Your earlier post made me remember how amusingly similar Den-O and ToQger are! Also if there's any sentai you ever feel like tuning in just to get a taste of the franchise, well there are few that emobdy the spirit as unabashedly as the one about trains and imagination.

About the latest episode, I've always been just a little mixed to myself on how much I like Liner Form as a concept. Ryotaro gaining the power to fight on his own, with the Imagin's support rather than the other way around like before, certainly sounds like a natural thing to happen in the show eventually. But I feel like it takes away a little of made him special as a protagonist, that he was hero in spite of being unable to do cool superhero finishers on his own.

That said, all that is me just wondering if some other hypothetical approach would have worked better. As it is, its still a pretty triumphant moment, even if maybe it doesn't entirely fit to this specific episode like you said...

Honestly my biggest 'complaint' (more like nitpick) is that I wish Liner Form's head was different. I understand the idea but at a glance it's too similar to Sword Form. If you ask me, the 'eyes' should have been much rounder and more reminiscent of Plat Form.

Yeah, this is another debut I’m not super thrilled upon.

And I’d like to point out that, contrary to the usual “last form is always the most powerful in terms of near anything”, Liner Form’s only advantage over anything else Ryotaro has is jumping ability. Thank god his first opponents using it were the Mooks of the Imagin.

Always up for indulging one of the best Toku shows ever made! Glad you at least liked the episode and the suits?


Liner Form... not a debut as memorable as Climax’s to me, but still one I love a lot. Is the whole Time Shenanigans excuse a bit weak? Ehhh... maybe, but this was a good point in the series for Ryotarou to grow into his own, and with a character like this it’s perhaps the one time I’m happy to see a Final Form’s debut just be a mook fight! There’s such a wonderful energy to it all.

Oh, and now that we’ve gotten to it? I might as well say: I like that Climax is still important, because it’s not so much the mid-season super form as it is the imagins’ final form. Furthering that little thing about them practically being their own riders rather than simply form changes, I think it’s neat that separate final forms are given to them and Ryotarou through Climax and Liner. It’s really neat and cemented a love for them both in my mind!

I consider this show to basically have two final forms. Climax is the final form for the Imagin. It's them at their most powerful by doing the one thing that is against their character--working together.

Liner form, on the other hand, is the final form for Ryotaro. It's him doing the one thing that is against his character--fighting on his own and winning.

Anyhow, I don't quite agree about Liner forms debut. It could have been done a little better, but the show for a while has been building up the idea that Ryotaro's bond with the Imagin is fragile and temporary. It's falling apart and always has been. Both of these final forms are linked to the idea. First, he loses his bond with 3 of the Taros and only gains it back thanks to the one remaining one with Momotaros, but now even that is starting to fade away and they can't fight with him in the past any more.

I won't say more since the show itself will do so for me, but there's very much something at work here more than the show just making up time shenaniguns as an excuse. This continues the very plotline that introduced Climax form and seems to me to be a natural progression of that, albeit more clumsily explained than they could have done.

Very much all of this!! Well put :)

I guess I dug this part of Yuuto's story a little more because it's asking Ryotaro to change his perspective. While we get to see a little bit more of Yuuto's take on heroism, we also get a challenged Ryotaro altering his stance. It's a real shift for Ryotaro, and that makes it worthwhile to me.

oh no

Yeah, that's what bugged me the most about it. It's too literal for me. Kin makes a great point in Part 1 that Ryotaro's strength is in his sense of responsibility, in his empathy, in his desire to help people. And then in Part 2, the show's like That But Also He Has A Cool Sword And Detonates Monsters. I... no? No, thank you?

I absolutely love the Imagin-colored feathers around Liner Form's eyes. Favorite touch. The rest of it's halfway to a Drive suit, but I like Drive suits, so I'm okay with it.

Well, trains are known for jumping, so... uh.

Well...

Yeah, that was the thing that made me not mind Liner Form's debut being so close to Climax Form's. (There are other things I didn't like, but their proximity wasn't one of them.)

Climax's really about Momo, and about his ability to really be the Boss that everyone teases him about being. It's asking him to see some value in this various hangers-on, to view them as equal partners in Den-O's success. Climax doesn't require anything extra of Ryotaro.

Liner Form is about Ryotaro feeling like an active participant in Den-O. It's him trying to balance all of the guilt he feels when they fail with a chance to help them succeed. It's the flipside (to, I think, the episode's detriment) to Ryotaro letting go of his responsibility to stop/contain/negate Zeronos. It's Ryotaro driving the train of Den-O.

I just wish it weren't happening now! In this story! In this way!

I guess my criticism to the comparison with Climax Form is that Climax Form's Time Nonsense debut spun specifically out of events we just saw in the movie, while Liner Form's debut is tied to events that might occur in the future. Thematically, it's all one thing, but dramatically there's a completely different level of stakes. Climax Form is all established consequences, while Liner Form is almost literally Momo's fake excuse of "sometimes these things happen".

