Of course, nothing prevents from enjoying those (though some audience do get annoyed by them, enough for them), but for the least, if real life version of them is meant to be avoided here, admit the KickHopper and PunchHopper's characters as wrong, unhealthy, tryhard, etc. like what said there, and not rationalizing what they do for those that like them.

Also, "kagami" means mirror in Japanese (Ex-Aid's secondary Rider, which full name is Hiiro Kagami, is purposely given that surname to represent how different he is from Emu), so there's a bunch of that term thrown around in this episode, but not Arata Kagami, but about mirror. And apart from Keiko beating herself up for being less than perfect (uhh no, being last in the grade standings isn't only less than perfect, it's just terrible), she also berates the team for having losing streak, and actually rejoices their disappearence. That's upsettling, and that should give a clue about something messed up about Keiko. Juka being the leading part of the grades is expected as being tutored by Tendou.

So yeah, this is an example of where a humor is distracting, the usage of it being baffling. With Misaki acting as a teacher, like it or not, she has to be objective even if she deals with Tsurugi as a student. Renge's reaction to Kagami being in charge of her by looking down on him, that's expected of Kagami being bad luck magnet, but it also reminds me of some tough times (also Renge dismissing others just because of their stink). Tendou opening a bread shop, he's the one that didn't take a part of a school role, though other than his relationship with Keiko, I don't know what will it benefit for uncovering the mystery here.

Nothing. I prided getting high grades completely independent without any outside help.

Some of it is that Tendou's trying to overhear gossip, or get the kids to open up to him. Kagami, Renge, and Misaki are all doing the same thing in different roles.

Buuuuuuut some of it is also that Tendou just likes making food? Any chance he has to solve a problem by throwing food at it (not literally, his grandmother had a thing about that), he's going to take.

Wow! Congrats!

I think the question should be how would Alfred take care of Tsurugi and how would Jiiya take care of Bruce. :lolol

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 38

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto38a.png

There's a second half to this episode that's almost halfway decent! It's a shame you've got to get through the first half to see it, though...

The first half is hot garbage, excluding anything with Kagami and Renge. Worse than being dull and obvious (and it is both), it also retroactively renders the last episode completely irrelevant. The characters are doing all of this undercover work, and the main suspect is found by Tendou watching the guy act suspiciously twice. That's it! Skinny Jeans Poirot did not exactly have to get his brain in top gear for this one! All of the vague nonsense of last episode, the rumors and gossip and ghost stories, it never really amounts to anything major? It's all these extra bodies being thrown at a problem that never needed them, and it feels so... just, it does not feel like a ton of thought was put into this mystery.

And the motivation was a principal who wanted more success at his school? It doesn't matter! It is a motivation that feels inconsequential because the only name character in any jeopardy by the time we find out is Juka. Keiko's already dead by the time this episode starts, which is easily the stupidest decision in the story. There's this couple dozen body-count partnership with a Worm, but there's virtually no one important in jeopardy. The baseball player is no one, Keiko's not coming back... it takes half the story for Juka to be imperiled. The first part of this thing is just a mountain of nameless bodies, and it feels gross. It feels boring.

(Also, so, the Worm bumped off an entire afterschool club seven years ago, and then did nothing since last week? What the hell was it waiting for, Pluto to get demoted? Is this revenge against future astronomers? Is this all just a Fourze story after all? Also also, are you telling me this principal lost an entire afterschool club seven years ago and kept his job?! And he's got more kids missing since then? If this is what's going on in the neighborhood, I feel like Tendou needs to start homeschooling Juka immediately. The Worm attacks in his home are a lot less frequent!)

Luckily, there's this middle section that... I mean, it doesn't save this story, not even close. This is probably the worst non-movie Kabuto story I've watched. But! It finds a little room to spotlight Kagami's heroism, and that's almost enough for me.

It's not, like, some huge evolution to the character or anything. We don't really learn anything new about Kagami in 38. But it's similar to Tendou's gift of a yakisoba bun to Keiko in the last one, where it's the specificity of how they relate to children in need. For Tendou, it was with food. For Kagami, as he's on a bus with middle-schoolers who are about to be attacked by Worms, it's positivity and energy. The haunting singing of the Worm Choir is terrifying the kids on the bus, so Kagami just starts belting out their campfire song, loud and off-key, encouraging them to meet terror with confidence, because confidence will always win. It's Kagami passing along his worldview to these confused children, and giving them a distraction so he can go fight for them.

The absolute best part in this entire story is the smile on Kagami's face as he tells Renge he's going to go fight some ghosts. He's totally outnumbered, but he's got these kids' energy at his back, so he can face down any foe. It's so charming, so Emotion Over Logic... so Kagami, you know? It leads to the only real growth in this episode, where Renge now sees in Kagami what we've all seen in Kagami. He's not a joke, he's a hero. He's just a big dumb hero.

Other than that, not a lot that did it for me in this episode. The flash-forward to the solar eclipse was fine. The fact that Tsurugi was just randomly in the woods for the fight was fine. The PunchHopper and KickHopper stuff was fun, basically just for the idea that the only members of the cast who'd be happy fighting/detonating teenagers are these two. (Honestly, all of the stuff with Yaguruma and Kageyama felt too repetitive to me to really work that great. It's fine, it's never not funny, but it wasn't really saying anything new or different.) It was all fine in the second half, after the Kagami scene.

The first half, though! So bad! Not a good story! Probably one to avoid in the future!

A QUESTION

Simple one this time: Have you ever gone camping in the woods?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto38b.png

Yeah, this whole episode kinda felt like a waste of time outside of that one nice Kagami moment. The villain was, naturally, the guy who wasn't in the previous episode, there are massive holes in every scrap of logic available here, and the best guest character died between episodes (but at least they never bothered to have any reflection on that, so Keiko has that going for her, I guess). The only thing that we really got of any value was a nice promo for the new toy and a vague teaser about Hiyori. I usually don't like to be too down on filler episodes, but this one really does feel hollow and pointless.

At least we got to see Tsurugi just hanging out in the middle of the woods, though, like some kind of Kamen Riding Shia LaBeouf.

Yeah, this whole episode kinda felt like a waste of time outside of that one nice Kagami moment. The villain was, naturally, the guy who wasn't in the previous episode, there are massive holes in every scrap of logic available here, and the best guest character died between episodes (but at least they never bothered to have any reflection on that, so Keiko has that going for her, I guess). The only thing that we really got of any value was a nice promo for the new toy and a vague teaser about Hiyori. I usually don't like to be too down on filler episodes, but this one really does feel hollow and pointless.

At least we got to see Tsurugi just hanging out in the middle of the woods, though, like some kind of Kamen Riding Shia LaBeouf.

A couple times when I was young. My biggest memories being that the water in the creek we camped near being so clear you could see the bottom no problem, and one time during the night a bear actually rubbed up against our tent. Thankfully he wasn't aggressive and just walked by our site.

https://i.imgur.com/j1PZFVR.png

I desperately wish I could be the contrarian here and say these are secretly some great episodes of Kabuto, because there's only so much point in coming in here to dogpile on a story that was clearly never trying to do more than kill time, but the best I can do to disagree with Die is mention that I'd definitely rather watch God Speed Love than this.

