Absolutely. To be clear, I'm not looking to change anyone's mind. You got what you got out of this story, and I got what I got out of it. My interest is in finding out what those two things are, not in trying to argue my side. We definitely don't agree on this story, but I appreciate you sharing your opinion!

I'm ambivalent about this episode. There are aspects of it that I think worked: Tsurugi deciding to commit suicide by Kamen Rider, him finding a way to lure many (all?) the Worms to their death as part of his own, that beautiful final scene with Jiiya. There are also things that don't: every single scrap of over-the-top pathos with Misaki, with the possible exception of the bracelet bits.

I don't know if there was ever a version of the show where Tsurugi made it out alive. Hatred of the Worms was such a core to his early characterization that I can't see him accepting his true nature to any extent. At the same time, it's a real hard swerve to take the show's biggest goofball comic relief character and turn him into a death seeking idealist in his final episode. The fact that it even kinda works is really impressive.

At the same time, I really do hate that we're going to go through the rest of the series without Tsurugi. It's only three episodes, sure, but his presence almost always elevated the story and I am going to miss him a lot.

Ok, this comes from here:

This paragraph talks about how this is a list of fan-service version of heroism, and you lumped Yaguruma here, with you saying he remembers that looking cool in front of his underlings as motivation, which makes me think you think making yourself look cool is heroic act...

Yeah, but I'm making sure that you know. I won't bring up about this if it's something that you already know and acknowledged, and you intend to make joke of it, like Kageyama as TheWorst for his behaviors, or something new here that I find smart and hilarious while also already knowing Kageyama's whole identity the whole time; Kageyessir. Still though, Souji Kusakabe as a name is probably more meaningful than what people here think, and I want to convey that (roots from what you review about him in ep. 43 though):

Well, she blames himself due to her being weak refers to her being attacked by others like Souji Kusakabe here, and her not being strong enough to fight back, refering to protective Tendou part of him. And with how protective Tendou is to her, I don't think that Tendou will give pushback, he's likely content to act as Hiyori's protector, and it's probably not behavior that will make changes for here, as Hiyori blaming herself for being weak is likely about Dark Kabuto attack, the one that is about power as it's a Rider against someone who at least in human form doesn't possess strength (KOed by Kageyama in human form)?

And Dark Kabuto, shows the consequence of love in the worst way of him actually putting what Tendou threatened Kagami for before to actual work (destroy all living beings for Hiyori), which is why I judge character's morality more on what they do/or will do to people less related to them like strangers or civilians, I think caring about friends and/or family (the latter for Souji Kusakabe) won't necessarily cut it (if they would care, apathetic, or cruel to others; overall).

Well yeah sorry for the objection, and I know you said you don't care about this part, but if you claim that you want to be fair, then for this part, random Worm assault is only typical Inoue, but for another part, Worm assault is whatthemotivesbetweenwormattacks, that's double standard? And like from before Tendou is more open about teamwork now, with him more openly accepting Kagami before. The Worm being everywhere is again, Cassis Worm's work.

OK, like what this episode pointed out, Misaki doesn't seem to find Tsurugi changed at all, but she warmed up to him regarding that (though I think the main reason of this is from Tsurugi's genuine love for her in ep. 44 for shielding her to near death), even declaring "Misakinu" is ok, soo... could it be that, it's not Tsurugi's fault for him having lack of boundaries and that to put them on equal status which you're interested more, it's Misaki that needs to change and realize that Tsurugi's behavior is appealing? I know that previously, following Tendou's advice, Tsurugi changes to see Misaki not as his sister, and also properly understanding her more by calling her Misaki, but this part seems to go back to the status quo (one of them inflicted by Misaki herself); he calls her Misakinu again, and he also went overboard in ZECT control that it's only to devote to Misaki alone, which has an objectifying vibe too.

Lol yeah, bonkers stuff, Yaguruma unconsciously trying to seek light again, and now he realizes that he's an antisocial nihilist and acts on it by sealing himself so that he won't act "stupid" again (seeking light like fighting monsters), with the influence of Kageyama himself before, but Kageyama at this time also follows suit to him. What I want to see was that, as a gag, is that sealing himself is giving himself too much burden and it prevents him from doing any activities instead of just "stupid" stuff.

Not counting for how willing they will give you a present, those that will give the best Christmas present is probably Tendou, because he's perfect and the textbook ace, he excels at everything he does beyond the level of professional. Tsurugi is broke now but probably would put faith in him too for what he does, like the luxury bed scene in Bistro La Salle, or his capabilities and luxury vibe like what he gave to Kagami (his house at least).

I agree too that Tsurugi isn't irredeemable and he deserved to live, that you can't dish excessive punishments blindly to anyone that has negative traits (Tsurugi has redeeming qualities as you listed there, although 50/50 for humor part, if he hurts others and don't care about it, then that shouldn't be given free pass due to "humor"), that's just being self-righteous knight templar move, and that to not differentiate between species here where monsters should die and humans should live, no matter which alignments, but still, I wonder, who actually deserves to die?

In reality, Inoue with leash put on by the TV production team. So with Inoue there the TV production team doesn't deserve to be acknowledged and deserved to be dehumanized and treated as just his lowly pawns?! Jokes aside, anyone should practice wise discernment though, like regarding him when unrestrained.

Well, I always bring up tragic backstory in part before, and my point is that some people think if they got tragic backstory, then that villain is completely innocent (you can do whatever you want because of the bad things that happened to them). Also, there are also many who has tragic backstory, but doesn't turn evil, or even better, the root of their kindness. Becoming cold, indifferent, merciless, ruthless is actually a failure against trauma, as well as a poor way to cope with trauma, where people claim it's the only realistic way (and to justify the villainous acts) to process it, but overlook the other way around which exists. Also, it's both figuratively and literally for Kusakabe being a shadow of Tendou's past, it's literally his past, former name when he was a child, before he got adopted by the Tendous, like what I said above, though him being a villain is also probably due to his true nature, which is a spoiler to talk about.

Oh, okay, gotcha. Yeah, I could've phrased that better? Some of it was for comedic effect, where the paragraph starts off listing everyone's positive defining traits and then devolves into Yaguruma and Kageyama's negative defining traits, i.e. being terrible people. (Not to deconstruct a joke or anything.) I definitely don't think Kageyama reclaiming his role as TheWorst, trying to hog the spotlight, and losing immediately are heroic acts.

But, yeah, could've expressed those thoughts better. Sorry for the confusion!

