I need you to edit that post to include seven reasons why not, including one from Kabuto and one that quotes me directly, thank you.

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 09

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto09a.png

So, this was more what I was hoping for.

For one, it's a hilarious episode. Shooting to the top of my mental list of Favorite Kabuto Gags has to be Juka and Hiyori racing to the hospital to see how badly wounded Tendou is, only for him to be examining the doctor, diagnosing her ailments. (Her awestruck swooning, with a lean-in for a closed-eyed kiss? Perfection.) it's just the most ridiculous gag, taking all of the previous drama and tension and cashing it in for a punchline, and that's the smartest trade a show can make. Because that move, it's a surprise. It's taking the huge stakes of the Tendou/Yaguruma feud and going Why Did You Think Tendou Was Ever In Any Danger You Dummy. It's an episode that lets Tendou be more of a bemused observer, so the story can drill further into Yaguruma and, a little surprisingly, Kagami.

I mean, it shouldn't be a surprise, really. Kagami is one of the stars of the show, and certainly the best non-Hiyori character we've got. (Quick shout-out to Hiyori's reaction to Juka's compliments, where Hiyori bad-mouths her own art, as the most Every Artist I've Ever Met reaction.) I just wasn't expecting the show to pivot so well towards Kagami's conflict.

Kagami's really caught in this one. He respects and admires Yaguruma. Yaguruma's a good leader, a kind man, and self-made. (Tendou is... maybe one of those things on a good day. I'm also pretty sure he's a Worm, but we'll put a pin in that for now.) The problem for Kagami is that Yaguruma is also inflexible, and maybe a hypocrite. Kagami's witnessed Yaguruma in the throes of his own battered ego, and the ugliness of that has him questioning the intelligence of throwing in with Shadow. If Tendou is willing to risk himself to save Kagami, while Yaguruma is willing to sacrifice an ally to achieve victory... I mean, what has he pitched in with?

The short answer is that he's hitched his wagon to Frank Grimes.

One of the best Simpsons episodes, easy, and one that I couldn't stop thinking about after the last episode of Kabuto. Yaguruma is trying so hard to be a success, but when he sees the way reality seems to warp itself to Tendou's desires, he starts losing his mind. Yaguruma says he's dedicated to his mission, dedicated to his men, dedicated to defeating the Worm. But watching Tendou win, constantly, effortlessly, it's all he can think about. He can't focus on anything other than defeating Tendou, and it destroys him.

(It actually made me think of a different Simpsons thing, as well. It's from the episode where the power plant employees need to climb a snowy mountain for a team-building exercise. Lenny and Carl end up making it to the finish line, and when Lenny dedicates their victory to teamwork, Carl goes, "Yeah, my teamwork.” I feel like that's also Yaguruma? I feel like he's a guy that's all about team victories, as long as he's the leader of that team. I think he's the sort of leader that plays at We're All Pulling In The Same Direction, but requires the sort of sycophancy that his team provides. He's kidding himself, basically.)

But that destruction of Yaguruma leads to growth from Kagami. He's friends with Tendou, he'll protect Tendou... but he can't relate to Tendou, and Tendou doesn't seem able to relate to him. They both regard the other as some alien lifeform (possibly with cause!), and while there's some trust and affection there, it's not about shared experiences.

For Kagami, his shared experience... it's not even with Yaguruma, who he's been idolizing this whole story. It's with Kageyama, the injured fanboy from Shadow. He's been that kid, desperately trying to contribute, to prove himself. He's been a grunt. Guys like that, he gets them, supports them, fears for them. When he shows back up, after Tendou teases him for being a Working Man in a world of monsters and superheroes, he's not doing it to impress Yaguruma. He's not doing it for fame, or for vengeance. He's doing it because maybe he can help, can keep his team safe. It's something that Yaguruma preaches, but doesn't live. Kagami wants to keep people safe, and will risk his life to do it.

Maybe that's why he deserves to be a Kamen Rider?

