I need you to edit that post to include seven reasons why not, including one from Kabuto and one that quotes me directly, thank you.

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 09

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto09a.png

So, this was more what I was hoping for.

For one, it's a hilarious episode. Shooting to the top of my mental list of Favorite Kabuto Gags has to be Juka and Hiyori racing to the hospital to see how badly wounded Tendou is, only for him to be examining the doctor, diagnosing her ailments. (Her awestruck swooning, with a lean-in for a closed-eyed kiss? Perfection.) it's just the most ridiculous gag, taking all of the previous drama and tension and cashing it in for a punchline, and that's the smartest trade a show can make. Because that move, it's a surprise. It's taking the huge stakes of the Tendou/Yaguruma feud and going Why Did You Think Tendou Was Ever In Any Danger You Dummy. It's an episode that lets Tendou be more of a bemused observer, so the story can drill further into Yaguruma and, a little surprisingly, Kagami.

I mean, it shouldn't be a surprise, really. Kagami is one of the stars of the show, and certainly the best non-Hiyori character we've got. (Quick shout-out to Hiyori's reaction to Juka's compliments, where Hiyori bad-mouths her own art, as the most Every Artist I've Ever Met reaction.) I just wasn't expecting the show to pivot so well towards Kagami's conflict.

Kagami's really caught in this one. He respects and admires Yaguruma. Yaguruma's a good leader, a kind man, and self-made. (Tendou is... maybe one of those things on a good day. I'm also pretty sure he's a Worm, but we'll put a pin in that for now.) The problem for Kagami is that Yaguruma is also inflexible, and maybe a hypocrite. Kagami's witnessed Yaguruma in the throes of his own battered ego, and the ugliness of that has him questioning the intelligence of throwing in with Shadow. If Tendou is willing to risk himself to save Kagami, while Yaguruma is willing to sacrifice an ally to achieve victory... I mean, what has he pitched in with?

The short answer is that he's hitched his wagon to Frank Grimes.

One of the best Simpsons episodes, easy, and one that I couldn't stop thinking about after the last episode of Kabuto. Yaguruma is trying so hard to be a success, but when he sees the way reality seems to warp itself to Tendou's desires, he starts losing his mind. Yaguruma says he's dedicated to his mission, dedicated to his men, dedicated to defeating the Worm. But watching Tendou win, constantly, effortlessly, it's all he can think about. He can't focus on anything other than defeating Tendou, and it destroys him.

(It actually made me think of a different Simpsons thing, as well. It's from the episode where the power plant employees need to climb a snowy mountain for a team-building exercise. Lenny and Carl end up making it to the finish line, and when Lenny dedicates their victory to teamwork, Carl goes, "Yeah, my teamwork.” I feel like that's also Yaguruma? I feel like he's a guy that's all about team victories, as long as he's the leader of that team. I think he's the sort of leader that plays at We're All Pulling In The Same Direction, but requires the sort of sycophancy that his team provides. He's kidding himself, basically.)

But that destruction of Yaguruma leads to growth from Kagami. He's friends with Tendou, he'll protect Tendou... but he can't relate to Tendou, and Tendou doesn't seem able to relate to him. They both regard the other as some alien lifeform (possibly with cause!), and while there's some trust and affection there, it's not about shared experiences.

For Kagami, his shared experience... it's not even with Yaguruma, who he's been idolizing this whole story. It's with Kageyama, the injured fanboy from Shadow. He's been that kid, desperately trying to contribute, to prove himself. He's been a grunt. Guys like that, he gets them, supports them, fears for them. When he shows back up, after Tendou teases him for being a Working Man in a world of monsters and superheroes, he's not doing it to impress Yaguruma. He's not doing it for fame, or for vengeance. He's doing it because maybe he can help, can keep his team safe. It's something that Yaguruma preaches, but doesn't live. Kagami wants to keep people safe, and will risk his life to do it.

Maybe that's why he deserves to be a Kamen Rider?

A QUESTION

I just... I cannot stop laughing at that scene with Tendou diagnosing the doctor as she falls in love with him. Just such a perfect comedic scene. (That look on Kagami's face right before, where you think he's grieving but he's just so pissed at Tendou!) It continues on with Tendou teasing Kagami, Juka asking Tendou to please stop teasing Kagami, and then everyone trying to figure out what curry to make. I thought this was going to be for a redo of their party, but it turned out it was another Big Tendou Moment, him providing food for everyone in the hospital.

So, if it had been for a curry party with those four, would you want to attend? I mean, you've got Tendou (not a guy who always is the best in social situations), Kagami (and his Very Strong Feelings, which can be a lot to deal with), Juka (who is only good at talking about food and Tendou), and Hiyori (which, I love her, but: a party with Hiyori). That doesn't feel like a blast to attend, but what do you think?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto09b.png

More good die content. I feel like someone like Tendou would infuriate me. Mostly cause he makes everything look easy, and from my readings of this thread doesn’t accept failure or appreciate effort. I as a person try very hard but can’t always succeed. I’m also very predictable. I don’t know why I’m writing this but it feels relevant here.

Have any of you all heard of “Main Character/Protagonist Syndrome?” I don’t think it’s an official psychosis or anything but I think it seems important here. Basically it’s the a form of narcissism where a person believes everything that happens happens for them, as an arc or obstacle. I feel like Yaguruma and Tendou suffer from it. Yagurumu isn’t able to back it up though, but Tendou is. This frustrates Yagurumu to no end.

Also Yagurumu surrounds himself with “supporting characters” he thinks they’re important, but only in what they offer him. This contrasts Tendou who isolates himself maybe even intentionally.

Kagami on the other hand is just like a dude and he knows that. In knowing that though that leads to him being the most heroic of the 3. Kagami sees people as his equal and doesn’t fight because he thinks it’s destiny or that he’s better, but because he believes that people’s lives have value.

Or something like that, I still need to watch the show tbh.

I mean, that's a pretty good read on the dynamics at play! You must be a very intuitive person, because I can't be explaining this show well enough for you to be getting all of that. (High-five, Hiyori.)

Yeah, a lot of what makes Kagami special is that he's not special. He's, y'know, pretty good at what he does, but he's not the smartest or the strongest or the richest or the fastest or the etc etc etc. (He's the most forgetful, but that's not been shown to be an advantage thus far.) He's just some guy, and he's trying his best. Like you said, he's not someone who thinks this story is about him, so he's more easily able to consider others. It's not about achieving his own victory, it's about ensuring others' survival. That gives him the motivation to be the bravest character, which is something that shines through in this episode.

Now that you mention it, without spoiling anything, the Frank Grimes/Yaguruma comparison works extremely well.

Don’t worry though, this isn’t the end of mr. Kanzen Chowa. How else do you think his actor was able to make all those reappearances I told you about?