I have concluded that my brain blocked off the second half of this story in self-defense because it made me sad, which is all I really want to say about it. I will also miss Tsurugi in the last 3 episodes.

This made me laugh out loud, though, because it is 100% accurate and I really do not think either Kagami or Tendo would disagree if someone said it to their faces. Kagami might protest for like, half a second but Tendo would just Look at him, end of protest.

This is definitely how I saw a hypothetical scene playing out, where Renge gushes to both of them about how great their teamwork is. A well-oiled team utilizes every member appropriately, and that's just how ingrained the partnership has gotten with Kabuto and Gatack. It's actually allowed them both to reach greater heights of their talents, because Kabuto somehow gets more powerful as Gatack gets more injured. I mean, Kabuto got the Hyper Zecter when Gatack died. This is a pretty successful partnership, as long as you don't measure success by both members surviving/being healthy!

I'm not sure if you mean scenes with Misaki herself, or the couple bits that really hammer in Tsurugi's feelings for Misaki, like the imaginary date (which at least made for a great misleading episode preview!), but either way, this reminds of one more thought I wanted to get out there about this one.

I think Misaki's constant frustration with the plot happening is critical to why I feel the episode works overall. It's pretty clear to me she's meant to be the audience surrogate, essentially giving a voice to all those aforementioned kids who were big Sasword fans (and all his other fans too) by asking all the questions they naturally would, such as "Wait what are you doing Tendou?", and "TENDOU SERIOUSLY WHAT THE F*** MAN". She's not exactly feeling great by the end, even after getting an explanation, and I think that's the viewer's cue that you aren't necessarily meant to be looking at this like it all worked out for the best, or even that Tendou made the only possible "right" choice. I feel like the episode is deliberately shooting for a certain degree of ambiguity, which is one of the things I like about it. Just my perspective, of course!

(I will say, though, thinking about it, it's kind of transparent how Kagami, established audience surrogate AND best friend to Tsurugi, needs to be kept at arm's length from the plot the way he is, as though Inoue stopped long enough to realize Gatack's presence would utterly break the climax, but not long enough to realize what that says about the admittedly somewhat forced and/or rushed nature of how the episode gets the narrative where it wants it.)

I see what you're saying, but I feel like Ambiguous is maybe the worst note to aim for in a story that a) kills off a beloved comedy-relief character, and b) asks the title character to execute said comedy-relief character for reasons that amount to He Was So Disgusted With Himself That He Wanted To Die And The Hero Respected That. It... I don't know why you want to take a story that is going to be actively upsetting to huge swathes of the audience (young and old alike! At Christmastime!), and then try and end it with a note of confused ambivalence. I don't know how or why a writer could Both Sides suicidal depression.

There's just not nearly enough thought or relatable emotion put into Tendou's actions to make me think he's got anything resembling a compelling argument in this one, and them potentially hanging a lantern on it by Misaki being apoplectic doesn't excuse some incredibly disappointing story choices.

...is what I would say if the entire middle section of this episode actually happened, instead of being a nightmare Tsurugi had after he ate too much takoyaki during his date with Misaki. It's weird that no one seems to have picked up on how none of the Tsurugi Wants To Die stuff actually happened, considering the episode ends with Tsurugi falling back asleep. It's too bad he needed to go back to France to reestablish his family's dynasty, but I'm sure we'll see more of his romance with Misaki down the line in a V-Cinema or something.

Total bummer that Kagami never got to make a case for Tsurugi in this one. He briefly mentions that Tsurugi should be afforded the same chance at life that Hiyori and Tadokoro have been given, but Tendou just shouts him down and sentences Tsurugi to death, and Kagami sheepishly acquiesces. Our heroes!

I was mostly thinking the scene where he walks into the ocean while ghostly Misaki faces float in the sky and, to a lesser extent, the imaginary date. Those parts felt a little too "let's just do the Yuka and Keitaro thing again!" to me.

Which is entirely fair! I can agree that this is an episode that's wading rather clumsily into territory it probably shouldn't be in the first place. Disgust is a perfectly normal response!

Well thanks for making me want this now, I'll put it was Nazca V-Cinema, on the list of things that I want but will never happen.

Well, sorry about the following replies, but some part would like to talk about objectivity and fairness...

Oh well ok, got it. The paragraph being intended to jokingly devlove, I didn't catch it at all that time, but that did come from confusion of those expressions.

Yeah, and this takes back to something I talked about, protagonist centered morality, a state where everything done by protagonist is always right and the audience is expected to always side with them no matter what (if they do something wrong it's overlooked, but other characters won't get away with same deeds). And other characters being good or bad is judged solely on much they favor the protagonists (if they favor him they're good even if they're nasty otherwise, if they don't favor him, they're bad even if they did nothing actually wrong like being a threat to love interest), rather than their actions as a whole. The one defense I can give is that, actually, this is a rare case where Tendou is hesitant to kill a Worm until Tsurugi convinces him to do so.

Well, for you saying this isn't Inoue, sorry but I have to say that, this part is also Inoue, even if this doesn't sit well, people keeping truths away or not communicating well is something happening in plenty of his stories, to keep the drama going, whenever that part works for you (Faiz) or not. And in this episode, again, now Kagami switches back to thinking that some Worms can live like Tsurugi here after his vengeful view of them back later, and that includes Tsurugi with him also being vocally against him (but not telling) for anything (working with Tendou, dating Misaki). Though to be fair to Kagami, most of the time he knows Misaki as someone who is appalled by Tsurugi. Here Misaki hears about Tendou claiming Tsurugi potentially attacking humans as Scorpio Worm, and I know and appreciate about Misaki declaring that Tsurugi is still Tsurugi, but I also hope that Misaki will also take into account of him potentially attacking humans (not supporting about killing him of course!), at their first interaction Misaki calls out Tsurugi's selfishness.

And I know that self-acceptance is Inoue's thing, but this is also.. Inoue's thing. Don't shill him as someone who can never do wrong (you said that he had his flaws on Faiz thread), while the negatives is treated as nonexistent or not his thing. Characters doing nasty things at the drop of a hat happens in something like Blade Missing Ace or Hibiki 2nd half, but you overlooking that as comedic sociopathy doesn't mean that their behaviors are nullified. He likes to write edgy stuff, and doing it at the cost of throwing storytelling and character development out of the window. It's like he has a checklist of edgy stuff he wants to write and have it as the top priority even above the story and character. Characters will start doing things that is out of character just so that they can do edgy things, story always has edgy twist even if it doesn't make any sense. Flaws aside, Tsurugi is out of character in this episode yeah, probably like any character part, it's arguable like others saying Tsurugi sticking to his goal of exterminating Worms including himself, but to get through that, to have him act outright evil is out of character.

