No, but this one's about Kageyama, a shithead that isn't favored by audience (means the exact reaction he's supposed to get). But I mean, for any series, when the horrible character is someone who is liked by audience (I'm afraid that they can be given free pass or something)...

It depends, on which action they'd take to save their child. As you've mentioned Sam Raimi Spider-Man in Blade thread, I'm also giving an example of that; Sandman there wants to save his daughter, but he became a criminal for that and later supervillain, which means he's an anti-villain.

Not a full-heroic one for the part where he's going to kill others to achieve it, but the part at the end of episode 18 was a heroic action yeah. But for their whole alignment, anyone have to look at the bigger picture in the entire show and ask ourselves: "in the bigger picture, how much did they do good overall and how much did they do harm overall?". Which is again, why I think character's morality depends more on what they do/or will do to people less related to them, for both good and bad guys. Caring for friends and family is usually pretty universal and inherent for not only white-zone but also grey-zone characters or even some of the black-zone ones. But what about, for example, civilians or strangers (taking care of them for good guys, and preying them for bad guys). Caring only about friends and/or family won't necessarily cut it (if they would care, more apathetic, or outright cruel to others; overall), and so does for bad guys if they only brutalize primarily those that are in their target.

Like the part of Kagami as TheBee (for this one moment, but not Kagami overall) before; him siding with Tendou, being his friend, and quit being TheBee and leading Shadow, it solidifies Tendou and Kagami but can have a negative aspects to him just cutting Shadow loose, abandoning coworkers for your own issues (especially if they might depend on you for their jobs/lives), and you pointed that out as a bit of a dick move. For this one, Daisuke's first stint of saving Gon by killing Tendou is closer to this (what'll Juka, Kagami, etc. feel?!), but not for the 2nd stint (when the cast including Daisuke banded together and helped her reclaim her memory).

Well, it's true that not having a best plan can come from airheadness or denseness, the unheroic part is that Daisuke straight up goes to kill other people, expected as he's also established as having selective care; for Gon and women. and killing someone that is faultless is objectively morally wrong. Those with a tad higher moral compass, if faced with decision like this, could have a hesitation, that it'll be a sadistic choice for them; to lose the ones they love or preventing that while doing a wrong thing.

So for what you've said about ZECT (and at one point you said ZECT's cons extends to anyone involved in it except Kagami) what you think about Misaki is this. For the Tendou part of PST, he's actually an unofficial part of it, and it'll be more prevalent. I mean, of course if this part can delve more to Misaki's character, or discovering some ZECT secrets, it'll be good, but I don't think that is necessarily in place for this part? Establishing PST is just a standard ZECT mission, done in different way, and of course the other part of ZECT missions don't delve into those people's characters (especially Tadokoro who is mostly a full-on drone for ZECT), so I won't think that this part will change any of that. And anyway, carrying PST as a mission, that'd be even more high stakes, as you're practically potentially ruining your life or entire organization's reputation as a thief (they didn't only dress up as a thief, they act as it for real), you probably should purely focusing on your missions only instead of having a trivial talk to get to know about anyone more, either in-universe or out of universe, which is distracting, and not something a professional should do.

Well, obviously Hiyori is bored pretty-quick, and that probably also comes off from how overbearing he is (and unlike Tendou, likely won't having a soft spot for Hiyori). It's normal and is frequently the case for real life (and Hiyori is an in-universe character so Kamishiro is real for her) to be repulsed by other's jerkish behavior, especially for someone with social anxiety like her (people like this can be a target for narcissists with huge ego to like, bully on, but dunno if Hiyori had gone through that, other than the meteor flashback for her traumatizing moment). Anyways, Kamishiro is a full-on Tendou 2.0, and this feels as if the writers realized how overbearing Tendou was for those that can't stand him, so they gave those guys as the alternative to establish Tendou being still better than them. Though with your insights here, it's clear that Kamishiro is also a foil to Tendou in every single way (and probably I'd add up for the part of imperious sense of supremacy; Tendou's family is commoner seemingly, but Kamishiro is a part of royalty, and that Juka is Tendou's younger sibling, while Mika is the older sibling; Kamishiro addressed him as "onee-san" which means older sis). Kamishiro is a worst consequence of royalties, that he's a total elitist by that and he feels that he's superior to everyone else to the logical extreme, that he thinks he's above any rules and laws in the world and isn't above showing complete apathy to the disasters he caused like a killed cop. He's (actually Kabuto is rife with this) an Übermensch, who rejects the norms of society and lives by his own moral code. I wonder though, unlike Tendou... Kamishiro actually brought his soccer team before Tendou boasting that he can win alone.