Nah, when I said about the morally ambiguous good guys journey such as those Kamen Rider had usually in secondary Riders as them becoming better person, it's not necessarily about the characters themselves re-examining what they've done. It can also be done by the story to reveal to the audience about those characters' hidden depths (where those characters themselves already know or working towards it too sometimes); how they're like deep down, that they aren't as horrible as they're painted out at first. Same as what I talked about character development, probably those that seemingly made to change audience perception isn't necessarily about modulation of writing? Hidden depths are common storytelling, it can be discovered in backstory or organically as a story progresses.

I think I get a lesson through this one; that mean and strict ways don't always work if you want to get something out of someone. People believe that successful leader, or training, or organization, etc. can only succeed if they're built in strictness, meanness, harshness, etc. But probably Misaki's way of dealing with Tendou shows that this is not the case, though in that place, normally the interrogator will just be constantly angry at the suspect at all times; and with the Zectroopers standing besides them is the usual way of even more threatening "speak or we'll shoot you". And I get it, like, for example, Tendou wants to call Juka, I think that can be used as a leverage to make Tendou speak (dunno about how it'll succeed though, or your reaction if it failed), that if Tendou gives the intormation ZECT needs, he'll be allowed to speak with Juka.

Clashes between Riders seems to be the norm for shows featuring more than a few Riders, but that doesn't mean those Riders are guaranteed antagonist like Yaguruma here. If you think that Tendou is distorted, it seems that he's so used to be the best and he recently found himself challenged, at least in cooking contest that he's "beaten", as the story isn't Yaguruma Is Great Forever... but Tendou Is Great Forever (and he has the narcissism to know this, he outright had god complex; and the likely pettiness here when someone challenges that).

I don't know if you take the Tendou hurting Kageyama part as him being distorted, but that just reinforces how Tendou's another one of anti-hero main protagonist (which is reserved for secondary Riders usually), he performs what Rider main characters do by saving others and killing Worms, which means heroic actions, but he has several unheroic unheroic qualities like him doing that to fuel his ego as the chosen one, and for here, he shows little compassion for someone he hospitalized and brags that he'll retaliate like that when someone defies him. Which is why I think character's morality depends more on what they do/or will do to people less related to them, like civilians or strangers (taking care of them for good guys, and preying them for bad guys). Caring about friends and/or family like Tendou does for Juka and Hiyori won't necessarily cut it.

Kagami seems to respect Yaguruma a lot, though he rightfully criticizes Tendou's behavior of hospitalizing someone. And he now reinforces ZECT's policy about only one of them can be a Rider, and becomes increasingly more frustrated that he at first does it out of Tendou's concern, but later he outright think of him as unworthy. And one of Tendou's main characteristics is how unflappable he is, nothing fazes him, so he wouldn't think much about Kagami's strong feelings.

For this one though, nothing against it obviously, I'd like to know more about how Hiyori prefering Yaguruma's dish as it's a hot food is a beautiful touch. Otherwise this show is about perfection... Tendou's perfection of having no flaws.

The tofu material is something that I commonly see in some other medias that enforces duels decide everything mindset, especially for medias that are merchandise-based. And those kind of medias are like to be made fun of other people (I don't think this is a good thing, you do say something like making fun of something you like, but I feel that what happened to those medias are more derogatory), that something trivial like cooking, or playing board games, etc. are treated as life-or-death like fighting. And yeah as you said... you think Yaguruma is distorting Tendou? Totally other way around, Yaguruma's cool facade crumbles here, and it's not gonna stop there, and while Fish thinks that Tendou doesn't know for ep. 3, this is a show of Tendou's uncanny ability to detect Worms. Tendou's zen-like phrases fit so well for his job here as a priest. The sunset is also a fodder for more Tendou's zen phrases. A̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶e̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶K̶u̶s̶a̶k̶a̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶H̶i̶y̶o̶r̶i̶!̶ ̶F̶u̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶H̶i̶y̶o̶r̶i̶ ̶K̶u̶s̶a̶k̶a̶b̶e̶.̶

Yeah, his story didn't seem nearly over. Dude got broken by living in Tendou's story, but there's more that you can do with him once that happens.

I just liked that it was a subtle (and funny) way of pointing out that perfection isn't always/ever an objective thing: people bring their biases into the judgments, and oftentimes make decisions that only work for them. Hiyori was asked to judge between two dishes, but since she prefers hot foods over cold, she picked Yaguruma's. It's not that Yaguruma's was the best, or that it was even better than Tendou's, but it was the type she enjoyed better.

Also, it highlights a problem with Yaguruma, where he takes praise too seriously. Tendou isn't crushed by Hiyori's choice, because he understands how subjective it is. (Also, he instantly thinks of her opinion as Wrong, and therefore mostly disregards it.) But a guy like Yaguruma needs that random praise, even as he tries to be above it all.

I don't know, it was a funny joke that was delivered in-character, but it got at a lot of stuff from this storyline.

While this is a pure gag to you, it probably repluses me a bit as the doctor is probably someone way older (I know, that's probably the point). And of course, Tendou will never be in danger, he's invincible. Though admittedly when I watched this part it caught me off guard, because it's something still new established in story; like how will Tendou react in actual danger (faking death). A lesson to Kagami to not underestimate Tendou if you're really concerned with him, like Juka!

Kagami is the one you'll get for the main character-esque development, as Tendou is clearly perfect. Though there's another of Kagami blunder here, like you said before of making things worse, with Kagami distracting Tendou in his fight with Yaguruma. Now, between Kagami and Hiyori, now something more is going to unravel with Hiyori seeing someone with a belt in the past, that Kagami desperately wants to keep away. As an artist myself, my reaction contrasts with Hiyori's... it's probably one of few things that I can pride myself like Tendou did. Obviously Tendou will never be in actual danger, but him being in actual healthy condition could've devastated Hiyori further (it seems like a hope spot for her with Tendou not participating for legitimate reasons). And again a relief for Juka to call out Tendou for being inconsiderate to Kagami's worries. Seen several times where familial love leads to the family justifying their family member even if they're in the wrong and forces others to tolerate them.

Yeah, the actual thing that happened was that Tendou distorted Yaguruma. Because Yaguruma has corrupted himself and became obsessed in defeating Tendou, to the point that he's likely even worse than Tendou himself where Tendou, someone who shows little empathy when he went overboard in self-defense, calls out Yaguruma for jeopardizing his whole team for his selfish and self-righteous motivation. For what you said, where Yaguruma seems kind and good leader from the outside, it's all done for "Perfect Harmony", he's actually just a perfectionist, like others said, for teamwork in contrast to Tendou's independence. I think it's not about how he wants to be above others with his teammates only as his team victories, but he does seem to be biased only for his existing teammates, like his colder reaction to Kagami wanting to work with him before.

