Meteor is the single reason I decided to give Fourze a second chance, and was definitely my favorite character in the show. Burger Meal was also a bad ass, he saved the day so many times.

Man, see, this is why I make jokes. I'd love to hear how Meteor could be someone's favorite character from Fourze, a show overflowing with awesome characters.

I mean, if I'm being honest? The most memorable Meteor thing for me from Fourze is the bit where Ryusei's first pretending to be a friend to the KRC, and everyone loves him and wants to be his friend except Gentaro. He's like, "I think you're a liar, and I can't be friends with a liar. You know that Meteor dude who just punched me in the face? Him, I can be friends with, because he's honest." I love that scene so much, but what I love about it isn't even something about Meteor, it's that Gentaro would more willingly be friends with an honest person who wanted to beat him up than a liar who's nice to him. My favorite Meteor thing in Fourze is a thing about Gentaro.

Anyway, why is Meteor your favorite character in Fourze? Genuinely curious!

There's a few reasons. Firstly, as someone who is very aesthetic-conscious, I love his suit design, as well as the look of the actor. Fourze's design, while interesting, lacks a certain cool factor for me which Meteor has in spades. So the very moment he shows up my interest is piqued.

Where most characters in Fourze tend toward silly/zany, Ryusei came off as more serious to me, which I felt the show needed very badly. I don't need things to be Kuuga-Dark, but there's monsters about and peoples lives are in danger so the ultra-light tone chaffed me a bit. Ryusei/Meteor's goal of revenge (or maybe atonement would be more accurate?) for his friend/lover/whatever resonated with me far more than a guy who wants to form puddle-deep friendships with everyone. I also really like a character who hides his true nature (at least for a time) like Michi from Gaim. Ryusei's annoyance (and eventual acceptance) of the main cast mirrored my own feelings as the show progressed.

Also, I'm a huge fan of Bruce Lee and Fist of the North Star, so all his "Waaah, aaaah-tah!" stuff really did it for me.

All in all, I'm glad I gave Fourze a second chance as I ended up enjoying the show quite a bit. It'll never rank among my favorites, but (like all Rider Shows) there's still a ton there to enjoy. If it wasn't for Meteor's cool looking suit and dynamic fighting style, I may never have gone back for more.

Good points! As someone who never warmed up to Fourze's design, yeah, Meteor is a much more interesting suit. No argument from me on that one.

I wonder if me not finding a lot in Meteor is down to how invested I was in the cast, and Gentaro specifically. It was hard for me to separate the needs of the plot (gotta have some conflict in the group) from my interest in core group. Like, Ryusei sneering at their lack of focus and demeaning Gentaro's warmth, like, screw you I love these guys. I guess it's not that he didn't have point, so much as I cared more about the rest of the cast than some secret-agenda interloper. Or maybe I'm remembering liking him less to be contrary? I don't know. I feel like I'm being mean to Ryusei and I don't 100% know why. I thought he was a good Rider! Fourze's a good show! I maybe could've done without what felt like a very long field trip to Ryusei's school, but I think he's a cool enough Rider.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

My problems with Wizard's ending is that it's the point where the show really begins to suffer from Koyomi's actress being too busy with her idol career to put in more than token appearances. The core idea of Wiseman's plot is really solid, but it relies on the audience being emotionally invested in a character who got less screen time than the donut shop owner.

Huh! I didn't know that about her idol career. Makes sense now, why she's not around that much. Thanks for the info!

I guess, for me, the finale worked since a) there were a bunch of other people (Wizard, the Mages) that got caught up in Wiseman's plot and I was into how they'd been manipulated, and b) I thought the limited Koyomi stuff really landed at the finale. The Koyomi death scene and the Beast "death" scene are two that I'd consider near the top of the mountain for Wizard.

But, yes, obviously, if the donut shop owner had been imperiled, I'd be much more invested in the finale. That's Masked Belle Poitrine! She's a magical girl hero! I care a lot more about a masked hero than some mopey shop girl!

Don’t take the Koyomi thing as 100% fact. It was popular speculation at the time, but I don’t think we ever got total confirmation.

