So in case anyone is curious what grasshopper the Hell Brothers are modeled after google acrida cinerea.

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 43

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto43a.png

I don't know why it's easier for me to talk about what an episode's about than what it's in it. Like, character motivations and themes, I find that kind of thing really engaging, real fun to discuss. Plot machinations and fight scenes... I mean, I'm glad for them, they can be exciting to watch, but talking about them? Not that into it!

So, yeah, this one. There's a Tendou arc that I find really appealing, and then a ton of plot stuff that has some small character beats and a lot of things that would just be me saying And Then This Happened.

It's an endgame arc, maybe the real start of the endgame arc, so we're getting a lot of escalation out of basically nowhere. Worms are running rampant, pushing towards Area Z, where ZECT is developing the Rider System. ZECTroopers are being overrun, and Worm Widower is absorbing and redirecting every finisher a Rider uses against him. It's just Worm O'Clock on this show, and it's okay. I like the tension of it, a little. Tadokoro in particular is great at selling that gritted-teeth resolve you want in an Under Siege plotline. But it's still just an army of faceless monsters being led by a high-kicking cipher, and that's not got a lot I can occupy my mind with. It's all surface pleasures: quick action and explosions, spiced up with some neat subdivided shots. (Those multi-angled frames try their best at making repetitive battle scenes feel unique and dangerous, so I'm all for their use.) But it's... I mean, there are multiple fights where Worm Widower just wanders off after absorbing and redirecting a Rider's finish, and that makes these fights feel like a bit of a shrug. If I cared more about the Worms as an enemy, or Worm Widower as a general, I'd probably care more about those fights. As it is, they're okay. Just okay.

But this episode formally introduces Another Tendou, and that stuff is great.

The performance is so intriguing. The actor's voice goes up a bit, giving Another Tendou a sense of childlike innocence that runs in opposition to Tendou's world-weary superiority. Another Tendou is as clever as Tendou, but his aesthetic is all Guileless Joy, so his villainy is done with a cheerful smile. He's so happy to tell Tendou's friends that he's going to find and kill him. Hell, he's happy to tell Tendou that he's going to kill him. He's just... like, bubbly, and it's as unnerving as it is refreshing. He's not a glowering monster or closed-off psychopath. He's a brother (?) who wants to protect his sister (?), and he's excited to get a chance to do that.

(For the record, I have no idea if I'm supposed to be reading the relationship between Hiyori and Another Tendou as familial or romantic. I'm going with familial, but, uh... Kamen Rider shows can really blur that line!)

It's an inversion of Tendou's attitude, where his need to rescue Hiyori has got him scared and defeated. The only way he can think of to rescue Hiyori is to follow Another Tendou (the same way Another Tendou found Tendou by following Kagami) back to the Heightened Contrast Dimension, and that'll only happen when Tendou is defeated. So Tendou's just like Welp Time To Die I Guess, and it makes for the episode's smartest choices. There's a brief scene of Tendou and Juka, with him teaching her to cook, and I found it impossibly charming. I got a little choked up, with Tendou trying to impart one last gift to his sister before he's gone for good. The idea of Tendou's Last Day On Earth... fun note for this episode.

It's the Kagami pep-talk that kills, though. Kabuto's trying to take a dive to Dark Kabuto, and it's going great/terribly. Tendou's been Rider Kicked and is about to be finished off, but Kagami arrives to save him/ruin everything. Tendou's furious that he won't be able to sacrifice himself, which means no one can save Hiyori. And Kagami is even more furious at Tendou.

Kagami doesn't really get this angry at Tendou often, and it usually means Tendou has massively screwed-up. And boy, has he here. At the time when Hiyori most needs Tendou's help, he's going to get himself killed to do it? This is his strategy? This is his power? Kagami always measured himself against Tendou because Tendou would always find a way to win, find a way to save everyone. So Tendou needs to get up, save himself, and then go save Hiyori.

It is, as pep-talks go, one for the ages. I also think it's part of Tendou's plan? Like, Tendou tells Renge what he's up to, and then tells Renge to not tell Kagami unless Tendou dies. Renge immediately tells Kagami. I have to think some part of Tendou knew that would happen (Renge and Kagami are not that tough to predict!), and was hoping for this outcome. He wanted, he needed Kagami's Very Big Feelings to get him back on track, and because it's Tendou, he needed to manipulate Kagami into delivering that speech. I mean, Tendou 100% was ready to sacrifice himself to rescue Hiyori, but he was hoping Kagami would show up to talk him out of it. That's my read.

Moot point, because the end of the episode has Hiyori showing up, confident and assertive, to tell Tendou that she's going to live in the Heightened Contrast Dimension with Another Tendou, kthxbye. Bit of a twist! We'll have to see where that goes!