I don't know if you would expect Kagami to become a Kamen Rider. At this episode he becomes TheBee, but it lies more than that for this series. And one thing I learned from Kagami's fight before he transforms was that... The melee weapon for ZECT is significantly more effective than the ranged one with bullets!! I'd think something Kagami should give a tip to others was that they should try switching their guns to melee mode to try fighting Worms better!

Honestly probably no, I'd not be able to stand Tendou. I've dealt with that kind of guy for example, in one of extracurricular activity. I'd not have problem if others won't antagonize me, and that's aimed to someone like Hiyori (while can be even more blunt, she likely mostly does that in retaliation, not starting it first).

Well, probably you are those that try hard but not always work, but I've seen several ones in real life that doesn't need to put in much effort to succeed as well in my surroundings...

Kagami is obviously the most heroic of the 3. The other ones are anti-heroes with the flaws they suffer from (Kagami has flaws too, but less about toxic flaws).

I mean, she's not? I don't think there's anything in this scene worth being repulsed by, and I wouldn't say that's what the show is intending. At the risk of ruining a joke by taking it apart, the point seems to be that a professional who should be treating Tendou in a clinical, detached manner is, instead, looking to him for answers and falling for his charms. Like, the age of the doctor isn't really part of the joke? Just that she's a doctor?

That's great! It can be tough for artists to see beyond the ways their art didn't match their designs, so it's awesome that you're able to feel pride in it. Keep it up!

Please do the descriptive version of thumbnail sketches of characters forever. It has been a v dull day full of rain and this made me laugh out loud, mostly because I feel quite strongly that all of it is accurate. Except possibly Yaguruma being a kind person, what with his need for regular external affirmations of his self-worth. I have a lot of sympathy for his running up against Tendo and his Protagonist Syndrome, because it seems very frustrating to keep bouncing off of plot armor, but less for him after watching him fall apart at the seams. Fun to watch, definitely, but I think less fun to interact with.

tl;dr - I think I would avoid any sort of social gathering with these four people like the metaphorical plague. It hasn't gone well so far, no reason to think that would change now, lol

Ha ha, happy to help! These are some barely-functional people that I can't stop thinking about!

For Yaguruma... I mean, he's obviously got some weird ideas about validation and he's troublingly particular about process, but I think he's generally pretty chill to be around? Even when he's seething with rage for Tendou, he's able to be cordial and respectful to others, at the every least. TheBee, however...

https://i.imgur.com/DLMhIIY.png

Funnily enough, I think this is the one where I'm hitting a wall when it comes to what I even want to talk about, so I'm just going to start somewhere random and see where this goes. (Don't expect anything too deep this time.)

First off, totally superficially, isn't that just a cool knife? The Kabuto Kunai Gun is low-key one of the coolest toku hero weapons out there, and I'm more than happy to take this chance to make sure I give it a proper shout-out in here. It's a design that compliments Kabuto's so well it's almost better than the suit itself. It's no less elegant, at least as straightforward, and manages to pack in its own Cast Off gimmick for three total toyetic modes, all without looking even remotely encumbered by the need to stuff in toyetic gimmicks. The phrase "simple is best" definitely comes to mind here.

Now let's talk about why it's jammed into the side of this bridge. For anyone who needs the context, this is because Kabuto had to chuck it at some debris that was going to fall on Kagami, a distraction which allegedly causes him to lose his fight with TheBee. I'd like to emphasize that part: allegedly. Tendou seems to be operating on a higher level of himself than usual in this one, and I'm honestly struggling to wrap my head around the details when I try and think about them.

I sort of fail to believe Tendou would have any real trouble saving Kagami and fending off Yaguruma at the same time, and that'd definitely line up with him getting up fine moments later and declaring that he was playing dead to get TheBee off his back... but then as soon as Kagami starts realizing how he was saved, Tendou is right back on the ground, which leads to him being in the hospital. But wait! Tendou plays dead again when Kagami realizes Tendou went out of his way to help him. Is he melodramatically avoiding the shame of admitting he slipped up? Or just the shame of admitting he helped Kagami? It's probably not because he was actually injured, because he's once again right back up on his feet at the hospital. No, hang on, did he just actively want to go to the hospital because he knew Yaguruma would probably come there to check in on that subordinate of his Kagami mentioned, and this whole thing was one elaborate troll job? Was it a devious scheme to destroy his Perfect Harmony even further? Did Tendou just not feel like walking home that night? Am I missing something obvious or otherwise massively overthinking the plot of this quite good episode?

I'd be totally cool if it was just the last one! And yeah, this is a great episode for all the reasons Die covered so well. I'd even maybe agree it's an improvement on the last two, but whatever Bandai suit came in and demanded the cliffhanger be five seconds of the Kabuto Extender finally showing off its gimmick instead of the perfect stopping point of Kagami's transformation into TheBee docks it just those few points. Only a few though!

And I mean, the question for this episode?

...pick one! :p

If this thread was still doing song lyrics, I'd probably toss in something from the recent Mountain Goats album "Getting Into Knives". If only!

(I'm also in the middle of writing up 10 - SPOILER: weird ending that I need to unpack and repack - so this is a nice break.)

I do like that knife! I wish I could talk more about it, but they've sort of barely showed it off? The gun gets a lot of play, and that's cool, but that three-second-ish still might be the most screentime the actual knife has gotten? I've seen a smaller version of it in action figure shots, but I'm really hoping to see it used more on the show. I'm glad to know it has fans!

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 10

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto10a.png

Let's work back to front on this one, so I can start with the part that didn't land for me.

I honestly don't know what the show is trying to say about the relationship of Tendou and Kagami in this one. The ending is a statement from Kagami that he won't be TheBee if it means abandoning his friendship with Tendou, just after his attempted murder of Tendou earned Tendou's respect.

It... there is a lot going on there, and it's all pretty unusual for a protagonist combo. I can unpack individual parts of that climax (and I will!), but taken as a whole, it... I don't think it comes together how the show wants?

Like, Tendou is aggressively judgmental with Kagami here, and I can sort of see where he's coming from. As we're reminded, obliquely, in two different scenes, the biggest crime in Tendou's eyes is unrealized potential. That drives him crazy, and it's the thing that makes him get correctional with people.

The serious version is in the beginning, with Yaguruma attempting to swallow his ego and live with his failure. He unconvincingly tries to be a booster for Kagami's role as TheBee. He makes Tendou that tofu dish that's, like, his only move. (It is adorable how he tries to smooth over every problem with this one tofu dish.) But this time he makes it Tendou's way, an acknowledgement that Tendou was right and he was wrong. It's Yaguruma admitting, in one signature dish, that he doesn't know how to live his life, so he'll live it the way Tendou told him.

