Gentaro later declares that he'd befriend Tachibana, but previously, after he sent Meteor to Dark Nebula, he understandably was enraged and rushed to attack him. I wonder though how long a hero (particularly Kamen Rider sensibility ones) would hold on into that rage after a villain severely harmed them, as for those who hopes they don't forgive villains, maybe them showing rage is viewed as a hope spot for them to have the hero rightfully hate said villain forever.

I guess Gentaro also has things to learn, where mostly he's static (not a bad thing) protagonist who's generally about influencing the people around him, where though as a real friend should, he accepts them leaving the KRC and encourages them to be happy and focusing on their dreams, but he also felt that the KRC should be better to always stick together and fight off threats, but by being separated from them, he had doubt at first which was the real reason he can't use Cosmic States. Technically, Gentaro benefits from Tachibana attacking and kidnapping the KRC, but Gentaro is also proving Tachibana wrong about friendship being weakness, so I'd wonder if Tachibana's mindset should be enabled or not.

Continuing with Cosmic States' showings, yeah, Gamou's debut as Sagitarius isn't really something special in fighting, as usual where fighting is often weaker part to me, for KR. There's a good part of Sagitarius raining arrows to finally defeat Fourze, but that's it. Sagitarius is clearly stronger than the rest, as expected of a big bad, but it's underwhelming to have Cosmic States, as usual, just attacking him with his sword, rather than trying various abilities with Switch combinations. Also wonder if even Meteor Storm can also use his Switches as well, albeit they may be weaker than his Meteor Storm Shaft.

Emoto fully turned good at the end, but yeah he still has committed crimes before, in how he murdered Rokuto, and that him choosing power over friendship was him straight up being evil due to jealousy over being behind Rokuto's shadow (wanting to be the Earth, not the Moon). Emoto accepting Gentaro's friendship seems to indirectly prove Emoto's view right though as, previously as a scientist, he operates with his brain, including being really secretive, but when turning a new leaf, he operates with his heart to have a heart-to-heart with the others, which just makes him vulnerable to the Horoscopes' attack, even though he was glad to make friends upon death.

People do acknowledge how bad and traumatizing something bad can be, if it's something close to home, like abusive parents/guardians, people in positions of power trying to oppress minorities for the status quo they benefit from, those who bully others mercilessly, which'd be what's also seen as pure irredeemable monsters for how trauma from those moments can't be undone. But perhaps many people may tolerate cruelty far beyond normal experience like brainwashing, as they can't relate to them (and not being affected by them as well) unlike the mundane evil actions from those bullies they face in everyday lives, so villains like Sugiura (has no bodycount, doing outlandish crimes) may have dissociation from real life that is only meant for their entertainment, thus to them, what zero-kill villains do aren't that bad and is comparable to minor offenses.

Holding a grudge generally isn't portrayed as heroic in Kamen Rider, and it's definitely not the sort of behavior this show wants to model to children, so I'd expect it to be smoothed over either in time, or after a suitable act of contrition. (Gentarou in particular here gets over his anger against Tachibana as soon as he figures out that Meteor isn't dead.)

He can! He used the Fire Switch as Meteor Storm back in the (I think?) two-parter where Ryuusei went back to his school and fought Aries.

Is it possible to have too much action in an action show? That's definitely how I feel after going back through these again. I'm a Showa fan, so I can absolutely respect the premise of a "let's go to a quarry and punch things until I'm stronger" episode, but I still could've done with a bit less form change highlight reel and a bit more character moments.

I eventually figured out what bothered me with the Sagittarius suit. I'll have gone over it when I discuss my thoughts on the next two episodes six years ago.

I meant to bring this up and totally forgot, but: I am a gigantic fan of the semi-unheralded Kamen Rider tradition of doing a late-series spotlight on all the forms that the various upgrades and inevitable Final Form have rendered obsolete. Different shows deal with it in different ways, with different levels of it all feeling like a Form Showcase in search of a narrative conceit -- you could definitely argue that Gentarou trying to destroy a vase with, like, Net and Board is not exactly fulfilling the goal of getting Fourze to use Cosmic States without his friends that Emoto's ostensibly trying to achieve -- but I unabashedly love a show trotting these forms out for maybe one last time.

So, this two-parter is another one directed by Kyouhei Yamaguchi, and because there's always more Toei director trivia out there to learn, I think it's only in the last year or so I've discovered he's considered to have a reputation for his use of pyrotechnics. Like Satoshi Morota throwing people in water, it's one of those things you'll never stop noticing once you see it. Makes Yamaguchi a pretty great match for a show started by Sakamoto, I think.

