That makes sense! The one thing this two-parter nails is all of the cool superhero parts of Kabuto. Cast Off, Clock Up, the best non-Hopper suits... it's all there in these Decade episodes! If there's one show to watch on aesthetics alone in Phase 1, it's Kabuto.

Fun fact: this episode’s worm (whose name I can neither remember, spell or pronounce) actually showed up twice before: Once in the Kamen Rider G short, celebrating 50 years of TV-Asahi (there, his human form was Jiro from Kiva) and in the music video for “Journey Through the Decade”.

I have to say, not much stuck out for these episodes beyond Diend’s choice of summons: It’s-a SHOWTAIMU!

Thanks for letting me be part of this project Die! I hope our lukewarm reception of this arc doesn’t deter anyone from watching Kabuto. It’s a great ride ( eeeeeyy )

It feels like there's supposed to be a moral in there somewhere, but they didn't want to repeat the moral from the World of Faiz and just say it's okay to be a Worm. There's merit to maintaining a status quo. But yeah, if a recipe can be improved, then I really don't see the harm in trying to make something better. Maybe it should be more specific, like Mayu's human heart shouldn't change. The oden was just a really bad metaphor. Adding a new ingredient to a recipe isn't necessarily the same as becoming a bad person. It depends on the ingredients.

Which is unusual, since Tsukasa knows pretty much everything about his Rider System and whatever world he's in, so it's very embarrassing for him that the knowledge that escapes him is Den-O, causing him to look like a fool in front of everybody when he's trying to show off.

One more joke other than that and the Worm Tsukasa is at the end, where Tsukasa cleverly scams Kaito with pepper by passing it off as Legendary Spice! What did you think of that?

Of course!

Headcanon time. Maybe there was a bug (haha) in Kabuto's Rider System, like this world's version of the Red Shoes System, giving the advantage of an infinite Clock Up with the disadvantage of always being stuck in a lonely Clock Up. Either way, it sucks to be (no surname confirmed, but the restaurant is called Tendo so maybe he's another Tendo) Souji in this world. He's also the only AU Rider who didn't need Tsukasa's mentoring, since he's already walking the path of heaven, but doesn't have any of Tendo's aloof traits, rather it's his unfortunate situation that forces him to be distant.

I think he was actually photobombing Tsukasa's picture at the end instead of the usual illusion that appears in his pictures. It seems like the kind of thing a man who walks the path of heaven would do. It's a very bittersweet (haha) ending, especially with the orchestral Journey Through The Decade.

I'd like to point out that Mayu could be a parallel to Jyuka, in addition to Hiyori, due to her connection to Grandmother. I think it's a smart choice to make Tendo's most plot-relevant sister and his most familiar sister the same person for Souji's sister.

Same here. This arc was definitely a big factor in my decision to watch Kabuto after. The high speed action, futuristic suits and a climactic boss fight were all very appealing for me to watch. I would even say that this was my favorite AU World that Decade has passed through.

For sure, Decade Kamen Riding in to Faiz and using Axel was very appropriate here in Kamen Rider Stormdrain and totally compensates for its absence in the World of Agito! And yeah, Kabuto's story had some Clock Ups and Clock Overs that collectively made the show 12/19 in my Heisei Rider Ranking.

Oh, you mean that line? ;) Yeah, that definitely stands out a lot more when you know what's coming.

This one has always been kind of a dud for me. I really like the action scenes in the first part, especially the clever uses of Pegasus and Accel forms. The Den-O gag, which I had completely forgotten about, is also fantastic.

I just feel like the episodes didn’t try to do anything creative with Kabuto. I like it when Decade swings for the fences. When it works you get something like Agito world but even when it fails you get something that’s at least still interesting. This is just a Reader’s Digest version of the Hiyori storyline with some minor twists added. It’s not different enough to really stand out from the original and a lot of the changes feel more like taking key elements away rather than added anything (Souji has no personality and Not Kagami just disappears forever halfway through the second episode).

While there's some sick joy in seeing Psyga and his incongruent English show back up, I genuinely loved the IXA Vision shot. I could not stop laughing at Nago having his own catchphrase at the top of his display, that big RETURN THAT SOUL TO THE LORD (or whatever the translation was) pasted over his targeting reticles and equipment readouts. I don't know that these episodes were saying a lot about Kabuto that resonated with me, but they got Nago.

If anything, I hope our lukewarm reception of this arc testifies to how good the real Kabuto is! We couldn't be let down if we didn't think Kabuto deserved better!

And, as always, my eternal thanks to everyone who decided to give up their free time to participate in this project. You're all my heroes! Cheers!

And, like, that restaurant doesn't seem like We Only Serve One Dish Forever is working out super great, financially? It's pretty run down, and the only employees are family -slash- undercompensated help. Maybe it's okay to serve a second dish? Or let the next generation add something to recipe? This whole Don't Mess With The Recipe metaphor is bad! It's very bad!

Kaitou's final scene is the most Tsurugi thing this two-parter managed, so of course I loved it.

I feel like Kaitou and Tsukasa are built to be shipped? I'm not suggesting there's anything explicitly romantic in their scenes, but, man. Tsukasa goes to this theatrical extreme to make Kaitou feel valued, and Kaitou is so jazzed that Tsukasa is doing this for him. I don't even think Kaitou is excited that he got some hidden treasure or anything. I think Kaitou knows it's just some pepper, but is giddy over Tsukasa's gesture.

It was all very dumb, and very cute. Kaitou hasn't felt vital to the storytelling since the Faiz episodes (if even then), but little scenes like this make me glad he's still around.

Yeah, there's not a lot of Decade personality to this story, which is the worst thing I can say about it. It's not really interrogating the Kabuto themes through Tsukasa (he basically just shows up and projects Mayu's hopes and fears onto a man he never met before), and there aren't any additional plots for Natsumi or Onodera. Basically just a Kabuto story, and not much of one at that.

Well Kaitou’s actor says that he played the character as if he was in love with Tsukasa.

Not judging, but I personally don't think it's a good idea to ship Tsukasa with a thief who stalks him across dimensions, especially when Kaito goes full yandere over him in SHW. I think it's more likely that Tsukasa was giving him the "Legendary Spice" just so he would leave faster. Besides, I prefer Tsukasa/Natsumikan!

Oh, I mean, Tsukasa/Kaitou is a Titanic-level Problematic Ship, but that's arguably part of its power? They are very bad for each other! Kaitou takes no small delight in frustrating Tsukasa, and Tsukasa is mostly just lying to Kaitou to protect innocents. They are toxic.

...but that's why they are built to be shipped.

(Also: Tsukaitou? Or Decand?)

100% Nope! Disagree!

(Tsukaito sounds better)

But no!