Except, that's not what Tendou wants. He doesn't want this dude, who has so much potential, to just slouch his shoulders and follow someone else's path. He wants Yaguruma to stop worrying about other people and excel for the sake of excellence. Yaguruma's tofu dish isn't the way Tendou would make it, but it's Yaguruma's tofu dish. Stop worrying about how you measure up to others and just be great.

The joke version is how Tendou says loudly, constantly, that Kagami should be fired for doing his restaurant job poorly. And, he's not joking! Kagami half-assing his job is offensive to Tendou. Tendou genuinely cares for Kagami, and it hurts his feelings to see Kagami be so sloppy and inattentive. It's super funny that the hero of the show is telling people that his friend should definitely lose his job for being a slacker, but it's a joke that's both completely true to Tendou's personal philosophy, and sort of key to the main Kagami/Tendou plot of this episode.

The thing is, Tendou really doesn't give a shit if Kagami has been ordered by ZECT to eliminate Kabuto. He cannot muster up even a second of trepidation to make Kagami feel qualified as TheBee. It's both a little frustrating (I'm not sure Perfect And Unflappable Hero is the best way to construct your series, but time will tell) and sort of liberating, since the show doesn't have to make the conflict some fraught battle. We know that Kagami doesn't have a chance of defeating (let alone killing) Tendou, but that's not the question. The question is, what is Kagami going to do?

Because, man, dude is living his dream for the first half of this episode, give or take a disturbing TheBee brand on his chest. (??? Feels like this will be important later!) He's a Kamen Rider, he's a full-time ZECT employee, he's got a team supporting him, and he's aware enough of Yaguruma's failings to not let it go to his head. He's just so happy.

It's not a story about Kagami becoming a different person, which was a nice surprise. It's not about him becoming egotistical, or cruel, or awful to his friends. It's not even about him being shit at his job, although he sort of is. (Luckily, Kageyama is there to pick up the slack. That kid has a future in this militarized organization of nebulous authority!) It's that he has to decide between being TheBee, or being Tendou's friend. And he won't choose.

Kagami tries, briefly, to have Tendou choose for him. He tells Tendou that he's his friend, and fishes for Tendou to reciprocate. If Tendou declared his own feelings for Kagami, then Kagami could use that to ditch TheBee. But that'd be Kagami using Tendou as an excuse, so Tendou keeps his mouth shut. Then Kagami tells Tendou to never show up as Kabuto, to spare Kagami having to fight him. But that's still Kagami trying to avoid making a decision, so Tendou tells him Oh Hell No, and is absolutely at Shadow's next deployment.

The fight between Kagami and Tendou, it's great... because it's between Kagami and Tendou. The show quickly abandons the superhero suits so we can see how much Tendou is pushing Kagami to make up his mind, and how much Kagami is trying to avoid that. Tendou doesn't even care if the decision Kagami makes it that he'll try to kill Tendou, because then at least Kagami would be making a choice, walking his path. Seeing Kagami avoid who he is and what he wants, it's the same as Yaguruma giving up at the beginning of the episode. It's people who want to have it both ways, who won't risk failure and would rather try to please everyone. That's an unforgivable sin, in Tendou's eyes. Better to be honest and flawed than perfect and a liar.

So we get that ending, where Tendou is thrilled at Kagami's willingness to try to kill him, and Kagami quits after realizing how much of a friend Tendou is, to believe in Kagami enough to take that injury. It's an ending where I can absolutely see what each character is going through, and why they made their decisions, but it's maybe not an ending that works onscreen, in the moment.

Like, I've just spent forty minutes trying to take this thing apart to see how it works, but I don't know if anyone should have to? Because what's onscreen is Tendou sort of forcing Kagami to give up being a hero?

I mean, it's not, that's not what the show's saying, but what it is saying could maybe have been said clearer. It's difficult to pull out all the threads, and it makes Tendou seem a little callous, while Kagami seems a little indecisive. (The opposite of what's really happening!) Tendou's cruelty and antagonism is all about him forcing Kagami to be honest and make a choice; and Kagami's turn at the end is him admitting that he doesn't want to be a Kamen Rider if it means having to fight his friends. It's just, man, that is a complicated ending, and they tried to execute it a little too quickly?

It's an episode that I like two or three times as much now, after writing about it, as I did when I watched it. But that shouldn't be something I have to do to enjoy it? It's a good one, but, man, needed some work on that climax. Could've nailed down some of those ideas a little better.

A QUESTION

When Yaguruma is happy, he makes mabou tofu. When he needs to apologize, he makes mabou tofu. I assume he makes mabou tofu when he's cleaning up after making mabou tofu. He's clearly proud of his mabou tofu, a thing I will never get tired of typing. I am nothing close to a cook, however. I can, at best, reheat a piece of pizza in a style many have called Barely Edible. But what about you? Do you have a signature dish that you like to prepare?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto10b.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto10c.png

The series's had trouble balancing comedy and serious topics. Years later, people might see it as a series poking fun of its own tropes with many writers hopping on board this anniversary series each with their own interpretation of the characters. A lot of breaking characters and tone shift after thebee arc until the endgame. Still one of the coolest suits and ty gadgets that doesn't feel like toys toys. Made along with kamen rider the first to modernize the 70s bug theme along with boukenger subtle tribute to past mecha designs.

I'm not sure that's been my experience? I think the mix of comedy and drama has worked out pretty well, in the sense that humor feels drawn from character. Like, Tendou is never just Some Dick, he's someone who manipulates, tests, challenges. Even him saying Kagami should lose his job is rooted in established character traits.

The few episodes that've had really serious climaxes... I'm not sure I'd say that the reasons they may or may not work have anything to do with humor?

Haven't updated his channel in half a year, but his most fav series is his 3/4 parts reunion with sato yuki aka Kagami arata. They briefly touch on their "series" along with zio guest appearances. Hiro was on a rise after kabuto, but retired early. He could of became as successful as deno's ryotaro, w's phllip, and shinkenred. Meanwhile, yuki fell in to a slump for not reaching success. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NBHIGKCRrNU

Very cool! I'll be sure to check that out when I'm done with Kabuto.

Yeah, I’m not sure I expected Kagami to remain as TheBee for a significant length of time, but I can say I was not expecting it to be one episode.

Next time, you will enter a realm that a certain seafood-on-two slices of bread once dubbed “The Inoue Zone”. I can already predict your reaction.

https://i.imgur.com/x0NmIPu.png

I think what I like most about this episode is how strongly it affirms that Kamen Rider Kabuto isn't really about Kabuto. He's important to the story, of course; when Tendou likens himself to the sun, it's hardly inaccurate. The entire world of the show legitimately does revolve around him, but that isn't where the heart of the story is most of the time. When you get down to it, Kabuto is a show all about Kagami trying to grow into some kind of superhero, and what better way to underscore that than by having Kagami become a superhero less than a quarter of the way in?