A QUESTION

Not a lot with Yaguruma and Kageyama this week, but I was amazed at Tadokoro's weird blend of optimism and desperation as he offered them (both?) the chance to lead Shadow as TheBee. Yaguruma immediately turns him down, happy to be able to ruin someone's day, while Kageyama practically has his eyes bug out like he's in a cartoon. That dude is so thirsty. Anyway, if these two dopes aren't going to be TheBee, what remaining non-Rider cast member should next be TheBee? And if not Misaki, why did you opt to choose poorly?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto43b.png

One of the things that I really appreciated about the episode is how much it respects its characters. Another Tendou shows up and no one gets fooled. This is a show about shapeshifting alien mimics and nobody goes through a mistaken identity plot here. Even Tsurugi, who has the social awareness of a lima bean, is immediately all "oh yeah, that boy's a Worm." Refreshingly smart supporting cast for a doppelganger plot.

And I definitely agree about Hiro Mizushima's performance as Another Tendou. It really does feel like a different character and he does an impressive job of playing off of himself in their interactions.

Also, Hiyori is here and she actually had some lines this time. It definitely feels weird to have her back. She's been gone so long and she's acting so differently that it's really difficult to read her as the same character. I'd be curious to see how this would have played out if the actress hadn't stepped away from the series. I do like how Hiyori's absence has been driving Tendou to more reckless behavior, but I've also missed having her around.

Finally, is it just me ore would anybody else like more context on Tendou's grandmother. I would love to know what was going on that prompted some of these "I am the center of the world..." bon mots.

The tip-off for Tsurugi was that Tendou wasn't acting like a massive asshole to him, which is really sort of sad?

My absolute favorite Another Tendou touch is, when he's leaving La Salle, he gives a cute little Bye-Bye wave. It tells you literally everything you need to know about what type of adversary he's going to be.

I'd have to think they wouldn't ever have done this storyline, Hiyori's disappearance, if the actor had been a full-time cast member. The only way this story works is if she's gone for a dozen episodes, and you'd only do that if you had to. I imagine we'd've gotten a different arc for her entirely. Possibly with a much later reveal for her being a Native!

My headcanon has been that Tendou's grandmother is Jiiya, and neither of them think it's worth mentioning. I mean, Jiiya comes from a family of greats, Jiiya's known to raise children who think of themselves as masters of the world... pretty sure this is going to all get explicated in 49, but you read it here first.

I’m gonna steal a trick from Fish and semi-gush about the director. This is the debut for one Takayuki Shibisaki (who was previously the production member used as the file photo for Sabaki in the previous season). He later went on to be the main director for three Sentai shows (Go-Busters, Zyuohger and Kyuranger) and two Rider shows (Drive and Saber). He also directed the movie for OOO, the two Taisen movies where the Sentai characters are only there for the giant robot battle and both Heisei endgame arcs (the intended one in Build and the eventual one in Zi-O). Not sure if it shows here, but his style likes to focus on impressive visual effects with lots of CG (for instance, Kamen Rider Taisen’s opening scene has a battle involving Kabuto mid-Cast Off, Stronger, an airborne Skyrider, a Jumbo Mode J, Gai’s in Suika Arms and Fourze using the Rocket Module).

As for the episode, I also liked how the other Souji has a higher voice than Tendou. It makes him sound pretty creepy.

Dark Kabuto is essentially a Bizarro Kabuto with a slight pinch of Mike Myers or Jason Vorhees come to think of it. Say Die, how about Kabizarro for Dark Kabuto?

Don't get me wrong I'm agree with what you saying here, just want to ask the details in those (and making sure to not have double standard take of those). And yeah, the part where he ran off crying (the kind of people like Tendou would be the one who will scream man up from any form of that).

Of course it won't do Cassis Worm any good, the purpose of the weapon isn't against him after all, but against the other Worms, the usual one either the new one or Natives. Of course, it's used to uncover Worms because well, they disguise as humans, won't risk a friendly fire against humans. It wasn't designed with Cassis Worm in mind, ZECT acts, Cassis Worm reacts, he works to foil this plan. Also, this shows Cassis Worm, apart from him being the strongest, also him as TheWorst, just like the principal. He's one of the most evil villains here. He's an open cannibal and follows the philosophy that he must devour the weak by absorbing his own subordinates. Currently, he destroyed the peaceful Natives that were being escorted by ZECT, leads the counterattack against ZECT during the AM Bomb operation and makes the entire Area C3 fall under control of the Worms, promising to execute civilians if ZECT doesn't give the anti-mimicry device to him. This doesn't stop here. The Natives are at Cassis Worm's mercy, and as ZECT is on Native's side (for the whole series they only attack newer Worms) of course Riku will trade anti-mimic for the Natives, and Kagami, like below, here shows hatred for the Worms so he's furious of the act of helping Worms (Natives). I can't talk anything about Mishima as it'll be spoiler, but well, he has shown sinister side from last few episodes right?

Well yeah, this is a problem I had within this, and I already had a comment before (but unadressed), so would copy and paste it here. It seems that his vengeful side against the Worms is the one returning? Previously, he points out that Natives are Worms for their contract with ZECT, and also, he here seems to be unable to accept the others being Worm even if Tadokoro didn't act anything suspicious other than him acting like a drone to ZECT (which as some others said here, gives it more sense about ZECT being up to no good), that's my question here about Kagami, here him cannot accepting any Worms at all, which is his reaction to Tadokoro, also differing from Hiyori before. I think Kagami just suddenly changes here, or this being the true side of him while he can also occassionally show Worms mercy.. and connected to the above, Kagami's mainly mad that ZECT is going to help Natives (by trying to give anti-mimic bomb to Cassis Worm).