I mean, it's something I've only considered as a possibility for the last twenty minutes maybe, so it's not like it factored that heavily into my appraisal of Kamen Rider Wizard. She's an underwritten and underutilized character for whatever the reason.

Still, she was great in the Net Movies. They were all great in the Net Movies. It sort-of breaks my heart that the Wizard Net Movies (especially especially especially the Medusa/Gremlin ones) are my favorite Kamen Rider anything, when Wizard is in my bottom tier of shows. Crazy how that worked out.

I definitely understand why you wouldn't get into Meteor. Whenever I'm feeling the Main and the Secondary is introduced as anti-the-protag, they usually start off in the negative with me. While not a true Secondary, this is very much how I felt about TheBee when he was introduced in Kabuto (I won't say anymore about that, no spoilers).

Yeah, I think it's down to how the secondary Rider's necessary antagonism is displayed. I mean, they have to be in some sort of conflict with the primary Rider, otherwise what's the point? But when that conflict moves outside the standard "want to kill monsters for different reasons" (Birth, Beast, Accel) or "has a legit grudge against the main Rider that can only be addressed through combat" (Specter, Grease), if it's not those two things and is a larger Frank Grimes-style critique of the show's premise or themes, that doesn't work as well for me. That's when I reflexively take the primary Rider and/or cast's side, and get a little cold-shoulder-y to the secondary Rider. I think Meteor's story had moves to it, it definitely grew beyond his deceptive debut, but I definitely sometimes felt like he was telling me that I shouldn't like watching Kamen Rider Fourze.

Man, the wait til you get to Kaixa is going to be killer

How Dare You Accel Is My Spirit Animal.There, I said it. :lolol

Jokes aside Accel was at first a total Hojo for me but then as the story progressed and he grew as a person within the narrative he began to cement his position as one of my favorite riders. What really sealed the deal for me was that certain "I got you bro, let's burn this mofo down" moment he had with Shotaro in the W summer movie IIRC. Plus he pretty much becomes Kenshiro from Fist Of The North Star but with his feet after he goes Trial and THAT IS COOL.:lolol

Ryu definitely has some positives, for sure. If someone put a gun to my head and asked me to defend Accel (weird, but not totally unexpected these days), I could probably talk about how rad his look is, civilian and Rider, how his unflappable cool demeanor balances nicely against Philip's easy-going inquisitiveness and Shotaro's trying-too-hard smoothness, how the steps he takes to earn Trial from Shroud is incredibly rewarding storytelling... I don't hate Accel! I'm glad that folks can seemingly find a favorite Rider in every Rider. That's an awesome fandom, and a healthy franchise.

Takeuchi Ryoma was allegedly the reason Accel guest-starred in the Chaser film, so Accel is definitely someone's favorite! :lol

I'm loving that you appreciate Shouichi's mindfulness so much, by the way; he's a great main character and I really liked the choices the narrative made with him. Even with a lot of sweet and kind of dorky main heroes, he's always stood out for me with how much he is always in the moment. Definitely a favorite.

And let us not forget when he briefly turns into Adam Sandler every time he goes in a fit and yells "DON'T ASK ME!". :lolol

I don't think I knew that, about Drive wanting Accel to be in the Chase film. That's neat!

For Agito, yeah, Shouichi's a very distinct Rider, which is ironic considering how much Agito visually blends with Kuuga. Maybe that's a reason why he doesn't seem to get as much love as I think he deserves? Maybe if the Agito suits were as distinct as his character, people'd be more vocal about enjoying Agito?

I think the subs I have put it as "DON'T QUESTION ME" or something? He's got some weird quirks, for sure. That catchphrase, his coffee skills, his absolutely bizarre and infantilizing-but-weirdly-deferential relationship with Akiko that inexplicably ends up with them married and him still calling her Chief... Huh. Accel's a decently weird character, I guess.

This was/is fun to think about! I gotta go watch some Agito now, though. Thanks for the interesting discussion!

I think I know what you're feeling here. Or at least something similar. A huge amount of secondary Riders for me fall into this weird category where I really appreciate what they add to the show, and yet I don't find myself actively caring about them as much as I do the leads... right up until I'm given cause to think about, at which point I question why I don't like them more when they're obviously so awesome.