I'm probably not doing this, as headcanoning also gives me the pain of that thing not actually happened for real.

My take on why Tsurugi had to be killed is that as a Worm he has killed at least two people - the real Tsurugi and his sister. While Hiyori and Tadokoro as far as we know never hurt anybody. So Tsurugi was more or less sentenced to death for murder like all the other Worms that killed somebody. But that's just my take on the matter.

who wants some final thoughts on 46 before i forget about it foreverrrrrrr

Honestly, I'm not even against Kagami keeping it to himself! In retrospect, he was 100% right to! Tendou definitely would've wanted to kill Tsurugi earlier if he knew!

What I'm against is that, for all the valid reasons the show could've gone with for why Kagami hid the truth from everyone (friendship, hope for rehabilitation, fear of consequences, saving it for Tsurugi's next birthday), they went with none of them. Kagami shrugs his shoulders at why he kept it to himself, and mostly hangs Tsurugi out to dry. That's the part I had a problem with.

That's definitely Tendou's argument, but it's one I don't have a ton of interest in? Narratively, it presumes a level of intent for Tsurugi's actions that just aren't borne out. He's, as a character, created after the death of the original Tsurugi. He doesn't have any memory of the events, and he finds the results so abhorrent he can't live with himself. To basically sentence him to death for something he, technically, never chose to do... it's not justice, it's a death sentence. It's not protecting anyone from anything, it's doling out vengeance. Tendou isn't a hero, he's an executioner.

I mean, I'm not disagreeing with what you're pointing out, but it's something that eliminates so much nuance of the situation, as well as ignoring Tsurugi's pain and humanity, that it's tough for me to view it as anything more than a cop-out.

I feel like this didn't have to be this way. The worm that was there was subsumed by t Tsuragi's personality, he might share a body with the worm, but they don't share a personality. This is a thing I feel like Kabuto has lowkey been dealing with, but not fully addressed is, we kind of our are memories and worms having the memories shift who they are. I don't think this is a major theme in the show, but also I haven't been watching.

My take take has always been that Tsurugi was putting on an act and was fully in control with none of the worm influencing his actions to ensure that as many worm were killed as possible before committing suicide by Rider and Tendou had a hunch hence his hesitation once the hyper zecter is broken out. but at the same time Tendou can't be absolutely sure this is the case is prepared to kill him. With my assumption being that considering something he does later on and his protection of Hiyori if Tsurugi was willing to continue living as a human he would try ensure it happened, but when it became clear he wasn't willing to live as a worm beyond this he reluctantly did the deed that was his worst case scenario. Especially considering we have no clue in his attempts to provoke Tendou into killing him if he would of attacked Misaki.


Regarding Kagami I always felt that he was attempting to save face while being unable to articulate the actual reasons why he never told anyone, as if he was able to articulate them he would of brought it up.

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 47

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto47a.png

So, let me start off with the one thing I really liked from this episode.

Kabuto’s blowing up Worm Detectors, and ZECT has sentenced him to death. (Because this is now permanently a series where people sentence other people to death.) (Last one, I promise.) Kagami has been given the duty to take Tendou out, and he accepts. Misaki, furious, wants to know how Kagami could possibly agree to kill Tendou. Kagami says that he’s doing this because he believes that he’s the only one who could resolve this situation without killing Tendou. If Kagami goes to him as a friend, he can get Tendou to tell him what he’s up to, what the real plan is. Kagami is taking this job because he knows he can defuse the situation.

It’s a very nice touch. It’s not Kagami being conflicted, torn between his friendship and his responsibility. It’s Kagami knowing Tendou well enough to know that there’s some multi-level plot that’s just kicking off, and it’s time to find out what it is. It’s genre-savvy, but it also speaks to their friendship, how they’ve changed and grown over the last four dozen episodes. This isn’t Episode 3 or something, where Tendou acts like a superior asshole and needlessly escalates situations because he doesn’t trust the people around him and plots are mostly just waiting for all of Tendou’s actions to be given the proper context…

…

…

...okay that’s exactly what’s happening here.

I guess the tip-off should’ve been the flashback to the meteor strike of 1999, maybe? This is an episode that feels weirdly, frustratingly regressive. There’s even a scene where the ZECT In A Van team meets in an empty office! And Tendou poses with his Zecter while backlit by a blazing sun! It’s definitely trying to evoke the early episodes, but I really wish they’d opted to keep those references to a surface level.

Just, man, Tendou is back to being his opaque, obstinate self, and I am grinding my teeth in frustration. We’re left with a conclusion to this episode where Tendou either has a long-term plan he’s not letting his friends in on (which is something this show largely grew out of a dozen episodes ago), or he’s just being a mercurial prick that gets Renge shot. I don’t love either of those choices! Those are both bad plots to follow through on!

It’s not a fun feeling, to watch an episode like this. There are only two more Kabutos left after this one, and that’s it forever. You want to feel like everything that’s happened has weight, that the journey you’ve been on with these characters has forged them into heroes that are finally equal to the task of saving the world. Instead, I feel like none of it has mattered? Literally everything in this story could’ve taken place in the first ten episodes, character-wise. (I mean, we’ve got more powerups, but that isn’t really the sort of progress I’m looking for.) Tendou and Kagami share basically no screentime, and when they do, Tendou’s being a dismissive asshole. The Worms are as disorganized and character-less as ever. There’s a sweet scene of Tendou and Hiyori cooking, but it feels like you could’ve done this one right after the flower show episodes. (Also, Hiyori was briefly hospitalized after being attacked by Another Tendou, and it’s never brought up once. Amazing!)

It… nothing in this episode felt like I needed to watch anything after the first two. Like, I could’ve skipped the last forty-four episodes, and probably been almost entirely unsurprised by what happened here. (Another Tendou would’ve been a bit of a question mark, but he doesn’t do more than have an admittedly cool fight with Kabuto, and then get snapped up by Goro. There’s no character work done with him.) If anything, I'd've probably liked this episode more, because it'd've felt like I hadn't missed a single story beat. That feels not great! Everything in this episode felt like a gigantic reset, and it bummed the hell out of me. I was looking for a sense of all these episodes being worth something to the characters, a journey that’s reaching its conclusion. Instead, it’s a bunch of characters acting like nothing that important happened in the last year, and that sucks.

Hoping things turn out better next time!