A QUESTION

I just... I cannot stop laughing at that scene with Tendou diagnosing the doctor as she falls in love with him. Just such a perfect comedic scene. (That look on Kagami's face right before, where you think he's grieving but he's just so pissed at Tendou!) It continues on with Tendou teasing Kagami, Juka asking Tendou to please stop teasing Kagami, and then everyone trying to figure out what curry to make. I thought this was going to be for a redo of their party, but it turned out it was another Big Tendou Moment, him providing food for everyone in the hospital.

So, if it had been for a curry party with those four, would you want to attend? I mean, you've got Tendou (not a guy who always is the best in social situations), Kagami (and his Very Strong Feelings, which can be a lot to deal with), Juka (who is only good at talking about food and Tendou), and Hiyori (which, I love her, but: a party with Hiyori). That doesn't feel like a blast to attend, but what do you think?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto09b.png

More good die content. I feel like someone like Tendou would infuriate me. Mostly cause he makes everything look easy, and from my readings of this thread doesn’t accept failure or appreciate effort. I as a person try very hard but can’t always succeed. I’m also very predictable. I don’t know why I’m writing this but it feels relevant here.

Have any of you all heard of “Main Character/Protagonist Syndrome?” I don’t think it’s an official psychosis or anything but I think it seems important here. Basically it’s the a form of narcissism where a person believes everything that happens happens for them, as an arc or obstacle. I feel like Yaguruma and Tendou suffer from it. Yagurumu isn’t able to back it up though, but Tendou is. This frustrates Yagurumu to no end.

Also Yagurumu surrounds himself with “supporting characters” he thinks they’re important, but only in what they offer him. This contrasts Tendou who isolates himself maybe even intentionally.

Kagami on the other hand is just like a dude and he knows that. In knowing that though that leads to him being the most heroic of the 3. Kagami sees people as his equal and doesn’t fight because he thinks it’s destiny or that he’s better, but because he believes that people’s lives have value.

Or something like that, I still need to watch the show tbh.

I mean, that's a pretty good read on the dynamics at play! You must be a very intuitive person, because I can't be explaining this show well enough for you to be getting all of that. (High-five, Hiyori.)

Yeah, a lot of what makes Kagami special is that he's not special. He's, y'know, pretty good at what he does, but he's not the smartest or the strongest or the richest or the fastest or the etc etc etc. (He's the most forgetful, but that's not been shown to be an advantage thus far.) He's just some guy, and he's trying his best. Like you said, he's not someone who thinks this story is about him, so he's more easily able to consider others. It's not about achieving his own victory, it's about ensuring others' survival. That gives him the motivation to be the bravest character, which is something that shines through in this episode.

Now that you mention it, without spoiling anything, the Frank Grimes/Yaguruma comparison works extremely well.

Don’t worry though, this isn’t the end of mr. Kanzen Chowa. How else do you think his actor was able to make all those reappearances I told you about?

Nah, when I said about the morally ambiguous good guys journey such as those Kamen Rider had usually in secondary Riders as them becoming better person, it's not necessarily about the characters themselves re-examining what they've done. It can also be done by the story to reveal to the audience about those characters' hidden depths (where those characters themselves already know or working towards it too sometimes); how they're like deep down, that they aren't as horrible as they're painted out at first. Same as what I talked about character development, probably those that seemingly made to change audience perception isn't necessarily about modulation of writing? Hidden depths are common storytelling, it can be discovered in backstory or organically as a story progresses.

I think I get a lesson through this one; that mean and strict ways don't always work if you want to get something out of someone. People believe that successful leader, or training, or organization, etc. can only succeed if they're built in strictness, meanness, harshness, etc. But probably Misaki's way of dealing with Tendou shows that this is not the case, though in that place, normally the interrogator will just be constantly angry at the suspect at all times; and with the Zectroopers standing besides them is the usual way of even more threatening "speak or we'll shoot you". And I get it, like, for example, Tendou wants to call Juka, I think that can be used as a leverage to make Tendou speak (dunno about how it'll succeed though, or your reaction if it failed), that if Tendou gives the intormation ZECT needs, he'll be allowed to speak with Juka.