To be fair, these episodes are a lot more fun than that movie is; simply having Tsurugi around helps loads on that front. All he's gotta do is roll up in the woods out of nowhere for one scene to spout a catchphrase and the episode will feel that much more worth it. Of course, with him only in that one scene, he can't do much to save this second part by himself. His best friend Kagami tries valiantly in his stead, as Die covered, but, uh, like he also said, this is not a good story.

There's a bit right at the end, after the Hyper Zecter gives Tendou a glimpse of Hiyori (seeing her name in the credits again was the high point of excitement for me here by the way), where he's reflecting on that a bit, and reaffirming his dedication to protect both his little sisters, and that was such an obvious potential core to this story it just didn't bother with, in favor of a half-baked horror mystery. If you're going to do a set of episodes about Juka's school being threatened by Worms and Tendou having to go there to watch over things, there was maybe a great opportunity there to highlight their relationship in some way. I get that Juka is such a one-dimensional character by nature it might still be tricky to do anything too interesting, but it could've been, at the very least, a way to emphasize that more protective, almost doting side of Tendou she brings out. Because that is the whole reason he's bothering to do this, but it's not a concept that goes anywhere, and that's kinda this one in a nutshell, unfortunately.

The same can be said of the focus on Kageyama, where he finds a glimmer of hope only to have it crushed by the end. It's super hard to pick out what the point the episodes are trying to make with it is. It's framing Kageyama a bit more sympathetically than usual, while also showcasing how much of a toxic influence Yaguruma clearly is, but to what end is that, when they both end up back where they were at the start?

I seriously hate that I'm even talking about the episode in this fashion. I try to avoid saying stuff like "this is what they should've done instead" when criticizing a story, because I think arguing that way is sort of in bad faith. I like to start from the position that there's some worthwhile goal it's trying to reach, and ask how it could better accomplish that, because I think that leads to a far more interesting and constructive critique. And that's what most bums me out about these ones – I simply can't see what they were going for. Does it want to be a genuine horror thriller? Then it either needs more consistent atmosphere in the direction, or a more exciting mystery. Is it shooting for a low-key, goofy ensemble piece for the cast? It could maybe stand to be more wild in its execution then. Is it legitimately just here to fill two weeks? Because if that's the case, then I can't call this two-parter a failure.

Again, it's not some utter dumpster fire, and I'd love to highlight what works, but beyond the stuff with Kagami that Die called attention to, I'm really struggling here. I didn't feel genuinely awful watching the episode, but I sure did writing about it.

I'd talk about this in some detail; this only shows to display how cruel and depraved the principal is. He's the type of humans are the real monsters in Kabuto, and it's based on the authorities who only care about pride and reputation for what they are in charge of (in this case school, and there are teachers whose priority is only their school's prestige) instead of the well-being of those under their care, and this, being a fantasy world, takes this to the logical (and depravity) extremes. The principal made a deal with Worms, knowing that the Worms are superior to the humans, to preserve the school's reputation as it's threatened by the losing streak, the principal accomplishes this by putting a "cursed mirror" where the Worms hide behind that he used to trick the students that it will accept their wishes (typically making a big achievement in school, and in turn, preserves the school's reputation).

But predictably, it's done by the Worms in the mirror killing and replacing that student who wished something, and live to carry that student's wish. What the Worms doing was waiting for the next student to make a wish, then kill and replace him/her. The missing kids are all unknowingly got replaced by the Worms who live just like the better versions of them (so there won't be anything wrong for the principal in public's eyes), as it's done to preserve the school's reputation after all. What you said about Tendou needs to start homeschooling Juka is valid, but as this is about the depravity of the principal, what Tendou did in this episode was also valid was well, him calling out the principal's cruelty, which the principal of course shifted the blame on the students for making the wish, and him being put under arrest by Misaki (so ZECT can act as a police too).

A̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶e̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶a̶i̶d̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶I̶n̶o̶u̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶s̶i̶d̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶T̶V̶ ̶s̶e̶r̶i̶e̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶p̶u̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶s̶h̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶d̶u̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶e̶a̶m̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶a̶i̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶g̶r̶o̶s̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶u̶f̶f̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶e̶r̶m̶ ̶"̶g̶r̶o̶s̶s̶"̶ ̶I̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶u̶t̶t̶e̶r̶l̶y̶ ̶u̶n̶e̶n̶j̶o̶y̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶,̶ ̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶t̶a̶l̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶e̶r̶m̶ ̶"̶g̶r̶o̶s̶s̶"̶ ̶l̶i̶t̶e̶r̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶s̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶s̶.̶

OK, I want to talk about this in relation to the above one (sorry if the English here is bad), both are about dealing with strangers "nameless bodies", but in complete contrast, this one's about helping and inspiring others, while above one is about disposing anyone for your own gain. So the strangers are more ok to be used as a stepping stone for someone's goodness like what Kagami did here, rather than the stepping stone for someone's evilness like the principal? As said before, I'd think what you do to someone less related to yourself (unlike family/friend) judges your morality more though, like Kageyama doing what he did to Gon is bad, but significantly less evil than what the principal is doing there. Also, what you said regarding above is that the only tiny saving grace was there's only 1 part in regular cast in jeopardy which is Juka, though I'm still not sure about this being the type of the cast having bad things randomly happened to them part (or if this happen for this one, the fault isn't on the cast but lies more on it not done by a main baddies to further their plot like Kageyama to Gon, instead a filler villain?).

The camping part too, Kagami makes an excellent point that camping is done to provide fun and joy for the participants, to refresh others, not to give others pressure like what Renge did by forcing the participants to work hard (no resting/gossiping/etc.) and focused on completing the task under a set time. Renge claims that this comes from her training, which, with her ZECT background, probably comes from something like boot camp, where that one isn't done for fun, but to toughen the soldiers, but she has to realize here, a life outside military, camping isn't only used as a means for training like soldiers do, a varying purpose of why a activity is run, on different fields even if that's the same kind of activity.

I think, there's something a bit new in the Hopper brothers. This story had Kageyama... helped Keiko a bit (probably unconsciously) from monsters? Which had Keiko looked up to him a bit, by calling him "brother", which makes Yaguruma jealous. Which is a bit contradictory with how Yaguruma previously asked Kageyama not to seek the light, which equals to fighting off monsters, while later, Yaguruma is jealous of Kageyama inspiring others a bit and them looking up to him. It's clearer now, that's an edgelord, boasting about their suffering and acting in a shock (valuing hell, darkness, etc.) to get more attention from others. This is a bit about what I talk about in a bit of a change in their relationship, Kageyama here can unconsciously seek the light, like him fighting off monsters here, which Yaguruma had to warn him of that. While Yaguruma is jealous of Kageyama "inspiring" Keiko here and reminds themselves to stay in the path of hell, he wouldn't be completely immune to that either.