A QUESTION

At least Clock Up is back! The Kabuto/Dark Kabuto fight is genuinely great, with an emphasis on tactical combat and predicting your opponent. It’s not visualized super great (it’s both Tendous thinking of what they’re going to do in words instead of in actions), but it’s tense in a way that not every fight gets to be. How’d you like this fight? Too short? Just right?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto47b.png

My favorite part of this episode happened near the start, where Tendou has dusted off his routine of bringing in food to La Salle and demanding that Hiyori cook it for him. Hiyori immediately complains. Like you said, it's definitely a throwback to earlier Kabuto, but it's a specific character dynamic that's been absent since Hiyori originally left and it's so good to see them back together again, Tendou being an arrogant jerk and Hiyori passive aggressively snarking at him. I have missed this so much.

I agree about Kagami and Tendou. It's nice that Kagami knows Tendou well enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, but really frustrating that Tendou isn't willing to let Kagami in on what he's planning. It really does feel more like their early dynamic, just with the addition of Kagami having the Gatack powers.

I do remember the Kabutos fight from my first time through the series, specifically the bit where Tendou is able to predict what Another Tendou would do because it's something he would think of. The fight didn't take place where I thought it did, though. I was sure that this confrontation happened in or around the vague pocket dimension Hiyori was living in when her actress wasn't available. I may be thinking of something from the next two episodes, but I'm pretty sure this was the fight.

At any rate, this episode has me very excited for the next one. Not because of anything that Tendou or Kagami do, but because the plot is going to give me a chance to discuss where this whole necklace plot originally came from and how it played out back in the day: long, long ago, 20th Century.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1--arKv236I

I think it’s semi hilarious that in this episode, Tendou commits mass acts of terrorism and is declared appropriately dangerous, yet the one the fandom remembers as a criminal is Kenzaki, because of that whole shoplifting news report (then again,t hey also gloss over that Decade’s actions in his second full episode alone would get him 22 years in jail, according to a professional lawyer). Though then, again his is the fandom that holds up Ex-Aid as an example of doing teamwork better than Super Sentai (Ex-Aid, the show where the Riders outright loathe each other and spend more time trying to outdo each other than help each other) and dismiss Gaim as a Ryuki rehash while ignoring that Ex-Aid has even more in common with Ryuki (naive main rider, Knight-themed secondary with a dead girlfriend, asshole with a gun and a more affable assistant as the tertiary, black copy of the main rider, intimidating antagonist who kills other Riders and steals their gear, final boss with time-related powers) and does even less differently than Gaim does.

Think you might be looking a little too much into a funny meme in order to air your grievances, there

That's what's extra frustrating, is that there are earlier elements from the show I'd like to see revisited near the end... but mostly to show how everyone's changed and grown. That's not the case here, where Hiyori's responding to Tendou's over-enthusiasm/controlling tendencies with self-deprecation and mumbled dissent. I mean, it's still a cute scene, but it feels like it's routine at this point, and I know this show, these characters, are capable of more. Everything in this episode felt like senioritis: nothing too challenging, all the stuff we can do in our sleep, one foot out the door.

I'm not going to hit on a lot of that (sounds like you are not an Ex-Aid fan!), but I would argue that the fact that most of Ex-Aid being about characters who can't/won't work together is why it's a great example of telling stories about teamwork. It's a long story about putting aside ego and resentment to find some way towards collaboration. You need the bulk of the show to be about four martyrs trying to jump on the same grenade to get to the point where they support each other and cooperate, have that feel earned. That's the story working as intended!

Yeah, I wasn’t hating on Ex-Aid (I think it’s good, but not great). I was hating on the people who say that the show that has a cast of 9 working together flawlessly 1/8th of the way into a show is worse at portraying teamwork than the show that had less characters doing so 2/3rds of the way in.

https://i.imgur.com/eAW7vFW.png

So here's some more of that Native Nonsense I can actually remember about the show's last stretch. After 46 managed to get some visceral emotion out of me, the epic final trilogy for Kabuto begins with... some weird plot about necklaces that detect Worms? I mean, when Die says this one feels like it could've happened forty episodes ago, that really makes it click for me why I remember not even remotely getting into this one originally.

What I also remember from this one is finding Kagami's regressive behavior supremely frustrating only a couple episodes after dramatically declaring to super tough purple guy that he could never understand the bond between him and Tendou. Like, it legitimately soured my overall opinion on Kagami in the long term a bit. I remembered this very incorrectly! It was kind of a shock to come back to this episode and find that, as Die pointed out, Kagami is very specifically one of the few characters who gets a chance to act like he's had a year of development, only to get totally stonewalled by Tendou, who seems to think it's still January 2006, and not 2007. I guess his New Year's resolution was to go back to his roots as an uncommunicative jerk, for some reason.

That being said, I, uh, do still understand how I came to the conclusion I did. It's the same thing Kagami immediately figures out; Tendou is obviously doing everything he's doing for a good reason. Kagami gets frustrated when Tendou won't say what that reason is. As a viewer, though, not only am I conditioned to accept this kind of behavior from him, I've also been given a reason. When Juka expresses interest in grabbing one of the aforementioned necklaces ZECT is giving away, he spells it out as succinctly as possible – there's nothing more expensive than a free gift. It's as plain as can be that something sketchy is going on with the Natives right now, and as such, even when Tendou is deflecting bullets into Renge, I have a hard time being anything but on the guy's side. I mean, unless we're seriously assuming Kageyama got that fever just from living outside in the cold.

I should probably mention that I kinda loved this episode on a rewatch, by the way? Ordinarily I'd lead with the contrarian bit, but this is also a time where I have the personal history angle to cover, too. I went with that first because it's important to understand where my expectations were at, which might explain why I'm much more pleasantly surprised than Die was.

The narrative issues are still there, but, especially with Kagami vindicating himself, I got super into it and had a lot of fun. Sure, a lot of it is regressive, but it's also regressing to things I greatly enjoyed from the first part of the series? I mean, I have been *so* utterly starved for Hiyori's mumbling naysaying and cool Clock Up fights lately, I found it hard to ask for anything more. And with Ishida directing this and the final two episodes, it's all the better! I thought there was a noticeable sense of atmosphere, of course, with (what felt like) way less background music than normal, which added a sense of weight and apprehension that lent the plot stakes the writing wasn't pulling off as well.