The one new thing I got here was that Renge now appreciates Kagami and sees him as her comrade to be concerned about him here. But well yeah as this is fully ZECT job fest then no new lessons like just more teamwork. And Tadokoro fighting hand to hand, Cassis Worm seems to be the only Worm who has super power as human form (in other instance, Hiyori was KOed by a punch from Kageyama in human form), dunno about Tadokoro here, but either way Tadokoro is just the fodder (Native) Worm, he won't stand any chance against one of the strongest Worms by far.

Tendou gives an advice to Tsurugi, this is the part that can potentially stop Tsurugi acting creepy to Misaki. The fault being Tsurugi having a sister complex in Misaki, for an instance. This will change his approach to Misaki.

I wonder if you just criticize this part's comedy because of all the flaws above, or it being genuine limit of comedy. Yaguruma claims about hellish tofu here... what'd it meant? Dunno if it's kind of a poisonous tofu... something that tastes so strong that it's disadvantageous to the eater like Ichiro's... (or if it's really true as a plan for Yaguruma to bring Tendou down from the inside).

One of the powers of Cassis Worm is "Life of Immortality", where he'll evolve to a new form each time he's defeated. Here he got killed while in Dimidius form, at the end he got revived and got a new, stronger form in Gladius form.

I have no memory of this episode at ALL :lol

Very positive feelings about Tendo vs. Other Tendo, v positive feelings about everything Tendo + Kagami, Misaki clearly needs TheBee Zecter (tho the Next Time On previews have already shown us what's going to happen there)... Despite the escalation apparently coming out of nowhere (so it's not just me that had that feeling? I thought I missed some exposition or something), I had a pretty good time with this one.

One tiny thing that I loved is Renge's continued and constant misinterpretation of the name of a dish into something Utterly Ridiculous. It's such a minor gag, but it's so consistent and I find it funnier every time. Does Tendo not give her specific instructions?? Does she just ignore them entirely??? How does this happen?

https://i.imgur.com/0YM0dbx.png

You might think that because of my blatant obsession with Hiyori, I'd have at least some memory of this one, but you'd be wrong if you did. I mean, I remember the concept of Dark Kabuto showing up, and that's the extent of it. It's another time where I can't even tell you if I hated these ones or loved them or whatever else. It's a total blank slate for me on a rewatch.

And while I can't give any fun personal history with the episode, I did rather like it!

As has been mentioned, these episodes mark the directorial debut of Takayuki Shibasaki, who had been one of the assistant directors on Rider going back to Kuuga, even getting personally recommended by Nobuhiro Suzumura to succeed him as chief assistant director during Faiz. Like most directors who were working on Rider two decades ago, he's still on it all this time later, and it's not hard to see why when this episode so clearly displays the passionate ambition of someone who wants to leave a good first impression.

The vaguely comic book style split screens are clearly the big party trick here, and they're surprisingly natural in their use, despite being so unlike the usual way the show is filmed. For those scenes of the big Worm attacks, I think it's actually serving a practical purpose, too, allowing the show to condense what would ordinarily be a much more dull process of showing the attack followed by talky reactions from Misaki and Tadokoro into one quick thing, speeding along to the more interesting parts.

And there are a lot of interesting parts to this episode. It's likely that much of this is just the actors all being so comfortable in their roles by the end of the series, but everyone turns in some pretty strong performances here, with the highlight being Mizushima playing Daguv— er, Dark Kabuto! He's playing Dark Kabuto! But it's a pretty shockingly close character he landed on for Tendou's evil counterpart, right down to prominently wearing white clothes. Maybe I like him so much just because he reminds me of Kuuga, but I thought he was a ton of fun, and brought a lot of great character moments out of the genuine article.

I don't have much to say there that Die didn't, so allow me to do the And Then This Happened work for him by mentioning how much I loved the twin Kabuto action in this one. There is a ~lovely~ amount of focus given to the Masked Forms here that made me extremely happy to see. It's outright used to visually signify Tendou's arc, only Casting Off for the first time 19 minutes in, after Kagami has talked him out of his funk. Like he's literally throwing off his baggage. That is exactly the kind of smart use of toy gimmicks I like to see, and the action itself is awesome too. Much as I appreciate the continued prominence of Masked Form, I like that the show is still making space for Kabuto to just do his basic, very simple and controlled fighting style. Hyper Form is cool, and after seeing its epic cannon mode last episode, I'll begrudgingly admit the Perfect Zecter is too, but their scenes lack the characterful understatement that defines Tendou so well, and it's harder to get into that when it's the only thing Kabuto does in an episode.