Also for the part where Tsurugi was in the woods, this is the part I talk about Tendou stealing Zecters won't stop after the apology. This is literally what Hyper Kabuto does! The enhanced version of Perfect Zecter (the sword) involves stealing all the other's Zecters to use its full power. Tendou's connection to Hyper Zecter inevitably leads to him stealing other Zecters. He attempted to obtain Hyper Zecter previously also by stealing the Zecters and trading it with Hyper Zecter from Mishima (and I think stealing the Zecter is only done for Hyper Form; Tendou also thinks that Hyper Form is his main goal to save Hiyori), and Hyper Kabuto also works by stealing the other's Zecters. In meta sense, this also shows to the audience that everyone is insignificant compared to Tendou, and unconsciously achieves the "Tendou is the only Rider needed". I'd like for the battle to display that stealing the other's Zecters was necessary though, like that (something series like Kuuga did with Rising finishers failing), the usual finisher won't work on that Worm, so it needs to power up by stealing the other's Zecters.

Yes, more than 1 time even. It's inevitable as one of the things to proceed in an educational piece.

So, here's something I forgot about because 38 does absolutely nothing with it: Tsurugi is in Juka's class. He's on this camping trip. I mean, he shouldn't be, for a lot of reasons (he is how old and they are how old), but he's got a purpose to be in those woods at that point in the story. I'm going to assume that he got driven there by Jiiya, since Kagami probably told his best friend that, wouldn't you know it, the bus is all full. (Also, Kagami needs to be the only Rider on the bus for the only good scene to actually work.) Tsurugi was probably near enough to the bus to catch the beginning of the tunnel fight, and decided to help KaGAHmin.

You all probably put that together, but it took me sixteen hours to realize that Tsurugi wasn't just wandering around those woods at a narratively convenient time.

That sounds really nice! Including the part where a giant bear left you alone!

Yes? I'm okay with Kagami portraying his positive qualities to save a bunch of total nobodies, but the principal bumping off a dozen nobodies feels crass, exploitative. Both are trying to make up for quality with quantity (I'd rather a Tendou/Keiko scene than Kagami protecting no one of importance), but at least with the Kagami scene there's some compelling outcome. With the principal, who cares what he got up to? It's a meaningless statistic, it's a data point for a story with no weight.

True, the show is a bit more straightforward with their relationship here, but I felt like the more subtle version from the last story was better? Everything in this story is so blunt (there is a point where Misaki takes forever to make sure the audience knows the kids in the choir room are the missing choir club), and the Hopper scenes are no different. It's not new information, it's just subtext that now gets spelled out.

Wow, not by me. Camping wasn't anything we did as a part of school, it was something you'd need to do for a club, or with your family. It seems like it'd be fun!

Well it took me until reading this to put it together! After watching so much Kamen Rider, I kind of assume characters are in places entirely because of Toei Geography by default now. :lol

I love that Tsurugi's character has... let's say evolved to the point that him just aimlessly wandering around the woods feels like a properly motivated action, no need for further explanation.

He's so great.

Same here. Not like it's the first time this arc that something just randomly showed up for no clear reason.

(also, my favorite feature of Toei Geography is how every location in Japan is just a single jump away from that rock quarry)

It's so crazy that they built a stadium next to a rock quarry and across the street from that one riverwalk!

(how did I post the same thing twice, ignore this, how do I delete it, lol)

I laughed out loud at this and then it took me, too, reading this thread to realize that Tsurugi technically does have a legitimate reason to be wandering the woods in a narratively convenient manner :lol

I think I really wanted this set of episodes to be more of a horror story than they ended up being; I had really strong memories of the baseball team at the start and the creepy choir behind the mirror, and not so much of a lot of the rest of it. I'd somehow managed to forget about Kagami and the singing, and it's definitely way too great of a scene to forget. I'm not sad I watched them again, just for that.

I 100% recommend camping in the woods with one caveat: for someone who hasn't been, it might be a more positive experience if one either starts out at a campground or goes with someone who knows what they're doing. But it's definitely fun :D

Every Kabuto fan watching this episode, thinking Tsurugi Wanders Out Of A Forest = Working As Intended.

It really could've been a great horror story! It starts off spooky as hell! The body-count on this one is incredibly high! The one new character you care about definitely dies! It's full of weird urban legends! Kids on a camping trip are nearly killed! There are terrifying choirs and fog!

...but then the show's like Naw, and we get a bunch of funny stuff that obliterates the tension, as well as a mystery in name only. It sure had potential, though!

I hope the campsite that Juka's class is at in 38 has a nearby plaque, dedicating that riverbank to The First Time Hibiki Called Asumu By His Name. (I want to say it happened at that same site?) I mean, like every exterior location, it's been used for everything (I definitely remember a some Sentai kid doing camping there in a crossover film. Go-Busters?), but I really remember it from a climactic Hibiki battle.

Look, we don't come to this show for the hard logic and deep consideration it gives to logistics, okay!? If I wanted that, I'd just go watch Kuuga again! :p

man, you say that, but i am watching 39 right now and it is soooooo good

just this whole story about some minor piece of trivia, blown up and explored

gon even wonders out loud why no one calls an ambulance for reina

super fun episode so far

...

not crazy about reina's collection of blackface dolls, though

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 39

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto39a.png

What an exceptional episode.

It's chockablock with callbacks and minutiae, full of so many clarifications and examinations. There's so much old business in this one that's dragged out into the light (much to Yaguruma's dismay) that it felt like I was watching Kamen Rider KabutOH RIGHT. We get a long, hard look at the life Worm Widow destroyed before the show even started; the bi-monthly return of Daisuke and Gon; further developments in Tsurugi's pursuit of Misaki, along with Misaki and Kagami's opposition to that pursuit; and a touching sequence where Tendou spends time inside Hiyori's heart.

It's so fun to see a production team that wants to spend some time before the endgame dotting i's and crossing t's. Not in some bullshit No Loopholes way, something to validate the opinions of wiki editors, but to illuminate unforeseen consequences, and to add resonance to stories. It's all about reminding you of what you've forgotten, and this episode does it in some beautiful, sad ways.

I mean, I don't think I ever once thought about where Worm Widow came from, what her deal was. The idea that the person whose life she stole had value, had dreams... it never crossed my mind. But Reina's story is heartbreaking, truncated and abandoned by a monster she can't even remember she is. She had dreams, had goals. They weren't a lot. A tiny apartment, a love of singing. The shot of Worm Widow standing in that room, Reina's life, and trying to make sense of how it got cast aside... it's so minor, so specific. It's a monster that thinks it's a person, trying to understand how they've lost so much. It's her confusion, you know? This sad, scared look she has. The... it's like she can feel how her life was invaded, sense that her home isn't hers anymore. She wants to take up her life again, to hide away the trauma, but it's just one more layer of deception.