Plenty of smaller, neat touches, too, like an untransformed Tendou dodging ZECTroopers, making the Clock Up whooshing sounds as he does so. I guess maybe that foreshadows his ability to blatantly cheat in his fight with Dark Kabuto by using Hyper Clock Up before even pulling out the Hyper Zecter? Cheating or not, I thought that was a great scene. It's kind of funny to me how Dark Kabuto is such a subversion of the usual evil counterpart trope, being less equal, yet opposite, and more a broken reflection – a sham that could never compete with the real deal.

Make no mistake, though, this isn't a great episode. As a launching pad for a grand conclusion, it's rather inauspicious, and that's an unavoidable hurdle. But even so, it's not particularly dire or anything outside of that. Just... oddly mellow for one of the series' final outings.

Yeah, I think this episode does a real This Is The Finale statement in the opening, when Kagami's thrilled at their inevitable victory and Tendou's waiting for the final shoe to drop. While I partially appreciate the bluntness of telling the audience not to get too comfortable, the fact that you have to tell them because everything else looks the story ended weeks ago (or, in some interactions, never started?), I'm not sure that's something you'd need to do in a better story.

As you said, an oddly mellow tone for the last ever Kabuto story!

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 48

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto48a.png

Oh, man, is this thing getting worse? Feels like it's getting worse!

The biggest bummer for me is how little of what's going on in these episodes feels thematically tied into what the rest of the season has been about. Discussions of xenophobia, of an inability for previous generations to safeguard a future for their children, of allowing organizations to dictate terms to a populace instead of the other way around... I mean, fun ideas, but none of that was really in the last 47 episodes of Kabuto. This show decided to go all-in on a militarized organization of nebulous authority that has mostly been a joke the last half of the series, and it's probably a critical error.

There's plenty of other problems, on a micro/individual level, but the big one is just how disconnected this finale is feeling from the show that preceded it. I made a joke, back on 45, that the producers got handed five extra episodes after 44 and had to come up with more ideas on the spot. That... that might really be what happened, because nearly everything after 44 has been downhill, character-wise. The cast had reached a cathartic end, and then... just kept going? Despite their emotional issues being resolved? So they just forget most of them so another story could be told?

Like, the big fight at the center of this episode is between Gatack and Kabuto, and it just feels so forced, so false, so phony. 44 has this pivotal moment of connection between the two Riders, and here we are in 48 with Tendou throwing away all of Kagami's trust for no compelling reason (now he decides to mention that the necklaces are turning people into Natives?!), leaving Kagami with a burning need to kill Tendou for... reasons? I think Kagami suddenly feels like Worms should be allowed to live? After one speech from Negishi? It's not like the show hasn't had stories where Kagami wanted to protect the odd Worm, but here he's sentencing Tendou to death (pretty much the series theme at this point) for killing Worms, despite Kagami killing dozens of Worms over the length of the show? Hundreds?

It's just such a weird scene, and it still feels unbelievably regressive. This doesn't feel like the Kagami and Tendou who banded together to save Hiyori, or the Kagami and Tendou that kept one another from going too far in the pursuit of justice. This feels like the Tendou who looks down his nose at this other guy's Very Big Feelings, and the Kagami who doesn't trust Tendou's loner tendencies and lack of transparency. It's this series deciding to have a huge Gatack/Kabuto fight in the penultimate episode, and then scrambling to find a way to justify it. I guess it helps if Kagami gets scammed and Tendou takes forever to explain what's really going on!

So, yeah, a huge part of this episode doesn't work for me. I didn't really hate the Kagami solo stuff, since the core of this show is Kagami's Very Big Feelings. I like him trying to help people in a larger way, in a societal way. It's when the show so quickly pushes him into a fight to the death with Tendou, and it literally could've been avoided if Tendou had thought to explain himself (or even articulate his concerns, if he wasn't certain) one single scene earlier, that's when I feel like the show isn't trying hard enough.

Which, yeah, sloppy plotting up and down the show. It's a lot of quick ends and turns that a better show would've checked in on regularly, or possibly steadily addressed over the course of the show. Hey, remember those pills Goro stopped taking 30 episodes ago? Well, he's throwing them away here and becoming a Super Native! (Or are the pills making him a Super Native? I'm unclear! Or uninterested! Or both!) Or, hey, that Negishi guy who has been in two scenes before this episode? He's the series mastermind and a genocidal lunatic! Or, y'know that berserk switch we saw Kabuto deal with literally one time in one episode and then basically no one ever brought up again? It's going to be a huge part of the finale, I guess! Or, what about ZECT being a militarized organization of nebulous authority, who worked in the shadows and could barely pay their employees or keep the lights on? Now they basically run Japan! Oh, and KickHopper murders PunchHopper! And Kagami's dad dies!

It's insane, what this show is trying to do over its final three episodes. I feel like they're trying to do Kabuto Season 2 over 47 to 49. Everything feels rushed and unconvincing, the show is squandering great characters and long-term arcs, and it doesn't even find room for a Tendou/Hiyori scene in the entire episode. (Cute Juka/Hiyori one, though.) If you told me this episode was written a year prior, before the characters had evolved and the show came into itself, it would explain everything. I'm not sure I've ever had a Rider/Rider fight that I believed in less than this one, or an episode with this many name character deaths that I found so ludicrously unmotivated.

Shockingly poor episode, and I'm not feeling great about tomorrow's finale!

A QUESTION

Multiple choice time! Genuinely can't believe that Tendou, the guy who executed Tsurugi a week ago, is letting the guy who assaulted Hiyori just, like, go live his life. Is Tendou letting Another Tendou go because:

a) Tendou firmly/suddenly believes in forgiveness against psychotic Worms as long as they promise not to do it again, despite Another Tendou immediately shouting that he can't forgive Hiyori and fleeing into the night

b) Tendou is pathologically incapable of looking at his own face and not immediately forgiving it

c) Nothing matters anymore, no one on this show is written like they existed before this episode, continuity is a dirty word, welcome to the darkness

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto48b.png

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

Ooh, look, Tendou said the thing! Glad I told everyone about the tagline back at the start of the thread. Yes, the show sure is coming full circle now!

...Maybe a little too full circle?

Yeah, I mean, I wish I could argue about the (not ~particularly~ high) quality of this final arc so far, I really do. It's the episode where Kagami and Tendou fight to the death over differing perspectives! This is the most thematically appropriate possible time for my opinions to run contrary to Die's!

There are some minor points I could address, if I'm feeling extremely desperate. Pointing out that I'm pretty sure Kagami's dad isn't among the casualties list of this episode. Or maybe, like... noting how Dark Kabuto is actually talking about not being able to forgive the Natives, and the Hiyori thing is a mistranslation? Wait, talking about mistranslations? Great, now I'm back where I was 40+ episodes ago!

