So here’s the non silly shortened version, near the end of this video.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=abhc1OuL...zRvdwye-ZhI2gn

And from the website, the jingle is supposed to be a pun on both the three users (Izu Zea Ark) and the lack of overlap in the circles on the belt (Is There Arc). There’s also at least three more finishers not shown in the episode: Rifle On Big Bang (which summons the Attache Shotgun), Bullet On Big Bang (which summons the ShotRiser) and Zero-Three Big Bang. The key switches between the finishers by pressing the button a different number of times.

Anyway, as for the episode, there’s probably subtle nepotism in that Kuroto named his new ultimate form Gashat “Hyper Genm Fumetsu”, as opposed to last time, which had the more general use “Hyper Muteki”.

Next time: Evolt and Misora return, Foundation X works with Vistamps, Eyecons and Ridewatches, Kuroto Jesus creates a Tokimeki Crisis sequel in which the mascot gets married, and Zein uses the Geats IX card to access the QB Buster 9 (which probably means that they’ll be releasing the Driver after that episode, since they’ll have shown off Decade-esque cards for Saber through Geats, giving an excuse to make them, and it wouldn’t make sense for him to have a Rainbow Gotchard card in-universe)

Maybe Outsiders was worth it, as part of Kuroto's latest 4th-stage contingency plan to be reborn yet again (No).

And yeah, it's bizarre how Outsiders wats to be this big extended web-series project, but equally seems incapable of committing to a cast for more than two installments. Maybe if there were consistent stakes to the sandbox to dump all the past toys into, or a reason for the constant churn, but after 5 / 7 episodes, it still doesn't feel like we're going anywhere. With Power Rangers kinda dying on its ass in recent weeks, there's been a lot of smug Kamen Rider elitist-posting, and Outsiders is useful in reminding me "Hang on, this is all designed to sell dollies to us at the end of the day".

Yes I will still be watching the Evolt episode, don't @ me.

I sort of can't see them ever releasing the Zein Driver in any recognizable DX form, because it contains tiny whirring blades as the main focus of it mechanism. I mean, you could skip that part and just have a reader for the cards, but then why even release it? It'd be like releasing a Desire Driver that only interacted with pictures of Raise Buckles.

The part I laugh at the most -- in every single episode -- is during the Establishing Stakes recap section where they show off that one shot of the Orphnoch King staring out over the city. They keep reminding the viewer of a guy who hasn't shown up in new footage since October 2022, and never even did anything when he was on the show! That plot thread has never gone anywhere in almost two years! OUTSIDERS!

But, like, yeah: Misora's coming back, they already brought Nico back, and I don't quit shows, so we are going to ride this runaway train of disconnected narrative right off the goddamn cliff.

I kind of imagine a DX Zein Driver will treat the “destroy the cards” gimmick the same as the Zeronos Belt treated its disintegration gimmick: add in a sound, but the card remains intact for future use.

Probably, but that just feels too disappointing to me to try to market.

My main takeaway from these last few pages is that I will never find myself on my deathbed regretting that I didn’t watch Outsiders.

Zein would be horrible at Resident Evil. Just saying. Dude's been wasting way too many good cards too quickly.

That said, I think the most interesting thing that Outsiders has made me realize is just... how much of a unique existence Dan Kuoto is.

Like the thing is, it's never explicitly ever said and while there are flashbacks... just... how much is this Kuroto the Kuroto we've known up to this point?

Like, the original Kuroto has been dead ever since Maximum Mighty debuted. Every other Kuroto we've seen on screen since then is a data backup and even those wildly vary given the one we see in latter Ex-Aid vs. the one from the GoRider stuff. But you can't really say they're the same as the one from the beginning to middle of Ex-Aid because there's some quirks in their personalities compared to the original. We see the one in latter Ex-Aid sort of grow or progress in some ways. Then when all is said and done, he fully goes in Another Ending.

Yes the Ark brought back Kuroto but how much of that was the one from the latter half of Ex-Aid? He makes remarks regarding his past but how much is that him actually remembering it vs. him only having those memories implanted. And we get muddled even further because Gai manages to retrieve Kuroto's data but how much of that data is still intact from the last go?

It's interesting to think on, given no other character can really have this kind of odd growth/progression like Kuroto can with how he's set himself up.

I generally push back on assertions that a show is not worth watching. I've watched a few dozen Kamen Rider series, and there isn't a single one I regret watching. Even the shows with episodes that to this day make me angry to think about (Kabuto Episode 46, my eternal nemesis) are still shows that managed moments of artistry and beauty. None of them are worth avoiding, just because they might not be the best.