It's a nice counterpoint to Tsurugi's story, the question of how much we should empathize with a Worm who thinks it's human. She's not Reina, after all. She killed Reina, stole her life. Everything about what she's doing is sad because of how much she's had taken from her, but the person we're meant to pity is the exact one who took it all away. Does her inability to remember her crime make her innocent? Does it absolve her of her sins if she thinks they were committed by someone else? Does the excuse of Well She Won't Do It Again mean anything, when they're already a killer?

And the thing is, I don't know how I'd answer any of those questions? Reina's a character like Tsurugi, where there's so much there that you want to celebrate, or protect, that it's incredibly easy to forget that you are mostly responding to echoes of a murder victim. You want Reina to live her dream of performing in the opera, even as you struggle to keep in mind that Reina's already gone. So much of what's happening in this episode, with Reina's story, it's pure emotion. You feel everything that's happening to her so viscerally. The shame of her failures. The frustration of her missing time. The delight of her friendship with Daisuke.

Which, hey, Daisuke! And Gon! A super sweet episode for both of them, and one that trades their normal About Them dominance for something that fits in with the episode's theme. It's not an episode about Daisuke or Gon, despite them being one of its major draws.

This is an episode about whether Worms are worthy of love, after all, so what better Rider to fall for Reina but Daisuke, much to Gon's chagrin. (You could read it as jealousy, but I think it's Gon's innate ability to protect Daisuke from himself. She just knows Reina is trouble.) It's an episode that uses Daisuke as an audience surrogate, falling for Reina in real time. We need to see her through his eyes. Not just beautiful, but the most beautiful. A... a... (miracle) Yes, yes! That, that! Reina needs to be worth protecting, and Daisuke is willing to be the face of that protection.

It's not... I mean, it's a fun episode with Daisuke and Gon, it always is, but they're in a much lower gear this time. Subtler, I guess. There's still some super funny gags (Daisuke cradling the unconscious Reina until nighttime and Gon wondering why they haven't called an ambulance yet is some outstanding comedy), but it's letting them support Reina's arc, which I appreciated. They don't pull focus, which is a credit to how firmly this episode sticks to the question of Worms deserving love.

So much so that, for a change, Tsurugi's weirdo subplot is thematically relevant! I KNOW! It's a funny one, even if I'm way less enamored of Tsurugi Is Enamored With Misaki than, well, Tsurugi is enamored with Misaki. It's always going to be slightly (to very) gross, that subplot where some dude won't stop pestering/legit harassing a woman. Even at its most harmless, it's still a guy who won't stop at No, and that's never going to be a story I'm looking to cheer for, or even anticipate.

But I'm sort of okay with it here? Some of what helps me tolerate it is how broad it is, with Misaki pretending she's dating Kagami, as Kagami's eyes bug out in a double-take. Or the comedically overwrought devastation Tsurugi faces when he's shot down and betrayed by best friend, him spinning himself in a circle at the front of his food cart. But, honestly, it's mostly just that this dismaying story actually belongs in this episode, since a big part of Kagami's objection to Tsurugi dating Misaki is that Tsurugi's a Worm.

Tsurugi is an adorable collection of idiotic quirks and bottomless self-confidence (he is now the man who stands at the top of repetitive stress injuries), but he's also the monster who killed Tsurugi and his sister. Kagami may be his best friend (he absolutely is his best friend), but he's also concerned that Tsurugi's one bad break away from killing the people closest to him. Is it safe to let Tsurugi have happiness, have love? Is Kagami safeguarding his friend's world, or denying his friend a shot at happiness? Once again, I don't know! This episode has some real quandaries in it!

Luckily, there's one super straightforward part, and that's the reveal that Hiyori had a home.

It's, again, something I'd never considered, and I love that the show wanted to delve into it. Hiyori's been missing for weeks (months?) and Sally from La Salle's like Tendou You Gotta Feed Her Son, by which she means Hiyori's bird. Because Hiyori has a bird! And a room! With her things in it!

Everything about that scene is great. Tendou's conflict of feeling like he's violating Hiyori's privacy, peering into her heart, while feeling more connected to her than ever. Just... she's got a bird! In a cage! Because of course Hiyori's pet is a bird in a cage! Hiyori is someone who feels trapped by herself, by all the ways she wishes she could be free! Of course she bought an animal defined by freedom and then caged it so it can't get away!

And then there's the callback of Hiyori opening a restaurant after Tendou's insistence, and she's creating recipes with little food drawings at the top, and he starts making those recipes to feel like they're talking to each other again, because they talk about their feelings through food, I love it so much. It's a scene, him making her recipes, that's such a celebration of their connection. It's the most I've missed Hiyori since she disappeared, and it comes in the same episode where Tendou finds himself back in Heightened Contrast Dimension, face-to-face with Hiyori again.

As well as with Dark Kabuto.

A QUESTION

The Dark Kabuto suit makes its debut in this episode! Thoughts?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto39b.png

There's something that bugged me about these episodes the first time I saw them and I just finally figured out what it was. The issue is that something looks really off about Hiyori, to the point where it almost looks like she's played by a different actress. I only just realized what's up with that, though: she doesn't have her bangs anymore. Losing them really changes here appearance to the point where she doesn't even look like herself at first glance anymore. Whew, mystery solved.

Also, Dark Kabtuo is there and looking snazzy. It's a very basic recolor of the Kabuto suit, but I am all in on the yellow eyes and red detailing over the black chest. Kamen Rider doesn't do just straight repaints of suits that often, but this is a really good one.

Now as for the main plot, I agree that it's really good, especially coming out of the narrative pit stop that was the school arc. Reina's been around long enough to make this whole concept really work. I hadn't even realized the parallels to Tsurugi's story but it's an excellent point. The episode does a great job of giving us a view of what the real Reina was like and the presence of Daisuke and a super unenthusiastic Gon help flesh out her original personality, too. Just an all around well done story that is clearly and loudly barreling towards tragedy.

Finally, as a minor note, I liked this episode's regular weekly appearance of Juka eating breakfast. The crush misunderstanding was brief, but it was a rare appearance of Tendou getting completely flustered and that was a lot of fun.

Yeah, you basically put my thoughts on the episode better than I could. And I can only say, I think next time makes it even better (because I’ll be working on my own thread tomorrow and it’s something of a milestone).

Thoughts on Dark Kabuto? I was wondering what it was based on in a show where every Rider is based on a previous one (even Sasword is basically just Ouja as a different type of poisonous animal). But then someone pointed out that he was an evil counterpart to our hero who first appeared during an eclipse, or rather a SHADOW covering the MOON.

I still love it to this day. Most of these "dark rider" suits are repaints yet do their job well. What I love about the Dark Kabuto suit is the paint job and the red circuitry. The way those red circuitry patterns add some flare to the armor is pleasing, and also gives a very menacing look to him.