I did enjoy a lot of this episode, despite how sloppy it is. There are some gems buried in the dirt here, but the lack of cohesion prevents it from reaching any great heights.

Take the Kabuto/Gatack fight, for example. It needs to be emphasized what a huge deal that is, conceptually. Gatack is a very, very special secondary Rider. To this day, he holds the record for latest introduction, nearly halfway through the show, and, rather shockingly, him and Tendou haven't butted heads in any significant capacity since. In an early Heisei show! Sure, that statement comes with the caveat that they basically did that plot when Kagami was TheBee for a week back in the early show (again, full circle), but it's notable all the same. Their relationship had built by that point into something unbreakable, and no matter the tension between them, it never escalated into serious combat.

Clearly they were saving that for a big occasion, but I think they hit a wall figuring out how to break down that trust this late in the game. To the point they probably should've realized we didn't need to see them fight at all. Tendou has to be pointlessly silent for it to happen, and while I appreciate Kagami's shock horror at Kabuto killing Natives, and think his general gullibility is reasonably in-character, it's fundamentally not the most compelling axis for the drama to turn around. There's so much stuff I legitimately love about the duel, itself, too! Kabuto outright refusing to use the Hyper Zecter as a show of respect, especially, was by far the most true the episode was to the relationship between these characters. I just wish it hadn't felt so forced getting here.

I'm going to let Hiyori spending the entire episode literally in the kitchen off the hook, under the assumption that her lack of proper involvement is still the result of unavoidable real world problems. I don't know if that IS the case, but I'll give the show every chance I can. Ishida's gloomy direction continues to impress, once again letting many of the scenes just soak in the ambient sounds of the environments, letting the performances carry the emotion, and of course, by this point, all the actors are giving it everything they've got.

If I weren't so confused by the abrupt resolution to the Hoppers' plotline, I might even find Yaguruma and Kageyama's final scene together touching! Immediately getting negative again, I know, but I remember being genuinely confused what even happened the first time I saw it, so I want to bring it up. Kageyama being all upset about turning into a Native, and Yaguruma's subsequent mercy(?) killing happens so fast it barely even registers. I've barely even had time to get used to them deciding to seek the light, and suddenly one of them is dead. It's a bizarre end point for two bizarre characters, is maybe the most positive way I can put it.

I... I swear I started writing this thinking I'd have more nice things to say? I doubt I need to explain that this isn't generally the way I like to talk about Kamen Rider. It probably sounds like I had some frustrating experience with this one the same way I'm sure Die did, but please refer back to the part where I said I enjoyed much of it. The problem is, now that I'm sitting down and trying to quantify why, all that's popping into my head are minute details and small moments. Quite a lot of them, I'll have you know! ...But if I try to string all that together, it's only going to come out disjointed, rapidly switching from point to point with little rhyme or reason. Essentially, my attempt to praise the episode would only underscore the problem at its core.

So instead, I'll just agree with Die wholeheartedly that there's not a lot to pull from this one. One good thing is how it definitely feels like considerably more of a darkest hour situation than the first part of the trilogy, and, hey, I guess it's kind of a darkest hour for the thread, too? Is that a defense, or am I only making it sound worse again?

The need to get them to this fight... I think it ends warping this entire story in really unfortunate ways? Like, for the story to push these two characters into conflict, the following things need to happen:

-Tendou and Kagami need to be kept apart as long as possible, not counting open conflicts, because if there's even a single free moment, they'll talk about the plot and then they team-up to stop the Natives/ZECT. That means that for basically two full episodes, we don't get any of the relationship that is arguably this show's biggest strength. That tool in the toolbox? Gone.

-Tendou has to keep Kagami excluded from what's going on, non-stop. Tendou takes this entire plot on his shoulders for almost no reason. It's not some personal vow he made, or a thing only he can do. He was in charge of an entire ZECT division! He was pretty good at delegating! To people who owe not that much allegiance to ZECT as an organization!

-Kagami has to get sick of Tendou's bullshit now, despite realizing months ago that Tendou isn't ever the guy to act capriciously. After everything they've been through, Kagami has to choose this weird moment to want to kill Tendou.

-Tendou has to care so little for Kagami that he won't extricate himself from a fight that's mostly down to a misunderstanding and poor teamwork.

It's a ton of massively dumb/out-of-character things, all of which are actively unpleasant to watch as a fan. (It's pretty much two full episodes of the three main characters barely interacting!) And it all ends up being in service of a fight that, while technically impressive (I liked the ZECTroopers actually contributing), is just emotionally incoherent.

This episode! Hooooo boy!

So yeah, we're back into "I don't remember any of this" territory with Kabuto's penultimate episode. All I really recalled was the plot to turn humans into Natives and that Kagayama died (although I forgot that Yaguruma killed him). Forgot the big Kabuto v. Gatack throwdown. Forgot that Kagami Sr. died. Forgot that Mishima was a weird Native and not just a regular Native in disguise the whole time. Forgot that Renge's one scene managed to make Juka and Hiyori's look like a spotlight episode in comparison. Etc.

I'm not a big fan of Kabuto's final arc either. It does make more sense than I remembered, but it also feels like a lot of things randomly happening for reasons that don't entirely make sense.

That said, I don't really want to talk about this episode when I can talk about something much better: Kamen Rider Black!

I think it's fairly well established that Hibiki is my favorite Rider series. Black is a very close second. I watched it after I got through the full Heisei era, though, which means I was able to realize that the Natives' plan to use jewelry to replace humanity isn't new: it's stolen from one of Gorgom's failed efforts.

Episode 9 of Kamen Rider Black deals with a plan by the Gorgom priestess Bishum to kill a massive swathe of humanity through the toxic poison of the Wasp Mutant. Her delivery method? Booby-trapped necklaces.

Of course, Kotaro overheard that a few people had been hospitalized with strange symptoms and immediately suspected Gorgom (which isn't that impressive, really, Kotaro suspected Gorgom was behind everything: "My order of regular fries from Arby's included a random curly fry? Gorgom!"). He didn't actively destroy the necklaces, but he did encourage an ill-fated attempt to get people to stop wearing them.

It's a very similar story, just swap fatal poison for Native transformation and 80s kids in track suits for Zectroopers. The parallels really struck me when I first watched the episode and I find it hard to believe that the similarities are a coincidence, especially with how well-known and popular Black is in Japan.

