Oh yeah, I already said above about how characters like him can be more irritating to see (including mine), that I think there are some shows out there that: (1) portray jerks/douches meeting realistic and/or negative consequences for being toxic towards others; (2) the show does not paint these jerks in a sympathetic light and also does not try to make them interesting or relatable; (3) majority of those shows' audiences don't view those jerks as cool, interesting or sympathetic.

And this creates the Refuge in Audacity effect: Making an immoral action more unrealistic and ridiculous can make it seem less unsettling and tragic and make it funnier instead, like more abstract action such "a guy is trying to Take Over the World, let's go stop him!", where the more realistic ones can seem personally more hatable because their actions call up things that the audience might have had happen to them. But personal feelings can't and should never be used to judge which is worse or better (as person). Storytelling devices may be able to seem depersonalize the villainy, like how the countless victims are those the audiences don't know (cuz a million is a statistic) or them being aware of what they're doing, but it doesn't diminish the bad traits they've done, and those can't be dismissed or forgotten. Kasumi's dad is probably a worse character, but jerks in personal life are by no means worse than a genocidal madman, person-wise regardless of personal feelings.

Well yeah, this is probably purely toy perceptive to make a new form and not adding something unique, this is a recycle of previous monster origins of them possessing Ryutaros and later becoming a form that Den-O can use. Ryutaros is most childish in personality with a love for drawing and animals, but also having brat qualities like being selfish and spoiled at first. By that he also refers to Urataros and Kintaros as "Turtle-chan" (カメちゃん Kame-chan) and "Bear-chan" (クマちゃん Kuma-chan) respectively, excluding Momotaros as he's not based on an animal. Ryutaros also enjoys break dancing, to the point to that it is incorporated into his fighting style which can cause the most collateral damage as he fires his gun aimlessly.

Other than that, this episode probably also talks about how there's an appropriate response, and there's also disproportionate response. The park keeper may not want those punks (and Ryutaros later takes them in charge!) causing a ruckus in the park, but doesn't mean that he wants anyone to do that to be exterminated, which is Imagin's idea of granting what's supposed to be the park keeper's wish.

Gun Form is also something that I like better for physicality, into the V-shaped head. Also I like the pun on the weapon name; Ryuvolver. Also, the term is probably not bland but, repetitive. The new thing in this one is probably about how the Taros probably start to cooperate for common goals, which is Ryotaro's own good, against Ryutaros. And other than that, Hana seems to bully syndrome (she does have some before, but more prevalent here), that she can keep the Taros in check that they're scared against here, and there's vulnerability on them to let her walk through them, but against the MOTW Imagin, she ran away here.

Maybe it's because I read it late at night but I swear I double checked what episode he was on and I thought he was on 16 already, my bad

If someone was like Hey Do You Want To Work On A Magical Time Train And Wear Sixteen Watches, but then I was mostly just serving coffee to families and businessmen? I would 100% cheer on (and possibly instigate) chaos between the imagination monsters from the end of time.

Like, I think Naomi expected a more ridiculous job than she got, and only now is her dream coming true.

Fair point! My only possible explanation is that the dog is so psyched to live in a world of Kamen Riders (I mean, this is pre-Kuuga, total Rider dead zone) that he found the will to live.

Ryuvolver! That is great.

And, yeah, the Imagins have previously worked together a little on helping Ryotaro defeat a monster, but this is the first time where they're deciding on their own to cooperate with each other. (14 actually does a bigger piece on this, but it starts in 13.) You can see them starting to think of Ryotaro as more than just a really nice house. They're worried about him as a nice boy, and they're protective of him as a member of the team. It's some good character development! Those parts worked well!

I get where you're coming from, but especially if it's set pre-Kuuga that doesn't make sense to me. In the 80s and 90s if there was one rule for tokusatsu (especially Metal Heroes) it was "If you see a dog, it is going to die." They were the standard sacrificial victim to prove how cruel the MotW was.

I have no idea what you're--

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kuuga/kuuga09.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/kuuga/kuuga10.png

--oh.

Well I too prefer monster plots like this where the monsters are more than just obstacles, that they have meat behind their attacks. And not only Den-O, phase 1 series also have what's going on through the monsters, like Kuuga's Grongi who is playing a game and competing against each other, also Blade where the Undeads are battling in a battle royale and has something going on them on how they proceed through the battle. Though if a Rider series don't have that, I can focus on other things that mattered more, especially if monsters aren't supposed to be something central in the series.

Well, I do feel too that the youth and the park keeper's relationship is just shoehorned over in near the end of the episode, which don't seem to have proper buildup over them. It's that they interact like strangers both in the past where the youth's dog is in critical condition and is brought to the hospital, and then in the present now when they bumped into each other and talk about the park and dog death. And this one's something where the time travel ends on completely happy note, that the dog survives, contrasting something like the two-parter about Yamagoshi, where you won't change the time flow by changing something in the past. Though I know that previously, it's about how the contract holder of the week's story parallels the main cast's story, but I don't know if it's necessary for it to be good on Den-O or any Rider series though.

Airi here seems like that she's going to hook up with... well, Ozaki and they take a ride in Ozaki's car to the place they suggested to visit. But Ozaki seems to have a breakdown over the end about Airi talking with someone else (which ofc being Ryotaro).

I don't know why, I feel like Airi remembering something but having her forgot seems like a contrast to the contract holders of the Imagin, where when Hana questioned them about the event at that day, they always remember for the team to go to that time and stop the Imagin and the time flow. I know that Momo, Ura, and Kin is something similar in shows like Ex-Aid which will lead to this.

