It's weird, though, because Yuuto is almost strenuously not working into/with the cast for this story. He's trying very very hard to not interact with these weirdos that he definitely doesn't like and definitely doesn't want to have adventures with and he definitely doesn't have his heart break a little bit when Ryotaro tells him he'll never forgive him if he burns Hana on their deal. He's not here to make friends!

The physical comedy of that gag, where Ura tries (and fails!) to get the time ticket into Ryotaro's hands, is incredibly on-point. Like most of the great gags in this story, its power is in how long they play that joke. It feels like it's never going to end, and that's part of why it works.

The best part to me of Naomi's appearance is that she doesn't change her costume? Every time Hana leaves the DenLiner, she gets into Casual Hana clothes. But when Naomi leaves, she's just like Vinyl Waitress With A Dozen Watches. Because who cares!

They also turn into a helicopter that chops up monsters, which is hilarious.

Yuuto is probably just a red herring for what you (and the cast) thinks has something to tell, but not really.

Uhh yeah, Ryotaro and Ryutaros is having a talk about qualities other than strength. This is definitely a wasted potential of an important lesson. And I forgot to talk about this before, but Ryotaro, who says that being weak and unlucky isn't an excuse to do anything, some audiences also think "do anything" is only when a character fights, or being a super scientist who is crucial of providing tools that is needed among the heroes. Outside of that, some characters. if they do something that isn't about those mentioned, they can be considered useless and not doing anything, cherry-picking of which counts as doing something and not.

Oh, I kinda lost in my thought for you refering them as "candy guys", so that's the boss and subordinate one. Well, they're jerks and doesn't change yeah, but aren't you someone who thinks if a jerk doesn't change, it's a smart story choice?

Hana being injured by Ryutaros... that can be a potential inspiration for the Imagins to fight back against Hana! And if they're just like regular Imagins, then Hana is also someone who is swatted around by the MOTW (and she also runs away from them). The modelling episode didn't make a point about Hana's look... but this episode does, where Hana is better off without the Tiger head to sell off those candies. Deneb bowing to Ryuta in apology is expected, I mean he's a nice Imagin! They can have a tendency to apologize to others for problems caused by their close relative.

I know this is a rule of funny... but Momotaros flinging a dude a world-record distance and... he didn't die?? Momotaros' attacks on normal humans have severe effects just as I expected but for comedy he's somehow fine. And for this episode, it seems that Imagins also carry over the contract holder's wish while sleeping (the dude was dreaming about how he wanted the boss to suffer).

Ryuta plot using her? Airimirers Imagin edition. Still what if Ryutaros came to the coffee shop by herself though and Airi seeing that...

He is! That is... not my favorite choice!

I don't know that I made that a rule? It's not the biggest deal here that the only "improvement" is that Team Den-O sold all their candy and the slacking employee took the credit, it's a comedy episode, but it would've been nice if the show even hinted at these guys turning themselves around personality-wise.

I'm a little late to the party this time, but I have to do my civic duty and point out that these two episodes were directed by Ishida, because of course they were. They're also...

...and like a lot of favorite episodes I have of Kamen Rider, I was a little surprised to notice, once I started paying attention to those names, that they were in fact Ishida's work. Well, I mean, I say "surprised", but it's more like I look back at the credits while you're doing these threads and go "oh! ...yeah that explains a lot" It's not the first time it's happened in Den-O, even, and it won't be the last.

Both of the titles also have wordplay built into them that is thankfully pretty self-explanatory, with 21 being "Kenka no Ryuugi, and 22 being "Hanasenai Mirai".

But yeah, really love these ones. Hard not to have fun with a two-parter where my favorite characters in the show have an epic fight in the middle that even brings in the bikes. Oh, and speaking of which, here's one more of these:

- Zeronos' bike has such a lazy design and I adore it. Like, it's just Den-O's, but with bull horns, and you'll never convince me that isn't perfect. What more could you possibly ask for?

Deneb put all of the My Vehicles Are Better Than Den-O's budget into making the ZeroLiner a helicopter, and Yuuto's still furious about it.

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 23 - "ENTER THE PRINCE, KNEEL DOWN TO HIM!"

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den23a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den23b.png

Of the many Phase 2-isms that Den-O pioneered, I think my favorite is Monsters Who Hate Their Jobs.

Like, both of the Imagin in this story are terrible at their jobs. Prince is too self-centered to give a single bird dropping about trying to obliterate the timeline (or whatever), and the Crab (?) Imagin is just totally bored with trying to grant wishes. They're both overwhelmingly awful at their entire reason for being. And they aren't even the first ones to suck at this! The two Imagin from the last story were garbage at opening people's Time Holes, and we've probably had at least another half-dozen Imagin Of The Week that could barely string a scheme together. Plus every single Imagin on both Liners!

Weirdly, it not only doesn't matter for the success of the IOTWs missions (they are successfully enlarging Time Holes, no matter the Imagin), but it doesn't hurt the stories they appear in. Sure, they're goofy as hell, but they're still formidable obstacles to the heroes. If anything, their awfulness at being menacing actually increases the degree of difficulty in stopping them, since who the hell knows what they'll do next. It's a show full of unpredictable characters, which makes each story a little more fun, a little less rote.

I mean, this one's fairly straightforward (for a Den-O value of "straightforward"): Team Den-O needs to reunite a baby with his mother. The complications are not just a lazy-ass Imagin out in the world, but a self-absorbed Imagin on the DenLiner.

Prince! He's bringing a new energy to Den-O, but not exactly a new energy to Kamen Rider. Look, I'll say it: it's Kabuto. Ryotaro got possessed by Kabuto, and now we're in a story where Hana and the team have to find a way to harness Kabuto's bottomless self-regard and pathological inability to follow other people's orders, all in the hopes of reuniting a family.

