My main question about this plot is, Horoscope powers or no, aren’t the rules Sugiura enforces generally decided upon by the school board, not the student council? Between this and the previous show’s 30-40 two parter, I wonder if the writers even know how rules are implemented.

Based on literally everything we've been shown about Gamou's leadership as both a Horoscope and the school's Chairman, I cannot envision any oversight whatsoever to the students, especially anything that would interfere with Zodiart schemes. Gamou is pretty lax when it comes to what happens inside his school, while Hayami is always supportive of discipline being enforced, so this all sort of tracks for me?

(I think the bigger issue is, like, do none of the teachers have a take on this? There are students dragging each other away for punishment, and we don't exactly see this paying off for classes or whatever; there're no classes in this episode about the school's functioning, and Ohsugi only appears in the Rabbit Hatch!)

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 40 - “SCARY STUFF! BAD GIRLS”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../fourze40a.png

It’s always weird rewatching these Rider shows, because I feel like I remember it all well enough, and then there’s a curveball like Episode 40 of Fourze. This one weirdly pivots away from the Golf Battle cliffhanger from last time to give us a smaller story between Yuuki and Miu, but with enough of the larger Horoscopes storyline to make this all still feel like Kamen Rider Fourze instead of a completely different show.

Sort of amazing that it took until Episode 40 to give us a legit Yuuki/Miu story, right? There’s not really much in the way of any of the girls from the KRC getting plots that put them in opposition, certainly compared to the growing list of stories where Gentarou feuds with one of the other boys. And Yuuki and Miu specifically… there’s a lot that you can talk about? They're some of the earliest KRC members, there's a kind of mentor/student vibe sometimes, they were at opposite ends of the social spectrum at school, etc etc etc. This episode opts to revisit the rivalry that was hinted at back when Miu flirted with leaving the KRC behind, before she realized that it’d mean I stopped watching the show in protest. It’s grounded more in their friendship than anything like relationship drama (like in that earlier Miu Leaves plot), which is likely a credit to guest-writer Kobayashi, who is a pretty mega name for a one-off fill-in like this, considering you’d think she’d be busy writing Go-Busters at the time.

Despite coming in cold, the script is electric, keeping Gentarou, Kengo, and Shun off to the side, and letting Miu and Yuuki carry the drama and the action themselves. (Well, Shun’s caught up in the drama a little at the beginning, and tries his whole “manly man” toughness to break up the tension, but he’s typically hapless in the attempt.) Bringing in a couple of new Horoscopes would normally be something I’d roll my eyes at, but a) we are fully in the phase of the show where Horoscopes suddenly pop up in sequence like they were all on the same bus that was delayed, and b) the new ones are pretty cool? I like how the Pink Horoscope and Yellow Horoscope have this rivalry that mirrors the one between Yuuki and Miu, but turned up to Villainy. Miu and Yuuki let their rivalry affect their teamwork, leading to Miu’s brief capture, while the Horoscopes let their rivalry lead to the Pink Horoscope’s defeat.

For its first appearance, it was kind of nuts to see the Pink Horoscope go Supernova? And I guess Emoto is supplying the KRC with a mech? (It looks a bit like the Go-Busters fusion from the Taisen flick, but that was Sentai, so it’s probably just a coincidence; could also be a Kobayashi reference?) Meanwhile, not a huge episode for Ryuusei, despite where we left things last time – he just shows up in the end with his own mech to help defeat the Supernova’d Pink Horoscope, and that’s it. (I assume Tachibana is supplying Meteor’s mech? Weird how similar in design it is to Emoto’s!) I don’t love it when Rider shows go giant-sized for an episode’s climax – save it for Sentai, you know? – but I thought doing it with practical effects this time kept it watchable.

