Tsurugi's character was the most (only?) cringe-inducing part, so I'm totally okay with the show letting it stay relatively unaddressed in the future. Him being all flirty for one second and her shutting him down with a look, and that only happening every six episodes, that's my limit.

Otherwise, yeah, A+ episode for Tsurugi insanity. You will hate me for saying this, but it reminded me a ton of the first appearance of Kiriya on Hibiki, and that made me happy.

I won’t have much to say about this storyline until you get to the concluding part.

And like Switchblade said, Keiko’s actress, Kasumi Suzuki, did go on to appear as the Coma Zodiarts in Fourze (the one where, if you ask me, they weren’t even trying to make their identity a mystery). But prior to that, she portrayed the villainess Rije in “that claw-footed Sentai you can’t remember the name of”.

https://i.imgur.com/fa7Rcqq.png

I vividly remember this fence.

Like, I don't know how true this is for other people, but the weirdest things get lodged in my long-term memory sometimes. Little associations that become inextricably linked with some feeling or event. I have a special fondness for the Liar Dopant episodes of Double because I can still smell the pleasant summer breeze coming in through the window I had open when I was originally watching them. That sort of thing – where you're not even sure what you remember happened that way (was it even those episodes?), but you remember it all the same.

The thing I associate this fence with is how entirely checked out I was on Kabuto in its later stages. I think I let these two episodes dominate a lot of my memory of the show in the long run, which is hopefully a huge mistake on my part, because this specific episode honestly was exactly how I remembered it, and that's not exactly a good thing.

First off, I mean, it was honestly sort of validating to find out how important that fence is. That school rooftop setting sees a ton of use in this first part alone, and since these are Nagaishi episodes, you'd better believe he's in love with prominently displaying that fence to stress it as the unique defining feature of that location. The other positive thing I remember about this episode is Tsurugi being the only character I even remotely care about, and that held just as true. He is beyond cute, and his puppy-like enthusiasm is impossible not to respond to in kind. This episode bores me, by and large, but not when he's on-screen. Never when he's on-screen.

Beyond that, though, there's a very generic, pretty low-stakes monster mystery plot that, honestly, I don't hate as a concept. As a huge fan of both Ghost and Wizard, I'm actually quite into the idea of a Rider show that can still make the time to do some fun weekly adventure stuff late into the run. It's nice to have some room to breathe, at least occasionally. One of my favorite bits in here is even just the classic Tendou/Juka scene at the start; a comforting return to the status quo after Kageyama and Renge were tearing that house up earlier. But like Die says, the emotional substance here is a little sparse, and as I'm about to say, everything surrounding it is full of things I remember not liking about this stretch of Kabuto.

I mean, while I don't want to bang on about this forever (I mean, I definitely do, but that's not the point), I definitely would've been way more invested in whatever weird filler plot the show wants to do if it involved Hiyori. But it obviously can't do that right now, and her absence is one of those things that symbolizes how Kabuto has sort of entered a new era by this point, with many things starting to fall by the wayside. The old guard of supporting Riders are largely downplayed in favor of the Hoppers, characters I've established don't rub me the right way, which is why I cling so much to Tsurugi's continued presence. On a pure mechanical level, as well, their lack of Masked Forms is a sign of how the series has stopped caring about one of its defining features – Clock Up. There's a bit in the middle were Kabuto and Gatack ride in on their bikes, already in Rider Form, and the monster gets away by running fast.

It takes a lot to make me not happy to see bike action, but that'll do it. It's a scene that belongs in Blade more than it does Kabuto, and Tendou taking a dare not to even use Hyper Form's entire defining feature at the end rubbed some serious salt in that wound. I do not like the Perfect Zecter, or its introduction. It's a less clever rehash of how Tendou got the Hyper Zecter, and it feels more like a parody of him as a result. I feel like people who hate Tendou probably think scenes like this are how he was always written, when the show often handles him with so much more grace than summoning a sword from the sky to show off.