I don't know. It's not a total error for me or anything, but I find the introduction of Liner Form a little rushed, a little early in this particular plot.

Well, since it’s Rider’s 50th in Japan, I think I should make you aware of the new special starring Genm (which was conceived in the same way as the Kamen Rider Brain special from two years ago).

!!!!

I know what I'm watching during my break between Den-O and Kiva!

Ryotaro's feelings here is what makes a real hero in Den-O where he does more than just superheroics, shown in how Ryotaro helps the contract holders not as Den-O, but as Ryotaro (albeit the use of time travel is needed), and likely what inspires Hana (as she likely doesn't forget what she and Ryotaro has gone through). Kohana may shouldn't let this go on, but what's appropriate is to let Ryotaro keep this compassionate aspect of him live on.

Well, now I'm not certain who is right there, Deneb doesn't want Yuuto to become Zeronos, but Yuuto's main conflict throughout the whole series so far is him having limited aspect of Zeronos cards to use (it's the thing he ranted to Ryotaro). He reached the "failure" when he finally ran out of cards, but Sakurai solved that. It's unknown about Sakurai yet to judge him as an asshole other than his shady appearence.

Jokes aside...well... in Den-O, the stylistic differences compared to previous series, from the giant monsters, mecha-like trains and the vast amount of humor, made a portion of Rider fans feel the series was closer to a Sentai series. Some got past this initial feeling, while others claim that it ruined all Kamen Rider series since.

I was caught off guard by that description being actually april fools... as I've never seen how you operate in that date.

Well, this has happened before, but Ryotaro before was a cowardly type and usually shy, and his adventuers as Den-O with evergrowing friends have made him gain more self confidence and determination. He stands up to what he believed in when Yuuto was irritating him before. This is also a good showing of how being confident and assertive doesn't mean you have to gain negative traits for that, unlike, well, Tendou previously for being outright conceited. And for here, it's Ryotaro who seems to have more aggression by just picking Yuuto's Zeronos cards, in ways that not even Deneb did. If you think that Kintaros represents Ryotaro's exaggerated trait that turns into a flaw of him being a martyr without a cause, this part shows the exact opposite of this where Ryotaro doesn't approve of sacrificing methods and opts for another way to save the day and prevents Yuuto from fighting due to this. Ryotaro acts on Sakurai's words that being weak isn't excuse to not do anything, but doing something doesn't necessarily sacrificing yourself right? He approves when Yuuto doesn't plan to sacrifice himself.

Ryotaro's proof of being stronger, has been proven before by Kintaros struggling to possess him. I guess that's Ryotaro having self-esteem issues, when he doesn't realize that he's been stronger ages ago. I guess the story should've Ryotaro realize this? Ryotaro tries to develop himself to be stronger, but he doesn't need too actually. But this creates a battle problem that Ryotaro can't be possessed like usual and he's stuck in the, Rider-wise weak Plat Form. If you praise Kagami enduring himself as a team to save the day... lol... this is what Ryotaro does which is praised by Momotaros! Ryotaro can't be possessed anymore, and the other Taros Imagins have to cope about Ryotaro now being more independent from them, thus they have a solution of creating a new power for Ryotaro to use by himself, just like the Den-O belt and scanner which seems to come designed in DenLiner, for consistency. I think the conclusion is that for Ryotaro needs to become stronger, actually Ryotaro doesn't need to work on it, and that the Taros Imagins are the one to have to work onto this.

Liner Form is the final form of Den-O that isn't Imagin related, so Den-O has 2 final forms, Climax Form and Liner Form. And I think the reason of Den-O using Liner Form is about Ryotaro being strong instead of Time? That Imagins can't possess him as easily. Also, personally, Liner Form's sword design is my favorite, I'm into more bigger and bulkier swords (and it left an impression on Ryotaro struggling to lift it), and the finisher is also my favorite among Den-Os with the bigger flasiher part in the train accompanying him (and I hope the sword slash has the actual force of a freight train.

Well yeah, now Ryotaro works on to restore the memory of Airi. And by the efforts he needed to do it, it seems that Ryotaro can't be blamed for "keeping away" the memories from her as it's not just an immediate telling.

The thing is, Ryotaro is completely making himself into a martyr here. He's refusing to let Yuuto help as Zeronos, taking on the entire burden of stopping the Imagin by himself. He's totally fine making the decision to risk his own life, but won't let Yuuto make that same decision.

Maybe? It just feels like the point in the series where Ryotaro has to fend for himself more, graduating out of the Imagin fighting for him. It comes across as a little sudden to me, since so much of this story was built around Ryotaro respecting Yuuto's decision-making. It's a weird thread to tie into this one, but that's why it's there.