Ryuusei, I mean, that's not even a hard one. He was in Fourze, which basically by itself means I love him. He's got the whole secret identity thing going on, which led to the memorable little twist of him transforming away from the battle, and then showing up, you know, like a meteor, which was a unique spin. Tomoko was my favorite member of the KRC before the show even premiered, so I mean, if she likes him, I'm practically obligated to agree. The fact that he actually did end up murdering Gentarou with a one-inch punch was one of the most shocking and memorable bits in the series, because I think nobody was really expecting things to get pushed that far, and I think that episode might've been directed by Sakamoto if I'm remembering right, which would make it even better, and if I'm also remembering right, that plot beat happened after he had warmed up to the Club, making it way more dramatically interesting for his character than if he was still the same stubborn jerk, where you'd only care about it from Gentarou's perspective. And-

See, Meteor's not even necessarily one of my absolute favorites, and I can barely stop myself from going on about him once you ask me to think about it. I didn't even mention the cool design, or the amazing sounds all his gear makes (Okay!), or his overly dramatic catchphrase that gets an obvious but heartwarming twist in the finale, or-

Argh! You know, the whole point I was actually trying to get around to here is that there are secondary Riders I always took for granted. There are some, like Date from OOO, who's a huge fan favorite, who I'm personally not really that passionate about at all, who are still great, and who I could easily list off dozens of things I like about them. Heck, I'm a huge fan of Ghost, and I went through a period of not caring about Specter wlll that much that lasted from after he stopped being an antagonist to right up until after the show ended, when I started looking back through aol the episodes to make my huge thread and realized Makoto is actually a total legend constantly doing awesome things the entire show.

Secondary Riders are great, is the point. It'd probably be harder to find one who doesn't have something going for them.

They honestly all are! When I was mentioning Accel all the way back, it was as a punchline for a joke where there needed to be, like, a lesser Rider, someone who wasn't beloved like Beast or Baron or someone, and I was trying to think of a secondary Rider who didn't work for me. The best I could come up with is Accel, who I actually really do like. Even for a joke, I couldn't think of a shitty secondary Rider. They kind-of all rule? Like I was saying before, it's a testament to the strength of this franchise that they all have things worth championing them for.

MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODES 15 - 17

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So, first, obviously, we have to address the most consequential development of this three-part story: Nijou thinks maybe there's a chance that this Houjou guy might, are you sitting down, not be a good guy. He might even be, and I can't believe I'm saying this, a jerk.

You guys. YOU GUYS.

I've said before that one of my favorite things about Agito is how utterly one-sided the Houjou/Nijou feud is, so this development is... I don't know. Wait and see. If this is the last time we get to experience the purity of Nijou just completely not getting that Houjou is trying to roast him, at least we went out with maybe the best one. First Houjou pulls a brutal Oh Nijou I Didn't See You There Since You're So Forgettable, and then adds on a The G3 System Won't Matter If We Can Harness The Power Of Agito And No One Will Ever Need You Ever Again Nijou I Hate You And You Suck. And, god bless him, Nijou's response is that maybe Houjou has a point. Unreal. I love this dynamic so much. There's a follow-up one, where Houjou's like Once I Win Because I'm Awesome No One Will Need You So Maybe You Can Help With Traffic, and I was convinced Nijou was going to talk about how maybe he could help with traffic, it's a real nuisance, gosh, thanks so much Houjou! It's a little disappointing that he's clued in now that Houjou goddamn despises him and wants to taste his tears. Still, I don't want to judge too quickly or too harshly. Maybe there's some fun moves coming up for these two.

That's maybe all the good will I can muster for this story, though. (Well, the final fights were strong. Gills getting lit up by the cops and then fighting G3 to a draw was neat!) I have no idea why this one wound up being three parts, considering we ended up learning nothing of significance regarding any of the central mysteries, like the Akatsuki-gou or Shouichi's past or the Unknown or Mana's dad or anything like that. A couple crumbs, sure. There's a voice on the blank video saying "come here", but no clue who's saying it or where "here" is. The survivors of the Akatsuki-gou are meeting in secret and conspiring around Agito, but we don't know who besides Aki, or why. It's a whole bunch of delays and feints, with no real catharsis to be worth dragging it all out for three episodes.