While there's a second half to this story left, this episode, at the end of the day, didn't do anything to convince me I was exaggerating its flaws in retrospect. It's not a total misfire, don't get me wrong; I wasn't sitting there waiting for it to be over, and it has its fun moments, but on this rewatch, I've repeatedly been surprised by how much better Kabuto holds up than I thought it would, and that wasn't the case here.

Oof, didn't realize that the HBV discussion also involves ep. 36...

Of course, yeah it's good to display disagreements to show that bonds can't be easily broken, that you should accept and tolerate the other's differences, but especially when it's done to check out someone's wrongness, which I'd disapprove if a friendship between certain person if they give free pass towards their missteps (but it still depends heavily, like if this is intentional in-universe due to the character being morally ambiguous), especially if the story pulls a protagonist centered morality; expecting you to do the same because they're protagonists. Though as this involves Tendou means this would lead into frenemy interactions (again not complaining), but I'd like to not make every disagreements lead to heated arguments. Every show probably yeah had one of the protagonists going bad, though it depends on the morality of those getting inflicted by this. Traditional heroes like Kenzaki in Blade or Emu in Ex-Aid would go for the possessed part (Genius Gamer M), because he should not perform those acts willingly, while anti-heroes like Makoto in early Ghost or Tendou here would have smaller qualms of getting their hands dirty to get the job done, but it's not always like that.

Also here, Tendou shows defiance to Mishima directly, controlling ZECT members in Misaki and Renge, and talk about how organization doesn't matter to him. Mishima sees Tendou highly, considering him first-rate human, so probably his response to him afterwards isn't like what he did to Kagami, Misaki, Kageyama, Renge, etc?

Ego-filled person is the one that wouldn't apologize, so obviously that would be weird for Kagami, to them, apologizing means you're lowering your level beneath those people. Though then..if Kabuto got a Perfect Zecter (the sword for Hyper Form) in ep. 37, then... stealing Zecter is really meaningful towards that, and this could negate his apology. But well, Hiyori is also a Native, so the argument applied to her here would be similar to Daigo. Also, Tsurugi intentionally attacked Daigo, with his complete vendetta to Worms, after declaring him as a friend due to him being Kagami's "friend"! (now, time to repair his relationship with Tendou then?? Considering he's the older brother of the girl who gave him takoyaki, and someone Kagami consider a friend). And regarding Zecters and Natives, this is also uncovered yet. Though it seems that, from what I catch at first, hearing the name Souji Kusakabe triggers Tendou and sets him berserk, before the Zecter explanation.

Also, for the info Tachikawa gives in this episode, that is the answer of why Tendou's parents are already on Earth before the meteorite. The Worm that impersonated Kusakabe parents are Natives too. Otherwise Tachikawa is the good monster for this series, like Shima of Blade or Cubi of Ghost, he had peaceful nature, uses his power only to defend the ones around him. He works at a nursery school and loves playing with the kids. Daigo saw a mother and her child being threatened by Worm and changed to his Native form and attacked the other Worms, letting the mother and child escape. And he's the male that has to be protected by other people!

Don't really understand their purpose to attack Tendou and Kagami here. Otherwise, this is the unealthy relationship yeah, the kind that should be avoided, the kind of friends that drags you down (of course Kageyama would submit to that, being actually even worse than Yaguruma), and one of that reason can be that them being miserable, so they try to drag others down to their level. Their walk, especially Kageyama's sneer seems zombie-like to me lmao. Probably that actually fits their character here of being "dead inside" for their nihilistic perspection of life (hell, darkness, suffering, etc.)? Though if you praise their act here, I wonder how would you respond against real life edgelords (one of their characteristics is that they think they're great due to their bad traits or supporting them, and being "different"), especially that on Internet here, they're plenty.