The answer to your question is the 'its bad writing' gif. At this rate, the next one to be doing any mercy killing will be you towards the show! (As for my own thoughts, they basically echo most of the ones you listed, which is to say that I felt zero emotion towards any of it.)

Also the similarities to that episode of Black is pretty quirky! I think if Kamen Rider Black were in this show, he would have gone after ZECT believing it to be a Gorgom operation.

In all honestly, the only thing that registered to me was Yaguruma’s mercy killing of Kageyama. Mostly because it’s why I got into this show in the first place (I got into it from Zi-O). And since this is the last appearance of Yaguruma in the show, he is the only living character who doesn’t get a happy ending. So what better way to send him off than somebody’s fan manga wherein his “have you laughed at me?” gag gets mixed with a character from another show’s “Was that the right time to laugh?” gag.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsNwh7eX...pg&name=medium

Today is Kabuto’s 15th anniversary!

Now having a room to comment here again...

I'm interested too to see where this will go, with Kagami trying to defuse the situation without killing Tendou. And also what I like that he tries to take on the others side, not only being biased to his friend (example that you debated on here like when he was TheBee, the leader of Shadow). Though Kagami being Kagami, either his foolishness or bad luck magnet would've likely fewer chance to succeed here, and he also has been berated by ZECT members previously for making things worse (especially that others now find Kagami's feeling-based decisions charming). And not only those, some audience bash the type of Kagami's solution as naive and advocating murder as the best solution (chilling), but I think this is something that ideal heroes have that is more interesting to follow, it's like more challenging puzzle, how do you solve this without killing (though of course in this case, fighting is as futile considering it's Tendou)? From ep. 18, where you pointed out that Daisuke isn't the one with brains to try killing Tendou (although you say he has a bit hesitation too), Kagami also didn't either, but this is what I meant; those like Kagami would be more hesitant about what to do, or trying to have alternate solution without bloodshed.

There's a new thing that happened here, this is actually a setup about the real baddies in the series.

Probably because Tendou didn't really change significantly? This is what'll happen about someone who is mostly soft only to the family, like Hiyori and Juka (and of course, this episode still displays that, with Tendou encouraging Hiyori to have her full debut as a chef, and him trying to give Juka a deserving present). Or to certain person that has something drawing him in like Jiiya and Keiko. Yeah, to them, Tendou gives the softest moment not unlike the biggest saints of the franchise, but to others? Not so much (well, but I probably find it uncharacteristic for him to act this way to Kagami, Tendou seems to value him more openly previously against Cassis Worm!). Tendou to others is mostly awful, and he doesn't change much regarding that, and previously, he only changes regarding Hiyori to not only ensure that she lives, but to ensure that she's happy too (and fortunately for others, he sets up a goal mainly for it to be safe for Hiyori, but others will enjoy the advantage of safe world too), but not regarding how he'll act to others, where it's shown here about how he regards others, he does what he wants, what he feels necessary, to get the job done, he'll dirty his hands for that, he's a pragmatic hero. What he did against Renge here is similar to Kageyama at Yaguruma's debut.

I somehow at this part, with Tendou becoming fugitive, I had a feel that Souji Kusakabe had a hand on that, ruining Tendou's reputation by doing nasty things. Of course this is also what a Worm was able to do to their victims with disguise ability, like turning Yuki's status to fugitive in ep. 3 and WorMisaki abducting Juka. But well, I know how you feel regarding setups, and this episode is one of them, regarding ZECT and its machinations, and that includes Mishima reclaiming the body of Souji Kusakabe. Also, I think this episode shows something regarding Souji Kusakabe, character wise, everything Souji Kusakabe does, is predictable and readable to Tendou, and thus Souji Kusakabe will never best Tendou. Souji Kusakabe is an inferior copy to Tendou.

Yeah, I had a strict evaluation for fighting scenes especially finishing moves, and this one's what I think one of those that is creative and nuanced. With Kabuto/Dark Kabuto fighting at fast pace, and them casting off together (I only wish that both simulatenously feel the impact of the Cast-Off armor projectiles), and also especially them ascending to high places and fighting on places not normally used to fight like the flying concrete from their collateral damage. And of course the strategy which is completely readable to Tendou, and of course also something I predict for Kabuto to gain upper hand, the Hyper Form of course, Dark Kabuto has no such powerup, so he'll always lose to Kabuto no matter what, the way Kabuto loses is if he holds back. What I'd like, apart from the cast-off impact, is that I'd want to question about Hyper Kabuto's Maximum Hyper Typhoon not finishing Dark Kabuto... it's a finishing move that comes from a Super Form, but it only knocks down Dark Kabuto...

I think some of Die's disappointment might be due to these misunderstandings and that's totally understandable, this episode lacks clarity! Outrageous will be fine and ZECT and the Natives are definitely the bigger target of The Other Souji's revenge than Hiyori.

I can relate to being confused by this episode cause when I first watched it in 2010, I thought Kageyama was unconscious.... Maybe some of that was due to my apathy towards those characters, or 12 year-old me not really getting it back then, but yeah, never registered to me as a death scene. It's nice to hear that other people were confused as well. The fact that nobody even brings it up until [spoiler show] doesn't help.

I feel nothing for Kageyama's death. He doesn't die heroically or villainously or anything like that, he dies like a pathetic loser, which is something he does better than Yaguruma who wishes he could be as much a pathetic loser as him!

d) Tendo feels empathy for The Other Souji and believes that, as a Souji like him, he will find his own way. Not necessarily the right way, but a way that will ultimately lead to justice. Not everybody who lives in the darkness is a doomed character.

That's what I think.

That is fantastic. It's an incredibly Showa plot, tricking people into wearing jewelry that will turn them into monsters. Nowadays, it'd just be an app. Everything's apps! And look where it got us!

Going to be very weird to watch the last Kabuto episode after (a very late) breakfast! Tough to come into some of these finales with defeatist thoughts. Not how I like to conclude a series I spent two months with, you know?

Dunno who the second character is (Sentai?), but it's a good gag! Thanks!

Aw, why did you tell me that? Now I'm going to feel like a jerk for the unkind things I'll likely say about it. I don't want to make a 15-year old's birthday suck! I mean, I will, at any time, but I don't want to.

He did, though! A lot! And specifically towards Kagami! I mean, he's still Tendou, there're limits to his teamwork and kindness (that's why the show could do the gag where Another Tendou immediately gets exposed for not being an asshole), but the show basically just did the definitive story about Tendou and Kagami's bond, about how the Riders can work together to save the world, about how Tendou doesn't need to do it all himself... literally all the things this show decided didn't happen for some reason.