With Juka being always on a delight, that's likely the reason why the trope to keep things a secret to people like her exists? Breakfast is important. Some of the benefical part of it is that it can make you concentrate better, prevent diseases, or multiply your academic marks by 4x (and I'd assume the same for things outside school, like your work progress). Even the commercials on my TV also addesses this.

This must be some kind of American reference I'm to British to understand. Cool!

(Knock-off brand Shreddies are where it's at. That and Honey Nut Flakes).

Sure, but that's not happening here. Does it happen sometimes for other series? Yeah, but that's just people processing art differently. Folks are free to have problematic faves or miss the point entirely. It may not be a perspective I share, but it doesn't hurt me if they have it.

Daisuke does hesitate, though. He knows that killing Tendou is wrong, that Tendou doesn't deserve to be in the middle of this, but he doesn't think he has a choice. He may go through with it, but it's not like he enjoys it.

If I was dragged all over town for a full day to watch two evenly-matched dudes fail to best each other... yeah, I think Hiyori is maybe underselling how bored she must feel.

If anything, maybe Tendou is a bad influence on Tsurugi? He went from a guy who was prepared to play a normal soccer match to a guy who spent an entire day fighting Tendou. What is it with Tendou driving all these dudes crazy?!

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 20

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto20a.png

Kabuto is a show about the value of humility.

It's a little weird that that's such a recurring theme, considering, y'know... Tendou. He's the least humble Rider I've ever seen. He's a man who believes the world revolves around him, who excels at everything he puts his mind to. Systems, organizations, logic, even physics: they all bend to his desires. He will tell complete strangers that he's destined to rule over everything.

And he's not the only one! Every single Rider so far (save Kagami, if he's even worth counting) has been someone convinced of their own greatness, secure in the knowledge that they, and they alone, are worthy of attention and acclaim. They're also egotists, even the ones who preach the harmony of teamwork. They're all aspects of Tendou, taking as given that they're the hero of the story.

But they aren't. Tendou is. Tendou is the perfect hero, the one who always wins. And since this isn't a story that can have more than one perfect hero, that means that everyone else is imperfect, less than, reduced. Their story can't be about them being the chosen one; it has to be about them realizing they aren't the chosen one.

All of these other men who come off as derivative of Tendou... it's a way to use Tendou as this ideal that you could never live up to, never become. He's perfect in a way that only the star of a story could be perfect. Tendou being this immutable law of success allows the rest of the Riders to be examples of learning to live with imperfection, to recover from defeat, to accept your limitations.

Tendou doesn't screw up, really, so we get the other Riders who slowly learn that they can screw up. Tsurugi (it seems like no one's calling him Kamishiro on the boards?) gets a crash course in that concept (not sorry), as he begins to realize how much he can fail. He pulls the best-ever Inoue move by declaring that he's going to Win At Shopping (I can't tell you how much I laughed at this story turn) and then proceeds to infuriate a dozen shoppers, cause an accident that injures Juka, and get himself arrested. It's all of Tendou's Walking Your Path thing, but done up as myopic, negligent. Tendou maneuvers the world out of his path, while Tsurugi expects the world to move for him. Learning the consequences of that selfishness is the first step towards keeping an awareness of the fact that, uh, other people exist?

The second step is learning that your pain isn't the only pain in the world. Tendou arrives at the police station to punch Tsurugi in the face, a thrilling moment of rage from the usually cool Tendou. (He even gives Sasword this little Dudes Don't Lose Their Cool speech in the beginning! And then he decks Tsurugi once Juka's injured! So hypocritical, and so great!) It's a connection between the two characters, one rooted in shared backgrounds. Seeing the anger in Tendou reminds Tsurugi of his own anger at the Worm who killed his sister. He gets exactly how protective Tendou can be, because he's dedicated his life to avenging his sister. It's a realization for Tsurugi, that he doesn't have a monopoly on devotion to a sibling. His pain and commitment isn't unique.