Outsiders, though. Boy.

It's just busted on a basic, nuts and bolts, How A Television Show Is Made level. Trying to defend Outsiders as a show -- with its numerous abandoned characters, premises, cliffhangers, storylines, etc., all due to its bonkers production format and scheduling -- is like trying to defend it if the audio wasn't synced up, or they left the lens on the camera. Can you still maybe enjoy a show like that, in isolated moments? Yeah, I guess, but that's really a You problem at that point. I willingly admit that my ability to find something to cling to in this show is more a testament to my mental and emotional shortcomings, than it's a testament to this show's hidden beauty.

Like, this is sort of my point! Kuroto's story in Episode 5 is kind of breathtaking in its scope and nerve, trying to figure out a coherent view of a season-long villain that became a Legend Mascot. It sort of works! But it also feels tangential and accidental; the show backing into this story, rather than steering there over the last couple years. (Kuroto doesn't even show up in the last four episodes leading up to this goddamn development!)

I figured I had to put this somewhere.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GYm2qYna...pg&name=medium

Adding to this, Outsiders looks to be ending with Episode 7 (who knows if we'll push this into a new spin-off series *shrugs*) and Episode 7 is to be released in December.

Good lord, I forgot that there'd be more Outsiders this year. I'll probably get around to Ep 6 (?) in November, and I can't even imagine what a series finale could be like for this show. Will Ouja randomly re-enter the story like he never left? Will six more previous Riders get a spotlight episode that indulges nostalgia at the expense of any forward motion on this plot/"plot"? Will the Orphnoch King be revealed to be Hibiki? I guess we'll find out the answers to none of these questions and less, later in 2024!

KAMEN RIDER OUTSIDERS EPISODE 6 - “LOVE & PEACE AND THE DIMENSIONAL SAVIOR”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...utsiders6a.png

Folks, it’s the holidays, and while there’s historically plenty to enjoy – gifts, loved ones, trying to explain to a child why Lazer was just murdered – it’s also a time of obligations, and having to spend time with people you might normally avoid. This is the time of year where you get cornered by the unpleasant relative at a family gathering, or a coworker’s obnoxious spouse at a work event. So it is with me and my tokusatsu viewing, as I reacquaint myself with the I Went To Bluesky To Avoid Having Conversations Like This With People Like You streaming series better known as Kamen Rider Outsiders.

God knows I remember next to nothing of the preceding episodes, which is probably the ideal way to experience this slipshod and exhausting collection of Special Guest Stars and atomized, hilariously unconstructed storytelling. Every character appearance here was a little surprise, since I couldn’t tell you who formed the main cast of this show, aside from the Orphnoch King. (Love that guy. MVP of this show!!!) Where previous episodes might’ve disappointed me by jettisoning whoever showed up last time for whoever the scheduling gods decreed would -slash- could appear this time, a (blissful) lack of memory left me up to the whims and fancies of this singular installment, and that’s just about right. Outsiders should never, under any circumstances, be watched consecutively. It’s just not built for rigorous examination, or meeting expectations, or sort of generally leveraging its diverse cast in any sort of legible or logical way.

Which is kind of amazing? If you can just stop giving a shit, in the same way this show mostly never did? Like, the scene of the episode for me wasn’t the very cool Zein/Zero-Three fight, even though I love me some Takahashi Shows Fighting Each Other stuff. (Geats Buster QB9 versus Rampage Gatling, yes, I am a tiny child that geeked out over that, I am not immune to the base appeal of this series.) It wasn’t Misora from Build, doing her twenty minutes of filming on a greenscreen and never interacting with a single other character but somehow still managing to imbue a ridiculous plot with grace and humanity. It wasn’t the ZeroLiner showing up for a beat, to release even more nostalgic chemicals in my brain. No. It was none of those.

My favorite scene in this episode was Gai asking Kuroto to help them defeat Zein, and Kuroto saying that he was going to do something else instead and some other characters will probably solve the central problem of the series. Like, that’s it; that’s this whole show. Characters randomly wandering out of the action because they couldn’t even tell you why they were in it before, while people craving some sort of catharsis are left impotently shaking their heads as we never seem to progress anything that would feel like a multi-episode story. When half of Foundation X turns against the other half, or Brain has an entire unseen sidequest but reappears just long enough to get flung into oblivion, that’s all distilled into one scene of Kuroto forgetting what the story is because he’s impossible to corral into a larger narrative. He’s a Special Guest Star, and those guys only work at the speed of cameo appearance.