Heck, I even really enjoyed the brief scenes with Gatack and Sasword. Nothing too complex or interesting to say for them, I suppose, but I don't hate the whole cheesy concept of a monster who can match and mimic the techniques of the Ri— hey, wait a second! Dark Kabuto is just Daguva, and purple guy is just Gadoru! How many other things are they taking from Kuuga? Man, no wonder this one is such a winner for me! Anyway, yeah, purple guy doing a Rider Kick being like, the biggest deal for some reason, that was great. I'm a sucker for everything going on there, right down to getting to see Sasword fighting at night again, which feels weirdly nostalgic at this point.

It's just a fun episode that feels good to watch? There's heavy endgame drama all over the place, but it doesn't have the sort of suffocating sense of the tension being cranked way up that often comes with that. It IS more tense, but the nature of Dark Kabuto's personality especially still lends it a kind of looseness that fits the show very well. It's dramatic without being overbearingly so, and I loved that balance.

I find friendly villains to be my absolute favorite on Kamen Rider. I have incredibly fond memories of Hipster Dad on Build, in the midst of his heel turn, giving Sento a pep-talk? I always think of stuff like that as the smarter way to go, negating a lot of the righteous indignation a Rider can get up to and creating, like, cognitive dissonance. Even when Another Tendou's vowing to destroy Tendou, he's so upbeat and sunny that I'm maybe rooting for him? A little?

Anyway, fun stuff.

I gotta tell you, I like the simplicity of Dark Kabuto? I'd known there was a Dark Kabuto way before I watched the show (little bits of info you pick up as a fan of the overall franchise through figure listings, what's up Ohma Zi-O), and even if it's never said on the show, I know that's his name. It's a good, straightforward name.

But!

Who am I to refuse a punny portmanteau? (I spent most of last episode kicking myself for not calling the second Tendou "TenDos" back when he first appeared, but it's a name that really only works if you say it out loud. Dose, not Does or Dooes.) So let's see what we've got for Kabuto's dark reflection:

-Dark Kabuto
-Kabizarro
-KabutOHNO
-Happy Kabuto
-Kabutwo

If anyone has a good alternative, let me hear it!

Yeah, it's definitely a story that sort of needs an earlier version of Kagami, one where he's more committed to taking out Worms than he was before. It's something the show in general vacillates on, how much Kagami is looking for the humanity of the Worms/Natives. Some episodes it's a huge part, here it's like he forgot he ever cared.

If I'm being generous to this episode (in a way it hasn't earned from me), I could say that Kagami's regression is a result of him feeling frustrated and let down by his dads, and that causing him to be less empathetic to his enemies. He's not really feeling like he wants to make himself vulnerable right now, you know?

I might've just been pissed off at this episode, and that's why the KickPunchSwordHopper stuff didn't work so great. But, really, I think it just got a little too cartoony, too unimportant? It's not really doing anything for anybody in the episode, to the degree that Tendou forgets to fight Yaguruma in the end. It's funny, but I wanted it to feel more necessary. It is definitely not that!

To the Hell Tofu thing, that's just Yaguruma going hard on his branding. His whole thing is working incredibly hard to make it look like he doesn't care, so him boasting of a tofu recipe that the Devil himself created to torture sinners with flavor that made babies cry in terror or whatever, that's just a nod towards how much of an act Yaguruma is always putting on.

It's weird, how my brain can split this episode so cleanly into Good (Tendou! Another Tendou! That Kagami Speech!) and The Rest. Like, Tendou's struggle against Another Tendou and his goal of saving Hiyori is so outside all of the ZECT/Worm stuff in this episode, and maybe that's why all of those ZECT fights feel so irrelevant? Like, the emotional stakes of this story are Tendou Needs To Save Hiyori, and that's such a big story that anything else is going to feel like filler. (It doesn't help that no one seems to know what the Worms are after, beyond some fears around them getting to Rider R&D.) I wish the show had found a better way to intersect Tendou's story with ZECT's story, especially here in the endgame.

Japanese language puns are usually something I don't find that funny (I don't speak/read Japanese!), but that Renge stuff is pretty great. She's perfectly paired with Tsurugi in these jokes, with her confidence over a clearly mistaken recipe finding purchase in a man who will stand at the top of not understanding how food works. They are my OTP on this show.

Also, Renge's complete inability to get an order right works to explain why La Salle is always so empty since Hiyori left. Only Tsurugi is happy to eat the garbage Renge hauls out of the kitchen!

I love this! Great observation.

This has been... I mean, not really bothering me, but it's interesting to note how the show has kind of forgotten about details like that. La Salle is still a kitchen, but it's hard to call it much of a restaurant anymore when the last time it pulled in a decent crowd was back when Tendou flexed his ZECT authority to make all his underlings eat there.

I presume we as the audience just happen to be seeing all the times it's only the heroes hanging out alone there, but it's weird to think how much emphasis stuff like Tendou and Kagami not wanting to speak out loud about Rider Business in there used to get compared to how it is now.

I find this is sort of a trend in a lot of toku shows, where once the plot starts ramping up toward the end, less attention is paid to the little things that helped create a sense of atmosphere for the world at the start. It's never really a problem (it genuinely does not matter to episode 43 of Kamen Rider Kabuto if someone was eating at La Salle or not), but it's an observation I have.