There's a morbid humor to Kageyama's end being potentially preventable (the show hasn't explained if what the necklaces are doing is reversible) as well as something Yaguruma just hops to do. (Pun absolutely intended.) There's no debate or hand-wringing, it's just Bro I Don't Feel So Good into RIDER JUMP and that's it. I honestly think Yaguruma would've executed Kageyama if he'd only had a tummy ache.

Really, it's more a consequence of Kageyama hitching his Rider wagon to a dude who loudly and frequently explains how everything in his life makes him gloriously sad. That is the outlook of someone who is definitely going to "mercy" kill his partner at some point! Huge red flag!

Fair! I'm not sure the show does a great job explaining why Another Tendou gets that pass (especially as he's shown to be reckless, violent, and emotionally unstable: not a great combination for turning a life around) and, say, an unfortunate French noble doesn't, but it's a valid interpretation.

I am so glad that Black took place in a more technologically primitive era. Kotaro and social media would be a terrible blend. He would 100% be the guy on Twitter who thinks that every news event is part of a Gorgom conspiracy.

She's Yodonna from Machine Sentai Kiramager. The artist is Redol who draws various jokes for KR and Sentai.

Probably since Tsurugi literally asked to be destroyed and made that his purpose whereas The Other Souji still has business to attend to. Maybe Tendo doesn't want to destroy him before his time is up.

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 49

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto49a.png

I wish I could tell you why I started crying at the end.

It's not a great finale. It does a decent job trying to tie the Native stuff into the series themes, at long last. There're some really sweet moments at the end of the whole cast celebrating their victory. But it all feels Too Little Too Late, with a bunch of plot points that have all the randomness and accidental hilarity of Oh Hey Daisuke Showed Up Again.

The biggest problem this episode has, and that 47-49 collectively have, is that 44 is still the better series resolution. It's just bigger and better in every single way, not least of which for how much it makes Hiyori and Tendou's relationship a central point. They don't even share a single scene in the finale! That is a top-shelf failure, no matter the behind-the-scenes circumstances. It's like this story was a three-legged stool with one of its legs missing. There's some minor balance, due to luck, but it's nowhere near as sturdy as the previous finale.

The one way this episode improves on 44 is that it finally starts to make the Natives feel like they're looped-in thematically with this series. From a very early point in the show, Tendou has been someone who views personal achievement as a societal good. If you improve yourself, you improve the world you live in. Letting everyone follow a path to self-improvement is what he's fighting to protect. Negishi's plan is the opposite of that. It's changing the world to match the Natives. It's robbing people of the chance to be anything more than the Natives, to flatten experience and cut off paths. It's literally everything Tendou's been fighting against, in one villainous scheme.

Beyond thematically, though, I'm not sure there's a ton to commend this plot for? Goro as a final villain is just... I mean, it's Goro, I'm a fan, but he's the definition of a lieutenant. He's the guy you fight before you fight the big boss. Making him the actual final monster, it's like... it is emblematic of every way this final episode is a step down from 44. He's not the mastermind, he's just some guy who's happy to draft off of whatever scheme puts him closer to power. He's got no ideology beyond I Hate You Guys. He doesn't represent anything beyond an obstacle, a Villain. Beating him isn't like defeating a massive Worm army and a flashy dude who'd wiped the floor with literally every other Rider. Beating him is the end of nearly any forgettable monster-of-the-week story, and it's done on the most boring set imaginable. (Pretty cheap looking, too!) As the absolute final battle between the forces of Justice and the forces of Evil, it feels regrettably small, no matter how long the actual fight runs.

Which, yeah, feels a little padded? For an episode? It's really only three parts: Kagami leaving the hospital, the fight at the TV studio, and the epilogue. Nearly anything else just gets a token reference, nothing the episode really wants to spend a lot of time or effort on. The Dark Kabuto/Negishi stuff is the biggest offender, where Another Tendou only wakes up long enough to pull Negishi into an explosion that kills them both. It's yet another plotline, Another Tendou, that show just seemed to lose interest in after 44. He only says a couple lines and then explodes. Afterwards, the Riders send their Zecters away and finally relax.

Everything after that last explosion... I mean, yeah, I loved it. It is pure fan-service. It is the dessert after a 49-episode meal. (I adore how much the epilogue is about food. Nearly everyone gets a job related to food! Those are my favorite types of Kamen Rider jobs!) It's a pretty great ending, one that not even the redundancy of 47-49 could dim my enthusiasm for. Tadokoro becoming a super weird soba chef. Misaki running the Discabil business in Japan, since Tsurugi and Jiiya are busy in France. (A shame they couldn't fit Tsurugi into the finale, but, again: busy in France!) Daisuke and Gon, just hanging out because we all love Daisuke and Gon. Hiyori and Juka as sisters.

Is it the Kagami stuff that I find so adorable that it brings tears to my eyes? God, maybe! Him going into a job where he watches over children, protects them... it's not the usual caregiver roles we see when it comes to kids on these shows (teachers, day-care workers), and the specificity of A Cop For Kids is the most perfect idea for what happens next for Kagami. And Tendou going to France for tofu, because of the visual of the Eiffel Tower... it's very cute. It's a simple gag, with Tendou doing half his Tendou Souji speech in French, and then pointing to the viewer as a button, but it's very sweet.

That ending, man... hard to be objective after that! I definitely didn't like these last three episodes, even if this was the best of the three. (That thematic stuff for the Natives bought a lot of my goodwill.) But having a third of the episode be about everyone's future, about Kagami and Tendou being canonical friends... it's nice. It is a very nice feeling to end this show on.

A QUESTION

Essay question this time: Why didn't Tendou run into Tsurugi when he was in France? It would've been the perfect way to include Tsurugi (and Jiiya) into the finale, while honoring the earlier episodes where Tsurugi decides to leave Japan. Did the writer just forget?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto49b.png

Er, I’ll let someone else respond to the question. Instead, I’ll cap off my regular feature for this thread by putting my commented reaction to this finale when I first watched it. (It’s currently got 6 upvotes)

And that’s the last you’ll see of me until the next watch thread. Boy do I not have particularly fond memories of that show (beyond a few hypothetical questions about certain plot developments), but I’ll still be there as a regular.

Oof, sorry to hear that Den-O wasn't for you. But thanks so much for all of your insights on Kabuto! See you in a few weeks!

Den-o is a fave of mine even though I never finished it for some reason. I guess this might be an excuse to finally get to the end.