It's a fun, fleet story, moving through a dizzying amount of information for just one episode. There's not a ton of thematic stuff to haul out of this story yet, but the plotting and construction of this bonkers story was top notch. The way the story fills in blanks with a bare minimum of dull exposition, opting instead for ridiculous flashbacks (Ryuta brought Prince onboard days ago and never told anyone!) and comedic happenstance (Ozaki's tiny picture is on a page of the newspaper with every single piece of info Hana needs!) to keep the story rollicking along.

Just a fun little caper of a story, with a neat new Imagin on the DenLiner. And animals! So many animals!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den23c.png

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Not a lot for Yuuto or Deneb to do this episode, but at least Zeronos gets added to the opening credits! Otherwise, we get a funny little scene of Deneb worrying after their groceries (honestly, Yuuto could've taken them with) and some Finger Guns to cover for Ryotaro's escape. Yuuto does seem incrementally more engaged with the team, however, and that's nice to see. He's not here to make friends, though!

-I really enjoyed Prince as a character, and not just because it's nice to see Tendou again. He truly has a sense of brotherly affection for this baby he accidentally possessed, which (like Ryuta's love of animals) helps smooth over the fact that he's a demanding asshole to the group. (Quick to threaten, as well! You don't want to end up as Friend #2!) There's never a moment in this episode where Prince isn't fully committed to safeguarding this child until its mother is found, and the safety and happiness of the baby is never played for laughs. Prince's an imperial jerk, naturally, but he wants to do what's right for this kid. It's a really well-formed character.

I'd honestly forgotten that this is when Sieg shows up, but that's kinda because I tend to forget that Sieg is a thing. Sieg is here right now for a very specific reason, but it's something that I'll probably get into in more detail after the next episode. Suffice to say, he's another thing that's setting up a precedent for something else that happens a lot during Heisei Phase 2.

Honestly, I get more Tsurugi vibes from Sieg. He has the Tendou arrogance, but his lack of social awareness and assumption that everyone lives to serve him is 100% Tsurugi.

Maybe! I'm still looking in Yuuto's direction for the Jiiya/Tsurugi relationship (although it's really more Jiiya/Kyosuke), but I can see what you're getting at here. Although, I don't know. There was always more joyousness to Tsurugi's unshakeable belief that he was beloved. Prince and Tendou both have a kind of chilled arrogance, where there's no need to show off because they know they're great. Also, I think Prince completely declares that the world exists for his benefit and by his design! That's Tendou's whole thing!

Advent, to the top.

And here’s my two entries for today, as the countdown to the Den-O movie begins here. Starting with the Imagin currently known as Prince.

Shin-ichiro Miki.

Notable anime roles: James and Charizard in Pokémon, Kisuke Urahara in Bleach, Lockon Stratos in Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Roy Mustang in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Zamasu in Dragon Ball Super, Benton Dusk in the Bakugan reboot

Notable Tokusatsu roles: Gerjev/Blue Hakkaider in Mechanical Violator Hakkaider: the Video Game, New Generation Rider equipment voice in Kamen Rider Gaim, Megahex in Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider Drive and Gaim: Movie War Full Throttle

Notable dubbing roles: Erik Lehnserr/Magneto in the X-Men First Class Trilogy (and Dark Phoenix), Sherlock Holmes in Elementary, Roger Clifford in Pokémon Detective Pikachu, Prince Albert in The Young Victoria, Aladdin in the Disney movie

Nobutoshi Canna

Notable Anime roles: Kabuto Yakushi in Naruto, Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic X (and the greater franchise), Kai Kohashiwa in Initial D, Guts in Berserk, Inferno and Six Shot in Transformers: Energon, Kagemaru in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX,

Notable Tokusatsu roles: Hitotsumi in Kamen Rider Hibiki and the Seven Senki, Kamen Rider Skull in Kamen Rider Battride War, Keeper Rook in Ressha Sentai ToQger, Bangray in Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger

Notable dubbing roles: Nightscream in Beast Machines: Transformers, Private Hudson in Aliens, Johnny Storm in the Fsntastic Four series

When self-centeredness actually turns into a benefical thing for the others as they won't obliterate the timeline for that. And for this one, not sure who is worse, the Crab Imagin, or the contract holder. Humans can seem better in comparison only because they don't have great power to accomplish more, either good deed or bad deed.

Wait, do you think that Sieg is the IOTW this time? Well nah, and also I have to say that this is something new between the IOTW, and I mean, the Crab one, which is how here, the human is actually evil and it's cooperation for the Crab Imagin to grant his wish. Sure, Ryotaro gets another case of bad luck at the end of episode, and that's due to Sieg's actions, and that's Sieg being a jerk just like the other Imagins, but that's something also happened when Ryotaro was possessed by Momotaros (robber), Urataros (hounded by girls), Kintaros (breaking things up), and Ryutaros (disturbing others with dancing and had to pay for it).

Kabuto's self-regard, as I've said above, is benefical for the world, because his ego leads himself to think that he's the sun, he's the one to save the world (as he's the center of this world). I wonder what kind of media entertainment that exists in the world of Kamen Rider. If there are shows like Kamen Rider in-universe, then they should watch those! Also, y'know, self-absorbed Imagin on the DenLiner, don't forget all the previous cases of this, the way to harness this Kabuto is like 4 previous Imagins, turn them into one of Den-O's powers!

Yeah, Yuuto does get softened up a bit here, him probably unconsciously changed a bit for how he treats others. Yuuto could've taken them with, but probably Deneb is the one to deal with the clerks, with his politeness or something.