It's a solid episode to explore Tsurugi, and the actor does a solid job of finding a sort of pathetic elitism to Tsurugi's demeanor without tipping it over into despicable confrontation. It's so obviously a defense mechanism, his need to win, that it's easy to pity his stupid boasts. When he apologizes to Jiiya for humiliating himself all day, there's a genuine warmth in the delivery, where he seems to have learned a small lesson in humility. He's not a good guy yet, but you can see the edges of what a good guy looks like.

(And then we've got that insane reveal at the end, that Tsurugi is the very Worm that he's trying to get revenge on. First of all, I definitely didn't see it coming. Second of all, I laughed so hard at the first Mika Murdered flashback, because the Worm in it comes out of absolutely nowhere. They're in an open field, and then there's a Worm? Did he fall out of a plane or something? But it's a touch that makes Tsurugi's memories of the event immediately suspect, so I love it in retrospect. What it means for his story and this show, though... very interested, but not too keen on speculating. It's a great twist, though!)

Meanwhile, we've also got the Phantom Thief Shadow part of the episode. (Not "Phantom Shadow Thief”, which is what I thought she was/they were called last episode. If I'd remembered the name right, I could've applauded the use of Shadow as a clue. Clever!) The Phantom Thief Shadow plot was very fun in construction, even if it wasn't plumbing the same depths as the Tsurugi story. I mean, it did touch a little bit on the idea of Learning Humility, with Kagami getting super jazzed about being a part of PTS as some cool new exclusive non-Tendou club, only for Misaki to go Of Course Tendou's Already In This Club. Kagami's face falls so quickly as he realizes that Tendou's going to be the star of this show, too. But he perks up, relenting to Misaki's logic that, hey, it couldn't hurt to have a Kamen Rider in the group if you're going to fight Worms. It's a beat that ties into the larger idea of recognizing your limitations, and allowing for someone with a higher level of skill to take the lead.

The rest of the plot is pretty fun, if not much more than a well-told action-adventure story. Not that that's a criticism! I like heist stories, and while this is a little lean on twists and turns (like last episode, there's just not enough room to make it any more complex), it's a fun story. I like seeing characters like Misaki contribute to a main plot, and the use of a more subdued Kageyama (he seems actually hurt that Misaki might be a criminal) adds some stakes without being too heavy. (Probably could've done without that Goro/Kagami's Dad scene, if we're talking about cutting stuff. Could've been handled in one line from Kageyama to Kagami!) Just a fun little story about tricks and theft, as you'd expect from a superhero show.

I really enjoyed this episode, a lot more than I did the last one. There's more depth and shading to Tsurugi, and the Worm plot was energetic and fast-paced. Overall, though, I liked how this episode started to lock in a big series theme like Learning Humility. I like when these series are about something!

A QUESTION

We've got knife guys and sword guys and even some drum guys
Bow guys and bo guys and phone guns (from Faiz)
What would you reveal
Are your favorite weapons they wield?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto20b.png

Yeah, I said strawberry milk would be important. There's a lot of extravagant foods in this show, but the most magical turns out to be basic strawberry milk.

Daisuke saved Gon and reunited her with her mother but now that "Gon" no longer exists and he's back to being on his own for now, except for the first time he's really on his own since he knows what it's like to have a best friend he cares about and he had to give up Yuriko so she could have the life she deserves.

It's sad and that scene where she didn't remember him hurt but Daisuke's strong and he'll be okay. He still has the memories to remind him of how far he's come from being the selfish person he used to be. He's going to be the Kamen Rider that Gon wanted him to be.

Sasword Zecter on a rooftop looking dramatically over the city is a cool scene so sure, why not.

I totally forgot that Sasword's debut is also the phantom thief arc, I misremembered when that happened. It's mostly just a subplot but it was unexpected and interesting to watch.

Sasword is an awesome suit, I like how the scorpion's claws are his eyes and how he's purple. Definitely my favorite ZECT Rider aesthetic. You say you haven't seen it before but you I recall you watched Kamen Rider 4 right?

Tsurugi himself is also quite an eccentric, which seems to be a prerequisite for being a Rider in this show. His insistence on throwing away a fork that could've been cleaned easily shows a lack of sentimentality and that he's spoiled. He has poor social skills as well so he doesn't make friends as easily as Tendo or Daisuke.