Clashes between Riders seems to be the norm for shows featuring more than a few Riders, but that doesn't mean those Riders are guaranteed antagonist like Yaguruma here. If you think that Tendou is distorted, it seems that he's so used to be the best and he recently found himself challenged, at least in cooking contest that he's "beaten", as the story isn't Yaguruma Is Great Forever... but Tendou Is Great Forever (and he has the narcissism to know this, he outright had god complex; and the likely pettiness here when someone challenges that).

I don't know if you take the Tendou hurting Kageyama part as him being distorted, but that just reinforces how Tendou's another one of anti-hero main protagonist (which is reserved for secondary Riders usually), he performs what Rider main characters do by saving others and killing Worms, which means heroic actions, but he has several unheroic unheroic qualities like him doing that to fuel his ego as the chosen one, and for here, he shows little compassion for someone he hospitalized and brags that he'll retaliate like that when someone defies him. Which is why I think character's morality depends more on what they do/or will do to people less related to them, like civilians or strangers (taking care of them for good guys, and preying them for bad guys). Caring about friends and/or family like Tendou does for Juka and Hiyori won't necessarily cut it.

Kagami seems to respect Yaguruma a lot, though he rightfully criticizes Tendou's behavior of hospitalizing someone. And he now reinforces ZECT's policy about only one of them can be a Rider, and becomes increasingly more frustrated that he at first does it out of Tendou's concern, but later he outright think of him as unworthy. And one of Tendou's main characteristics is how unflappable he is, nothing fazes him, so he wouldn't think much about Kagami's strong feelings.

For this one though, nothing against it obviously, I'd like to know more about how Hiyori prefering Yaguruma's dish as it's a hot food is a beautiful touch. Otherwise this show is about perfection... Tendou's perfection of having no flaws.

The tofu material is something that I commonly see in some other medias that enforces duels decide everything mindset, especially for medias that are merchandise-based. And those kind of medias are like to be made fun of other people (I don't think this is a good thing, you do say something like making fun of something you like, but I feel that what happened to those medias are more derogatory), that something trivial like cooking, or playing board games, etc. are treated as life-or-death like fighting. And yeah as you said... you think Yaguruma is distorting Tendou? Totally other way around, Yaguruma's cool facade crumbles here, and it's not gonna stop there, and while Fish thinks that Tendou doesn't know for ep. 3, this is a show of Tendou's uncanny ability to detect Worms. Tendou's zen-like phrases fit so well for his job here as a priest. The sunset is also a fodder for more Tendou's zen phrases. A̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶e̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶K̶u̶s̶a̶k̶a̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶H̶i̶y̶o̶r̶i̶!̶ ̶F̶u̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶H̶i̶y̶o̶r̶i̶ ̶K̶u̶s̶a̶k̶a̶b̶e̶.̶

Yeah, his story didn't seem nearly over. Dude got broken by living in Tendou's story, but there's more that you can do with him once that happens.

I just liked that it was a subtle (and funny) way of pointing out that perfection isn't always/ever an objective thing: people bring their biases into the judgments, and oftentimes make decisions that only work for them. Hiyori was asked to judge between two dishes, but since she prefers hot foods over cold, she picked Yaguruma's. It's not that Yaguruma's was the best, or that it was even better than Tendou's, but it was the type she enjoyed better.

Also, it highlights a problem with Yaguruma, where he takes praise too seriously. Tendou isn't crushed by Hiyori's choice, because he understands how subjective it is. (Also, he instantly thinks of her opinion as Wrong, and therefore mostly disregards it.) But a guy like Yaguruma needs that random praise, even as he tries to be above it all.

I don't know, it was a funny joke that was delivered in-character, but it got at a lot of stuff from this storyline.