More than anything, I’m just glad we got a story that paired up Miu and Yuuki! A story where two young women in school work out their issues while fighting monsters… only in Fourze, you know?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../fourze40b.png

Virgo turning into a flower makes sense. You know, virgins are associated with flowers in symbolism

It's indeed a common and normal rule for a school to forbid students from having specialized outfit, hairstyle, or accessories. This episode, even the Horoscopes, describe this as suppressing the freedom and individuality of students, where schools are a place to make students obedient as Sayaka said, with the dark implication so that they won't question the corruption around them and can be controlled like pawns, with Keisuke being literally brainwashed by Taurus later. Now this is done by a student, including a council, rather than Satake or Ohsugi before. It should be clear that if Zodiart corrupts the user, it's what made Sugiura become a dictator as Gentaro already know he's Taurus. Otherwise, this episode seems to show that Gentaro's firmly on chaotic side of good. People has positive connotations with the term law and negative with chaotic, but good doesn't equate lawful, where it's chaotic for Gentaro to focus very strongly on individual rights and freedoms, and will strongly resist any form of oppression of themselves or anyone else, like the law and rules, relying on conscience rather than conduct to do good.

The one who uses a Switch is instead Fourze's base form, showing off new variations of Giantfoot attacks (can be from side too), with Cosmic States only beating up Taurus with Barizun Sword. Gentaro roots for JK against Sugiura because the current context is about him trying to dismantle to council's rules, but I wonder if this is in more neutral situation, it might be natural for people to think Gentaro would root for his friends (means the one that hangs out with him visibly, but it's just more about them being major character that the story follows) over random people, but Gentaro wants to befriend everyone, so this should extend to the dance competitors too. I guess it was a mistake for me to assume JK should be less athletic than Miu, because he constantly runs from trouble, but he gotta be athletic to some degree like Miu as a breakdancer, and there's a reason why JK is the one the story made to be another Power Dizer user, alongside the one called King and Queen.

Ohsugi's antagonism to the KRC before was also about disobeying rules such as Yuki adding space-themed books in the library. Ohsugi still has some subtext with Gentaro even before joining KRC like getting him to talk in his room because he's lonely, but he still seems to respect rules more to praise Gentaro for finally behaving 'properly' like uniform and hairstyle, but still, wonder what'd be Ohsugi's reaction towards the rules enforced by the student council. If Miu and Shun being involved at this point is shoehorned, them graduating and being busy on college may be the right call. I wonder if Kengo can know Meteor's Switches too and act as technical support for both Riders, but Ryusei gotta keeping his secret outside of KRC may limit communication between him and the other members too in fight.

Oh, Yuuki's in this.

Did not even clock that that was Virgo! Thanks!

I think Ohsugi on his own (without the added context of the KRC) would be excited initially, and then partially concerned, and then completely overwhelmed -- we have about 20 episodes along these exact lines!

I knew a true Fourze fan would recognize that shot!

Wow, did it? I mean, we've established I haven't watched the show in a while, but I could've sworn there was another episode way back around like, 17 or so, that also put a strong focus on their relationship. I recall it being a pretty affecting little story? One I think of pretty frequently when I think of this series, even! Kind of scary to think how poorly I actually remember this show, but at least I can trust that Die would never get these sorts of things mixed up!

It's what I'm best known for! Well, that and my fervent fandom for Sentai, but that's not pertinent to this discussion.

Not having enough staff can also be a problem though, like for example, a single writer suffering burnout at a critical point in the work. Inoue claims he's immune to this, but there are many who aren't. Generally, I think it's important that the staff are a good match for each other and to keep a limit on how many are involved at once. Too many cooks spoil the broth, after all. Personally, I think Gotchard is a great recent example of various writers Gotcha-N-Going together in a successful way. Maybe we should consider what Fish mentioned in the Rider watch thread as well, which suggests that Nakamura was okay with Sanjo making Yuki a little insane and then it escalated.

It's pretty cool how the breakdancing and double dutch contests show off Gentarou's and JK's actors' physical skills, while Sugiura relies on CGI. It ironically makes the losers look cooler to me.

Sugiura's motivation will have to be more than slightly tragic to make up for him calling Tomoko disgusting though.

Where'd the diabolical student council go anyway? Shouldn't they be doing something about all those black uniforms? Surely this is a violation of the Amanogawa bylaws!

Oh, you must be referring to that episode where Yuki got poisoned by Scorpio so Miu feigned betrayal to get the antidote. I'm surprised Die never talked about her impressive act, being such the Miu fan.