I wonder if this was always the endgame for Reina, her having a story with Daisuke? One of Daisuke's first stories was one where he got furious at Tendou for detonating a Worm who was a beautiful woman, right? I think? So the idea of Daisuke immediately falling for this Worm who may actually deserve mercy is... it might be the whole point of Worm Widow on this show?

It seriously feels like this plot lucked out from Daisuke's limited availability, giving us months to see this woman as a remorseless killer, making the reality of what Reina was even more poignant.

It's this slightly regressive patriarchal cliche (THIS YOUNG WOMAN IS SOON GOING TO LOVE SOMEONE MORE THAN HER FATHER AND IT IS EARTH-SHATTERING), but I think it works well here for two reasons. First, yeah, it's always funny to see Tendou lose his shit. Second, the idea of Tendou not being the center of someone's world is canonically something that wrecks him.

Oh! Neat!

Yeah, there's an unfinished feel to it that looks great? Not dark, but broken? It really sells the idea of Another Tendou being this exposed, raw nerve of a man.

It was nice to learn more about Hiyori from her home, to fill in the void left by her absence. It makes a lot of sense that she has a pet bird, since it helps her feel a little less lonely and that bird is probably one of the few characters who she feels like she can trust and love and won't ever let her down. I presume she thought Tendo or someone else would take care of her bird after she left, since I doubt she would've just left it to die alone. That's the opposite of what I'd except her to do.

Dark Kabuto is one of my favorite Dark Rider designs due to how mysterious it looks. I like how Masked Form is virtually identical to regular Kabuto's except for the black Zecter and yellow eyes, it gives a feeling that something is uncanny and wrong about it and then it casts off in to Rider Form to reveal the black suit with red accents. It's really appropriate how similar it looks since the person under the suit also looks identical to the original, which happened before with Dark Shinji as Ryuga. Dark Kabuto is probably my third favorite Dark Rider design behind Dark Kiva and Dark Drive. Ryuga and Dark Drive are examples of Dark Riders I prefer to the original designs, while Dark Kabuto I like pretty much equally to the original since they both have the same qualities.

Oh, for sure. I can't imagine anyone ever has a plan in place for when they get pulled to the edge of space and time for a few months, but Sally had a key to Hiyori's room. I'd think she'd taken care of Hiyori's bird for a little while, before it became Tendou's responsibility, as all things do on this show eventually.

And, yeah, it makes sense that Hiyori would have a pet she could talk to. Although, you know, I feel like she'd talk to any pet? One of her first scenes was with her providing emotional support to a motorcycle, so I feel confident she'd have a deep bond with nearly any lifeform that isn't a person.

Yeah, those yellow eyes! I like my jaundiced villains/monsters!

Still, the nameless bodies are important to implement for both sides, for objectivity (though Tendou did care for a stranger too here in Keiko, albeit I think it's still for something specific that draws himself to her; her hardwork, unlike Kagami who cares just because, probably the kids being nameless nobody here can serve as that). Alignments should be viewed objectively. Yeah, audiences often do not get invested in nameless minor characters in shows. They only get invested in, and therefore care about, only the major characters that the show focuses on. By that, what happened to the nameless minors can be overlooked, and that can create skewed perceptions (either for audience or creators themselves), like making light of someone's villainy if a good number of it is done on bystanders, or protagonist centered morality where the narrative only treats anyone heroic if they are nice/favorable to the main protagonists, or treat anyone as bad if they're unfavorable to protagonists, regardless of what they do to the others (preferably non-major characters).

Oh, so you did have an anticipation about it having a potential for a true horror story, I thought for saying "to avoid in the future" means never implement horror genre or something (which isn't objective take in the slightest, it's just disdain for a genre, and that's not the show's problem but your problem).

This part once again brings up the humanity potential in Worm, like what Kagami dealt with before, which is done in Reina. The real Reina has been killed and replaced by Uca Worm, an executive Worm, but Reina's real personality, which is kind and wants to help people with singing, and also somewhat shy, resurfaces, due to Tendou's attack hitting a critical part of her body (if only others realize what happened there, they can implement that to try ending Worm's threat without killing them and letting them live as normal humans). And well, I think, don't treat the monster and the human as the same by describing her as a monster that thinks it's a person, that's the thing with Worms who kill and replace others which appeared earlier. Reina seems to not know at all about the Riders or Worms in her screentime here, her memory being purely human, continuing from the original Reina's life.

It's not merely friendship between those 2, they're making love already, the moment where a ladykiller in Daisuke genuinely falls in love for real. The Reina personality and the Uca Worm personality is completely separate, they just share a body as per Worms. All the crimes and killings are done by Uca Worm, it's solely the Uca Worm's fault, Reina wouldn't have any fault in this. Reina, currently, just had the misfortune of sharing a body with an unrelentless killer. It's like when someone has done a crime, but all of them are done in brainwashed state, they won't be at fault for actions that are outside their will, it'll be the brainwasher's fault, and an other media shows that it's wrong to punish, or kill someone who commits a crime all in brainwashed state. Letting Reina take over the Uca Worm's personality (and better, permanently) fully and live and pursue her dream as an opera singer would be a non-lethal way to eliminate Worm threat, in this case Uca Worm, like what Kagami thought of (or some other series did), so that is rootable, for me.

Daisuke cradling Reina is expected, with his love for women. I would actually give a prop for Daisuke here in his defense to Reina here, it's less obnoxious than what I'd expect coming from him is (like when Kabuto killed a makeup artist a Worm replaced before which made Daisuke attack him just because he didn't like it), Daisuke here differentiates between Reina, by refering her as a non-Worm for now, which acknowledges the Worm existence and its threat. Tendou trying to eliminate other Worm as usual is expected too for him, and Kabuto being Kabuto, Tendou's way would be actually the justified one for later.

Oh you aren't cheering or anticipating this one? I thought otherwise, considering that there are previous Rider series that also has this story, like Faiz' Kaido to Mari (and with you saying this as gross, this is also what some audience think regarding Kaido to Mari, especially with Mari being underage, and for Kaido's fans think this is the only con of him). Yeah, for this time, Misaki pretends to be dating with Kagami, and Tsurugi looks devastated, but this will lead to another thing of dealing with this in the next episode, with a good way, as both Kagami and Misaki are important to Tsurugi.

Yeah, this is why I told you not to use the name Dark Kabuto so lightly (to Ichirou in ep. 29-30), Dark Kabuto is an actual canon piece of the story like shown here. Also, with Tendou and Hiyori being actual family (and Tendou and Juka aren't), Tendou isn't violating Hiyori's privacy anymore for this one, she's his sister, and a part of family, which means normally, families live together, with knowing each other's possessions like the bird cage, etc. But what makes you think that Hiyori doesn't have a home?? Hiyori commonly visits Bistro La Salle to work, or Tendou's house for varying needs (or dragged in by Juka), but it's all clear she's only temporary visitor each times.

The Dark Kabuto is Souji Kusakabe, the one you refer (wrongly as he's not part of Tendou family) as Another Tendou! Like I said, he's very important piece, other than finding Hiyori, as Tendou also wants to deal with ZECT, it's also about finding Souji Kusakabe.