Also, not that this matters to Die's personal experience with the episode at all, and he sort of already pointed this out, but I'll go ahead and reinforce that if it is a formulaic debut for the main villain, it's a pretty good formula? You know, every Rider show is gonna be somebody's first, so especially if you're the target audience, or even like, a John Hughes fan who got roped in by your weird otaku friend or something, I think the raw visual impact of the big bad appearing amongst all that fire is definitely going to leave the intended strong impression.

I'm glad I've apparently sung the praises of episode 38 of Ghost regularly enough for it to only be "semi" unheralded. :p

You know that was the main one I was thinking of!

I've blocked as much of Ghost as possible from my long-term memory. My brain went to the final fight between Build and Evolt where Sento moved backwards through each of his major forms. Loved that.

Another good choice!

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 43 - “LIGHT AND DARKNESS TWINS”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../fourze43a.png

I’d imagine this one’s entertainment value depends entirely on your appreciation for (or, less charitably, tolerance for) Yuuki’s whole thing.

Like, I want to applaud this show for leaning into Yuuki’s mounting absurdity to devise an episode whose first-half conceit – that a deranged Yuuki is gleefully cartwheeling through school, vandalizing people and property alike in the good name of Space – is the most believable fake-out ever broadcast under the Kamen Rider banner, but at the same time that sort of doesn’t portray Yuuki’s performance and character development in the best light, if you’ll pardon the pun. The only reason the first chunk of this story can work is that Yuuki’s become such a bonkers character over the last 40-odd episodes that we can all sort of see her tagging a few dozen schoolmates in order to celebrate space. It’s not a million miles away from praying to a rocket for guidance, or bringing Hayabusa everywhere (even though I love that puppet), or cramming space books haphazardly on library shelves, or whatever else comes to mind when you think back to Yuuki’s comedic highlights. This is an episode that really foregrounds how overblown Yuuki’s performance has gotten, and I don’t know if that’s making lemonade out of lemons, or just hanging a lantern on an unavoidable topic.

It’s kind of funny, if nothing else, that this episode drops in a tiny tidbit that Yuuki has been driven insane by cosmic whisperings since she was a child, retroactively framing every burst of Yuuki Yammerings as “Oh, so she was just going cosmically crazy according to some astrological phenomenon, not some increasingly goofy kid.” Again, it’s a choice! Maybe not a great one, but one that can feel logical in light of where the character’s at. There’s more to come on that front, and Yuuki’s backstory with Gentarou, but it’s interesting to see so much work being done to refocus Yuuki’s energy and passion into something possibly nefarious and manipulated.

The whole episode’s pretty much consumed with Yuuki’s backstory, in ways small – hints of her history with Gentarou, and why he doesn’t remember pivotal events – and large, namely finally meeting Yuuki’s parents! And, if you asked me to choose one Heisei all-star to pop up as one of Yuuki’s parents for a montage where the Joujima family participates in a bunch of culturally-appropriative and borderline-disrespectful dinners… well, it’d be Chiyoko, obviously. But if you asked me to choose a second Heisei all-star to pop up as one of Yuuki’s parents for a montage where the Joujima family participates in a bunch of culturally-appropriative and borderline-disrespectful dinners, it’d be Doctor Maki, ably demonstrating the over-committed buffoonery that helped shape Yuuki into one of the least defensible members of the KRC, somehow dropping below Ohsugi. (He’s great in this episode! I love his manic cop nonsense!) In an episode that does not lack for characters going over the line into parody, Yuuki’s mom and dad feel like they’re dropped in from the broadest HBV, for a scene that’s only a minute long, but is still interminable and basically not funny. (It’s just mugging and accents! There’s no jokes!)

At least Gemini is fun? I thought Gemini was fun. I didn’t love the daddy/daughter stuff with Sagittarius at the end – I just feel like the energy of this story is all wrong for his flavor of villainy? – but Gemini herself is the best part of this episode, allowing for a couple of tense and chaotic action sequences, with enough physical comedy to balance against the threat of an insane Yuuki; or, more insane? I don’t know. Gemini is a fun foe, regardless of where she comes from or how it might imperil Yuuki.

And that’s sort of where I’m at at the end of this one: I sort of don’t care what happens to Yuuki? That sounds harsher than I probably mean it, because I do like the concept of Yuuki, the stalwart friend to Kengo and the boisterous heart of the KRC. But this one? The crazy girl who’s either more crazy than we knew or less stable than we hoped? I don’t really care about that one! I hope defeating Gemini brings back the Yuuki I used to care about!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../fourze43b.png

Yeah, I decided a couple weeks ago that I'm skipping this episode and the next.