(I mean, I say all of that, but there’s a 1000% chance that Kuroto’s Tokimeki Bridal game will prove crucial to the defeat of Zein and Evol-X. Which, man, those two! Lame! Henchman Evol and the scientist from Foundation X that wasn’t one of my favorite New Japan Pro-Wrestling guys? That’s what we’re landing on with twenty-odd years of Kamen Rider continuity to play with?)

Beyond that, beyond marveling at the ultimate Outsiders scene being one character telling another that they will not be participating in the remainder of the episode, I thought this was a weirdly straightforward and solid installment of a misbegotten patchwork series. I can only assume that the impending final episode lit a bit of a fire under the production team to try and illustrate some quantifiable stakes and/or consequences, so why not a random combination of Yuuto belatedly realizing that He’s The Baddie and then one of the background guys saying that it’s all about overpopulation(?!). I don’t like or care much what’s being said, but I sort of appreciate that something’s being said? We have two bad guys, we have a few scattered… I want to say “heroes”, but Ouja’s still lurking around, so – “protagonists”? Or “cast members”? Sure, okay, one of those. We’ve got some defined stakes, we’ve got some Kamen Riders, let’s see if we can land this thing in one more episode.

We’re all counting on you, Orphnoch King!!!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...utsiders6b.png

The one where they made a new Gashat that is basically a Poppy power-up (to the point the toy advertises it as such), yet she never shows up.

As for the episode, its two big twists (Evol-X being a clone created by Foundation X and the slightly creepy scientist making so many seemingly apathetic decisions being evil all along) are ones that in retrospect should’ve been obvious, but came as a bit of a surprise. Even Joseph Rando seems shocked.

And we end on the two Rider fanboys meeting each other as our lead in to next time. When that’ll be subbed, I’m not sure (it is 2 days old as of now). But it is the holiday season and that’s where the subbing group who does these episodes tends to do some stuff on their back catalogue.

As soon as it's up (assuming it's up this week) I'll try and get to it. I'd like to have a 2025 free of the Outsiders!

Kuroto treats Outsiders with the exact amount of respect it deserves and I appreciate the man for it.

Call me when Deneb shows up to claim Yuuto.

I'm pretty much expecting it to be, like, Otta from Drive on the ZeroLiner instead, because that's all that they could get for filming.

KAMEN RIDER OUTSIDERS EPISODE 7 - “OUTSIDERS AND THE DESIRE ROYALE"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...utsiders7a.png

(This is because Androzani84 demanded it.)

It’s incredibly funny to me that the linking tissue of this episode, and the main narrative distinction of this series, is that absolutely no one can predict which characters will show up in it at any given time. To sculpt a first act out of YET ANOTHER brand-new character for the event mini-series – Beroba, the best, so glad to see her under literally any circumstances – randomly showing up to try and entice the Legend Assholes to actually participate in an organized attempt to avert an indifferently unfolding apocalypse (I do not think I could explain at this point exactly how Zein/Ecol/a Foundation X scientist plans on punishing all of humanity) is like they got my letters at Toei HQ. It’s a show that understands its flaws, and then leans into them for comedy, before finally giving in and delivering the exciting team-up you’ve always wanted citation needed.

What comes afterwards, when everyone gets to Kamen Rider Fields to battle for the soul of fandom, it’s pretty fun. Like any episode of Outsiders as a single unit of tokusatsu entertainment product, robbed of the ability to remember how we got here, it’s solid enough. A few characters play off of each other in fun ways – the idea of pairing up George, the variably-moral Kamen Rider fan, with Gai, the one-time malevolent prick that is trying to reform into a benevolent prick, is kind of cute. There’s not a ton of interplay beyond that, since we only have about 15 minutes and there are a dozen suits to show off -slash- very few of these actors were on the same set at the same time, but I don’t think anyone who’s made it to Episode 7 of a series that’s managed to stretch itself from its origins in Zero-One all the way to its denouement in Geats is super surprised that none of this really comes together that well. (I love that the Orphnoch King is still here! And he doesn’t do anything! And he doesn’t end up mattering at all! And Beroba completely shits all over him!!!) We’re here for a team that doesn’t talk to each other, in service of a battle they don’t really care about, in a formation that actively resists coherence or logic.