There was basically zero chance that Kamen Rider Den-O was going to end this story with that dog still being dead. They'd sooner kill that kid than leave that dog dead.

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 15 - "BATH JACK PANIC”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den15a.png

Oh, man, best episode.

Just a perfect episode. Literally everything I want in a Den-O story: a sympathetic victim, a series of unfortunate events that culminate in the comedy version of tension, another sympathetic victim, multiple form changes, a frustrated Momo, a cunning Ura, a blundering Kin, a gleefully violent Ryu, a Hana who bristles at being underestimated to the degree that she basically resolves the plot, a crucial Airi appearance that shines so much sunlight into this story that I might need to see a dermatologist, and it's wrapped up in a compelling story about the unhealthiness of living in resentment rather than making a change for the better.

Like, it's such a pleasant story, you know? It's some typical Den-O comedy-of-errors setup, where Ryotaro's unluckiness gets him from Shopping In A Market straight to A Hostage Situation within about thirty seconds. And that's delightful, for sure. But it's the way this weird story keeps ballooning out into more empathy, more understanding, that really had me captivated.

It's for sure my favorite mode of Kamen Rider, when someone who's making a dumb choice in their life isn't treated like a villain to defeat, but a person to be helped. Even though the bike thief took multiple people hostage, there's a need to hear him out when he's confessing that things just got away from him. When the bath house hostage becomes the next hostage taker (!), everyone's still like How Do We Help This Guy So This Doesn't Happen Again. It could come off as the show not taking the stakes seriously, but it feels to me like it's just how a hero should work. Monsters need to be detonated, people need to be helped. That's it. That's the formula.

And it's a good one! I could watch a million episodes about Kamen Rider casts working together to figure out how to get someone back on the right track (sorry), which is a thing that bothered me a lot about the last two stories. 13/14 didn't have a human interest story at all, really, and 11/12 put all of the improvement on the victim, not the perpetrator. Here, it's two guys who are clearly making rash decisions that they instantly regret, and it's up to our heroes to improve their fates. Getting to see basically the entire cast coming together to juggle this bizarre set of circumstances and potentially save several lives... yes? Forever, please?

It helps that this particular story has so many fun moves to it. The hostage-taking happens incredibly fast, and then it's just one insane turn after another as Hana and Airi get involved, Ryotaro keeps leaving and returning, the Imagin try and contribute to various levels of effectiveness (Ura: Very! Kin and Ryu: Not So Very!), and the whole episode keeps the plates spinning perfectly. I cannot believe how packed this episode was! It's like night and day from the last two slogs of episodes. This thing was dynamic and clever, from first to last. Breathtaking in its humor, its empathy, and its craftsmanship. A massively entertaining return to form.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den15b.png

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Killer editing in this. There're these rapid cuts as the bike thief is scoping out the bath house for any other hostages that race through a boring Here's The Geography Of This Space necessity, and keep the energy high. So much of this story is about never letting the viewer feel complacent in the plot (that's why folks keep wandering into and out of it), which the editing helps sell. Great direction, but brilliant editing.

-One of the best sources of humor in this episode were the little background gags the actors would pull. I will stan hard for any Momo/Hana fight scene, but even I was distracted by the cute shot of Naomi and Ura spinning their chairs in the background.

-Best Airi episode for me, I think. It's the comedic twist on her kindness from 7/8, where she's sweetly oblivious to whatever danger might be occurring. (The bit where she's walking into a scene of a man pointing a gun at Hana and she just goes Oh Hana's Here Hi Hana! Best underplayed reaction for comedic effect ever!) There's just the power to her tranquility that takes a tense situation of men making terrible choices and transforms it into a scene of everyone enjoying lunch together. Insane! Could never work on another show, but I bought it 1000% here.

-I feel like this is the first time we got more personalized Henshins for Kin and Ura? Kin, for sure? He's got this new music (I think?), and a completely different sumo pose. I like it! I like them each having a different idea of what it means to change into Den-O.

So this is Yonemura's third episode of the series, and I'll readily and wholeheartedly agree that it's quite great – a huge improvement over his last effort.

It's also Ishida's third episode of Den-O, which explains why it's dripping with perfectly constructed atmosphere from beginning to end, massively enhancing everything the script is trying to accomplish – as is almost always the case with his efforts.

Well, given that I’ve sworn not to identify any of the face actors in this thread, for this episode, I’ll exploit a loophole and point out the live actor for this episode appeared in the episode my thread reviewed two days ago. http://www.tokunation.com/showthread.php?t=96971

But I will directly tell you about our Imagin VA for this week. And he’s fairly prolific.

Yōhei Tadano

Notable Anime roles: Giuliano Flip in BNA: Brand New Animal, Ochanomizu-hakase in Go Astro Boy Go!, Kudou in Great Pretender, Leslie in Hime-sama Goyojin, Shigemori Sumimura in Kekkaishi, Darjeeling Aspoirot in Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki File, Miyagi in Megalobox, Milking in Milky Panic twelve, Kōji Noto in Psycho Pass, Sebastian in Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS

Notable dubbing roles: Nudis Vulko in Aquaman, Ian Hawke in Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, Stannis Baratheon in Game of Thrones, Earl Unger in Home Alone 3, Hot Rod in Transformers: The Last Knight, Yoda in the Star Wars franchise (from 2014 onwards), Rick in Rick and Morty, King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph, Heinz Doofenshmirtz in Phineas and Ferb.