Don't worry, they're going to move on to stealing stuff from Black instead very soon.

so if rx is the child of the sun does that make tendou koutarou's dad

i thought about this the other day and now it's really bugging me

I think some of it isn't so much down to forgetfulness or lack of interest in the details, but for how a lot of the world-building of the early acts becomes unnecessary later on (everyone knows who everyone is), as well as for how the relative smallness of the early-going could feel incongruent to the massive stakes of an endgame.

Like, one of the things that drove me crazy in God Speed Love was how bustling La Salle was in the face of imminent/ongoing global catastrophe. That warmth of a busy French cafe, I don't think it works great when you're trying to sell This Is The End Times to your audience. Not that you can't have lightness, can't have humor (you definitely should!), but... you can't have normalcy. Having Tendou worry about his secret identity or Kagami need to pull a shift bussing tables while ZECT is getting slaughtered and Tendou feels the walls closing in... I don't feel like that's going help the show, tonally?

NO SPOILoh wait, it's just Showa stuff. Carry on!

Oh don't worry, I'll go into detail when we get there. It involves both breakdancing a very late-80s tracksuit.

I've literally seen this show before and I genuinely can't tell if you're being serious here. I'm not sure what exactly that says about Kabuto, but it probably says a lot.

I am being serious, but I'm describing the original Black episode.

Although I could also guarantee that, if it came up, Tsurugi would totally be the man who stands atop the world of late-80s tracksuits.

I am now retroactively disappointed the episode where Tsurugi trades in his clothes to fit in with the shoMIN didn't include an entire wacky fashion montage of him trying out different looks before landing on "small child". They should've cut out Hyper Kabuto's debut to make room for it if they had to! :lol

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 44

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto44a.png

This is one... I liked where it ended. I did not love how it chose to get to that end.

Like, there's half an episode before the two people who know Hiyori best in all the world go Hey Maybe She Wasn't Being Honest About Her Feelings. I know she's been gone for a while, but hiding behind isolation and pushing away the people she cares about is kind of her thing! It's her go-to move! She always needs you to fight for her!

So, yeah, the slow realization that Hiyori is maybe not thrilled to live eternally in Heightened Contrast Dimension with a cheerfully obsessed duplicate of Tendou... just not a great part of this episode. And having the thing that makes Kagami figure it out be Sasword taking a hellacious beating (that, once again, Worm Widower just wanders off from instead of finishing the job) and then going Bravery WAIT THAT'S IT... again, not thrilling me. Not that clever of a plot.

But, man, a pretty great second half, right? I thought it was.

Having Tendou go off to convince Hiyori to come home while Kagami just gets his ass kicked forever, that's those guys! That's how they operate! Tendou is the one who figures out the way to win, the secret to victory. Kagami's the one who never quits, absorbs the punishment, supports his friends. If the strategy depends on those two acting that way, there really is no chance of failure.

So much of the second half of this episode, it's like the fan-service version of heroism. It feels like there's no way there could be five more episodes, because everyone in this one is at Maximum Rider Power. Tendou is giving speeches to Hiyori to welcome her home. Kagami is holding off an entire army by withstanding non-stop attacks. Tsurugi is seeing Misaki as a person, not just as an ideal. Kageyama becomes TheWorst again, just long enough to embarrass himself. And Yaguruma remembers that Looking Cool In Front Of His Underlings is his main motivation for doing literally anything ever.

It... it is wall-to-wall awesomeness, and I can't imagine where you go with any of these characters afterwards. Show's over!

Well, I suppose we still have Another Tendou out there to deal with, don't we.

High point in the episode, hard to say it's not Tendou's speech to Hiyori. She wants to feel safe, sure, but she wants to feel like she matters; like she belongs. Another Tendou is offering her someone who's there for her constantly, unflaggingly. His whole world, literally, is just her. She doesn't need to feel like an outsider, or like she doesn't have anyone who cares about her. How can Tendou compete with that offer? How can he give her the same attention and love that Another Tendou can?

He can't, obviously. He can't protect Hiyori at the expense of everything else, because the isolation and emptiness of the Heightened Contrast Dimension is the horrifying conclusion of that vow. Tendou protects the world, but he's also protecting it for Hiyori. He wants her to be happy, and that can't happen in a world where she's locked away, seeing herself as broken. She needs to come back to the real world, where Tendou and Kagami can be a part of her life, while giving her room to fill that life with hopes and dreams and everything else she can't have with Another Tendou. It's not about keeping Hiyori safe from the world. It's about making the world safe for Hiyori.

I really like that, the balance of it. It's a subtle shift from Tendou, a combination of his brain (The World Revolves Around Me) and his heart (Hiyori Is My World). It feels, like everything else in the second half of this episode, like the end of his journey. He's rescued Hiyori, but not at the cost of rescuing Kagami and stopping the Worm assault. He did it with honesty and empathy, not manipulation or arrogance. It's as clean and clear a victory as any hero ever got.