Giving him this brief stint as TheBee, it's a super interesting choice – giving Kagami that small taste of the life he longs for only for it to be inevitably torn away. I love that kind of thing in a story. The strength of a character's writing often stems from the strength of whatever desire they have, and Kagami has desire for days in this one. Right out of the gate, he's taking his newfound Rider status as a certainty. He's got everything he's ever wanted, and the thought of living out his days being a cool hero who saves people with the help of his loyal teammates in Shadow and his best buddy Kabuto fills him with barely contained glee.

But then, if Kagami is the protagonist of this story, it goes without saying he can't have that for long with dozens of episodes left to go, doesn't it? It's hard to speak from personal experience here, since I went into Kabuto knowing plenty about Kagami's overall trajectory, including that he got to be TheBee early on, but I think even without that foreknowledge, any slightly savvy viewer could figure out where this episode was going to end up, and I think that's yet another point in its favor. The fun is in that looming sense of collapse; it's in seeing what exactly is going to be the thing that forces Kagami to give up what he was lusting after back in the premiere, which naturally ends up being friction with Mr. Sun himself, Tendou.

I don't have anywhere near as much of a hard time getting behind the climax here as it seems Die did. Kagami having to choose between his friend and his power, it's a pretty obvious (if effective) note to land the story on, so I really appreciated the way the show gets a bit more clever with it. If this is an episode that makes you sit there afterwards and think intently about the meaning behind it, that kinda sounds like the exact opposite of a problem to me? Especially when it's a plot beat that's wrapped up in Tendou's own alien decision-making process, which is supposed to be enigmatic by nature.

How exactly Kagami's run as TheBee ended was one of the things I've completely forgotten over the years, so it was actually a really pleasant surprise to me how many little layers end up being at work here. It's weird I didn't recall it better when it's a confrontation that seems rather memorable, both in how its filmed (their Rider forms being reflected in the flames! So neat!) and the emotions at play. I guess I just liked Yaguruma too much or something. At any rate, this one is definitely another example of Kabuto making its melodrama work in its favor. A really good conclusion to a really good arc.

Oh, and my answer to Die's question this time is a blunt "not particularly" so uninteresting I might as well not even bother responding. Evidently the both of us could stand to take a little more inspiration from this show's obsession with preparing nice food. :lol

Fair enough, I get it more now. The total role reversal that Tendou steals the doctor's jobs even from themselves. Shows more about Tendou's perfectness of mastering any role he partakes in, just like when he became priest before.

This is one of the good lesson that can be taken from Kabuto, among its morally ambiguous characters, that you shouldn't always copy others and stay true to yourself.. Though still, there's a counteract to that message; that you should try to improve (especially if someone's wrong, where Yaguruma can be more unhinged than Tendou, staying true to yourself can be twisted into something like staying rotten if that's how you are), and one of the ways to do that is take inspiration from others... So, about this scene, it's Yaguruma taking it too far like even copying Tendou's style of making tofu? (something that he wins over Tendou from Hiyori's tasting them).

And Tendou's task-oriented approach here makes sense for him to see something outside that like friendship (at least from the outside for what's shown in Tendou) and feelings as unecessary and just a hindrance. He only takes the "emotions cloud our judgment part" or "emotions make us subject to manipulation" as his mindset, though this part of story has it being right (well, it's Tendou, after all) with Kagami being indecisive at his job.

And that mindset do, can make someone a little callous, which is unfortunately, a bunch of people think like that regarding emotions and even justifies some transgressive behavior that they think can improve others (like the harsh approach I talked before even when it's overboard). The counteract to Tendou's, or anyone alike like some other secondary Riders philosophy will be this; some audiences praise those mindset Tendou has and ridicule the ideal hero ones because they deem compassion as a weakness. But it depends on their situation. Perhaps their job require them to not hesitate, for example. But even then, in general anyone should have some level of moral and/or professional constraint. If we throw away compassion and all other forms of restraint, we'd easily end up unhinged and trigger-happy at just about anyone, and that is definitely not good for others (which is seen in this series for Tendou harming Kageyama).

Open display of emotions can actually be pragmatically useful if used well. Open display of emotions can be done on purpose to manipulate others and achieve the outcomes that one is after. Like for example, ideal heroes might do that unintentionally, but at times it does serve them well (e.g. lowering the guards of their audiences and earning their trust). There are also other characters (whether heroes or not) who intentionally display emotions and reveal a softer side to them in order to achieve their goals. Even toddlers naturally knows how to throw a tantrum in order to try pressure their parents to give them what they want.

And there are some situations where the supposedly "cool" anti-heroes (probably not Tendou, given what Kabuto as a series is, but the others) are actually missing out or failing when they could have gotten the job done more efficiently by displaying some emotions in a calculated way. They fail to do so because their emotional insecurities and emotional hurt are preventing them from displaying their emotions.

Emotion can be a weakness or a strength depending on how the user manages it. For example, there are people who lost control of themselves and make themselves easy prey while angry, and there are also other people who become stronger, deadlier, more focused and more efficient when in anger or adrenaline rush. Emotions managed poorly is weakness, but emotions managed well is a source of strength. Both nature and nurture can play a role in one's ability in managing one's emotions. Rather than trying to let go of our emotions altogether, we should work towards managing our emotions better.

And was his grandmother morally ambiguous too to teach him that friendship is for the naive? Otherwise, with the dilemma Kagami had for choosing to fight a friend or quit his dream job, would it cross your mind that, ZECT is the actual troublemaker? (between these 2 choices Kagami's struggling, take a 3rd option!) I also wonder how will ZECT punish if someone doesn't obey them including headquarters, like not killing Kabuto for Kagami as TheBee. It seems that the Zecter operates outside of ZECT like how Kabuto Zecter chooses Tendou. Kagami as TheBee is short lived, but Kagami's true one to fight in the series isn't as TheBee, so it's not a little too quickly.

I'd say "Kagami had a good run as TheBee," but.. debatable! At least no one died?

Also... INOUE FOREVER! Very excited for tonight's episode.

Yeah, I... I would never mean to imply that an episode that inspired so much analysis out of me was a bad thing, it's just that...

Like, I wonder if the relationship between Tendou and Kagami could stand to be slightly less opaque? I don't want to lose the mystery and idiosyncrasy of Tendou's whole thing, but there's an element to their friendship/"friendship" that made some of Kagami's decision-making at the end of 10 feel difficult to comprehend. I don't have a solution for how you'd balance what you have now with what I think the show needs, but getting to the end of an episode and having to spend a bunch of time explaining to yourself why someone did something... I'm not sure that's the most optimal way to tell a story? Feels like a reason for folks to check out, if it's too much work to figure out a show.

Yeah, I think that's pretty much the joke; that any situation you drop Tendou in, he's going to make himself the focal point of.

