I believe it's a simple reference to how the villains from ToQger were always trying to kidnap people to steal their life/emotions/etc.

From a cursory glance I kinda see it, the helmets for the Donbrothers three definitely use design aspects from the 70's ones.

So, first of all, I love how the show cheats with Inu and Kiji by shoving the helmets right up into the camera so they don't have to render the CGI models. It's completely unsubtle but charming.

I wasn't really worried that this episode would be less weird, but I'm still relieved to see that it's par for the course. I assume that Haruka will, eventually, realize who Momoi is and stop pledging allegiance to literally every other character, but I'm willing to let the show run with this bit for as long as it can. I like that we're slowly assembling the rest of the cast, it's a nice way to give everyone a chance to develop on their own instead of trying to juggle them all at once.

I know we'll never get it, but I would love to spend an episode going into the lives of Momoi's entrance crew. What do they do in their down time? How did they get this job? How many of them are liberal arts majors who couldn't find any other work?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/sen.../donbros2a.png

I love how unhappy so many of these characters are.

Not, like, sad, but unhappy. As a base state. (Sorry, I watched some Fourze stuff earlier tonight.) A lot of shows will have characters that are melodramatically sad, or despondent over a recent development. That's drama, and it's fairly typical. What Inoue does, that I find interesting, is conceive of a character -- and a world -- that starts at Unfulfilled. It's not some bizarre alteration to the natural order of things, or some prelude event which altered the trajectory of human behavior. It's just, like, the world sucks, and it's normal to be sort of bummed out while still going about your day.

If there's a secret sauce to this show's addictiveness, I think that's it. It's easy to look to the bonkers set pieces (THAT FINISHING MOVE) or the recurring gags (I want Haruka to beg for help from every new villain, forever) as what's made this show so watchable, but I think that's the less important part. High-energy is easy, honestly? In tokusatsu? It's easy to shout and yell and have your attractive cast flail their arms.

But it only works long-term if you're invested in the characters, and that only happens if they seem real. Real people are sad a lot, man. They exist in a world that's indifferent to their struggle, and the only hope they have is create a little space to be themselves, along with people of similar interests. (Hello, TokuNation.) Letting Haruka be disappointed in her inexplicable fall from grace, or having Kiji rely on the one good thing in his life so he can weather the relentless shitstorm of his working life, that all feels like real people to me.

And it's a show about real people, all the way through. It's about how the world doesn't care about us, so we better care about each other. It's about how easy it is to miss what we have in favor of what we don't. It's about being honest with ourselves, and with each other, so we can find some help to get through our days. To find some weird joy.

It's an Inoue specialty, that mix of omnipresent unhappiness and hidden, almost stolen happiness. The hours of hardship, to make the minutes of delight that much sweeter.

Good episode.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/sen.../donbros2b.png

Ah! Die's choice of photos reminded me that I forgot to talk about AR Kaito this week, since we got a bit more of him and all.

Ever since the press-conference, I was wondering what kind of angle Inoue would take with this character, to differentiate him from regular Kaito. And the keyword here is.....! Languid, almost to a degree that feels wholly indifferent about everything? Like someone who has accepted the way things are, and doesn't struggle against it. I think its a really nice contrast that doesn't have to dip into "oooooo he's evil now or whatever!" to feel interesting. It also makes for a fun foil to Haruka, our girl on a mission wants to get out of her dreary situation ASAP. Excited to get any future moments at Donbura with these two.

(........Also rude to pull the "full-power non-stop, what're you saying?" bit in Episode 2 of all things, I'm still grappling with the fact that there's not a Zenkaiger episode at the end of week to look forward to! /j)

I literally did not even know this dude starred in last year's Sentai until the very last scene of this episode. Thought it was just some guy!

Bit of a funfact: not only is Kaito from last year, the entire cafe set is a slightly remodeled set from last year too! The sundae Haruka gave to the customer is also a reused prop from last year! Knowing Inoue, it's all stuff that probably(?) doesn't matter right now, but it's really fun to point it out when you realize it.

(Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger is a gift from the heavens, go watch it sometime if you like full-power non-stop silliness lol)

i'm sorry

i only like sentai shows about unhappy people who are struggling against an indifferent universe

they need to be at least this dysfunctional for me to ride

For a normal person, perhaps, but apparently Tarou just can't tell a lie, even a white lie. I can see it his way though, that lying about how old someone looks to flatter them can have a harmful effect, as it enables them to continue to define their worth from something as superficial as their age, which is a condition that nobody except maybe Amatsu Gai can fight against. It's not healthy for someone on the cusp of late-life to still be stuck on their mid-life crisis. Sometimes, the truth hurts to hear, but some people need to hear it and I think the short term problem of Resshaki going on a rampage would have eventually become far worse if Tarou had (if he could have) allowed her to believe she was anything less than the 68 year-old he knew. If you lose yourself in the past, the future will escape you.

Have faith! Shinkenger spared an episode to appreciate their kuroko, after all. Considering how Tarou's thing is the value of bonds, no matter how small, I think it's possible that his entrance crew could get similar treatment, but focusing more on their individual talents than as a group. Don Momotarou is already a bad*ss on his own, but the spectacle that comes from the people parading him in to battle just makes it so much cooler and sells the idea that his fights are like a festival!