I'm currently writing a sports rivalry in to my OC Sentai except I'm doing it with baseball instead of soccer. I'm not really a soccer guy. I like more variety and strategy in sports. I'm mostly an esports guy though.

My routine is breakfast, snack, lunch, dessert, snack, dinner, dessert, snack. Breakfast is too small for me to consider it the most important meal, even I don't eat as much as Jyuka. So my favorite would have to be either lunch or dessert.

And this is why he's my favourite character in the show.

Like, man; it really would take something as weird as Kabuto for me to adore the rich guy who has rich guy as a core part of his personality, but he's an utter disaster of a person who's so, so fun to watch and so uniquely him. He's disastrous even alongside developments like this that make him genuinely likable and he's the performance that stands out the most in the show to me; I'd take a miniseries bringing him back because he's just that fun

Yeah, that factoid about scorpions is put last time was meant as foreshadowing. Because while the scorpion rider may look like a human, he’s actually a Worm.

And like I said before, I’ll begin discussing the Kabuto video game’s divergences from the tv show. In its take on this episode, Tendou sees that Tsurugi is a Worm and has a boss fight with him, that results in the death of the alien. Though it is played for tragedy, with the fake Tsurugi failing to realise he was an impostor and apologising to his sister for failing, before Tendou has a “he was a worthy opponent” moment.

As for weapon, I’m fond of the kind that can function as multiple weapons in one, ala Wizard and Ghost.

I did, yeah, but I didn't remember he was in that. There're a lot of Riders and suits that show up in the Phase 2 movies where... I mean, if it's just a crowd shot, I'm not gonna even know what I'm looking at. There's no context, it's just content. But if it's an actor who returns, who has a meaty role, then I'll probably remember them when I watch their show.

Man, I don't even know how to consider a phrase like "make friends" with Tsurugi. With Tendou, he views friendships as a way people pull you down, or sacrifice their own ambition. It takes a lot for him to move into a headspace that other people might view as friendship. With Tsurugi... I mean, I'm not sure he even understands the concept of friendship? His closest connection is with the surrogate-father he bosses around constantly. Everyone he meets is, like, theoretical: a mass of humanity he's destined to rule, they just haven't figured it out yet. I cannot imagine what he he would define friendship as.

That is an incredibly active metabolism!

This episode really delves into how awful he is at... existing in the world, I guess. I kept thinking that Jiiya has been hiring actors to pose as teachers, actors whole will just tell Tsurugi he's a perfect, special boy. Except, we've seen plenty of Tsurugi's skills at work, so he's really pretty great?

He's just shit at understanding how to apply those skills to the world around him, which is one of the key ways he's less than Tendou. Tendou is the dude who can do the math of Amnesiac Girl + My Delicious Soup = Maybe Breakthrough? Tendou is so observant, so external, that he's able to make the world do what he wants. Tsurugi is so myopic, so internal, that he doesn't understand why things don't just go his way like he thinks they should.

Fun character!

I guess that could work, if you're making a game out of the series?

This episode sees the debut of my favorite recurring subplot on Kabuto: "Tsurugi Tries to Person." He lives in such an isolated bubble of wealth that he has absolutely no concept how to function in the real world. He's incredibly arrogant, though, and he's got Jiya along as his devoted enabler, so he just keeps trying and failing. It's an ongoing theme with the character and it is never not delightful.

As far as the rest of the episode goes, I'm disappointed that the Phantom Shadow Thief Shadow thing was just a ruse. I like Misaki well enough, but I'd find her so much more entertaining if she was legitimately a master jewel thief in her downtime.

And look! A rare sighting of Juka involved in activities that don't involve eating!

It was only two episodes, but he made a difference and took out several monsters. That puts him ahead of at least Pink Necrom and probably Beast. If they count, so should Kagami.

To be fair, the show never says that Misaki isn't actually a master jewel thief, just that the Phantom Thief Shadow was a ruse designed to draw out a Worm. If anything, her success as a fake jewel thief maybe suggests that she had some prior training?

JUKA: I'm doing something outside the house!
JUKA, TWO MINUTES LATER: My stay in the hospital was very brief! What's for dinner?