Hiyori probably wasn't planning on leaving the dimension but at least she gave Sally a spare key just in case.

I wonder what pets other characters in the franchise would have. Sento loves taking photos of dogs and Takumi would get along with cats due to their nekojita trait. Takeru actually does have a cat.

Hmm, that's actually pretty normal for Japanese culture though.

I thought Tendo and Jyuka were related through their grandmother?

I think most of us expected her to have a home but it's a lot more surprising that her home exists in the narrative which provides more insight in to her character. The environment a person lives in shows a lot about their mental state, which is why Kamen Rider Club in Fourze were surprised when they saw how Tomoko's room was completely different to what they expected.

Yeah, that note about avoiding this episode was just about not feeling like I'd want to rewatch it down the line. I certainly don't mind if a show wants to do a horror story! Not my favorite genre, but I'd like it if it's done well.

Maybe! But I worry that the Kamen Rider policy on Worms changing to Only Take Head Shots could have some slightly unforeseen consequences. Feels like it's not going to save a lot of Worm lives!

Don't forget Gills's dog, Count Zero.

https://i.imgur.com/I2BkwBJ.png

I struggled a lot to pick a screencap for this one, largely because I was so spoiled for choice. You see, when everyone's favorite capricious wind blows into town, he tends to bring two people with him – one is Toshiki Inoue, and the other is Ryuuta Tasaki. And these episodes having the director they do should explain why the visual storytelling here is off the charts. I mean, just look at how Yaguruma's hand is literally blocking the source of light in the shot as he's telling Kageyama to embrace darkness. That's not even all that's great about it, either. Not only is this moment further punctuated by a sound effect as he moves his arm, but the very next shot is the shadow of his hand being cast across Kageyama's face. So much attention to detail for such a minor, kinda redundant scene with the Hoppers. What did I tell you guys? Clarity. It's still the name of the game here.

Oh, and, while I'm on the subject of Yaguruma and Kageyama: for the record, they're also introduced here munching on some Brothers Ramen, so this episode is not to be missed if you want to know the origins of a meal so iconic, their original Figuarts seriously came with the bowls as accessories.

But really, you also just shouldn't miss that great Tasaki direction again. So many wonderful touches as always. That hilarious gag Die mentioned with Gon questioning why they haven't called an ambulance for the unconscious woman on the ground? Made all the funnier by her audio being distant and even getting interrupted by Daisuke's internal monologuing about how beautiful Rena is, effortlessly stressing how much Daisuke is off in his own world, and reminding the audience that they aren't expected to take him too seriously.

You know, in case you didn't already get that from his reaction upon noticing Rena collapsing in the first place. This episode has a real knack for communicating the story without extraneous dialogue, and the wordless moments following Daisuke wishing to meet the world's beautiful woman – the sudden noise of something hitting the ground offscreen, followed by Daisuke's gleeful smile when he sees what's going on – really sum it up perfectly. The same is true of the careful set dressing in both Hiyori and especially Rena's apartment, with the latter having details as impressively precise as a calendar still on July and August, around when the Worm we know as Rena made her debut on the show. (This episode aired in October, by the way.)

It's like nearly every scene in the episode uses the visuals to supplement and/or reinforce what's going on, and the result is what's already a quite good script becoming so much richer in the execution. It's really no wonder this one got Die thinking so much. And yeah, it is a good script! I'm of course deeply biased because it's one that's spending a lot of time reminding the audience how much you should miss Hiyori, but I mean, it's got other plots about other characters I'm not inherently going to be all over, too! Like, uh... Tsurugi. ...And Dasiuke and Gon...

Okay, so now that I think about it, maybe when it heavily features leans on literally all my favorite characters at once, it's far from a shocker I'd think the plot was good. Die can tell you about that better than I can, anyway. It's funny and it's dramatic and it's smart and it's, well, it's most of what he likes in an Inoue episode, minus a Houjou. They seriously might've made this one specifically for us, guys!

The only thing I'd really have to add to the discussion of the writing is how much I enjoyed Tendou's stereotypical dad outburst at the thought of Juka having a crush. I tend to enjoy Tendou more when the show is leaning into how weird and unknowable he is, which is often at odds with how much Inoue seems to enjoy showing him to be less above it all than he seems, but the delivery of the gag here is so perfect it handily overcomes both that, and its own admittedly generic nature. What made it land especially well for me is the very end, when the misunderstanding is cleared up. Tendou calmly sits back down in his chair, resuming his normal relaxed posture and dignified tone of voice in a way so conspicuous and forced it only highlights how poor a job he just did trying to play it cool. It's kind of exactly the moment I was asking for in the last episodes, in a way. I'd never want to see Tendou getting this flustered around Kagami, for example, but having Juka completely destroy his high-and-mighty act without even meaning to fits those characters. And, hey, stereotypical or not, Tendou being very worried about a stranger hanging around his little sister is yet one more thing that ties right back into one of the central plot points. Just one more sign of how focused an episode this is, I suppose.

If I had to complain about one thing, it's definitely the continued absence of Clock Up making the fight scenes feel so much more generic. Like, it is deeply ironic that the insert song called "Lord of the Speed" debuted mere episodes before everybody stopped going fast, and it's hard not to be bummed out by that. To turn that back around into praise though, the show is still making sure to give the Masked Forms a surprisingly reasonable amount of screentime, all things considered. They're not exactly the focus of fight scenes anymore, but I'm happy to see the Riders throwing even a punch or two with them this late in the game. Plus, with Gatack still doing his weird wrestling moves, it's not like all the identity is gone from this show's action. It's funny to think how much his first few episodes tired to make his thing rapidly slicing monsters up when Kagami barely remembers he even has those swords now.

Awesome episode, all around. You can probably tell how scattered my thoughts are this time, but seriously, it's only because I could talk about basically any random element and have something nice to say.

Oh, and on that note, I do like Dark Kabuto's suit, by the way. That was legitimately one of the first Kamen Rider designs I ever saw, actually. Like, before Kabuto himself, even. It left a pretty good first impression, especially when I'm such a sucker for evil repaints of heroes.

Wait, why didn't they cast Houjou as the director for Reina's group?! F- EPISODE!

There was a part where Gatack does an actual hurricanrana on a Worm and I nearly popped out of my chair in delight. I do love when the directors let Gatack get weird.

But, yeah, Clock Up doesn't seem like a thing anymore! That's a bummer. I'd love to hear why they stopped using it, even though I'd assume the answer was just Too Expensive. Like, maybe cut some of your extraneous cast, rather than the series-defining special effect? (Although, shit, this show doesn't seem to have a dime to pay for Goro or Kagami Outrageous lately...)