What we do get is three episodes of people acting like total idiots, and rarely in a fun way. Aki shows up, pretending to be a newly-hired housekeeper (that they already have one of, it's Shouichi, he does it for free) that no one was told about, and everyone but Mana is totally fine with it. She's a stranger, and they're just fine letting her hang out. Then, after she's been caught in a very obvious lie she told to con her way into their home, she goes Oh Shouichi's My Boyfriend, and again Mana's the only one who thinks this sounds incredibly sketchy. I get that Shouichi's supposed to be sweet and trusting, but this is all so gallingly stupid that it's hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. All of this is so flimsy and unconvincing that it weirdly loops around to making me think, yeah, I can see why Uncle might pay someone the same age as Shouchi to take care of Shouichi because he is startlingly bad at taking care of himself. So, maybe it's a dumb plot, but it's no dumber than the characters in this story besides Mana. She's great, and my heart went out to her on this one.

And, you know, it went out to Ryou in this story. I liked his plot, but it took a while. His investigative style is... well, his brain was not exactly in Top Gear on this one. He just cold walked up to a stranger, presented his confusing and circumstantial evidence, and then demanded she tell him the truth. That's it! It's sloppy and lazy, just like hanging around outside her house until she talks to him, but I thought it really landed at the end, where he admits that he sucks at this (he truly does!), but also that he mostly doesn't even care. He's only doing it because he has nothing else left in his life. That's... I actually said out loud, "Huh!" when it happened. I was not expecting this show to say that one of its central mysteries is purely busywork for a guy who has lost everything except this stupid mystery. It's a way of lampshading how inept Ryou is in tracking down leads and discerning truth, but in a way that allows for a secretive character to take pity on him. I mean, nothing comes of it in this story, the mystery is still unsolved, but I was okay with it becoming more about how lost Ryou is, then some dumb connection to his dad or or a driving need to expose injustice or whatever. It's real interesting to me, an investigator driven by ennui and existential dread. I kind-of hope it continues along that line, with Ryou walking up to people from his dad's notebook and just breaking down crying, right in front of them, blubbering about the "Akat*sob*suki*sob*-gou*sob*", and them being all "I WILL TELL YOU WHATEVER YOU WANT TO KNOW JUST OH MY GOD PLEASE STOP CRYING I AM AT WORK RIGHT NOW" No spoilers for the continuation of this storyline, since I'm pretty certain I'm right, thanks!

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Ah, yes. The Fish Scene. I'm not going to ask why you didn't talk more about it, because frankly; ending off your post with a single image of it out of nowhere with no lead-up or context is about as perfectly as it can be put.

all i do is giiiiiiiive

MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODES 18 - 19

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This is one where I like the idea behind it, a whole story more-or-less devoted to Houjou’s ambition running up against his ideals (he has ideals!), but the execution was a little lacking.

Hey, speaking of execution: those Jellyfish Unknown lightning attacks were awesome. Very cool visually, and certainly one of the most horrifying monster attacks yet on Agito. It’s a shame that the monster stuff was so minor to this story, including a final fight with Agito that was maybe four moves long. That Jellyfish dude exploded out from that fight like he had a bus to catch. It was weirdly brief.

But, sort-of irrelevant, since this whole story was about Chief Tsukasa, Houjou’s mentor and the new overseer of the G3 Unit.

He’s either a complex character, if you’re into his contribution to this story, or a contradictory character, if you’re feeling uncharitable. I’m not 100% sure how I feel, so soon after watching, but I’m probably leaning towards the latter.

His introduction is good, his warmth and camaraderie with Houjou, the way Houjou unreservedly respects Tsukasa, it’s a neat change of pace from the cowardly striver we usually get. (Don’t get me wrong, I love that cowardly striver.) All of the Houjou/Tsukasa scenes are great, showing not just where Houjou gets his analytical skills as a detective, but also where he gets his little sarcastic jabs. (That bit at the end where Tsukasa says he used his left hand to stage the murder scene because he took a bullet for Houjou in his right arm, deadly. Merciless.) It’s a very nuanced, layered relationship between two men who share victories and defeats. That part tracks all the way through the story. It’s the rest of it that largely fell apart for me.