To me, it's a scene where Tendou is asking Yaguruma to be a better/truer Yaguruma, rather than follow Tendou's path. He wants Yaguruma to improve himself (because god knows he needs improvement at this point), not remake himself into someone else.

I think the thing I enjoyed the most about Tendou in this one was that he's very keen to compartmentalize people, or... like, to appreciate the core of a person, even if there's a ton of stuff around that core that he really hates. When Kagami tells Tendou that he'll have to fight Kabuto if he sees him again, Tendou is still like Okay But You're Coming To The Party Tonight Right. Like, Kabuto versus TheBee is a work thing, and Tendou's okay leaving it there and still being friends with Kagami. (Even the parts where Tendou thinks Kagami should lose his job... he still cares about Kagami! He's still his friend! Hating him as a worker and caring about him as a person are two separate things in Tendou's mind!) It's the same with Yaguruma, where he's able to want his rival to be the best version of himself. I think that's a very neat version of a Kamen Rider!

I agree that this is an episode that needs to be analyzed to be fully understood and I'm glad you did it cause it brought to my attention something I never put together. I always took Tendo's refusal of Kagami's friendship at face value, as him being hostile and showing the worst part of his character, but what you said makes sense. It seems unnecessarily cruel from Kagami's and probably the viewer's perspective but it would be wrong to give him friendship as an excuse to give up on being The Bee instead of making that decision on his own.

Tendo is a very misunderstood person and I think that concept works great since apparently, even I don't understand him completely. He has a tough love philosophy which he applies to Kagami and Hiyori, giving her something to have faith in. The person who understands him best is Jyuka.

And I think that's key, because she immediately realizes that Tendou cares for Kagami and considers him a friend. If you take that as a fact, it's easy to see how a lot of Tendou's actions against Kagami (not just in this episode!) are done with a weird type of affection, of a need to see Kagami become a better version of himself.

Oh man, I'd say to prepare yourself but I don't think anything can prepare you for episode 11.

The more I'm going through the show again the more I tend to think of Kagami as Kamen Rider's answer to Charlie Brown. He's a fundamentally moral character with a good heart and aspirations that tend to outstrip his abilities. He has dreams and ideals, though, and he never gives up on them. He's a good man and his reward for being good is to be surrounded by assholes who put him down at every turn.

I think this makes Tendou Snoopy, which works really well for me.

I mean, there's a reason this is my signature image for watching Kabuto:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...abutosig03.png

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 11

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto11a.png

Okay, so.

There's a level at which I really loved this episode. The absurdity and specificity of all of the Daisuke and Gon stuff, yeah, 1000%. Him never remembering his pick-up lines so she has to finish them for him, yes. Him not wanting to save a dude, but leaping into action to save a lady, yes. Her clearly and canonically being the brains of the outfit, yes. The first scene of the episode being the two of them making a dying woman look better instead of actually providing any real help to her? So much yes. Their dynamic is exactly the sort of overheated nonsense that I've missed in my life. Inoue provides me essential, life-sustaining nutrients, and I've missed them from my diet. A delightful episode, from insane beginning to ridiculous ending. (Daisuke is maybe more horrified at his make-up artistry being destroyed than the fact that he's about to be monster murdered! And he's so put out by the Zecter!)

(If it seems like I'm not really digging into Daisuke and Gon: you're right! What's here is a collection of quirks, and very little in the way of coherent storytelling. Daisuke has weird feelings about women! Gon is his partner and I guess ward! They were randomly in the ruins of Shibuya! They fight crime to save women and also do emergency makeup! Daisuke likes a nice breeze! It's all very fun in the moment, but the Why of it all is nowhere to be found, so me talking about it would be total conjecture. Like all conjecture, I'd prefer to wait until the show wants to tell me something than guess at what it might be.)

But then there's the deeper level, with the actual story of Kabuto, and... man, real hard to see how this one comes together, and what it's trying to say.

Like, the runner for this episode is that Kagami wants to take his friendship with Tendou to the next level, and Tendou is being incredibly clear that he's not interested in that. (He also keeps hinting that there's something Kagami's forgotten, but I'm as clueless as Kagami, so that analysis will need to wait for the next episode, probably.) I'm super into the idea of Kagami and Tendou having different concepts of friendship, and that Kagami has maybe misconstrued the ending of the previous episode. (It's a tough one, Kagami! You are not alone!) So, spending some time exploring what Tendou and Kagami each want out of a friendship is valid narrative territory for the show.

It's just, boy, neither character comes off super great in this one. I can make allowances for each of them (Kagami has Very Big Feelings and definitely wants to be glued to Tendou's side now; Tendou finds the idea of having to full-time address Kagami's Very Big Feelings to be something akin to psychological torture, also all of the stuff I posted a little earlier today about Tendou being able to be friends with someone and still be super unsupportive and judgmental if they suck at something), but this is not an episode where it's easy to let them off the hook. Tendou is a relentless jerk, and Kagami is a pathetic simp. The dynamic is massively, hilariously, troublingly toxic.

The problem is that, normally, the show is a lot more nuanced in how it approaches these two characters. Tendou can be cold, but it's tempered with an inner warmth and desire to see others succeed. Kagami can be needy and brash, but it's tempered with an innate decency and confidence. Here, everything's turned up to INOUE and it's all extremes. Tendou is all cruel indifference, and Kagami is all clingy desperation. It's not that the characters are written wrong, it's that the calibration is all off. The little details that make the relationship between these two men seem, if nothing else, respectful... boy, that's all sandblasted into nothingness, a smooth surface of two guys who are varying amounts of awful to each other, pretty much non-stop.

But, other than that, I thought this episode ruled.

I'm really not sure what it's trying to say just yet, but the inclusion of a healthy partnership like Daisuke and Gon's, just as Tendou and Kagami are at their most insufferable, that is probably not a coincidence! (Daisuke's belief that women should be treated gently may also be a comment on Tendou's treatment of Kagami here, but a) delving into that is maybe dicier than I feel comfortable; and b) I'm not sure the show has nailed down enough of Daisuke's character to make statements contrasting him with Tendou.) It certainly feels like the show is getting into a story about how partnerships should work, but this is very much the throat-clearing part of that thesis. As it is, there's just a bunch of possibilities, and I'll see where it goes.

Which, fun to do, since all of that Daisuke and Gon stuff was delightful. The newest Rider gets to touch up a rich woman's makeup to contrast Kabuto's mid-episode fight scene! He even says Make Up instead of Clock Up! It's all very weird, and very fun. I don't feel like I know these two characters yet, but I loved getting to spend some time with them.

I wish I could've said the same about the show's regular duo!