Which is why Another Tendou is here to tear it all down.

A QUESTION

Just a billion big-ass hero moves in this episode. What was your favorite heroic moment?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto44b.png

This episode, there is so much good in terms of the riders acting like heroes it’s so hard to decide a favorite as all of them ate running on all cylinders

For a series where the title character is an arrogant jackass, so much so that the previous episode had characters sussing out a Tendou imposter because he was nice and generous, and nearly every other Rider is introduced as an overly-competitive lunatic... here's this episode, where they're all working together (-ish, I mean: Kageyama) to detonate monsters and hold the forces of evil at bay. Such a fun surprise, you know?

that's my point, Tsrugi has been friends with the main cast after fully sliding into being a goofball while befriending Ka GAAA Mi so that's a given but the hot topic riders deciding to join in on the fun with Kageyama getting to try to redeem himself before remembering he's a failure and can't work with non edge lords. and Yagaruma getting to showboat and help Tendou save the day in a triple rider kick, one of the most iconic scenes in the endgame of the series

this 2 parter is probably one of the highest points the 2nd half of Kabuto has and I can even explain away them taking half an episode to figure out Hiyori might be lying, as it's been a good few months since they last saw her and she had 2 major revelations shatter her world view before being trapped with a major Simp who has her supportive friend/brother's face

https://i.imgur.com/JXE7SBF.png

I mentioned way back in this thread that I've started to make a habit out of pouring over the Japanese Wikipedia pages for Rider shows, which are a veritable fountain of great information. I read Kabuto's right around when this thread started, naturally, and this quote from Tendou, which is mentioned under Hiyori's summary, has been stuck in my brain for just about this entire rewatch.

This will be tricky to explain right, since its so personal, but it's kind of been the symbol of this whole endeavor for me. I just... something about those words struck me immensely. I thought that was an absolutely wonderful encapsulation of Tendou's motivations, perfect in its simplicity. I adore how small a scale that puts things on – how humble it is. Tendou just wants to protect the world because the people he cares about live in it. It's basically everything I want out of a superhero story in one sentence?

I've also touched before on how Kabuto's whole creative conception was about creating the strongest Rider. It's reflected in things like the premiere's title, or how many early ads for the show called him a hero who was the "real deal". I think what specifically they meant by that is a bit of an enigma, maybe on purpose, but when I first saw that line again, I almost started to believe the hype. Here was this quote I had completely forgotten, from a show I've left buried in the back of my mind for years, and I found it such a beautiful sentiment I'm now probably hyping it up way too much.

But like, it got me hyped. If Kabuto could have just a simple line of dialogue I loved that much merely reading it, what other gems might be waiting to be rediscovered? How many great moments and episodes had slipped my mind entirely? I held that quote up to myself as this beacon, reminding me how great a decision it actually was diving head first back into this show now this way. I knew it was a line from right near the end of the show, too, which made it all the better. I'd get to watch most of the show, with those words in mind, reevaluating Kabuto as I finally, inevitably, worked my way all the way back to this moment with Die.

And I gotta say, this episode kills it, man. I mean, WOW is this ever a good one. Do you know how many other great lines Tendou alone has in this one? His hero energy is off the charts here, even taking the time to elaborate very poignantly that he defeats Worms not because they're monsters – because of the circumstances of their creation – but because of their actions, mercilessly stepping on people's hopes and dreams, which is about as Kamen Rider as you can get. Like, I suddenly understand why Yonemura has written so many crossovers and anniversary things now! And that's this episode all over the place. Kagami, too, is just amazing, cementing his strange but unbreakable bond with Tendou by showing some classic heroic grit. They straight up bump fists when splitting up to handle their respective problems!

This episode is so awesome, you guys. It's even the one with the Triple Rider Kick from the main duo plus KickHopper, which seems to be a rather iconic moment. It is just winning moment after winning moment here. It is... yeah, Maximum Rider Power. It's that. Leave it to Die to sum it up better than I could hope to. I'd love to do some complex analysis or whatever, but all you need to know is just how undeniably cool this one is. You'd have to be made of stone to not find at least a little excitement somewhere in there. You're certainly spoiled for choice in those 24 minutes.

The only thing this episode is missing is Tsurugi trying to help KaGAHmin rescue his friend and constantly misremembering who she is because they barely had any scenes together.

"KaGAHmin! Let me help you rescue your friend Hiyori, the opera singer! I will be the man who stands at the top rescuing performers!"

"What? No, Tsurugi, that was Reina. Hiyori is Tendou's sister."

"Of course! The one who fed me takoyaki while I was at my lowest! I will help you rescue her, to repay her noblesse oblige! I will be the man who stands at the top of repaying debts!"

"N-- no, Tsurugi, you're thinking of Juka. This is the girl who works at La Salle."