First, it’s absolutely clear from the first second of the baker’s murder that Tsukasa did it. There’s never a single moment where there’s another suspect. That makes the inevitable reveal of why and how Tsukasa did it take forever to arrive. It’s nearly one-and-a-half episodes until Houjou lays it out for the audience.

Which, that’s the second problem. Maybe 70% of the motivation for why Tsukasa killed the baker is stuff the audience is never told until the final scenes of the story. That the baker was engaged to Tsukasa’s sister, that she was murdered (I just assumed she died of non-murder reasons, stupid me), the watch and the cellphone and the remote detonator and just all of it. The story doesn’t spend any time investigating it as anything other than an Unknown attack, so there’s no place to seed in any of the clues the audience would need. We’re just kept in the dark until the very end, where two episodes worth of clues come out in one monologue. It’s a good monologue, though, and no mistake. Houjou and Tsukasa are brilliant in that scene, a mentor proud of his protege, a protege horrified to have to destroy his mentor, the shame and the guilt buried under the need to face these revelations with dignity, to honor their dedication to justice, it’s a great scene. Tsukasa has failed his ideals, and Houjou has to defend them.

It’s just, Tsukasa also spends two episodes framing the G3 squad as negligent and misguided, in service of covering up his murder, so it’s a little difficult for me to see him as this, like, paragon of justice who let his need to avenge his sister warp his priorities. He keeps using the fact that the baker was murdered as proof that everything the G3 unit ever thought was wrong, and that they should be reassigned. Holy shit! That’s a monstrous abuse of power, and it’s never shown to be something he regrets or does by accident. He is basically framing them for this crime. He gets away with murder, they’re all dismissed from service. Additionally, the tactics and strategies the entire Task Force has been using are cast into doubt, tactics we know work (to a degree, anway), so expect a ton of innocent people to get hurt while the Task Force has to figure out which way is up. That’s disgusting. I think we’re supposed to see Tsukasa’s choice as a regrettable lapse of judgment, but holy shit did he throw a lot of bodies onto this one. A lot.

And while we’re on the topic of bodies, let’s bring it all home and talk about Gills. He’s in the first scene of the story, a recap of when he scurried away after getting incredibly shot by G3, and then he disappears until midway through the second episode, slowly limping through tunnel, then we don’t see him again until the very end of the story. It’s a weird way to squander the momentum of the previous story, but, bright side, Shouichi’s got a new roommate!!!!!!!!

!!!!!

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Oh! Also! This story had the (maybe?) first appearance of my favorite Kamen Rider location:

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I love this location. It's beautiful, it's slightly otherworldly, it's got a bunch of captivating levels and shapes to it (those rotating stone columns in the back, I mean, what even), there's all this stone and water and space... I really love it. It's used multiple times per season for the Phase 2 shows and movies, there're any number of fun scenes that've taken place there, but there's literally only one that I think about when that location appears, and it's the only one I thought of when I saw it tonight:

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"Oh," I thought, "that's the park where the Kamen Riders were crucified."

And not even the first nor the last time somebody in Rider hell in Tokusatsu in general gotten crucified by the villians.

MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODES 20 - 21

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I definitely feel at sea on the overall plot of this season. There's so many weird variables, from the Unknown to the superpowered folks to Spooky Man and Not-Shouichi to however Mana's dad and uncle figure in... it's a whole lot of ideas without a ton of clarity. I get that the Unknown are killing people with superpowers, but beyond that, I can't find much purchase. I am adrift.

Luckily, it seems like the meat of a two-parter is shifting away from Random Monster Attack towards People Are Complicated, which is a change I am 1000% in favor of.