A QUESTION

While this episode was maybe not his best fill-in work (Ryuki 29 and 30, by a mile, maybe my favorite Ryuki episodes full-stop), it's still terrifically funny and occasionally confounding, so I'm okay saying Inoue Forever. My deep and abiding love for the work of Toshiki Inoue (save a Kuuga story that was probably more the fault of my then-uncultured palate) is well established at this point, and probably not likely to abate any time soon. I can't imagine anyone else is going to so readily fly the flag for that guy, but what about other artists? Is there any artist (toku or otherwise) that has a blank check from you? Anyone whose work you can't imagine ever feeling disappointed with?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../kabuto11b.png

Since he's a dragonfly, you'd think Daisuke's Rider name should be... AMosquito, going by TheBee's example. Also wow, I didn't remember this episode at all! Everything about him and Gon's introduction, it's like we're back in those Taiyaki episodes of Blade.

For your question, I'm actually a little embarrassed to say that for a long time and sometimes even now, I really didn't pay attention or even keep track of which writers worked on which toku shows, especially if different ones will come in for given episodes. That said, I'd probably say Kobayashi since both Ryuki and OOO that make up my Rider experience in their own way. The uh, weirdness of Amazons hasn't changed that!

They don't ever say Daisuke's Rider name in this one, and I've got no clue as to what it is. (I know three other Rider names from Kabuto, but I don't think he's any of those.) Based on the names from this show I'm aware of, his name is either ShootHopper, or the Japanese word for gun.

...I'm pretty much going to call him ShootHopper no matter what, I hope everyone's cool with that.

Amazons! Second Rider show I ever watched (after Ex-Aid), and, uh, yeah! Weirdness is right!

I still have a real fondness for the first season. Alpha, god, one of the all time great Kamen Rider characters. It's a shame that the second season couldn't figure out a way to use its cast better, and it's a shame that the movie exists.

Okay, this couldn't wait until morning.

This is an exceptionally horny episode of Kabuto, no pun intended.

And, like, I'm not even talking about the weird group date or Tendou warning Misaki not to fall in love with him or Daisuke's weird deification of beautiful women, although: yes, all of that, obviously.

The thing that makes it exceptionally horny is: The core metaphor for what's happening with Tendou and Kagami is that they had sex, and then it got weird.

(Right upfront: I am not suggesting that there is any romantic connection between Tendou and Kagami. If you want to read it that way, I wouldn't argue against it, but I am not saying this episode is affirming any romantic feelings between the two characters. I am saying the metaphor that Inoue is working with is a sexual one.)

A lot of their story here is that something huge happened between them, and they're both interpreting it differently. To continue the They Had Sex metaphor, Kagami caught feelings and Tendou is very clearly not looking for a relationship right now. That leads to Kagami getting very couple-y (he just starts cleaning Tendou's living room, a normal thing that platonic friends do all the time) and Tendou trying desperately to push him away.

The whole thing is that neither of them is being very honest with the other about what they're looking for in a relationship. Kagami has Very Big Feelings and is ready for an immediate commitment (he even broke up with TheBee Zecter, so it's not even cheating anymore!), while Tendou is so unused to this type of arrangement that he'd rather blow it all up than actually make himself vulnerable. Kagami's all-in, and Tendou wants to take it slow.

But since they can't be honest about that, they settle for acting completely insane, and that's maybe more true-to-life than anything that's been on this show so far.

Inoue Forever.

Like I said shortly after this thread began: when Kabuto gets silly, it gets silly.

Honestly, I didn't remember a single moment of this episode. Not that I'm sure I wouldn't have thought it was some kind of crazy fever dream even if I had. Everything about Daisuke's introduction is just so goddamn bizarre in a way that the show hasn't been up to this point. From Daisuke's behavior to all of the weird visual effects, this is a really strange episode. Not always in a bad way, but definitely not always in a good way.

The episode definitely feels a little disjointed in terms of the plot and how Daisuke is eventually forced into Tendou and Kagami's orbit. I definitely can't say that it all works, but it definitely all happened.

Daisuke, for the record, is played by an actor and musician named Kazuki Kato. He would later go on to play Kamen Rider V3 in Kamen Rider The Next, the second and final Showa reboot movie that Toei made in the mid-00s (you'd like it, it's Inoue trying to make a J-Horror film). He landed the role on Kabuto around the time his music career was starting to take off. This lead to some pacing issues for the character, as it created some availability problems.

The new Rider’s name does get mentioned… in fact, it’s the only point they use the term “Kamen Rider” rather than “Masked Rider system”. Luckily for you, I forgot the exact episode, so I’m not gonna tell you when it hits.

And now, I’d like to share the comment I made when I first saw this episode (though it was based on my experience of watching Kamen Rider Kiva and Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger, so I expect you to be befuddled by it)

And now back to my semi-regular feature.

Kamen Rider Drake/Kamen Rider V3 (Dragonfly)

As mentioned above, the actor coincidentally got cast in the role of V3 in a Rider horror movie the next year.

* Both prominently surround themselves with female characters (V3 was like, the only Showa series aside from Black RX where the female characters are there from beginning to end. Though I do remember a funny thing from the video game for that series where one of them transforms into the old coot that serves as a mentor to keep the game’s unwritten rule that everyone has to have an untransformed version)

* Both commonly associate with children who aren’t theirs (Do you really think Gon is related to Daisuke?) (V3 had a scout group doing spy work and espionage for him… and their parents knew the kids were doing this work, but not that they were associated with the Rider. One guy compared it to sending the Boy Scouts to fight Al-Jazeera)

Both are the third rider in their setting (Drake is our other tertiary rider for this show and he actually has the suit actor to back up that claim, whereas TheBee changes based on who’s wearing the suit)

As for the question, I’m gonna go out on a limp and say Shoji Yonemura, this show’s main writer. Mostly because no matter how good or bad the scripts are, there’s at least something visually interesting to catch my eye (like in CSHT, which has a 3 second tournament lineup screen with some team lineups and names that actually make a lot of sense)

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ka...20180109165221

Other than that, I’d share your choice.

Tendou and Kagami definitely fucked

Here's the Drake arc that I was talking about earlier. This next set of episodes written by Inoue are what I consider to be peak Kabuto. I think Daisuke is one of the most eccentric characters in KR. I recall my big bro constantly saw me watching these episodes during Daisuke's makeup montages and I had to keep reminding him that it was superhero genre. Tokusatsu must look weird to people outside the community. While the makeup thing is something that can be easily used to identify his character, the reason I like Daisuke is his unlikely friendship with Gon which is very sweet and important for his development since at this point, he's clearly an antihero who is extremely selective about who he cares about.

Also, remember strawberry milk. That's important!

Hey dude, I've been flying the flag for Inoue way before you even knew about him! I'd also like to mention Yokote Michiko, who recently returned to Super Sentai after 10 years to write the Gekiranger tribute episode of Kiramager.