While this is a pure gag to you, it probably repluses me a bit as the doctor is probably someone way older (I know, that's probably the point). And of course, Tendou will never be in danger, he's invincible. Though admittedly when I watched this part it caught me off guard, because it's something still new established in story; like how will Tendou react in actual danger (faking death). A lesson to Kagami to not underestimate Tendou if you're really concerned with him, like Juka!

Kagami is the one you'll get for the main character-esque development, as Tendou is clearly perfect. Though there's another of Kagami blunder here, like you said before of making things worse, with Kagami distracting Tendou in his fight with Yaguruma. Now, between Kagami and Hiyori, now something more is going to unravel with Hiyori seeing someone with a belt in the past, that Kagami desperately wants to keep away. As an artist myself, my reaction contrasts with Hiyori's... it's probably one of few things that I can pride myself like Tendou did. Obviously Tendou will never be in actual danger, but him being in actual healthy condition could've devastated Hiyori further (it seems like a hope spot for her with Tendou not participating for legitimate reasons). And again a relief for Juka to call out Tendou for being inconsiderate to Kagami's worries. Seen several times where familial love leads to the family justifying their family member even if they're in the wrong and forces others to tolerate them.

Yeah, the actual thing that happened was that Tendou distorted Yaguruma. Because Yaguruma has corrupted himself and became obsessed in defeating Tendou, to the point that he's likely even worse than Tendou himself where Tendou, someone who shows little empathy when he went overboard in self-defense, calls out Yaguruma for jeopardizing his whole team for his selfish and self-righteous motivation. For what you said, where Yaguruma seems kind and good leader from the outside, it's all done for "Perfect Harmony", he's actually just a perfectionist, like others said, for teamwork in contrast to Tendou's independence. I think it's not about how he wants to be above others with his teammates only as his team victories, but he does seem to be biased only for his existing teammates, like his colder reaction to Kagami wanting to work with him before.

I don't know if you would expect Kagami to become a Kamen Rider. At this episode he becomes TheBee, but it lies more than that for this series. And one thing I learned from Kagami's fight before he transforms was that... The melee weapon for ZECT is significantly more effective than the ranged one with bullets!! I'd think something Kagami should give a tip to others was that they should try switching their guns to melee mode to try fighting Worms better!

Honestly probably no, I'd not be able to stand Tendou. I've dealt with that kind of guy for example, in one of extracurricular activity. I'd not have problem if others won't antagonize me, and that's aimed to someone like Hiyori (while can be even more blunt, she likely mostly does that in retaliation, not starting it first).

Well, probably you are those that try hard but not always work, but I've seen several ones in real life that doesn't need to put in much effort to succeed as well in my surroundings...

Kagami is obviously the most heroic of the 3. The other ones are anti-heroes with the flaws they suffer from (Kagami has flaws too, but less about toxic flaws).

I mean, she's not? I don't think there's anything in this scene worth being repulsed by, and I wouldn't say that's what the show is intending. At the risk of ruining a joke by taking it apart, the point seems to be that a professional who should be treating Tendou in a clinical, detached manner is, instead, looking to him for answers and falling for his charms. Like, the age of the doctor isn't really part of the joke? Just that she's a doctor?

That's great! It can be tough for artists to see beyond the ways their art didn't match their designs, so it's awesome that you're able to feel pride in it. Keep it up!

Please do the descriptive version of thumbnail sketches of characters forever. It has been a v dull day full of rain and this made me laugh out loud, mostly because I feel quite strongly that all of it is accurate. Except possibly Yaguruma being a kind person, what with his need for regular external affirmations of his self-worth. I have a lot of sympathy for his running up against Tendo and his Protagonist Syndrome, because it seems very frustrating to keep bouncing off of plot armor, but less for him after watching him fall apart at the seams. Fun to watch, definitely, but I think less fun to interact with.

tl;dr - I think I would avoid any sort of social gathering with these four people like the metaphorical plague. It hasn't gone well so far, no reason to think that would change now, lol