This one's mostly about Aki, insane with power and slaughtering the cops who shot up Gills. (She's very excited to be killing people, all smiles. It's not work if you love what you do, I guess!) Aki's a tricky character, in that I never really got a sense of what she was about. She wants Agito to protect her, but we never learn how she knew to go to Shouichi. She wants to make a new life with Ryou, despite meeting him the day before while she was running a con trying to convince Shouichi she was his girlfriend. Then she gets powers, kills cops, draws the attention of the Unknown, and instigates what looks to be a truly epic three-way battle between our Riders. (Knowing this show, though, it'll wrap up in about five seconds due to a contrivance. This show don't love long fights these days!) She never felt like a character I understood, she felt like a series of plot complications. She knows way more than she lets on, but leaves things maddeningly cryptic. She also has zero chemistry with Ryou, rendering their tragic, doomed love story more inferred than witnessed. I'm not going to miss her, is I guess what I'm getting at.

But, you know, I still think the storytelling was more interesting than a monster attack would've been. While I never got a handle on Aki's character overall, I could understand her motivations in this story. Revenge, fear, hope, freedom, these are all human emotions that are great fuel for action-adventure television. Aki's not an unknowable creature, she's a woman that can be bargained with, threatened, appealed to... I mean, she can actually talk to our heroes, which is a massive step up from the Unknown. She's a far more intriguing antagonist to me than another rubber-masked nameless monster who grunts and screams. There was tension in some of the turns of this one, wondering what she'd do and how the heroes would react. It may sound like faint praise, but I'll take a human story about a character I don't totally get over a straightforward A Monster Shows Up Until Agito Kills It story every single time.

Agito as a series is in a weird phase. There's so much left frustratingly mysterious about what the hell is going on with all of the players, and we're nearly halfway done with this series. That's not fun for me. But the monster-of-the-week plots are becoming more nuanced, and less repetitive, which is a welcome development. I guess I'm cautiously optimistic about what comes next, but there are definitely a few things for this show to fix.

That said, the one thing they do not have to fix are Houjou and Nijou. Every scene with them kills, and this story pairs them up for some action, some humor, and some insightful conversations about the innate goodness of humanity. I loved, loved that Houjou views humanity as inherently good because he views himself as inherently good. That is such a weird, unexpected inversion of what you'd expect from a judgmental narcissist. That is, god, that is brilliant writing. I think it totally works, though. Houjou sees himself as a caring, empathetic man, hindered by weak fools and clumsy oafs. He upholds virtues like honesty and justice, despite being a manipulative coward, and he does it because he believes humans are worth saving and protecting. I wish every character on this show was as complex and surprising as Houjou. He's the star of this show. He validates Masked Rider Agito as a concept.

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It's the most dramatic villain move, for sure. Big respect for Shocker to publically crucify their enemies. Showmanship is maybe the one thing they don't suck at!

Uh...

Yeah, no kidding.

Ah, yes, good ol' Tsukuba Center Square, which is definitely a name I knew already and not something I had to go look up. Okay, actually that last part was a total lie, but it did get me wondering if we have a nice database for all these locations those cheapskates at Toei are always using in Rider and Sentai. There's this really nice one, which is extremely functional in that it lists episodes and everything, but it's in Japanese, and also not up to date as far as I can tell (the most recent Rider show listed is Drive?). I also found a nice article over on the Tokusatsu Network about the subject, but it's not comprehensive or anything.

Personally, my favorite "hey, it's that place" toku location will always "under that one bridge", where Bravo's first transformation in Gaim was, for example. Or, you know, that really awesome entrance Agito makes in episode 12 that's perfectly timed with BELIEVE YOURSELF playing. (I refuse to write that song's name in anything but all caps by the way)

So, first, I think there's a difference between Shouichi's normal sweetness/mindfulness and whatever is going on in episode 15. There's trusting, and then there's being taken advantage of because you don't comprehend deception. It's not something I'd normally consider a fine line, but that Aki story sure managed to find the dark side of Shouichi's worldview, in a way where they weren't even, like, critiquing it. It's apparently harder than I thought to keep Shouichi from needing round-the-clock supervision!

I have also wished someone (else) would put together a Kamen Rider Visual Tour.