Tsurugi is the only person who is able to stomach Renge's food. And that's a total opposite of what he's pampered with for his whole life, with luxurious foods, previously he was able to enjoy an ordinary food in takoyaki, but here, he was able to enjoy a food that is ineligible to eat, the totally opposite end of the food he tasted before. Renge's clumsy tendencies in daily life is a total opposite too of her fighting capabilities that is above most soldiers (the part where the heated lid hits Yumiko, that made me wince). The best preparation for potatoes to me would be the crispy and crunchy one.

The thing that bugged me about this particular generic monster plot, the more I thought about it, is how lazily it tries to integrate the cast into the premise? Everyone's funny, but this plan is terrible. It's literally just Everyone Stand Around And Wait For Something To Happen. There's no real momentum to the plot at all, and that means if you're not laughing at something, you're probably bored off of your ass. I'd normally expect Tendou to more forcefully confront a threat, or agitate a situation until an adversary shook to the top. (When he tries to find the Drunk Doctor Duplicate, he's trying all sorts of crazy tricks!) Here, he's just, like, stationing guards? Even his interactions with Keiko are minor, non-illuminative. There's a real sense of complacency in this plot, and that's not what I associate with Kabuto?

One of the fun things about fiction is getting to play around with ideas you find... less entertaining in real life. I would probably avoid Real Life KickHopper and PunchHopper as much as humanly possible. But I love stories about them!

Yup as Fish touched on this is around the point budget issues lead to the removal of clock up from the series for the most part (I legit can only think of a few more times it gets used after this 2 parter).

Speaking of the most recent episode I really dig it granted it’s more in hindsight as setup for the next one, but a particular highlight of this one os the out of nowhere appearance of the Perfect Zector to sell toys..... I mean to allow Tendou prove his bullies wrong.

Maybe Tendou always said he wouldn't join organizations for a reason? The old him would've busted into that school and solved their Worm problem by the end of the day, in the process coaching a brand new baseball team to the top and only committing four or five felonies in the process. But now he's been in ZECT for a while, and his response to a problem is to... call in subordinates to help out? It's not totally tracking, is all.

Although I guess this could just be a newer, more mellow Tendou, after being broken down so hard in the last story. Like, yeah, he could do something daring and exciting to intervene in this situation, but hey, why not make a fun day with his friends out of it? Just chill on a rooftop making people noodle bread, and take it easy. A Worm is getting away? Eh, you can always get 'em later. One tells you not to use Hyper Clock Up? Sure, you're open to suggestions right now!

...I'm mostly joking here, but on the other hand, I think this head-canon might legitimately make the story work better. You really hit the nail on the head here; it doesn't much feel like a Kabuto plot in terms of structure.

I think the (unintentional?) subtext of that scene, If The Other Kids Are Laughing At You Just Go Buy A New Toy And They'll Shut Up, is both slightly tacky and incredibly funny.

I'll also accept Tendou Is Stretched Too Thin as a possible motivation for him half-assing this one. Dude's got a restaurant to run, a sibling to rescue, a militarized organization of nebulous authority to undermine, a superhero transformation that's maybe a little genocidal... and now he's also got to solve some disappearances at Juka's school?! If he could trust any of these people to handle anything important (like saving Hiyori, or working at La Salle), he'd do that. He can't, so they all get deployed to the school.

Also, I think he just wants to run restaurants as often as he can, and he's using this whole investigation as a smokescreen to get ZECT to fund his yakisoba stand.

Perfect Zecter is my favorite Final Form weapon and makes Armed Saber look like a toy by comparison! Its compatibility with the Kabuto, The Bee, Drake and Sasword Zecters gives it so much functionality and you've only seen a fraction of its power. Hyper Kabuto can do some really OP stuff with this.

Maybe it would be easier to remember the name of the claw-footed Sentai if we say it 5 times?

Aba-Aba-Aba-Aba-Abaranger!

I experience that as well, where a specific scene can trigger memories of watching it for the first time. In fact, any of the five senses can trigger those memories. Food is more than the flavors that compose it as they can hold sentimental value depending on the person eating it, like Gon for example with strawberry milk.