Oh? What didn't you like about Final Judgement?

Canalo isn't really a good example though. Unlike Daisuke and Otoya, who are charismatic and loved by girls, he doesn't have that much success. The sad part is that it's not his fault how he behaves. MosaRex was a terrible guardian to him and Oto, giving them their unhealthy obsession with marriage. Bamba isn't trying nearly as hard and yet he's successful in relationships cause he has a lot of dating experience, social skills and he's chill about being single. The moral here is that love can't and shouldn't be rushed.

EDIT: Just realized this is my 300th post. Yay!

Yeah, there's some stuff that Inoue gets knocked for (the only non-Worm people on that boat, besides maybe the captain, are the two Rider groups!), but I think the plot flowed pretty smoothly. Nothing that felt too egregious, as far as maneuvering characters went.

And, wow, so many crazy visual touches. There's all of the graphical overlays, the hearts and backdrops and whatnot, but it's even in normal shots and transitions. There's a point where Misaki is waiting to talk to Tendou, and she's sitting on this big plastic duck in a playground, the kind that shakes back and forth, and when she gets up to walk Tendou out of the scene the camera sticks on the duck as it squeaks back and forth into frame. It's this bonkers touch for a character (Misaki) who isn't a joke, heading into a scene that's mostly about subplot stuff. Crazy!

i'm sorry his name is shoothopper

it's canon now

I would not argue against it!

It can look pretty weird to people inside the community! This was a weird episode even by Kamen Rider standards!

The Inoue fandom is a very big tent, and I'm happy to share it with you.

I don't want to say it ruined Christmas for me, but I watched it on a Christmas and it made me angry and sad.

Mostly, my problems are that the plot was pretty nonsensical (creating Amazons just to eat them is... it's like creating a new Jurassic Park specifically to provide petroleum. There's got to be a better way!), and it backgrounded the Alpha/Omega conflict for an unreasonably long time. I'll tip my hat to any production team gutsy enough to attempt Never Let Me Go But With Kamen Riders, but the whole movie was just a gigantic misfire for me.

Congrats! Thanks for making it on this thread!

This is actually something I've noticed about Inoue. He seemed to have really wanted to push alot more homosexual themes and ideas in Rider around the mid-2000s. That, or he has a really progressive idea of how platonic relationships can operate. First Yuuji and Takumi, and now Tendo and Kagami. Regardless, either thing is something I definitely support, even if I'm pretty mixed on his writing overall.

https://i.imgur.com/AUGBlXx.png
https://i.imgur.com/P7FmVSw.png

Okay, so.

Right upfront, there's not a chance I can say a single thing more interesting or insightful about an Inoue script than Die can. Heck, he probably already has these exact screencaps saved somewhere. Right now, I am Kagami trying to clean the house Tendou already has spotless. But, all the same...

Inoue making the very first scene he ever writes with the main duo be Kagami confessing his love to Tendou after a very emotional experience sticking his stinger in him the night before (This is a literal description of the ending to 10, honest), it's a total power move, to say the least. Barely past the theme song, and Inoue has already willfully detonated the entire premise of the show by making it into one big joke.

There's a sort of confidence to that I have to admire, but it took me a bit of thinking to decide that this is a bit more considered than I had it pegged for at first. Reading Die's thoughts definitely helps. My instinct was to say that this would be like how I feel about Inoue's Ryuki episodes, which is that the main characters become exaggerated parodies of themselves, but much like quite a few of his scripts there, the story gives enough room for seemingly out-of-character behavior to be justified. Sure, Tendou explicitly declaring himself, twice, to be the most perfect human who has ever existed or will ever exist shows a glaring lack of the... relative subtlety Yonemura gives his boasting, but then, when his whole goal is to get Kagami to stop pining after him, it makes sense he'd be even more of a jerk than usual. And for Kagami himself, you know, I can see him feeling a desperate need to have his decision to abandon being TheBee validated after the initial pride of sticking to his principles wore off. So the Tendou/Kagami plot here, I was ready to say it's at best nothing special, but with some consideration, I'm now leaning towards it potentially being nothing special at worst.

The other big reason I figured this was going to another Inoue Ryuki situation for me is that I feel a lot of those episodes worked wonders with the side Riders, and that's very much the case here, too. Daisuke and Gon are two more characters from this show I actually remember feeling a solid connection with, although there's only so much I can say from just this first episode with them. I like Gon because I tend to like most toku kids who are written as adults, and Daisuke is an eccentric, like literally everyone else in this series, but his specific quirks are ones I find endearing. Dude just feels passionate about his craft, you know? I can't hate that in a character. It's telling of how strong an introduction it is when you don't actually get that much detail on them here, and yet it doesn't immediately feel that way, because what is there is executed so flawlessly.

A lot of that, I'd say, is down to Ryuuta Tasaki's excellent direction. I think I said something similar somewhere in Die's Faiz thread, but while Tasaki isn't as inventive or wild as someone like Ishida, he has fantastic intuition when it comes to shooting every little shot to convey exactly what it needs to as well as it can. Ishida excels at atmosphere, while Tasaki excels at clarity. My favorite bit was when Daisuke is disinterestedly laying back on a slide when Gon starts telling him about the nearby hostage situation. Rather than just showing his face reacting to each beat, it's focused on his leg, which goes from lazily hanging over the edge; to firmly planted on the slide, ready to spring into action at the thought of a woman in danger; to right back off the edge when Gon clarifies the hostage is a man. The added emphasis makes the gag at least twice as funny, and smart choices like this are all over the place, such as in how it's shown that Juka is listening in on Tendou and Kagami's conversation later on. Supremely solid work all around.

The question for this episode is one I actually had to put a lot of thought into. With my disposition, I could list a ton of people who I'm always excited to see working on tokusatsu (I will gladly fly the flag for Kobayashi the way Die does for Inoue), so instead, I tried, more strictly, to think of who had the absolute most consistency in quality, and the answer I immediately couldn't stop coming back to was Toshihiko Sahashi. I don't listen to his older stuff and go "you can really tell he hadn't found his footing yet"; I don't listen to his newer stuff and go "you can really tell he's lost that touch"; and I'd struggle to say I truly prefer one of his toku OST's over another. Gingaman, Gaia, Hibiki, Kyoryuger, or whatever else, it's all equally great in my eyes. But then maybe that's just because I'm generally bad at picking favorites? Again, I could've given dozens of equally valid answers to this one!

I don't know his full body of work, but man; when Arakawa's main writing credits are Kuuga and Kiramager, I think this guy just has the -exact- range of what I look for in Toku. I'll be sad if I find out he made something I didn't like!

His other main works are Abaranger, Dekaranger, Gokaiger, and Akibaranger. He contributed episodes to pretty much every Sentai series from the 90s and 00s, too.

Disregard my last post