There are so many great iconic/overused locales in modern Rider shows. I genuinely enjoy seeing them pop up. Under that bridge, absolutely. The short bridge the Fourze kids took to school. The hill where people ride bikes. The stadium! One of my tics when I watch Phase 2 shows is, whenever characters are fighting at/around the stadium, saying, "Big day at Kamen Rider Stadium!" I love that they shoot on every part of the stadium, nothing goes to waste.

Well your wish is semi-granted the people at Tokusatsu Network actually made a list of fliming locations in Tokusatsu and where to find them. It quite informative and you may disagree with me I would totally go to the Pore-Pore to meet up will fellow Kuuga Fans.

https://tokusatsunetwork.com/2019/11...ing-locations/

I would absolutely go to a Pole Pole meet-up. Absolutely! Kuuga's not my favorite show, but it would still be a thrill to be around an integral location to the franchise. One of my "if I won the lottery" dreams is doing a tour of all of the Rider locations that're still around. The other was to fund a Kamen Rider streaming service, but, uh, I may not have to anymore!

I swear it's also where like, every late-game Faiz and Blade battle takes place

I'd have to look up Blade, but it turns out "that" scene from later in Faiz is actually under a totally different bridge, according to that first site I linked to. You could've fooled me though. Actually, I was fooled. It's a bit of a shame, because that's an awesome scene I'd like to be able to say took place at my bridge of choice, but still, that one showed up in Faiz too, and it's where Beast made his debut, so it's not like it's short on memorable scenes without that one. Plus, that other bridge was never in Go-Busters, so who cares about it?! :p

MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODES 22 - 23

God DAMN, you guys! This was a fantastic set of episodes, probably my favorite of the series so far. Not much to talk about with the monster plot, as per usual, but some killer character work here, hitting three different characters to varying degrees. Starting with:

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Aki's death, and the subsequent brutal fight with Gills, puts Shouichi in a pensive place for this story. There's a great idea in here about the specifics of Shoucihi's sadness, in that he's not sad that Aki died, instead he's sad that Aki died. Like, it's not so much he'll miss her specifically, or that he had unresolved romantic feelings for her (that would be 100% Gills), but that he'd made room for her in his life, and now she's gone. It's that absence, the space where someone used to be, that's difficult for Shouichi to move past, and the uncertainty of what he's moving towards. Surprisingly, it's Ozawa who pep talks Shouichi back to normalcy, telling him to find something else to fill that void with. First, it's meat (holy shit should I not have watched these episodes equidistant from two meals), then it's cleaning, but it's mostly just living. I'm sure there's a debate to be had on the sort-of ruthless Man Up advice Ozawa tends to dispense, and what it says about her. It's... it doesn't seem totally healthy. But as someone who never really dialed in to Aki's character, and thought her manipulation of Shouichi lost her a lot of my goodwill, I'm totally fine with Shouichi rebounding as a result of a good character pairing and some delicious looking meat. Thanks, Ozawa!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/ozawafood.png

Speaking of! I really like Ozawa as a character, and this was her spotlight story. Her stubbornness when it seems like Team G3 is boned, her unwavering belief that Nijou can stop sucking sometime soon, her willingness to answer an aggrieved former mentor with No, Eff You, she's terrific. She's mean in a way that motivates, and motivational in a way that might actually get someone killed. She's the alpha of Team G3, and the show needs her in it.

But, weirdly, while this was her spotlight episode, it didn't do as much for her character as Houjou's spotlight did for him. Maybe it's because Ozawa was already fully-fleshed out? Houjou, we needed to see where he came from, why he was the way he was. Ozawa, I'm not sure that was as necessary? It's more that I just needed her to be more front-and-center, and she's all over these episodes. She's great with Shouichi, she's great with Houjou, she's great with Nijou, she's great with The Other One. She's a character that can get good scenes with everyone. This two-parter, despite giving us a scene with her asshole mentor and a ton of pressure to Fix G3 Or Else, it doesn't really change how I felt about her character.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/nijoufood.png

Weirdly, it did change how I felt about Ni--

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/hikawa.png

Sorry, Hikawa. Am I spelling that right? It looks so weird!