And that’s kind of great? The bit at the end with the DGP crew (my favorite part, everything should be Geats media from now on) waxing philosophical about the ways morality and action aren’t necessarily the same as cause and effect was maybe overstating things, but I do think a project like this, as misbegotten and haphazard as it was, says something insightful about how massive the concept of Kamen Rider can be. It doesn’t need its protagonists to look or behave a certain way, as long as they're there to fight against evil and protect people’s freedom. The way that gets done, and the intent behind it… that’s sort of up to the individual fan, and that’s totally fine. Outsiders was mostly fan-service bullshit to me, but maybe it wasn’t to someone else. Maybe this was everything they’ve ever wanted in a Kamen Rider series. That’s sort of great, you know? I want that. I want these shows to find their audience, even if that audience isn’t me. I like that the show full of misfits ended up fighting for misfit shows. That’s a good note to go out on.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...utsiders7b.png

My favorite part is Tachibana doubling down on making terrible decisions considering his insistence on becoming Zein

I’m guessing the reason we get a few alternate Zeins in the final battle was because someone realised that having 11 vs 2 was comically lopsided in the heroes’ favour, even with Zein’s versatile power set. And it allows them to show off the Ryuki Survive, Kiva Emperor Form and OOO PuToTyra Combo powers. Of course this leaves it a mystery what the Kuuga Ultimate Form, Agito Shining Form, Armed Hibiki, Den-O Liner Form, Decade Complete Form, Double CycloneJokerXtreme, Gaim Kiwami Arms, Drive Type: Tridoron, Ghost Mugen Damashii and Build Genius Form powers were, but the toy is our friend there.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wi2ivIxt...eI3ni2ho2PFhwu

But the real highlight of the episode, beyond George apparently deciding to check out Gai in an uncomfortable area, is Beroba’s montage of failing to gather the Outsiders (or as one poster at the TV-Nihon forum put it, “Beroba handing out invites to her birthday party”). It’s just so abrupt that it becomes surprising when everyone decides “on second thought, let’s do this thing some of us agreed to do in our focus episodes”.

And there are only three relatively minor questions left over, which is good, since they are things you can apply what TV Tropes calls “fan wank” to them.

1. Did Joseph Rando die when Ziin detonates Evol-X?

2. What unfortunate souls in other universes sold their souls to become Zein’s meat puppet? (My poor track record of recognising voices made me think one of them was Taketora, which makes way too much sense)

3. How does Ziin-Gazer’s gimmick work with Raise Buckles that don’t provide a conventional weapon, like Mosnter of Boost Mk II (Bandai says, “Find out for yourself”).

And to close off, let’s not mince words. We know why of all the Riders, forms and weapons to summon with Grand Zi-O, Ecole chose Hibiki to battle Zeronos.

Outsiders is a goddamn mess... but I still enjoyed my time if I'm being real.

I'm a simple man, so getting back all these characters and trying to shove them into a narrative speaks to my fanfiction author brain. Especially the new forms, oh me oh my the new forms...

When it comes down to it, this episode was basically meant to fulfill spectacle and it really does just that. But it also allows for some good comedy. The scene of everyone rejecting Beroba's invites is great. But it's also cool that they still show up while saying "We're not here cause of your silly game, we're here because we want to be". It's honestly pretty great.

And we just stick with our new status quo unlike what people thought was going to be a desperate struggle where nearly every resurrected villain dies while also killing Zein. Kuroto's alive and actually kind of just chill now? Ark is just deciding Zero-Three is the way to go? Etc.

Best episode is still the Desast and Ren episode (Episode 2) though, like hands down. Gave me Kamen Rider Desast (something I never knew I wanted until now) and just provided some fun insight on a Rider post-series.

The needle for Tachibana vacillated pretty heavily between Misguided Hero and Psychotic Card Collector during his appearances here, which are his two main modes from Blade, and even his final appearance is him being touched and grateful for the safe return of his trading cards. You gotta keep things ambivalent for him! (I seriously cracked up at him saying "Welcome back... everyone" to his glossy cards of Geats IX and Accel, like he had any interactions with those characters ever on screen over the last 20 years. They couldn't even use the Blade King Form card? Or Fourze Cosmic States, as a cute joke?)

No, but that part's actually really great? The one thing you can count on for the Outsiders is that they will actively resist your attempts to include them in something -- they're the OUTSIDERS. The only way to get them to show up to something is to invite them, get rejected, move on to someone else, and then have them all decide to show up anyway but for their own, slightly contrary reasons. That's this whole show!

1. No, but Asakura killed him afterwards for unrelated reasons.

2. Multiple different versions of Daiji from Revice, so that only I would care that they were just killed, and most viewers would celebrate.

3. Find out for yourself.

It's amazing to me that they gave that line to Asakura, whose whole deal is showing up to games to murder people! They're all just being so contrary!!!

Oh, man, is that what people thought was going to happen?! That would've been such a bummer! To do all that work over, like, four years, and then kill them all off at the end? No thanks!