Yeah, I know what you mean -- a LOT of Rider shows since W have used this "pre-new year, pre-two week break" to do something dramatic, do something arc-ending. Aside from debuting a new rider or upgrade (as seen in both of these) there's also usually something narrative -- look at Saber having the Swordsmen turn against Touma, or Build having the last episode before the Rider War (which also has Banjou inform a lot of Sento's character after a big fall), or Gaim having Kouta and Kaito escape from Yggdrasil. It's quite the trope and one I'm surprised I never see brought up!

Still one of the most daring introductions to a secondary Rider out there. I mean, you have got to have some serious confidence in the story you're telling to just completely throw the viewers for a loop that way. You literally can't guess who Birth is going to be, because Date just pops into existence out of nowhere here. It's awesome!

So, in order:

- You'd better believe I was anticipating this.

- You don't need to worry about hurting my feelings when you're over there in Die's Kabuto thread comparing us to two of the most notable and talented directors in the history of film. (seriously holy s*** that was a nice thing to wake up to on the first day of 2021 thank you)

- This episode of Ghost is THE BEST. I think you covered it pretty well; I mean, I know from experience how hard it is to go into it without just saying "watch it and pay attention to everyone's facial expressions". It took until right as the series finished its run for me to truly realize Ghost was a new favorite for me, but this particular episode, I remember just flooring me right at the time with how unlike the average episode of Kamen Rider so much of it felt it terms of tone, and how it expresses its themes. It's hugely unfortunate how often it gets dismissed the way it does. I can't think of anything that shows the writers (and this was a Fukuda episode, by the way) knew what they were doing any more than the simple fact that the thing that saves Takeru's life is the undying love of his father.

I've personally been calling them "season finales" for years now, so it's definitely something I've always recognized. I think it actually started with OOO, too, funnily enough! Double was when the whole schedule change happened with Decade running shorter than normal, and in its particular case, they just made you wait two weeks to see the back half of FangJoker's debut, which is insanely cruel. From OOO onward, though, it's usually a pretty straightforward climax to cap off an arc. Or, if you're really cool, like Wizard is, you just save Christmas in a fun, relatively low-stakes standalone adventure. :p

I was in a nostalgic mood and watched a bunch of random rider episodes that had major form debuts. When it comes specifically to title rider final power-ups, I was sure for a long time that my favourite goes to Blade thanks to his mother-of-all-hype moments where he punches King's lights out, and is then rewarded with the effort with his shiny new King Form.

But I actually think I love W's the most. Shotaro and Phillip's uncertainty about their partnership concluding with them riding together to Nobody's Perfect and then transforming on their bridge is like, beyond iconic, and that it leads to CycloneJokerXtreme, them being more united than ever before, is just supremely ace...

The final form that had the best debut fight though, easily goes to Zero Two in my eyes, and it's top notch from a narrative sense as a bonus too!

I'm watching Ryuki and Kiva and I wish I wasn't, lol. I skipped both of these shows initially because, whilst both Inoue and Kobayashi have their moments, I'm not really a fan of their shows often, and, well, watching them in 2021 makes me realise why i didn't watch them in 2002 and 2008 respectively.

Aww, I have both shows high on my list, lol! :mad: I just generally tend to lean more towards the 2000s with Kamen Rider, although I suppose not every 2010s show was the same but I just tend to prefer the old darker and mostly pre-HD shows.

I think you'll be right at home with them in that case, and I do hope you enjoy them. When I was younger, I wouldn't have given them the time of day because I really only liked the Showa shows and the somewhat anomalous Hibiki, but now that I'm an old lady, I am a bit more forgiving, and I'm happy to accept that these shows aren't really made with me in mind, and it's fine them being what they are, regardless of how my definition of what a Kamen Rider is might be a little more rigid than the showrunners of works like Ryuki.

I like you.

Hahah, thank you! I wouldn't ever want to be down on someone else's favourite show or anything, and I appreciate things like nuance and moral ambiguity in characters, but, gosh, even though I'm an adult, I just really like it when Kamen Riders are people you look up to, people with a strong moral code who keep getting up no matter how many times they're defeated.

Ah~! *sighs and looks out of the window*

Double's really nails it! I think I called it something along the lines of "a gold standard, much like the show as a whole" back when I did my rewatch in here, and I only respect it more and more with time. It's just super natural and smooth in everything it does, and in the process of exploring that relationship at the core of the series, it touches nicely on something I'd consider to really be the heart of most tokusatsu heroes, which is, well... exactly that. Heart. Just the idea that Shoutarou's earnest desire to protect the city he loves is a critical part of what makes them Kamen Rider.

https://i.imgur.com/hLOHzIwl.png
https://i.imgur.com/boVuLDll.png

It's stuff like this that keeps Double such a definitive Rider show, even over a decade later.