Yeah, even though it seemed like I'd never get a handle on what made his character unique, this was the story where I was able to see what Hikawa was about. And, more for better than for worse, it's that he's an Ichijou who sucks.

That's not a negative! It's awesome that Hikawa sucks. It's his most fascinating character trait. He's a dude who wants to help people, wants to support his team, wants to deliver, and it's the hardcore wanting of it that keeps sabotaging him. He overcompensates, which leads to failure, which leads to a lack of confidence, which makes him overcompensate, which leads to failure, and so on. He's this astonishing combination of Reckless Overconfidence and Self-Negating Doubt. He's convinced he'll be replaced as G3 at almost any time, since he believes that he sucks. He takes forever to realize that Houjou is maybe telling him too often that he sucks, because he's pretty sure he sucks. And what makes him sucking work as a trait, in a dramatic and compelling way, is that he obviously does not suck.

Hikawa doesn't quit, despite thinking he's doing a terrible job. Hikawa continues investigating superpowered people, even though it makes him look like a dope. Hikawa gets his ass kicked as G3 like that was the extent of his job, but he'll do whatever it takes to keep getting his ass kicked. He's dedicated, despite having so little confidence in himself. There's a drive to improve that Ichijou lacked, because he was never less than awesome. Hikawa has a mountain of failure to climb, and the climbing makes him stronger.

And, good lord, does he have a lot of failing to do in this story. I love that the breaking point for Hikawa here, is not that he might be replaced by Houjou, who is (beautifully) the worst, but that he might be replaced by Shouichi, the sweetest man alive. Like, Houjou wants to be G3/V1 so bad he probably sleeps in that armor, but Shouichi? The dude who sticks his fingers in fish?! Absolutely not! And, again, when he's told to relax and not try too hard, dude just tries incredibly hard to not try too hard. It's amazing, watching him lose his cool trying to stay cool. It's terrific.

I really like how Hikawa ends up in this story, and the way the story treats him. It's almost commenting on the old Ichijou stuff, where he'd throw himself into danger and it would all work out because Dammit He Gets Results or whatever. Here, that attitude, it's not shown to be heroic, it's shown to be reckless and idiotic. Hikawa gets back in G3-X, immediately loses control of the armor, nearly kills Houjou, takes out an Unknown with the most badass chaingun, and then opens fire on Agito. This new armor situation seems like it's working out great for everyone!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/agito/agito23.png

Hikawa's face be like "Wash your feet! It reeks of otherworldly mold!" :lolol

Yeah, this is basically all my favourite Agito characters at their best and I absolutely love it. Shouichi's sweetness contrasted with his dilemmas; Hikawa's own confidence issues yet drive to do better; and Ozawa being a complete f*cking boss. It's wonderful.

It's also the first time Gills as a rider runs into the other riders! And it goes awfully! OH NO!

I just figured Gills smelled like seaweed.

That fight was great, but I'm a little ready for the Wacky Misunderstanding phase to conclude. It's between 20-something episodes of people just missing someone's henshin or whatever. I don't love plot developments that could be solved with eight seconds of dialogue, so the show strenuously avoids giving characters more than seven seconds together. Ready for that part to be done.

To your other point, and I really should've talked about this better/more/at all, I liked how the three spotlight actors all had to push slightly outside their usual character types. Shouichi was sad, Hikawa was goofy (that whole thing about Shouichi not being a good pilot for G3 because he probably doesn't have a bike license!) and Ozawa needed to carry just about every scene she was in. It's great to see three awesome characters finding new shades in which to be awesome.

So,
basically you've concluded that
Hikawa is not Ichijou 2.0? :D

He's a real boy now! He's only, like, 55% Ichijou.

I see Hikawa just barely managed making enough of an impression to earn his name by that episode 25 deadline you gave him. He'd probably beat himself up for not getting the job done faster, but hey, that's what makes him a hero.

Hilariously, yeah, if he wasn't trying so damn hard to be memorable for the last 20-odd episodes, which wound up with him being resolute and driven in a cast-off Ichijou way, he might've relaxed enough to be weird and unique and get me to think of him as his own character.

Dude is very committed to trying to get it right so hard he gets it wrong!