See, the thing is, I'm not even asking for the big set-pieces that creatively involve slow-motion rain or debris or whatever anymore. You only need one or two shots in an episode to actively demonstrate time slowing down, and they don't have to be very fancy. Some episodes from around the midpoint were already doing this. From there you can basically do a normal fight scene, but as long as the footage is slightly sped-up in places, and I can hear the associated sound effects, I'd still know I'm watching Kabuto. For me it's not even about the fights being visually impressive as much as it is... I mean, what if Ryuki just stopped fighting in Mirror World for the last 10 episodes, you know?

Admittedly, I think part of the issue is that the show wants to avoid how busted Hyper Clock Up is, hence the Perfect Zecter's awkward introduction where Tendou takes a dare that's apparently still standing to not win fights that way, but nothing about this feels like an ideal solution. I can see plenty of reasons things ended up this way, but it's still sad all the same.

Sneak preview for Episode 40's post:

INOUE FOREVER

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 40

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto40a.png

Inoue Forever.

It's stupid, how well he's able to distill the themes of this show into both a rollcking adventure replete with magical kitchen tools and flavor as a declaration of self; and a harrowing journey of one woman's final days, the terminal velocity of a dream. How does he do it?!

Because, god, yeah, it's just like that Dark Chef two-parter: literally everything Kabuto's about, it's in here. But it's also everything Inoue ever wants to talk about, because he's honestly just that good?

Like, right away we get Daisuke assuring Reina that she's not a Worm, or a Worm who thinks she's Reina. She's just.. her. Reina is Reina. It's an obsession with Inoue, the ways people measure themselves against others, chafe under expectations, fret about how others see them, worry about the parts of themselves they don't understand. He literally did an entire series about a Rider learning to stop judging himself. (Two, if you want to say that was a theme of Agito, which I wouldn't fight you on.) His answer to those stresses is always the same, and it's self-acceptance. Don't worry about how the world sees you. Don't think of yourself as too much something or not enough something else. You're you, and that doesn't need to be qualified.

It's... this episode is so minor. The threats are largely psychological, not physical. It's monopolized by this sweet relationship between Daisuke and Reina, how he doesn't even give a shit if she's actually a Worm. The only person in jeopardy is the memory of Reina. But it feels massive. It feels like a series finale. And it's only really about how we learn to live with ourselves, which is maybe the most important lesson there is to learn.

So many things in this story that could feel vestigial, or a distraction, are just different parts of the same journey. All of the stuff with Tendou missing Hiyori, it's echoed in Daisuke's scenes with Reina. Daisuke even says lines from some of Hiyori's most famous scenes, telling Reina that she can do it, that he's by her side. It's two stories that are about how it doesn't matter what someone is, the negative parts, the things they hate about themselves. If you really care about them, you'll find some way to support them, work to help them care about themselves. Hiyori being a Native, Reina being a Worm... none of that really matters. What matters is how you feel about them.

And that's really all this episode is trying to do, which I love. There's almost no plot to speak of. A bunch of little incidents create some dynamic action scenes, but the only objective is to let Reina have a moment of self-expression before Worm Widow snuffs her out for good, and then the reveal that Worm Widow can't even really get rid of Reina.

That idea, that we can never really close off those parts of ourselves, it even comes through in the slightly-wacky Yaguruma plot, taking the place of last episode's tonally incongruent but thematically relevant Tsurugi plot. Here, it's Yaguruma seeing some sadness in Reina, something he thinks of as Who He Is, but he quickly finds himself reverting to TheBee-style Yaguruma heroism in the need to defend her. It's goofy, with him totally forgetting that he's Sponsored By Whoever Makes Leather Pants now and not some corporate do-gooder; and it's poetic, because the arc of it is just the all-time repeating story of Yaguruma Is Full Of Shit And Kageyama Starts To Despise Him, but now in leather pants; but it still lands because it's looped into this theme of not being able to ignore who we are, with Yaguruma still craving the love and self-respect he'd claimed to despise. Much like Reina's never gone for good, Yaguruma is still the egotistical hero somewhere underneath all of that S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders cosplay.

But Reina is gone for good, at the end. She gets her chance to sing on stage, partially. Worm Widow takes over in the middle, but keeps singing anyway. She can't even really explain why, but Daisuke already knows. It's Reina, still in there, always. But she doesn't deserve to be buried alive, and even Worm Widow knows that. She fights Daisuke, hoping to end the pressure to recognize Reina's memory. She loses, because she probably didn't want to win anymore. She's trapped with two half-lives, and she can't put them together in a way that makes sense to her. She's pushed away a part of her she needs to survive, and the loss of it is too much. She finds some acceptance, though, at the very end. Reina's feelings for Daisuke, giving her some solace for her final moments, become a window into an existence that surprises her. And then that window closes.

It's a tragedy, something Inoue excels at. He writes some beautifully flawed characters. Monsters who want to be heroes. Heroes who want to be monsters. People fighting for their voices to be heard. Ending an episode with a hero fighting a monster so a person's voice could be heard by the monster, because every hero and monster are just parts inside people who want their voices to be heard...

INOUE FOREVER.

A QUESTION

The Tsurugi stuff in this episode, that's something I have a hard time finding room for, thematically. It's funny, though, with him fully onboard with his two favorite people dating. I don't mind it myself, Kagami and Misaki. I think they've got some pretty solid chemistry. What about you? Do you think Kagami and Misaki would make a good couple?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto40b.png

Also, this stupidly beautiful and sad episode had THE BEST GODDAMN SCREENCAP, and I couldn't add it to that post because it would've felt wrong, but I'll be damned if it goes unheralded:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto40c.png

Also also, while Fish and I seem to have settled into an Inoue-episode routine of me flipping out over the writing and Fish flipping out over the direction, please know that I honest-to-god could've gone with another Look At Every Beautiful Shot post and completely ignored the writing. This episode is that goddamn good. I didn't, both because I already did one of those this series, and also because I know Fish will flip out over the direction and I'd hate to deprive you all of that. All I do is give!

If there's one thing Inoue loves almost as much as sociopathic antiheroes, it's an artist whose gift is tragically taken from them. This is a rarer case of the soul being lost, as opposed to a crippling injury, but you can really feel Inoue pouring everything into this episode's pathos. And it works, it totally works. Reina feels so much more fleshed out here then she has in all the episodes leading up to this, but at the same time I think that having her as a long-term threat made the story a lot more powerful then it would have been with just a MotW. It's a really strong story and it lands as a powerful farewell to Reina (and maybe Daisuke - I honestly don't remember if he shows up again after this).

I'm not sure I would have noticed it if I hadn't been rewatching these shows alongside you, but the fight between Daisuke and Reina pulls a lot of the same tricks that Faiz did in the fight between Takumi and Kaido's teacher. I should probably feel like it's derivative (lord knows that the third time he used this trick, in Movie War Core with the ballerina, did), but damn if it still doesn't work.

Great episode. Fish will almost certainly be pleased to see that it has both Hiyori AND Clock Up in it.

You’ve basically said a lot of what I would’ve said.

So once more, I’ll discuss changes from the show in the video game, since this is another episode they changed up for the players.

Tendou defeats Worm Widow instead of Daisuke.