"Renge, the master chef, is also Tendou's sister?! What a family of talented cooks! I will help you rescue her, and be the man who--"

"OH NO TSURUGI LOOK MISAKI IS IN TROUBLE... aaaand he's off. Phew! Crisis averted oh hell he was just almost murdered"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kabuto/fistbump.png

He's so good in this one. If I can call out my favorite touch, it's how vulnerable he makes himself in this episode, pretty much across the board. He is begging Hiyori to come back home. He is wrecked when she leaves. He's resigned to defeat when he thinks she's going to stay gone. He tells Kagami that he's an invaluable partner. He admits that he's not perfect. It's an episode that equates Kabuto being the most heroic he's ever been, with Tendou being the most human he's ever been. I really love that connection the show makes.

Daw~ You're an interesting fellow too, Die.

It's such smart writing, isn't it? Kinda nuanced and clever? And here I was, assuming every episode of this show centered around some dumb ghost story or the nonsense logistics of ZECT's prototype armaments this whole time.

Oh, don't worry, this episode still had the Worms attacking a base for some reason (they're after the Masked Rider System?) that gets one line of Tendou saying Yeah That Would Be Bad without anyone ever explaining why exactly it would be worse than an immortal Worm general who can mimic Rider finishes and is backed up by an infinite Worm army.

It ain't all insightful character-based storytelling and memorable dialogue!

I'm going on the assumption it's a desperation attack to ensure that ZECT can't make any more riders going on the assumption that the data is only in the one location

Hell that's the way you selvage the previous 2 parter give a reason losing the final prototype is a bad thing. Make it clear they have no development data due to them keeping all data on their major projects in one hidden location and that back fired with it destroyed and the staff dead so without the final anti mimic missile it would take them an extremely long amount of time to start from scratch. I mean it doesn't prevent the other issues of that plot but it gives a reason to kill about the McGuffin of the week

So who would win, Bizarro or Kabizarro.

Die, it was located in Area Z. Area Z. That's like, TWO more letters important than Area X! What more could you possibly need to know to understand the stakes here???

Maybe! Any of that would've been better than what we got, which was mostly just It's Important Because The Worms Are Going To Kill Everyone To Get It. There's a tautology to the Worm plot that I don't love?

Fans of gleeful, childlike monsters.

If only ZECT hadn't overly committed their forces to Area Y! In retrospect, that was a bad strategy! As was having 26 bases in a demolished wasteland! When a ton of your employees only work part-time! And you still haven't even replaced the head of your elite tactical unit after you fired him a few months ago! Mistakes were made!

It's definitely not the triumphant return of TheBee. What a tragic and ignominious final ride for what had once been Kabuto's greatest rival (and still is the show's best looking suit). Kageyama was so into it, too; he even changed back into his old power suit. Unfortunately, he's still just complete shit at... well, everything, basically. They really should have given the TheBee Zecter to Misaki. Or Renge. Or Jiiya (where has he been, by the way?).

Honestly, my favorite heroic moment is Yaguruma's arrival for the final showdown with Trench Coat Guy mk. 2. Still deeply in his emo phase, but also showing why he's probably the only truly competent Rider outside of Tendou and Kagami.

But we have Hiyori back, and that's great. Too bad it might come at the expense of Dark Kabuto killing everybody.

There's that moment, when Worm Widower is like Hey Someone's Coming To Help You to Kagami, and I didn't recognize the voice, and I was so hilariously let down when it was revealed to be Kageyama. Like, I simultaneously laughed and thought This Is Going To End Badly. And it definitely did!

I've always loved that, Leather Outlet Store trappings or not, Yaguruma fundamentally doesn't change. His motivation for joining the fight isn't any high-minded ideals or newfound love for teaming with Kabuto. It's just, someone messed with his followers, so now Yaguruma's gotta mess 'em up in return. He's not even really doing it because he likes or respects Kageyama, I think. He's doing it because of how it reflects back on him, and the pettiness of that motivation... it's everything to me.

While I prefer early Kabuto, I cannot deny that this episode wins in both heartwarming moments and having an awesome fight in Area Z which is basically a warzone with an army of Worms.

Kageyama temporarily reverting to his former self as The Bee (and promptly getting beat up like his former self as The Bee) is set up to be some kind of heroic redemption but of course, nope, it's Kageyama after all.

Tsurugi accepts that he should love Misaki as her own person and not a replacement for his dead sister. I feel like I haven't talked about Misaki as much as I should. I thought she was really cool as Phantom Thief Shadow and Tsurugi should definitely acknowledge her for that.

Finally, there's the most memorable scene of Hyper Kabuto using his Maximum Hyper Cyclone to annihilate like a hundred Worms and Cassis Worm Gladius. Seriously, this episode has everything!

Honestly, I remember the finale but most of the stuff that happens between that and this episode, yeah, not much. It feels like this is peak quality for late Kabuto.

Do you pity him like I do? He just seems so broken seeing Hiyori choose Tendo over him. Unlike Hiyori, who despite her loneliness has a lot of people who care about her, the other Souji has been completely alone for so long and now that he finally found someone who made him feel loved, who he could dedicate himself to being a better brother and the authentic Kusakabe Souji that Tendo isn't, Hiyori still abandons him for Tendo which leaves him to be alone again. It's pretty sad, to see how ZECT totally ruined this one man's life and mental state.