And I’ll also mention that the game also gives every rider beyond the main three of Kabuto, Gatack and Drake their own bikes. All are simply repaints of Drake’s bike except for Dark Kabuto’s, which is a repaint of the obvious choice.

Oh and I forgot to talk about this, in ep. 39, there's a scene about Tendou losing his shit over Juka potentially gaining love. That's what I meant for Tendou being overprotective, like for Hiyori in early part of the series when Daisuke hits on her. Daisuke may be someone who deserved to get that treatment from Tendou, but Tendou's just overprotective on her, because this is his response regarding Juka (and she only got a call, not even knowing how's her "boyfriend" if it's the case).

Yeah, but talking about Die's reception for these kind of stories.

Juka is Tendou's stepsister/adoptive sister, not blood siblings, that's what I meant.

This is just doing usual Worm attack, every other Worms are killed and destroyed after all, it's either usual outcome (Worm dies and explodes), or something significantly better (them living like humans they were, non-malicious, you can never treat kill and replace lightly though).

Yeah, of course, this is once again about your species doesn't matter, it's how you behave that matters, either if you're a monster (someone having a horrific body without acting malicious, in this case, the Reina personality), or you're a human (humans are the real monsters trope, like Banno). While this is about Daisuke falling in love for real outside of his usual ladykiller tendencies, and this making his care about Reina more genuine than what he does to other women, this is still Daisuke though. Reina is a woman, and a beautiful one, Daisuke would just inevitably defend her and given as she's a woman. While Daisuke's right here about Reina being Reina, and not the Uca Worm, I just think Daisuke can pull this on any woman, even to those that are at fault, going to great lengths to defend any women in any circumstances. I catch this one as more of Daisuke's white knight practice, but also the time he fell in love for real, won't treat this one as similar ones as how Kagami deals with humanities in Worms.

This part is also addressed inside the story, where Daisuke threatens Tendou not to deal with Reina, and also asks him to consider his feelings, which makes Tendou rethink about him with Hiyori. Though the main difference is that, Uca Worm has done actual atrocities, and Reina's personality takeover is still under a threat by that, while Hiyori, being a Native, hasn't done any Worm slaughtering, making the Uca Worm still a threat unlike Hiyori (Reina is Reina and that assurement is important, but that's to confirm that Reina doesn't make any faults, but Uca Worm is still a threat).

Yaguruma still kicks monster ass on a regular basis like this one, and he had the impluse to act on by fighting said monsters, but there's also the time where he's aware on this, and gets so nihilist that he chains himself to prevent himself acting on that, because that's seeking the light. And from here too, Yaguruma, just like what he did on Kageyama, had selective "care" for those that is on the darkness, like Reina here. Although Tendou, bad attitude aside is still a better person than Yaguruma, pre or post ZECT, this scene is similar to Tendou taking care of Keiko in the previous 2 parters. Something on a stranger takes an interest in those 2, and those 2 seeks to care about them intimately, more than just saving their lives, getting into them. And also why I support the implementations for the nameless nobodies, and it's not exactly a quantity trade-off to the quality, those 2's good deeds here, or Kageyama's bad deeds to people like Gon doesn't mean it's necessarily similar (probably Tendou's one is) to those doing good or bad deeds to nobodies, the "quality" part being done because of a something specific (like for Kageyama's, it's someone hindering his plans, but...if Gon is unrelated, then he won't do anything to her) where the nobodies one is done in more unconditionally manner. I give props to you for acknowledging Kusaka's villainy, or not treating Tiger Undead as good one for showing care only to Mutsuki, but I feel that, you downplayed Kiryu's atrocity in Blade for what he did to innocents likely due to not being invested to those.

And this unfortunately also proves Tendou being right, for both Kagami and Daisuke. Even with Reina getting some chance to continue her human form's life within a Worm's body, it's still not enough for Reina to be completely safe to others (Reina's never gone for good, but only temporarily). The episode still had the Uca Worm personality threatening, and succeeding to take over her body back. Reina's chance to get to sing is just like someone dying making up their last time to do something necessary to them before finally gone for good. Non-lethal solution to deal with Worm is still unapplicable here, Reina after this will revert back to Uca Worm, which forces Daisuke to kill her. I'm also giving a massive prop for the last scene, of her singing, interwinding with Daisuke fighting Uca Worm and killing her, with all the song lyrics. It's one of the most poetic and meaningful death scene, it's so good yeah, albeit, something that doesn't make sense had to be done (it's minor, but doing this just to be fair, if you question about this in ep. 32), which is Uca Worm not exploding after being killed, dying in Daisuke's arms.

And the TV production team putting Inoue on the leash and trying to restrain him from pulling what he can when he's completely free. But the "heroes who want to be monsters", if you refer to Yaguruma here, it's not Inoue's exclusive sthick for this episode though! Yonemura wrote him since ep. 33, his comeback. Also, while it's important to consider the values beneath those flawed person, I'm afraid that Inoue may have taken that too far; outright glorifying and normalizing it, with how his works can play off negativity as the norm that characters bounce off of on a regular basis, pushes positivity to the side (means something that is relatively more worthless) and has grayness take center stage.

It's not merely looking at the value beneath them, but rationalizing and justifying those acts as right, downplays or cuts off anything bad regarding it, asking to exclusively look at the valuable part of those people, relying on sympathetic POV centered about them (as they're major characters) a,nd give them free pass solely due to that side. It's disastrous to only exclusively look at the good side, and be ignorant to the bad side. What I implement for seeing values behind those people (and there are other Rider series too which teaches that someone's selfishness isn't exactly bad, but a product of the environment they were brought up in, and sometimes you need that desire to survive) is that, it influence what kind of treatment (including things like punishment, advice, etc.) we should give to them, that excessive punishhment is wrong, you can't inflict that to anyone, like resorting to murder for anything. But those that actually did bad thing should be corrected and guided, not being overlooked or given free pass because "he had valid reasons for doing it so he's nothing bad". Also, as I want fair treatment to anything, no double standards (for audience too to let them realize here), what I want to see is flawed character writing which is not about morally ambiguous ones, but being fully good with ordinary flaws and hindrances.

For what I thought of Kagami and Misaki slowly becoming more equals, actually here, Misaki still puts Kagami beneath him ._. "don't compare me with Kagami". And this is alternate take of how Tsurugi processing this happened; it's him trying to just support both, as both are important to him (I saw him falling for Misaki coming, but didn't see him befriending Kagami coming though when watching, which is what I was thinking later about Misaki being Kagami and Tadokoro's partner). For the answer I don't think so though for them being couples, I think they have a solid chemistry as work partners and colleagues, which means platonic, but not intimately, I feel like their chemistry resembles those done in action flicks between a major male and female, and one of the bad handling regarding that is to shoehorn a romance in simply because one lead is male and the other is female.

Yeah, this shot also amazes me, leaving me with jawdrop, with the kid actually saving Daisuke from superpowered fighters in the Riders.