Same as you, Tendo convincing Hiyori to come home is such a rewarding moment after her long absence and a return to the status quo with their relationship closer and stronger than before. This arc challenged Tendo as a person, forced him to take a look at himself and realize that Hiyori's previous rejection of him was due to him obsessing over what she "needs" instead of listening to what she wants and how it was resolved with him learning that Hiyori shouldn't just be protected, she should be allowed to have a life as well.

This episode was doing so much challenging stuff, that I think the producers gave themselves a little easy treat by not trying to redeem Kageyama. I don't... I don't even know what a Kageyama Redemption Arc would even look like at this point in the series.

...I mean, other than just dying.

A little less after the final scene of this episode, if I'm being honest!

But, yeah, some. His concern for Hiyori is genuine, and her affection for Another Tendou is as well. He didn't kidnap her or mistreat her (until, y'know, final scene), and his action are pretty well-rooted in his love for her. Another Tendou is the Tendou who doesn't have the responsibility of Kabuto to temper or disperse his instinct to control, his tendency to focus on his own needs.

The episode does this one thing that I really liked and forgot to mention. In the beginning of the episode, when Hiyori leaves with Another Tendou, Tendou drops to his knees in anguish. At the end of the episode, when Hiyori leaves with Tendou, Another Tendou drops to his knees in anguish. I love the symmetry of that, that their reflex is to deal with trauma in the exact same way.

Yeah, curious to learn more about Another Tendou. He's an intriguing villain.

As someone who’s seen this through to the end, oof.

It's a nice attention to detail how despite the other Souji trying to prove himself as the only one who can protect Hiyori and acting totally different from Tendo, which makes sense given their separate backstories and all the extra trauma the other Souji had to endure, he still emotes in the same way since Worms are imprinted on with basic mannerisms from the people they mimic. There are some parts of that person that can't be changed and how he expresses a strong emotion like despair is something we don't see from Tendo often but they have that in common.

I'm not going to defend how the other Souji reacts to Hiyori abandoning him, but like, this is how Tendo could've ended up under the wrong circumstances, without his grandmother to raise him and teach good morality and ethics. The other Souji who has never walked the path of heaven cannot see how his actions are wrong cause all he knows is how he was abused by others.

Another Tendou is a character who's designed to be the opposite of Tendou, and the show gets at that in some really interesting ways.

Like, Tendou is the sun, so Another Tendou is an eclipse, a darkened sun. But the visual of an eclipse is also a black hole, where instead of light, there's just this crushing hunger. And that's sort of Another Tendou, right? He's someone who has this need that's a constant presence in his life. He's defined, solely, by his need for Hiyori. Instead trying to make things brighter for her, like Tendou, he wants to contain her, possess her.

Some of it's... like, Another Tendou's as skilled as Tendou, but he's never achieved anything, never had the possibility of achieving anything. And on a show that's all about achievement and humility, Another Tendou is the inversion of everyone on the show, most especially Tendou. He doesn't understand the value of achievement, of pushing yourself to be better, because his entire conception of himself is that he Cares For Hiyori. In the same way that Hiyori valued her safety instead of her freedom, Another Tendou puts all of his energy into caring for Hiyori. It's a trap, for both of them, but only Hiyori can see that.

Anyway, yes: Another Tendou is a very cool final adversary for Tendou.

One of the things I noticed about Kageyama is that he's a peak sycophant and yes man. as when he was the underling of Yagaruma and Ka GAAA Mi he was pleasant and preached and acted by their ideals while being utterly loyal to ZECT, and while it's easy to write him off as being a complete bastard once given a position of power I feel like part of the issue is him latching onto Mishima as his superior.
As Kageyama is someone who never really has any ideals or morals of his own and instead instead starts acting on the ideals of whoever he latches onto. And while part of his assholery is completely from himself learning he likes being in a position of power, I feel like he's completely aware of how much of a follower he is and why he tries so hard to get TheBee back before falling in with our Hot Topic store come to life. And it's why even when he's become PunchHopper he desperately wants to become TheBee again as he wants to better himself and be somebody that has their own ideals and TheBee represents that illusion that he's more than someone who thrives on violence

True, he does become a lot more... I'm just going to say hopeless, after he falls under Goro's command. Kageyama takes on the shape of whatever vessel he's poured into, you know? He's always someone's project.

I will say, though, that the other part of Kageyama is that he is the first to pounce if someone doesn't live up to his expectations. (Obviously, Goro's the best in every show, so Kageyama never fell out of love with him.) If you aren't 100% the person he wants to follow, that's when he's the most dangerous.

I find that mix of Hardcore Sycophant and Pissed-Off Fanboy both pretty clever, and way too realistic.

I mean it’s also possible to read him as someone who has gone mad with power and resents Kagami from giving up this thing he loves while also being afraid of losing his position of power if he welcomes Yagaruma back into Shadow


But this is one of the highlights of this season , all of the characters are fairly nuanced and open for interpretation DESPITE feeling like one note caricatures at first glance